heARTS Creations

I Got Mail & a Finish!

Posted on September 16, 2019 by heARTs Creations

Recently the best box of goodies showed up at my doorstep. A reader from Kansas contacted me. Her mother, who was an avid quilter, passed away. Just like most quilters, it was no surprise that she had WIPS in her stash that her daughter now wanted to pass on to the Hospice ministry. And WOW! First, was this hand pieced, hand quilted piece. I needed to take it apart a bit to make it into a square, but because she used Georgia Bonesteel’s laptop quilting method, it was easy. I took it apart, rearranged some blocks, sewed it back together, put on a binding and look! A finished Hospice quilt! What a wonderful and loving way to honor the memory of her mother. This finish will be passed on to Hospice this November and shortly thereafter will bring warmth, joy and love to someone in need.

All that hand quilting – WOW!

There were a couple of block of the month kits with the blocks all made, needing to be sewn together, and the patterns given to us too. Another amazing treasure was the Sunbonnet Sue blocks and yes, hand done. There are even the cardboard templates included! A few blocks were complete and many, many pieces were prepped ready to applique.

The below quilt was also a block of the month – all put together.

And yes, another quilt all pieced. WOW – so much excellent work!

I was tickled to see this scrappy quilt. I can only image all the quilts that were made resulting in the scraps for this one.

Thank you to this most generous reader. Our group is honored to have your mother’s fine works and will endeavor to do you proud!

Sew-in Fun!

Posted on September 8, 2019 by heARTs Creations

Last week I had the good fortune to spend four days in South Carolina with a group of talented and fun quilters! Everyone brought their own projects and worked away all day and into the night. Mostly we had hot sunny days and were able to enjoy the outdoor pool.

These hat pin cushions were made and gifted to each of us by Judy. I absolutely love mine and am so thankful for her thoughtfulness and efforts.

Here’s Laurie with her very impressive bin full of 1 1/2″ solid scraps. She’s turning them into the now popular spinner blocks. What a great use of scraps!

Debbie lives nearby and is the one who introduced us to the Homeplace B&B that we were at. Thank you Debbie!

Studious Susan is carefully planning her next project. (Something I need to get better at)

Sandy really worked away consistently. She not only machine sewed but also worked on some English paper piecing.

This square in a square quilt tells Susan’s life story. The grits block was definitely a favorite!

Lots of trimming and squaring up. Sandra was another who sewed, sewed, sewed!

A log cabin quilt for a friend of Laurie’s who recently purchased a log cabin! She’ll add a border – what a wonderful and thoughtful gift.

Judy is cutely peeking out from behind her 30’s print quilt. I love the design this layout makes.

This is such an impressive paper pieced beach quilt! Lorel isn’t finished with it yet. She’s planning on adding on some amusement – shells? crabs? beach balls? Can’t wait to see the finished quilt!

Debbie brought her very impressive woven (from bed sheets) rug. Wow!!

Sandy finished this Frozen quilt top with a special little one in mind. How cute!

This minimal and very striking modern quilt was completed by Susan. I can’t wait to see this one quilted.

Five O’Clock Coffee Time!

Unfortunately, some did not get into the picture, including myself. There were eleven of us and I do believe a good time was had by all. Lucky me to be a part of this group of fun and talented ladies!

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Posted in Art, Color, Fabric, Modern Quilting, Quilting, Quilting Retreat, Scraps, Sew-in, Stash and tagged projects, Quilting. Bookmark the permalink.

All The Bits and Pieces

Posted on September 4, 2019 by heARTs Creations

There was a fair amount of flannel fabric left after piecing hubby’s cat quilt. The large pieces were used for the backing and there was still a fair amount of pieces left. Right then and there I cut them all up into 2 1/2″ strips and began to sew!

A patterned fleece is the backing, with no batting. Isn’t that backing jazzy?! Using the walking foot, I quilted using crossing wavy lines. Originally I was going to gift this quilt to someone, but it wasn’t quite large enough for the person in mind, so off to the pile of Hospice quilts it goes!

I call this one a double win!

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Posted in charity quilts, Color, Fabric, Hospice Quilts, Projects, Quilting and tagged Color, improv, projects, Quilting, Scraps. Bookmark the permalink.

Endless cutting and August Progress

Posted on September 1, 2019 by heARTs Creations

A blogger I follow, Quilt Diva Julie recently posted about a string quilt she was doing called Optic Strings, using prints and solids. I loved it and immediately knew what fabrics I would use from my stash! The prints I pulled are all the Tula Pink prints I had and matched them with coordinating solid shot cottons. It was a blast to pull and match!

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The cutting marathon began. The strips are 1 1/2″ wide by 10 1/2″+ long. There are 37 pairs of fabric and I cut two sets of each fabric with 4 print strips and 5 solid strips for each block. Whew!! It took me days because I cannot cut very much at once. The tennis elbow has improved, but I can’t push it. The blocks are all cut and clipped together – yippee! I do not have permission to post a pic of Julie’s blocks, but you can follow the link above to see them.

This past month I did manage to complete and prepare the backings for two quilts that are now at the long armers. I quilted and bound a scrappy flannel quilt that will be added to the Hospice quilt pile. I will share pics of these at a later date. And I made 8 Baby Tag Blankets. Because I am attending quilt retreats in September, October and mine in November, I have been very busy prepping so when I get there I can just sew!

August WIPS

How about you? Have you gotten to sew in August, or did end of summer activities take over? Either way, I hope you had fun!

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Posted in block pattern, charity quilts, Fabric, Hospice Quilts, Pattern, Projects, Quilting, Quilting Retreat and tagged Charity, Color, projects, Quilting. Bookmark the permalink.

Applique Update & Detour

Posted on August 20, 2019 by heARTs Creations

A very long time ago I began to hand applique Lollypop Tree by Kim McLean. The background for my first block wasn’t quite what I wanted so I began again, using a gray and white backgrounds. Much better! There are now three complete and the fourth one is very close to being done.

But I’ve come to a complete halt. I was so on fire to finish this one and get to number five. My plan is to do six total as the blocks are rather large. Most unfortunately I’ve developed what I believe is tennis elbow and I cannot do hand applique until it’s better.

Big whimper – it hurts My research has shown that this could take months – Grrr!! I see the doctor next week to get an official diagnosis and plan of action although I’m betting it won’t be much different from what I’m doing now – limiting what I do with my right arm, exercises, and icing it regularly.

Big SIGH…I want to applique!!

Tennis Elbow

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Posted in Applique, Art, block pattern, Fabric, Kaffe Fasset, Projects, Quilting and tagged projects, Quilting. Bookmark the permalink.

Baby Tag Blankies – and Tutorial

Posted on August 18, 2019 by heARTs Creations

Recently I was asked to make several baby tag blankies – some in pink and some in blue. This really is such an easy project and a great gift idea.

Baby Tag Blankie PDF

Cutting & July Wrap-up

Posted on August 11, 2019 by heARTs Creations

A small retreat awaits me come Labor Day so I wanted to do some prep. Most of my Works in Progress are not travel worthy – they are at the point that there’s too much thinking or I’m just not motivated to work on them. Interesting how when I begin my projects I’m SO excited and then, WHAM! Somewhere along the line I lose that enthusiasm. Fortunately, I tend to regain it later, sometimes even years later and manage to complete the project!

I recently purchased a kit on clearance and knew it was perfect for retreat. It took very little time to cut as there were two charm packs that did not need to be cut and a solid that was cut into strips and then subcut. Here are the charm packs – such pretty batiks!

Then there is an off white neutral and this really pretty dark turqoise batik. The pattern picture shows this fabric used as a very narrow border, however, it is nowhere in the directions! That would make it tough for a beginner, but I’m okay. I’ll decide the width I want to use once the body of the quilt is together.

And here’s to hot, hot July. I did escape to the mountains once and then to the beach for a few days. It may not look like I did much sewing, but I did complete a very large flimsy – a bed quilt for our master bedroom.

July WIPs