Candy Heart Quilt

I began this heart block quilt on a bit of a whim after purchasing the ‘Take Heart’ pattern as a pdf file from Mack & Mabel. The pattern has lovely clear instructions, which is just as well as I had to adapt it to use a 10″ layer cake rather than the intended jelly roll. My hearts are constructed from 2″ wide strips rather than 2½” wide strips; my finished block size is 9″ rather than the pattern’s 12″ size.

The brightly coloured layer cake, ‘Cherry on Top’ by Keiki for Moda, lent itself to the Take Heart pattern very well. I used thirty of the squares and some white-on-white fabric from my stash to make twenty one blocks in two colourways. I then stalled for a while – a bit overwhelmed by the bright colours and not sure how to arrange the blocks into a quilt top. The Take Heart pattern illustrated the blocks in straight rows and columns with sashing. Looking at my heart blocks I just couldn’t see this working (maybe because they were smaller and therefore looked ‘busier’?). Inspiration came via a blog post by Allison Harris (cluckclucksew); her ‘All the Hearts’ quilt was laid out in ‘wonky’ rows and columns. I arranged 20 of my heart blocks into four columns of five blocks, alternating the colourways of the blocks. I sewed a two inch sashing strip to the bottom edges of the blocks in columns 1 and 3 and to the top edges of the blocks in columns 2 and 4.

Once I’d joined the blocks in each column together I added strips of sashing fabric between the columns. Finally I added border strips using the white sashing fabric. I was going to add another border but I’m happy with the way the quilt top looks and it’s a good size already – 44″ wide by 56″ long.

On my shopping list at the Quilts UK show last Saturday was backing fabric for this quilt. I couldn’t believe my good fortune when I discovered a bolt of one of the Cherry on Top fabrics reduced to half price 🙂 RESULT 🙂 I bought 3m and aim to make a pieced backing – I might use some or all of the remaining 10″ squares from the layer cake and I have some other pieces of fabric from the collection to play around with too.
I looked all round the stalls at the show for Quilters Dream poly batting but didn’t find any so I’ve ordered a pack that should arrive any day. It’s my favourite poly batting and I’d like to use it for this quilt as it will hopefully be well loved by a child and might need to be washed frequently ;-); and it’s bright white colouring will not dull the white fabrics on the front and back of the quilt.
One day later…
Of course delays in projects can result in alterations to the plan… I’ve been itching to have a try at making a quillow for some time; as I have plenty of fabric leftover from this project it would seem now is my chance! I spent some time looking for a written or filmed tutorial on line, this one by Michele Bilyeu with the cushion pocket sewn to the back of the quilt fits with what I have in mind and this one by Alicia answers lots of my questions re. measurements and attaching the pocket with the binding :-). I’d be very grateful for any tips you would care to share with regards to constructing a quillow. Thank you!
Linking with Myra for Finished or Not Friday.
Allison