Last of the 2021 Strings (and Friends)

Happy Friday once again, quilt-y friends! At long last I have photos of that last quilts from the 2021 block drive. 

If you remember, the 2021 drive was the one where you all made string blocks that were foundation pieced directly onto the batting. 

With another block drive wrap up comes another map:

At the same time, I wanted to do a round-up of some more string quilts that have been completed.

Top by Pam C, quilted by Linda

These two tops were sent in by Pam C. some time ago and finally finished by Linda on her longarm.

Top by Pam C, quilted by Linda

I really liked this floral quilting design with the leaves and little circles of peas or seeds.

Julie W. made this top of string foundation pieced onto batting in the style of the 2021 drive.  I "quilted" it, but all I really did was add a backing and loosely stipple it on since the quilting was really already done. 

Top by Julie W, quilted by me

Lots of fin colors and patterns in these fabrics.

In the past few months I've tried to organize my stash of leftover blocks. Pam D. helped out by assembling and quilting these into a quilt on her longarm. These are leftovers from the 2020 String Drive.

Leftover string blocks, finished by Pam

Christy G. had also sent in some string tops. I quilted this small, bright quilt during a flurry of activity last month.

Top by Christy G, quilted by me

This string top, also by Christy G., is made of shirtings scraps from mens dress shirts. This one was also sent to Linda and she quilted it on her longarm. 

Top by Christy G, quilted by Linda

Shirting quilts are some of my very favorites and some of the most popular with families at the hospital, for obvious reason. 

Lastly, this string top was paper pieced by members of the NURTURE circle of do good stitches.  (It was exactly the wrong size to make it difficult to photograph).

NURTURE circle top, pieced by Briawna, quilted by me

Briawna assembled the top and I quilted it.  It was tempting to use rainbow binding, but I thought black would help frame it. 

I found the perfect backing fabric to go with the wild top! 

So there we go, ten string quilts ready to go! I hope you're having a good week, make time to treat yourself.  Fudge got some pretty new toenails! 

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 900 so far! During March/April we are supporting the Hands2Help Challenge instead of our normal block drive.  Check out the main post HERE if you want to get involved. 

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

Busy Becky

Happy weekend quilters! I've been busy tackling the donated tops here at headquarters. For some reason I seem to always get a bee in my bonnet this time of year. 

All of the tops in this post were donated by Becky M. during last year's H2H drive and quilted by me. You can see some of her other quilts by following this link and scrolling down. 

I am in the midst of a 3-week stent working in the hospital (normally I only work 2 weeks in a row) so I am more tired than usual.  It is also the end of the semester for our nursing students and they are enjoying clinical time in the hospital.

This is a fun part of the semester, as they get to apply everything they have learned to real life situations and start to get comfortable in a clinical setting for the first time.  

I am protective of my students (my own first level experience was traumatizing) and I've been fortunate the past 2 semesters to be on a unit full of nurses, techs, PT and OT folks, dieticians, and many more who embrace the students and are eager to help them learn.  

Last week the orthopedic device specialist set up a little lecture for them about different kinds of traction, splints, casts, and braces.  One of the students got an arm cast put on and removed and it was the highlight of her week!

In many ways my goal with the students is not very different from the goal of CiL.  The presence of certain people and small things can change the perception of an experience completely.  A memory can be tender or harsh, sour or sweet, depending on who was around and how you were treated at the time. 

These quilts will help, hopefully, to soften and warm the memory of losing a loved one.

Fudge-a-roo

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 900 so far! During March/April we are supporting the Hands2Help Challenge instead of our normal block drive.  Check out the main post HERE if you want to get involved. 

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

Geese Fly Home

Happy Friday! Four beautiful quilts sent in today by Linda S., starting with this stunning rainbow Flying Geese quilt. (Thanks for letting me know this is the Wild and Goosey patten by Bonnie Hunter.)

These geese are pieced with micro precision, finishing about 1" tall. You can see my hand for scale, I have quite small hands.

Next up, Linda sent this large string quilt in brown and blues.   

It reminds me a little bit of this one I made a long time ago. 

The first 2 quilts were machine quilted and these last 2 are hand quilted. Do you hand quilt? I can't imagine having the patience. And I think it would make my hands cramp.

Hand quilting is so pretty! I love this pattern in the sashing. 

It was hard to get a picture of the quilting in the squares, but each on has a bird quilted on to it. 

Lastly, this pretty hand quilted basket quilt. 

I saw on the news that there is a vote in Congress to end the switching back and forth with daylight savings time. What do you think?  It would be nice to not have the clock in my car be off by the hour for 6 months out of the year. 

Here's Sundae demonstrating the proper position for Spring Saturdays.  Have a good weekend! 

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 900 so far! During March/April we are supporting the Hands2Help Challenge instead of our normal block drive.  Check out the main post HERE if you want to get involved. 

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

Your donations, ready to go!

Hello, friends! Louise here to share another batch of quilts made from your donated orphan blocks, tops, and fabric. The variety of what passes through my hands on the way to comfort families never ceases to delight me! Let's jump right in with these neutral hexagons, made by Julie S. Isn't this soft and soothing? Julie's top was just a smidge small when it arrived. She had already bordered it with scrappy 3" neutral squares and rectangles, so I pulled a few more from my stash and just added another round to bring it up to size. 

I quilted it by filling each hexagon with either a wishbone or swirl motif. My husband calls the latter the Eye of Sauron! You can see that best in the darker caramel colored block above. The overall effect is just soft and subtle and I really enjoyed finishing this piece.

This bright checkerboard was pieced by Frances B, using mostly polka dot fabrics. She donated it as long strips plus extra color squares. I ripped a few seams to get all the rows the same length and added enough of my own white squares to fill in the few needed for a nice size. I quilted it with an eccentric orange peel that is super forgiving and fun to do.  Any color binding would have worked with all this color but I chose ha-cha-cha hot pink!

Aren't these scrappy hexagons fun? Priscilla pieced all these blocks, using a pattern called "Around the Block" by Bonnie Hunter. Each center square requires a partial seam. This donation also showed up as long rows and I only needed to sew them together into the finished top. Priscilla even carefully labeled each row, one through nine, left end and right end, although I think I might have reversed one. Oops!  And once again, I could have chosen any color for the binding, so bright blue stepped up to the plate. Gotta love scrappy!

This bright I-spy color block quilt was super fun to put together. It's made of 120 different little 6" blocks that were clearly pieced by the same person. Shout out in the comments if that person is you!  Each little block has a solid color background that surrounds either a friendship star, house or square. 

Most have fussy cut centers, so fun! I decided to group these darling little blocks into groups of four with the same or similar backgrounds, to give the quilt a color block look. Then I quilted each four block patch in a back-and-forth motif with thread in the same color as the solid. Lots of thread changes, but I enjoyed using so much of my thread collection. The quilting gives lots of yummy texture for super cuddliness!

The final two quilts were donated as fabric, not blocks or tops. It's a nice change of pace for me to sew some from start to finish sometimes. This one was a kit donated with all the fabric and the printed pattern called "Antelope Canyon." It was neat to see the secondary pattern of interlocking circles appear when the four quadrants were finally sewn together. It's a big 74"x74" beast, which is really the upper limit of what I can handle on my domestic sewing machine. 

I made this modified rail fence design from two donated jelly rolls. The blues and greens are from a Jo Morton fabric line, and I supplemented them with another jelly roll of creams for a masculine feeling quilt. 

I had a big chunk of dark brown with holly leaves for the back, and pieced it with a nice donated panel featuring game birds. I love putting panels on the backs of quilts as a little surprise for the recipient!

Do you have a favorite in this batch? Are you called more to the brights or the neutrals? Share your thoughts in the comments, and once again, thank you for the opportunity to work with so many lovely donations!

Pretty Quilts in the Sunshine

Happy Friday! I have another batch of finished quilts to show off. Have you noticed that we have more and more finished quilts coming in? The supplemented postage from Give Back Box is really helping I think.  

Halley O. sent in a box with an assortment of things, including these two quilts that just needed binding. I was able to quickly finish them. Both of them are really big! This second one is made with Amanda Jean Nyberg's "Good Neighbors" fabric line. 

This next green quilt was sent in by Wendy when she finished long-arming another quilt. Such a charming scrappy design! 

Next, Beth H. sent in 2 quilts.  This one has the cutest fabric with little forest animals.

The new hospital we've just expanded into has a NICU, so I will set this quilt aside for them. (Note: PLEASE don't flood me with baby quilts! I know they're fun and easy to make but 98% of our quilts still go to adults and I don't have room to store tons of baby quilts.)

Close up of the cute fabrics.  I really like the pattern on this second quilt. It's simple but compelling. Maybe a future block drive...

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 900 so far! During March/April we are supporting the Hands2Help Challenge instead of our normal block drive.  Check out the main post HERE if you want to get involved. 

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