Category Archives: Hospice Quilts

Absolute FUN Fall Retreat 2019

Posted on November 8, 2019 by heARTs Creations

Thirty very creative and talented women gathered in Blowing Rock, NC this past week for a very productive and fun-filled retreat!

We played games:

Made stunning quilts:

Charity blocks were sewn by all to make Hospice quilts:

There really was some serious work going on!

Show and Tell – always the main highlight of the retreat. SO MUCH talent!!

(There are a few pics missing that I will post soon. Unfortunately I was taking pics from my I-pad and not my phone which was not a good thing!)

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Thank you to our host site, The Meadowbrook Inn and to an amazing group of women for a memorable retreat!

Prep & Progress

Posted on October 31, 2019 by heARTs Creations

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Lots of prep has been going on here. Saturday I leave for the mountains for the Fall Quilt & Sew-In! Even though I’ve been doing retreats for thirteen years, I still get a little antsy and anxious a few days before it begins.

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Blocks have been prepped for the charity quilts from the bin of precut scraps above. There are a couple of layout possibilities for one:

And here is the layout for another quilt:

A bucket of blocks with instructions are available for anyone who chooses to complete one or more blocks. They then put their name in for a drawing and on Show & Tell night names are drawn for prizes. I and another quilter put the blocks together for a quilt – it certainly helps to get more Hospice quilts completed!

My projects – I always bring more than I could possibly complete. When you are the facilitator, time sewing is reduced. I love it though, and wouldn’t have it any other way! First and foremost, I plan to work on my Tula strips. I already have several blocks complete and all is very organized (completed block above).

A nine patch I worked on at a recent sew-in is also in the queue. The plan is to do a disappearing nine patch, but I just haven’t decided which pattern I will be using.

For when I don’t want to actually sew, there is this bin of half-square triangles that need to be trimmed to size. There’s a bunch, so trimming a little at a time will make the task less daunting.

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And finally, a bin of 3 1/2″ squares for a leader-ender. I recently spent two (exhausting) days sorting my batiks by color. There is now a bin full of scraps, and six bins of larger pieces. The batik squares will be paired with black and white squares. I think this will be quite stunning. I love to have a leader-ender project going – makes me feel so productive!

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A fun and productive week is ahead! I can’t wait to share all that is Quilt & Sew-In!

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Posted in block pattern, charity quilts, Color, Fabric, Hospice Quilts, Organization, Pattern, Quilt Setting, Quilting, Quilting Retreat, Scraps, Sew-in, Stash and tagged Charity, Color, Patterns, projects, Quilting, Scraps, Sewing. Bookmark the permalink.

Two Weeks – Week One!

Posted on October 12, 2019 by heARTs Creations

Whew! I’ve been gone for the last two weeks. The first week I went to a sew-in with some great gals, came home on a Saturday, and left on Sunday for a week vacation with hubby! Some careful planning made it doable and it was all totally worth it!

First, the Sew-In. A good friend planned this time for us at the same place where I have the Quilt & Sew-Ins – at the Meadowbrook Inn in Blowing Rock. This place is like a second home to me so I was thrilled that we gathered there. How convenient it was that my sleeping room was just around the corner from the sewing room! There were only six of us so it made it very intimate.

Debbie had the first finished project. This is such a cute mini.

Another Debbie creation. This pic does not do this beautiful log cabin justice. The fabrics were just glorious!

Pam’s wine fabric casserole carrier sure is classy!

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Yes, Debbie was quite productive. This flimsly was mostly done before the retreat – a few more seams and border – colorful and fun!

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Pam made this bag using a preprinted batting and precut strips. I love the way the strips meet on the sides. Maybe, just maybe, I’ll be getting some of this batting.

Love this scrappy block pattern that Sue was working with. The block is rather time consuming and she made several. This is going to be one beautiful quilt!

Three table toppers! Sheranna tackled the 10 minute table toppers – one Christmas, one St. Pattrick’s Day and one very elegant and formal. Full disclosure – they take a bit more than ten minutes!

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And yes, I did sew. I worked on blocks using some of my batik stash for a quilt called “Katsura” from Modern Quilts Illustrated.

I also put together a pile of nine patches with a pile more to go. I’m going to split each block but have not decided which method to use yet – something different from the most used split nine patch.

I also managed to complete a flimsy for Hospice. This will be a 2020 contribution. How nice to have a bit of a head start!

It was a great week! Along with sewing I enjoyed talking, laughing, swimming, walking, dining at a few fine restaurants and lots more laughing. Now back to reality…

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Posted in block pattern, charity quilts, Color, Fabric, Hospice Quilts, Projects, Quilt Setting, Quilting, Quilting Retreat, Scraps, Sew-in, Stash and tagged Color, Patterns, projects. Bookmark the permalink.

All The Bits and Pieces

Posted on September 4, 2019 by heARTs Creations

There was a fair amount of flannel fabric left after piecing hubby’s cat quilt. The large pieces were used for the backing and there was still a fair amount of pieces left. Right then and there I cut them all up into 2 1/2″ strips and began to sew!

A patterned fleece is the backing, with no batting. Isn’t that backing jazzy?! Using the walking foot, I quilted using crossing wavy lines. Originally I was going to gift this quilt to someone, but it wasn’t quite large enough for the person in mind, so off to the pile of Hospice quilts it goes!

I call this one a double win!

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Posted in charity quilts, Color, Fabric, Hospice Quilts, Projects, Quilting and tagged Color, improv, projects, Quilting, Scraps. Bookmark the permalink.

Endless cutting and August Progress

Posted on September 1, 2019 by heARTs Creations

A blogger I follow, Quilt Diva Julie recently posted about a string quilt she was doing called Optic Strings, using prints and solids. I loved it and immediately knew what fabrics I would use from my stash! The prints I pulled are all the Tula Pink prints I had and matched them with coordinating solid shot cottons. It was a blast to pull and match!

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The cutting marathon began. The strips are 1 1/2″ wide by 10 1/2″+ long. There are 37 pairs of fabric and I cut two sets of each fabric with 4 print strips and 5 solid strips for each block. Whew!! It took me days because I cannot cut very much at once. The tennis elbow has improved, but I can’t push it. The blocks are all cut and clipped together – yippee! I do not have permission to post a pic of Julie’s blocks, but you can follow the link above to see them.

This past month I did manage to complete and prepare the backings for two quilts that are now at the long armers. I quilted and bound a scrappy flannel quilt that will be added to the Hospice quilt pile. I will share pics of these at a later date. And I made 8 Baby Tag Blankets. Because I am attending quilt retreats in September, October and mine in November, I have been very busy prepping so when I get there I can just sew!

August WIPS

How about you? Have you gotten to sew in August, or did end of summer activities take over? Either way, I hope you had fun!

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

Quick Strip Piecing

Posted on July 21, 2019 by heARTs Creations

Have you ever just wanted to sew, sew, sew?! No complex cutting, no pinning, and especially no thinking! That’s exactly how I felt a few days ago. I dug through my charity quilt bin and pulled out pretty strips that a reader donated last year. They were not full strips, some really short, some half strips and the full length ones I cut so I would have all varying sizes. I wanted some sort of accent in there so I cut 2 x 2 1/2″ black and white blocks to put between each strip.

And next? I sewed! All the black and whites were attached, then each of the pieced strips got sewn together at the short ends. After that, the sewing marathon began! I sewed and sewed, jelly roll race style and ended up with quite a colorful and happy quilt top. Such a happy no-brainer!

There was enough of a dark blue fleece for the backing so the next day I sandwiched and quilted. I had a little time the next afternoon to attach a binding and YEAH! Another Hospice quilt was born, and added to the pile that will be donated in November.

This process was the cure I needed to get back to my other Works in Progress. A win-win!

Linking Up: Moving it Forward Monday Design Wall Monday WOW NTT Put Your Foot Down Whoop Whoop Fridays

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Posted in block pattern, charity quilts, Color, Fabric, Hospice Quilts, Projects, Quilt Setting, Quilting, Scraps and tagged Charity, Color, Quilting, Scraps. Bookmark the permalink.

A Brilliant Array

Posted on June 13, 2019 by heARTs Creations

These two quilts were donated quilt tops for Hospice that I quilted and bound.

These two were tops I put together from blocks sewn at the Quilt & Sew-In retreat. I also quilted and bound these.

Both were backed with yummy, soft fleece. I especially like the butterflies.

I couldn’t resist lining all the Hospice quilts to date on the clothesline. All that color! All that generous effort by so many! Looks like a carnival!

And here they are, all stacked up and ready to go. At the end of summer I will hit it again and add a few to the pile.

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

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