Thursday, January 17, 2013

Valentine's Mini

Well, it has only been about a year in the making but it's done.
And it is quite satisfying to cross something of the FAL list the same week. 

Love mini
 I'm not positive, but I think it was my oldest WIP. I have never really been one of those people who leaves projects unfinished for long periods of time so having this taking up space in my cabinet for a year was just too long. The only thing it needed was some quilting and binding. 

I can remember being at a complete loss as to how to quilt it since at the time I wasn't brave enough for FMQ and I really didn't want straight lines going through everything. I had started hand quilting around the hearts but wasn't loving it so I set it aside, unsure of what to do and frankly, not really liking the thing anyway. 
Love Mini, detail

Once I retrieved it from my sad little WIP box, I decided to just FMQ in the white areas using pretty much the only pattern I can even sort-of pull off, random little loops. The quilting was fun and was done really quickly. I even had some matching binding left over from one of the baby quilts I just finished, so my total time finishing this sucker was probably less than two hours. 

Love Mini, backing
I really like this DS print that I used for the backing, binding, and hanging thingies. It is one of those prints that has been sitting around for a while in my stash but when I finally started using it, I've put it in everything. Do you ever find yourself doing that? 

I was telling Kelli the other night that I didn't really like this little quilt. And while it isn't really my style, I think it is growing on me just a little. I might even make an effort to decorate for Valentine's Day this year!

**The patterns that I used to piece the hearts were from here, but it looks like there is a problem with the site or it has been taken down. A quick Google search will yield several other free paper-pieced heart patterns if you are looking for some. I used Kelly's free paper-pieced letters that can be found here.**

***linking up with Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish It Up Friday and AmyLouWho for Sew and Tell***

16 comments:

  1. It is so cute! And your fmq is awesome! Love that print too! I have a bunch of it... Should use it!

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  2. I think it's really sweet, Toni! Makes me think I need a VDay mini!

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  3. Very cute and will be fun decoration....and I love those DS dots too - ALL DS dots!

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  4. So cute Toni, and the quilting looks great! :)

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  5. Great finish Toni! Your quilting is adorable. LOVE it! Ok, sorry, corny joke. ;)

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  6. It's adorable Toni - and your FMQ is perfect. A great mini!

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  7. I love this!!! it's getting me in a Valentines mood!

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  8. I think it is wonderful, I hope you hang it up, it so nice and bright. Your quilting is great too. Wonderful finish!

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  9. Random little loops is the only fmq pattern I can pull off, too! :D I think your mini is fabulous. :)

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  10. Yay, glad you finally got it off your WIP list and that it's growing on you, it looks like a great wee mini for the upcoming V day!

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  11. Awesome! Very cute, I need to try a word quilt. So pretty!

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  12. Your FMQ worked perfectly with this little quilt. I really like that each of the hearts is pieced differently. Congratulations on finishing this sweet quilt.

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  13. Beautiful job Toni! The FMQ looks really good!

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  14. This is really really cute! I bought a bunch of valentine's fabric a couple of years back, convinced I wanted to make something and I've never done it. Maybe this will be the year!!

    Thanks for coming to the party! :)

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  15. Looks really good Toni! Your FMQ is fine! We don't put such a big effort into Valentines Day in Australia, definitely don't decorate our houses for it, so I won't be making a quilt for it, but I do love pink red and white. At least yours is only a small sad box of unfinished projects. Mines a large sad box! I've come to terms with the fact I love piecing quilt tops, but not so much quilting them. I do send really big ones to long arm machine quilters, but lap siz and smaller tend to collect in my container. I have finished two of them this January though. Whilst we've been on school holidays. Yay me! My 6yo Joe is so happy I finished his quilt. He's my quiet one, so for him to ask was pulling on my heart strings.

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