Category Archives: Quilt Setting

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

A Very Scrappy Scrap Finish

Posted on July 5, 2019 by heARTs Creations

Sometime ago I emptied my fabric scrap bin and had cut everything into various sizes (posted here). I took all the 2 1/2″ squares and started putting them together as a leader/ender project. After putting together 24 sixteen patches, I bordered each with 1 1/2 inch strips. It was all finished off with two rows of the 2 1/2 inch squares for a border. I loved all the crazy mixed up color and patterns! The scrap squares were now just about gone!

I laughingly said that there were just enough left to make a potholder

Voila! An empty 2 1/2″ scrap bin!!

But now this happened. ARGH!%!

Link ups: To-Do Tuesday Midweek Makers WOW NTT Whoop Whoop Fridays Finished or Not Friday

15 Comments

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

#’s Two & Three Complete

Posted on May 12, 2019 by heARTs Creations

Happy Mother’s Day! Today’s celebration had many facets. First, I celebrated the memory of my mother. How I wish I could share my passion for quilting with her. She did not quilt, but one of her many talents was sewing. Second, my dear hubby honored me for being the mother to his children. I rather enjoyed his cooking breakfast for me. My children then honored me with an exceptional luncheon that they prepared. I in turn celebrated the good fortune of being their mother. Such a great day!!

Now on to today’s quilt story! I made three Hospice quilt tops from fabrics donated by Pineapple Fabrics, but only quilted and bound one. Last week I got really motivated and finished the other two! One I quilted loops and zig zagged in the squares.

The second I did double wavy lines across the quilt. The two long seams beside the squares are covered with ribbon. First, I glued them down with Okay to Wash It then sewed close to the side ends of the ribbon. I really like the way it separates out the sections and adds a little more interest to the quilt.

Both quilts were backed with fleece. I am loving backing the small quilts with fleece – sew so much easier for quilting!

I have three more Hospice quilts backed and ready to quilt. Time and motivation are all that are needed!

3 Comments

Posted in charity quilts, Fabric, Hospice Quilts, Modern Quilting, Quilt Setting, Quilting and tagged Charity, projects, Quilting, Sewing. Bookmark the permalink.

Post Retreat + Enjoying my Passions

Posted on May 8, 2019 by heARTs Creations

After being home a week, I’ve finally made it to the computer to do a wrap up of my somewhat productive sewing at a quilt retreat I attended in South Carolina. I began the week full steam ahead by making string blocks for a border that I cut into fours. I then paired each with a white on white square and made half square triangles. All of my notes were at home (why oh why??) so I just made bunches! This is the quilt top I was preparing the border blocks for:

These are the border blocks, not yet attached to the quilt:

And these are the leftovers! They will make a sweet little quilt. I will either add a couple of border to make it a baby quilt or add to it to make a lap quilt. That is a decision to be made at a later date.

Following my “string fling” I just piddled. I did some pinning, some sewing, but didn’t really attack anything else with much vigor. Mostly I enjoyed my time away and being with an awesome group of quilters!

What’s really been keeping me busy is the great outdoors. I am in the process of dividing my ferns. They are truly glorious this year! And tree work was done in our yard and this pile of mulch was the result. I can only load a few wheel barrels a day and do the spreading. Hubby cut this pile of wood and we’ll need to get a log splitter to finish the job. This is not fun yard work.

There is also much weeding to be done. I attack it a bucket at a time and have the wonderful ability to look past the weeds and enjoy the pretty plants and flowers. Fortunately, my one side bed manages to stay weed free!

The temperatures here have been glorious so I am enjoying the outdoors fully. I will sew more when it becomes very hot – mid to high 80’s and gardening do not go well together for me!

Embrace ALL your Creative Passions!

4 Comments

Posted in Art, Color, Design Wall, Fabric, garden, Projects, Quilt Setting, Quilting, Quilting Retreat, Scraps, spring and tagged Color, flowers, garden, projects, Quilting, Quilts, Scraps, spring. Bookmark the permalink.

Leaders/Enders Progress

Posted on March 13, 2019 by heARTs Creations

It’s amazing how quickly a quilt top goes together when using leaders and enders. I placed this L/E project at my sewing machine the beginning of the year and now I have the main section together! I set aside all my 1 1/2″ green strips and sewed them all around the outside.

C2388FFE-B34C-4648-9AAD-3D9BD0F147B1

Now I will continue to piece the L/E’s and make a border of two squares across and as many down as needed for the sides, top and bottom.

Unfortunately, I haven’t made much progress on those because I have been doing string quilt piecing on a foundation which is not L/E friendly and at another machine I have been paper piecing which is also not L/E friendly. But that’s okay – there are many more projects in the wings!

Although, this happened today (it was scheduled, not a surprise) so now there is much neglected yard work to get to. I had been putting it off until the tree work was all done. It has been a glorious spring bloom this year, so I know it’s all worth it!

4 Comments

Posted in Color, Fabric, garden, Projects, Quilt Setting, Quilting and tagged flowers, garden, Leaders/Enders, projects, Quilting, Scraps. 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!

0AA19A26-5EF1-4329-BE27-F189491F2DDA

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!

DE1D9B61-9040-471D-A6BC-A278B8694EF1

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!

FCE74C2C-AEBF-4473-B1EA-329FC775D855

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

86772B0A-ED7A-4256-8310-F3875C1C767D

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

3AB9CEBE-6ED8-448D-BCFC-C3ECE84A1599

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

3AE55BA3-37A8-47D2-86B2-0F4856CC7B29

Seatta loves to do the Bonnie Hunter quilts –

B461F73F-7F5A-4553-9120-FEFC70629DA6

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!

5 Comments

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

img_0997 (medium)