Category Archives: Color

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!

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.

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.

New to Me & Different Technique!

Posted on March 1, 2018 by heARTs Creations

An Island Batik Adventure

Try a Technique For the month of March we ambassadors were asked to try a new technique – something we had never done before. The list we made amongst ourselves was endless: binding techniques, different types of applique, specialty rulers, clothing construction, art quilts, and the list went on and on. There were so many more things to consider, many of which I have done at least once. Maybe not perfected, maybe not well, but I had done it. Hmmmm. Then I saw a pic of a fabric vase type of structure. Okay! Here I go!

After sketching and cutting out a shape from paper, I played with it in a standing up position. I then cut that shape out of a heavy stabilizer. Having chosen several bright batiks, I began to cut them into random rectangular shapes, join them and place the piece onto the stabilizer securing it with basting spray. I also added another bright batik as the backing. I chose several of my Aurifil threads and quilted all the sections and then trimmed around the outer edge. I finished the edge with satin stitching and yes, this part was tedious.

Vase base heartscreations.com

Now the vase needed some life, some dimension. I covered a thin piece of rope with fabric and zig zagged it onto the base. I cut out a front and back for two random shaped flowers from a bright pink batik and sandwiched them with a leftover piece of some Thermore batting pieces I had, giving them dimension. This is a wonderful light weight batting to work with. I machine quilted each flower and added some beads in the center of each and then went on to make three leaves using the same method. After arranging the flower and leaves onto the base, I stitched each piece onto the base.

I then put the piece on end, made it into a cylinder and hot glued it together. And there it is! A glass vase hides inside nicely tucked away. It’s perfect having a yard full of daffodils this week – in the vase they went. So much color and the promise of Spring!

Vase w flowers heARTsCreations.com

Linking up with: NTT, One Monthly Goal

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Posted in Applique, Art, Color, Fabric, Island Batiks, Projects, Quilting, Thread and tagged Beads, Color, flowers, projects, Quilting, spring, Thread. Bookmark the permalink.

Mini-Love Table Topper

Posted on February 21, 2018 by heARTs Creations

An Island Batik Adventure

Mini quilts are fun to create and are usually a quick finish. A table topper seemed in order for me and I decided to stay with the same theme as my Galentine’s card. In the last two years I have gone from having no table runners or toppers to several including many which are seasonal. Now I have one for Valentine’s!

My table toppers are all square so I changed it up a bit and went round. I pulled pinks and purples out again to make it an obvious Valentine. All the fabrics used in this project were supplied to me by Island Batik.

Hubby has this really cool compass that I used to draw a large circle onto lightweight paper. Using the crazy quilt block method, I began with a five sided shape, then began piecing around it somewhat randomly. Hearts were then appliqued all around.

Once it was as big as the circle pattern, I sandwiched the top with batting and a backing. All the seams were stitched with a decorative stitch. I trimmed it to the circle shape and did an overall loop-de-loop quilting. For the piecing and quilting I used Aurifil threads.

Time for binding! Because it was a circle, I knew I’d need to cut the binding on the bias but didn’t really want to cut into that much fabric. I’d never used rick-rack as a binding before and thought it would look cute. Hubby even went out to buy the rick-rack for me – now that’s a good Valentine!

Mini love full (Large)

All done and I really like the way it looks on the dining table. One more holiday table topper in my collection!

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Posted in Applique, Art, Color, Fabric, Island Batiks, Projects, Quilting, Thread and tagged Color, projects, Quilting, Thread. Bookmark the permalink.

Happy Galentine’s Day!

Posted on February 13, 2018 by heARTs Creations

An Island Batik Adventure

Galentine’s is all about celebrating our girlfriends, with a dash of glitz and glamour.

Today, Island Batik Ambassadors are celebrating Galentine’s Day with a post card or rug mug for their “gal friends.” My choice was to do a card sized piece to attach to the front of a card. First, I chose a selection of pinks and purples. (The fabrics featured in the post were given to me by Island Batiks)

Next, I cut a piece of stabilizer the size of the front of the card. Then the fun began! I cut some strips and shapes from the various pinks and reds and placed them on the stabilizer, securing them with an adhesive basting spray and then sewed over the seams with a decorative stitch. Having chosen two of the purples, I cut out two hearts with the centers cut out. I placed them so they would intertwine and did a zig zag stitch all around each one.

Galentine Card heARTsCreations.com (Large)

Instead of a traditional binding, I twisted two lengths of red yarn together and zig zagged it onto the edges of the card. I then glued the piece to the front of the card. A quick, creative and one of a kind card! And there I have it – a Galentine card that went out to my very own special gal – my daughter!

Galentine Card complete heARTsCreations.com (Large)

Happy Galentine’s Day to all my “Gals” out there!!