Love 4 Longarmers

Jo's top quilted by Kay and Denise

Happy Friday quilters! I finally woke up at sunrise on one of my days off to take quilt pictures before the sun got blindingly bright and hot.  It's full summer already and it's only June! This post is full of quilt tops that were donated and sent to longarmers to be quilted, so they are mostly very large. 

Top by Karen M's friend, quilted by Kay and Denise

In this heat it's hard to imagine snuggling under a quilt, but I just delivered another 20 the one of the hospitals. The chaplains all said thank you and how much the quilts are appreciated by families. 

I'm taking my latest batch of nursing students to the hospital tomorrow for the first time, so they are all anxious! I was excited recently to hear from a former student who had a very rough semester during her first level.  

Top by Kathy B. quilted by Mel

One thing we see fairly often is students who don't want to be/aren't meant to be nurses but are pursuing it for various reasons (family pressure, they never imagined doing anything else, etc.)  By the time they get into nursing school they're invested so much toward that goal that it's very very difficult for them let go and change majors even if it's obvious that would be the better choice.  

Top by Priscilla, quilted by Mel

We try to support them through that realization and encourage them to make a positive change.  Nursing isn't the end-all-be-all of careers! But I remember how hard it felt to make big decisions as a 20-year-old.   

Top by Amy A., quilted by Wendy

Anyway, this student of mine had been pressured into nursing by her family and was suffering from incredibly difficult coursework in a field she didn't love.  She was one of the sweetest students I've had in a long time and had such a tender, kind heart.

Top by Erin, quilted by Wendy

She contacted me for a reference and a year later she's changed majors and is doing much better! It's always a joy to see my former students succeeding, but especially so when they struggled.

Hope your 4th of July is great! The next block drive will be coming up ASAP. 

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 1000 so far! The May/June block drive is live 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

Quilter Practice

Happy weekend! It's nice and cool here and I have some great big cozy quilts. You may recall that a little while ago I had a large split nine quilt from Priscilla that was finished off by Denies and Kay. Denies & Kay recently purchased a long arm and volunteered to finish some CiL quilts as they learn their new machine. It's a mutually beneficial exchange!

 

Priscilla also made this large (61"x81") patriotic quilt which Denise and Kay quilted with Baptist fans. I really like this simple design with the strings and the HSTs in the corner. I've thought about it for a CiL drive before.  

Edit: The pattern is here at The Colorful Fabriholic, it was a QOV by Alycia.

Amy A. sent in this blue and green nine patch that Denise and Kay quilted with a swirly motif.  They also provided backing fabric for several of the quilts and I really like this rainbow one. 

Donna sent in this beautiful and huge (67x90") blue zigzag quilt.

This one got my favorite quilting of all, rippling water lines. 

Thank you, ladies! We are happy to give you "practice" tops anytime!

Fudge-shine

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

Rounding up the Strays

Happy weekend friends, I hope everyone is doing well! I had a very relaxing 2 weeks off and now I'm back to the hospital grind. School has started again and I have a new group of anxious future nurses to warp *ahem* I mean teach.

Pam recently took on my stash of leftover string blocks from the past 5 years of January drives.  This quilt is made of the 12.5" blocks. There are several different designs, but they still go together really well.

These leftover string blocks from a pre-2019 string block drive were assembled and quilted by Pam too. Many of these blocks came from Karen M and Christy G. Thank you Pam! Clearing out these lingering old blocks is so satisfying.

Priscilla sent in this HUGE top a while back with really scrappy blocks based on the 2019 Fall split nine block drive.  This top measures something like 100"+ x 90", so I took the opportunity of have it quilted by Denise and Kay. The ladies recently acquired a long arm and needed some quilts to learn on before taking customer quilts. They did a great job!

This is the memorial at my work for our hospital employees lost of Covid. Unfortunately it will probably continue to grow.  Hug you loved ones close and get vaccinated! You might save your own life or someone else's. 

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