Leisa and I made friends online via a shared love of Liberty fabrics, and met for some great evenings as last year’s Festival of Quilts.
It’s funny how you follow the progress of a quilt on social media and each post makes you smile, and that is exactly what happened with this one. Here at Just One Quilt we couldn’t miss the opportunity to drive to Liverpool and tell this story whilst Leisa was back in town.
Grandma Vee’s mum gave birth to fourteen children and sadly lost two sets of twins, but raised ten of them whilst running a business in a city hit badly during the war. Vee went on to have seven children and we kind of lost track of the number of grandchildren and great grandchildren, but Leisa certainly had plenty of people to cajole into sewing a block for this wonderful project.
This quilt truly is jam-packed with love and every stitch has come from the heart. It seems that all the family have such fond memories of Vee and her late husband, and took this opportunity to think creatively, tackle a project without fear and do their very best to make her smile. When I have worked on communal projects I have felt it might be easier to have a structured plan or block pattern to work from, so it is just fantastic that Leisa allowed everyone freedom to sew whatever they wanted, however they fancied. The odd guideline regarding colour and fabric choice was genius and her own finishing touches brought it all together. She is very modest but the layout and filler blocks work so well.
This film could have been a lot longer because there are so many sweet stories, but less than a minute of Leisa and Vee reminiscing provides a magical sense of family and the power of investing time to create a physical object which can embody that special love. Life is busy and it would have been very easy to say no to an email requesting a little time but you will always learn something by embracing the unfamiliar and Leisa is confident she has converted a few family members to her passion!
Leisa has recently set up Morris Textiles, a company selling Liberty and other great British Brands (including my patterns) in the US and launched with a real bang at QuiltCon in Austin. Kay and I are looking forward to a few projects with her, so watch this space!
Also, a big thanks to Kay this week, and always, for co-producing all of these films with me and navigating well when we hit the road.
Please take time to comment and share this story, and follow Leisa @morristextiles on Instagram and at her shop.
Thanks,
Jenni x
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