Sunday, February 15, 2015

In my Heart of Hearts... V-day 2015

In My Heart of Hearts I love you best  23" X 19.5"
Number 20 in my Valentine series, which means we have spent 21 Valentines Days together. I knew when I met Mr. Not-afraid-of-color that he was the only Valentine I wanted! After we married I began making a heart related quilt each year. One of my current lectures is on working in series, and I show them all.
I often think of an event we've been through that year, or a meaning to convey when developing a design. This year is our 20th, and I wanted my husband to know In my heart of hearts, I love him best.

While looking through heart quilts on the internet I found one made of hearts which inspired me (pippapatchwork)  Although I design my own work, I want to acknowledge their work.

I started with my box of fusible scraps ( Click here for pics  )
Once I chose a background fabric and allowed myself to cut into a beautiful batik, I arranged the hearts, the spirals, the flowers allowing some to float away from the general shape. I wanted the heart to be defined enough to know it was a heart, but to have hearts melting into the background, as a visual treat for looking closely.

Before quilting it, I took some SETA color metallic gold paint, and a sea sponge, and dabbed on gold paint to soften the hard lines of the hearts and blend them together.

I took out the love stamps and ink I used in my last playdate, (click here to see more   )  and stamped words on the hearts. Because the ink wasn't strong enough I went over the stamped images with a fabric ink pen to darken them.

They look a little bit like candy hearts to me!






The quilting choices... does anyone else have a bit of trouble choosing a quilting motif?
I knew I wanted some straight lines as balance to all the curves, and got out my quarter inch masking tape.

I placed it where I wanted to use my walking foot, and gold metallic YLI threadwork.
I carefully followed along the sides of the tape. Removed it, and added repetitive lines around the heart, and more lines to the rays on the right.

The last walking foot stitching was the repetitive lines at the bottom left of the heart. (Look at the top photo closer)

It adds a base to the whole thing and a balance to all the free motion designs. 


 Ah, then the free motion stitching began. The whole top is quilted with YLI gold metallic and sparkles.
I just went where my heart sent me, some feathers, some intersecting hearts some leaves, some flowers.

 I even went in and quilted a few individual hearts inside the rays.
It needed more sparkle so I ironed on some rhinestones.

I added in some pearls as we had pearls on our wedding cake. The colorful beads around the rays are from my friend Bunny. She showed up to bee one day with a bag of them, handed them to me and said you're the only person I know who might use these! I've used them on three quilts now, Bunny.
 I resisted putting the letters on til the end. Then I couldn't help myself. I pulled out the fusible scraps, and just cut out letters letting them come out how they might, arranged them, and quilted around them with a quick free motion zigzag and gold thread, to blend them in.
Look at that bit of quilting on the bottom right... hearts on hearts. I just kept going and they developed and I love them. Maybe even more than the feathers. Please note, I didn't painstakingly stitch around each heart. I made sure each one was caught, and actually free motion quilted around several inside the center but mainly let them come and go on the background.
My inspirational quilt is very orderly, with a hard edge. Mine is loose, blended, some hearts indistinct, some must be looked for, some look like they are just quilted but are appliqued. (hint click on pics to enlarge)
last but not least, the back.
There you can see quilting better! The quilt is not smoothed out, so looks rumpled but it's not. Those are old fashioned valentine images... like the ones I used to give school mates in elementary school. Sweet! Like my husband.
Thank you to my friend nancy for asking if I'd started the V-day quilt yet!! Love her too! 
Oh, and I have a V-day story to tell, later in the week! We had an adventure!

For more Valentine quilts check out Feb/ 2014

27 comments:

sonja said...

Sweet! that is a great way to work in a series and i bet your viewers are smitten!

Cathy said...

Oh, that's beautiful! And what a wonderful idea for a series. And now I know what to do with some of my scrapbooking stamps!

Lisa said...

Love this!!!!!

Kathy said...

I didn't see this first thing on Valentine's Day, so I was afraid you didn't get one finished. So glad you had an adventure and can't wait to hear all about it! Love the hearts!

Jasmine said...

I love it! This is so perfectly you. Great quilt for your 20th. My favorite part? The gold paint.

scraphappy said...

Congratulation on so many years of hearts with your sweetheart.

Glen QuiltSwissy said...

wonderful heart of hearts!! i love your series of valentine quilts. I wish i had thought of something long ago........c'est la vie!

bearbuster said...

How can you always manage to top yourself? This is really, really special :-) Pat

Joanne said...

Hi LeeAnna!
Beautiful! It was worth the wait!
It's great to read the work process you went through to make it!
To see all 20 at one of your sessions would be amazing! Lucky students!
Keep warm!
Take care,
Joanne

Kaja said...

Beautiful - and so dynamic! I love all the detail and layering you get into your work.

AlidaP said...

As always so very creative! Thanks for sharing all the details of your projects!!

Norma Schlager said...

Wonderful! Love the hearts, love the quilting!

Mary in Boulder said...

This turned out so well! The exuberant quilting seems to reflect your exuberant love for Drew. So sweet!

Maria said...

Oh this is BEAUTIFUL ! Well Done!

Allison said...

So beautiful! I love the idea of creating something for a series each year to evolve and grow. Thanks for sharing yours. And congrats on 21 Valentine's together. This year marked our 15th. =)

andrea @ tideline quilts said...

It's beautiful, so creative and such a spectacular use of colour...love, love, love it!

Unknown said...

I thought this looked like a water color in the thumb nail. How cool that it's all sewn!

the momma said...

This is beautiful! What a sweet tradition :-)

Andrea @ Mouse in My Pocket said...

This is beautiful. I love all the little details you added to the quilt. Especially the gold paint.

Kate said...

Beautifully done. Gorgeous design and the quilting just adds to it.

Shari - a prim and (not so) proper quilter said...

I love this--we will also celebrate 20 years at the end of the year, and I want to make a heart quilt for next Valentine's Day.

Kate said...

Awesome!

chitra said...

wonderful work. I like the idea of series.

Sarah @ Georgia Girl Quilts said...

So cool- love all those colors!

Marlies Mansveld said...

Wow, this is such a nice valentinesquilt. I love how you combined the colours and the quilting!

Val's Quilting Studio said...

I Literally LOVE this!! I bookmarked this post!

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