A Starry Autumn Sky

This beautiful star quilt is a tag team effort by Teri from Texas, who pieced it, and Judy from Arizona who quilted it.

You might remember Judy and Teri's previous collaborations from here.  I adore these fall-colored stars with the pretty blue.  The neutrals and oranges are scrappy but Teri used the same blue through out the top.

This is a generously sized quilt.  I can't remember exactly, but it seems like it was in the 60+" x 70+" range.  Judy custom quilted it to accentuate the precise piecing.

This beautiful quilt will go to a family mourning a loved one through Covered in Love.  Covered in Love is nearing 200 quilts given to grieving families, thanks to the support of quilters like Judy and Teri!

The new Covered in Love block drive just began and fittingly it's stars as well! This one will run until the end of August if you want to help out.  More info here! 

Linking to Crazy Mom Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Listening to... the KONGOS.

"Oh my Stars!" CiL Block Drive

Welcome Quilters to Covered in Love's July/August block drive!  Covered in Love makes quilts for patients who pass away in the hospital which the families can take home as a memento.  One big way we do that is through these bi-monthly block drives.  Anyone is invited to participate and make as many blocks as you like!

This will be another throwback quilt drive. We're repeating last summer's popular "red, white, and blue stars" theme. Families love these patriotic quilts!  The original post is HERE, but to sum up:

1. 12.5" (unfinished) blocks
2. red, white, and/or blue
3. any pattern you would call a "star"

You can take a look at last year's finished quilt for inspiration here, here, and here.  You can also find links to a lot of patterns on last year's block drive page here.  As you can see, there's plenty of room to be creative. You can make a smaller star floating in a 12.5" block or make a single block with several small stars in it.  

Paper pieced, scrappy, wonky, modern or traditional, all stars are welcome!

I am so grateful to Cynthia for helping out by hosting last month's block drive. This time we're going back to me, so if you have two addresses for CiL now ship your blocks to Texas! If you would like to participate in the block drive please leave a comment below (make sure I can contact you) or email CoveredinLoveTx@gmail.com for the address to ship blocks.  This block drive will run through the end of August.

To see finished quilts from previous block drives click here.

Sew Some Love Linky

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

I'm doing some traveling again this summer and posting a lot of content to the blog that was finished earlier.  I came across this photo today from a few weeks ago of Rory holding down a pile of quilts awaiting binding. No quilts escaping on her watch!

If you don't read Cynthia's blog at "Quilting is More Fun Than Housework" definitely head over there and check out the progress she has made on the current block drive. She is doing a beautiful job putting together your blocks! The May/June block drive is almost wrapped up and the new one will launch Thursday night, so be on the lookout for that post!

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!

3D Geese, Fly Home

This is a super cool quilt, y'all.  Jannette from Canada sent in 4 tops, including this one, for me to finish for Covered in Love.  This one has a really neat 3D flying geese technique.  You can see some more close up pictures of how the geese work here.

This is such a sweet, soft quilt. I stippled it all over, avoiding running over the geese (mostly. There was so me unstitching that had to be done a couple times...)

The colors are not quite as washed out and soft as the pics make them look. I adjusted the colors on the one below to give a truer representation.  I wish I'd gotten a close up of that pink fabrics. It was so sweet, with little puff-ball flowers on it.

This is also a generously sized quilt, which is always nice. I'm sure it will be truly treasured by a family who needs it.

I love this design! It's essentially a rail fence block with 4 "rails" in each, 2 of them being the geese.  Thank you Jannette for sharing this quilt with CiL!

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 and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Listening to... this very talented violinist covering pop music.

Sew Some Love

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

Ok, you might need to put on some sunglasses before you look directly at this quilt! Inspired by my pretty patchwork top I decided to attack my charm squares.  I seem to have an excess of BRIGHT charms, so I went that direction.  I always enjoy the feeling of helping a fabric find its home in a top.

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!

Batik Lightning

Over the past year Jean has sent me some beautiful home-dyed batik fat quarters.  Since Cynthia is so generously hosting the block drive this time I have had more time to focus on projects on my wish list. Using some of these pretty batiks was one of them!

I pulled blue and yellow shades, cut them to 4.5" wide on my AccuQuilt and then sewed them together in a braid pattern.

Initially I had planned to trim off the jagged edged and piece them together as usual, but I ended up liking the effect so much that I did raw-edge-applique onto a back background instead.

I quilted it all over with a stipple in black thread.  This one has already been taken up to the hospital for donation through Covered in Love.

Here's an obligatory cat picture of Rory lounging on the back side of this just after it was quilted. Isn't that backing fabric wild? Gail gave it to me with a note saying she had no idea what she was thinking when she bought it!  Well, just goes to show every fabric will find its home eventually.  It doesn't exactly match the top, but I think it does "go".

By the way, a reprint of the paper article on CiL cropped up on AllPeopleQuilt this week.  It's nice how they say I've "touched the lives of many patients in more ways than one" considering they don't know me  :) Thank you to all of you who continue to contribute to CiL. You guys are the real heroes!

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... something a little different.

Sew Some Love

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

 Recently a quilter named Jannette sent in a few tops to be finished for CiL. You may remember her green stars quilt from a couple weeks ago.  I wanted to show you another one of hers I've been working on. This quilt has neat 3D flying geese, different from what I've get seen before.

These pictures were taken before I put the binding on, so you can see how the middle of the goose is caught in one seam and the bottom gets caught in another seam leaving the "wings" free.

Sorry for the crappy night-time photo, but here's how the geese look all sewn down and lined up. Isn't it cool?  I'm looking forward to showing off this quilt is a future Friday post.

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!