Nov/Dec Covered in Love Block Drive

Quilters, welcome to the last Covered in Love block drive of 2019! For anyone who is newer around here, CiL runs block drives every 2 months to make quilts that be given to families in the hospital grieving the loss of a loved one.

I know the holidays are a busy time of the year when it's harder to commit time to these kind of charity drives. That's ok! For those of you who can still participate I picked a simple scrap buster block in winter colors.

Design-Seeds "Holiday Tones"

Start by pulling scraps in the color palette above. (Sea foam green, navy blue, true blue, light icy blues, and snowy off whites, plus some greys.)  You can see my fabrics below; I had more blues than the other colors.  Use what you have in your stash, that's what will make the quilts unique.

From your scraps cut 2.5", 4.5" and 6.5" squares. I basically cut the largest square I can from each scrap. After you have a good handful of squares begin playing with the arrangement to make a 12.5" block.

The simplest block you could make would by (4) 6.5" squares, the block with the most pieces would by a 36-patch made from 2.5" squares. I'm ok with a few of those, but I think the most interesting blocks will be the ones made from a mix of sizes arranged in different ways.

As you can see, there are lots of ways to arrange and rearrange various sizes of scraps. After you cut some scraps and start playing with them you'll be able to figure out if it would by helpful to cut one or two more of a particular size.

(Edited to Add: View some finished quilts here)

Anyone can participate in this drive and you can make as few or as many blocks as you like. Just follow the tutorial and get them in the mail by the end of December. Email CoveredinLoveTx@gmail.com for the mailing address.  Thank you to the many of you who participate in the block drives on a regular basis; Covered in Love is on track for 65 quilts from the first 4 block drives this year!

Scrappy Gold

Happy Halloween! This week I have three quilts to show you that were sent to my by Erin. You may remember her first two quilts from this post.

Erin sent in 5 scrappy tops along with backings and bindings and I've just finished quilting them all. Thank you Erin! 

These will be going along with a big delivery for Covered in Love up to the hospital this week.

I hope your Halloween was fun and you had enough candy to go around!

If you want to make a few blocks for the Sept/Oct block drive you still can, just get them in the mail in next couple weeks! Be on the look out for a new block drive announcement later this weekend or Monday for the Nov/Dec drive.

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 500 so far! The September/October 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

Louise's Quilty Orphans

Happy Fall, Y'all! The cool weather has finally arrived!  This week's quilts come courtesy of Louise, who you might remember from this post took on several boxes of UFOs and orphan blocks from Covered in Love to finish.

Louise has now sent back 10 quilts for CiL made from orphans and UFOs and she's putting together a great series on her blog about how to effectively use assorted blocks and abandoned projects.  (I'm about 80% sure the snowball blocks in the quilt above came from Priscilla). 

This quilt was made from shirting blocks that came from Holly's husband's shirts.  I love the cozy masculine feel. You can find more pictures of all these quilts on Louise's blog along with her commentary.  Giving Orphans a Home #1, and Giving Orphans a Home #2. 

I really like this quilt Louise put together from a bunch of assorted blocks.  You can spot some leftovers from the Hunter's Star block drive and a couple from this baby quilt I made years ago.  I think the yellow and aqua block in the top row may have been one I considered for a block drive and decided against.

Louise did really pretty custom quilting to accentuate the blocks.  Thank you Louise! Everyone make sure you go visit her blog if you haven't yet and read her posts about working with these orphan blocks.

I know it's been a long time since I showed you a house update. It's moving along at a fast pace now! I have water and electricity and they started painting yesterday.

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 500 so far! The September/October 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

Kathy & Co. Quilts

The last round of Covered in Love quilts Kathy helped with included 3 quilt tops that just needed quilting to finish. Priscilla had sent in another of her great scrappy rectangular 8-patches.

Kathy finished it with a stipple and binding and backing from Holly.  Next was this patriotic top from Michele.

 

I had the perfect back and binding in my donations, which I sent along with the top. This will fit right in with July's red/white/blue star block drive quilts.

Finally, Barbara had sent in this pretty, soft-colored star top full of florals.

I had a bunch of pinks and creams to back it with and Barbara sent along coordinating binding. 

Thanks so much ladies!

Last, but certainly not least, here's everyone's favorite laundry helper.

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 500 so far! The September/October 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

Sweet, Bright, Cross Quilts

Two more beautiful, cozy quilts were finished for Covered in Love this week. Quilter Kathy assembled and quilted these blocks that Johanna sent in and finished them with donated backing and binding!

I love how bright and rich the colors are.  Thank you to everyone who helps to make this possible! I got a sweet message from a family member this week about how much a quilt meant to them in the ICU to help disguise ugly lines and tubes.
 

With how much I am working now I am relying more and more on others for help with Covered in Love, so I really appreciate every donation and all of you who have volunteered to assemble or quilt.

I'll leave you with a parting shot from the quilt inspectors :)

Sundae, did you put your brother in a bag?

 
Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 500 so far! The September/October 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

Hearts from Erin

Another week, and a few more finishes from the UFO drawer! These two tops came from Erin (thanks Erin!) There were 5 tops total, so the others will be done soon.

I love these pretty appliqued scrap hearts. I would never be patient enough to hand sew all of these! I'm so glad someone is and willing to share their talents with Covered in Love.

These strings with the black background remind me of Amish style quilts. I quilted it with navy thread.  Erin sent along the tops, backing, and binding for her quilts, big thanks!

The Quilt Inspectors were 1 year old last week.  Here they were one year ago, as of Saturday the 28th, all snuggled in their box with their siblings.  D'awwww  :)

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 500 so far! The September/October 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 Drive 2019: Round 5

 

Are you tired of string quilts yet? If you are I apologize.  We are nearing the end of the 2019 string quilt drive, one more post after this one!

These are string quilts 19 through 22.  I had the most perfect cutesy backing to go on this one with more pinks and purples in the top.

This is one of the 60" quilts, it got a manly John Deere tractor backing.  The other "manly" quilt and the top of the post got a flannel backing with race cars :)

Finally, this really cool brown top was sent in nearly finished by Tina.  There were just a few blocks that needed an extra strip or two and it was ready to go. I really like the brown and red together.

I was able to put together an awesome backing for it, too, with the color scheme in this donated bird fabric.

So that's the last of the strings for a while, 22 string quilts done this year so far! Looking forward to something new next weekend ;)

Fierce yawn from pretzel cat

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 500 so far! The September/October 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