Homespuns and Hearts

If I know a lot of sitting around is in my future, I plan a project to keep my hands occupied.  This quilt was one such project.   I could have sworn that I appliqued all the hearts on this quilt while watching the winter Olympics in 2002, but when I dug out the pattern this week I had written on it "pictured on page 23 - American Patchwork & Quilting - April 2004".   So I'm thinking maybe it was the summer Olympics in 2004 that I worked on it.  Or maybe I wrote the year down wrong.   It's bugging me anyway, so if anyone has these back issues, let me know which it is.  I loved it in the picture and ordered the pattern right away.  It's called "Barn Raising Quilt" from the book "From the Heart" by Sandy Gervais.  I showed the pattern to my friend, Sue and she wanted to make it too, so we started collecting fabric for it right away.

Obviously, this is not the best location for it because when it's laid out flat you can see where it has faded.  I might have to find it a shadier home for awhile (or get some blinds on my windows), but I do love it draped over this chair and after 12 years, I don't think I will be getting blinds anytime soon.

The quilt is 50" square and has 100 blocks, each made with 2 triangles, one light and one dark.  I laid out the entire quilt and numbered each block before I placed the hearts.  I call it "planned random".   I didn't dare go totally random and just start putting hearts on without knowing exactly where they would end up.  I'm not that brave.   The hearts are appliqued using 2 strands of embroidery floss and the blanket stitch. 

The back of this quilt is the red plaid homespun on the heart above (the leftovers of which I used on the back of the table topper shown in my previous post).  The quilting was done by Janice Hayes (I think - wish my memory for these details was better).   I could have done this one myself but didn't know what or how to quilt it.   If someone had just told me to quilt diagonal lines through the plaid and stipple around the hearts, I could have easily done that myself.  Next time.

I had such a nice response to my last post I've decided to go ahead with my give-away at the end of the year.  Not that I'm trying to "buy" your comments, but it's fun to know who is looking.  The blog is mostly for me.  I'm learning new things (like how to get pictures off my camera and onto the blog - it takes a college education to figure that out and lots of practice to get it right).  And I love my quilts!