Baby Goodies

Happy Friday! I have some personal projects to show for the first time in a long while. These baby gifts are for a few friends having little boys. I love making these 60 degree triangle quilts for babies, so simple and dramatic.  I like to choose a backing fabric and then pull fabrics for the front based on the colors in the backing. (You can see a couple others here.)

This family is honoring a grandfather who was a pilot, so mama-to-be especially loved the backing fabric. I was happy to use some sock-monkey fabric on the front that I've has since about 2011. 

Next, I did some cyanotype dyeing. I usually do these by setting them out under the bright sun for about ten minutes, but because the sun moves there can be some slight blurring. This time I tried using a UV light rigged it up in a light box. The trade-off for more crisp, clear lines is that I can only do one at a time and it takes nearly 4 times as long exposure time as under the sun.

I have plans to do some more dyeing soon, if only the cats weren't quite so helpful it would be easier!

The face of a boy who brought in a lizard off the catio into my bed to wake me up

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 1400 so far! The April-June block drive is live now.  Check out the main post HERE if you want to get involved.

 

 Linking to Finished or Not Friday

Thank You!

The chaplains from Mother Frances hospital, who distribute our quilts there, sent me a nice note the other day along with a note they received from a patient family.  These kind thanks belong to all of you who have helped CiL.

(click on the images to expand them to make it easier to read)

   Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 1400 so far! The April-June block drive is live now.  Check out the main post HERE if you want to get involved.

 

 Linking to Finished or Not Friday

Priscilla's Tops

Happy Friday, quilters! Priscilla has been one of CiL's longest running supporters. She's sent in many tops over the years. This week I have three of her awesome tops which were finished by our amazing quilters. 

This simple block made of batik fabrics is cheery and cozy and absolutely huge. As you can see, it barely fit on the swing at all. Both this quilt and the next are in the 100" sq range.

A similarly simple block in a completely different palette makes for an equally cozy quilt. These two enormous quilts were both quilted by Wendy on her longarm. 

Last up, this is also quite a large quilt, it's only small by comparison to the other two. I love the border design. Pam did the quilting on this one and I really like the block. Might make for a fun block drive one day?

Thank you so much, ladies!

Screen doors and Sunday morning sunshine

  Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 1400 so far! The April-June block drive is live now.  Check out the main post HERE if you want to get involved.

 

 Linking to Finished or Not Friday

Jocelyn's Tops

Happy Friday, quilters! This weekend I have several quilt tops that were sent in by Jocelyn and finished by a few different quilters. Pam did the quilting on this absolutely massive card trick quilt. This photo really doesn't do justice to the size of it!

Next Dee quilted this very pretty, soft, flowery pink quilt. It's a little bit hard to make out the quilting pattern, but maybe you can see it in the photo below. It's a large flower motif with leaves.

The rest of these were quilted by Linda, starting with the small masculine quilt. Outdoorsy hunting and fishing novelty fabrics will be perfect for an older man.

Next up, this very cozy quilt is made from flannel. (I'm especially grateful that I didn't have to quilt this one! Flannel is so cozy, but so heavy to manhandle.)

Close ups of some of the fabric textures. I think this quilt was my favorite of the batch. 

And lastly, another pretty, feminine, pink, floral quilts. It's a little difficult to photograph such soft colors, but click on the photo to make it larger and look at the details. 

Thank you so much, ladies, for your beautiful work!

Sundae

 Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 1400 so far! The April-June block drive is live now.  Check out the main post HERE if you want to get involved.

 

 Linking to Finished or Not Friday

Beth's Quilt Tops

GE Designs "Two Timer" in barn raising layout

Happy Friday quilters! Today's three quilt tops were all sent in by long-time supporter Beth T. These first two were quilted by Dee on her longarm.

This quilt was actually originally the backing to the one above, but we both felt it was too complex and would make a nice quilt on its own. 

Dee rustled up some muslin to back it with and quilted it with an autumnal motif.  Beth must have a beautiful stash because she always has the most well-coordinated tops. 

Beth makes a lot of her quilts with free patterns from GE Designs. All of these are from "Two Timer". Beth included a note that this last quilt was also originally intended to be a backing, but took on a life of its own.

Pam did a lovely job quilting this top up and getting it all done. Three cozy quilts ready for the hospital, thanks ladies!

Shenanigans on the catio

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 1400 so far! The April-June block drive is live now.  Check out the main post HERE if you want to get involved.

 

 Linking to Finished or Not Friday

String Block Drive Wrap Up

The last (I think) of the 2022 String Block quilts are all done! Dee, a wonderful longarm quilter I met locally, took the last 7 tops off my hands to quilt.

Dee is excited to practice with her longarm and I am thrilled to have her help! She ended up using this nice wavy design on a lot of the quilts. 

Always fun eye-spy on these quilts. I found an octopus and a fox right next to each other. 

Our little corner of Texas was square in the path of the eclipse this week and got a full 4 minutes of totality.  Both hospitals had little events and I saw lots of pictures online of nurses and patients watching.

I did NOT work this past week and got some much-needed chores done.  My parents and I watched the eclipse from the yard; it was a very surreal experience! There was concern that we would be clouded over, but it was perfect. 

It wasn't as dark as night during the totality, more like dusk, but it was enough to get confused frogs croaking and owls hooting. It also got noticeably cooler.

Covered in Love continues to grow and bless many grieving families at 4 East Texas Hospitals. We're up to over 1400 quilts distributed!

This turned out to be a huge block drive. You can see the state map and totals below.  78 quilters made 28 quilts! 

In addition to the blocks, generous fabric donations allowed me to make all the backings for these.

I have to admit, this bright one might be my favorite. 

Massive thank you to Dee for helping to finally finish off this drive, only 2 years after it started, and thanks to all 78 of you who contributed!

Covered in Love is a 501(c)(3) charity that donates quilts to patients dying in the hospital, over 1400 so far! The April-June block drive is live now.  Check out the main post HERE if you want to get involved.

 

 Linking to Finished or Not Friday

2nd Quarter Block Drive

Hello quilters! It's time for the second CiL quilt drive of the year. I know that the previous drive was a little complex, this one will be easier hopefully. 

These two quilts were made by Donna J and dropped off recently and I thought the design would make a perfect CiL block drive. It's a super simple scrap buster, specifically binding scraps if you make yours at 2.5" wide like I do. This block is appropriately called the Potato Chip block, betcha can't make just one!

For a color scheme look for fabrics with a warm, saturated, farm-house kind of vibe similar to the two quilts shown, nothing super bright.  And you'll need some low-volume (not bright white) fabrics for the inner ring.

Cut (12) 2.5"x4.5" pieces from your darker fabrics and (6) 2.5"x4.5" pieces from the low volume fabrics.

Start assembling from the inside as shown.

The block should finish at 12.5" square.

In case you haven't ever participated in a CiL block drive before, the idea in a nutshell is that you can make as many or as few blocks as you like. Contact coveredinlovetx@gmail.com for the mailing address and try to have them in the mail by the end of June. This block drive will run for 3 months, from April-June. All the blocks received will be combined into quilts for families who lose loved ones in east Texas hospitals. 

Thank you to Donna J for the inspiration, and I can't wait to see the blocks you all make!

Linking to Finished or Not Friday