You've Stolen My Heart

Or 24 different ways to do hearts. This small quilt is actually about the size of a dolly quilt 20x28". I wanted to work through this book As I worked, I kept thinking of variations on a theme. Some of the ways I liked and some I abhorred.

If you read the label in the second picture you will notice little happy, so-so or frowny faces. These reflect which techniques I like. The hearts are numbered left to right 1-20 and then the upper left corner is 21, upper right corner is 22, lower left is 23 and lower right is 24.

I hand quilted this with white quilting thread and it killed my hand. I don't know if it was because I didn't use a hoop or frame or if it is because my hands won't hand quilt anymore. I had used this style of 'binding' before and like it so I dug around the lace stash and found this bit of eyelet that worked perfectly.

This label is put on the back. When I printed this I made a conscious decision to use the last remaining sheet of a June Taylor non-colorfast Inkjet printer fabric, knowing that I was not going to wash this. But I forgot about when I spritzed the blue marking off the front. :( The water went all the way through at one point and now the last line is blurry. Still readable. Kind of.

So what kind of appliqué do I really, really like?
• For handwork: cut away needleturn. That is where the applique piece is cut quite a bit larger, then basted down, then as you needleturn you cut-away the excess for only about 1 inch. I found this was so very stable for hand appliqué.
• For machine work: the technique that Ricky Tims and Sharon Schamber both use. Here's a link for the Ricky's stabilizer and here's a link for Sharon's stabilizer. These are simply a polyester-type stabilizer inside the appliqué that stays there and is not removed. It provides a very flat appliqué during stitching and after washing the stabilizer softens up so much you don't even know it is there.

So there you have it, the stolen heart experiment.