"Free" Quilt Round-up

Pieced and quilted by Judy

Happy weekend! Hope yours is going to be a fun one.  I am doing a round up of all the quilts that have come in already finished for Covered in Love recently. These free-to-me quilts that don't require any work beyond a label are such a blessing!

First up are 3 quilts beautifully quilted by Judy. The orange and grey quilt was one of her tops, the other two were ones donated to me that I sent to her to finish.

Hand-pieced by Sandra, quilted by Judy

This hand pieced 16 patch was sent in by Sandra, who frequently donates backing fabrics.  Judy finished it beautifully with orange peel quilting.  I got to see a couple of our quilts go to their forever homes a couple weeks ago in the hospital.  They are a huge comfort to families on some of the worst days of their lives.

Pieced by Theresa, quilted by Judy

This top is the last of the ones Theresa sent me last Fall. Judy's FMQ turned it into a real showpiece. Can you believe she does all this one a regular domestic machine?!

Beth from Vermont contacted me a while back to ask about donating some quilts. She had randomly inherited quilt a bit of fabric from an old Texas Shop-Hop.  Not so useful in Vermont! After donating a couple quilts to Hurricane Harvey victims she was looking for a good opportunity to put the rest to good use.  She generously sent in 2 beautiful finished quilts.

Pieced and quilted by Beth K.

It's hard to make out in the pictures, but almost all the fabrics including the white background have tone-on-tone Texas emblems.  As many of you probably know, Texans are just a little bit proud of our state, so these will be perfect to give away.

Pieced and quilted by Beth K.

Finally, Marianne sent in this pink breast cancer themed quilt made by the Dakota Cabin Quilters.

Sent in by Marianne

Thank you Judy, Theresa, Sandra, Beth, Marianne, and many more! These quilts will be a huge blessing to distressed families.

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

Quilting from the Heart

Judy from Arizona has been quilting tops for Covered in Love for a couple years now.  She's the kind of quilt who enjoys the actual quilting more than the piecing (I'm the opposite) so this has been a match made in heaven.

Judy takes her time and puts her heart into every top she quilts and boy, does she knock it out of the park! Every one of her quilts is a showpiece.

This mini, scrappy log cabin was sent in by Priscilla.  Each cabin is just under 5", the logs are 0.75" wide.  I was so impressed by the time and effort it that went into making all those tiny cabins, I decided to send it out to Arizona.

Judy went to town on this top with columns of feathers and narrow, straight line quilting.  

To top it off, I had a beautiful backing to match courtesy of Sandra.

The second quilt that came back from Judy was one I pieced from a WIP given to me a long time ago by DeeDee. 

The project had the makings of lots of little red flowers. I must have thought at first they were poinsettias, seeing that red and green, because I had it labeled for a long time as "Christmas WIP." 

Eventually I decided to call them tulips and set them in a "garden".  I thought Judy might have fun filling in all the blank space with free motioning :)

"Tip Toe Through the Tulips..." and past the frogs and birds and turtles.  The animals were pieced based on tutorials from the Elephant Parade QAL.

This one had a great backing too, more birds!

Every Covered in Love quilt is gifted to a family mourning the loss of a loved one. I'm so glad that so many quilters put their heart and soul into our quilts! Stay warm and Happy New Year!

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

Grandad's Shirts Cozy Quilts

It's another block drive wrap up this week! This time from the March/April "grandad's shirts" blocks.  Soothing, masculine colors with subtle texture and great scrappy fabric variation make these quilts soooo cozy.

First up are two quilts (above and below) quilted by Judy from AZ. She used geometric designs and grid quilting to emphasize the right angles in the blocks.

The next two quilts, below, were assembled and quilted by Kathy from Texas.

Kathy used stipple quilting, which gives the quilts a completely different feel and brings out the scrappiness of the all the different blocks.

Twenty three quilters contributed to make these four quilts. Thanks to all of you who were brave enough to tackle nested seams and pleats for this blocks drive!

These blocks were inspired by the colors and textures on the button down shirts I remember my grandad used to wear.  (Hence I called the block "grandad's shirt").

I hope the families who receive these four quilts will also find comforting memories attached to the fabrics.  For sure, there's love in every stitch!

Covered in Love recently surpassed 220 quilts passed out to dying patients in the hospital and I could never have done it without help from so many of you. Big thanks to Kathy, Judy, and the twenty ladies who sent in blocks.  You all rock!

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 just began and it's a simple Fall-colored patchwork. This drive will run until the end of October if you want to help out.  More info here! 

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

A Starry Autumn Sky

This beautiful star quilt is a tag team effort by Teri from Texas, who pieced it, and Judy from Arizona who quilted it.

You might remember Judy and Teri's previous collaborations from here.  I adore these fall-colored stars with the pretty blue.  The neutrals and oranges are scrappy but Teri used the same blue through out the top.

This is a generously sized quilt.  I can't remember exactly, but it seems like it was in the 60+" x 70+" range.  Judy custom quilted it to accentuate the precise piecing.

This beautiful quilt will go to a family mourning a loved one through Covered in Love.  Covered in Love is nearing 200 quilts given to grieving families, thanks to the support of quilters like Judy and Teri!

The new Covered in Love block drive just began and fittingly it's stars as well! This one 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... the KONGOS.

2016 in Review

I started this post by looking back at last year's. Can you believe that this was only the first full year for Covered in Love??? Yeah, me either!  Hard to believe we're only about a year and a half old; this little charity endeavor has grown and grown thanks to all of you.

Gorgeous star quilt, pieced by Teri and quilted by Judy

This year we gave out 90 quilts bringing out grand total to 135!!  Ninety families who lost their loved one carried one of our quilts home with them.

Recently received quilts from Suzanne and Meredith

I hosted nine block drives and by the time I finish sewing everything up we'll have made a total of 32 quilts together.  You can click here to see finished block drive quilts.

A stack-and-whack top by Teri, quilted by Judy

Covered in Love was honored to be chosen as a featured charity by the Hands2Help quilt drive in the Spring and received nearly 50 quilts!  As the year ends we are in the incredibly blessed position of not only having quilts at the hospital ready to be handed out, but also a nice stash at home waiting in to replenish those.

Teri's piecing and Judy's quilting make this one a real showpiece for someone

As the charity has matured our mission has come into better focus. I posted a long update here in September about how things are evolving.

2016 has been a rough year for a lot of people, not least of all the recipients of our quilts.  Going into 2017 remember that every act of kindness is its own reward, that it lifts the giver and recipient; that darkness is not driven away by more darkness but only by light.  You all have shown me that kindness this year through your donations and I hope it is repaid to you in the coming year.

Wishing you all the best, Kat.

Linking to Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it Friday.

May's Tall Nine Patches 1 & 2

I love our monthly block drives.  Selfishly I love getting to come up with block designs and colors schemes and see them come to fruition.  More than that, though, and more importantly, I love how it represents the online community and quilters in general. I love that strangers come together, month after month, to make quilts to bless people they won't ever meet. 

These are the first two of the "tall nine patch" quilts from May's block drive.  One quilt, the one that got the all-over flowers quilting came as a finished top from Amanda in Louisiana.  The other was a blend of blocks sent in by contributors.

I have two more of these tops ready to be basted and quilted. These first two were quilted by the wonderful Judy at Quilt Paradigm, who never ceases to amaze me with her creativity, skill, and generosity.

Thank you to everyone who contributed blocks to the May block drive: Summer, Teri, Linda, Rosemarie, Susan, Johanna, Valerie, Barbara, Nancy K., Janet, Nancy R., Elena, Ann, Louise, Amanda, Jannette, Molly and Tammy.  

These two quilts have been labeled and added to the staging area for Covered in Love. For anyone interested, this month's block drive is up now. We're making red, white, and blue star blocks in any pattern you like.

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer.  You think it's going to be a relaxing break, but somehow things always seem to get busy in the summer.  It's a good busy, though; vacations and visits with friends, trying to squeeze inbetween school and work.

Things are busy but good here.  Rey continues to charm us. Once her various parasites and malnutrition cleared up her personality really blossomed. She has the best purr and is completely nonchalant about Rory's disdain for her.

Wishing you sunshine, quilting time, and purring cats :)

Linking to Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it Friday.