Category Archives: Thread

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.

Copy of Modern Batik Challenge 39

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.

Sew Many Goodies!

Posted on April 15, 2018 by heARTs Creations

The Spring Quilt & Sew-In is this week and many goodies have arrived from several generous sponsors. I can’t thank these companies enough for their generosity which lends to the fun and creativity of the retreats.

A HUGE thank you again to Island Batik. How generous to have sent several “Fifi and Fido stamps” (five inch squares) and City Culture II fat eighth stacks. The colors and designs of these beautiful fabrics will make some quilters very happy!

Once again Dritz has sent an amazing prize – this beautiful sewing basket and a pile of sewing notions – such goodness!

Pineapple Fabrics is a faithful supporter of the Quilt & Sew-Ins. The box of fabric they donated is especially useful for the charity blocks that are constructed at retreat. The blocks are then pieced and made into quilts donated to Hospice. Thank you Pineapple for a wonderful assortment!

Pineapple

Colonial Needle is back again with their Turn Sharp rotary blade sharpener and their beautiful Presencia Thread which is virtually lint free!

Clothworks Textiles sent these beautiful fat quarters. Fun prints and solids to compliment them – how wonderful!

And where would our quilting be without Olfa mats and rotary cutters – in two fabulous sizes!

Martelli has also returned this year with one of their ergonomic rotary cutters. Truly, these are life changing in the quilt studio! And, a pack of rotary blades is greatly appreciated.

Quilters Dream has added to the retreat goodies with wonderful battings for our precious quilt projects.

Inch Worm Fabrics sent these lovely fabrics. Soft and rich colors will truly delight a lucky quilter.

June Tailor donated these cute mug rug quotation panels. These will definitely make some cute and thoughtful gifts.

Hobbs donated a wonderful batting – a must product for quilters.

Thank you doesn’t even begin to communicate how grateful I am – these prizes add so much fun to the Quilt & Sew-In and certainly enhance each quilter’s supply of goodies.

There are still openings in the Fall Retreat! November 4 thru 8. More info and registration form are here.

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Posted in Fabric, Island Batiks, Quilting, Quilting Retreat, Sewing Tools, Thread and tagged Quilting. Bookmark the permalink.

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.

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.

Sew Much Thread!

Posted on December 27, 2017 by heARTs Creations

The first of the year when I loaded a bobbin, the thread spool emptied. Hmmm, I wondered, “just how many spools will I empty this year?” As each spool emptied, I saved it. No, they weren’t all full. As a matter of fact, many were close to being emptied. Nevertheless, it is amazing to see just how much thread I use!

Large spools (Large)

Two of the large spools had a fine bobbin thread on them – completely used, start to finish in two years! I especially love the bobbin thread because the bobbins hold twice as much as regular thread.

Spools (Large)

28 Empty Spools!! Yes, I still have lots of threads, but some to need to be replenished. Thankfully Santa read my wish list and made it come true on Christmas morning!

Spools 2 (Large)

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Posted in Quilting, Thread and tagged Thread. Bookmark the permalink.

A Southern Quilt Shop

Posted on March 5, 2017 by heARTs Creations

The “Reading Room”

Two weeks ago a friend and I visited Charleston, SC with a side trip to Summerville, SC which is just outside Charleston. It is a charming little town with shops and restaurants and best of all, a great quilt shop. People, Places and Quilts is in a fine old building. It is such a treasure hunt as you go from room to room, each filled with fabrics, tools, threads and so much more.

Diane, the owner is a delight as was the other staff members there. They are all friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. Above is Diane the worker bee, Diane the Owner and Diane my traveling companion. Then there is me and my cousin who lives in Summerville.

There are quilts on display everywhere – such inspiration! Some on display were also class samples.

Lots and lots of fabrics. Prints, batiks, solids and many scrumptious flannels.

img_1543-medium

This antique cash register was not only a joy to look at – it works and is used for all the shop sales! Do you embroider? Applique? Work with wool felt? There was a whole section devoted to all of those!

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I strongly suggest you stop by to see this wonderful shop if you are ever any where near Summerville. I’ve checked out their class list and might just have to “visit” my cousin soon!!

Mountain Trip & Quilt Shop

Posted on June 20, 2016 by heARTs Creations

Quilt & Sew-InLast week the heat in the Piedmont of NC was rather oppressive. We headed up to the mountains for a little escape. First, we checked out the Daniel Boone Gardens in Boone, NC. It’s a small natural garden maintained by volunteers. It was sweet, with the most amazing ferns ever, and glad we stopped.

And then the must stop – The Quilt Shop, Hwy 105 ext. in Boone. This shop is pure eye candy and fabric fun house!

pam and tod (Large)

When you walk in, you are greeted by the friendliest, happiest gals ever. Todd, the owner and Pam are always ready to help in any way they can. This shop’s specialty: fabrics by Kaffe Fassett, Philip Jacobs and Brandon Mabry – my absolute faves! All their current fabrics in all colorways are together and an amazing array of shot cottons, both striped and solids are also available.

wall of Kaffe (Large) more fabrics (Large)

There is also a wonderful selection of bright and beautiful batiks in all colorways and there are many selections of other designers, high quality quilting fabric in the shop. Absolutely something for everyone. The fabric organization makes it so easy to shop and everything is so neat and tidy.

Fabrics to cut my selection (Large)

I REALLY behaved – picked up just a few greens to help a project in progress. Lots of fat quarters are available for sale. Don’t see one precut that you want? They’ll gladly cut one or however many you need from whatever fabrics you choose! I’ve noticed that fewer and fewer quilt shops do that anymore, so it is a real treat to have that option here.

quilts and long arm (Large) patterns (Large)

There is also a collection of patterns, tools and books available. A display of quilts hang around the shop and classes are offered for most of the quilts displayed. The shop also offers long arm services.

hubby waiting (Large)

Thankfully the shop was a very comfortable temperature and there was a handy bench for hubby to (cheerfully) wait it out! I’ll be back along with the others attending the Quilt & Sew-In in November (they offer a nice discount to us!) If you are heading to the Boone area, this quilt shop is a definite must!

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Posted in Color, Fabric, Pattern, Projects, Quilting, Quilting Retreat, Sew-in, Sewing Tools, Stash, Thread and tagged batiks, Color, Fabric, Machine Quilting, Modern Quilting, projects, Quilt, quilt shop, Quilting, Quilts, Retreats, Sewing, stash. Bookmark the permalink.

Layered Hexies, Halved

Posted on September 5, 2015 by heARTs Creations

This will be my last hexie posting for quite some time! I had two packs of ten inch squares of a Joel Dewberry fabric that is so colorful. The fabric shouted for something fun and not too difficult. I cut hexagons in three different sizes. Layered some with two and others with three.

These were then straight stitched appliqued about 3/8″ from the edges. Each layered hexie was cut in half, point to point. Then the fun really began – to the design wall! I played and played then began sewing rows together. No “Y” seams as you can see by my illustration.

I had lots of scraps left and was adamant about not adding them to my scrap bins, so I began to “make fabric.” It made quite a sizeable panel for the backing. I like the back as much as the front of this quilt. This would make a nice child sized lap quilt, but for now, it is on one of my quilt racks. It makes me happy to look at it.

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Posted in Color, Fabric, Hexagons, Projects, Quilting, Scraps, Stash, Thread, Tips and tagged Color, Fabric, Machine Quilting, Modern Quilting, projects, Quilt. Bookmark the permalink.

Quilting Hack – Thread Tip

Posted on September 2, 2015 by heARTs Creations

Do you use the large cones of thread? Do you have a fancy thread holder or need to purchase one? Here’s a great tip!

Turn your cone over, find a small spool of thread that fits snugly inside – Voila! Your cone of thread can now fit on your spindle. Save your next empty spool and always have it on hand. No more need to have an extra piece of paraphernalia on your sewing table. This makes it easier for traveling to classes, sew-ins and retreats. And, it costs nothing extra!

Large cone on sewing machine spindle!

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Posted in Quilting, Sew-in, Sewing Tools, Thread, Tips and tagged Machine Quilting, Quilting, Sewing, Thread, Thrifty, Tips. Bookmark the permalink.

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