Sunflower Block Drive Wrap Up

Tammy has 2 more May/June block drives quilts finished on her blog!

Another block drive is in the books; all 5 quilts from the Nov/Dec Sunflowers block drive are done!  The first one, at the top of this page, was assembled and quilted by me.

These next 3 were assembled and quilted by Cynthia from Quilting is More Fun Than Housework.  She helped Covered in Love to get a handful of quilts finished earlier this year. 

You can see Cynthia's pictures of these first two quilts on her blog here. I was expecting Cynthia to make 2 quilts, but she was able to creatively stretch the blocks into 3 by using sashing and borders!

Lovely crinkly texture. 

I know this block was a struggle for many of us, but I just love the quilts that it made. I also love LOVE the color scheme. Definitely will need to use those colors again soon. 

This last quilt of Cynthia's is on her blog here.  You can see that she enhanced the "sunflower" theme with her quilting. 

The fifth quilt was made completely by Linda and you can see it in this post.  As always the Holiday-time block drive is the smallest of the year, but that's ok. Obviously it's a super chaotic time, nevermind in the middle of a Covid surge...  Thanks to every one who participated and huge thanks to Cynthia for helping to get them finished!

I'm just back from a wonderful week at the beach with my extended family

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 800 so far! During May/June Tammy is hosting our block drive on her blog.  Check out the main post HERE if you want to get involved. 

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

Fiddlesticks & Sunflowers Preview

Linda has been a busy bee last year! For the last few drives she finished and sent in completed quilts that I wanted to show you.  This first one is her version of the Fiddlesticks drive, completed with microstippling. 

I find this kind of quilting so impressive! I know I could never have the patience, but I love the texture it produces. 

 

I really love the backing fabric she found to use with for the quilt as well. I haven't started working on the Fiddlesticks block drive quilts yet, still getting the red, white, and blue ones done. But based on this I'm really looking forward to getting them done!

Next, this is Linda's Sunflower quilt. I have started to gradually assemble these blocks into tops since it looks like there will only be about 4 or 5, so I can complete them quickly. 

Nov/Dec is always the smallest block drive due to all the other things people have going on at that time of the year, so I often choose a block that I (selfishly) really like, but I know will probably be less popular for whatever reason.

I know this block had little fiddly pieces and the slants that made it more difficult than usually, but it does look wonderful once it's together!  

Help! I'm being smothered by their affection.  

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

Nov/Dec CiL Block Drive

Hello quilters, welcome to the 2020 Nov/Dec Covered in Love Block Drive! For anyone who may be new, basically CiL is a charity that makes quilts for patients dying in the hospital. I run a block drive every two months where anyone can participate and make as many or as few blocks as you wish. Scroll to the bottom of the post for more details if you'd like to participate!

For the end of the year (gosh I can't believe it's the end of the year already!) we are going to be making these pretty Sunflower blocks. It will be a nice little bit of sunshine in the winter months.  This block tutorial originally appeared here from Molli Sparkles, but I've sized it down.  The color scheme comes from my Nurture Bee friend Jenny.

For each 12.5" block (made of 4 mini blocks) you'll need:

• (16) 1.5" brown squares
• (4) 4.5" black squares
• assorted 1.5" wide white/cream and golden yellow strings

Please choose whites, very low volumes, and light creams for the white, black tone on tone or black and white for the blacks, mid- to golden yellows, and rich browns.

The angle you attach the yellow and white strips together at DOES matter, so make sure to pay attention and make sure yours slant the right direction. 

I found it easier to sew together longer pieces and then trim them down to 4.5" units.  This image is to show you how to make sure the slanted part is centered when you're trimming it.  Measuring from where the colors intersect, each one should be 3" on its longer edge and 1.5" on its shorter edge.

You'll need (16) of these yellow/white units.

Start putting together the mini blocks like this.  Remember to pay attention to the orientation of the strip units. 

Each mini block should measure 6.5" unfinished.  Sew four of them together to make a 12.5" unfinished block.

Throw back to my original orange boy, Thor

I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween weekend and you're staying warm, wherever you are! Cold weather has arrived very suddenly and very wet here.

The current drive runs November through December, so blocks should be in the mail by the end of December.  Email CoveredinLoveTx@gmail.com if you need the address to mail blocks.