TWO friends joined forces to make a patchwork quilt for charity - despite living 5,000 miles apart.

Susan Filer, 60, of Cerne Abbas, near Dorchester, put together the quilt with Suzanne Smith, 57, who was living in the Cayman Islands, to raise money for a new village hall in Cerne Abbas.

The two met when Suzanne and her husband Peter, who was the Governor on Grand Cayman, rented a holiday cottage in Cerne Abbas.

They decided to pool their skills for a fundraising scheme, but after deciding on a design and months of hard work, the project almost met with disaster when the quilt went missing in the post.

It was delivered to Suzanne's home at Government House eight months later.

Susan recalled: "After many, many months of hard work I had packed up the quilt and sent it off to the Cayman Islands, where Suzanne would start the next stage of hand-quilting.

"Weeks and months went by with no sign of the quilt nor any credible explanation of where it might be.

"The loss of so much hard work, energy, expense and initiative was very disheartening for both of us.

"Then a full eight months later the quilt suddenly turned up at Government House.

"Suzanne began her lengthy task of hand stitching the king-sized quilt and on completion she personally brought the quilt home to Cerne - not wishing to risk a repeat performance."

Suzanne and Peter have now retired to the village.

The quilt will be raffled to raise funds for the village hall fund. Raffle tickets are being sold in shops and pubs in Cerne Abbas.

A floral picture, hand embroidered by Susan, showing fuchsias and humming-birds, will be second prize in the draw.

Susan and Suzanne decided on a traditional log cabin design for the quilt.

It will be exhibited during the open gardens weekend of June 15 and 16 in Cerne Abbas.