Twenty handmade quilts created through a Belfast School of Art collaboration are being exhibited before they go to young people leaving care and beginning life.
Quilts for Care Leavers Northern Ireland brings together more than 200 volunteers and provides around 150 bespoke quilts each year. Ulster University says the organisation has donated more than 600 quilts since 2022.
Each young person can choose a design, with many quilts using donated or repurposed fabric. The project calls them ‘quilted hugs’, but the practical idea underneath the phrase is straightforward: give someone moving into a new and potentially daunting chapter something made specifically to offer warmth, familiarity and care.