As I’ve been babysitting the embroidery machine, I’ve been mostly sitting at the Janome 8900 which is located beside the embroidery machine (Janome 1200). This proximity means that I can just swivel the chair and change the bobbin or fix any potential issues that I hear as the machine is working on labels for the charity quilts. Occasionally I have issues when I’m not in the room. I don’t actually babysit the machine all the time. I do set it to work and then go downstairs when I can.

But sometimes when I come back, this is what it looks like.

I thought to myself, “Why not just go ahead and keep making more while it is all set up and I’m already only half here mentally with my focus this month being on all these charity quilts? I might as well just go ahead and spend the month working on labels while I’m working on pushing to get 90 of the charity quilts quilted.”

So…as a result, I’ve been working on quilted hearts. They are small, fun and require no focus whatsoever.

Oh, and they don’t require any ironing or pressing either.

For that reason, they are a great thing to work on while I have my mind elsewhere AND it is hot in my room.

So, I’ve got a lot done ahead. I was thinking I would do 1 or 2 groups of 20 a month. We’ll see what happens when I do finish up the whole push for the charity quilts and the labels, etc. I’ve been putting the finished hearts in a plastic container where they will wait for me to put them out. I’ll see where I stand as to numbers. I do want to get all the fall-ish ones put out by the end of October.

One thing I just did was clear out a shelf in one of my cabinets in the sewing room - as I wanted to make room for buttons and beads which I’ve been using on these. I knew there was just “stuff” in there - nothing I was actually currently using.

I uncovered leftover parts and pieces from making masks! I decided to repurpose these items and make them into hearts. It is better than just chopping them up into strips since they are already cut into mask shapes - and they are all novelty prints and that is what sealed it for me. I thought they would work for these hearts and still provide some fun for someone - albeit a sharp turn from the original purpose I had thought it would be.

The masks were being made for various area hospitals and nurses and even psychiatrists who worked at children’s hospitals back in the early pandemic days. Then, very quickly, they had all they needed - as you know people started buying the paper throw-away kind. Naturally I stopped working on them and just put it all away.

Anyway….

Let me show you what I mean. I’ve been taking strips from my 2.5” strips which are in my room and added one to the side of the half of the mask shape. Then, I trimmed a bit, quilted it, then cut out a heart and then finished the heart. I’ve not decorated them yet. These make a bit of a “squatty heart” but that’s fine. They are cute, actually.

Let me show you..

Oh - a couple of things.

• I am now comfortable using my machine to put on buttons. I consider this a huge win - if there is nothing else I have learned making these hearts!

• I have decided that using eyelets for these is probably not the best idea since these often do get wet before they are taken. I’ve seen that with at least one of them, the fabric around the eyelet is showing some signs of getting rust on it from the metal of the eyelet - and it is just sitting in my pile of hearts! I felt pretty stupid when I noticed the problem. Why didn’t I think of that BEFORE I did that? (They must be pretty cheap eyelets as well to do that!)

• I like them all - if they are a single fabric or scrappy - doesn’t matter. They are fun to make and a great use of those small pieces. I still have too many scraps, though (small pieces). I may throw them to Ewa as she likes to sew with them - making even more crumb blocks/quilts. I can’t use them all up in these hearts - they just don’t use enough fabric! I’m still not up to making more crumb blocks, though, after a hiatus of a few years, I can start to think about them again without hating the idea! :)

Here are the next twenty I’ve put out in various places.

I found the tractor ribbon and thought it perfect. I also am partial to that fabric - it’s a Polish fabric and I’m using it for backings currently. These little pieces come from cut offs from trimming quilts after being quilted.

This fabric is a Cranston VIP print (company no longer in existence as VIP.) I had a lot of it because I liked it so much!

I think this was a leftover piece of wolf print from something else.

This was an extra block from a Kaffe quilt I made. I decided to let it go to a heart and hopefully make someone’s day.

I’m not really one of those people into chickens all that much, but this one turned out cute.

The carrot fabric gave me a farm vibe so I played on that.

I found an odd shaped piece of fabric. I probably shouldn’t have put that burlap across it. But the decorations liven it up.

Sandwiches and chips. Does that remind you of anything?

More farm vibes.

Guess I’m feeling the harvest theme as I started getting tomatoes from my own plants!

So sweet and pretty.

Once again - I have no idea where this fabric came from but it reminds me of English cottage/shabby chic.

We went to Brazil for our 25th wedding anniversary and this fabric made me think of that. We saw these very colorful birds down there!

Dolphins and whales - made me think of Sea World in Florida!

This makes me think of Alaska. That same fabric.

We’ve always had cats. Mom always loved them and since we’ve been in Poland, we’ve had 1, 2 or 5. :)

Zucchini, squash, tomatoes anyway? This fabric is part of the Blissful Bounty line.

Another country theme.

Several this time are of that similar theme/feel.

More farm. I guess I watch too many gardening/farming videos on You Tube, huh? Also, growing up we always had a garden. A big one.

And maybe I am lying about why I’m making these!!

Maybe I’m having too good of a time going through memory lane as I work with fabrics I find pretty or at least interesting!!!

And this is where I have been putting them.

Just in case I have someone new here - well, these are made as part of the RAK (random act of kindness) action from the website www.ifaqh.com. All the info is there if you want to play along as well.

There are also other quilted hearts efforts as well - but at least for now, this is the one I’m trying to follow.

Be sure to check out what my sis has for you in the store here!

Feel free to browse the site.

19 quilts left in my

“Quilt 90 quilts in 31 days challenge”