Today I am celebrating the finish of my Heart Quilt for Pulse!!! As we speak it should be on it's way to the fine quilters of the Orlando MQG. Honestly, this one should have been finished weeks ago, but when I found out my Sweet Sixteen was on it's way (I had the white background finished) I decided to wait for her arrival before I quilted the hearts.
Back in June, when the Orlando MQG put their call out for help with their Quilts for Pulse charity, I new I would like to help. Step one would be sorting through my stash to see what I had in the way of rainbow colors. So I carried the totes containing colored fabrics to the living room.
After sorting through the pieces I came up with piles that I thought would work for giving the quilt a rainbow look. Lots of happy colors. Even Mr. Newton helped with the sorting. He's getting so gray in the muzzle.
I decided to make my quilt 6 x 6 10" blocks with a white on white fabric for the background. I used the heart tutorial on Cluck Cluck Sew. After all the pieces where cut, it was time to start the block construction.
And in less than a day, I had a finished quilt top, begging to be quilted.
I played around with a few other different settings for the hearts, but decided on this layout because of the squarish diamonds that the background fabric formed. I decided on back and forth curvy lines in the larger diamonds...
and pebbling in the smaller ones using Aurifil #2021 Natural White.
And this is where the story takes a long long break (a 3 week break), to wait on the arrival of my Sweet Sixteen.
I knew that I wanted to quilt the hearts with very little quilting since the background had quite a bit of dense filler. I went with a design I had stitched earlier in the year on the Aurifil Mini Penny Love. Double curvy swirling lines that formed hearts. It is suppose to have a ribbon effect so no need to worry about travel stitching. Just let the lines go where they will.
I fell in love with this design because I could stitch it with no marking, which speeds up the process by leaps.
So I took this motif and ran with it. I had kinks along the way that I had to work through, but you have that when you are using a new machine for the first time. The biggest hurdle to jump or problem, was these two clowns.
When I wasn't paying attention one of them would sneak up on the quilt and hide in the folds.
Who am I trying to kid, there wasn't really much sneaking. They would just plop down, even with me quilting, and proudly claim the warm softness as their own. There really was no "hiding" to it.
So with the help of the fur kids, I was able to finish up these beautiful hearts. I found a speckled print with most of the colors in the quilt that I used for a machine binding. No flanged binding this time. I'm just as surprised as you are, believe me.
And now for a few pictures I took before I gave it a wash and packed it away.
Would you believe I forgot to put one of my labels on it? But I figure that is okay. The who made it isn't important. This quilt finding its owner and hopefully giving them some comfort and love is what is important. I hope they can feel how much fun I had creating this quilt. Jen had discovered my CD's from when I was in high school and college. I jammed out (rather loudly) to Alanis Morissette, Sheryl Crow, Madonna, Stone Temple Pilots, and even Metallica. I'm pretty sure Jen was ready to have me committed. But it was a song I had forgot about by Jewel that made me stop and pause for a few moments, because it was so fitting for this quilt. The song is called Hands.
If I could tell the world just one thing
It would that we're all Okay
And not to worry 'cause worry is wasteful
And useless in times like these
I won't be made useless
I won't be idle with dispair
I will gather myself around my faith
For light does the darkness most fear
My hands are small, I know
But they're not yours, they are my own
But they're not yours, they are my own
And I am never broken
Poverty stole your golde shoes
It didn't steal your laughter
Heartache came to visit me
But I knew it wasn't ever after
We'll fight, not out of spite
For someone must stand up for what's right
'Cause where there's a man who has no voice
There ours shall go singing
Hands by Jewel
I love our quilting community and the way we all band together, from all walks of life to stand up and do what's right or bring love to those that are hurting. With each block and quilt we give a small piece of ourselves. As long as we are quilting together, there is love and warmth in the world. That my friends, means evil cannot win. We will cover the world with love, one quilt at a time
Can someone get me a ladder??? I think I've been on my soap box for too long in this post, I'm getting a nose bleed :)
21 comments:
If everyone had those thoughts, and your " can-do" and joined together, the whole world would be a better place. Love those hearts, your helpers are a great team, and super quilting. What a gift, it will be loved and treasured so much.
The quilt looks wonderful and I'm sure it will be appreciated. Just saw yesterday that the hospitals are 'forgiving' the charges incurred for the victims. I was so happy to see that.
Fabulous quilting on the hearts quilt. So wonderful that it will be a hug to someone that really needs some care.
Your #quiltsforpulse quilt is beautiful. So much love sewn in. And you will always remember it (and it's message of love) as one of the first on your new machine. Perfect!
I had forgotten about that sono by Jewel, too. I might play it for my daughter later today. She likes to collect songs with messages to share with her friends at different times. She would have been a great mix tape maker.
You and I must have been in high school and college at about the same time, because I have a stack of cd's that looks very similar to yours.
Thanks for providing some inspiration today!
Beautiful Post and Beautiful Quilt!
You stay right on up there on your soapbox; more people need to. All people are humans, worthy souls, and until all souls accept this our world will continue to have ugliness. Good grief; someone got a ladder; I clearly went up on your soapbox with you! SUCH a gorgeous quilt Tish, just LOVE it. Must remember that FMQ motif in the hearts, and I love what you did in the white background.
You did a fantastic job with the quilting! It's a special quilt, for special people, made by a special lady! I'm still jealous of the Sweet 16...but I'll live through your adventures on this one!
I love reading about all these quilts for Pulse. I am in love with the quilting you've done. I'm still working on the courage to try free motion. Quilts like yours nudge me closer! (You can see the quilt I made for Quilts for Pulse here: http://www.dejongdreamhouse.com/2016/07/quilt-64-49-hearts.html)
What a beautiful finish. It felt so good to ship quilts off, and you nailed it with the Hands lyrics. I think waiting in your Sweet Sixteen was the perfect choice and I can't wait to see what else you do next!
You did a beautiful job on this beautiful quilt Tish. Those are very touching lyrics.
Beautiful quilt, beautiful sentiments that went into it. You just stay right on top of that soapbox, maybe more people need to join you.
Tish, it came out perfectly! The quilting in the hearts was worth the wait! So glad you're loving your sweet 16!
Thank you, Tish, for making this beautiful quilt, full of love and hope. You did a wonderful job!
Lovely quilt, Tish. I'm sure whoever receives it will feel the love you (and those fuzzy fur children) put into it. Your playlist sounds like it came straight out of my CD collection.
It's beautifully done Tish, and congrats on getting your longarm!
Those hearts you quilted are a design I'm going to have to steal...they look so good! I don't think you're on a soapbox - just echoing the feelings of so many. Thank you for adding your quilt to the collection; someone is sure to feel all the love and positive energy you put into it. It's a beautiful quilt!
Love the quilting on your hearts...beautiful! and I can't wait to hear what you think of your new machine, jealous here!
Tish, that's no soapbox, that's love! So continue preaching to the choir and maybe the world will heal itself. Lovely finish. I've got my Pulse quilt to finish myself and I might just steal your idea for the hearts if you don't mind. I love it! Soon my quilt will join yours in Orlando and yes, we will cover the world in quilts of love!
Wonderful quilt, wonderful quilting and all for a cause. What more can you ask for?
Gorgeous finish. Love the hearts within the hearts. Reminds me of the poem by E. E. Cummings - I carry your heart. I carry it in my heart.
Hugs,
Preeti.
The motif you quilted into the hearts is lovely Tish! All the help you had from your fur kids cracks me up... they were so interested in what you were doing, LOL. It's really impressive how beautifully you could quilt first time out the gate with your new machine!
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