AFTER seeing reports of people in Cumbria being flooded out of their homes, a group of quilters from Launceston decided to hold a ‘Quiltathon’.

Those affected by the floods lost their possessions when they were flooded out of their homes — with some being forced out of their premises for a third time.

Ellen Seward is a quilter from Maders near Callington with more fabric in her stash than she would ever use in her lifetime, so she decided there might be something she could do to help.

Assisted by 20 of her friends from The Quilters’ Guild, the WI and Flowerpatch Quilters of Launceston, Ellen got together a team to create a collection of beautiful quilts.

She invited those, with similar stashes of fabric to her own, to join together and use their creative skills and put them to good use for the people of Cumbria affected by the floods.

Armed with sewing machines, irons, cutting boards and yards and yards of material, the twenty ladies began a two-day quiltathon.

With donations being made for the hiring of the hall and fabric from The Quilt Room in Dorking, Cowslip Workshop in Launceston and friends, Ellen and her team of quilters set to assembling a collection of quilts.

The quilts made will be sent out to those in Cumbria to bring a little comfort to those affected.

Waitrose donated a ‘goody bag’ of coffee, tea and cake to help fuel and sustain the quilters during their two-day quiltathon.

Non-quilting friends also came along on the day to provide quiches, soup and more cake to keep the sewing ladies fortified.

Others also helped with the cutting and pressing of fabric, needed to help complete as many quilts as possible over the weekend.

There were a few quilts not finished that were then taken home by volunteer quilters for completion.

The ladies then gathered once again in the Hall on Sunday, April 3, to view the result of their endevours and count how many quilts they had made over the two-day period.

Thirty-four glorious, assorted quilts were collected on the day and will now be sent to Cumbria for distribution.

When informed of the gifts, Jo Crozier, chairman of Cockermouth WI in Cumbria, said: “Wow, we in Cockermouth have been absolutely amazed at the help extended to us from our WI friends all over the country”

Ellen Seward said: “I cannot thank enough the friends who took up the idea and came together proving once again just what a generous bunch of ladies quilters are.

“I had the idea because an old friend of mine came from Cumbria. I am from Durham, so the area is quite special to me. The plight of those poor souls struck a cord.

“The generosity of Quilters is well known and two days away from our normal routine with no meals to make, phones to answer, dogs to walk etc was bliss for us.

“I met a fellow Quilters’ Guild member, who is from Keswick at the Quilters’ Guild of the British Isles Conference and AGM in Llandudno on Sunday and she told me they are so grateful for the help and support they’ve been receiving, but there are still many people unable to return to their homes. The quilts are being delivered to Cumbria today [April 18].”