heARTS Creations

Making Room – Giveaway!

Posted on July 6, 2018 by heARTs Creations

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Twice a year the Island Batik Ambassadors receive a big box from Island Batiks jam packed with goodies. July is when we receive our second box and mine is due to arrive tomorrow! Yikes, my two bins of Island Batiks are full and needed a clean-out. I separated out pieces of varying sizes, strips and squares. There are bigger pieces too!

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Scrappy projects are one of my favorites, but I just finished a scrappy top and have another in the works. I would rather have someone else who does scrappy, improve, art quilts or who can incorporate into a project to enjoy these beautiful fabrics. And, honestly, I need the room! If you would like to add this pile to your scrap stash, please leave a comment below. Tell me if you are a follower of this blog and that will give you two entries. Please be sure I am able to contact you via email. My apologies, but international postage costs limits this giveaway to the US only. A winner will be randomly chosen and the lucky winner will be announced on Wednesday, July 11.

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Here are my two bins after the cleanout. Lots of room for my new shipment. Can’t wait to share with you all the treasure. Also, look for a giveaway by all the Island Batik Ambassadors in August!

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Linking up with: Can I Get a Whoop Whoop, Needle & Thread Thursday

Hello July!

Posted on July 1, 2018 by heARTs Creations

Another month already! Whew – is it just me or is the summer already flying by? There has been a lot of sewing going on this past month here, but somehow I never seem to feel as though I’ve accomplished as much as I’d like to. About a week was spent sanding and painting my new table. I also took several days to prep backings and bindings for Hospice quilts. Here is one all finished. The quilt top was generously donated by Laurie J. She has donated several to our Hospice group and it is so greatly appreciated! My favorite part of quilting is the piecing, and at this point my least favorite is the quilting. I am trying to build my skills, but really am not complaining because receiving quilt tops is such a boost to our cause!

I also went to the Pineapple Fabric sale last week in Archdale, NC. If you are ever close enough, it is worth the trip! There was a huge clearance tent and the fabrics were about $4 a yard. There was a room of batiks and their main room was packed full of wonderful top quality quilting fabric all at discount prices. I went for specific needs for existing projects, but couldn’t resist these precut strips. Can’t help myself – will begin this one any day now. I love a mindless project!

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And here is my June wrap up. All in all, I am very pleased. Add to that, my studio got quite a bit more organized so I am one happy quilter!

June Progress Lising (Large)

Linking up with: Monday Making, Main Crush Monday, Moving it Forward

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Posted in Art, block pattern, charity quilts, Color, Fabric, Pattern, Quilt Setting, Quilting, Sewing Studio and tagged Charity, projects, Quilting, Scraps, Sewing. Bookmark the permalink.

Two More!

Posted on June 27, 2018 by heARTs Creations

Needle and Thread ThursdayMy 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?

Lion Hospice

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

paintbrush hospice

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!

Hospice, 2

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.

New Sewing Machine Table

Posted on June 23, 2018 by heARTs Creations

This quilter is so lucky to have a hubby who is not only very handy, but very willing to improve my creative space! I recently got a new Jazz machine that I blogged about here. My Bernina is set into my big sewing desk and I love it. We talked about the possibility of doing something similar for the Jazz with the craft table I had. It proved to be easier and much better to just make a whole new one. Hubby sketched it out and went to work. Amazing – he had it built within two weeks! I had the chore of sanding and painting. Not my favorite chores, but not to complain when the end result was a great table complete with bookshelves!

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Hours after the paint dried we carried it to the table’s new home. It took me about two seconds to begin rearranging things and filling up the shelves! I have even quilted one Hospice quilt on it and am prepping another.

There’s a back shelf for the Jazz’s parts and bobbins, and my empty project containers. The front shelf has my books, small dies for the Big Kick and photos that I plan to get to (someday). I recently mightily downsized my book collection and have found that I now enjoy them more. The top of the desk is also home to my Scan n’ cut. Hmmm…now I’m thinking it may be fitting to recover my chair…

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Posted in charity quilts, Organization, Projects, Quilting, Sewing Studio, Sewing Tools and tagged projects, Quilting, Sewing. Bookmark the permalink.

Lesson Learned – Red Fabric

Posted on June 17, 2018 by heARTs Creations

Several years ago at my guild annual auction, I bought a pretty pieced and appliqued quilt top. It needed just a little work, which I did and then to the closet it went. When I recently pulled it out I decided it would make such a cheerful Hospice quilt. One of the guild members very generously quilted it on her domestic machine – and boy is that woman talented! Unfortunately, she sent me a picture of the red coloring on the base of her sewing machine due to quilting this quilt! I used a red fabric that had been donated and it never dawned on me to prewash it. Well, shame on me!

Sue’s awesome quilting!

Red backing – the culprit!

After binding the quilt, in the washing machine it went with two color catchers. The first cycle gave me two very dark pink color catchers. The second wash they were a light pink. The third, the one color catcher I used came out colorless so now I knew the quilt was color safe. How much better it would have been to prewash that fabric! That will definitely be what I do in the future. Ahhh – learning the hard way – I bet I won’t forget!

Linking up: Oh Scrap!

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Farm Quilted Banner

Posted on June 13, 2018 by heARTs Creations

PP Tomatoes heARTsCreations.com (Medium)

My cousin Sal has a small farm at the lovely Bed and Breakfast he and his partner Beverly have in the Hudson Valley of New York. He began the farm portion a couple of years ago and sells garlic and veggies at his farm stand. He asked if I would make a banner type quilt for the stand and I gladly said “yes.” Originally, I sketched a fairly easy design that would have been quick to make. I planned to use vegetable fabrics and batiks. Those fabrics did get used, however, the design changed drastically when I found patterns for paper pieced veggies that I blogged about here.

The quilt began to come to life on the design board and I needed to put the name of the quilt in a prominent position. Oh why, oh why, did he have to name the farm “Patchwork Quilt Farm?!” That’s a long name! The actual reason is that the previous owner of the property sold quilts from the barn. I did not want to paper piece all those letters nor did I want to applique and stitch around all those letters. The perfect answer was iron on vinyl! It shows up so well and this is, after all, a banner that will hang outside, not a cuddle quilt!

Leftover fabrics were used in the backing. I proudly sent it off to him and his reaction upon receipt was everything I wished for. I look forward to seeing a picture of the quilt hanging at his stand (and yes, I put a sleeve on the back to help that along.)

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

Needle and Thread Thursday

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Posted in Applique, Art, Fabric, garden, Pattern, Quilt Setting, Quilting and tagged garden, projects, Quilting. Bookmark the permalink.

More Than Quilting

Posted on June 10, 2018 by heARTs Creations

This past week the weather has been glorious. The heavy rains have finally passed, morning temps are in the 60’s and afternoons in high 70’s and I have been compelled to be outside and once again work in the garden. The gardens have been neglected by me for a couple of years now and I am definitely paying the price. There are more weeds than I ever imagined! So first thing, rather than tackle what is to be a year-long chore, I built a planter!

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I really am quite tickled with myself and am so pleased the way it turned out. There are two more flowering plants I will be adding to it for color. Best of all, it’s at my drive and front walk so I see it every day.

My “grove” of ferns has loved all the rain – I think they are bigger and fuller this year than ever before!

The major azalea bloom has passed and the day lilies are just beginning to show off. I thought a freeze had gotten my hydrangeas but much to my delight I do have pretty blue flowers. The window box is so delightful – I can enjoy it looking out a window of my living room! The cute little welcome sign was a gift from a friend.

Now, it’s back to those weeds. The pile of quilting waiting for me will just have to wait a little longer.

Linking up with Naps on the Porch