Christine's Quilts

Late post going up today, sorry about that! I had to be up super early the past 2 days with my nursing students for their first clinical days and Friday snuck up on me.
 

These 6 quilt tops came to me from Christine in Florida for Covered in Love and I finished them recently.

Christine sent me all of her tops kitted up with backings and binding to match, perfectly ready to go!

This scrappy top, above, was the one that became my inspiration for my scrap buster string top. You can see the tutorial I uploaded for that here.

I really loved these two large, earthy colored batik quilts.  These 6 quilts already went to the hospital and will be finding their forever homes soon. 

Further down the page there's another quilt with partial seams made with beautiful Christmas fabrics.  While I was delivering this last batch Chaplain Perry told me a sweet story.

Months back we had sent up a Christmas quilt. I remember writing on here about how I hoped it would wind up with the perfect family.  Perry said they held on to it for quite a while before finally taking it to a family, kind of on impulse. 

The family was thrilled! And told them how the patient had loved Christmas and always hosted it at her house for her large family.  We continue to be amazed how the perfect quilt seems to find its way to each family!

Love these fabrics!

Happy weekend and Stay Warm!  You can look for the next blog drive post Sunday or Monday. 

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 500 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

String Scrap Buster {Tutorial}

(Edited to add: See the finished quilts here)

Seems like I mostly only make Finish posts these days, but I have something different for once!  Every January I get the bug to clean out my scraps, organize them and make something.  My strings (long narrow strips) I cut down to either 2.5" or 1.5" wide.  You can look back at previous projects at this link (this post will appear on top; scroll down past it.)  This design was inspired by a top that Christine from FL sent in.  The way I made it produces 2 blocks, which can yield 2 different quilts.

I started off this this loooooong strip of scraps 4" wide.

And sewed white/low volume 1.5" strips to both sides.

As I added strips to the sides I carefully alternated directions to avoid warping and ironed after each addition.

Next I started adding 2.5" strips to the sides.

I decided to add (3) 2.5" strips to each side because that made the final panel have a total width of 18".

My target width was 18" because that was just enough to cut 12.5" blocks on point.

The 12.5" blocks with the "railroad tracks" down the middle are the primary block and will make the design you see at the top of the page.  I had enough to make a 48"x60" top, which I'll add borders to.  You do have to be very careful because these are nothing but 200% bias edges.  You have to be very careful and mindful of that when handling and sewing them.

The secondary blocks are triangular and you get 2 per primary block.  These can be put together in 2 ways, either 2 of them back to back or 4 of them point to point. 

The design below is made from the first option, combining 2 triangles into one block.  You can see it's basically the inverse of the primary block, with the big strips down the middle instead of the narrow ones.

This (below) is the design you get from combining 4 triangles into one block. It make the same design but the strips appear horizontal and vertical instead of diagonal. The other big advantage of this one is that it sews up the bias edges inside the block.

I decided to go for the second option and had enough to make a top 54" square with a block leftover. I'll be adding more borders to it as well.

If you make anything with this tutorial please send me a picture! Obviously I'm not the first person to come up with this idea, I googled and found this blogger who did the same thing making one block at a time instead of a big panel.  I did come up with this technique on my own though, and I hope some of you will enjoy it and find it helpful!

Kathy, Kathy, Karen, and Nettie :)

Happy weekend, quilters! These three finished quilts for Covered in Love came back from quilter Kathy recently.  She did a great job with these tops! This bright and black and white top came from Kathy B., so it was made by team Kathy & Kathy :)

This top is another of Nettie's beautiful scrap tops. She must have a real treasure trove of Heather Ross fabrics, based on all the cute scraps in her tops.

And this soft pink beauty came from Karen. 

The top was a tad narrow so I found the perfect border fabric in my donations to widen it.

I love the rhythm to the ladies' names who cooperated on this weeks' batch: Kathy, Kathy, Karen and Nettie.  Quilting heroes!

:)

 
Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 500 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

Sweet Valentines Quilts

Happy weekend and Happy Valentines Day to those of you who celebrate!  I'm celebrating a huge quilt delivery to the hospital this week for Covered in Love.  On Tuesday I took up 48 quilts!

This round of donations included a lot of donated tops that I finished off, including these three from Julie W. in my Nurture Circle group.

This one with the soft colors and sweet, small prints is my favorite, in case you couldn't tell.

Next up, a very different bright and scrappy quilt.  I like how the alternating blocks of quarter square triangles make the design look so much more complex.

Finally, stacked coins on a light blue fabric.  I apologize for the blurry photos.  I had the get the photos taken in order the get these quilts in with this delivery and it won't. stop. raining.  My first time experimenting with an indoor photo set up in the new house.

Chaplain Perry suggested maybe we should pass out a kitten or two with each quilt, as well, for maximum cuteness.  I think that would make a pretty effective bereavement kit, don't you?

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 500 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

Some Fall Colors in the Winters

Hello and happy weekend quilters! Texas is having its usual insane winter weather. 80 degree days and snow in the same week. I hope things are going well wherever you are.  In memory of my favorite, albeit the most fleeting season, here are a batch of Fall colored quilts.

Teresa sent me this Fall top with the leaves. I added borders and Kathy quilted it.  I had the perfect backing to go with it, too.

Pam C. sent in 2 matching crazy blocks quilts with green sashing and Kathy quilted them as well.

I love some of the surprises in the corner stones, like this little turkey!

Finally, Priscilla sent in this little top below, a really pretty old fashioned style scrap quilt.  I added one more border and quilted it.  Thanks everybody who helped out with these!

I've been on a mission this week to get tops quilted. These two have been such big helpers...

 
Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 500 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