Getting Started With Hearts

Last December I read a post on Mel Beach’s blog about the I found a Quilted Heart Project and her November heART challenge. Check out her post here. In that post she has links to her set up and the four weeks.

First of all, this was all about using stuff she already have in her studio. I loved how she started with free motion practice pieces. I have several of them laying around. Unfortunately, I threw some of them away. Here are two that survived earlier purges, and would work great for this project.

The next step was to fill in all of the gaps. I must say my pieces looked nothing like hers. Anyway, I started with a stitch on my old Elna with variegated thread and sewed up and down the piece. Love this stitch, especially with this colorful thread.

Then I added a little free motion.

I had to keep myself from throwing these pieces out. I know that once they are cut and embellished they will look good, but now not so much!

Now it was time to trace the heart shapes. I cut a heart out of cardstock, and started tracing around it on the stitched pieces.

Next, I drew a line just in from the first line with an erasable pen. This will be the stitch line and it’s just a guide.

Now it’s time to sew on that inside line. I’m pointing to the inside line.

Then you cut on the outside line.

Then to get rid of that inside line, iron the heart.

And I end up with these hearts.

This is just a start. I’ll be adding color, more stitches, and maybe some bling to these. But first to find more pieces in my stash to make into hearts. I’ll be back with those soon. By the way, if you want some inspiration, check out Mel’s blog.

Just wanted to remind you that I’ll be speaking about Creating Fabulous Fabrics with Resists with the Texas Bluebonnets Arts and Crafts Group on February 17 at 7 pm Central time. You can attend this Zoom meeting, but space is limited. You will be going to Meetup and clicking on my talk. From there you will click and sign up. Here is the link to the group.

It’s cold here with snow and ice on the ground. It’s a great time to stay inside and make hearts! See you next time.