This week's challenge had everything to do with hearts! I had bought a few quarter yards of Valentine fabric last year, so I finally got the inspiration to use it.
Last Monday I got the chance to check out a quilt guild that meets about four miles from my house. I had been meaning to attend for months now, but every month the second Monday would come and go and I would remember the meeting after the fact. This time I kept reminding myself and had my husband remind me all day, too. Unfortunately, I woke up with a sore throat that day, but I took some cold medicine and took a nap when I got home from work and was still able to make the meeting that evening! All this to say..one of the members was making a presentation all about the Kuna people of Panama making Molas, and this is what gave me the inspiration on how to start this week's challenge. After the demonstration of how to reverse appliqué (maybe I'll explain more about what I learned about Molas another time, if you're interested- it's quite intricate!), I took a small kit home and practiced on the pig outline that came in it. It was my first time doing hand appliqué, let alone reverse hand appliqué, and strangely enough I enjoyed it! Soooo when the hearts theme was announced, I knew I wanted to use this technique to create some hearts.
I machine basted by following the heart outline I had drawn on the back using a paper template I had drawn and cut out. This way, when I pulled out the white machine thread, the material would fold nicely under where the needle holes were made and I could hand sew it easily with the black thread. This was fun to do while I watched television shows during a couple of the snow days we had (teachers get snow days, too!). It also gave me a chance to think about what design to use to create the rest of the quilt. Since each fabric was 1/4 yard, I decided on simple 9" squares. I added the hearts, but I wanted more than just rearranging the squares and sewing them together with a diagonal pattern. I had some black flannel fabric with white hearts, so I tried out the sashing technique.
I had lots of flannel left over, so I added a border and included it with the purple and white hearts flannel fabric on the back. Binding is my LEAST favorite part of quilting, so I skipped it all together- I sandwiched it together right sides together..
..cut out the batting exactly and placed it on top, sewed it almost all the way around like a pillow, and pulled it right sides out. Here is the messy process of getting all the fabric through the small hole I left after triple sewing each side.
It was so worth it, though. I chose a decorative stitch on my machine and stitched all the way around the edges.
Quilting got to come last instead of the tedious binding! I did a simple zig zag, and probably should never throw it in the washing machine since I didn't quilt it very much. I will show you the back first, and with close looking you can see the three zig zags.
With all the sparkly Valentine fabric I found last year and got to use in this quilt, I think it turned out so pretty. These kind of sparkles are the best kind- you can touch it to anything and glitter does not get everywhere! Plus, all that pink goes well wih breast cancer awareness. Win win. I'm sure you were wondering about the name of my quilt- well, with all this movie talk going around, I felt led to twist it into the color pink, instead, because there is actually a website that goes by that name who take donations for cancer research. I feel it's better to promote this kind of love rather than the "gray" kind.
It's perfect for those cold February snow days for snuggling up under on the couch and watching my favorite shows! If you enjoy it, please vote for "50 Shades of Pink" at http://www.persimondreams.blogspot.com/2015/02/have-heart-challenge-4-of-project.html and check out the other quilts others were inspired to create!
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