Busy...sort of

Life has been busy...well, maybe the better word is "full".  I scrambled to complete the LLS quilt (pics and post to follow later) and a few weeks later, my nephew was born.  In the meantime, my brain has been thinking in terms of color, but not design.  The LLS quilt experience tired me of quilting for awhile.  Lately, I've had no desire to sit in front of a sewing machine to work on anything.  Today was the first day that I had a spurt of inspiration, but it's been more about color than design.  I promised myself that I wouldn't start a new project until my sewing room is complete, so I guess it's a good thing that I haven't been inspired to sew.  I have a friend coming over tonight to help me hang a curtain rod in that room, so maybe it will be a useable space by the end of the week. We shall see.

More to come soon.

Design Wall Debacle

In working on the LLS quilt, I knew I was going to need a design wall so that I could see all of the fabulous blocks y'all sent me and decide how they would best fit together.  I bought some batting and went on a search for some foam board or something else that I could cover in batting and prop up against a wall.  When I found what I wanted at Lowe's, it was too big to fit in my car and I had wasted a week of sewing time.  Necessity being the mother of invention, I just taped the batting to the wall in my dining room.  I was so excited to get started.  Here is a shot of the first blocks on the wall.

After some playing around, I came up with this combo for quilt #1 (Yes, there will be more than one LLS quilt).  It's called "I Spy, Hopscotch".  The center of each of the blocks has something in it; chicken, frog, crab...you get the idea.

Quilt #2 doesn't have a name yet and I'm still playing with the layout, so I'll share that one later.

This morning, I walked downstairs to find this.

Did I mention that I used masking tape instead of duct tape?  What was I thinking?

Okay, maybe not a "debacle", but I love that word and rarely get a chance to use it.

Join me next time for more on my LLS quilt progress.  Y'all come back now, ya hear? (This morning, I'm full of comedy and references to classic tv.  You'll have to excuse me.  :) )



Three Hundred!

Last night, I hit 300 likes on Facebook.  I was absolutely thrilled!  For the rest of the night, all I could hear was Bill Cosby saying, "Threeee HUNdreeed!!!".  What?!  You don't remember that epidsode?!  You know, the one where he was bidding over the phone for Charlie Parker's "Night in Tunisia".  Well, here's the video to refresh your recollection.

Thank y'all for your support.  The next milestone is 500, so please share your love of Covered in Love Quilts with friends.

Butterflies and Giraffes

This was a busy weekend for me.  I had loads of fun, but am pretty tired this morning as a result of all the fun.

Friday, after work, I drove to my sister's house in Alexandria.  That evening, we went to see Liner Notes, which is a show conceived and directed by my sister's friend, Paige.  This show was a straight up party!  I can't remember the last time I had so much fun in a theater.  If you are anywhere near the DC area, be sure to check out the show when it returns on August 2nd and 3rd at the Atlas Theater.

Saturday morning, I got up early and did the DC lupus walk.  This was the biggest walk ever, with at least 2,200 people participating.  This year, I walked to celebrate the past year.  It was a trying one, but I think I'm on a great path of being able to keep my lupus under control. It's not too late to support my walk.  If you'd like to contribute, follow this link.

Here I am greeting my nephew, JC.  My sister was being nice and allowed me to touch her belly.  I know she's about sick of that by now.

And this is me at the finish line.

The lupus awareness movement uses purple as its color and the butterfly as its symbol.  There were lots of folks there with butterfly wings on, but this was my favorite pair. 

Her name is Ivy Phaire and she is the creator/owner of Purple Girl Clothing.  I am an instant fan of her tshirts and will be rocking them all summer long.  Please check out her site and show her some love on Facebook.  Tell her I sent you.

After the lupus walk, I went to my sister's baby shower.  My sister has a real thing for giraffes, so just about everything she received had a giraffe on it.  The quilt I made for the baby was no exception.

I found the giraffe fabric at Spoonflower and had fun making the squares.  I quilted this one myself on my domestic machine.  I am so proud of my (mostly) straight lines!

My sister and her husband loved the quilt.

My sister has never really been one to wax poetic about how she feels, so when we had this text message exchange the day after the shower, I was absolutely thrilled.

Her: I almost wanna frame JC's quilt.  I don't want him to spit up or poop on it.  I wanna frame it and use it as artwork in his room.  Do people frame quilts?

Me: You could, but I can put a sleeve on the back of it and you can hang it.  I wish you'd use it though.  It was made to be used.  There are a lot of little mistakes on that quilt.  If you want something to hang, I can make something and put his name on it and you could hang that one.

Her: Ok, well then I'll wait for one with his name and hang that one.  I just don't want him to mess this one up with his stinky because we like it a lot.


And this makes Aunt Kisha very happy.  :)

And Miles To Go Before I Sleep

I had a lot happening in my world on Monday.  It was LMM's birthday and I was excitedly anticipating her opening the present I sent her.  I found this quilt in an antique store when I went home for my sister's wedding last July.

It was still there when I went home in December, so I knew I had to get it for her.  She was really excited to have it.

Monday was also the deadline to receive blocks for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society quilt I'm making.  I received a total of 43 blocks.  The award for the most creative packaging goes to...

...well, I can't remember her name right now and the envelope is at home.  I'll update this later.

Finally, Monday was the day of my quarterly visit to Johns Hopkins Hospital.  Every three months, I drive to Baltimore to see Dr. Michelle Petri who is the director of The Lupus Center at Hopkins.  Dr. Petri is wonderful and has been critical to keeping my lupus under control.  I'm so grateful to have access to a nationally reknown doctor.  LMM nagged me for months to get an appointment there last year.  I'm so glad I finally listened to her.  Life is manageable now, but I still have my days that the pain and exhaustion put me in the bed for days at a time.

This week, I have to finish my soon-to-be-nephew's quilt, 2 teddy bears, and I have to come up with a lay out for the LLS quilt.  I'm tired just thinking about it...

Miles to go...

Scrappy bear

A few weeks ago, LMM found this bear while antiquing.

She intended for this to be her bear, but when Little Miss saw it, she claimed it as her own without any discussion.  I knew how excited LMM was about finding this bear and I was sure that she would want her bear back, so I made it my mission to create a fresh new scrappy bear for Little Miss that would make her forget about the antique bear.

I found Simplicity Crafts pattern 5461 and cut out all of the pieces in muslin to use as a foundation.

In trying to figure out how to make it scrappy, I decided that this bear would be more patchwork than scrappy because it was the easiest thing for me to accomplish with the tight and looming deadline of LM's birthday.

I picked fabrics in her favorite colors,

cut them into 3.5 inch strips and sewed them together,

turned the piece so that the seams ran horizontal and then cut 3.5 inch strips,

and ended up with strips that looked like this.

Then I sewed the patchwork strips down onto the muslin foundation.

I trimmed the excess and then started piecing the bear together.

The directions weren't entirely clear to me, so I just intuitively pieced things together...but couldn't figure out what to do about the ears.

A friend of mine that understands how to follow patterns explained to me what I had done wrong, and after ripping out a lot of stitches, taking the head off, and then deconstructing the head, I was able to put the ears on and finish the bear.  I am totally happy with the results.



I especially love his feet.

I hope Little Miss loves this bear enough to be able to return the old bear to her mom...although now I just realized that I've created a playmate for the old bear...hmmm...LMM, good luck!  lol!

Hopefully LMM will share pictures of LM with the bear that I can share with you all next week.

I've created a quilter, or two.

I always wanted to learn how to quilt because I intended to make the blanket in which my child was brought home from the hospital.  A few years back, I decided that I shouldn't wait any longer for a baby that may never come, so I dived in and made a few quilts for Christmas gifts that year.  One of those first quilts was for my godchild, Little Miss.

This is her first quilt, "Ladybug".

This is Little Miss on her currently favorite quilt.  She loves it because the quilting is pretty dense and in the shape of flowers.

By my count, Little Miss has four quilts that I have made for her and one that I made for her mom that she has kind of claimed as her own.  She's only four years old and already has told her mom that she will only sleep under a quilt.  Her Mom says that I've created a bit of a quilt monster.  lol.

A couple of years back, my best friend, Little Miss' Mom (LMM), decided that she wanted to learn how to quilt, but she didn't know how to use a sewing machine.  So, one day, we spent the afternoon at my dining room table and I taught her the basics.  She's been making quilts every since.

Recently, Little Miss decided that she wanted to make a quilt and LLM gave her some squares of fabric and allowed her to design the quilt.  LLM sewed it together.  When I got these pictures, my heart melted and my uterus went into contractions. lol.

It was somewhere between the final layout and the spray basting that she said, "This takes a long time, Mommy".    It certainly does, Little Miss, but the finish product is so rewarding, isn't it!  :)

She's getting a Hello Kitty sewing machine for her birthday this year.  LLM and I are beyond excited about teaching her how to sew.

And so, while I haven't had a child of my own to share my love of quilting with, I am overjoyed in the knowledge that Little Miss is learning the craft.

Post Office Box

Thank y'all so much for the overwhelming response to my request for wonky log cabin blocks for the LLS charity quilt I'm putting together.  So many of you are willing to help that I had to get a post office box today.  So, if you would like to contribute a block, you can send it to:

Kisha Petticolas

P.O. Box 1654

Easton, MD 21601
Keep those blocks rolling in!

Ronnie's LLS Blocks

I know that I am supposed to be writing a post about my style, but I'm still on the mend and haven't had the mental fortitude to do anything outside of my day job.

I am, however, completely excited about the LLS blocks that have been arriving!  Yesterday, this package was waiting for me when I got home.

My initial thought was, "When did I order a record?  I didn't think they made vinyl albums anymore".  Quickly, I realized this was from one of my new quilty friends.  I excitedly opened the package to find this.

Then I thought, "Okay, maybe I did order something on eBay that I just don't remember".  I tore open the cardboard and found these wonky beauties...

...with a note from their maker, Ronnie.

Thanks so much, Ronnie!!!!  I love them!

There's still plenty of time to get in on this project.  The deadline is April 22nd.  Hope to find some more wonky goodness when I get home this evening!  :)

Postal Wonky Goodness

I'm not feeling great today, so this will be a quick post.
When I got home from the doctor's office, these were waiting for me in the mail.

These are the first LLS blocks to arrive.  I'm so excited!  Thanks, Sandra Leigh!

I'll be back later this week once I'm back on the good foot.

Overwhelmed

Lately, I find myself completely overwhelmed by quilty goodness.  Two days ago, I asked y'all to make some blocks for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society quilt I'm working on and already I've seen pictures of blocks I should be getting in the mail soon.  I'm so excited  about the response I've gotten so far.  I hope it keeps growing.  Thank y'all so much!

I'm also a bit overwhelmed about all the projects I want/need to make this year.  Last July, my sister got married.  I was supposed to gift her a quilt for their bed.  It's not finished yet.  The horrible part about it is that it's a really simple design, but for some unknown reason, I just haven't been able to pick it up again and finish it. 

It's a row of string blocks like this one across a black background.  I think I've about finished all of the blocks.  Now all I have to do is buy the black fabric, cut and piece the background and figure out the back.  Just can't seem to get it together.  And now my sister is pregnant and due at the beginning of June.  Of course that means a quilt for my new nephew, JC, but have I designed it yet?  Not really.  Do I have fabrics for it yet?  Nope.  I've gotta get on the good foot!

I also want to finally make a quilt for my bed.  I've had the sketch for awhile and I finally cut into the fabric in January.  Last night, I started piecing the string blocks. (Can you tell I love string blocks?)

I'm hoping to finish this by the end of the summer.  I think that's a pretty conservative timeline considering the rest of my list for the year.

Every year, my best friend and her daughter, Little Miss, get quilts from me for Christmas.  For some reason, I always wait til the last minute on these.  This year, I decided that I would make a block each month for my best friend's quilt.  Here is January's block.

I'm still toying with February's block.  No telling what March's block will look like.  I have no idea what I'm doing for Little Miss' quilt yet.

Remember the Cherrywood fabrics I bought at QuiltCon?  The design for that is called "Share the Same Cover" and it features some curved piecing.  I've never done curved piecing before and it scares the crap out of me.  Gotta overcome that fear because I'd like to see that quilt before another year goes by.

I also have a design called "Individual Couple" that should be done this year.  I've worked out the measurements and have the fabric I want to use.  I just need to cut and sew.

Then there's "I Believe in Miracles" which was supposed to be a Christmas present for my mother a few years ago but I hit some serious snags along the way.  Now I'm not crazy about what I produced back then and need to just start all over (especially since I can't find enough fabric to complete what I started).

So many designs in my notebook that I can't wait to see come to life, and for some reason I feel that I need to get them all done this year. *deep breath*  We'll see what happens.

Thanks for stopping by!  Join me next time for "What's my style, anyway?".

Please Help Me To Help Them

I had not intended to write a post today, but I had a meeting earlier that I need to tell you about.  I'm hoping after you've heard, you'll be willing to help by making a square for a quilt that will be auctioned.  A few weeks ago, I agreed to participate in the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Man & Woman of the Year Competition.  I'm not really sure why, in that moment, I agreed to do it, but I'm sure the reason will be made clear to me at some point in the near future.  The title of Man/Woman of the Year goes to the man and woman that raise the most money.  I don't intend to win because I'm not a great fundraiser.  I just want to help this organization. 

As a candidate for Woman of the year, I'm raising funds in honor of the 2013 Boy of the Year, Matthew Wilson (Matty).  Matty was originally diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in June of 2010 when he was just 17 months old.  After a successful six-month chemotherapy regimen, Matty enjoyed 13 months of remission.  Upon relapsing, Matty benefited from life saving research through a clinical trial drug that was indirectly funded through the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), which saved his life.  Matty received his bone marrow transplant on May 1, 2012 by way of a partial match from his father.  Now 3 years old, Matty has a long road ahead of him, but he is hopefully on his way to living a long, healthy, and happy life with his family and the many people that have come to love him for the brave warrior that he is.

This is Matty sick.

This is Matty well.

I'm asking all of my quilter friends to please help kids like Matty by donating one wonky log cabin square towards a quilt that will be auctioned of at our Grand Finale Gala on Thursday, May 23, 2013 at The Chesapeake Bay Beach Club.  I'd like this quilt to be at least a generous sized lap quilt, if not bigger.  LLS's colors are red and yellow, so I'm asking that you use any shades of those colors and white as a neutral color.  Please make your block(s) at least 8 inches. Here's a great tutorial on how to make a wonky log cabin block.  I'm hoping the end result will be a scraptastically bright and happy quilt that will cause people to bid high and raise lots of money for LLS.

The deadline for squares is April 22nd.  So as to not put my home address out in the blogosphere, I'll be getting a post office box specifically for this project.  I'll post the address in the next few days.

Thanks in advance for your help!

*** Since originally posting this, I have gotten a post office box.  My mailing address is:
Kisha Petticolas
P.O. Box 1654
Easton, MD 21601

QuiltCon: Quilty Goodness

There was no shortage of beautiful quilts at QuiltCon.  There was something there to fit everyone's tastes.

What I learned while taking in all of this quilty goodness was that I tend to gravitate towards designs that either gives a nod toward traditional quilting or are very scrappy.  Here are my favorites from the show.

Best in show went to "Double Edged Love" by Victoria Findlay Wolfe of the NYC Modern Quilt Guild.  This is a very interesting take on the Double Wedding Ring pattern.  The quilting on this is phenomenal.

 "Modern Mirage" by Lee Heinrich of the Milwaukee Modern Quilt Guild and "Flutterby" by Andrea Fox.  Both of these quilts have very traditional elements, but have been given a modern twist.

This is me and my favorite Denyse Schmidt quilt, "Works Special Edition tangerine/poppy".  Orange is one of my favortie colors and I love the simplicity of this quilt. 

 My other favorite by Denyse is "Single Girl" because...well...I love circles and it wouldn't make much sense for me to have a double wedding ring quilt in my house at this point in my life.  :)

My absolute favorite in the show was RGB Modern by Sherri Lynn Wood.  Her work is amazing to me.  I love the movement of this quilt, not to mention the scrappiness of it.  Love the hand quilting.

But of all the quilts that were displayed in Austin, the vintage quilts from the personal collection of  Roderick Kiracofe spoke to me the most.  All of these quilts are featured in his latest book, simply entitled "Quilts". 

Scrappy, lovey, folksy, quilty goodness.  For me, this is what quilts are supposed to be.  I aspire to create works that look and feel like this.

Well, so as not to bore you all with yet another post about QuiltCon, I believe this will be the last one, although I reserve the right to refer to it as often as necessary.

Join me on Wednesday, as I try to prioritize all of my pending projects.