Category Archives: Blog Hop

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

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.

Toppers & Runners

Posted on August 12, 2018 by heARTs Creations

A friend of mine’s church which was founded in 1765, is having a special breakfast honoring the patriots of the American Revolutionary War. She somehow got volunteered to make 12 table toppers and 3 table runners. Although an amazing seamstress, quilting is not her thing. I was glad to help! We recently got together for about 3 hours. So glad she was all about keeping it simple, simple, simple. I cut, she sewed.

As you can see, these table toppers are very simple. I did need to do a few after she left because I just didn’t want to leave it to another day. The runners are simple too.

We’ll get together again in a few weeks to add batting and backing. It’s been decided to do them envelope style and not do bindings. Oh…I like that idea very much! These should look very patriotic when set out at the tables. The best part? Working with a friend and catching up!

Don’t forget the Island Batik Great Outdoors Blog Hop!

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Posted in block pattern, Blog Hop, charity quilts, Color, Fabric, Island Batiks, Patriotic, Projects, Quilting, Red, White & Blue and tagged Charity, projects, Quilting. Bookmark the permalink.

Box Two Reveal and a Winner!

Posted on July 11, 2018 by heARTs Creations

An Island Batik Adventure

Woo Hoo! Box two has arrived. I made room in one of my batik bins for the arrival of the Island Batik shipment. Uh Oh…didn’t make enough room! Here is the box:

This is one BIG box!!

Lots of beauties and much needed blue for my October project. not one, but two packs of ten inch squares! Batting, especially of such quality and large size, is a huge bonus – thank you Hobbs! Never do I tire of getting more thread – thank you Aurifil! Surprise – yes, I peeked inside, but you’ll need to wait ’til later this year for the reveal and the fall release of this collection.

Yardage is always appreciated along with all the coordinating fabrics.

And here it all is in its glory. Of course I made room for it all – there’s always room for more fabric!

And the Winner of my Island Batik scrap bundle is…..(our main computer crashed tonight – I was going to show the random generator, but no can do)

Dee Dee M!

Thank you all for all the fun comments and joining in on this giveaway. Look for a month of giveaways by all the Island Batik Ambassadors in August!

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Posted in Art, Blog Hop, Fabric, Give Away, Island Batiks, Quilting, Scraps and tagged Quilting, Scraps. Bookmark the permalink.

January & Blog Hop Winner

Posted on February 4, 2018 by heARTs Creations

So many quilters have accomplished so much in January. I, on the other hand, cannot boast many accomplishments! We spent all of January near Pensacola, Florida – the coldest January there in ten years! I did have my sewing machine with me, but alas, it had issues so I packed it up the first week. I had hand work and that’s all I have to show for January! It’s really okay, though – we made the most of things, took lots of hikes and bicycle rides and saw area attractions. I think the break from my sewing machine was healthy.

I really like the redwork Snowmen. The pattern came with 12 blocks but I am done at two. (The Quilter’s Snowman by Primose Lane) I think they will make a lovely Christmas pillow (front and back.) I’ve also been diligently working on my first LollyPop Tree block (Lollypop Trees by Kim McLean). Not going to show it just yet. I plan on doing 7 more which means they won’t be done for a while – it’s a huge undertaking!

JANUARY LISTING

Blog Hop & Give-Away –

Thank you to all who visited the Island Batik Blog Hop. I so appreciated all the kind and supportive comments. I do read each and every one! For me it’s like a cyber retreat! A big shout out and thank you to all my followers – your support is very inspiring. And the winner is: Karen of Tu-Na Quilts, Travels and Eats. Congrats Karen – I know you’ll love your rolls of batik fabric!

Linking up with: Super Mom No Cape

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Posted in Applique, Art, block pattern, Blog Hop, Color, Embroider, Fabric, Island Batiks, Pattern, Projects, Quilting and tagged Color, Embroidery, Patterns, projects, Quilting. Bookmark the permalink.

A Favorite Season, Blog Hop & Giveaway!

Posted on January 24, 2018 by heARTs Creations

An Island Batik Adventure

This is the last Island Batik project for my first year as an Island Batik Ambassador – “The Four Seasons.” Lucky me – I got to use the new City Culture 2 collection. The colors and patterns of these fabrics are so rich – I just love them!

Talk about putting the cart before the horse – I made the quilt and then decided on a season. After putting them all together, I just couldn’t choose one of the four seasons – so instead I chose what was my favorite season as a child: “Indian Summer!” Having grown up on Long Island, NY, we experienced this wonderful time for a couple of weeks each year and I always cherished it. The colors in this collection remind me so much of the unseasonal warmth and pretty sunsets of Indian Summer.

January 2018

I used the pattern “Tropical Patches” by Sarah Maxwell and Dolores Smith. The pattern had three main blocks but I chose to use two – I just thought it worked best for how I was putting it all together. The border is really my favorite. I think it ties it all together and makes it come alive.

I quilted this piece myself and can’t say I really enjoyed the process until I got to the border. I am pleased with the way those medallions turned out. Not a fan of heavy quilting, this worked perfectly for this quilt.

Border

When the quilt was complete, I hung it outside to air out for a while. The sun was shining on it as I looked at the quilt from above on my deck. That’s when I realized I really liked it!

Indian Summer quilt (Large)

Ahh yes – the giveaway!

Two ways to win: (1) Tell me your favorite season, (2) let me know if you are a follower, and you may be the one randomly chosen to win two stash buster rolls of Island Batik! (US only) The winner will be announced February 4. Be sure to check out the other great Four Season projects by the Island Batik Ambassadors!

WINTER

January 8 – Blue Moon
Inquiring Quilter • Cheryl Lynch Quilts

January 9 – Mountain’s Majesty
FunThreads Designs • Little Bunny Quilts • Quilting Affection Designs

January 10 – Alpine Ice
Freemotion by the River • Slice of Pi Quilts
Seams Like a Dream • KISSed Quilts

January 11 – Alpine Jingle
Purrfect Spots Designs • Bejeweled Quilts

SPRING

January 15 – Elementz
Den syende himmel • Inspired Layers

January 16 – Southern Blooms
Yellow Cat Quilt Designs • Quiltologist Treasures

January 17 – Morning Sunshine
Quilt’n Party • Desert Bloom Quilting

January 18 – Season’s Shades
Inchworm Fabrics • Kauffman Designs

SUMMER

January 22 – Paisley Dot
Pamela Quilts • Seams Like a Dream • Mary Make Made Mine

January 23 – Sunflower Serenade
Kathys Kwilts and More • Whispers of Yore

January 24 – City Culture 2
Mary Mack Made Mine • heARTs Creations

January 25 – City Culture 2
The Quilt Rambler • Lizard Creek Quilts • KISSed Quilts

FALL

January 29 – Pumpkin Patch
Seams to be Sew • KISSed Quilts
Ark Angel Creations • Adventurous Appliqué and Quilting

January 30 – Autumn’s Grace
KISSed Quilts • Beaquilter

January 31 – Plum Delicious
Masterpiece Quilting • Adventurous Appliqué and Quilting

February 1 – Northern Woods
Moosestash Quilting • Vicki’s Crafts and Quilting

Linking up with: My Quilt Infatuation

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

A Different Kind of January

Posted on January 14, 2018 by heARTs Creations

The sand is so white and fine – just beautiful!

Tried something new this year – came to Florida for the month of January. How lucky that the first week was one of the coldest on record (major sarcasm here). It was, however, much colder back home. We knew it wouldn’t be warm beach weather here in Pensacola, but jackets, hats, and gloves for our beach walks?! That’s okay – I came prepared with sewing machine and a project. Hah! First week and the machine is out of order. Looks like the screw that holds the needle is broken and won’t hold the needle. Thank goodness for the handwork and books to read I brought!

Had a great visit to a well known fabric shop here – A & E. It is loaded to the brim with the latest fabrics. And there were five rows of Christmas fabrics! They have an interesting way of conducting their sale. The fabric with the color of the month (and it can be just a teeny dot of that color) is 15 percent off, half yard minimum cut. Color for January: white! Boy did I luck out!

Everyone there was so friendly and the cuts were quite generous. So much so that I may have gone back a second time. (It’s been cold and somewhat rainy, remember?)

We’ve had some good weather days too. Lots of bicycyling at the State Park and even sat on the beach for a couple of hours one morning. And lots and lots of walking. I haven’t slept this good in ages!

Downtown Pensacola is a lovely city with beautiful old buildings. They had their Mardi Gras kick-off one evening when they bless the floats for the February parade. It was such a fun and festive event. I always thought that Mardi Gras was just in the New Orleans area, but apparently it is regional and a pretty big deal around here too. Even with the weather and sewing machine glitches, it’s been a great vacation and maybe, just maybe, we’ll try again next year.