Getting my Valentine's butt in gear!

I am not known for decorating my house on holidays except for the big two....Halloween and Christmas.  So, a few days ago I was talking to the lovely Danni from Silo Hill Farm and she told me to get my ever loving tuckus in gear and make something using datgum red, white and pink...it sort of sounded like that...at least it did in my mind.  See, here's the thing, I made a reference to Coal Miner's Daughter in this post and Danni is the only one who caught it...or at least made comment on it.  So, she then recommended me to read a book called...

...I just realized you can hardly read the title on the book up there.  It's called Prayers for Sale, by Sandra Dallas and it's about a woman who has lived in the high mountains of Colorado in a mining community for her entire adult life.  It's early 1900's now and she's an old woman and her daughter wants her to leave her home in the mountains and move in with her. So, she's tidying up her affairs and helping a young wife who has just moved there with her husband, acclimate to mountain life.  It's all about quilting and women passing on wisdom...and so far I am loving it.  Last night The Mister asked me what I was reading and I told him it was about quilting and mining and....he said... No, no...it's too late to talk about quilting and mining.

You see, he used a technique of my own when he wants to talk math and science.  I have a rule that I can only discuss such matters after 8 am and prior to 9 pm.  Apparently he has the same threshold for quilting/mining talk that I do about math/science talk.

Alright, back to matters at hand.  Because of Danni...and all that up there, I have started making a Valentine's wall-hanging.  Now, if you want to see some seriously cute Valentine's decorations, check out her blog that I linked to above.  She's got some talent!!!

I am using a strip technique where you map out your pattern and then sew in downward strips and then sew all the strips together.  Hopefully...when all is said and done, this will be a heart.

The three strips on the right have been sewing together.  I just match up seams and sew.  The two on the left are waiting to be stitched.  It's a bit of an experiment so I'll just see how it turns out.  I am using all half square triangles to fill in the middle bit and I am pointing all the triangles along the outer edge the same directions with a dark color.  Hopefully this ends up looking liking a heart and not something freakish.  We'll see, won't we.

My homemade pattern.  See, anybody can design a quilt.  This particular type of quilt is nothing new.  Just google "heart quilt" and you'll see a dozen similar quilts.  The strip method I am using makes what looks like a daunting task, much simpler.  As I complete a strip, I just draw a line through it and move on to the next.  I count how many white squares on top and bottom I need and how many half square triangles I need in the middle and sew them together in.

Once I had my pattern figured out, I grabbed a pile of red and pink fabric and then set about cutting them into squares.

Of course there's a bit of trial and error when it comes to getting things just right.  See, if you want a square that's 2.25" X 2.25" but you want to make it with a half square triangle...there's a bit of geometry involved and tragically I was a failure at geometry.  So, I had to re-cut all my squares to get everything just right.

One of my favorite things about this quilt is...I'm using old sheets to make up the bulk of it.  The fabric above was an old sheet and I am using it in all my half square triangles.  One half of the square is this and the other half is pink or red.  It is so soft and pretty.

The white fabric on the outside of the heart is also an old sheet.  The Mister thinks I'm a bit of a hoarder because I keep old sheets to use later...but see, I'm not a hoarder because I am actually using them.  Hurray for not being a hoarder!

Well, I'll keep you updated on the progress.

Thanks for reading!

Heather