Tag Archives: charity quilts

Pretty Array of Quilts & Great Labels!

Posted on November 6, 2016 by heARTs Creations

array-of-hospice-quilts

Finally time to turn in the Hospice quilts I have worked on this year. They will be dedicated in the church and then presented to Hospice in December. I think our group will have about 15 quilts. Not too shabby for a group of four! Hung them all outside in the sunshine to air out a bit and Oh! The colors are so fun!

hospice-label

We wanted special labels for the Hospice quilts so one of the gals and I put our heads together and designed a label in Publisher. We saved it as a jpeg and sent it on to Spoonflower for printing. Love these!

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Loved them so much that I designed one for me! My daughter suggested I scan my signature rather than sign each quilt. What a smarty pants with the good ideas. The price was quite reasonable and I had them back in little over a week. Now I complete the label with quilt title and date, then attach to the quilt backing before quilting. Really love this whole process. After quilting only binding to do – Ta Daa!!!

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Posted in Art, Color, Fabric, Pattern, Projects, Quilting, Stash and tagged charity quilts, Hospice Quilts, Patterns, projects, Quilt Labels, Quilting. Bookmark the permalink.

Double Finish for Hospice!

Posted on August 14, 2016 by heARTs Creations

String Quilt 2016 (Large)

Hurrah! Two quilts done and going to Hospice at year end. As long as I have been doing charity quilts (10 years?) my goal has been two quilts a year. Retirement has blessed me with the time to add to that. This year’s goal is six, and here are two of those. The string quilt makes me so happy – so bright and lively. I love the way the black and white strips set it off. Most of the fabric was donated to our group by Robert Kaufman – thank you!

String Quilt 2016-2 (Large) Scrap Cat Applique, whole 2016 (Large)

Number two is a smaller lap quilt. It would be a fun quilt for a younger person, especially one who likes cats! This is the third quilt I’ve made from this fabric. After it was all pieced, I just knew it needed something. I took lots of tiny scraps and made the kitty applique. It was fun to do and adds fun to the quilt. I will soon do a little tutorial on how to do this applique. A loop-de-loop quilting was done on the colored triangles and I did straight line quilting on the white. I think the straight lines really enhance the white sections. It takes a bit longer but was worth it.

Scrap Cat Applique 2016 (Large)

There’s one more Hospice quilt to finish before our group donates them in December. Hey, I have lots of time – right?!

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Posted in Applique, Art, block pattern, Color, Fabric, Pattern, Projects, Quilt Setting, Quilting, Scraps, Stash and tagged charity quilts, Color, Fabric, Machine Quilting, Modern Quilting, projects, Quilt, Quilting, Quilts, Scraps, Sewing, stash. Bookmark the permalink.

Red, White & Blue Quilt Blocks

Posted on July 16, 2016 by heARTs Creations

A quilting tool and notions company, Martelli Enterprises, recently announced a quilt block drive for 12 1/2 inch blocks that exhibit a theme of law enforcement and patriotism. I had just finished quilting two quilts, so the timing was perfect. Not too much red, white and blue in my stash, bits and pieces really, but I did manage to put together nine blocks. No real planning – just cut and go. It all turned out okay, but there were two mis-cuts. I really need to start curbing my enthusiasm, plan a bit better, and measure twice cut once! They are already in the mail – astonishing – and I love knowing they will be put in a quilt that will comfort a person or family. Love it when a company shows its heart and gets involved this way.

Stashbuster Sunday – Sew Much Progress

Posted on July 3, 2016 by heARTs Creations

Mid-Year Update – This year is half gone already? I feel like I’m just getting started! There were a few weeks of no motivation, but I’m once again pumped! So far this year I’ve had nine finishes, two of which I cannot show because they are gifts. Three of the finishes are charity quilts which makes my heart sing! Before retirement my goal each year was to complete two charity quilts. I have no set goal now, but should have completed at least six by the end of this year – Yeah!!

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My newest project is Tula Pink’s True Colors Sedimental quilt. I cheated a bit on my progress chart and posted that this project is cut. Well, it will be all cut in about an hour or two. These fabrics are just so yummy and how fun to work with so many different colors!

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Having three quilts at the long arm quilter’s is a pretty big deal for me. It’s usually one at a time. I should have them back in a few weeks and will have several days of binding. Now that I do most of my bindings by machine, it’s not too bad and goes quickly compared to binding finishes by hand.

Year End Goal – to reduce my Works in Progress to fifteen. Twenty-seven projects is just more than I want to even think about! Do other quilters set goals? Do other quilters keep track of their projects? Please share – I’d love to know!

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Hospice Quilt Finish

Posted on April 11, 2016 by heARTs Creations

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Yeah! A finish of the best kind because it is a charity quilt for Hospice. I am part of a small group of 6 women who meet at a nearby church and we make quilts for Hospice. Our fearless leader and extremely talented quilter, Jean N., started the group and even taught several of the ladies to quilt. A couple of fabric companies sent us some great samples. I grabbed this group and did a simple HST quilt.

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Sue C. from my quilt guild generously machine quilted – and not on a long arm, but on her domestic! See how she cleverly mimicked the flower design from the fabric onto the white triangles? And the border – wow! The flowers go all the way around.

All the quilts we make this year will be donated to the local Hospice office in December and they will in turn gift them to patients for us. Except for making a quilt for a dear loved one, I think I enjoy doing this the most.

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Posted in block pattern, Color, Fabric, Pattern, Projects, Quilt Setting, Quilting and tagged charity quilts, Color, Fabric, guilds, Machine Quilting, Modern Quilting, projects, Quilting, Quilts, Sewing, stash. Bookmark the permalink.

A New Machine!

Posted on March 6, 2016 by heARTs Creations

Sashiko (Large)

This makes number 4! I have my Bernina that I do most of my sewing with, and it never leaves home. Then there is the Singer Featherweight. It is a collectible and sews like a little dream, especially if I have straight sewing that I can chain piece, it is now my go-to machine. I have a Pfaff Passport – weighs only 17 pounds and travels to retreats and sew-ins. It doesn’t even live in my studio – it goes from the hall closet to the car and back. And the newest addition to my sewing family – the Babylock Sashiko! I have been eyeing this specialty machine for some time now. Basically, it’s stitches look like hand sewing. If you’ve ever seen hand Sashiko stitching, it’s quite lovely and can now be done by machine.

Sashiko quilting (Large)

I’ve been getting the feel of it and learning how to thread it. It uses a bobbin thread only and is very different from standard sewing machines. I Sashiko quilted this table runner. It’s a lot of straight lines because I wanted to get the feel of the machine. I have more projects lined up and will next try curve stitching . I am not a collector of sewing machines, so this is my last addition. Pretty sure…

Works in Progress – I have decided to only keep track of actual WIPs, not projects in boxes that have not actually been started. The list is a now a little easier to swallow and not quite so daunting. (green highlite depicts progress made)

Project List (Large)

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Posted in Applique, block pattern, Color, Fabric, Hexagons, Pattern, Projects, Quilting, Scraps, Sew-in, Sewing Tools, Stash, Uncategorized and tagged charity quilts, Fabric, Modern Quilting, projects, Quilting, Quilts, Sewing, stash, UFOs. Bookmark the permalink.

Polka Dot Village

Posted on March 15, 2015 by heARTs Creations

I am so excited that my Polka Dot Village is done! About 3 years ago Ellen Guerrant did a workshop for our guild using her “Tartan Town” pattern. It is a fun and whimsical design. There were about 20 of us and we all brought our piles of small stash pieces – colorful and whimsical. We shared mightily – as though none of us had ever seen so many different fabrics! In true quilter fashion the project got put away when I got home. Finally, about 2 year’s later, it once again saw daylight. I had more fabric choosing to do – who knew I would spend so much time for little windows and doors?

Now it is done and is hanging above our stairs leading down to our family room and my sewing studio. (Not a good place to get pics, but I wasn’t about to have us get the extension ladder to get it down.) I love how cheerful it is. Each house block has a bird – even an owl on the one rooftop! This is also another one of my UFO finishes for our guild’s challenge. Only 3 more to go!

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Posted in Art, Fabric, Quilting, Scraps, Stash, Swap and tagged batiks, challenge, charity quilts, Color, guilds, projects, Quilting, Quilts, Scraps, Sewing, stash, UFOs. Bookmark the permalink.

Scrapbuster Sunday – little gifts

Posted on December 21, 2014 by heARTs Creations

Yes, I have been away. A very busy Thanksgiving and then weeks of some nasty cold. I know my sewing machine has been lonely. It finally got revved up when I needed some little gifts. I decided on festive potholders. I have lots and lots of Christmas scraps so I began to piece and quilt. I used insulbright – 2 layers with the shiny sides facing out. That is the side that should face the heat. It really works. I held a piece to a hot iron, and did not feel the heat! This is a great way to use some scraps and makes a nice hostess gift or stocking stuffer. I also did a couple of designer potholders. I love how dramatic this fabric is. A little quilting around the images on the fabric, some binding – and a great addition to someone’s kitchen! Now that Christmas is just a few days away, I hope you are all in a good place and not sewing frantically to get gifts done. If you are, I wish you smooth sewing! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Two Crossed the Finish Line!

Posted on May 3, 2014 by heARTs Creations

It feels so good to have two finishes – and they’re both UFO’s for my guild’s challenge! That’s now six out of twenty. I should have empty project boxes now – not so. Projects that were in zip loc bags are now in the project boxes. It’s quite the cycle!

The baby quilt has squares in it from a panel I purchased that was meant for a soft baby book. There are enough squares for two more quilts. It was fun to pull pieces of fun prints and put them all together. This is a charity quilt and will go to a child that is hospitalized.

The center of this scrappy quilt has 100 patches. There are 492 pieces in the quilt – not as many as I originally planned. I was going to do a pieced border until I discovered the green with white polka dot fabric in my stash and fell in love. There are some duplicates in the 2 ½” squares. Once again I’m amazed that when these are pieced it becomes yardage, yet my scrap bins do not reduce in bulk at all!

Now I have two more quilts that just need binding. Oh how I want to cut out a new project but am resisting the temptation. May be this fall? But now it is glorious spring. I love these red rhododendrons. Temperatures have been perfect to get some much needed weeding and mulching done. The rewards, as in sewing, are great.

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Posted in Fabric, Quilting and tagged charity quilts, Color, flowers, garden, Quilting, Quilts, Scraps, Sewing, UFOs. Bookmark the permalink.

Retreat F U N !!

Posted on April 7, 2014 by heARTs Creations

The 2014 Sew Modern Retreat has ended – it was SEW much fun!! Quilters came from South Carolina, Charlotte, Ohio and the Blowing Rock area to quilt, sew, laugh, shop and share. We dined together and went to the area quilt shop together. We had to buy more fabric, right?? And, each of the attendees put together a block for a charity quilt that will be put together in the next few weeks.

Me with the group

FUN Group!

This was such a talented, helpful and knowledgeable group. I am just sorry that I did not get pics of more of the projects being worked on. Hope you all come back next year ladies!