heARTS Creations

To all celebrating, may you have a Happy and Safe Fourth of July! I’ll be back on Tuesday with more quilty goodness!

Finally, all the blocks with little pieces were finished. I cut each in half diagonally, switched them around, sewed together to form a rectangle, then arranged all the blocks and sewed together. It makes for a cute table runner!

So many borders were auditioned. I had enough fabric of Kaffe’s Aboriginal Dots in six colors and just couldn’t decide. I called in my color cohort – Hubby. We decided on the purple – it seems to hold all the little pieces of color together.

My mother-in-law’s hand crocheted doilies and my little vases with fresh flowers were perfect for the dining table. This is now my favorite summer table runner.

Help! I need a name for this project for my label!

I haven’t been sewing too much lately, but when I finished this project, I was ready to get another done. I chose a Hospice flimsy that had been donated. Unfortunately, only a few minutes into quilting, disaster struck! The needle broke and it sounded bad. Hubby checked it out and Oh Yeah – bad! Off to the Bernina expert next week. Thank goodness for back-up machines!

Last week I was so fortunate to be on top of a mountain with 55 other artisans. I’ve come back refreshed and ready to share the last two finishes which were completed just before I left.

In my donation bin (yes, I have a bin. Actually had two but now there is only one!) there was a pile of quarter square triangles made mostly of Kim Diehl fabrics. They were from a quilt I completed about 6 years ago. Amazingly, there were just enough to make a lap quilt perfect for Hospice. All needed to be squared. Sewn, backed, quilted, bound and done!

Next was a larger quilt with embroidered blocks. Not only was it all put together, it was backed with batting in the middle and pinned ready for quilting! This is another generous contribution from Laurie J. She has donated countless quilts over the years and I never tire of her excellent work and generosity. Here are two of the blocks:

And here is the quilt – sure to brighten someone’s day:

Lots more goodies in that bin – another day!

Prepping for a week of quilting away, I designed a rag quilt for a soon to be neighbor baby boy. I do love flannel rag quilts. Mine is actually my favorite couch quilt – soft, warm. cuddly and so easy to wash. The quilt gets better after each washing!

So unlike me, I completely sketched out the design with measurements and placements. The older I get, the more difficult I find it to “wing it!” The seams will be 1/2 inch which will make this a nice sized baby quilt.

There are four layers to each block: The backing, top layer, then a double layer of a diamond, circle or square. The bottom full squares will get clipped, then the top double layer will get clipped. There is no need for batting as the four layers makes it a nice weight and all the clipping will make it super fluffy!

There are three different animals featured in the circle blocks: lion, elephant and giraff. I think they are SO cute!

And here is the whole layout. All the layers of each block are pinned together and numbered. I will now be able to pull each block out of the project box and sew. I’ll clip as I go because waiting ’till the end makes for a very sore hand with all that clipping!

This will be an easy, fairly mindless project to work on away from home. The only difficult part will be having to wait until I get home to wash and dry it to reveal its fluffiness!

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY to all mothers and to all the children celebrating their mothers!

A while back I received a box absolutely packed full with quilt tops from Trish in Connecticut. There is so much work in these along with all the fabric and threads used. One of the larger quilt tops I passed on to a friend who is heading up an effort to donate ten quilt tops to the local Hospice House being built a couple of miles down the road from me. These quilts will stay at the Hospice House. The quilts I have been passing on to Hospice go directly to the patients. Both are great causes.

Feast your eyes on these – just amazing! (Please pardon – they are not pressed. That will be done prior to quilting)

The last two will need a border added to make them just a bit bigger which is an easy task. They will all be backed with fleece and quilted. When? Good question! It’s no secret that my quilting skills are not the best, but eventually it will all get done. Thank you Trish – from the bottom of my heart!