Category Archives: Quilt Setting

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!

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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.

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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!

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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!

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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!

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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!

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

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

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

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Seatta loves to do the Bonnie Hunter quilts –

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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!

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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.

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I used a bright flowery fabric for the backing to compliment the front of the quilt.

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Love having a finish in January! One more WIP to check off my list.

Be sure to visit the Island Batik Blog Hop – Great Projects & Giveaways!

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Linking up with:

WIPS on Wednesdays, Linky Tuesday, Needle & Thread Thursday, Off the Wall Friday

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

Last Quilt of 2018

Posted on December 23, 2018 by heARTs Creations

Taking a break until 2019 is in order but I want to first share my final finish of 2019. I had many 2 1/2 inch strips of Kaffe fabric. Some were from a design roll and some from another project. Never have I ever done a Jelly Roll Race quilt so I thought that might be fun. However, after separating the light and darks, I decided on something a bit more dramatic.

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Matching the diagonal strips was a bit challenging, but once I figured out the method, it wasn’t too bad. I really like the look and best of all, the cutting was already done!

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I quilted straight lines and decided to do circles in three places. I began to machine stitch those but noticed that they weren’t showing up very well. I took the circle machine stitching out, found some hand quilting thread (a heavier thread) in my stash, and big-stitched by hand. I did a lot of the hand stitching while at a sewing get-away. I found it so relaxing. Best of all, I love the look!

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And now for my round-up for 2018. On my monthly Project Progress Listing, I usually list only those projects that I’m currently working on. My goal has been to reduce my Works in Progress (projects already begun). I’ve done the complete listing here and am so pleased to be at seventeen. It is still a lot and because my goal is to get it to five, I still have a ways to go. Several are almost done – just need quilting. I’m doing more of my own quilting, so they won’t get finished as quickly as I’d like, but I strongly plan to get to my goal this year! (AND 17 completed and donated Hospice quilts)

WIPS 2018

Thank you to all my followers and visitors to my creative journey this past year. Your comments are always so uplifting. I appreciate all of you so much. May you and yours have the best New Year ever!

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Posted in Art, charity quilts, Color, Fabric, Hospice Quilts, Island Batiks, Kaffe Fasset, Modern Quilting, Projects, Quilt Setting, Quilting and tagged Color, Jelly Roll Quilt, projects, Quilting. Bookmark the permalink.

Scrappy & Grunge – Bohemian Hippie*ish

Posted on September 23, 2018 by heARTs Creations

Bohemium 4 (Large)

Lots of scraps, cut into strips and squares, put together as quarter log cabins and set on point. I put many of the finished blocks on the design wall and quickly determined that they did indeed need to go on point. After playing and playing with them, I also determined that I wanted a sashing to help really bring out all the pretty prints. I tried lots of solids but it was a no-go.

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Then I tried Grunge. Yes! But what color? I went to my fave quilt shop and layed out about 8 different Grunge bolts on a table with some of my blocks. The quilt shop professionals weighed in on their choices (a very bright lime green) and many of the customers did as well. It was then narrowed to three. I kept going back to this turquoise and I love the end result.

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The quilt sings “Bohemian” to me – reminds me a little of the hippie times in the 60’s. It will be gifted to a special young lady I’ve known since she was a little girl and I understand she likes this style. I hope it will keep her warm and happy for many years to come. For me it was a total delight to make. Now I only have about ten million more scraps to use!

Bohemiun (Large)

Linking up with: Main Crush Monday, Monday Making, Linky Tuesday, My Quilt Infatuation

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

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!

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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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