‘Rainbow Quilters’ raise cash for domestic abuse charity

The Rainbow Quilters group was formed in January, and despite the difficulties with recruiting people to join in – as the country entered yet another lockdown – the word soon spread, and within just a few weeks around 25 quilters had signed up to the project.

Helen Dickinson is one of the local ladies involved in the project, with most of the quilters living in the Louth area. The members are raising money for Edan Lincs, a local domestic abuse service.

Helen said: “We were amazed and encouraged by the positive response.

“We heard many reasons why people wanted to join us, including: to relieve boredom, loneliness and sense of isolation, to have a purpose, to feel part of a community, to do something worthwhile, and to raise funds for a good cause.

“We asked contributors to ‘reflect’ upon their personal experiences of the global pandemic and to submit a block to our quilt that represented this. This remit inspired the name for our project, ‘2020 Reflections’.

“As part of our fundraising activities, we hope to exhibit the quilt in various locations around Lincolnshire and to enter it into the ‘Group Quilts’ competition at the 2021 Festival of Quilts at the NEC in Birmingham.”

The quilt is now finished but it was much larger than the quilters had originally anticipated, so they decided to sew the 45 blocks into nine strips of five blocks which can be hung all together or separately. Otherwise it would have been too large to exhibit. Helen explained that a booklet is also being produced, which will be available to read at exhibitions.

Helen continued: “We are hopeful that everyone involved in the project will finally get to meet up and see the quilt on Saturday, June 5. If the weather is okay, we are planning a garden get-together.”

The Rainbow Quilters are currently looking to places to exhibit their finished product over the next 12 months. If you have any suggestions, email the group at [email protected].

l To make a donation to Edan Lincs, visit www.gofundme.com and search for ‘Rainbow Quilters - 2020 Reflections’.