String Quilts 2018 Wrap Up

At long last, the quilts from the Jan/Feb string block drive for Covered in Love are done! This was our largest block drive to date by far, producing 33 finished quilts, and I'm quite proud to get them all done in 2018!  I delivered them to the hospital in batches, so I merged the photo above to get all of them together. The season goes from spring to winter as you move left to right.

Blocks by Johanna, quilted by Angie

I took a front shot of each quilt as they were finished. The last 12 are here, and you can see the previous posts here and here.

Blocks by Pam, quilted by Angie

Huge thanks, of course, go to volunteer quilters Nancy K., Tammy S., Angie C., and Kathy C. who helped me get these done in a timely fashion.

Quilted by Angie

Big thanks as well to the many quilters who sent in blocks, backings and binding and spread the word about Covered in Love and our block drives.

Quilted by Angie

Most of the quilts from this drive ended up a generous 60"x70", a great size for covering up on the couch. There were also a few 50"x70", 60" square, and 70" square.

Pieced and quilted by Kathy

I made use of many of Sandra's donated backings with bold novelty prints of birds, flowers, cars, sports themes, and more.  Families often identify immediately with a themed fabric, whether it's on the back or hidden in the front.

Pieced and quilted by Kathy

Covered in Love has achieved many milestones this year: our largest block drive to date, becoming a 501(c)(3) non-profit, distributing more quilts than ever before.

Pieced and quilted by Tammy

Thanks to all of you who have made that possible! I wish I could share more stories with you about the impact your contributions have made, but hospital and legal privacy regulations make it difficult.

Pieced and quilted by Tammy

Suffice it to say that your donations make a very real difference in the lives of patients, families, and nurses on a daily basis.

pieced and quilted by me

Some of our quilts go to individuals who died quite suddenly, without warning or any time to cope with the idea. Some go to people who wasted away slowly over months or years until they were only a shell. Some go to people whose mind died long before, leaving their body to go on and on. Some go to people whose body gave out while their mind and memories remained as sharp as ever.

pieced and quilted by me

All these people have people who they leave behind, who care about them. This is something somewhat unexpected I have learned: even the most unpleasant, the most bitter, the meanest, most selfish, most dis-likeable people have someone cares about them.  They all leave behind someone who mourns them, notices the gap they left in the world. 

pieced and quilted by me

Our quilts provide a very meaningful keepsake for family members to remember their loved one by, and this year we reached more families than ever. 

pieced and quilted by me

Thank you to everyone, from all over, who contributed to make this block drive and others a success this year!

Obligatory kitten photo:

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

String Quilts Part 2

It's time for another batch of string quilts from the Jan/Feb Covered in Love block drive!  You all sent in over 1000 string blocks and several quilters have been working with me to get them all turned into quilts.

Assembled and quilted by Tammy S.

Assembled and quilted by Tammy S.

First, 2 quilts assembled and finished by Tammy S., she's done 3 so far and her quilting is beautiful! I especially love the heart layout she chose for the pink blocks.

Blocks by Christy G., assembled and quilted by Kathy C.

These two quilts are made from shirtings blocks sent in by Christy G. and finished by Kathy C. I got a kick out of the fabric with the fish on it! Both got John Deere tractor fabric on the back, courtesy of Sandra.

Blocks by Christy G., assembled and quilted by Kathy C.

The quilt below was also assembled and quilted by Kathy C. from donated blocks with blue tones.

Assembled and quilted by Kathy C.

The quilt is made mostly from blocks donated by Pat. I added a few to round it out and them quilted it with a stipple.

Blocks by Pat O., assembled and quilted by me

 I found the perfect backing for this one in my stash of donated yardage.

The last two quilts were assembles and quilted by me from assorted donated blocks.

This one got a rainbow binding, which looks pretty cool! Nicki sent me a roll of prepped white binding and I dyed it in a rainbow gradient.

Last one, for now! These 8 plus 13 before make 21 string quilts so far; there are twelve to go (I think).   Thanks to everyone who is helping to make these quilts :)

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

Strings, Strings, Strings

Blocks mostly from Michele, assembled and quilted by me

That's right, more string quilts are done!  The January/February Covered in Love block drive was wildly successful and I'm working steadily on getting all the blocks turned into quilts.

Blocks mostly from Linda, assembled and quilted by me

With these finishes I think we are officially, probably, 1/3 of the way though these :)

Assembled and quilted by Kathy

I think basically all of the quilts made from sets of blocks with a particular color or theme are done, from here it's more or less random.

Blocks by Debbie, assembled and quilted by Kathy

Thank goodness for the help of other quilters, including my local rockstar Kathy, who are helping me get these together.  The local Modern Guild is even talking about getting together a sew day to assemble tops from blocks.

Assembled and quilted by Kathy

I absolutely love these string quilts and I'm told they are a favorite among the patients and families who receive them as well.

Assembled and quilted by me

For the more or less random quilt tops I try to group the blocks losely into either bright, somber, masculine, or feminine sets.  I'm not sure what I was going for with the one above... Below is masculine and below that is bright.

Assembled and quilted by me

Big thanks to Sandra, Amanda, Bonnie, and Mary whose backing yardages completed these quilts, Nicki for bindings, and to all of you who sent in blocks!
 

Assembled and quilted by me

These thirteen have already been loaded up and taken to the hospital for distribution.  CiL continues to grow and bless more and more mourning families.  I couldn't do it without ALL of your support!

Ready to go to the hospital!

Covered in Love is taking a break from the block drives until July so I can catch up. If you find yourself with extra time consider donating to Jack's Blanket!

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

The First of Many

The first 5 of the Jan/Feb string block quilts are done!  Not only are there going to be more quilts from this drive, but I think they are going to look better than ever.

by Nancy and Jenn

Nancy K. volunteered to assembled a couple of batches of block for me and her friend Jenn did lovely quilting!  The quilt above got loops and the one below got a pretty lily flower motif.  I really love how Nancy changed up the design with the sashing.

by Nancy and Jenn

Tammy S. also volunteered to put together a stack of blocks and quilt them.  I really like the design she made with these scattered diamonds.

by Tammy

Katie G. sent in this top already pieced and a local quilter, Angie C., volunteered to do some quilting for CiL. She just got a new machine and wants to practice. It's a win-win! 

by Katie and Angie

Finally, this top was pieced and quilted by me.  The blocks are sets made by 4 or 5 people that just came together really well so maybe you can spot some of yours.  I quilted it with a quick stipple and bound it with scraps.

Backings for these quilts came from Sandra, Amanda, Katie, Nancy, and Gail.  Thank you for all your help! In the coming months there will be 30+ of these quilts getting finished.

I've decided to post them in batches of 5 and take them up to the hospital once I get 10.  Chaplain Perry says these are his personal favorites and always well received by patients and families.  I can't wait to get more done :)

Covered in Love is taking a break from the block drives for the next 2 months so I can catch up, but don't go anywhere! I still need your blocks. Check out details HERE.

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

Back to your regularly scheduled quilting blog

Thank you to everybody who left nice comments on my last post, I really appreciated it. I've enjoyed this weekend being back home and getting back to my sewing machine. 

Being gone for a little over two weeks, there was a mountain of mail waiting for me at home. (My mail gets taken in while I'm gone so no CiL stuff is sitting outside, don't worry!)  You guys are obviously enjoying making these string blocks (either that or you're just really motivated by the chance at a jelly roll).  Once I inventoried all my mail I got another 350 or so blocks toward the Jan/Feb block drive. 

I had to do some maintenance sewing first, assembling batting scraps and backings, then rewarded myself by sewing up February's RSC blocks in purple.  In a move that surprises no one, after completing the planned 6 blocks I decided to just keep going through the rest of my purple scraps ;)  Expect to see MANY more of these soon!

Linking to Oh Scrap! and Scrap Happy Saturday.

Annual String Fling + Giveaway!!

Keep reading to the bottom of the post for details on the GIVEAWAY!

Third time's the charm? Well in this case the first two times were pretty great.  We've done foundation pieced string blocks for a Covered in Love block drive for the past two years and everyone seems to really enjoy it, so I thought I'd make it a tradition! I did nudge it from October to the Jan/Feb slot so it would be opposite our other staple, the summer red/white/blue stars drive, but now it's here to stay.

These string blocks are 10.5" unfinished and super easy to make.  It's a great way to burn up some scraps.  You can find the step-by-step tutorial HERE.  This block drive is a color/theme free-for-all. Anything goes for these fun scrap quilts. In 2015 we made 8 of these quilts and in 2016 we made 8 more, so 16 total so far. This drive will run from now until the end of February.

Feel free to jump right into the block drive, whether you're new or have done a lot before.  Every 2 months I host a block drive to benefit Covered in Love.  We make quilts for grieving families in the hospital.  You can make as many or as few blocks as you like and sewing in this block drive doesn't commit you future drives, you can pick and chose the ones you like or have time for.  Just leave a comment or email CoveredinLoveTx@gmail.com for a mailing address.

Covered in Love began in April 2015 and to date we've given out over 260 quilts to mourning families in the hospital.  I meant to do a giveaway for the 200-quilt milestone but it got past me so instead we're having a joint (almost) "3 Year Anniversary/300 Quilts" celebration giveaway!

(Christmas on top, Spring on the bottom)

This giveaway is open to anyone, you don't have to have participated with CiL before.  For everyone who sends in blocks to the Jan/Feb block drive you'll receive one entry per block and at the end I'll draw two winners.

Christmas jelly roll

Spring jelly roll

I've got two jelly rolls to giveaway, one is Christmas themed and one in Spring-y fabrics.  In the top-down photo you can see the colors. Click the photos to see them larger.  I know Christmas just happened but let's be honest, it takes most of us at least a year to make a quilt.

These CiL milestones and this giveaway are a celebration of YOU the volunteers.  Thank you soooooo much, I literally couldn't have done it without all of your help!