A Closer Look–The Amazing Technicolor Heart Quilt

It’s time to take a closer look at the quilt that I came up with for the first challenge of the Project QUILTING Season.

Even before I saw the challenge Diane had come up with for week 1 I had had this idea of a strippy scrappy heart quilt.  Once I saw the challenge I knew this would be my perfect opportunity to give it a try.  My original thought was to piece it the traditional strippy way (no raw edges).  After sleeping, and dreaming, on it I decide to give the raw edge applique a try.

The photo above show’s the steps in the process. First I drew out approximately where I wanted each color value of the quilt to be on the foundation piece of fabric.  This kept me from over-doing or under-doing a particular color.  I just laid strips down and sewed all raw edge sides down.

This quilt is very textural and will get even more textural with time and the fraying of the edges.  Once I had the ‘base’ of colors I added rays of pointing red strips of fabric that emit from the heart to blend the fabrics together more.  I also zigzag stitched down red satin cording and sparkly red ribbon to add even more texture and interest to the piece.  It’s hard to see the satin cording in the picture but if you feel the quilt it really adds a cool textural interest.  I would also add little bits of this cording to the ends of some strips that weren’t completely sewn down yet.  Once I felt the blending was complete I quilted a concentric circular pattern starting from the upper left of the hear throughout the quilt.  I’ve been seeing a lot of other quilter’s using this style and I just love it.  It was a bit (okay, a lot) harder and more time consuming than I thought it would be but I’m happy with how it turned out.  I binded the quit with a fun variegated brown stripe fabric.

For the proper ‘finish’ I glued mirrors, red cabochon’s and sequin’s to the top.  These add that final pop and ‘movement’ to the quilt that when you see it in person makes you want to look at every detail!  They may have been the perfect cover for a few puckers that may have occurred during the process as well…just sayin’.

It’s hard to see the mirrors, sequins and cabochon’s in the picture but it really is eye catching when the light hits the quilt through out the day as it hangs out on my living room wall.

***Linking up to ‘Finish It Friday’***

The quilt keeps photo bombing pictures I take of my daughter’s too…