Flock {Bloggers' Quilt Festival Fal 2015}

It's the Bloggers' Quilt Festival and I'm thrilled to have an excuse to show this quilt off again since it's one of my favorites.  Flock!

This was the product of my first monthly block drive for Covered in Love.  I asked for volunteers to make 12" flying geese blocks within a certain color scheme and this was the lovely result.

I quilted Flock with wavy lines using my FMQ foot.

Thank you to everyone who continues to support Covered in Love. If you would like to get involved you can find details on the main page or check out the latest monthly block drive here.

I'm entering this quilt in the Large Quilt category in the festival. You can see my other entry into the scrappy quilt category here.

Stats:
Size: 69" square
Pieced by myself and volunteers for Covered in Love
Quilted by myself on my home machine
Donated to Covered in Love

Flock: August's Block Drive Quilt

If you remember, back at the end of July I started asking for people to send in blocks each month. August's block was a flying geese block in browns and aquas and you guys responded in force!

I decided to sash the blocks with a Moda solid called "fog" in a narrow width.  I'm really impressed with how well all the blocks go together considering they were sent in by so many different people.

I quilted the Flock quilt with my FMQ foot in waving lines, which I think creates a nice sense of movement.

The quilt ended up nice and large, 72" square!  I bound it with a black/white crossweave fabric.

Thank you to everyone who has sent in blocks the last couple months!  If you want to contribute to Covered in Love in any form you can check out the main page.  If you want to participate in the block drive this month's post is up here, we're making string blocks!

Linking to Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it Friday.

WIP Wednesday: Lots Going On

This sock monkey quilt has been in progress for at least a couple years for a friend of mine. Seems like I pull it out about every 6 months or so, look at it, and end up not finishing it. I do really like the sort of randomness. Maybe this will be the time it finishes...

The flying geese blocks are coming in, thank you to Valerie and Tish for their blocks :) If anyone else wants to contribute it's not too late!

Thanks to my friend Libby who sent in this top for Covered in Love. Just need to add some borders and it will be ready to go.

Finally, one of my quilts is going to its new home. The scrappy batik pinwheels quilt I made a while back is going to welcome a new baby! Packaged up with a bib and a lovey.

Linking to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

Wood Block Stamping on Fabric

Remember the wood block stamps I got? I tried them out using this tutorial and it worked really well up until the rinsing part.  As soon as I got water on the fabric the dye ran into the whole thing and turned it a light pink which stayed.  The dye was originally a nice dark maroon on white fabric.

I's kind of a nice tone on tone thing, I'm calling it a design feature instead of a bug.  Dye folks, any suggestions? Maybe I should iron the fabrics with a hot iron to try heat setting before any rinsing?

Two fabrics, about half a yard each. One monkey and one hummingbird print.

Overall I'm satisfied with the result. I have a navy dye I'm going to try next.  Also, blocks have been coming in for Covered in Love!

Summer sent in some blocks, you can check them out on her blog here.  Here they are are up on the wall with the blocks I made.  If you missed it before, I am asking anyone who wants to contribute flying geese blocks for Covered in Love this month. You can find the original post with tutorial and color scheme here.

Linking to Judy's Design Wall Monday.

Call for Blocks!

As most of you surely already know, I run a charity called Covered in Love providing comfort quilts to the families of patients who pass away in the hospital where I work. (If you didn't know, now you do! Click on the link up there to get up to date.)

The blog world has been very generous to my project; thank you everyone! The local Tyler Modern Group has volunteered to make blocks for the cause so I thought it would be fun to open it up to the internet at large. You can make a few blocks or a bunch if you want. Send them in to me by the end of the month (email merlin775 at gmail or leave a comment for my address) and I'll assemble our blocks into quilts.

For August, let's make flying geese blocks. For each block you need to make (8) flying geese, each measuring 3"x6" finished or 3.5"x6.5" unfinished. You can make the geese any way you like. Martingale has an awesome tutorial here for making flying geese unit 4 different ways AND has included charts for the cutting measurements for each technique.  You can make your geese from any color combinations in the color chart below. Make a simple 2 color block or a scrappy block with lots of different fabrics. Then, arrange those (8) geese any way you like into a 12.5" unfinished block.

Personally I prefer the 4 geese at a time method (toward the bottom of the tutorial page), for that one you need to cut (1) 7.25" square and (4) 3 7/8" squares. I made 8 sets (32 geese) and mixed those up to make 4 blocks.  Make your geese any way you want, make as many or as few blocks as you want, and send them my way during August. Next month I'll post a new block.

(Edited to Add: View finished quilt here)

Tyler Modern ladies, you can bring your blocks to our meeting at the end of the month. Questions? Comment or email me please! Thanks in advance, I couldn't do this without you guys :)

Linking to WIP Wednesday and Oh Scrap!