Quilting from the Heart

Judy from Arizona has been quilting tops for Covered in Love for a couple years now.  She's the kind of quilt who enjoys the actual quilting more than the piecing (I'm the opposite) so this has been a match made in heaven.

Judy takes her time and puts her heart into every top she quilts and boy, does she knock it out of the park! Every one of her quilts is a showpiece.

This mini, scrappy log cabin was sent in by Priscilla.  Each cabin is just under 5", the logs are 0.75" wide.  I was so impressed by the time and effort it that went into making all those tiny cabins, I decided to send it out to Arizona.

Judy went to town on this top with columns of feathers and narrow, straight line quilting.  

To top it off, I had a beautiful backing to match courtesy of Sandra.

The second quilt that came back from Judy was one I pieced from a WIP given to me a long time ago by DeeDee. 

The project had the makings of lots of little red flowers. I must have thought at first they were poinsettias, seeing that red and green, because I had it labeled for a long time as "Christmas WIP." 

Eventually I decided to call them tulips and set them in a "garden".  I thought Judy might have fun filling in all the blank space with free motioning :)

"Tip Toe Through the Tulips..." and past the frogs and birds and turtles.  The animals were pieced based on tutorials from the Elephant Parade QAL.

This one had a great backing too, more birds!

Every Covered in Love quilt is gifted to a family mourning the loss of a loved one. I'm so glad that so many quilters put their heart and soul into our quilts! Stay warm and Happy New Year!

If you'd like to join in with Covered in Love's mission you can learn more on the main page or check out the block drive.  The current Covered in Love block drive is a cozy patchwork interspersed with pieced blocks. It will run until the new year if you want to help out.  More info here!

Linking to  Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Crazy Mom Quilts and Finished or Not Friday

Susannah in the Fall, Part I

The first four Scrappy Susannah block quilts from Covered in Love's Sept/Oct block drive are done!

This block drive used a tutorial by Andy at A Bright Corner in a Fall color scheme and you all made it CiL's biggest block drive to date, both in number of quilters and blocks sent in.  I'm anticipating 13 finished quilts, so that would be our biggest set of quilts from a drive as well!

These first two were pieced and quilted by Kathy C., who I am fortunate enough to know in person!
She did a nice diagonal grid on both. I think the diagonal really sets off the design.  These finished at 60"x72" and Kathy found the perfect fall-colored binding in her stash and they are so cozy and perfect.

I worked a shift the other day and one of the house supervisors saw me and came over to talk about the quilts. She said on a night shift recently an ICU nurse called her and asked her to open the chaplain's office and get a quilt out for a dying patient.  Later she came by to check on the patient and family and said it looked very nice and was touching. I love hearing stories like that, it makes my heart smile :)

She asked the usual questions like, Do you make all the quilts? Who helps you? You don't know them in person? and Why do they want to make quilts for us?  It's hard to explain the internet quilting community to someone who hasn't experienced it! All I can say is, I have a lot of help, and they are awesome!

These next two quilts were pieced by me and quilted by Meloney from South Texas on her longarm. She did a pretty leaf design on the first on and a stipple-spiral on the second.

I ended up setting several of the quilts from this drive on point using this method. These quilts finish at something like 69" square and I love the look it creates.

There will be plenty more of these quilts to come, thanks to so many of you who participated in this block drive! I love this color scheme and I can't wait to get more of these cuddly quilts finished.

I hope you're all looking forward to a very Merry Christmas. Stay warm and enjoy your family and friends!

If you'd like to join in with Covered in Love's mission you can learn more on the main page or check out the block drive.  The current Covered in Love block drive is a cozy patchwork interspersed with pieced blocks. It will run until the new year if you want to help out.  More info here!

Linking to  Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Crazy Mom Quilts and Finished or Not Friday

From Canada, with Love

From no quilts to show last week to a quilting boom this week! First up are two pretty tops made by Jannette in Canada and quilted by my.  Jannette sent in 6 tops for Covered in Love a while ago so there will be more of her pretty quilts to come soon.

This very pretty jewel-toned quilt might be my favorite from the batch; I especially like the narrow border. It's about 55x70", a perfect size.

I quilted it with a stipple. Many of you have donated backing fabrics, so I haven't had to buy backings in quite a while. Thanks! Both these quilts got backings from a generous quilter named Sandra who must have a beautiful stash.

This second top of Jannette's could be a Christmas quilt, depending on the binding, backing, and quilting decisions. I chose to use non-holiday fabrics to make it more flexible.

Both these quilts got a solid black binding courtesy of Nicki who sent two large rolls of prepped binding.

I thought this grizzly bear fabric was a nice compliment to the green in the top and would be appreciated by a man.  It takes a village to keep CiL going, thanks to Jannette, Sandra, Nicki, and all the rest of you!

Moo kitty says, "Stay warm and sleep tight!"

If you'd like to join in with Covered in Love's mission you can learn more on the main page or check out the block drive.  The current Covered in Love block drive is a cozy patchwork interspersed with pieced blocks. It will run until the new year if you want to help out.  More info here!

Linking to  Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Crazy Mom Quilts and Finished or Not Friday

Racing Finishes

I'm on a roll this week.

Wednesday's post had my latest top, a jelly roll race, and today I have 2 more made by Theresa and quilted by me.

The first is this very pretty blue quilt with floral fabrics.  The second reminds me of picnics in summertime with its bright colors and daisies.

I quilted both with a stipple and they crinkled up nicely after a wash.  These are quilts number five and six from the box Theresa sent me for Covered in Love!

Meantime, work continues on assembling and quilting the blocks from the last block drive.  Rory has been quality testing the early finishes.

If you'd like to join in with Covered in Love's mission you can learn more on the main page or check out the block drive.  The current Covered in Love block drive is a cozy patchwork interspersed with pieced blocks. It will run until the new year if you want to help out.  More info here! 

Linking to  Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Crazy Mom Quilts and Finished or Not Friday

Cuddle Fest

Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers!  I've been busy sewing, trying to knock things off my "to-do" list. Restocking my stash of baby lovies for gifting has been on there for a while.

I always keep an eye out for flannel and minky-type fabrics in remnant bins to make these from.  I sew them together pillowcase style, turn right side out, and stitch over the edge. 

Some of them are big enough to use as blankets, but most are smaller. They're really meant to be used more as security blankets or "lovies" for a toddler.  I put a loop on each one so it can be clipped to a stroller or diaper bag.

I've got 11 freshly washed and very cuddly lovies ready to go now.  The kitties insisted on quality testing (prior to the wash).

Rey found herself a good spot amidst my "ready to be quilted" piles

A lot of the stitching I've been doing for Covered in Love this week is behind-the-scenes stuff, like cutting and assembling backings for tops.  Soon there will be a batch of new finishes. Meanwhile, Beryl sent in two pretty finished quilts!

I love them both! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I hope you're warm, well-fed, and surrounded by faaily tonight.

If you'd like to join in with Covered in Love's mission you can learn more on the main page or check out the block drive.  The current Covered in Love block drive is a cozy patchwork interspersed with pieced blocks. It will run until the new year if you want to help out.  More info here! 

Linking to  Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Crazy Mom Quilts and Finished or Not Friday

Oh My Stars! 9 Quilts!

The last three quilts from the July block drive are finished and it's time to wrap this one up!  We made 9 beautiful red, white, and blue star quilts to be gifted to grieving families through Covered in Love.

Here are the glamour shots of the last three quilts.  If you contributed blocks and don't see them in one of these check out the previous posts with the first six quilts here and here.

This block drive was a repeat of one from last year where we made five patriotic quilts. The chaplains have told me how much families loved those quilts, so I can't wait to hear how these are received.  These were taken up to the hospital today along with some others to make a total of 260 quilts donated!

Five of these star quilts were quilted by a wonderful local quilter, Kathy. I officially couldn't have done it without her-- or any of you!  Take a look at the map below of all the quilters who contributed.

I had a fun time taking quilt-y glamour shots of all nine quilts together the other day before they went up to the hospital.  Thanks to everyone who had helped Covered in Love to grow!

If you'd like to join in with Covered in Love's mission you can learn more on the main page or check out the block drive.  The current Covered in Love block drive is a cozy patchwork interspersed with pieced blocks. It will run until the new year if you want to help out.  More info here! 

Linking to  Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Crazy Mom Quilts and Finished or Not Friday

Pretty Pretty Quilts

I have some more pretty quilts of Theresa's to show this week.  She gave me two matching rail fence tops that are so pretty and soft and floral!

The only real difference between the two is the backings. Sandra has sent in some great cuts of fabric for backing and among them was this beautiful bird print with inspirational quotes.  For the other quilt I found a pretty yellow print.

The third quilt is so softly colored it's hard to make out the design in the photos. It's actually a split 9 patch with diamonds on point made from the darker value fabrics.

Theresa even included bindings to match many of her quilts.  In the closeups you can see all the pretty, small squares.

So far 4 of Theresa's tops have been quilted with many more to come.  I can't wait! 

I hope your week went well and happy weekend! Please enjoy this photo of the dragon in her cave :)

If you'd like to join in with Covered in Love's mission you can learn more on the main page or check out the block drive.  The current Covered in Love block drive is a cozy patchwork interspersed with pieced blocks. It will run until the new year if you want to help out.  More info here! 

Linking to  Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Crazy Mom Quilts and Finished or Not Friday