From North Carolina to Texas, with Love

Johanna from North Carolina is one of Covered in Love's most dedicated volunteers. Over the past year or so she's sent in many blocks and tops.

Both of these tops were sent in by Johanna and quilted by a wonderful local volunteer quilter, Kathy. 

These are both great, scrappy tops.  The one with the rectangles was quilted with a stipple.

The other quilt looks to me like and orphan block quilt. What a great job to use up orphan blocks! Kathy made the wise decision to use stitch-in-the-ditch and outline quilting.

Both of these measure 60" square and are full of cute scrappiness!

Thank you ladies!

Covered in Love makes quilts for people who pass away in the hospital.  The current Covered in Love block drive is going on until the end of June if you want to help out.  More info here! 

Linking to Crazy Mom Quilts, Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Oh Scrap!

Listening to...a throwback to my days on "the boats". 

That's me on the top left!

Sew Some Love Linky

Welcome to the Sew Some Love linkup!  Please link-up any post about a project you're sewing for charity.

The first of the tops from the Grandad's Shirts block drive has come together.  The blocks looked a little busy right next to each other so I used a narrow sashing to offset them.  What do you think?  BTW, the current block drive is running HERE if you want to participate!

In non-CiL sewing I made 4 more of the "Best Baby Bibs in the World".  Some of you may remember months back when I made some baby stuff for a friend expecting twins?  The twins are growing into strapping little boys and messy eaters, so two of these are for them. Another will be for the little boy with the G-tube I mentioned a week or so ago (hey, he's not eating yet, but hopefully soon!) and the other will be in reserve.

Covered in Love has been so blessed by donations from quilters, I want you all to see what each other have going on!  For purposes of the linky, I'm going to define "charity" really generally.  If you're sewing a quilt for you co-worker's mom with cancer or your friend's uncle who lost his home, that totally counts!  Anything you're sewing out of the goodness of your heart for someone outside you immediate circle of family and friends. 

An InLinkz Link-up

Some Quilt Charities:
Books and a Blanket - quilts for needy children in central Texas, promoting literacy
Covered in Love - quilts for mourning families
Kennel Quilts - small quilts for animals in need
Margaret's Hope Chest - several programs for children and adults
My Very Own Blanket - quilts for children in foster care
Ovarian Cancer Quilt Project - quilts auctioned to raise money for cancer research
Project Linus - quilts for children in the hospital
Quilts Beyond Borders -  quilts for poor children around the world
Quilts for Kids - quilts for abused and ill children
Quilts of Valor - quilts for veterans
Threading Hope - children and families in poverty and war torn countries
Victoria's Quilts - quilts for cancer patients
Wrap-a-Smile - quilts for children treated for cleft palate on medical missions
Wrap Them in Love - quilts for children

If you know of any that need added to the list let me know!

Scraps Make My World Go 'Round

I've been working nights this week and let me tell you, having my sleep schedule upside down is weird!  I'm a night owl anyway, but this is a whole different level.  I've had the hardest time keeping track of what day it is.  On the bright side, there isn't much to do at night but sew.

I got two scrappy tops quilted that were given to me by a friend from the Tyler Modern Guild, Janis. Thanks Janis!  Some of my own scraps that had been given away in a guild scrap-pot-luck actually made their way back to me in the tumbler quilt.

Both of these are Bonnie Hunter patterns.  The little tumblers were her 2015 leader-ender challenge and the other one is called "Sister's Choice."

The tumbler quilt got a stipple, but for the other I got out of my comfort zone a bit and did some wobbly loops. You know me, living on the edge ;)

Hope you had a good week and found plenty of time to sew! 

The current Covered in Love block drive is going on until the end of June if you want to help out.  More info here! 

Linking to Crazy Mom Quilts, Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Oh Scrap!

Listening to...Some thing a little more current than usual. Love Ed Sheeran.

Sew Some Love Linky

Welcome to the Sew Some Love linkup!  Please link-up any post about a project you're sewing for charity.

The Tyler Modern Guild did a brown bag scrap swap a while back for a project, as a result of which we all ended up with some of each other's scraps.  I was amused to see that some of my scraps made their way back to me in this scrappy tumbler top Janis gave me to finish! I don't doubt we might just have had some fabrics in common to start with, but there are too many of my fabrics in this top to be coincidental. It's nice to see them made into a nice quilt finally :)

Covered in Love has been so blessed by donations from quilters, I want you all to see what each other have going on!  For purposes of the linky, I'm going to define "charity" really generally.  If you're sewing a quilt for you co-worker's mom with cancer or your friend's uncle who lost his home, that totally counts!  Anything you're sewing out of the goodness of your heart for someone outside you immediate circle of family and friends. 

An InLinkz Link-up

Some Quilt Charities:
Books and a Blanket - quilts for needy children in central Texas, promoting literacy
Covered in Love - quilts for mourning families
Kennel Quilts - small quilts for animals in need
Margaret's Hope Chest - several programs for children and adults
My Very Own Blanket - quilts for children in foster care
Ovarian Cancer Quilt Project - quilts auctioned to raise money for cancer research
Project Linus - quilts for children in the hospital
Quilts Beyond Borders -  quilts for poor children around the world
Quilts for Kids - quilts for abused and ill children
Quilts of Valor - quilts for veterans
Threading Hope - children and families in poverty and war torn countries
Victoria's Quilts - quilts for cancer patients
Wrap-a-Smile - quilts for children treated for cleft palate on medical missions
Wrap Them in Love - quilts for children

If you know of any that need added to the list let me know! 

Linking to Confessions of a Fabric Addict and Sew Fresh Quilts.

Misc. and a Cat in a Box

Happy weekend quilters!  There wasn't a finish this week but I have been busy.  In fact, I just put together fabrics for 9(!) quilt backings!  Some of those tops have gone to volunteer quilters and some are in my to-be-quilted stack.  Thanks again to those of you who have sent in backing fabrics. It makes such a difference to be able to make backings from larger yardage cuts!

Jannette from Canada sent in 4 beautiful tops and 3 large backing cuts.  Crazy Eyes (aka Rory) was more interested in the box, of course.  I also pieced a top last week from hand-dyed fabrics that Jean sent.  I did a braid pattern and ended up deciding to applique the edges onto the background fabric rather than cut them off.  I really like the zigzags that the raw edges make.

By the way, thanks to everybody who wished Rey a happy birthday.  I passed along your well wishes. She sure is a spoiled girl!

Linking to Design Wall Monday.

May the Fourth Be With You

Happy Birthday to Rey!  Hard to believe the little princess is a year old already! Of course, she's a stray so I don't actually know her birthday, but since our best guess is "early May" I thought the fourth would be thematically appropriate.

Rey came into our family on June 21st last year.   I was on my way to work at 5:45am, going 70mph down the highway through a creek bottom when I thought I saw a kitten on the shoulder of the road.  I honestly thought my eyes were playing tricks, but I knew I'd think about it all day and wonder if I didn't make sure. So I circled back and drove slowly down the shoulder until my headlights lit up a kitten. Sure enough. 

First picture

I figured she would be injured if she wasn't dead, but she turned to look at me as I walked up. She was laying about a foot off the white line watching the traffic go by.  She surprised me by bolting across the street the first time I tried to pick her up.  The second time I grabbed her, and she immediately paid me back by biting the crap out of my hand.  She was howling, but no mama cat came out of the woods to claim her. 

I threw her in a big igloo cooler I had in the back of my car, wedged the lid up with an umbrella so she could breathe, and headed back home. On my way I called work and told them I'd be a bit late.

For the first week she pretty much slept all the time while the de-wormer, flea and tick killer, and lots of food did their job.  I spent two days combing a few hundred fleas out of her long hair. Ick.  We were beginning to think she was just a remarkably lazy cat, but after the first week she found her energy and hasn't lost it yet...

Rory has grudgingly accepted her presence.  Rey never lets her get much peace, so she has to sleep with one eye open.

...for the record, we don't actually eat on that table

People always ask if Rey is a Maine Coon because she has such beautiful, fluffy fur. Considering she's a side-of-the-road special she could be anything, but really I think she's too small to be a Maine Coon. Underneath all her floofs she's quite petite.

Happy first birthday to our gorgeous, purr-filled, sweet and sassy little girl.  I'm so glad you didn't get smooshed by a car!

Sew Some Love Link-up

Welcome to the Sew Some Love linkup!  Please link-up any post about a project you're sewing for charity.

I got to try something new this weekend.  Friends of mine are fostering a baby who just got a PEG tube placed for feeding troubles.  These belly pads, based on a tutorial from Hopeful Threads, will protect baby's skin from chafing and from any leakage.  And keep him looking fashionable at the same time!

Covered in Love has been so blessed by donations from quilters, I want you all to see what each other have going on!  For purposes of the linky, I'm going to define "charity" really generally.  If you're sewing a quilt for you co-worker's mom with cancer or your friend's uncle who lost his home, that totally counts!  Anything you're sewing out of the goodness of your heart for someone outside you immediate circle of family and friends. 

An InLinkz Link-up

Some Quilt Charities:
Books and a Blanket - quilts for needy children in central Texas, promoting literacy
Covered in Love - quilts for mourning families
Kennel Quilts - small quilts for animals in need
Margaret's Hope Chest - several programs for children and adults
My Very Own Blanket - quilts for children in foster care
Ovarian Cancer Quilt Project - quilts auctioned to raise money for cancer research
Project Linus - quilts for children in the hospital
Quilts Beyond Borders -  quilts for poor children around the world
Quilts for Kids - quilts for abused and ill children
Quilts of Valor - quilts for veterans
Threading Hope - children and families in poverty and war torn countries
Victoria's Quilts - quilts for cancer patients
Wrap-a-Smile - quilts for children treated for cleft palate on medical missions
Wrap Them in Love - quilts for children

If you know of any that need added to the list let me know!