Category Archives: Modern Quilting

Squirrel! Club

Posted on September 16, 2018 by heARTs Creations

Squirrel

It was not difficult at all for me to become an official member of the Squirrel Club for quilters started by Julie at Me and My Quilts. I was not, definitely not starting another project until I’d completed many of my Works in Progress. Well….the other day, anticipating the possibility of Florence taking down our electric, two friends and I sewed all morning to complete the table runner project for a church I told you about here. I loved the group effort – lots of talking, laughing and we were very industrious and finished the project! Unfortunately, I have no pics – guess I was too focused on the job at hand, but the topper below is my fave.

For some reason, whenever I complete a sizeable project, I find myself floundering, unable to get into something else. The cure? Cut out a new project! (Yup – squirrel – not starting a new project!) I’ve loved this pattern by Kathy Dougherty for a very long time. I already collected all my Kaffe fabrics for it and my “neutral.” I even had an acrylic template cut! You guessed it – I’m getting all the cutting done. This will be a perfect project for retreat in November. I classify it as “mindless sewing.”

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Then I saw this on Em’s Scrapbag. I’m eyeing my scrap bins and my Big Kick Pro cutting machine. So tempting! If not today, I know it will be very, very soon.

And then strips to make some rope bowls. Those won’t take very long, right? I can certainly justify that!

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The good news is that Florence behaved her self when she came through our area. Light winds and much needed rain is all we’ve experienced. I hope all my readers are safe and my heart and prayers go out to all who experienced the negatives of this hurricane.

How about you – – – do you qualify for the Squirrel club?

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

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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 Color, Patterns, projects, Quilting. Bookmark the permalink.

A WOW Finish!

Posted on August 19, 2018 by heARTs Creations

Hooray! Another Hospice finish. This fabulous quilt top was pieced and donated by Beverly. Yes, you’ve seen her generosity here before. The fabrics are so cheerful and are sure to bring cheer to a Hospice patient.

The expert quilting was done by Judy of Goneaway Quilting. She chose the perfect pattern for this quilt!

To finish it off, I did the binding (didn’t I get off easy?!) This quilt makes eleven ready for donation in November! There are several more flimsies to be quilted and bound – here’s hoping I’ll be showing another soon!

Linking up with: Moving It Forward Monday, Monday Making, WIPSonWednesday, My Quilt Infatuation

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Posted in Art, block pattern, charity quilts, Color, Fabric, Modern Quilting, Projects, Quilting and tagged Charity, Color, projects, Quilting. Bookmark the permalink.

Two More!

Posted on June 27, 2018 by heARTs Creations

My goal for June was to quilt and finish as many Hospice quilts as possible. I have been working on it for the last few days, but because so much of my time went into finishing my new sewing table, I could not begin earlier.

I pulled out all the quilt tops and if I had not already had a backing stored with them, I chose one. I also prepped the binding for each. Oh my – look at all those bindings!

I prepped the batting for two of the quilts and sandwiched them. Now it was time to quilt!

I especially like this one because it is well suited for a male. See the lion peeking out?

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This paintbrush quilt is so bright and cheerful and is sure to bring a smile to someone in Hospice care.

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The blocks for both of these quilts were pieced by those attending the Quilt & Sew-In retreats. I then put the blocks together and finish the quilt. It is a great way to get more charity quilts done and is fun for all!

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Comments: It is always so much fun to read your comments. The encouragement is just priceless!

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

Needle and Thread Thursday

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Posted in Art, charity quilts, Color, Fabric, Modern Quilting, Pattern, Projects, Quilting, Quilting Retreat and tagged Charity, Patterns, projects, Quilting, Retreats. Bookmark the permalink.

Modern Batik Challenge

Posted on June 5, 2018 by heARTs Creations

An Island Batik Adventure

The ambassador challenge for June is “Modern Batik Challenge.” I decided to make a baby-sized quilt and went to one of my Island Batik bins to choose fabrics. I love all the blues and pulled out all the small pieces I had left from previous projects and a few of the bigger ones too. I chose an white with a very light blue print neutral for the background.

From a very light weight tissue-like paper, I cut long strips 2 inches wide. I used those as a base to randomly paper piece all the blue fabrics. Once it was all sewn, I trimmed each of the four strips. I placed two across the top and two lengthwise on the left-hand side which created much negative space. After all was cut to size and pieced, I machine quilted straight lines in the white spaces and used a loop-de-loop in the blue strips. Aurifil thread was used in this project.

This quilt will go into my stash of quilts and when there is a baby I want a quilt for, I will probably put his or her name in the large open space. I love when baby quilts are personalized that way.

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All the Island Batik Ambassadors have been busy and I encourage you to give them a visit to see what they have created with these beautiful fabrics that Island Batik has provided us with.

Linking up with:

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

Needle and Thread Thursday

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Posted in Art, block pattern, Color, Fabric, Island Batiks, Modern Quilting, Pattern, Projects, Quilt Setting, Quilting, Scraps, Stash, Thread and tagged Color, projects, Quilting, Quilts, Scraps, Thread. Bookmark the permalink.

Mini Square in a Square

Posted on May 30, 2018 by heARTs Creations

At my Spring retreat I began this mini quilt using gray print triangles I had in my stash together with a pack of 2 1/2″ squares I found when cleaning out a bin of precuts. I attended another retreat where I finished all the blocks and then pieced the triangles for the border.

I didn’t put it completely together until I got home because I needed to do a bit of math and design. I chose to do the little cornerstone squares in a square – and yes, they were a pain! I cut a template for a quilting motif, traced it around in the center of each block and quilted. I really do like the outcome. I will probably use it as a table topper, switching it out with others at some time. So fun to complete a small project!

WIPS on Wednesday Let’s Bee Social My Quilt Infatuation Moving It Forward

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Posted in block pattern, Color, Fabric, Modern Quilting, Projects, Quilt Setting, Quilting and tagged Color, projects, Quilting, Templates. 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?