Merry Christmas / Happy New Year from CiL

Thanks to Priscilla for donating these tops to Covered in Love that I finished for this week's post.  I hope you all had a great Christmas and you've got some fun plans for New Year.

This large, beautiful, vintage-looking Birds in the Air quilt will be a real treasure to someone.

I found the perfect vintage train travel fabric among Sandra's donations for the backing.

Next, a very non-vintage disappearing nine patch in bright purple, blue, and neon green. 

I added some peacock fabric from Sandra to make it a bit wider.

And I found some more peacock themed fabrics for the backing, too.

Finally, this nine patch chain top with some great novelty fabrics.

I quilted all three of them with a medium stipple and they washed up warm and cozy.

Covered in Love had a great 2018, here's to an even better 2019!

Yep, more peacocks on the back!  If you want to participate in CiL's last block drive of the year it isn't too late. Check the information at the bottom of the post and get your blocks in within a couple weeks. Or wait a few days and the post for the January block drive will be up!

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 400 so far! The Nov/Dec 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

True North

It's rare these days that I have a personal quilt to share, but I'm going to have a few this Christmas!  This quilt was originally intended to be a present for Christmas 2017. Only one year late is practically on time by most quilter's standards!

The quilt is large, 80x100" approximately, which was necessary because the recipient is so tall.  I did flying geese set in a Dutchman's Puzzle pattern on point. At the edges the geese thin out and in one corner some geese are breaking free, becoming 3D, and flying away.  It's a similar design to this quilt, which ironically I named "Fly South".

The colors cross fade from dark purple to light and dark yellow to light.  Although it took me for-ev-er to get this quilt done I'm really glad I did it and really happy with how it came out.

I made the 3D geese with two methods so that they would get bigger, as if they're popping out more and more from the quilt, as they went along.

I found the perfect backing in 108" width to go along with the quilt.  I'm excited that this finally got done right in time for Christmas (if a year late). I hope you all have a warm and Merry Christmas surrounded by family and friends!

Kittens: Waffles and Leena have now gone to their forever homes, leaving Sundae and Fudge.  Sundae has her paws crossed that her potential adopters will work out soon!

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 400 so far! The Nov/Dec 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

CiL Quilt Stars

Happy weekend! Isn't this quilt nice? Dhia put it together from blocks the NURTURE circle quilters of do. Good Stitches made.  The peach/pink/grey/navy color scheme turned out fantastic.  The Nurture circle has been supporting Covered in Love for about 3 years now.

Next, Mina sent in another of her scrappy village quilt tops, fifth one this year. These quilts are great because there are so many surprises hiding in the scrappy fabrics.

I backed it with some bright fabrics from Sandra and finished it with a stipple.

Finally, Kathy sent along a finished scrap quilt of her own with the latest batch she quilted for CiL.

Just in time to join the last of the string quilts in a delivery to the hospital.

Thanks ladies, you are all stars in my book!

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 400 so far! The Nov/Dec 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 Quilts 2018 Wrap Up

At long last, the quilts from the Jan/Feb string block drive for Covered in Love are done! This was our largest block drive to date by far, producing 33 finished quilts, and I'm quite proud to get them all done in 2018!  I delivered them to the hospital in batches, so I merged the photo above to get all of them together. The season goes from spring to winter as you move left to right.

Blocks by Johanna, quilted by Angie

I took a front shot of each quilt as they were finished. The last 12 are here, and you can see the previous posts here and here.

Blocks by Pam, quilted by Angie

Huge thanks, of course, go to volunteer quilters Nancy K., Tammy S., Angie C., and Kathy C. who helped me get these done in a timely fashion.

Quilted by Angie

Big thanks as well to the many quilters who sent in blocks, backings and binding and spread the word about Covered in Love and our block drives.

Quilted by Angie

Most of the quilts from this drive ended up a generous 60"x70", a great size for covering up on the couch. There were also a few 50"x70", 60" square, and 70" square.

Pieced and quilted by Kathy

I made use of many of Sandra's donated backings with bold novelty prints of birds, flowers, cars, sports themes, and more.  Families often identify immediately with a themed fabric, whether it's on the back or hidden in the front.

Pieced and quilted by Kathy

Covered in Love has achieved many milestones this year: our largest block drive to date, becoming a 501(c)(3) non-profit, distributing more quilts than ever before.

Pieced and quilted by Tammy

Thanks to all of you who have made that possible! I wish I could share more stories with you about the impact your contributions have made, but hospital and legal privacy regulations make it difficult.

Pieced and quilted by Tammy

Suffice it to say that your donations make a very real difference in the lives of patients, families, and nurses on a daily basis.

pieced and quilted by me

Some of our quilts go to individuals who died quite suddenly, without warning or any time to cope with the idea. Some go to people who wasted away slowly over months or years until they were only a shell. Some go to people whose mind died long before, leaving their body to go on and on. Some go to people whose body gave out while their mind and memories remained as sharp as ever.

pieced and quilted by me

All these people have people who they leave behind, who care about them. This is something somewhat unexpected I have learned: even the most unpleasant, the most bitter, the meanest, most selfish, most dis-likeable people have someone cares about them.  They all leave behind someone who mourns them, notices the gap they left in the world. 

pieced and quilted by me

Our quilts provide a very meaningful keepsake for family members to remember their loved one by, and this year we reached more families than ever. 

pieced and quilted by me

Thank you to everyone, from all over, who contributed to make this block drive and others a success this year!

Obligatory kitten photo:

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 400 so far! The Nov/Dec 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

Spring, Fall, and Winter Quilts

Happy weekend! I have a set of three seasonally appropriate quilts for Covered in Love.  This top was made by Marianne, quilted by me, backed with fabric from Sandra and bound with binding from Holly! A true collaboration.

One of Sandra's beautiful backings

It's a large quilt, something like 60"x80" and so bright and Spring-y. I'm pretty sure these are Kaffe fabrics, looks like his colors.

Perfect binding, courtesy of Holly

Next, another of Marianne's large quilt tops in a perfect Fall colored palette. 

I love these cozy colors and the on point setting. I backed it with more of Sandra's fabric and quilted with a loose stipple.

Finally, this darker, Winter-y quilt top was sent in by Joy and quilted by Kathy.  I really like the ribbon candy border and the little flange border.

Joy's top, quilted by Kathy

It's not overtly Christmas-y, but the dark reds give it a cozy feel.  Thank you ALL, ladies, for contributing to CiL's success!

Kitten update: In a 180 turn from last week, sweet Leena-bean was the first of the babies to go to her new permanent home. Her new mom has promised me plenty of pictures as she grows up! 

Beautiful Leena

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 400 so far! The Nov/Dec 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