Category Archives: block pattern

Special Greetings

Posted on March 17, 2019 by heARTs Creations

I wanted to send two special greeting cards recently. Cards in the stores usually leave me feeling like they don’t quite fit the bill. So…for someone going through some health issues, and who also happens to like the color red, I did this:

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I sewed the log cabin on a piece of stabilizer as the base then glued it onto a blank card. I keep a stash of those on hand for just such occasions. A hand written note on the inside and a personal greeting card was sent!

Then, for my sister’s very special birthday, I did what is typically called a mug rug. I just think of it as a little greeting quilt. Funny how such a small project can be so much fun when choosing the different fabrics. Glitter press-on vinyl was used for the flames A glitter was applied to the numbers just to jazz it up a bit!

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I do hope the recipients got as much joy from them as I do making them.

Quilts in the Sun

Posted on February 13, 2019 by heARTs Creations

Finally, after many dreary days the sun shone today and pics could be taken outside!These quilts are just too bright and merry to have their pics taken indoors. Two more Hospice finishes! This first quilt is just so fun and happy. The quilt top was donated so all I had to do was quilt and bind. This will definitely put a smile on someone’s face!

This quilt top was made from donated blocks. I absolutely love scrappy so I was so excited to put this one together. Quilted, bound and done!

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They are even more fun side by side. These two finishes have revved me up to work on more and I hope to soon show another finish or two! I am always so moved that after having put so much time, effort and fabric into their work, the donors so generously donate them.

These are the new quilt labels for this Hospice quilt group. They are iron on and elegant. Thanks to Jean, our great leader, for coming up with these.

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A Note About Donations: Recently I posted that no more donations were being taken. If you have a completed quilt, quilt top or blocks you would like to donate, please contact me or leave a comment and I will gladly accept them. Fabric, unless it is a backing, is not needed at this time.

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

Back from A Retreat

Posted on February 8, 2019 by heARTs Creations

Talk about fun! There might have been more laughter than sewing! Thankfully, there was a lot of sewing on my part. As usual, I brought more projects than I could possibly have worked on. Just in case I have a problem with a project, or if I should get bored with a project, or if I miraculously finish a project, I’ll have another to keep me busy. This was a “Featherweight Lovers” retreat, so we all brought our Featherweight machines. Although not a FW, Dee Dee’s Singer was an absolute beauty and I love her elegant setting with a table lamp!

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I actually worked on three projects at once. First, was my leader-ender with 2 1/2″ squares finishing as sixteen patches. Second, for the “I Spy” I am doing, I did “square in a square” for the five inch cut picture squares. Simultaneously, I sewed parts of the project using the Egyptian fabric. Only one complete block to show, but quite a bit done on the others. Update: Corrected block. There were 3 pieces turned the wrong way – this is meant to be a star!

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ALL the “I Spy” squares are now a square in a square. I set them all out and pinned – now I just need to sew together. I did need a few more and I have such awesome quilting buddies – I now have all I need. Thank you!!

And finally, my sixteen patch leader ender. I set out these blocks because that is just so much fun. A few of my 1 1/2″ strips happened to get onto one of the blocks and EUREKA! I knew I had to use them for sashings. I ran out of long enough strips, but did manage to get this much together. A little wild, but I love it. After I’ve added the other sashed blocks, I’ll work out a border – maybe I’ll have another happy accident!

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Lots of great sewing done by the other retreaters. Here are just a few: Pam’s scrappy and her batik (borders to be added) –

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Jennie’s charms and stars – I love those colors –

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Janet’s Sunbonnet Sue. The setting is delightful. And how about her tiny pieces from her ongoing leader-enders?

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Seatta loves to do the Bonnie Hunter quilts –

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There were so many more that did not, unfortunately, make it into my camera. Very inspirational group. AND, an intensely fun group!

A big Thank You to Debbie for planning this fun and memorable retreat!

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Posted in block pattern, Color, Featherweight, Projects, Quilt Setting, Quilting, Quilting Retreat and tagged projects, Quilting, Scraps. Bookmark the permalink.

Lots of Cutting & Retreat Prep

Posted on February 4, 2019 by heARTs Creations

Sewing retreats – so very much gets done! To prepare for a 4 day retreat I’m going to, I cut out not one, but two new projects! The first is for a gift for a little boy. I’ve never done an “I Spy” quilt before and thought it would be the perfect gift for the little guy. Unfortunately, my stash is not very supportive of this quilt. I did manage to cut 9-five inch blocks and then the request process to friends and my guild for more. I’m going to do “square in a square” blocks, using various colors of polka dots for the outside of each I Spy block. This should be so colorfully fun! Yeah for my quilting buddies – they surely came through with squares. What I have is cut, pinned and ready to sew.

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And I cut the Egyptian fabric I had. I’m using a Kaffe pattern, “Mardi Gras Star” from the book Kaffe Quilts Again. First time I’m using the paper plate organization method a friend recently shared with me. I love this! Every block is in it’s own plate. So much better than plastic baggies. This too is all ready to sew.

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Of course, that’s not all that’s traveling with me. The leader-ender project I have at my machine at home will go with me and so will the string quilt I started recently. One more WIP that’s been around for a while is going also. Hmmm, only 4 days. Too bad I’ll need to stop to sleep.

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Posted in block pattern, charity quilts, Fabric, Organization, Pattern, Projects, Quilting, Quilting Retreat and tagged Patterns, Quilting, Tips. Bookmark the permalink.

Lots of Color Scrappy Strips

Posted on January 16, 2019 by heARTs Creations

Two packs of bright narrow strips (Windham Foundation) turned into lots of sewing fun. What a joy to work with such bright prints! I decided to work with columns of the strips and added a wider black and white piece every so often. No real plan here, just fun sewing. This wasn’t going to be very big and when I finished this much, I took a picture. Oh dear, much too busy. It was almost enough for me to put aside but I knew if I did that it might not see the light of day for a long, long time.

So…I added black borders. It really contained it and I liked it! More strip sewing to add outer borders and then more black borders. Now I really like this little quilt. I even quilted it right away which is SO not my MO. I used a variegated thread and did large wavy lines. I like the way the colors of the thread show on the black fabric.

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I used a bright flowery fabric for the backing to compliment the front of the quilt.

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Love having a finish in January! One more WIP to check off my list.

Be sure to visit the Island Batik Blog Hop – Great Projects & Giveaways!

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Linking up with:

WIPS on Wednesdays, Linky Tuesday, Needle & Thread Thursday, Off the Wall Friday

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Posted in Art, block pattern, Blog Hop, Color, Fabric, Island Batiks, Projects, Quilt Setting, Quilting and tagged Color, projects, Quilting. Bookmark the permalink.

Flannel Finish

Posted on January 14, 2019 by heARTs Creations

The first Hospice quilt of the year is done! It’s such a happy and bright quilt and the flannel is so warm and cozy. This was such an easy finish as the donated blocks had been quilted onto batting. I squared the blocks, pieced them, backed and did simple quilting along the seam lines and then diagonally.

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I’m thrilled to have a Hospice finish this early in the year. My gratitude to the donor for all the hours of work that were put into the blocks before they were sent to me. Our little quilting group meets this week and I can’t wait to share all the other projects that were donated over the last several months.

Don’t forget to visit the Island Batik blog hop – great projects and giveaways! My turn will be on January 28.

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Posted in block pattern, Blog Hop, charity quilts, Color, Island Batiks, Quilting and tagged Charity, Patterns, Quilting. Bookmark the permalink.

Tribal and Thread

Posted on January 9, 2019 by heARTs Creations

Oh how I loved this pattern when I first saw it and I had the perfect collection of fabrics! The pattern is “Tribal Influence” by Pamela Goecke, Aardvark Quilts. The fabric collection is David Butler’s Parson Gray Curious Nature plus a few other random fabrics in my stash that I threw in. Here it is in progress:

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Yes, it was a lot of cutting and Yes, it was a lot of sewing. The almost completed quilt top sat in my closet for about two years and finally I pulled it out a week ago because I wanted it finished! I added another row to the top and bottom and then a border. I was going to add a pieced border and then another plain border but decided “enough!” The backing and batting are prepped and ready to take to the long arm professional. I even have the binding all ready to completely finish this quilt. The best part? After all this time, I still really like it!

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Thread – last year I posted a pic of all the empty thread spools from 2017. I began saving them again in 2018 and here they are! No, once again they weren’t all full, but really, that is a lot of thread. And yes, I’m saving them again. I already have three empty spools! I never really gave much thought as to how much thread is used in quilting. Obviously, it’s quite a bit!

Linking up with: WIPS on Wednesdays, Midweek Makers, Needle & Thread Thursday