Hunter's Star Block Drive Wrap Up

Like my split screen effect?

 Yes, at long last all the quilts from the March/April Covered in Love block drive are done and delivered! 

Assembled and quilted by Kathy

 There were thirteen of these "regular" blue Hunter's Star quilts made from 390 blocks sent in by over 60 quilters.  I also count the RWB Hunter's Star UFO blocks sent in by Pam during this drive and there will eventually be one more quilt made from leftover blocks, so 15 total!

Assembled and quilted by Kathy

Even though this was a really simple block I love the quilts made from this drive.

Top by Gail C., quilted by me

Covered in Love gives quilts to the families of patients who pass away in the hospital as a comfort item.  We are always in need of more men's quilts, so these blue ones are especially nice.

Top by Gail C., quilted by me

Gail C., besides sending in two tops, a stack of loose blocks, and some backings also gave me a bag of prepped bindings that I used to finish these.

Assembled and quilted by me

I grouped some of the blocks together deliberately; this quilt has blocks with blue-on-white prints.  Those of you who have sent in backings, I really appreciate it.  I have such beautiful blue, grey, and brown "manly" backings to compliment these quilts perfectly.

Assembled and quilted by me

The new block drive just opened up and it's a repeat of an old favorite of mine, another one that's great for masculine quilts. Be sure to check it out.

Assembled and quilted by me

 This top has blocks with a teal or aqua color base.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the March/April block drive! The number of quilters and states participating increases with every drive!

Sorry about the color! I forgot to change setting on the scanner.

  
Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 300 so far! The Sept/Oct drive is a repeat of one of my old favorites, the grown-up eye-spy quilt.  Check out the main post HERE if you want to get involved.

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

Hunter's Star Quilts

Assembled and quilted by Kathy

Happy Friday! I hope your 4th was fun.  I've got 6 cool blue quilts to show this weekend. These are the first 6 quilts to be finished from the Hunter's Star block drive.

Back in March/April you guys answered my call for blue Hunter's Star blocks for Covered in Love.  Enough blocks for 15 quilts in all!

My local quilting angle assembled and quilted these first 3 for me from the donated blocks.  As most of you know, CiL makes quilts for patients dying in the hospital.  We recently surpassed 330 quilts donated!

Assembled and quilted by Kathy

Gail C. had sent in 4 nice grey toned backings with interesting patterns just as I was packing up blocks for Kathy, so 3 of her backings made it on to these quilts. Thanks Gail!

This has been one of my favorite block drives in a while. I love how all the shade of blue and all the different fabrics came out.

Assembled and quilted by Kathy

CiL is always especially in need of quilts appropriate for men, so these will be perfect!

These last 3 were assembled and quilted by me.  I like how the one above looks with all the blue-on-white fabrics.

I used more of Sandra's outdoorsy novelty fabrics for the backings, perfect for a man.

I can't remember if I mentioned on here yet that I bought a new quilting machine? I use a mid-arm machine (similar to a HandiQuilter Sweet 16).  My previous machine was a temperamental hand-me-down from Nancy R. that I grew to love over the past few years.  That machine and me quilted well over a hundred, probably a couple hundred, quilts for CiL.

Thanks for Amanda for this cute backing

Unfortunately my old machine was well past its expiration date and in May it finally crossed to a point where it was not usable anymore. A sad day indeed.

Fortunately another local quilter, Angie, let me come over for a sewing day on her Sweet 16 so I could keep up.  I bought a new mid-arm a few weeks ago, an Artistic Quilter SD-16, and it's so far so good!  I love the increase in throat space and it is nice not to have all the idiosyncrasies my old machine had.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this blocks drive! And to Kathy, Angie, Amanda, Sandra, Gail, and others whose donations of time and materials has helped to finish the quilts.

6 down, 9 to come

Covered in Love donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 300 so far! Our block drives are back on track and July/August is the annual "Oh My Stars!" 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

New Covered in Love Block Drive!

2018 is already flying by and it's time to announce the next Covered in Love block drive! The previous drive featured string blocks and was my most successful ever.  (For the Jan/Feb block drive there was a jelly roll giveaway. I'll draw for those once the stragglers get in and announce the winners on March 9th)

Apologies for the poor light in the photos... my lifestyle lately has not been conducive for good photos.

We're doing simple Hunter's Star blocks this time. You color palette is any and all shades of blue. For each block you'll need one print and one solid. The print can have other colors too as long as it's mainly blue. Note that each block is only made from two fabrics.

From the solid and the print cut (1) 6.5" square and (4) 4" squares.

Mark a pencil line diagonally on the backs of one set of small squares. Place them right-sides-together with the other small squares and sew 1/4" to either side of the line. Cut on the line to separate (2) HST blocks. You should have (8) HSTs. Press them and trim to 3.5".

Lay out your block as shown above. Sew together the HSTs, then sew together the entire block, and press. Finishes at 12.5".

(Edited to Add: View some finished quilts here)

This block drive will run until the end of April. Any one can participate and you can pick and choose the block drives throughout the year that you want to do, there's a new one every 2 months!  If you'd like to send in blocks please leave a comment or email me to get the address (coveredinlovetx@gmail.com) and have them in the mail by May 1.

Covered in Love provides quilts to the families of patients who pass away in an East Texas hospital. To date over 285 quilts have been given away.