Happy Valentine's Day! I Love You More...

Happy Valentine's Day!  Y'all, I have been holding onto photos of this quilt for over a year because I wanted to use it for a timely Valentine's Day post, and then I forgot all about it last Valentine's Day.  Then I forgot about it again this year, until I was drinking my coffee this morning and realized that Valentine's Day is already NOW.  No time like the present, no day like today, and here we go --

My friend Marybeth made this sweet 36" x 36" Valentine's Day table topper quilt and I quilted it for her in September of 2024 using Karlee Porter's "I Love You More" edge-to-edge quilting design to really lean into the holiday theme and make the quilt feel like a Valentine.

36 x 36 Valentine's Day Table Topper Quilt Made by Marybeth, Quilted by Moi

This is one of those quilting designs that looks scary busy when you're looking at a black and white line drawing of the design, but as you can see here, the quilting can still be quite subtle if you use the right thread.  I used one of my favorite "supporting actress" quilting threads here, So Fine 50 wt matte polyester thread in color Blizzard from Superior Threads (this blog post contains affiliate links).  Notice in the photo below that even though Blizzard is a bright white matched to Marybeth's white background fabric, the thinness of So Fine thread causes the stitching to "take on" a lot of the color from the other fabrics.  So on those pink triangle patches, the white thread looks like it's the exact same shade of pink, and even where the white thread crosses dark red fabric, the contrast isn't drastic because the white thread looks more pink there than pure white.  

So Fine Thread Disappears Into the Fabrics

So Fine is a matte (not shiny) polyester thread that resembles cotton.  In fact, in lighter colors, the look of So Fine is indistinguishable from cotton in my opinion.  However, polyester is a lot stronger than cotton thread of a comparable weight would be, so even though this is a very fine, skinny thread, it's still plenty strong even for quilts that will be heavily used and frequently laundered.  These qualities would also make So Fine thread a great choice for English paper piecing or for hand or machine appliqué projects.  

"Heartbroken": A Valentine's Day Mini for the Scrappy Improv Quilting Blog Hop Tour

Woo-hoo!  It's finally my turn to share my project on the Scrappy Improv Quilting blog hop, hosted by Kelly Young of My Quilt Infatuation in conjunction with the release of her newest book!  When Kelly asked me to participate several months ago, I was thrilled to accept because: 1. I have never done ANY improv quilting before and it's something I've been wanting to try anyway, and 2. the "mini quilt" projects in Kelly's book are small and manageable, most finishing at 24" x 24" like the one I'm sharing today.  Great size for experimenting with new techniques when you're not sure you are ready to commit to a huge bed quilt.  

My 24 x 24 "Heartbroken" Improv Mini with Rose Texture B2B Quilting Design

The project I was assigned is called "Heartstruck" in Kelly's book, and it's the Valentine's Day project from her Seasonal Sensations chapter.  Most projects in this book finish at 24" x 24", by the way, which is awesome for your front door,  entryway, classroom, office  -- any space you're wanting to brighten up with a splash of quilty cheer that can be swapped out regularly so you never get tired of any one quilt.  Since many of my clients drop off and pick up their quilts from my home, I'm thinking of making a whole series of these mini quilts to display on my front door to welcome new clients -- and to reassure them that yes, this IS the right house where the quilter lives!

Kelly's 24 x 24 "Heartstrings" Improv Mini, As Featured In Her Book

Studying Kelly's "Heartstrings" mini, I love how her arrows direct your eye through the quilt in a back-and-forth motion and I was also excited about all of the empty "negative" background space because that's a great opportunity for dramatic quilting to make an impact. When Kelly invited me to participate in the blog hop, she encouraged me to "make the project my own" and have fun with it.  So, as much as I like Kelly's Heartstrings mini, I was looking for a way to change it up somehow to make it "mine."  I started thinking about the fact that there were three hearts rather than just two,  kind of like a Love Triangle.  And THAT reminded me of the late Princess Diana's remark in her 1995 BBC interview, about how there were three people in her marriage, making things "a bit crowded."  💔. Aha!  In my version, the top two hearts were going to be lucky lovers who get "struck by Cupid's arrow," but the third one was going to be a broken heart that Cupid passes by.

Happy Valentine's Day, With a Twist

I'm sorry; I couldn't resist...  I was googling to find a nice Valentine's Day image to share, just something short and sweet and lovely, and was reminded that this hearts-and-flowers holiday we're celebrating today all began with the brutal clubbing and beheading of a Catholic priest named Valentine who was martyred for performing marriages against the wishes of Roman Emperor Claudius II.  Then I stumbled upon this photo, which totally appeals to my inappropriate sense of humor.  I am also breaking a cardinal rule with this one, not linking back to the original source for the photo, because it was co-ed-something-or-other porn site.  Google, why do you take me to these nasty web sites?  All I asked for was "Valentine's Day Images!"  Thank goodness for the parental control lockdown on the kids' computer!

On that note -- HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!  I hope none of you get clubbed or beheaded.