I’ve been working on lots of little donation projects. It keeps me busy and sane in these challenging times. I’ve written before about Covered In Love, the charity by katandcatquilts.com who has bimonthly block requests. Kat and her team of helpers pull the blocks into gorgeous quilts for those critically ill in the hospital. I have thoroughly enjoyed helping with her block requests for a few years now. I feel part of something larger than myself and know that I’m giving for others in their tough times. Selfishly, I always learn something from the specific block request that pushes me to try new techniques, use novel colors and step out of my usual comfort zone.

STAR BLOCK REQUEST: Covered in Love’s usual every-two-month block drive is on hiatus for the months of May-June. However, for the months of July and August, Kat always asks for red, white and blue blocks with stars in them. Blocks can be any design with a star, but they must be sized at 12.5″ unfinished.

This year, I wanted to try a log cabin with stars in the center. Thank you to Epida Studio for a great tutorial of a star/log cabin block. If you love log cabin string quilt designs like I do, check out their entire post for a Log Cabin quilt-a-long that looks so fun. The blocks were fun to make and while I planned to do 2-3, I just couldn’t stop. I’ve made 8 so far, but I don’t think I’m done. I don’t know how Kat will arrange these into other star designs, but that’s part of the fun in seeing what she creates from our donations.

In past years, Kat’s block requests have helped me to learn paper piecing.

I’ve also learned to work more successfully with half square triangles. It’s all still a work in progress, but I’m grateful to be moving in the right direction. All this, because her block requests are different all the time.

So far this year, I’ve also made other star blocks like these below. I’ll keep looking for the pattern for you, but so far it eludes me.

I also made this block in a few different variations. I’m not happy with my seam connections there, so I may yet redo this one below.

If you like to sew for charity, please check out CIL and try making a few 12.5″ star blocks. The deadline for submissions isn’t until the end of August 2020, so you have plenty of time.

SMILE FOR THE DAY: In a final funny note, check out this photo that I posted on the Facebook ScrappyGirlsClub. I truly thought it was a bug but upon closer inspection, it’s a fabric scrap. I hope you have fun sewing and though many of us are on edge these days, sometimes it’s just a shred of fabric….

Linking to:

Midweek Makers

My Quilt Infatuation

Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Finished or not Friday