Tag Archives: Quilting

On to December!

Posted on November 29, 2020 by heARTs Creations

This year seemed to drag on, but now – Oh My! The end of November already? It was such a pretty day today so we put up the outdoor Christmas lights just in time for the beginning of Advent tomorrow. A few things are up in the house, but not the tree or mantel adornments. Tomorrow – maybe.

Above is a sneak peak of a Christmas quilt I’ve been working on the past week. All the blocks are pieced, the circles hand appliqued and putting the blocks and rows together should be completed tomorrow. Borders will follow.

It’s been a very productive eleven months and I look forward to taking on a couple of challenging projects ahead of me. I won’t begin to tackle those until January, though, as there are one or two more bits I’d like to clean up that were already begun.

How has your progress been this year? Did more time staying at home make you more productive? I just hope whatever you have been doing, you have enjoyed it!

**My favorite tree this time of year. The photo truly doesn’t do it justice. It absolutely glows in person. Even better, it came to me as a little baby from a dear friend.**

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Posted in Quilting and tagged Applique, Christmas Quilt, projects, Quilting. Bookmark the permalink.

My Little Gallery Showing

Posted on October 4, 2020 by heARTs Creations

Blowing Rock, NC is where I host my quilting retreats and hubby and I a;sp visit there a couple of times a year. I absolutely love it there! There’s hiking, strolling by all the shops and wonderful restaurants. It is such a pretty place. The hotel we stay at, The Meadowbrook Inn, is just lovely and comfortable – I call it my home away from home. The staff is so friendly, kind and helpful and over the years I have grown a beautiful relationship with them.

Every quarter the inn has a guest artist with their works hanging in their little gallery room. From now until January I am the guest artist! I had a number of pieces to bring, but there was a lot of prep work to do. I hand sewed loops or corners on the back of each piece, had hubby cut wooden slats to size, and inserted them in the back of each quilt for hanging. I brought 16 pieces and somehow got it all done. Whew!

Please note: the pics were all taken with someone else’s phone and sent to me after all the pieces were hung. They are not the best quality, but it is a hoot for me to see them all hung!

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Posted in Quilting and tagged art quilts, gallery, quilt showing, Quilting. Bookmark the permalink.

Peaks of Color

Posted on September 20, 2020 by heARTs Creations

Another small wall quilt, this time using solids and one of my favorites: Kaffe prints. I began by pulling and pairing fabrics. I set my camera to a grayscale setting which was very telling. A couple of my selections blended together, but to the naked eye they seemed fine. From experience I knew that those had to be eliminated. It’s a great tool in fabric color selection.

I drew paper pieced block patterns as I wanted each to be a little different and to have as crisp points as possible. Happy to say it was all a fun process!

The polka dot backing was perfect. For the quilting I didn’t want too much as it’s a small quilt, so I chose random circle quilting. You can be sure I’ll be doing that again sometime in the future!

I’m also back to hand applique and with cooler temps arriving here in the Piedmont, I’m enjoying doing so on my front porch. Here is my view:

The garden continues to delight. The onslaught of leaves will soon be following, but until then, I will soak in with joy all that surrounds me.

Linkup: N&TT

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Red Storm

Posted on September 13, 2020 by heARTs Creations

Recently I was looking through my orphan blocks and came across a several quarter circle black and white blocks. I’ve been doing a few small wall quilts and decided to do something with these. I chose several red batiks for a strong contrast, cut them into 1″ and 3/4″ strips and began piecing.

I played with several layouts on the design wall and mostly straight line quilted it – for such a little quilt, 11″ x 19″, it took a while!

Here it is – “Red Storm!”

Linking: N&TT

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Posted in Quilting and tagged batiks, mini quilts, orphan blocks, Quilting. 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

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

Playful

Posted on August 23, 2020 by heARTs Creations

My quilting journey began somewhere around 2006 to 2007. I purchased a magazine, “Quilt It, Two Block Quilts” and immediately loved two of the quilts. The first is in the back of my quilting closet, partially quilted. Each time I take it out thinking I’ll finish it, I’m reminded that I don’t care for it very much. I also remind myself that a fair amount of work went into it, especially as a beginner, and that I should finish it so I can donate it.

The second pattern was for “Baby Love.” In 2018 I finally got around to pulling various fun fabrics and copying the paper piecing patterns. In December of that year I worked on some of the blocks while retreating with a few quilty friends. Can you guess? The project box just sat on the shelf until earlier this year. Somehow I was motivated to get it together. I did, however, simplify and modify the pattern some. I didn’t use all the NY Beauty blocks. They’re in the orphan quilt box waiting for lightening to hit me with a brilliant plan!

Funny how after sitting for so long, I was super motivated and quickly got the top put together. Some weeks ago I pulled the top from my hangar of “flimsies,” found a batting and used a gray fleece for the backing.

Oh how I love having another finish. And where is this quilt headed? To play with the other baby quilts I have waiting for some unknown future arrival. Now I call that being prepared!”

Linking: N&TT Whoop Whoop

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Posted in block pattern, Color, Fabric, Modern Quilting, Projects, Quilting and tagged projects, Quilting, Scraps. 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.

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.

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.

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?

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

Squirrel, Squirrel, Squirrel!!

Posted on August 2, 2020 by heARTs Creations

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…

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.

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.

And some blues for a sky background.

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

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

Happy Quilt Mail

Posted on July 26, 2020 by heARTs Creations

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.

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

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.