Bright Happy Quilts from Louise

Tammy is still hard at work on the May/June block drive quilts! Visit her blog to see the latest!

 

Louise sent me this batch of orphan block quilts a while back and they've been waiting their turn for a photo shoot.  The blocks that started this quilt came from Cathy and Louise added some. 

Some of the blocks appear to be from the book Farmhouse Vintage. I love the embroidered details on the mixer and the bee.

Louise blogged about these quilts on her site here.  So you can read more details there.

These wonky stars and the fish panels came from several people, but I think Christine may have sent in some of it.  Please claim your blocks if you see them!  I think this one is my favorite quilt in this batch.

Louise put this quilt together from a jelly roll that Christine sent, with a simple rail fence in a rainbow layout.

Christy M sent in this top made by a friend of hers. Louise described it as, "a very complicated design, with most of the blocks being cut on the bias. Blocks that had NO BUSINESS being bias. Maybe it was a mystery quilt along and each piece was so unusual there would be no way to guess the final design? I don't know, but I feel for the gal who tried to make this beast lie flat. The combination of so many bias edges and the super soft plaid flannel made the top wavy gravy. Roly poly. A sea of rumples."

Louise tackled the project with gusto and did some ripping, re-sewing, bordering, and aggressive quilting.  It's beautiful and you'd never know it had issues!

Jan O. sent in a bunch of leftover bits and blocks that Louise sashed up and set in a quadrant design. I think this one is my second favorite ;)

Priscilla sent in this batch of scrappy blocks that were quick to assemble into a homey quilt.  Thanks to Louise and all the ladies! Louise has retired from blogging now, as it had become more of a chore than fun, but she's still quilting. She promises to send me her commentary along with future quilts so I can continue to share her insights with you.  I love to know how she thought about approaching each set of orphans!

Some more tie dye for a pregnant friend

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

UFOs No More

I've been on a roll finishing tops recently.  Thanks to H2H for helping to bring in quilts while I take a break from block drives.  This quilt top came from Barb C., she calls it Scrappy Blue Clamshell Tessellation and said the pattern came from Royal Quilt Designs.

This next quilt with the Kaffe fabrics also came from Barb but it couldn't be more different.  Both of these have been gifted to parents who lost their adult son.  

Barb called this one the Kaffe Fassett Garden Quilt. The 9 Patch & Hourglass pattern came from Missouri Quilt Co. 

These next two tops came from Jan at The Colorful Fabriholic. I was able to supplement the crappy shady-day pics with some close ups on the swing.  

That's Paddington Bear, right, on the focal fabric?  A lot of the others are tone on tones with great textures and I love the mellow colors.  

Both of Jan's quilts had some of my favorite color combos.  I love these skinny strings. I think this might be the last of the tops from the last batch Jan sent me? There might honestly still be some buried around here but I'm going to find them!

The spring and the spring flowers are so beautiful here and I captured some of them with fabric dyeing a couple weeks ago, as I teased you with before.  I did make a post about this whole process and these here and I listed them in my Etsy shop :)

 

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

Opening 2021 with Quilts

Here we are in 2021 at last.  My neighbors brought in the year with a huge amount of artillery! (The kitties were not impressed.) It remains to be seen if this year will be much better than last, but we can hope!

At the very least we can start the year off with some beautiful quilts. This batik tumbler was sent in by Jan O. and quilted by Meloney with loops.

This fantastic top was sent in by Kelly C. and also quilted by Meloney.  It's far to big to hold for a picture of the entire thing!  Kudos to Beryl who recognized that the pattern is Bonnie Hunter's 2019 mystery quilt "Frolic".

It has a mix of batik, print, and even cross-weave fabrics that blend together perfectly.  I've been preparing a delivery to the hospital so these will be going up there soon!

Wishing you warmth and safety.

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

Cozy Sampler Quilts

Happy Fall, y'all! My windows are open and the cool, fresh breeze is blowing through.  As I finish quilts I have been throwing them over the couch and the kitties and I get some serious quality testing done while I drink my coffee in the mornings.

These quilts were not made by me, both were pieced by Jan at The Colorful Fabriciholic and quilted by Ray on his longarm in Florida.  Jan made this top from Pat Sloan's Solstice Challenge and Ray quilted it with a playful swooping dragonfly motif.

Jan said this blue and green sampler was called "Emerald Isle" by the LQS where it was a block of the month, which sounds perfect since the colors are so ocean-y.

This one got a butterfly motif. Perfect!  I'm so grateful to the many quilters who have helped with getting quilts quilted ever since I asked for more help back in the spring. I went through a period in July and August when stressful circumstances in real life meant that I didn't have the focus for spending the several hours at a time it takes to sit down an quilt, plus a constant low level headache kept me from being able to crawl around on the floor to baste - or else risk a migraine. 

The efforts of many volunteer quilters kept us from having a noticeable lag in output while I was away from the quilting machine. (Since mid September I've been back to normal and cranking out the finished quilts and quite a rate.) I know many of my usual volunteers have mentioned in emails and notes that's you've gone through similar episodes of depression or distress; I've been calling it The Covid Malaise.  Obviously this is an extremely weird time when all of our schedules have been interrupted and the touchstones we normally rely on are missing.  Remember to be kind and gracious to yourself and it's ok to take time to take a break from obligations.  

When in doubt, act like a cat: nap in the sunshine, get outside and sniff the wind, and spend time with friends.

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

(More) UFOs Finished for CiL

Welcome back to more tops that were sent in to be finished for Covered in Love! The top one, with the pretty HSTs was sent in by Jan O. and finished by me.  I LOVE the color scheme and the cool modern design.

Next, Nancy C. sent in this masculine quilt using some small fabric scraps.  It looks like it might be partially based on a Crazy Mom Quilts pattern.

And finally, this bright and wild (mostly) batik churndash top from Priscilla. All three cozy, cheerful quilts that will be perfect for families in the hospital!

I hope you had a good week and this weekend finds you as relaxed as Sundae :)

Covered in Love's usual every-two-month block drive is on hiatus for the months of May-June. You can see a post here with talking about it and some suggested ways to fill the CiL sized hole in your month!

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

In Memoriam

This weekend's post starts off with some sad news. Last month the online quilting community suddenly lost a great charity supporter and very special quilter when Paula B. passed away after a brief illness.  Paula contributed to multiple charities, including sending in 5 quilt tops to Covered in Love over the past couple years.

This top was sent in anonymously

Besides blocks drives, the other major source of quilts for CiL is quilters who send in quilt tops ready to be quilted, bound, and delivered to the hospital. 

Paula B. was an exceptional quilter with an eye for color and design. She also had a passion for special people, you can ready her obituary here. In honor of her memory several members of the quilt-y community are organizing a Quilt Donation Blog Hop for early May.

This top sent in anonymously

For the blog hop quilters are asked to make a quilt to donate to any charity that is close to their heart in memory of Paula. 

This top sent in from Jan O.

Be sure to check out Kate's blog for details so you have time to plan if you want to participate.  There's plenty of time to make a baby quilt for an organization like Jack's Basket or a local NICU or foster agency between now and then. 

Paula represents so many unique and wonderful individuals I've met in the quilting community.  Interesting, smart, generous people who want to help others.  I was honored to to have "met" her and I hope many of you will participate in the blog hop in her honor.

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 500 so far! The March/April 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