Christmas Eve Quilts

Some spring-y quilts for the cold Christmas eve!  I'm making the rounds visiting family, Christmas is my favorite!

Only two quilts today, these were both quilted by Linda. I wanted to show some closeups of the quilting because it's brilliant.   This beautiful batik top came from Christine B, it's butterfly themed.  Look at the lower left corner where the sun is hitting to see the true colors of the border.

There was an additional outer border with large rainbow batik butterflies, but we decided since it made the quilt so large to save that and make a second quilt. So stay tuned for that!

Picture of the quilting from the back, so you can see it. I thought this motif was perfect!

This sampler quilt came from Marianne and Linda decided to do custom quilting on it with her computerized long arm. 

She did this by choosing complimentary designs for each area and programming them over each small section of the quilt.  Honestly it's stunning, totally a work of art.  

I really love this. Obviously some quilters can freehand beautiful designs, some of you may have been around long enough to remember when Judy used to do work on CiL quilts, and others use acrylic rulers. I admire those folks, but I can't do either of those things. I'm queen of the stipple.  

This is a kind of detailed quilting that I can relate to because it's more about math and scaling and computer programming than artistic ability.  It's still creative and requires skill and thought, but it feels approachable, like something I might be able to do one day.

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 800 so far! The September/October drive is running 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

Great Big Quilts

Some big cozy quilts this week from the long armers! Wendy quilted this one that Sherrill pieced. Perfect for the falling leaves and fall weather.

These colors are similar to the ones in our latest drive and I am loving how those blocks are looking at they come in. 

Priscilla pieced this pastel chain top and Pam quilted it.

And this blue and yellow top was pieced by Jeanine and quilted by Pam. 

Pam has an uncanny knack for perfectly flat, smooth bindings. I'm terribly impressed.

Her bindings are so smooth I had a hard time getting my gravity clamps to hold onto the quilts.

Marianne made this pretty patchwork top and Linda quilted it with flowers. 

And lastly, team Pam and Pam. This top was pieced by Pam C and quilted by Pam M.

Beautiful color combo!

Fudge helping to unpack a box of quilts.

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 800 so far! The September/October drive is running 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

So Tired

This great big top is a beautiful, clever mix of pieced blocks and panels by Marianne, long arm quilted by Wendy.  So cheerful!

Happy Friday everyone, I hope you're all well.  To be honest I'm struggling. I'm just wrapping up two weeks of work at the hospital and will have some time off. We're neck deep in another Covid surge here in Texas and it all seems to pointless, knowing that we have safe and effective vaccines that have been available for EIGHT MONTHS.  

Soft pastel stars by Marianne, quilted by Pam

Over 95% of our Covid admissions are unvaccinated and over 99.5% of deaths.  Most of them don't have some crazy conspiracy theory, they just didn't get around to getting vaccinate, didn't think it was important, didn't think it would happen to them.  None of them think it will happen to them.  Most of them are shocked to find out that there is no effective treatment for Covid.  There are things that we do, but not a single one has been shown conclusively to actually improve survival or shorten hospitalization. We try to keep you alive long enough for your body to fight it off, that's it.

Another one of Christy's lovely shirtings tops, quilted by Ray.

I'm just so tired of giving bad news.  I'm tired of hearing nonsense about the vaccine and Covid from Karen on Facebook.  I'm tired of hearing people's last words.  Whereas before it was hard but it felt like we were working toward something, now it feels pointless. We had an opportunity to stamp this out and get it under control and we blew it over politics.

Love the big flowers Ray chose to quilt, sort of look like hibiscus. I had a tropical batik fabric to match that I used to bind the quilt.

I'm grateful to have a work arrangement that allows me to have time off.  Many of the doctors at the hospital are working practically around the clock. And fortunately I have snuggly, furry people at home who have no idea what Covid means.

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 800 so far! The July/August drive is running 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

UFO Rehab Graduates

Happy weekend, quilters! And how the heck did June get here already??  I've got more donated tops finished into quilts to show.  With these delivered up to the hospital recently CiL pushed up to 831 total quilts!

Linda B. sent in this plus top with the interesting pattern.

This really bright brick top came from Linda H.

This southwestern log cabin top that mixes solids with a novelty-print of peppers and onions was sent in by Barb H.

Proof that if you hang onto a backing fabric long enough (on the right), the perfect top will come along.

I had to get a close up of the mini log cabin cornerstones. 

Marianne K sent in this soft, pretty top with butterflies. I had a beautiful fabric that looked like Monet's water lilies to use on the back.

This charm pack quilt with coffee-themed fabrics came from Johanna.

I got these pictures several weeks ago with a sheet stretched out on the ground under a tree.  The same spot is a complete mud pit right now, so I'm praying for dry sunny weather so I can get some pictures again.

Katie D sent in this little green top with backing.

Tina C sent in this cool modern sampler top in solid colors. 

Each of the eight quilts in today's post was an "only child". Meaning that, at least, for now I only had one from that quilter finished. 

Last but certainly not least! Mary O sent in these friendship stars in the bright blue and red plaid.

Whew! 8 awesome quilts! I am still in quilt clearing-house mode.  As I said, we've reached 831 quilts. That count marks how many have been transported up to the hospital. There are actually many more finished here which will be in the next drop off.  The chaplains gave away several last week and we got some sweet notes. I post notes online when I have permission, and whenever I can connect a note or story to a specific quilter I make sure to share it with them. 

Thank you to all of you for all your help! 

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 800 so far! During May/June Tammy is hosting our block drive on her blog.  Check out the main post HERE if you want to get involved. 

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

Saltwater Quilts

Hello quilters :)  These three quilts came from Louise, who continues to assemble donated UFO and orphan blocks for Covered in Love from her sewing room on her floating home.  If you haven't seen her series on how she manages to quilt on a boat you definitely should!

Louise posted about these three quilts here.  This first one was made with "vintage" bits sent in by Priscilla.

This one is a mix of orphan blocks I sent her and some blocks from an online guild.  I love the quilting style Louise used on it!

You should go read Louise's post to hear more about each quilt. The only thing I really contributed was to get some outdoor pictures of them.

I'm reasonably certain that this top originally came from Marianne K.  It was a very small top made from batik fabrics and at some point I had put another border around it.  (There's a picture on Louise's blog).  Louise recognized that everything was too busy and the cool houses and palm trees were getting lost, so she split the top apart and put it back together like this.

Lovely quilting with the calming words in the border.  Louise is pretty much my hero!

Every night when I finish my shower there are cat paws sticking under the bathroom door, impatiently waiting for me to open it. While I brush my teeth and get ready for bed they inspect the wet shower and do their best the take apart the bathroom.  The other night... no cats.  I finished my entire bed room routine and no cats appeared.   I went looking for them, worried they got themselves trapped somehow and found them like this. I think they finally figured out the heated bed I bought them :)

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 700 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