heARTS Creations

Squirrel! Club

Posted on September 16, 2018 by heARTs Creations

Squirrel

It was not difficult at all for me to become an official member of the Squirrel Club for quilters started by Julie at Me and My Quilts. I was not, definitely not starting another project until I’d completed many of my Works in Progress. Well….the other day, anticipating the possibility of Florence taking down our electric, two friends and I sewed all morning to complete the table runner project for a church I told you about here. I loved the group effort – lots of talking, laughing and we were very industrious and finished the project! Unfortunately, I have no pics – guess I was too focused on the job at hand, but the topper below is my fave.

For some reason, whenever I complete a sizeable project, I find myself floundering, unable to get into something else. The cure? Cut out a new project! (Yup – squirrel – not starting a new project!) I’ve loved this pattern by Kathy Dougherty for a very long time. I already collected all my Kaffe fabrics for it and my “neutral.” I even had an acrylic template cut! You guessed it – I’m getting all the cutting done. This will be a perfect project for retreat in November. I classify it as “mindless sewing.”

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Then I saw this on Em’s Scrapbag. I’m eyeing my scrap bins and my Big Kick Pro cutting machine. So tempting! If not today, I know it will be very, very soon.

And then strips to make some rope bowls. Those won’t take very long, right? I can certainly justify that!

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The good news is that Florence behaved her self when she came through our area. Light winds and much needed rain is all we’ve experienced. I hope all my readers are safe and my heart and prayers go out to all who experienced the negatives of this hurricane.

How about you – – – do you qualify for the Squirrel club?

A Finish & Prepping

Posted on September 12, 2018 by heARTs Creations

Woo Hoo! Another Hospice finish. My goal has been to complete all the Hospice quilts by the end of September. I still have four more to go so I’m not sure I’ll make it, but am sure going to try! These blocks were also pieced at a Quilt & Sew-In Retreat. Such a wonderful activity. The quilters voluntarily piece blocks then put their names in for a drawing of prizes. Win-Win!

And the prepping? Well, not quilts unfortunately. Today I have been prepping for Florence’s arrival! We are pretty far off the coast (about 200 miles) but Hugo in 1989 taught us only too well that we are definitely reachable. We were fortunate that year – One huge tree downed but towards the road, not the house. Several small trees and limbs with only damage to a deck rail and wooden swing set. Days of cleanup and nine days without power. My only big complaint was that by the 9th day I was pretty sick of playing Monopoly and Scrabble with the kids! But yes, we did make memories.We live among very big trees so we are quite vulnerable.

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My hope and prayer are that all in the path of Florence stay safe.

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A Finish and A Winner!

Posted on September 9, 2018 by heARTs Creations

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Yes! Another Hospice finish. This quilt top was done when I was first quilting. I found it in the bottom of a bin and finished it for a Hospice – perfect lap sized quilt. My hope is that the lavender will bring calm and peace to the recipient. I really, really like the backing fabric.

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Thank you to all of you who participated in The Great Outdoors Blog Hop and Giveaway. Your positive comments were such a great show of support – thank you!

And now…drumroll please…the winner is: Anna Brown. I’ve sent you an email Anna and your prize will be in the mail as soon as I receive your address!

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Posted in charity quilts, Color, Fabric, Give Away, Island Batiks, Quilting and tagged Charity, Color, projects. Bookmark the permalink.

Love the Birds – Great Outdoors Blog Hop and Giveaway

Posted on September 4, 2018 by heARTs Creations

An Island Batik Adventure

“The Great Outdoors” – what a broad subject! Hubby and I do love the great outdoors. we walk, hike, bike ride, and kayak. The heat of the summer, however, doesn’t agree with us for such activities and we do spend a great deal of time on our screened porch enjoying the great outdoors of our yard. We have lots of plantings, live among the trees and have a LOT of birdhouses. Several bird couples have moved in at different times this season, had babies and have now relocated. Several bird feeders and a bird bath keep the winged activity going quite strong. We even have owls and hawks – oh my! My decision for this challenge was made when I went through my pattern bin (yes, a bin full of patterns!) and revisited this cute birdhouse and bird wall quilt design, Remembering Annabelle by Bloom Creek.

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The collection of batiks that Island Batik provided for this project is Whatnot. Such amazing fun colors to work with!

Whatnot

I did not follow the pattern exactly. I added the suns in each of the corners. I thought the black and white checked border really helped to set off the whole design.

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The center of the pattern had words. I chose, instead to add a butterfly. At that point I was not wanting to do any more applique, so I cut a square, starched it heavily and found an origami tutorial for folding a butterfly. It worked! The first one was too large for the center, so I perched him in one corner and did a second, smaller one to add to the center.

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The end of this fun and talent packed blog hop comes to an end today. There’s still time to visit the other blogs, enter their giveaways and to enter the Island Batik giveaway below. Now for heARTs Creations giveaway! – 1 fat quarter and 7 fat eighths. All you need do is leave a comment telling me what you like about the Great Outdoors. Please note, I will need to contact the randomly chosen winner by email and this giveaway is for US addresses only. Winner will be announced Sunday, September 9.

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Monday, August 6 – All A Flutter – Yellow Cat Quilt Designs, Creative Blonde

Tuesday, August 7 – Birds N’ Bees – Ark Angel Creations, Patterns By Jen

Wednesday, August 8 – Canterbury Manor – Sally Manke, Powered By Quilting

Thursday, August 9 – Eclectic Garden – Desert Bloom Quilting, Sew Karen-ly Created

Friday, August 10 – Vintage Morris – MooseStash Quilting, Devoted Quilter

Monday, August 13 – Safari – Sew Incredibly Crazy, SweetGrass Designs

Tuesday, August 14 – Spring Blossoms – Mary Mack Made Mine, If These Threads Could Talk

Wednesday, August 15 – Victoria and Albert – Bejeweled Quilts, Clever Chameleon

Thursday, August 16 – Wild Things – Freemotion By The River, Kauffman Designs

Friday, August 17 – Petting Zoo – Den Syende Himmel, Sarah Goer Quilts

Monday, August 20 – Ocean Odyssey – Gateway Quilts, The Quilt Rambler

Tuesday, August 21 – British Rose – Busy Hands Quilts, Mania for Quilts

Wednesday, August 22 – Dear William – The Inquiring Quilter, MMM Quilts, Living Water Quilter

Thursday, August 23 – Dragonfly Dreams – Inchworm Fabrics, BeaQuilter

Friday, August 24 – Fur-ocious Friends – Quilting Affection Designs, Dizzy Quilter

Monday, August 27 – Globetrotter – Pamela Quilts, Curliecue Creations

Tuesday, August 28 – Jungle Cruise – Vicki’s Crafts and Quilting, Little Bunny Quilts

Wednesday, August 29 – Lavendula – Carole Lyles Shaw, Masterpiece Quilting

Thursday, August 30 – London Calling – Quilt in a Not-Shell, Lizard Creek Quilting

Friday, August 31 – Spirit Rhythm – Steph Jacobson, Whispers of Yore

Monday, September 3 – Sweet Tweets – Kathleen McMusing, Adventurous Applique and Quilting

Tuesday, September 4 – Whatnot – heARTS Creations, Me!; Slice of Pi Quilts

Linking up with WIPS on Wednesdays, Needle & Thread Thursday

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Posted in Applique, Art, Blog Hop, Color, Fabric, Give Away, Hexagons, Island Batiks, Modern Quilting, Pattern, Projects, Quilt Setting, Quilting and tagged Color, Patterns, projects, Quilting. Bookmark the permalink.

Yup – It’s September!

Posted on August 31, 2018 by heARTs Creations

Looking at my August listing, you might wonder – “what have you been doing?” My Island Batik January project is now a flimsy. The quilting won’t be happening right away. It feels so good to be so very close to completing the year! Don’t forget to stop by on Tuesday, September 4, for my Great Outdoor project for the IB Blog Hop and a giveaway!

Two quilts came back from the long arm professional. I so want to trim and bind them but there just hasn’t been a chance to do that. We were in Chincoteague, Virginia for 5 days. The weather was perfect, the national park was perfect, the beach was perfect and visiting with a friend was perfect. Did I mention it was perfect?!

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There’s always Hospice quilts to work on. Here are two flimsies with the backings. The plan is to get these quilted in the coming week. Both would be suitable for male patients whereas most of the quilts are geared for women. The blocks of the above flimsy were pieced at the Spring Quilt and Sew-In and then I pieced the blocks.

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The flannel was another donation from Laurie J who has been so generous. When I examined this quilt top, an alarm went off. Remember my lesson learned here? I just knew that deep burgundy would run and so it did. Here are the color catchers! The third color catcher came out white so the quilt is now good to go.

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My current absolute goal is to get caught up on “have to’s” by the end of September and then dive into my “want to’s.” Can I do it? We’ll see!

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Posted in Blog Hop, charity quilts, Color, Fabric, Give Away, Island Batiks, Projects, Quilting and tagged Charity, Color, projects, Quilting. Bookmark the permalink.

More Than Quilting #2

Posted on August 26, 2018 by heARTs Creations

Not a lot of time spent in the garden, just every now and then I get inspired to go out and do some work. We had this cutie with us for a week so much of my time was concentrated on her. She is a Cock-a-Poo puppy. Sweet, playful, smart and obedient and cute, cute, cute! Don’t think, however, I have it in me to go the puppy route again.

Finally the rains came and gave the ground a good soaking. The hardy amaryllis loved it. The leaves come up in spring, die back and then stalks appear what seems like overnight and these beautiful flowers bloom in just a few days. I love surprise flowers in the garden!

Here’s an even bigger surprise – I had NO idea that Elephant Ears have a bloom! This year I had four bulbs that I wintered in the house and two were planted in a large pot. The one is gigantic! The second was a baby bulb and is being dwarfed by the bigger. The leaves are huge and it must be really, really happy because there it was – a bloom! And a second one a week later! Now I’ll be wanting one every year!

One by one the hostas are blooming and thankfully, the few I have planted in the ground are not being devoured by voles. Years ago I planted most of my hostas in pots after losing about 40 plants to voles. The last indoor/outdoor cat we had left us in the spring some years ago and was the greatest vole hunter of all time. We actually kept count and when she left us that spring, she had already gotten 60. Yikes! What we really need are a couple of black snakes to reside in the garden.

Not a clue what these pretty red flowers are called. I think they’re some kind of spider lily. They too pop up overnight and have such an intense red bloom. Fun to see one in bloom in the compost pile! I’ll be relocating that one as soon as the bloom is done.

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The temps are beginning to cool and the acorns, still green, are hitting the ground. It will be leaf blowing season before I know it. I’ll try to embrace it!

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A WOW Finish!

Posted on August 19, 2018 by heARTs Creations

Hooray! Another Hospice finish. This fabulous quilt top was pieced and donated by Beverly. Yes, you’ve seen her generosity here before. The fabrics are so cheerful and are sure to bring cheer to a Hospice patient.

The expert quilting was done by Judy of Goneaway Quilting. She chose the perfect pattern for this quilt!

To finish it off, I did the binding (didn’t I get off easy?!) This quilt makes eleven ready for donation in November! There are several more flimsies to be quilted and bound – here’s hoping I’ll be showing another soon!