Fiddlesticks Quilts 1.5

Hello quilters! I hope your July 4th weekend was fun and your pets weren't too traumatized! I have 5 quilts to show you from last Fall's Fiddlesticks block drive. These are the first quilts finished from the block drive donations, previously I posted and showed you the quilt that Linda D. made, which you can see here.

These first two quilts were assembled and quilted by Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework back in February.  You can see her post about them with more pictures here and here. 

These next three were assembled and quilted by Pam M. from Arizona who has been lending her time and talents lately to help.  As you can see, Fudge lent his time and talents as well...

A few weeks ago in this post I shared about some of my favorite Youtube channels with you and I want to tell you about another one I rediscovered recently.  I spent time watching Dianxi Xiaoge's channel a few years ago but recently started watching again. 

She's is a young lady from the Yunnan Province, which is in Southern China near Tibet and Myanmar.  The channel is mostly about traditional cooking and ways of life. Watch with closed captions because it's not in English, but mostly it's without talking and set to music anyway.  It's definitely very relaxing.

The area she lives in stunningly beautiful and rural. It's mountainous with streams and forests and ancient architecture. Families live in hundred-year-old multigenerational homes and share communal meals.  The methods of cooking are a blend of modern (I've seen her use a blender) and medieval (all cooking is over fire). Without refrigeration everything that needs to be preserved is pickled, fermented, cured, or dried.  It's a window into a way of life that has changed very little in hundreds of years.  She also has this hilarious giant dog that follows her around :)

I picked out this video about making Tofu as a good introduction to her channel if you want to try it.  (I think what they are translating as Dry Tofu is what we call Firm Tofu, as opposed to Silken).

PS - I'm aware of the sociopolitical issues in China and I know that this channel is only on Youtube because the Chinese government allows it and considers it good publicity.  I know that these people have electricity and a TV and obviously nice camera equipment and a computer for editing.  I just enjoy the channel and take it for what it's worth and as historical lifestyle and cooking.

A house of cards made from alcohol swabs.  Clearly my nursing students find my lectures very engaging! (Just kidding, this was during a break.)

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 800 so far! The July/August drive is running 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

Strings #3

Five more string quilts from January makes 12 total finished comfort quilts for Covered in Love! This first one with the pastel blocks is one of my favorites so far. 

There will eventually by 19 of these. (There is actually another one done, but there was a major dye-running incident so I'm still working on it...)  I really like the way they look arranged into color blocks.

The rainbow quilts are definitely stunners. I have made 4 of them so far.  I love the way the little bursts of contrasting color jump out. 

They're beautiful quilts, but also there's all the significance of rainbows, the rainbow after the storm, etc.

I've got got 6 more of these to sew together, so I am still working on them slowly but steadily.  It's good weather for working inside in the air conditioning! 

My parent's garden is booming and I've been putting up pickles because we have an abundance of cucumbers.  Everyone we know has been getting bags of cucumbers, I wish I could share them with all of you!

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 800 so far! The July/August drive is running 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

July/August Covered in Love Block Drive

It's year six of the annual "Oh My Stars!" block drive.  I thought about alternative ideas and blocks but you know, if it ain't broke don't fix it! These quilts are beloved by our families and you all love making the blocks.

You can find the detailed instructions for the block drive in this post.

For the July/August drive we are back to sending blocks to the usual address (in Texas, no Kansas.) Email CoveredinLoveTx@gmail.com if you need the address. If you're new to Covered in Love block drives, welcome!  These are very informal, anyone can participate and make as many or as few blocks as they like.  Just try to get your blocks in the mail by the end of August, and they will be made into quilts of comfort for mourning families.

With a Little Help From my Friends

Top by Beth, pattern "Wanda" by GE Designs, quilted by me

More quilts finished this week from tops sent in by generous quilters!  Covered in Love is rapidly approaching 1000 quilts.  Do you guys have any suggestions how we should celebrate? 

Top by Beth, pattern "Hope" by GE Designs, quilted by me

When we hit 300 back in January of 2018 I had a giveaway along with the block drive, which seems like a good idea.  

Top by Beth, pattern "Toni" by GE Designs, quilted by me

The pace of quilts this spring has obviously been much faster than usual.  This is due to several things.  H2H (51 quilts and counting!) and the increasing number of long-armers helping to get quilts done (hello Linda, Pam, Ray, Mel, Wendy, and Cynthia!)

Also, Tammy being an absolute angel and taking over the May/June drive so that I had several solid months to work nothing but the January QAYG blocks and quilting donated tops.  

Fabulously scrappy 9 patch by Priscilla, quilted by me

This season of high-production won't last forever so I am stashing finished quilts for the future to gradually bring up to the hospital.

Novelty plus quilt by Priscilla, quilted by me

I am having a need for backing fabrics again.  After my appeal last summer I got so many yards of fabrics that I have been able to back the dozens and dozens, probably hundreds, of quilts that have been finished in the past few months.  

Jelly roll race by Priscilla, quilted by me

I have, finally, more or less depleted my stash of backing fabrics though.  Specifically, I have plenty of pink, brown, and neutral. I need black and colors other than pink (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple).

Scrappy leaves by Priscilla, quilted by me

We do have some financial donations which I can use to buy backing, and I have bought some, but I wanted to let you know about the need since some of you have told me you have too much fabric to use in a lifetime ageing on your shelves.

The last three quilts in this post are Mina's signature "Scrappy Village" tops.  The pattern is a Bonnie Hunter one found here.  The variety and all the novelty fabrics are my favorite things about these. This first one I backed with Texas A&M fabric and bound with sports fabrics.

For this next one I went with pink backing and binding. As you can see, my quilting assistant was very helpful with the photography.  

Third village quilt, this one got a Christmas backing that says "Blah, blah, Humbug" and a matching striped blue binding.  By my best count, Mina has sent 21 of these village quilts to CiL.  I know I've said it before, but I love them because of the "it takes a village" aspect to them, and the idea of a village supporting each other.

Thank you all! Let me know how we should celebrate 1000 quilts. And enjoy this super cute video of a snuggly Sundae.

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

New Email Follower Service

Hello readers, if any of you read these posts in your email then this is especially for you! As you may have heard, Feedburner, the service that previously allowed you to subscribe and receive posts in your email, is closing down soon.  There are several different alternatives, but I finally found one where I can basically roll all my followers over to a new service with minimal interruption.

The new service is called follow.it and as a reader you won't have to do anything.  If you already get the posts delivered to your inbox then you should just notice that one day the emails start to look a little different. They will have ads, but still have the blog post in the email. You might get a few duplicate emails, I'll try to avoid it, but I'm also trying to avoid missing any posts.  

If you have not previously subscribed by email and you think that sounds like a good idea, there is a place on the right side bar to enter you email address and begin receiving blog posts!

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

Quilts and More Opportunities to Help

Tammy has finished the first 2 quilts from the May/June block drive, go check them out on her blog!!

 

Happy happy Friday! I am headed for some fun in the sun at the beach.  (Ok, if we're honest this redhead will be keeping my toes in the sand in the shade.)

Elana sent me this partially finished quilt-as-you-go quilt earlier in the year.  She had the rows completed and all the quilting done, I just joined it into a top.  So bright and pretty and such good colors and fabrics!

These two single-color quilt tops came from Jeanine.  A pink rail fence and a really cool blue plus top.

I wanted to point you toward a couple of other charitable opportunities this week.  The first is the Positivity Quilt Along being run by Sew Preeti to benefit Mercyful Quilts.  Mercyful Quilts essentially has exactly the same mission as Covered in Love, but at a hospital in California.  

The Positivity QAL is running over the course of the summer, so you have plenty of time. And there are prizes! So go check it out. 

Next, this isn't connected to any particular organization, but I saw this pattern for "Dignity Bibs" for adults that look like shirts instead of baby bibs.  I think this is an awesome idea and would be appreciated by any nursing home or someone taking care of an elder adult at home.

Sarah W. sent in these next 3 tops.  The first one is very different from the others, bright and modern stripes!

I like how this top looks like plaid when you get a little distance from it.  The applique hearts are from a pretty floral and the background patterned brown fabric is very soft, maybe a lawn fabric.

Lastly, this one has pretty fabrics and applique tulips at the ends. 

I had an especially perfect backing fabric to go along with this top, thanks to generous donations!

I lost track of Fudge the other day while I was sewing. He gave himself away by holding paws with his sister :)

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