Wednesday 20 May 2020

Scrub Making for Bridlington, Scarborough and the Coast

Scrubs for the NHS York Trust, Bridlington Hospital & Scarborough Hospital
Bridlington Scrub Makers



Early on in the Covid-19 lockdown it became apparent that there was a huge shortage of scrubs throughout the UK.  A National group consisting of an army of sewers was quickly established to raise funds and sew scrubs from home primarily for the NHS.

As this group grew and grew it became obvious that the way forward was to form subgroups and so I formed Bridlington Scrub Makers.

We were in touch with Procurement for York Trust - Scarborough and Bridlington Hospital from day one and established that they had a real need.  They have contract scrubs which are laundered by their contractor but our scrubs will be laundered in Bridlington and distributed to both sites.

Soon, other facilities around the area also started to require scrubs, these included GP's, pharmacies and care homes, plus some areas of the NHS who normally go to work in civies now had to wear scrubs too.

Initially we had to raise funds and this was done by a couple of crowd funding pages for personal donations  - many thanks to Jackie Chandler and Sandra Hoggart for this.  Next we began to approach some of the many organisations around the town - thank you Maria Prchlik for assisting.

We are very grateful for all the support we have had and particularly want to thank all the individuals who contributed together with -

DOT - Destination Old Town
Spotlight Theatre
Alex May Gallery
Bridlington Lions
Bridlington Rotary
BTC - Bridlington Town Council
Lord Feoffees
OTA - The Old Town Association
BTA - Bridlington Tourism Association
Lodge Books
Tesco
Lisset Windfarm

We raised over £8000 to purchase fabrics for the scrubs production.

Finding suitable fabrics has also been very challenging as they were in demand by the whole of the UK.  Luckily I managed to use my wholesale contacts and saved a great deal of money for the project by doing this.



At its peak we have had over 50 people sewing scrubs around Bridlington, Driffield and the villages.

(One day we hope to add a picture here of the team, but for now we all still need to isolate.)

To date we have made well over 600 pairs of scrubs with many more in process.


At its peak we have had over 50 people sewing scrubs around Bridlington, Driffield and the villages.

(One day we hope to add a picture here of the team, but for now we all still need to isolate.)

To date we have made well over 600 pairs of scrubs with many more in process.





Some of our team of sewers have now had to return to work and others are needing a little break, so we are not using up our fabric as quickly as we were and we know time is of the essence. we have therefore donated some of our bolts of fabric to the people who are sewing for Castle Hill Hospital and the Royal in Hull.  People from Bridlington use both these facilities, so its nice to be able to contribute.

Delivering to York Trust - Bridlington Hospital / Scarborough Hospital


Doctors Surgery in Hornsea


Some of Practice 2 Station Road wearing our scrubs

We have also delivered to several care Homes in Bridlington, but unfortunately don't yet have the pictures.


A thank you for the East Riding Lieutenant








Despite running the scrub hub and making scrubs being very hard work and not particularly easy at times, I have met some lovely people who have donated their time and efforts to this project.  It is hoped at some stage to all meet up and celebrate our amazing achievements.


Friday 31 January 2020

Guess How Much I Love You - When I'm Big

Anita Jeram

Twelve years after the original Guess How Much I Love You story by Sam McBratney, the nutbrown hares return for a new adventure.


Out in the fresh spring air, the two Nutbrown Hares see a tiny acorn growing. 'Someday it will be a tree,' says Big Nutbrown Hare. Then they spy a tadpole that will grow up to be a frog, a caterpillar that will turn into a butterfly, and a nest

of eggs that will one day be birds. Suddenly Little Nutbrown Hare turns to Big Nutbrown Hare and laughs. 'What does a little brown hare like me turn into?'


Designed by the book's illustrator, Anita Jeram, these fabrics are a wonderful choice for children's bedrooms and other nursey projects.

Anita Jerams work has included illustrations which includes All Together Now, The Green Balloon and Family Bears.  Although, of course she is best known for her illustrations for the childrens story "Guess How Much I Love You" written by Sam McBratney.  "Guess How Much I Love You" was first published in 1994 and ever since the story and illustrations have captivated adults and children the world over.

These magnificent illustrations of "Guess How Much I Love You" are the subject of a brand new set of fabrics now available in the Quilt Shop on QuiltSandwich.co.uk.


Sunday 25 August 2019

Amazing Value Retreat with Alicia Merrett

Amazing Value Retreat with Alicia Merrett

Three day retreat in Bridlington with Alicia Merrett on 7th,8th & 9th October 2019.

During the retreat Alicia Merrett will be teaching her special workshop entitled 'INTERPRETING KLEE AND KANDINSKY'



Both Paul Klee and Vassily Kandinsky’s drawings and paintings feel as if they could easily be translated into quilts. We will first observe the way the two artists used shape, colour and line in their work to achieve amazing designs with rhythm and balance. 

Then each participant will construct their own abstract fused fabric collages, inspired by the work of those artists. We will then look into how the drawn line can become the stitched line; our machine needle will be the ‘point in motion’ from which the line derives. As Paul Klee said, we will ‘take a line for a walk’. 

Medieval Textile Tiles


Medieval tiles are found in many ancient churches, cathedrals and abbeys, and have beautiful designs that have often inspired modern tile design. Designs are often heraldic, incorporating castles, shields, birds, lions, eagles, and mythical creatures such as wyverns and griffins; they can also be foliated (based on nature). They can be very effectively translated into textile ‘tiles’. Each participant will trace a design, chosen among those provided by the tutor; assemble the tile in fabric, quilt it, and mount it on a 6” by 6” stretched canvas frame.



The tutor will provide the stretched canvas frames; a variety of ‘tile’ designs to trace from; some materials, and some tools for use in the class. The likely cost of the kit per student will be £8.



Alicia’s passions are colour, shape, line and texture. She creates improvisational textile pieces by freehand cutting and stitching, and also by collaging and bonding hand-dyed fabrics, using her signature fine pieced lines, and adding texture with quilting. Text is sometimes included. Alicia works in series, and her inspiration is varied, but she is best known for her work on textile maps. However more recently she has been trying to marry her long-standing interest in photography and in computer work, to produce original designs that can be printed on fabric and then quilted. Alicia exhibits and teaches internationally.



About the venue –


The Royal Bridlington is a 4 star AA Guest Accommodation based in the beautiful South Beach area of Bridlington. There are 18 individually decorated en suite rooms. Food is always high on the agenda and fresh seasonal produce is used where possible and portions are certainly not small!




Want to do all workshops?


Live local?  Book all three workshops for £170 or £60 per day.

Need to stay – All three workshops, 2 nights accommodation and dinner for £300 per person sharing or £320 for single occupancy. 

Extra Nights – Dinner, Bed and Breakfast for extra nights at the special price of £62 per night per person (twin) or £72 per person single occupancy.



How to Book for your Patchwork and Quilting retreat with Alicia Merrett -

Call the Royal Bridlington on 01262 672433.

Deposits – For the residential course a deposit of £50 is required and for the day Course a deposit of £10 to reserve your place. The Balance is due 6 weeks prior to arrival.


Wednesday 14 August 2019

Liberty of London Summer House Collection

Liberty of London latest Patchwork Fabrics on their way!

Shout out for #Liberty #Summerhouse Patchwork Fabrics on their way.

We are extremely pleased to announce that we will have the new range of the Liberty Patchwork Fabrics available in store from the first week in September.
The colours of the new Summer House Range of Fabrics are so delightful and vibrant that they will make a wonderful creation spectacular.

Liberty of London Patchwork Fabric - #SummerHouse

Check them out at the start of September in our on line shop at www.quiltsandwich.co.uk/quilt-shop We are lucky, as one of the few stockists of the Liberty of London Fabrics to be able to show you as Sneak Peak of the #liberty #fabrics.



Thursday 20 June 2019

Festival of Quilts 2019 Discount Ticket Code

Festival of Quilts 2019 is on 1-4th August 2019 at the NEC in Birmingham.

Tickets can be bought at a discount if you use this code

FESTIVAL37


This will reduce tickets to £14.50* for adults and £14.00* for concessions


To book tickets for Festival of Quilts,  simply go 

to  www.thefestivalofquilts.co.uk or call 0844 858 6749 and quote 

code FESTIVAL37 when prompted.




Wednesday 23 January 2019

First Quilt Shows of the Year (2019) Newark & Ardingly

This week saw the first Quilt Show of 2019.

We set off to Newark on Wednesday and stayed at the same lovely self catering accommodation as we did last last. This means we can get an early start for set up on Thursday.

Setting up the stand normally takes us five to six hours of hard heavy graft.

Our range is now so large that we now have to make conscious decisions before a show as to what stock we are not going to take with us as we just cant fit it all in the van. So if you are wanting to look at or purchase a specific fabric at any show, please message us a couple of days before to make sure we pop it in the van!

Newark is a lovely venue, its nice and light with good access.  Unfortunately this year, the show did not appear to be as well supported as the previous year, which is such a shame. Never the less we met some lovely quilters, many of whom we already knew.

Here are just some of the quilt from the show.










































Beautiful Art Quilt !  But then we Love Doggies !



























































On the Sunday, straight after the closing of the show, we packed up and headed back to our lovely accommodation for an extra night.

This year we have taken the decision to head south to do the Ardingly Show for the first time.  Ardingly is in West Sussex and therefore is a heck of a drive from Bridlington.  So we decided to stay and extra night at Newark rather than drive North for a couple of nights then all the way South again.
The Accommodation comes with some great neigh-bours!


Oh Deer !!