Author Archives: heARTs Creations

Two Projects Ready to Sew!

Posted on April 18, 2018 by heARTs Creations

It’s time to pack up and head to Blowing Rock for the Spring retreat. I’ll be setting up our sewing room for the Thursday morning start when I’ll greet all the happy, ambitious and anxious quilters as they gather to sew until Sunday!

I have several projects ready to go. The first one I will be doing as a leader/ender project. It is just a simple four patch with a one patch sewn in between each. It will be colorful and fun and fairly mindless – the kind of project I need when I lead a retreat.

In my stash I had a pile of little triangles that I’ve looked at several times wondering, “what should I do with these?” Then when I came across 1 stack of 2 1/2 inch squares, it all came together! These will make a cute wall hanging or table topper – I’ll decide as I progress.

There are a few more projects prepped, but as they are Island Batik Ambassador projects, I won’t be showing those to you just yet. I am excited about working on all of these and hopefully will get much accomplished!

And here it all is – the pile of retreat goodness ready to go!

Sew Many Goodies!

Posted on April 15, 2018 by heARTs Creations

The Spring Quilt & Sew-In is this week and many goodies have arrived from several generous sponsors. I can’t thank these companies enough for their generosity which lends to the fun and creativity of the retreats.

A HUGE thank you again to Island Batik. How generous to have sent several “Fifi and Fido stamps” (five inch squares) and City Culture II fat eighth stacks. The colors and designs of these beautiful fabrics will make some quilters very happy!

Once again Dritz has sent an amazing prize – this beautiful sewing basket and a pile of sewing notions – such goodness!

Pineapple Fabrics is a faithful supporter of the Quilt & Sew-Ins. The box of fabric they donated is especially useful for the charity blocks that are constructed at retreat. The blocks are then pieced and made into quilts donated to Hospice. Thank you Pineapple for a wonderful assortment!

Pineapple

Colonial Needle is back again with their Turn Sharp rotary blade sharpener and their beautiful Presencia Thread which is virtually lint free!

Clothworks Textiles sent these beautiful fat quarters. Fun prints and solids to compliment them – how wonderful!

And where would our quilting be without Olfa mats and rotary cutters – in two fabulous sizes!

Martelli has also returned this year with one of their ergonomic rotary cutters. Truly, these are life changing in the quilt studio! And, a pack of rotary blades is greatly appreciated.

Quilters Dream has added to the retreat goodies with wonderful battings for our precious quilt projects.

Inch Worm Fabrics sent these lovely fabrics. Soft and rich colors will truly delight a lucky quilter.

June Tailor donated these cute mug rug quotation panels. These will definitely make some cute and thoughtful gifts.

Hobbs donated a wonderful batting – a must product for quilters.

Thank you doesn’t even begin to communicate how grateful I am – these prizes add so much fun to the Quilt & Sew-In and certainly enhance each quilter’s supply of goodies.

There are still openings in the Fall Retreat! November 4 thru 8. More info and registration form are here.

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Posted in Fabric, Island Batiks, Quilting, Quilting Retreat, Sewing Tools, Thread and tagged Quilting. Bookmark the permalink.

400 Feet of Sewing!

Posted on April 4, 2018 by heARTs Creations

We recently had new flooring installed in our home and my side entry needed a small carpet. Making rope bowls had been so much fun – why not sew a rug? I started off with two 100 foot skeins of cotton rope. In the washing machine they went with brown dye. Doing a flat surface is a lot of fun and I loved the look of the variegated brown thread I used. When the rope had almost run out, it was clear that the rug wasn’t big enough. Two more skeins dyed and back to the sewing machine!

The brown variegated thread rant out so I went on to a green/blue variegated thread! Yup – that ran out too! I switched to a brown that matched the rope. The second dye batch did not match the first, so I switched thread again, this time to a dark brown. I lost count of how many bobbins I filled – I’m pretty sure it was about 8! I emptied some spools of thread too!

The rug is backed with a non-slip material for safety’s sake. The rug is perfect in it’s new home and I surely get a kick out of the fact that I made it!

This rug was April’s first finish – let’s see what I accomplished in March:

March WIPs

Linking up with: Jo’s Country Junction, Sew, Stitch, Snap, Linky Tuesday, Needle & Thread Thursday, Midweek Makers

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Posted in Color, Projects, Thread and tagged projects, rug making, Sewing. Bookmark the permalink.

Old Made New

Posted on April 1, 2018 by heARTs Creations

An Island Batik Adventure – Vintage Quilts Inspiring New Creations

I scoured my books, patterns and the internet for hours trying to come up with the project I really wanted to do for this challenge. Then it came to me – an apron! How vintage is that?! I did find a pattern for a half apron that was very vintage looking, (Sewing Geek Harlequin Apron pattern) but with these amazing Island Batiks I knew it would immediately be new and exciting.

I did a little altering to the pattern: one row less from top to bottom and one more row added to the side. I also gathered it at the waist a bit so it wasn’t just straight across. It is fully lined, and I straight line quilted the whole apron. A pocket was needed, so I sketched several: rounded, rounded gathered, rectangle. Mimicking the pattern of the apron was definitely the answer. Once the pocket was on I was absolutely giddy about this project. Don’t you just love when that happens – not just being okay or pleased with your creations, but super happy?

My new vintage apron now hangs in my kitchen, adding a burst of color and soon to be worn when having friends or family over for dinner.

Looking Back Vintage Quilt

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Posted in Art, block pattern, Color, Fabric, Island Batiks, Modern Quilting, Pattern, Projects, Quilt Setting, Quilting and tagged Color, Patterns, projects, Quilting, Retro, Sewing. Bookmark the permalink.

A Warm Thank You

Posted on March 28, 2018 by heARTs Creations

The Spring Retreat is coming up soon and it’s time to announce a generous sponsor with a favorite product. A big thank you to the Warm Company! I was so excited when the great big box was delivered. Inside were several battings – Warm & Plush, 80-20 Warm, Warm & White and fusible Warm! We couldn’t have quilting without batting and how wonderful to be able to have these quality battings as prizes.

AND…that’s not all! They also sent the waterproof Insul Shine for making personal coolers and lunch bags and Insul Bright, reflects hot or cold energy and is great for potholders.

AND… Steam-A-Seam light fusibile which just happens to be my favorite fusible for applique projects, together with Steam A Seam tape.

Thank you Warm for your generosity and to help make the Quilt & Sew-In Retreats a success!!

There are openings in the Fall 2018 Quilt & Sew-In! Check it all out here and register today!

Koi Pond Quilt

Posted on March 26, 2018 by heARTs Creations

On July of 2016 I posted about a quilt top I designed using Kaffe Fassett fabrics and was finishing it up. I did and had it quilted and then it just sat in my quilting closet. When the quilt top was finished, I thought it looked like a pond of water. I even had the quilting design to look like ripples of water. Finally, a year and a half later, the Koi Pond Quilt was born!

2nd border (Large)

The pattern for the koi fish is from the book (I cannot find the book anywhere and really want to give the author/designer credit. As soon as it’s found, I’ll update this post!) From my small stash of silks and other fine fabric, I began to piece the fish together as an applique.

I am very pleased with the outcome, and even more pleased that after all this time, the quilt is complete! It’s a lot easier than tending an outdoor Koi pond! Hmmm…why did I wait so long?!

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

What I’ve Been Working On

Posted on March 23, 2018 by heARTs Creations

I’m a planner. It seems to be my nature. Some of it probably comes from years of administrative work and deadlines. I’m the one when going on a retreat or trip is packed days ahead of time. (Spring retreat is in four weeks and my projects are packed!) I do think it’s a good thing although it tends to make a few folks think perhaps I’m a bit off balance!

As an Island Batik Ambassador, we’re sent the year’s calendar events with project themes. I’ve combined getting ready for retreats with my Island Batik Adventures – I’ve sketched, written plans and cut fabrics. My April project, “Vintage made New” is done and here are the fabulous fabrics I used. I can’t wait for my reveal very soon! I am ridiculously giddy about this one.

“Playful Pillows” is the May event, and I’ve got a real cutie planned for a much needed new pillow for our sofa in our TV watching area. Here are the fabrics all ready:

June’s event is “Modern Batik Challenge.” I have a really fun baby quilt planned, combining a scrappy modern look with applique. It will make a terrific baby gift using these fabrics:

I found July to be somewhat challenging. Not so much in finding a pattern, but finding one I wanted to use. The challenge is “Pattern Play, Secondary Pattern.” These too are all cut and ready to sew at retreat:

August is our Great Outdoors Blog Hop. This is when all the ambassadors reveal a newly released fabric line using a Spring/Summer 2018 bundle. I was so excited about the beautiful fabric line I received I went right to work. I had an idea all sketched out, but one evening I went through my pattern bin and found a pattern I’ve had for years and have always wanted to do. Yup – next day I had it all cut out and it is now nearly done! Just a bit more quilting and binding!

There may not be a lot to show here, but you can see I have been busy planning and prepping. I have a few ideas for the rest of the year, but will hold off as we’ll receive a new shipment of fabric in July and the fabric will be part of the inspiration. Now I can go ahead and pull out a work in progress bin and make some progress there. Should have something to share soon!