Red, White, and Blue Quilts Delivered

Linda and I (but let's be honest, mostly Linda) are still chugging away on last year's RWB blocks.  We've just got a few quilts left to go from these, which as many of you know are perennial favorites at the hospital. 

These went up with a delivery last Friday while I there with my first level students.  In order to make the drop off work Chaplain Perry actually had to take my keys and go load the quilts from my car into his since I'm not allowed to leave the building while my students are there. So kudos to him. This brings our total to 781!

I love teaching nursing school. I love first level especially because of the rapid changes. The students come in as regular college kids and end the semester as baby nurses.  It's like watching a baby go from rolling over to crawling to walking.  

One of my biggest goals for them is to learn to Talk. To. Patients. And get comfortable interacting with people. You wouldn't believe how many 19 and 20 year olds don't have much experience talking to adults outside their own age range. We've actually had to drop students before and send them to work in some kind of customer service job for a year (ie McDonalds cashier) before trying again.

Of course some of them take to this better than others.  I was proud of one student this week, our first week out of the lab, who spotted a military tattoo and immediately engaged with the patient, asking what branch he was in and talking about her own family's military service.  

There are so many veterans and family members of veterans in the hospital, and although they don't universally want to talk about their service it can be a great way to connect. As is, of course, these patriotic quilts.  The chaplains always describe these as some of the most cherished and well received quilts CiL gives out.   

Same quilt as above, just flipped over

My students all survived their first hospital day, and most of them even enjoyed it! I hope your own week went well and Spring is springing wherever you are!

Future nurses of America

 Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 700 so far! During March/April we are supporting the Hands2Help Challenge instead of our normal block drive.  Check out the main post HERE if you want to get involved. 

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

First Strings of the Year

I decided to go ahead and get working on the string blocks during our snow storm.  These are the string blocks foundation pieced onto batting that CiL did for our Jan/Feb drive.   You can see my tutorial on how I am assembling and "quilting" them here. 

I'm having a lot of fun picking our color groups and playing with  patterns. The top quilt is pink, purple, and yellow moving in a diagonal across the quilt.  

Next is blue, aqua, and green color blocks.  I've decided it looks best when I have all the stripes slanting the same direction. 

I tried to get pictures of the diagonal wavy quilting I did through the blocks, but it's hard to see. You can just see it on the upper right against the navy blue fabric.  

I've gotten lots of blue blocks already so I did a color fade on this one. Lastly, the one I showed from the tutorial, is an orange and red checkerboard with horizontal quilting lines through the blocks.

They're fun to make and easy because the quilting step is basically already done! Sundae is also enjoying these pre-padded blocks. She's an expert at keeping them from flying away ;)

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 700 so far! During March/April we are supporting the Hands2Help Challenge instead of our normal block drive.  Check out the main post HERE if you want to get involved. 

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

Strings 2020 Wrap Up

Yes, just short of a year from it's kick off the 2020 string block drive is wrapping up. Thanks to the many of you who participated in this drive, like Beth T. who made the top above and Kathy C. who quilted it!

I love the gingerbread man backing this quilt! The rest of these were assembled by a combination of Pam M. and me and quilted by me.

The seven quilts here plus those previously posted bring us to a total of 23 out of an expected 24 from this drive. There is still one out in the world with a volunteer quilter, but all the ones I was responsible for are done and I'm feeling accomplished!  When #24 comes in I will post it so we can all enjoy it :)

As you know if you have been here a while, I have been experimenting with our traditional string block design over the past few years.  This design grew on me but it's not one of my favorites compared to the ones we've done before.

I do like the variety of layouts that can be made.  Strings are a never ending source of ideas!

For January I'm thinking about going back to basics with a slight twist, you'll just have to wait and see!

Here are most of the quilts in their "family portrait." They have since been delivered to the hospital, helping to push CiL past 700 quilts.

And here is the block drive By The Numbers for those of you who I know enjoy that. Merry Christmas everyone!

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

A Homemade Quilt

Welcome to the weekend, quilters, and happy holiday season! Just one quilt to show today. Officially, this is the first finish from this summer's red, white and blue block drive.  It's a "bonus quilt" I decided to finish with the patriotic batch since it matched so well. (Thank you to Alycia who commented to let me know this pattern came from a mystery quilt "A8" she ran in 2018!)

Christy sent in the top a while back. There are a mix of shirtings and quilting fabrics in it and it measures a generous 66"x78" or there abouts. If you want to see more of Christy's beautiful shirtings tops for CiL click here and scroll down.

I got the rare honor of being able to pick this one out and gift it. I recently caught up with a friend and learned that, sadly, her father passed this summer. It sounds like due to Covid they fell through the cracks in our normal distribution system at that time. 

I picked this quilt because I thought she would appreciate the shirtings in the top, and I backed it with this striped fabric which was formerly curtains in Linda's grandson's room.  Binding from Gail, I think. I love how personal it all feels. Since I was mailing it personally I was able to write a card and tell the new owner all about the provenance of her quilt and the people who helped make it. 

She wishes to send her greatest thanks to you all and let you know how much it means to know that people care about her loss and how difficult this time has been. Especially going into the holidays.  She is so incredibly grateful for your efforts.

Much love, from all of us.

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

Strings and Reflection

Another week and another batch of string quilts! These six were quilted by me, but some of them were pieced by Pam. She helped out by piecing two great big boxes of blocks I sent her into 8 tops and sending them back. Great big thanks to Pam, she did a lovely job of piecing and pressing nice flat seams!

Also obviously thanks to those who sent in cool backing fabrics for these quilts. Patients and families love to look at the backs and often connect to them. 

There have been quite a few of these string quilts so far, and there will be more, so instead of talking about them I wanted to talk about something - or rather someone - that was on my mind lately.

I was fortunate to have several exceptional teachers in my life. Sometimes I really recognized it at the time and sometimes it wasn't obvious until later, looking back.  My elementary art teacher from 1st-6th grade was a fabulous artist in her own right and also a wonderful teacher.

Even twenty years later I remember so many things that I learned in her class.  I think her approach to art and her passion influenced my own creativity and curiosity greatly.

Just one of example of how she taught, our unit on weaving didn't start with some yarn and a loom. It started with meeting her Angora Rabbits.  She brought fresh wool and cotton, too, but the bunnies came to class. She showed us how she sheared them, then we cleaned their fur and aligned it by brushing between two big wire paddle brushes. We tried spinning it into yarn on a drop spindle and a spinning wheel, then we dyed it.  And then we got out the looms and the Walmart yarn, because no one in their right mind wastes Angora on 3rd graders!

And that was just one thing. Before we did collages we learned to make our own paper.  And then from the paper we branched into papyrus and vellum and book binding. When we did clay we didn't just make ash trays, we learned how the Native Americans dug clay out of the ground and we made Storyteller Dolls and pinch pots.

Can you imagine how much work and mess that was with 15 or 20 little kids? And how little it must have seemed like we were getting out of it? But I remember the details of so much she taught me. We did do the usual arts as well, I definitely remember perspective drawing, pointillism and impressionism. I probably remember them less because even then I was terrible at drawing and painting.  But she never let art stop at traditional lines, art was any kind of visual expression, including crafts or handiworks.

I don't think I ever really realized how much that one teacher inspired my passion for all things creative, and for going beyond the surface.  She showed how art and creativity can tie together history and math and science.

I had an equally passionate and innovative science teacher throughout high school who I can largely credit for the reason I'm in healthcare today.  I realize that these women also shaped the teaching style I try to bring to my nursing students, and I'm really just lucky to have had them.  Since it's been on my mind lately I'm going to write them this week. I hope that if you had a special teacher in your life you can thank them, too.

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 600 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

Winter Blues Wrap Up

Almost twelve months later, the Winter Blues quilts from the Nov/Dec 2019 block drive are all done! (Hey, it's less than a year, right?)

All 5 of the quilts in this post were tops made by Gail C. and quilted by me.

I love Gail's beautiful, intricate piecing style and her eye for color. Bonus, she's a local to east Texas!

She usually sends several tops kitted up with backing and binding for each drive we do. 

In case you missed it, Covered in Love is rapidly approaching the 700 quilt landmark.  I'm amazed how many people who have been donating since the very beginning are still here and how many new people continue to hear about CiL and join in!

Today I'm really missing the weather I had to take these pictures! It's been cold and drizzly for 3 days now.  That's unpleasant enough on it's own, but I also have a stack of quilts I need to photograph!

In order to keep clean quilts cat-hair free they're stored in the dryer after laundering. Once I have a few I move them to a "closet" (box) in the back of my car. After photos they go to the extra bedroom in my parents house until there are enough for delivery.  A week or two of bad weather can result in quilts building up everywhere.

Speaking of quilt management in small spaces, Louise is doing a series on her blog about quilting on her boat, which included a wonderful video tour. You should go see it if you haven't!

Here are 18 of the 20 finished quilts from this drive all lined up for a family photo! Love this picture!! I used to do these with all the drives but it got harder to do as the drives got larger and took longer to wrap up.

Here's the "by the numbers" for this drive.  The Sept/Oct drive is almost over, but there's still time to send in blocks if you want to.  The Nov/Dec drive will be up over the weekend, so keep and eye out if you are anxious for a new block design :)

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 600 so far! The Sept/Oct 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