Many Happy Hearts

 This sweet little quilt has been a UFO for over a decade.  The vintage 30's colors look just like springtime, and I'm so happy it's finally a finished quilt!  My hubby was kind enough to put up an old brass curtain rod near the ceiling in the hallway so I can photograph quilts through the bathroom doorway.  Hey, it works for me!

Many Happy Hearts 45 x 54 inches

The pattern was printed in Spring 2007 America Loves Scrap Quilts from McCalls Quilting.  I may have the book/magazine or maybe found it at the local library.  A single photocopy page, and all sorts of fabric scraps, were put into a project pack and brought up to our lake cabin.  I worked on it for a season or two, then set it aside.  This winter I was looking for something to work on and pulled it out of the sewing drawer.

Of the original pattern's 20 blocks, I had finished ten.  Two more were cut out and ready to applique.  It didn't take long to finish up those two blocks and call it 'good enough.'  Those 12 blocks became this sweet little quilt.  

The borders didn't take long, but oops!  Problem...

Border before re-stitching to shorten.

 Using fewer blocks in the quilt put the pieced border pattern off kilter.  This was actually a pretty easy fix.  I needed to shorten the sides by one block width. (2 inches)  Nothing was getting ripped out! Oh no. Starting with every-other horizontal seam (and then adding in a couple more as needed) they were re-stitched right next to the old stitching line.  Just a thread width. This took up enough length to make the border fit perfectly, and no one is the wiser. (wink)

 The backing is a white and gray plaid fleece.  No batting.  So soft and cozy to cuddle in on a cool spring evening.  

Moda Love for Ukraine

 So many quilters are showing their support for the people of Ukraine as they both battle and flee the invading Russian military forces who are destroying their country.  A floral print in the Ukrainian national colors of royal blue and yellow inspired this queen size version of the Moda Love pattern.  

I used 8.5-inch blocks to best fit the amount of fabric I had on hand.  Seriously, the math is so easy with this pattern that any size block can be used.  The yellow grunge and the floral were entirely used up, and the blues were mostly scraps. I won the bobbin race a few times too!   

Next step is to figure out what designs I want to use to quilt it.  I use my domestic sewing machine, so there may be a lot of straight lines and walking foot stitching.  We shall see. The pieces on this quilt seem huge to me!  The past few years my quilts have mostly been 2.5-inch triangles and Bonnie Hunter designs.  At that scale a simple stitch in the ditch, or diagonal through the block quilting pattern works well.  That's not going to work on this quilt, but there's no hurry.

Two wedding quilts for nieces with summer and fall weddings are next on my to-do list.  Those both have specific wedding dates to be finished.  Stay tuned!