BIG Quilts for CiL

Hello and happy weekend again! This week's post was rescued by a box that came in the mail from South Texas.

I love the crossweave fabrics that surround the blocks

Mel, who volunteers her longarm machine, her batting and her expertise for Covered in Love's benefit, returned these two quilts.  This tops quilt with all the pretty blues and purples was a top sent in by Priscilla.  The bottom one was sent in by Jannette from Canada, and I shipped them to Mel to finish.

They're both very large, in the range of 90" or 100", so mega thanks to Jannette and Priscilla for sending them in and Mel for finishing them so beautifully. I'm sure they will be treasured by the families they land with.

"It doesn't count as being on the counter if my feet are still on the chair"

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 400 so far! The July/August 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

Peanut Butter Jelly Time

Finally! The quilt made from blocks my do. Good Stitches circle made in January is done. Oops, little bit overdue!  For this group quilt I asked for "peanut butter and jelly" colors and they followed this tutorial.  I really like the whole quilt, but I LOVE the color scheme! Don't be surprised if I ask for these colors in a future CiL  blocks drive.

(As an aside, I love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. It's my absolute go to comfort food.)

I found the perfect backing with rich purples to compliment the jelly theme.  I feel like most East Texans are either beer drinkers or tea-totalers, but I'm sure this quilt will make its way into the hands of the perfect wine lover.

Next up, two more tops by the very generous Canadian, Jannette.  She sent in these two and I finished them.

Two nice gender neutral and geometric quilts.  These have been added to the next batch for delivery to the hospital and that will put Covered in Love over the 500 mark!

Thank you all for being patient with me while I took the past 2 months off to get caught up on things around here. It's time again for the summer red, white, and blue stars block drive! If you want to participate check out the details below.

Saturday morning snuggle buddies

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 400 so far! The July/August 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) Love from Canada

Jannette is a regular contributor to Covered in Love. I've lots track of how many boxes of beautiful tops she has sent me from Canada! You can see all her previous quilts by following this link and scrolling down.

Sandra and others have kept me in stock with interesting backings to compliment them.

Isn't this brown and teal quilt a beauty? It's actual-twin size. Something like 55"x85".

Sandra must be really a bird lover, judging by the numerous beautiful bird fabrics she has sent for backings.

Last up, this simple two color quilt with stars.  Jannette sent all of these as top and I backed and quilted them. I still have a couple left to go!

Bindings and backing fabrics also came from Holly and Nicki, among others.  Thank you to all of you who support CiL!


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

Free-to-Me Quilts

Top by Jannette, quilted by Meloney

It's time for another round up of the Covered in Love quilts where I didn't have to do a thing! First up two more tops from Jannette in Canada. These were sent to Meloney in South Texas for long arm quilting and she did an awesome job!

This scrappy disappearing nine patch got a loopy overall design.  The randomly scrappy quilts are some of my favorites because they look so casual and cozy.

Top by Jannette, quilted by Meloney

Then there's this flying geese top Jannette sent in as well. It's the opposite of scrappy, I think it's all the same fabric line.

Meloney did a beautiful swirly feather kind of thing on this one.

Pieced and quilted by Louise

Next up, two quilts from Louise.  A while back I sent her some donated fabrics to make quilts from and she's been sending them back steadily ever since.

  You can read Louise's blog post about these quilts here. Thank you, ladies!

Pieced and quilted by Louise

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

International Cooperation + Giveaway Winners

Jelly Roll Giveaway drawing at the end of this post, don't miss it!

Politicians may not be able to get it together, but at least Covered in Love is a shining example of international cooperation! These two quilts are part of a set of tops that came all the way from Jannette in Canada.

The first on is a pretty scrap quilt. Even the white backgrounds are scrappy too, my favorite kind of quilt!  I did a quick stipple, backed if with fabric from Judy and bound it with pre-folded binding from Nicki!

This quilt I'm guessing all the fabrics came from the same line, but I don't recognize which one.  It's pretty and Spring-y, perfect for this time of year when the flowers are starting to bloom.

This one was back with fabric donated by Sandra and bound with scraps from my string bin.  Thank you Jannette, Sandra, Nicki, and Judy!

Now on to the moment you've all been waiting for! I offered two jelly rolls as part of CiL's Jan/Feb block drive to celebrate (almost) 3 years/300 quilts for Covered in Love!  Every block sent in counted as one entry (for those of you who sent finished tops I counted up how many blocks were in them). You guys rocked this block drive! 1272 blocks sent in!!! I'm going to be sewing up string quilts through the summer, and I'm thrilled about that!

less than half of the blocks sent in

Drum roll please, the random number generator has chosen #303, Kathy B. from Indiana, and #1196, Pam C. from California!

Kathy B. is a long time contributor and Pam is brand new, somehow that seems perfect.  Thank you, all of you, who contribute to Covered in Love. Some of you have been sending in blocks since the first or second drive and more new people join every month. I am proud of what we made and I couldn't have done it without you!

Don't forget about the block drive going on now! If you'd like to join in with Covered in Love's mission you can learn more on the main page or check out the block drive.  The current Covered in Love block drive is an easy Hunter's Star block.

Linking to  Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Crazy Mom Quilts and Finished or Not Friday

From Canada, with Love

From no quilts to show last week to a quilting boom this week! First up are two pretty tops made by Jannette in Canada and quilted by my.  Jannette sent in 6 tops for Covered in Love a while ago so there will be more of her pretty quilts to come soon.

This very pretty jewel-toned quilt might be my favorite from the batch; I especially like the narrow border. It's about 55x70", a perfect size.

I quilted it with a stipple. Many of you have donated backing fabrics, so I haven't had to buy backings in quite a while. Thanks! Both these quilts got backings from a generous quilter named Sandra who must have a beautiful stash.

This second top of Jannette's could be a Christmas quilt, depending on the binding, backing, and quilting decisions. I chose to use non-holiday fabrics to make it more flexible.

Both these quilts got a solid black binding courtesy of Nicki who sent two large rolls of prepped binding.

I thought this grizzly bear fabric was a nice compliment to the green in the top and would be appreciated by a man.  It takes a village to keep CiL going, thanks to Jannette, Sandra, Nicki, and all the rest of you!

Moo kitty says, "Stay warm and sleep tight!"

If you'd like to join in with Covered in Love's mission you can learn more on the main page or check out the block drive.  The current Covered in Love block drive is a cozy patchwork interspersed with pieced blocks. It will run until the new year if you want to help out.  More info here!

Linking to  Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Crazy Mom Quilts and Finished or Not Friday

Spring Greens

Spring Greens is what I'm calling this quilt. No, it's not spring. I wish it was!  It's summer and hot as blazes. This pretty green top that Jannette sent in for Covered in Love just screams Spring though, don't you think?  This one was also quilted by Meloney on her long arm.

I received a lovely thank you email from a family member of a Covered in Love quilt recipient today that I want to share with you.

"You truly touched my family's heart through CIL. My mom was critically ill in the ICU when she received a beautiful quit. This quilt was with her until she passed and now it sits in her favorite chair at our home in our living room."

 Thank you to every single person who has contributed to CiL. These thanks belong to all of you!

In the photo above you can see the design Meloney used, daisies in swirling lines.  I really like this design and think it compliments the quilt top really well.  This quilt has already been taken up to the hospital for Covered in Love, it was part of the last donation that put us up over 200 quilts. Yes 200! I'm planning a proper celebration this Fall for that milestone.

I had the perfect backing for this top, bought on sale some time ago, and finally found its home!  I really like how this design looks fairly complicated when it's just a simple alternating grid of two blocks (and one of them isn't even a pieced block). (ETA: Jannette says it's a Project Linus pattern called Warm Wishes and you can find it HERE.)

Finished, photographed, folded and ready for delivery :) Thank you Jannette and Meloney!

The new Covered in Love block drive just began and it's a red, white, and blue star free-for-all.  This drive will run until the end of August if you want to help out.  More info here! 

Linking to Crazy Mom Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Listening to... Celtic Thunder singing about "all God's creatures"

Christmas in July

Happy Friday! I hope everyone's 4th of July went well and you saw some nice fireworks.  This week's quilt is a subtly holiday themed one for Covered in Love. This is another top made by Jannette from Canada and quilted by a Texan longarmer, Meloney.  Thanks ladies!

Of course this quilt doesn't have to be Christmas themed, but the colors do lend themselves well.  Christmas is only 6 months away now!  (If your looking for some Christmas quilting-gift-guidance and encouragement check out the Christmas in July blog hop.)

Meloney did beautiful quilting of wavy lines interspersed with stars that really bring a nice texture to the quilt.

I love how simple and striking Jannette's interlocking pinwheel design is.  This quilt is in the stack for the next CiL delivery to the hospital where it will comfort a grieving family. Thank you to Jannette, Meloney, and everyone else who keeps CiL running!
 

The new Covered in Love block drive just began and it's a red, white, and blue star free-for-all.  This drive will run until the end of August if you want to help out.  More info here! 

Linking to Crazy Mom Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Listening to... Christmas music, of course :)