Fiddlesticks Wrap Up

November and a new blocks drive, how time flies! There aren't many things that I find more satisfying than wrapping up a block drive. 

We've just finished off the last of the quilts from last Sept/Oct's Fiddlesticks drive. These first 4 were assembled by Pam and quilted by Linda. 

The quilting design above with the zig-zag circles is one of my favorites. And I love the color layout on the quilt below. Especially from a distance, it looks awesome.

Sort of feathered shell quilting on this one. 

Another really pretty design with pastels on a diagonal. 

Little flowers in the quilting and a scrappy pink binding.

This top came from Edna. I has a cool textured blue background. I found a nice multicolor backing and quilted it with a stipple. 

This top came from Beth T, also with textured blues.  The backing for it was a flannel so it was a bit of a pain to quilt but it's extra cuddly. 

Lastly, this top with some beautiful batiks came from Holly L on a textured yellow fabric (love those textured backgrounds!)

All together the Fiddlesticks drive made 19 beautiful and unique quilts!

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

More Fiddlesticks Quilts

Welcome back to the rainbow forest! That's what I think when I see the quilt above. These are Fiddlesticks quilts 6-12 from last Fall's block drive. 

The first 2 quilts were pieced and quilted by Pam. She has a great knack for color coordinating the blocks. 

These next four quilts were quilted by Linda. Two were pieced by Pam and two by Linda.  

I would not have made it through the past year without these two ladies and others who have taken on quilting duties to help with the block drives!

You can see previous quilts from this drive here. Speaking of block drives, this year's Sept-Oct drive is just up. 

I decided we would return to an old block drive in a new color scheme. You can check out the block drive post here. 

Fingers crossed that Fall and cooler weather comes soon!

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

Fiddlesticks Quilts 1.5

Hello quilters! I hope your July 4th weekend was fun and your pets weren't too traumatized! I have 5 quilts to show you from last Fall's Fiddlesticks block drive. These are the first quilts finished from the block drive donations, previously I posted and showed you the quilt that Linda D. made, which you can see here.

These first two quilts were assembled and quilted by Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework back in February.  You can see her post about them with more pictures here and here. 

These next three were assembled and quilted by Pam M. from Arizona who has been lending her time and talents lately to help.  As you can see, Fudge lent his time and talents as well...

A few weeks ago in this post I shared about some of my favorite Youtube channels with you and I want to tell you about another one I rediscovered recently.  I spent time watching Dianxi Xiaoge's channel a few years ago but recently started watching again. 

She's is a young lady from the Yunnan Province, which is in Southern China near Tibet and Myanmar.  The channel is mostly about traditional cooking and ways of life. Watch with closed captions because it's not in English, but mostly it's without talking and set to music anyway.  It's definitely very relaxing.

The area she lives in stunningly beautiful and rural. It's mountainous with streams and forests and ancient architecture. Families live in hundred-year-old multigenerational homes and share communal meals.  The methods of cooking are a blend of modern (I've seen her use a blender) and medieval (all cooking is over fire). Without refrigeration everything that needs to be preserved is pickled, fermented, cured, or dried.  It's a window into a way of life that has changed very little in hundreds of years.  She also has this hilarious giant dog that follows her around :)

I picked out this video about making Tofu as a good introduction to her channel if you want to try it.  (I think what they are translating as Dry Tofu is what we call Firm Tofu, as opposed to Silken).

PS - I'm aware of the sociopolitical issues in China and I know that this channel is only on Youtube because the Chinese government allows it and considers it good publicity.  I know that these people have electricity and a TV and obviously nice camera equipment and a computer for editing.  I just enjoy the channel and take it for what it's worth and as historical lifestyle and cooking.

A house of cards made from alcohol swabs.  Clearly my nursing students find my lectures very engaging! (Just kidding, this was during a break.)

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

Fiddlesticks & Sunflowers Preview

Linda has been a busy bee last year! For the last few drives she finished and sent in completed quilts that I wanted to show you.  This first one is her version of the Fiddlesticks drive, completed with microstippling. 

I find this kind of quilting so impressive! I know I could never have the patience, but I love the texture it produces. 

 

I really love the backing fabric she found to use with for the quilt as well. I haven't started working on the Fiddlesticks block drive quilts yet, still getting the red, white, and blue ones done. But based on this I'm really looking forward to getting them done!

Next, this is Linda's Sunflower quilt. I have started to gradually assemble these blocks into tops since it looks like there will only be about 4 or 5, so I can complete them quickly. 

Nov/Dec is always the smallest block drive due to all the other things people have going on at that time of the year, so I often choose a block that I (selfishly) really like, but I know will probably be less popular for whatever reason.

I know this block had little fiddly pieces and the slants that made it more difficult than usually, but it does look wonderful once it's together!  

Help! I'm being smothered by their affection.  

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 700 so far! The Jan/Feb 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

Sept/Oct Covered in Love Block Drive

Hello quilters! We made it to September, school is starting back, and the new normal or the next normal or whatever we're call this is starting to feel a little bit more, well, normal.  

Scrap quilt step 1: Organization (throw back photo to Rory)

 

For the Covered in Love block drive for the months of September and October we are following a tutorial on someone else's site with a few important changes listed below.  

The block is here on Zippy Quilts; it's called Fiddlesticks!  

• our blocks will be bigger, so cut your colored squares to 14" and a trim your final blocks to 12.5"
• make your scrappy strip sets between approx. 1" to 2.5" wide
• each block should have at least 3 inset strips, but can have more
• for your background colors try to stick to solids or textured solids and within the normal spectrum (no neons, etc)

Caveat: It was pointed out to me (thank you Linda!) that this pattern bears a strong resemblance to Crazy Mom Quilt's Bright Birches pattern she wrote in 2012. I don't think that Zippy Quilts intended to copy her pattern, obviously more than one person can have the same idea independently at different times.  We aren't selling these quilts but are instead donating them. That all being said, if you want to support the most original pattern designer (that we know of) please do buy a copy of Amanda Jean Nyberg's pattern.

Covered in Love makes quilts to cover patients who pass away at a Texas hospital and comfort the families.  Anyone can contribute to these drives and make as few blocks or as many as they like. The current drive runs September through October, so blocks should be in the mail by the end of October.  Email CoveredinLoveTx@gmail.com if you need the address to mail blocks.