Bright and bold

 

Hello, friends! Louise here to share some vibrant quilts made using YOUR orphan blocks. Let's jump right in with this fiery piece. I pulled blocks with reds and yellows in them and sized them up or down to make them all 12.5" square. Simple thin white sashing and borders lets them glow.

This quilt started as a big batch of crumb blocks in every color. I decided to alternate them with navy and golden chunks of fabric and it visually enhanced out all the blues and yellows in the crumbs. I'm always amazed at how that works!

How about a little pinky-peachy fun? Once again I sized up a few blocks to make them all a uniform size, this time 9.5" square.  A hot pink scrappy binding serves as a nice frame.

When all the blocks are very different sizes, I like to do row or column designs. Each column in this quilt starts with smaller blocks at the top and they grow bigger at the bottom. The theme is "black, white, and bright." Even though some of the blocks are classic old designs, the overall feel is crisp and modern.

This quilt started as a very large batch of donated nine patches in two different sizes. I combined two big and two small blocks in a single color with L-shaped center sashing. Can you see it in the lower left corner with the brown block? Then I laid these monochrome blocks out with lights at the top and darks at the bottom, giving a little structure to the scrappy madness. 

Finally, this little baby quilt is just simple rectangles in yellows, blues, and greens. Most of them are donated scraps with a few from my own stash. Lots of fun animal fabrics peeking out. Many thanks to everyone who donates to Covered in Love!

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 1700 so far! The Summer 2026 block drive is live now.  Check out the main post HERE if you want to get involved. 

Fast finishes from friends

Hello, friends! Louise here again with a couple more quilts made with YOUR orphan blocks and donated projects. I love having a stash of blocks in a variety of sizes, styles and colors. That way, when a great central panel like this handsome horse falls into my lap, I can surround it with just the right combination. These all came from my "autumnal colors" box, featuring browns, golds, reds, and oranges. A few hints of blue highlight the mountain stream the horse is splashing through, too.

On the other extreme from muted autumnals comes this vibrant piece! Wow! Whoever stitched this cool improv applique top has a fantastic color sense. Purples, coral, blues...I love it!

I decided to pick up the spring green and purple elements for the borders, and ended with black to contain the exuberance and frame it up. Since all I had to do was add borders, quilt, and bind, this piece came together speedy-quick. I hope it makes someone smile. 

Thank you again to the many hands that sew up and donate raw materials for these Covered in Love quilts. I couldn't do my part without you!

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 1700 so far! The Summer 2026 block drive is live now.  Check out the main post HERE if you want to get involved. 

  Linking to Finished or Not Friday

 

Little quilts from big hearts

 

Hello, friends! Louise here with more quilts made with your orphan blocks and donations. Last week Kat shared some beautiful finishes from the potato chip block drive. Those were larger Covered in Love quilts for adults. There were just a few drive blocks left that she sent to me, and I made this much smaller piece for the neonatal unit. 

This little quilt used some orphan four- and nine-patch blocks in bright colors with white backgrounds. I surrounded a nice panel of fish and water fowl for a quick finish.

Here's a close up of the quilting. This curved hook shape is my go-to free motion motif. I find it very quick and simple to do, and it gives great texture.

Here's a "jelly roll race" style piece, but instead of 2.5" strips, the maker used 1.5" strips. It arrived as one big chunk, but it was just a bit wonky and hard to make rectangular. I sliced it into five columns, flipped every other one, and sashed it with bright blue. This allowed me to ease the irregularities out and I think it turned out pretty nice in that scrap-happy way.

This super cool circle came to me raw edged, so I carefully turned a hem along the outer radius and machine appliqued it to a neutral background. 

The fabrics are gorgeous, especially the purple floral with golden accents. The final piece reminds me of the Big Blue Marble photo of Earth from space!

This orphan project showed up as about 8 finished blocks with birdhouse fabric as the large focal squares. There were also bits and bobs of the blender fabrics and background white. I remembered I had a VERY similar birdhouse fabric in my stash, so I sewed up enough more blocks to make a baby sized quilt. Can you tell there are two different focal fabrics? 

Finally, how about a little zing? High contrast magenta, teal and goldenrod were donated already sewn into strip sets, so I cut them into rail fence blocks. I laid them out in this stairstep design and found some psychedelic trees for a border. A very similar yellow binding ties it all together, easy peasy!

Many thanks to everyone who sends in orphan blocks and spare parts. I love using them as the raw materials for Covered in Love quilts.

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 1700 so far! The Winter 2026 block drive is live now.  Check out the main post HERE if you want to get involved. 

  Linking to Finished or Not Friday

Big Panel Fun

Hello again, friends! Louise here to share more Covered in Love quilts made from YOUR orphan blocks. This batch features panels that were donated from a local quilt shop in Kat's area.

The first two small quilts use these super sweet 18" square panels with flowers, rainboots, and rollerskates. Do you recognize the English paper pieced hexagons made by Bev? These are the last two of her blocks.

Next is a column quilt in springy colors. The panels are small and vertical, and such pretty flowers!

Here's a close up of two panels. I added fifteen 8" blocks in blues and purples to the mix. Most of these were donated as half square triangles that I put together into various classic blocks like Broken Dishes and Pinwheels.

These darling puppies only needed top and bottom rows of softly colored blocks to make a snuggly baby quilt. 

This big autumnal quilt uses strips from a single fabric between each row. I think this type of fabric product is usually used for borders, but I didn't have quite enough yardage for that. 

The design of grasses and ferns is just lovely, and I enjoyed finding blocks to play nicely with it.

This rather Egyptian looking panel has been sitting in my stash for ages. When a donation of pretty batik and warmly colored HSTs showed up, the panel popped into my mind as a good match. It's a simple design that I hope will provide comfort.

And finally, my favorite of the bunch is this wild lighthouse panel. I've been boating for a long time, but I've never seen an orange and turquoise lighthouse! I love it! It's a bit of a fever dream. Fortunately, my stash of orphan block from y'all can handle ANY color combo.

And since the lighthouse is lurid, extra-long wiener dogs in the same colors are a logical backing right? I thought so. Thank you again for all your donations. These orphan block quilts are powered by the many creative hands of our little community.

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 1700 so far! The Winter 2026 block drive is live now.  Check out the main post HERE if you want to get involved. 

  Linking to Finished or Not Friday

Patriotic Orphan Blocks

Hooray for the Red, White and Blue! Louise here with a quick post to share an orphan block quilt. Patriotic quilts are very popular with veterans, so I'm always happy to put one together.

The two flag blocks are the centerpiece of this quilt, and I added other blocks to make coherent rows. This photo shows the loose Baptist fan quilting motif I used.

Someone kind donated the border triangles already sewn into long strips which made finishing the top easy peasy. Many thanks to everyone who sends in donations of blocks, scraps, and yardage! 

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 1700 so far! The Winter 2026 block drive is live now.  Check out the main post HERE if you want to get involved. 

  Linking to Finished or Not Friday

Friendly quilts

Hello, friends! Louise here with some more quilts made from your orphan blocks and scraps. Let's jump right in with this bright batik beauty.

This one has been marinating in my stash for while, and I can't recall if it showed up as blocks, rows, or even a finished top. All I know is the fabrics are gorgeous! Someone donated this fun stripe with celestial motifs that just seemed destined to be the backing.

This small quilt is made of 9-patches and snowball blocks. The turquoise, 30's style fabrics were donated as long strips that made piecing the patches simple.

The coral floral added a nice touch and a new color to the mix. This is one of those quilts that I think looks better up close because of the low contrast between the blocks. 

 

This neutral quilt is made entirely from 3.5" and 4.5" squares cut from scraps. The fabrics were all donated to Covered in Love over the years and many were used as sashings and backgrounds. I sewed the 3.5" squares into 16-patches, and the 4.5" ones into 9-patches. The math works out to 12" finished blocks which I alternated in the layout. I love that it gives a sort of higgeldy-piggeldy random look and yet it's actually quite structured.

Finally, this bright and happy quilt is designed around the four corner blocks. They are small panels in saturated bright colors, so I chose various orphan blocks in that same palette to join in the fun. With no borders or sashing, this one is a riot of color. It's fun for me to explore these different ways to lay out a quilt, and I hope you had fun seeing them, too.

PS from Kat, these are the products of my card weaving class! It was a 3-week class for 2 hours on Saturdays and a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to taking more classes there.

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 1700 so far! The Winter 2026 block drive is live now.  Check out the main post HERE if you want to get involved. 

  Linking to Finished or Not Friday

Candlewicking

Welcome, friends! Louise here. Today I have a quilt made from blocks embroidered by Moira's Mom to share.

Moira is a member of my quilt guild, an online-only group called Sunshine.  

Moira sent me eight blocks made with an embroidery technique called "candlewicking."

I learned from wikipedia that

"Candlewicking, or candlewick is a form of whitework embroidery that traditionally uses an unbleached cotton thread on a piece of unbleached muslin. It gets its name from the nature of the soft spun cotton thread, which was braided then used to form the wick for candles. Motifs are created using a variety of traditional embroidery stitches as well as a tufted stitch. Subject matter is usually taken from nature—flowers, insects, pine trees, and so on, Other traditional motifs resemble Pennsylvania Dutch or Colonial American designs.Modern designs include colored floss embroidery with the traditional white on white stitching."

Moira's Mom's designs all include this off-white stitching, often in the form of french knots.

Some of the blocks were also printed with this pretty blue background, making the central designs really pop. 

I knew I would need to carefully quilt around all the stitching, so I decided to also add flanged borders around each block to frame them. Flanges also require a lot of tip-toeing around. In for a penny, in for a pound! I set the blocks in simple pale blue background to let them really shine.

Here is the finished quilt, full of softness and crinkles after a good wash and dry. I loved working with these special blocks. Many thanks to both Moira and her Mom for sharing them with Covered in Love!

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 1700 so far! The Winter 2026 block drive is live now.  Check out the main post HERE if you want to get involved. 

  Linking to Finished or Not Friday