Happy (not angry) Birds!

This quilt is called Angry Happy Birds!  A few weeks ago Cynthia hosted another quilty orphan adoption event and I scored a few more of other people's UFOs for Covered in Love.

These blocks came from Linda.  There were a variety of four patches and other pieced blocks.  I don't know what design she was originally intending, so I just counted what was there and played around with them to make it work. Angry Happy Birds is the first of two quilts that came from her UFO.

The focal fabric in this quilt is these cute, cartoon birds.

I love the deep purple fabric in the four patches with the flowers on it. Linda also sent enough of that for me to use as backing! The quilt got a pretty striped bias binding to finish and soft rounded corners.

The second quilt from Linda's UFO, in complete contrast to the first, is a wild, scrappy-looking patchwork.

To tame the craziness just a little I set the 4x4 blocks in diagonal lines.  Quilting was a stipple over most of the quilt and a wavy line through the diagonal chains.

Thanks to Linda for donating the blocks that made these quilts :) All donations to Covered in Love are welcome! To get details visit the main page and check out November's block drive here.

Linking to Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it Friday.

November Block Drive: Falling Leaves

Welcome to Fall! Finally!  Summer seems to last forever in Texas, but the days are finally turning cool. In honor of the arrival of fall this month's block drive for Covered in Love will be a falling leaves block.

(Edited to Add: View some finished quilts here)

First off, I didn't invent this block, I've seen it lots of places. I just customized the measurements for our purposes.  To make this block you will need some scraps in fall colors (brown, red/maroon, orange, yellow) and scraps for the background in khaki/taupe/off white shades.

Cut:

(3) 4.5" colored squares

(2) 5" colored squares

(3) 5" background squares

(1) 4.5" background square

(1) 1"x7" brown strip

On the back side of the (3) 5" background squares mark a diagonal line corner to corner and slice one of the squares along that line into 2 triangles.  Sew the brown strip in-between the two triangles to reassemble the square as a "stem" unit.  Pair the other (2) 5" background squares with the 5" colored squares and sew on either side of the marked line, then cut to yield 2 HSTs (tutorial #1 here).

Press and trim the (4) HSTs and the "stem" unit to 4.5" square and lay out the block as shown.  If you are making more than one block at once you can switch around your HSTs to have more variety within each block. Also, I used the same fabric for the background throughout this block, but feel free to keep it scrappy!

Sew together your 9 small blocks into a 12.5" finished block and you're done! Comment or send me an email for my mailing address if you want to pitch in.  Make 1 block or 10, all donations are welcome!

Covered in Love makes quilts of comfort to be given to the families of patients who pass away in the hospital where I work.  These quilts not only bring warmth to a hospital room, but are taken home by the families as transitional items.

Check out our August block drive quilt by clicking on the picture above.

Linking to Oh Scrap! and Design Wall Monday.

WIP Wednesday: Scrapping Away

 Happy Wednesday! Thanks to everyone who left encouraging comments on my last post about my crumb project.  I made pretty good progress on Sunday. I just have a little left to fill in and piece the whole thing together.  There will have to be some partial seams to tackle.
 

I'm going to keep working on that top today, and in between there are these string blocks sent in for the monthly block drive. Three tops worth here ready to be assembled :)  FYI, the post announcing November's block drive will be up sometime tomorrow.

Remember, this week is the beginning of the Bloggers' Quilt Festival!  You can see my entries here and here.

Linking to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

A Little Personal Scrapping

It's a rainy Sunday here in Texas, very badly needed rain.  I am taking to day off charity sewing to work on a little personal scrap quilting.  These crumb slabs have been in progress for a while and I'm working on filling in the gaps to complete the top.  Happy Sunday Sew Day :)

Linking to Oh Scrap! and Design Wall Monday.

Scrappy String Pinwheel {Bloggers' Quilt Festival Fall 2015}

Another year, and another quilt market that I'm not at! Stinks doesn't it?  Fortunately, for all of us who can't go to market and see all the eye candy in person Amy run the twice annual Bloggers' Quilt Festival!

The first quilt I am showing off this Fall is a string-y scrap quilt from back in the Spring.  I actually featured the sister quilt to this one in the last Bloggers' Quilt Festival!  I love how versatile string scraps can be.  These two different quilts were both made using this tutorial for 60 degree string triangles.

This scrappy quilt was donated to Covered in Love, which provides quilts of comfort to the families of patients who pass away in the hospital where I work.  I was able to deliver one of these quilts personally yesterday, and these small acts of kindness do make a difference .

If you want to get involved with Covered in Love you can find details on the main page.

I am entering this quilt in the Scrap Quilt category of festival. Check out my other entry in the Large Quilt category here.

Stats: 
Size: ~52"x70"
Pieced from scraps by me
FMQ pieced by me on my home machine
Donated to Covered in Love

Flock {Bloggers' Quilt Festival Fal 2015}

It's the Bloggers' Quilt Festival and I'm thrilled to have an excuse to show this quilt off again since it's one of my favorites.  Flock!

This was the product of my first monthly block drive for Covered in Love.  I asked for volunteers to make 12" flying geese blocks within a certain color scheme and this was the lovely result.

I quilted Flock with wavy lines using my FMQ foot.

Thank you to everyone who continues to support Covered in Love. If you would like to get involved you can find details on the main page or check out the latest monthly block drive here.

I'm entering this quilt in the Large Quilt category in the festival. You can see my other entry into the scrappy quilt category here.

Stats:
Size: 69" square
Pieced by myself and volunteers for Covered in Love
Quilted by myself on my home machine
Donated to Covered in Love

Scrap Happy QAYG Strings

Happy Friday! I have one of my pet scrappy projects to show today. You know I love a good scrap quilt.

I made this quilt from string scraps using a quilt as you go method, piecing the strings onto strips of batting. When I do QAYG I press the seams flat and top stitch them down to keep the bulk down (pictures of that here.)

Finished size was about 55" x 72".  I found a cute backing with the right colors on sale at the LQS and bound it with a scrappy binding.  With the strings QAYG to the batting the backing just needed a couple of horizontal lines to hold it in place.

This quilt is being donated to the hospital for Covered in Love.  If you want to help out with Covered in Love it's not too late to contribute to this month's block drive, which incidentally also involves strings!

Linking to Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it Friday.

do. Good Stitches - Arrows

Another month and another block to do. Good Stitches. This time Briawna asked us to make arrow blocks from this tutorial.  The timing was perfect since I already have my string out making October's block drive blocks!

We made a 21" square block and we're sending Briawna the bonus triangles (upper right) plus I made myself a bonus blocks from the leftovers (lower right).

Rory is the guardian of the string pile

Somehow despite all the string-y sewing I've been doing lately I still have lots of strings! Hope your week is going well :)

Linking to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Fall Flowers

After a long, hot summer it's finally starting to feel like fall around here!  Mina has been a star contributor to my monthly block drives and along with her October string blocks she sent in 18 of these awesome big flower/star blocks in pretty fall colors.  I got the first 9 assembled onto a top on the design wall.

Also recently on the design wall, the second of the quilt tops made from Linda's UFO project I got in the quilty orphan adoption event. The first top was very controlled but this one is completely crazy scrappy, except for the chains going through on the diagonal.

Both of these quilts will eventually go to Covered in Love. Thanks so much to these ladies and to everyone who continues to support this project :)

Linking to Judy's Design Wall Monday.

Purple and Orange, the fabric challenge quilt

If you've been following along you might remember back in August I posted some blocks that the Tyler Modern Quilt group had given me. These were from a group challenge where they all had to make blocks using a certain fabric, however they all disliked the fabric so much they were eager to give them away.

Finally, here's the quilt made from their challenge fabric blocks. Not bad, huh?  Orange and purple aren't my colors personally, but I figure everything is somebody's favorite.

One of my favorite parts of this quilt are the three applique chenille hearts some one made, so nice and soft!

A local long-armer has graciously offered to quilt a few tops for me for Covered in Love.  This is the first one she's done and it looks so cool!  If you're looking for an affordable long-armer, especially if you're local check out Annie McHugs.

Thanks so much to the Tyler Quilt Group folks and to Annie McHugs for long-arming :)  This quilt will be donated to the families of patients who pass away in the hospital through Covered in Love.  If you would like to contribute blocks, tops, or quilts please check out the main page.  We also have a monthly block drive you can contribute to if you're looking for a low key way to participate.

Linking to Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it Friday.

Slowly Sewing Strings

I was in the mood for some easy, mindless sewing the past few days. Fortunately folks have been sending me lots of strings blocks for Covered in Love.

These are so quick to run through the machine and put together.

I wasn't the only one feeling lazy ;)

Linking up (late) to Design Wall Monday

A Manly Plaid Quilt

Happy Friday! I have another quilt to show for CiL.  I made this "manly" quilt the other day on a whim. While I love this color scheme I do still want to make a scrappy version soon.

The plaid squares are made of some sort of weird polyester type material, but they have a nice soft flannel feel to them.  We are generally short on manly quilts so I try to focus on those color schemes.

The quilt is 60"x72".  I think I like the backing almost as well as the front.  I pieced it from a few favorite fabrics.

I love that brown one with the flowers.  If you would like to contribute to Covered in Love please check out the main page. Also, each month we have a block drive, so if you want to contribute through that check it out here, this month we're making string blocks.

Linking to Crazy Mom Quilt Finish it Friday.

July's NURTURE circle do. Good Stitches quilt for Covered in Love. Quilted by Dhia.  Thanks, ladies!

Sewing while fending off a cat

Happy WIP Wednesday! I have been working on several projects for Covered in Love, assisted by Rory of course.  First off I got a few quilts quilted and bound, but you'll have to wait until a Friday for the big reveal.

Linda recently participated in Cynthia's Orphan Adoption Event where I won her WIP!  (I also won the a project from Julie, so look for that later. Thanks ladies!)  I don't know what pattern Linda was originally trying to make, but I'll be able to pull at least 2 tops from these blocks (first one above).

Today I pressed and trimmed some blocks for the second top.

Rory is especially helpful with trimming; she liked to chase the rotary cutter. Eeee! I keep telling her she is going to lose some whiskers if she isn't careful.

Also, the string blocks for the October block drive are coming in. Thanks to everyone who has committed to make blocks for this month! If you want to join in check out the main post.  If you want to participate comment (make sure I can see your email address) or email for an address to send the blocks.

Over the weekend we had another patient on my floor who'd had a long, long life whose family made the brave decision that it was time to let her go.  They were touched when I brought in the quilt for her bed. Just a reminder that this is where your Covered in Love quilts go; this is why we do it. Thanks for your support.

Linking to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.