Eye- Spy some finished quilts

Fudge-y is proud to present the first 6 quilts from this past year's eye spy block drive for Covered in Love!

I had to take photos inside due to the weather so much of the country is having this week, but these quilts are still pretty spectacular.

I LOVE all the unique, fussy-cut patches.  Each 60"x70" quilt has 168 unique eye-spy images.

One reason I like this block drive so much is because the many different images give family members a lot to look at and opportunities to find something they connect to in the quilt.

The first three quilts on this page were made by me, the last three were assembled and quilted by Kathy C.

The great diversity of the eye-spy images comes from the many quilters who participated in this drive.  As always, many thanks to you all!

I hope you are all staying warm this week an doing well in the new year. I have been job hunting for an NP job and have a couple of promising prospects. Meanwhile, I am still working as a nurse.

I've also found a small house (not quite a tiny house), and if it ever stops raining it will be moved to my parents' lot.  I'm looking forward to renovating it a little and anxious to move in! I'll be sure to post some pictures here one I begin to make progress :)

Many of you have already sent in blocks for the Jan/Feb drive: thank you! If you haven't yet there's still plenty of time if you want to get involved, see the link below :)

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 400 so far! The Jan/Feb drive is going on now.  Check out the main post HERE if you want to get involved.

Linking to  Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Finished or Not Friday

Oh My Stars! Block Drive Wrap-up

Hello! It's the weekend again and I'm posting the wrap up for the July Red, White, and Blue Stars block drive.   You guys made a dozen great patriotic quilts for Covered in Love.

The last 6 quilts from the drive are here. You can see the first 6 on a previous post here.

I gathered all the blocks with something in the corners to make a sort of "Irish Chain" effect

 My apologies for the slightly dreary looking photos. It's been a overcast and raining in Texas for months. In fact, these were actually done before I left for Christmas, but I never got anything close enough to sun to photograph them. 

The top three of these were assembled and quilted by me, the bottom three were done by Kathy.

Thank you to everyone who sent in blocks! The first 6 quilts were already taken to the hospital and these will follow soon.

This is one of my favorite drives because of the wide variety of blocks and how appreciated these quilts are by patients and families.

I love the secondary pattern created by the white spaces in the quilt above.

Of course, here's your obligatory kitten photo. They are extremely close sleepers and keep me quite warm at night!

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 400 so far! The Jan/Feb drive is going on now.  Check out the main post HERE if you want to get involved.

Linking to  Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Finished or Not Friday

Janet's UFOs (A long time coming)

Happy weekend everyone! We're half way through the first month of January already. Two pretty, rich-colored quilts finished for Covered in Love this week. Janet T. sent these two tops in ages ago and I just got the second one finished.

The rail fence top was quilted by me. The fabrics are very rich browns, teals, and purples with gold highlights.

The second top is a very large one using the same fabrics. The setting is simple, but shows off the beautiful Asian-themed fabrics.

My long-arm friend Meloney finished it with a feathery stipple in the perfect teal-brown variegated thread.

Thank you ladies! I'm getting back into the sewing groove after my Christmas holiday.  Fudge and Sundae are my consulting quilt inspectors, of course, provided they don't sleep too much on the job ;)

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 400 so far! The Jan/Feb drive is going on now.  Check out the main post HERE if you want to get involved.

Linking to  Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Finished or Not Friday

What to do with a modest baby?

A friend of mine is expecting a new baby soon, and so far the little scamp has kept their bits covered during the ultrasounds. I suppose they are modest?

I started off to make a gender neutral baby quilt using my 60 degree triangle ruler and pulling a color scheme to match this Van Gogh fabric I've had a long time.

In the end, I decided that one was too boy-ish. So I made a little girl quilt, pulling colors from a southwestern flamingo fabric I've had a long time. I think I must have found it in a remnant bin?

I found a bunch of too-cute fabrics for the front and some fat quarters to make the backing.  Once the mystery baby makes their debut the other quilt will be sent to Jack's Basket to celebrate another beautiful baby.  I delivered the quilts, along with an addressed envelope for Jack's Basket, to the Grandma-to-be over Christmas so she can take them to the birth.

Over the holidays I had about 3 weeks of downtime. A great opportunity to be surrounded by family, friends, dogs, and babies. I drank a lot of coffee, slept late, took the dogs for long walks and read a whole bunch of books.  Now I'm back home and back to work and gradually getting back into the swing of sewing.  I hope your holidays were also restful and enjoyable and your new year is off to a good start :)

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 400 so far! The Jan/Feb drive is going on now.  Check out the main post HERE if you want to get involved.

Linking to  Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Finished or Not Friday

Love for the Chaplains

Today's post is in celebration of some key members of the Covered in Love team, hospital chaplains Perry and Robert.   While I normally focus on the quilt-making side of the charity (for obvious reasons) Perry and Robert have the emotionally fraught job of actually matching those quilts to families and delivering them.

The chaplains' patience, tact, empathy, and self possession never ceases to impress me.  When one of my co-workers died suddenly in a car wreck recently Robert brought this Granny's Square by Debbie out of our stash along with some sharpies. The light colored backing made a perfect way for staff to write messages, a tangible way to grieve. The quilt was later given to her mother.

I've had this wall hanging in progress for a while now, destined for Chaplain Robert's office.  It was part of the great cat-pee-drawer-incident so it finally got finished. I like how to fabrics are mostly floral, contrasting with the image of the cross which is traditionally somewhere somber and gory.   I'm told it's a great conversation starter for Covered in Love ;)

I lost quite a few friends toward the end of 2018.  Obviously I deal with the realities of life and death all the time. And while I think that might help me some, losing friends, and young ones at that, is always a shock. First a young lady I knew years ago during the time I was sailing.  She was only 21.

Me on the right, Josie on the left

Then my co-worker, whose birthday is almost the same as mine. A friend from my theater days I mentioned a couple months back, whose family received a quilt.  And right before Christmas an ex-boyfriend, and current friend, who had gotten two quilts from me before (here and here).

Nate, on the beach in Arcata

I hope your New Year has gotten off to a good start.  Here's to the New Year and to a less eventful 2019.

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 400 so far! The Jan/Feb drive is going on now.  Check out the main post HERE if you want to get involved.

Linking to  Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Finished or Not Friday