Happy (not angry) Birds!

This quilt is called Angry Happy Birds!  A few weeks ago Cynthia hosted another quilty orphan adoption event and I scored a few more of other people's UFOs for Covered in Love.

These blocks came from Linda.  There were a variety of four patches and other pieced blocks.  I don't know what design she was originally intending, so I just counted what was there and played around with them to make it work. Angry Happy Birds is the first of two quilts that came from her UFO.

The focal fabric in this quilt is these cute, cartoon birds.

I love the deep purple fabric in the four patches with the flowers on it. Linda also sent enough of that for me to use as backing! The quilt got a pretty striped bias binding to finish and soft rounded corners.

The second quilt from Linda's UFO, in complete contrast to the first, is a wild, scrappy-looking patchwork.

To tame the craziness just a little I set the 4x4 blocks in diagonal lines.  Quilting was a stipple over most of the quilt and a wavy line through the diagonal chains.

Thanks to Linda for donating the blocks that made these quilts :) All donations to Covered in Love are welcome! To get details visit the main page and check out November's block drive here.

Linking to Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it Friday.

November Block Drive: Falling Leaves

Welcome to Fall! Finally!  Summer seems to last forever in Texas, but the days are finally turning cool. In honor of the arrival of fall this month's block drive for Covered in Love will be a falling leaves block.

(Edited to Add: View some finished quilts here)

First off, I didn't invent this block, I've seen it lots of places. I just customized the measurements for our purposes.  To make this block you will need some scraps in fall colors (brown, red/maroon, orange, yellow) and scraps for the background in khaki/taupe/off white shades.

Cut:

(3) 4.5" colored squares

(2) 5" colored squares

(3) 5" background squares

(1) 4.5" background square

(1) 1"x7" brown strip

On the back side of the (3) 5" background squares mark a diagonal line corner to corner and slice one of the squares along that line into 2 triangles.  Sew the brown strip in-between the two triangles to reassemble the square as a "stem" unit.  Pair the other (2) 5" background squares with the 5" colored squares and sew on either side of the marked line, then cut to yield 2 HSTs (tutorial #1 here).

Press and trim the (4) HSTs and the "stem" unit to 4.5" square and lay out the block as shown.  If you are making more than one block at once you can switch around your HSTs to have more variety within each block. Also, I used the same fabric for the background throughout this block, but feel free to keep it scrappy!

Sew together your 9 small blocks into a 12.5" finished block and you're done! Comment or send me an email for my mailing address if you want to pitch in.  Make 1 block or 10, all donations are welcome!

Covered in Love makes quilts of comfort to be given to the families of patients who pass away in the hospital where I work.  These quilts not only bring warmth to a hospital room, but are taken home by the families as transitional items.

Check out our August block drive quilt by clicking on the picture above.

Linking to Oh Scrap! and Design Wall Monday.

WIP Wednesday: Scrapping Away

 Happy Wednesday! Thanks to everyone who left encouraging comments on my last post about my crumb project.  I made pretty good progress on Sunday. I just have a little left to fill in and piece the whole thing together.  There will have to be some partial seams to tackle.
 

I'm going to keep working on that top today, and in between there are these string blocks sent in for the monthly block drive. Three tops worth here ready to be assembled :)  FYI, the post announcing November's block drive will be up sometime tomorrow.

Remember, this week is the beginning of the Bloggers' Quilt Festival!  You can see my entries here and here.

Linking to WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced.

A Little Personal Scrapping

It's a rainy Sunday here in Texas, very badly needed rain.  I am taking to day off charity sewing to work on a little personal scrap quilting.  These crumb slabs have been in progress for a while and I'm working on filling in the gaps to complete the top.  Happy Sunday Sew Day :)

Linking to Oh Scrap! and Design Wall Monday.

Scrappy String Pinwheel {Bloggers' Quilt Festival Fall 2015}

Another year, and another quilt market that I'm not at! Stinks doesn't it?  Fortunately, for all of us who can't go to market and see all the eye candy in person Amy run the twice annual Bloggers' Quilt Festival!

The first quilt I am showing off this Fall is a string-y scrap quilt from back in the Spring.  I actually featured the sister quilt to this one in the last Bloggers' Quilt Festival!  I love how versatile string scraps can be.  These two different quilts were both made using this tutorial for 60 degree string triangles.

This scrappy quilt was donated to Covered in Love, which provides quilts of comfort to the families of patients who pass away in the hospital where I work.  I was able to deliver one of these quilts personally yesterday, and these small acts of kindness do make a difference .

If you want to get involved with Covered in Love you can find details on the main page.

I am entering this quilt in the Scrap Quilt category of festival. Check out my other entry in the Large Quilt category here.

Stats: 
Size: ~52"x70"
Pieced from scraps by me
FMQ pieced by me on my home machine
Donated to Covered in Love

Flock {Bloggers' Quilt Festival Fal 2015}

It's the Bloggers' Quilt Festival and I'm thrilled to have an excuse to show this quilt off again since it's one of my favorites.  Flock!

This was the product of my first monthly block drive for Covered in Love.  I asked for volunteers to make 12" flying geese blocks within a certain color scheme and this was the lovely result.

I quilted Flock with wavy lines using my FMQ foot.

Thank you to everyone who continues to support Covered in Love. If you would like to get involved you can find details on the main page or check out the latest monthly block drive here.

I'm entering this quilt in the Large Quilt category in the festival. You can see my other entry into the scrappy quilt category here.

Stats:
Size: 69" square
Pieced by myself and volunteers for Covered in Love
Quilted by myself on my home machine
Donated to Covered in Love

Scrap Happy QAYG Strings

Happy Friday! I have one of my pet scrappy projects to show today. You know I love a good scrap quilt.

I made this quilt from string scraps using a quilt as you go method, piecing the strings onto strips of batting. When I do QAYG I press the seams flat and top stitch them down to keep the bulk down (pictures of that here.)

Finished size was about 55" x 72".  I found a cute backing with the right colors on sale at the LQS and bound it with a scrappy binding.  With the strings QAYG to the batting the backing just needed a couple of horizontal lines to hold it in place.

This quilt is being donated to the hospital for Covered in Love.  If you want to help out with Covered in Love it's not too late to contribute to this month's block drive, which incidentally also involves strings!

Linking to Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it Friday.