Sweetheart

Dave was so thrilled with the I Love You pillow I made for our anniversary I figured another one was in order for Valentine's Day;-)

The heart blocks were made using this fabulous Heart block tutorial by Cluck Cluck Sew.  I made the 4" size which is charm square friendly.

The layout was inspired by Tula Pink's Paper Hearts quilt in the book Sew Red.  One of the huge benefits of having my fabric neatly shelved is it's so easy to pull what I want.  In this case I shopped my red and pink shelves choosing an assortment of orangy reds and purplish pinks.   I had a hard time finding "just the right" aqua but eventually spotted a leftover piece from my Shades of Grey mini in my scrap bin.

I do love a zig zag!  For the quilting I did rows of straight line quilting to emphasize the negative space.  It's tedious but I love the effect.

There were definitely a few lessons learned on this one...  I didn't trim the fabrics behind the small triangles.  I thought they were so small it wouldn't matter but it added a lot of bulk in that area which is made worse by the fact the tops abut.  Tula Pink's version has a sashing strip between the hearts which helps reduce this bulk but I eliminated it to keep my pillow square which made matters even worse.  Overall I feel my design looks unbalanced.  If I do it again, and I might, I'd rework the layout and do a better job trimming and pressing.

I also had a minor mishap when my iron literally melted down while I was pressing my binding.  I have every stain remover in the known universe after my Christmas Baubles debacle none of which work on scorch marks.  In the end I was able to fade them with white vinegar and they're not as obvious on the aqua as they would have been on white.  Does this only happen to me?

And here it is on the couch ready for family fondue & a movie night.  Will your Valentine's be a romantic night out or quiet night at home?

Sharing the love at this week's Finish it Up Friday by Crazy Mom Quilts.  As an added bonus, the trimmings from the heart bottoms are absolutely perfect for Amanda's Micro Geese Mini Quilt.  If only I'd seen this before mine went out in the trash...

Pillow Stats:
Finished pillow is 20" x 20"
Pattern: Heart blocks by Cluck Cluck Sew.  Layout inspired by Tula Pink's Paper Hearts quilt in the book Sew Red
Fabrics: Assorted reds & pinks from stash,  FSDS Aqua.  Binding Shelburne Falls by Denyse Schmidt.
Batting: Quilter's Dream Orient Bamboo.
Thread: 50 wt. Aurifil in Light Turquoise (5006).