Tag Archives: Color

Black and Gold

Posted on September 28, 2022 by heARTs Creations

Recently, while digging through a fabric bin of precuts, I came across a bundle of black and gold fabrics together with coordinating fabrics. I slashed the squares into triangles and began sewing them into half square triangles. No real plan – just wanted to sew. Sometimes this method works for me, sometimes it doesn’t, but luckily it did this time!

As I put them on the design wall, the plan changed several times. A central block soon became key. Finally I had the look I wanted and sewed it all together. I even quilted this one myself!

The center block has some free motion loops and the black and gold border print has a curved line in keeping with the fabric design. The rest of the quilt has straight line quilting, except that the border also has the curved lines to mimic the fabric design.

This quilt is a little more dramatic than most of my quilts and not bursting with color. It was a change I thoroughly enjoyed. After studying it for a while, I knew exactly who I’d be gifting it to in a couple of months. I think that makes me even happier than the successful completion of the quilt!

2 Comments

Posted in Art, block pattern, Projects, Quilt Setting, Quilting, Stash and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Twelve Days of Christmas

Posted on March 13, 2022 by heARTs Creations

Brrr and Good Morning from chilly North Carolina! The poor sea of daffodils are all weeping from this cold! Of course, for me, this means a day of sewing!

Two years ago I cam across a Twelve Days of Christmas ornament series made from felt. It was love at first site! Uncharacteristically, I ordered the full set of patterns (from Larissa Holland, mmmCrafts). At first the pattern set seemed pricey, but oh the detail, exquisite design and excellent instructions made it so worth it. I even ordered the set of felt to make them with. I printed the patterns out, organized all in a notebook and that’s as far as I got until the last couple of months. The time just seemed right to forge ahead. Here are a handful that I have completed.

The Partridge and Pear – an exciting start! I haven’t added the hangars yet as I haven’t decided what I’ll use. That can wait until the end.

The Turtle Dove. Choosing the felt colors and threads are part of the fun.

The French Hen. Seeing this one come to life was a lot of fun!

The Colly Bird now more commonly known as “Calling Bird.”

Five Golden Rings. I did struggle a bit with this one. Putting it together was not intuitive as the others were, but thankfully the instructions are excellent.

The Best Part – My daughter visited and when I showed her the finished ornaments, she was in awe. “Mom, these are family heirlooms!” Music to a mother’s ear.

The Plan – To finish one set by December and hang the set on a small separate tree that will be covered in little white lights. I then hope to make a second set and eventually give each of my children a full set.

9 Comments

Posted in Art, Christmas, Color, Embroider, Felt, Pattern, Projects and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Just Two More Rows

Posted on August 9, 2021 by heARTs Creations

This quilt should be named Forever! The quilt top was finished about three years ago. My brilliant idea was to hand quilt it with embroidery cotton doing a big stitch. I stitched, stitched, and stitched some more. The project got put away for quite a while. Finally, I pulled it out and have been determined to get it done! Unfortunately, I couldn’t do much stitching at once because it caused my hand to cramp. The quilt was being handled so much the outside ends were getting sloppy so I trimmed and bound it. There was enough quilted that I knew it was okay to do that step.

Oy. Most evenings I worked on it and got a little done. I’m really over this project now! I do have one more row to finish and it should be done this week. It’s time to show it!

Different color threads for quilting, and varied spacing.

The print fabrics are all Kaffe from my scrap bin. I used a batik print as the background. I really like the black and white border – I am a big fan of black and white fabrics. I think they make the prints pop more.

Now that it’s already bound, when I do that last row – A-Mazed will no longer be a work in progress!

Aww – look who likes sleeping under a Kaffe quilt. It’s Callie and she snuggles under there all on her own.

3 Comments

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

Melee – the Quilt

Posted on July 6, 2021 by heARTs Creations

Many moons ago I stitched strips from a roll together, then cut them into triangles. For a reason not known to me now, I put them away in a bin.

Time to sew these together, but I needed a plan – or did I? I decided on a free-for-all, thus the name “Melee.” It’s not entirely unplanned. I did make a “spider web” as the center.

After that, it was anything goes! The outside borders were also planned. They hold everything else in.

There wasn’t much left over and I knew none of it was going back into a bin, not even a scrap bin. I sewed a row and used it for the backing.

I did have fun with this one. All this color was a joy and creating as I go can be so freeing sometimes. I just need to choose the batting and it’s off to the long arm quilter. Looking forward to this finish!

9 Comments

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

Some Colorful Joy

Posted on March 14, 2021 by heARTs Creations

Recently I learned of an acquaintance that has an unpleasant health condition. I also learned that a friend would be visiting with her and I wanted to send along a quilt of comfort. I went to my closet of flimsies and found a bright, cheerful and colorful top that would be perfect. I also had the best bright green fleece for the backing.

Several years ago I cut this bright colorful collection on my die cutting machine using a large triangle die. It was quick piecing and the best way to showcase these large prints. Having not looked at this quilt top for a while, I found myself really appreciating the setting and know that I’ll be doing this with other large prints.

Some quick quilting and a bright binding – voila! Done and ready to go. How wonderful to know that this quilt is bringing warmth and joy to someone rather than hanging in a closet!

Great joy also this past week here in North Carolina – blooms! The daffodils are especially beautiful this year and I love that so many bloom among the hellebores. In the fall I pruned my Camelia and it sure paid off! The red blooms are so striking. Hubby’s Japanese Magnolia is also full. Unfortunately, the magnolia has pale pink flowers and does not photograph well. It’s always a bit sad when these blooms begin to fade, but I know there are others to follow.

Linking up: N&TT

9 Comments

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

CAN – CAN, the Quilt!

Posted on February 28, 2021 by heARTs Creations

Cut, pieced, quilted and bound in five days! Amazing how much I enjoyed making this quilt. No contest when I auditioned border fabric. The bold black and white was a definite winner – perfect for all the bright, pretty and fun strings in the quilt body.

A very simple quilting – diagonal wavy lines – was perfect. I wanted this quilt to be about the fabrics, not the quilting. And I am tickled the way the black and white prints come together in the center of the blocks and where four blocks meet. I finished the binding by hand which quickly reminded me why I rarely do that anymore. My hand cramped and ached so I had to take many breaks along the way.

The backing – oh the backing! I bought this Brandon Mably fabric when I took a workshop from Kaffe Fassett and Brandon Mably a few years ago. Brandon, who knows my daughter, brought a bolt of the Can Can fabric up to me and thought I had to have it as it reminded him of my feisty daughter! Of course I bought some, but I never did use it in the workshop project. So glad because it is perfect for the back of this quilt, thus the name Can-Can! She’s already living in my living room – bright, cheerful and warm.

Links: Oh Scrap! N&TT Whoop Whoop Friday Brag About Your Beauties

11 Comments

Posted in block pattern, Color, Fabric, Kaffe Fasset, Modern Quilting, Projects, Quilting, Scraps, Stash and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

A Happy Flower

Posted on August 30, 2020 by heARTs Creations

sunflower

There’s been a lot of sunshine here but with that has been intense heat and humidity. Many hours of sewing and quilting was becoming somewhat unjoyful for me so I went down a different path.  I had ordered some large art paper and the first happy thought I had was a sunflower and I drew a very simple drawing

sunflower drawing

 

The center of the flower is strip pieced, cut and sewn again to give the illusion of a woven center.  Beading in the center gave it more dimension and made it look more like a seed center.

center

The leaf is three dimensional.

leaf

Lots of fun was had when choosing bright yellow batiks for the flower.  I sewed narrow strip piecing of yellow batiks, then cut for the petals.  Hubby helped me choose the unconventional green striped batik background. It surely makes the flower pop!

sunflower

Ahhh.  Joyful in the studio once again!

Oh Scrap!   Monday Making

19 Comments

Posted in Art, Color, Fabric, Projects, Quilting and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

On the Design Wall

Posted on August 16, 2020 by heARTs Creations

quarter block

Scraps, scraps, scraps. A container full of one and one half inch scrap strips! There is also a bin of polka dots that has been waiting to be used. The blocks are quarter log cabins with the centers made up of four patches of polka dots.

qtr one block

This option for arranging the blocks just didn’t work for me.

I’ve arranged the quarter log cabins several ways and putting four together for one full log cabin block was most pleasing to me.

qtr log cabins

For now, this is my layout choice.

There’s a long way to go. I’m now piecing more four patches. Adding the strips goes fairly quickly and is fun sewing.

scrap box

Lots and lots of strips to choose from!

I’ve been doing a lot of organizing and although I don’t feel as though I’ve been sewing that much, I have really been quite productive. Hmmm. Maybe it’s because I’m not going anywhere during quarantine?!

How about you – how have you been using your time?

1 Comment

Posted in block pattern, Color, Design Wall, Fabric, Organization, Projects, Quilt Setting, Quilting, Scraps and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Squirrel, Squirrel, Squirrel!!

Posted on August 2, 2020 by heARTs Creations

47224742-stock-vector-scared-cartoon-squirrel-vector-clip-art-illustration-with-simple-gradients-each-element-on-a-separat

Oh the opportunity I saw when the Great Corona Lockdown began.  I was going to sew, sew, sew, and I did just that! I completed several quilts, made progress on several Works in Progress and best yet – I emptied many project bins! And then it happened – SLAM! I began to feel like going into my studio and sewing was a J-O-B.  So I stopped.  This is supposed to be a joy, not a chore, so…

IMG_0266

I immediately ordered a large pad of drawing paper, some Tyvek sheets and checked on my supply of Lumeire paints.  The plan is to do a few art quilts.  Not too big, not too complicated, but hopefully fun! I have four planned and began on the easiest one first.  I pulled various brown batiks, sewed some strips together and then pulled some dark brown batiks and cut thin strips.

IMG_2243IMG_2242

Next quilt will call for various yellows and I once again chose batiks. I’ll be doing a flower and I love the way these fabrics will (should) work.

IMG_2244

And some blues for a sky background.

IMG_2249I know, not too much exciting to show here, but I am excited – Yeah!

6 Comments

Posted in Art, Color, Fabric, Pattern, Projects, Quilting and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

Happy Quilt Mail

Posted on July 26, 2020 by heARTs Creations

IMG_2245

Such a joy to see a box on the front porch that wasn’t an Amazon box! It was a box full of quilt goodness from Elaine in Missouri. She sent a full quilt top for Hospice.  This is such a happy quilt. I especially love the green that peeks out among the cheerful oranges.  This donation could very well go to a male patient. Most quilt tops seem to be more appropriate for female patients so this is a total win. This flimsy is now hanging with four other Hospice flimsies. I’m guessing this will be the first of those to get quilted and bound.

IMG_2246

And that wasn’t all!  There were all these fabric pieces.  No doubt our little group will put these to very good use.

IMG_2248

IMG_2247

How exciting to see all these little blocks! Most definitely a future leader-ender project . Admittedly, I am so tempted to play with them, pin them and set them up by my sewing machine. But…I’m trying to be disciplied to continue working on my present project/s. Ha! Let’s see how long I last!

Many, Many thanks Elaine! Your generosity will go a long way.

NOTE:  If you have a donation for our Hospice ministry, please contact me hereor leave a comment on the blog. Quilt tops and blocks are being accepted at this time.

Leave a comment

Posted in charity quilts, Color, Fabric, Projects, Quilting and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink.
← Older Posts
→