Category Archives: Applique

Starstruck

Posted on September 30, 2018 by heARTs Creations

An Island Batik Adventure

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This September the Island Batik Ambassadors were Starstruck! No clue at all what I was going to do for this one. Sometimes the creative ideas run a bit flat. I thought of a Christmas theme or maybe Christmas ornaments. I was leaning towards something small and not too involved.

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Then…I got the call…My great niece was pregnant! Yes, a great, great niece is on the way! The next day I was sent pics of quilts she fancied for her “constellation” themed nursery. Of course I was going to make her a quilt but was going to go in a bit of a different direction. It was okay as I realized her theme fit with the IB September theme. So off to Pinterest I went for starry inspiration. I then dove into my IB stash (that’s a lot of diving). I pulled out blues, gray and even found strips of metallic stars from a Christmas line from years ago. I did of the stars and a big, bright sun.

There was a lot of sewing as all the squares were sewn together individually, not in strips. I tackled a little bit a day so it wouldn’t become tedious. The fun came when I drew the sun on a large piece of lightweight paper I have and placed it in the corner. I pulled a couple of bright yellows from the stash and the sun was born.

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The quilting was kept very simple as I thought the quilt itself was busy enough. Some metallic threads were used to glitz it up a bit. I am just so pleased with the result! The quilt will be on its way to NY soon to be given at a baby shower (no, I’m unable to attend). I’m pretty sure she doesn’t visit my blog so the quilt will be a surprise. I hope the precious little one spends many hours and years cuddling and enjoying her quilt from her Great, Great Aunt!

(Linky Tuesday,  My Quilt Infatuation)

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Love the Birds – Great Outdoors Blog Hop and Giveaway

Posted on September 4, 2018 by heARTs Creations

An Island Batik AdventureGreat Outdoors Blog Hop

“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!

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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.

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 , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Farm Quilted Banner

Posted on June 13, 2018 by heARTs Creations

 

My cousin Sal has a small farm at the lovely Bed and Breakfast he and his partner Beverly have in the Hudson Valley of New York.  He began the farm portion a couple of years ago and sells garlic and veggies at his farm stand. He asked if I would make a banner type quilt for the stand and I gladly said “yes.”  Originally, I sketched a fairly easy design that would have been quick to make. I planned to use vegetable fabrics and batiks. Those fabrics did get used, however, the design changed drastically when I found patterns for paper pieced veggies that I blogged about here.

The quilt began to come to life on the design board and I needed to put the name of the quilt in a prominent position. Oh why, oh why, did he have to name the farm “Patchwork Quilt Farm?!”  That’s a long name! The actual reason is that the previous owner of the property sold quilts from the barn.  I did not want to paper piece all those letters nor did I want to applique and stitch around all those letters.  The perfect answer was iron on vinyl! It shows up so well and this is, after all, a banner that will hang outside, not a cuddle quilt!

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Leftover fabrics were used in the backing. I proudly sent it off to him and his reaction upon receipt was everything I wished for. I look forward to seeing a picture of the quilt hanging at his stand (and yes, I put a sleeve on the back to help that along.)

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Linky Tuesday,   (too) Cute Tuesday,       WIPs on Wednesdays

Needle and Thread Thursday

 

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Playful Pillow

Posted on May 16, 2018 by heARTs Creations

An Island Batik Adventure

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Such a fun adventure – “Playful Pillow.”  It wasn’t much of a decision for me as I knew I wanted another pillow for my sofa to go with the one I made last year with our curves adventure. I got the idea from potholders made by  Patchwork Pottery.

The pillow top was easy and it was the first project I attacked at my Spring retreat.  As soon as I got home I embroidered the face, backed the pillow front and quilted it.  I kept it simple because I wanted the kitty’s face to be the focus of the pillow.

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It finishes at a generous 20 inches and I love the way it looks side by side with my other Island Batik pillow.

The fabrics were provided by Island Batik and the threads by Aurofil.

 

Linking up with: Let’s Bee Social, My Quilt Infatuation, Midweek Makers

 

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Applique – So Much Color

Posted on May 2, 2018 by heARTs Creations

Several years ago I saw the applique pattern, “Lollipop Trees” by Kim McLean and immediately fell in love. An impossible task? I was up for the challenge! The pattern was gifted to me on my birthday and I began block one and finished it! But…I didn’t care for the background fabric I used so that block got tossed into the maybe I’ll see you one day bin and I began again. This time I chose a gray on white fabrjc and for all the applique pieces I am using Kaffe Fassett fabrics. Two blocks are complete and I am part way through block number 3.

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I am in love! And I am enjoying the applique process. I work on it for a little while in the evenings and have found it very relaxing. I’m not sure how many of the blocks I will do. I plan on using this as a wall hanging, so maybe six or eight. Four complete this year? That’s my goal! We’ll see!

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Koi Pond Quilt

Posted on March 26, 2018 by heARTs Creations

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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!

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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.

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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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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.

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“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:

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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:

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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:

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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!

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