Thursday, March 7, 2024

Spring is in the Air

Beautiful quilts this week from loyal CiL supporter Karen M.! This first one has a simple design that really shows off the cool fabrics. I'm not sure if she made it as a giant disappearing nine patch or individual blocks? Either way, I love it. 

Next another very cool layout to show off some great fabrics. There were metallic highlights that I tried with some success to capture in the photo.

CiL continues to be successful thanks to many generous quilters. We are supporting four hospitals in north-east Texas and recently surpassed 1400 quilts delivered!

I wasn't positive which was the front or back of this quilt. I love the bold fabric colors and patterns and the lotus flower style quilting is perfect.

Here's the "back" you can see what I mean about it being a quilt all of its own.

Another beautiful quilt in a completely different style, Karen's friend Linda made this quilt that hitched a ride in the same box. I like how the simple block set in point makes a sort of interlocking / twist pattern.

For those of you who have been around for a few years and remember the kitty at my parents' house, Rey aka Fluffy, her world has recently been shaken up by the arrival of this little animal.  Louie is my mom's new dog and he's growing on me slowly... still not a dog fan even when they're this little and cute.


Check out the current CiL quilt block drive going on now.

 Linking to Finished or Not Friday

Friday, March 1, 2024

Little panel quilts




Happy Friday! I hope you're enjoying the days getting longer as spring gets closer. Here are a few small quilts full of cheerful fabrics. This first one is made with eight donated orphan 16-patch blocks. I added these whimsical kitties that were given to me by a member of my online guild, Sunshine.


Kathleen actually sent me two of the kitty panels, so I set the other one among orange, blue and black 9-patches. The little cat faces are so cute!


I had lots of this orange kangaroo fabric, so I used it on the back.


This panel features jungle animals with their babies. The coin strips were donated to CiL a long time ago and waited patiently to jazz up this sweet quilt.


How about an alphabet panel in soft neutrals? Every letter represents a different wild bird. Clever! I added top and bottom rows of windmill blocks that were donated recently.


The last three quilts are scrappy ones from my own stash. 


Both the butterflies and the bright plaid were donated to CiL and work great on the back.


I had lots of 3.5" and 4.5" wide scraps, so these quilts are made from those pieces. The blocks are 7" finished and I made each block a single color. This one has "blacks with brights" surrounded by "white with blacks."


And this one is "greys with pops of brights."  All the quilts in this post are all baby-sized. One of the hospitals we serve has a NICU and requested a few baby quilts. Please keep in mind that the vast majority of our quilts go to adults and that still our main need. Thanks!


 

Thursday, February 22, 2024

More orphan blocks and their friends



Hello, friends! Louise here to share a few more quilts made with your orphan blocks. Let's get started with a square quilt for the NICU. Lots of bright colors in this one! The house block is my favorite. The corner blocks were donated as triangles made of the pretty strips and I added the blue. They make a nice frame for the whole piece.


Blue and yellow is such a classic combination, don't you think? Many of the pinwheels arrived as half square triangles, perhaps made with a charm pack. The whale and dolphin panels make a nice focal point, and I hope this will appeal to someone who loves marine mammals!


A close up of the border fabric which looks like seaweed, so the critters will feel at home.


Most of these blocks had a tiny bit of turquoise in them, so I sashed them with tiny turquoise strips. That made the binding about the same size for a cohesive look. The center cat is a little panel. So sweet!


Here's another super bright one! I admit I'm a big fan of saturated colors so these blocks were really fun to work with.


On the back is this fun llama fabric from Spoonflower. So cute! However, I don't love the price and texture of their fabric, so I won't be buying any more of this. Have you ever tried Spoonflower fabrics? What did you think of them?


These blocks all had creamy off-white fabrics and more muted colors, so I put them together to be best friends. A cream background quietly unites them. Do you recognize the block in the second to bottom row, second from the right? That's from a block drive about five years ago! 


I put a number of different "outdoorsy" fabrics on the back for a more masculine feel. 


This one is also bright, but I limited the color palette to mostly gold, magenta, turquoise and black. It waited a long time half finished in my stash until the magenta plaid border arrived. My favorite block in this quilt is the upper right corner. Some of that star is folded over the railing in the photo, so you'll have to trust me that its a super cool block!

Many thanks to the dozens of folks who donate their blocks to Covered in Love. And thanks again to Kat who takes photos of my quilts.






 

Friday, February 16, 2024

Cats and Life in General

 I know I've been MIA and I'm sorry! The beginning of the year has been rough. I had the flu and Fudge injured himself and had to go to the vet. I've just got a few quilt photos left to post and the weather's been too dark and wet to take more. 

Sundae on a chilly day in the catio

Things are proceeding well with the charity, I just met a generous donor today and picked up some finished quilts. I dropped off almost 50 quilts for one of our hospitals the other day. 


I got my porch roofed to fix a leak and in the process closed it in for a catio. The kitties are loving it and come and go through the cat flap all day. 

Sundae is down another half a pound on her diet journey! Fudge injured his foot somehow while I was at work one day and covered my house in little bloody paw prints. I never figured out what he did, but he had to have a vet visit and stitches. I couldn't keep a cone on him, so he wore bandage instead.


 I worked more than usual around Christmas due to schedule adjustments. We're back on track now and I'm grateful. 

I'm searching for a new spot to take quilt photos, since I was taking them on the porch, so I should have more soon. In meanwhile, the block drive is still going and we've had quite a few blocks come in. Looking forward to showing you those soon!

Friday, January 12, 2024

Grateful for quilt top donations


Hello, friends! Louise here to share some lovely quilt tops that were donated by our wonderful supporters. Most of these needed just a border or two to make them good sizes for Covered in Love. This pretty one already had its dark green border and I added the brown round.


I love the autumnal pumpkin focal fabric,  don't you?


Next up is this quilt made from modern blue and yellow fabrics, with a pop of orange for fun. I added some donated starry night fabric for the border.


The center of this piece is a technique I've only ever seen in photos. Four fabrics are sliced and interleaved to make this effect. The original fabrics looked like sunsets and birch trees. Anyone know what the design is called? 


I added a couple of pink and gray borders and found the perfect gray forest panel to use on the back.



Here's one that didn't need anything except quilting and binding. Super cute and easy-peasy for me!


How about this handsome blue diamonds quilt? A great, masculine look, and also ready to just quilt and bind.


The diamonds are formed using what I think are called Five Minute Blocks. They are three-dimensional and folded on the bias, a bit like Cathedral Windows blocks. Neat!


Finally, this soft and pretty quilt arrived as the inner section. It's hard to tell from the photos, but most of the sage green fabric have bits of pink, so I added a pink inner border and binding to make that pop.


This large scale floral has been patiently waiting in my stash and I think it is just the right backing. Voila!

Many thanks to everyone who donated these tops to Covered in Love! 

Friday, January 5, 2024

Joann's quilts


Happy New Year, friends! Louise here to share three darling quilts made by Joann. Aren't they just the cutest?


One of the hospitals served by Covered in Love has a NICU and has requested a few baby quilts. Joann's sweet pieces will help comfort a family there. Please note that the vast majority of our quilts go to adults and that still our main need. 


Many thanks to Joann for sending in these cute baby quilts! Your donations keep Covered in Love strong. And in case you missed it, we're running a block drive this quarter. Check it out here!

Saturday, December 30, 2023

January 2024 CiL Block Drive

 At long last I am pleased to announce another Covered in Love block drive! This drive will run from January - March (3 months). 

In case you haven't ever participated 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 March. All the blocks received will be combined into quilts for families who lose loved ones in east Texas hospitals. 

photo by Elizabeth Hartman

This time around we are going to be making Mod Mosaic blocks from the pattern by Elizabeth Hartman.  Follow this link and scroll to be bottom to download her pdf tutorial. For you blocks please use any bright, saturated fabric scraps and white sashing. Trim your blocks to 12.5" x 15.5".  Email or comment if you have any questions and have fun!