jennifer, Author at Hopeful Homemaker

Scrappy Heart Quilt – Free Pattern and Tutorial

February 12, 2014 jennifer Quilting and Sewing, Valentines Day

Welcome to the tutorial for my Scrappy Heart Quilt . This quilt was enjoyable, simple, fast and fun to make. It is pre-cut friendly, using just 2.5″ squares and 2.5″ strips of fabric. Since there is no sashing or borders, it comes together quickly and easily. I hope you’ll enjoy the process as much as I did.

(Edited to add: the pattern is now available as a free PDF, available for download at the end of this post.)

The quilt is made up of these scrappy heart blocks, so begin by raiding your fabric and pulling everything you can find in your color scheme. I chose variety in pattern and color, as it added to the pixelated look of my blocks and gave them dimension. Matching fabrics wasn’t a concern for me. I did choose to avoid most of my fabrics with a lot of white in them so the blocks would have good contrast with my white background. Let’s talk fabric and cutting requirements:

Fabric Requirements

Fabric requirements for the hearts (red, pink, purple, orange):

Each pixelated heart block requires 42 – 2.5″ squares . If you want to make a quilt the same size I did, you will need enough squares to make twelve blocks, or 504 squares PLUS another 7 squares to complete the layout with a staggered row of hearts down the center of the quilt, making a total of 511 . Most 2.5 inch x width of fabric strips will allow you to cut 16 – 2.5 inch squares. This means you will need at least 32 strips of fabric cut into 2.5 inch squares . I cut more than this, knowing I would have leftover squares for another project, because I wanted more variety in my fabrics.

Fabric requirements for background fabric:
If you want to make a quilt like mine, the photo above indicates how many of each piece to cut. You will need 2 yards of background fabric . For an entire quilt, cut:
14 – 18.5″ strips 24 – 8.5″ strips 36 – 6.5″ strips 48 – 4.5″ strips 62 – 2.5″ squares To make just one block, you will need 2-3 strips of 2.5 inch wide x width of fabric strips.

For one block, cut:
2 – 18.5″ strips2 – 8.5″ strips 3 – 6.5″ strips 4 – 4.5″ strips 5 – 2.5″ squares

Block Layout and Piecing:

To make each block, begin by laying out your squares. I found it easiest to lay out the 3rd & 4th rows first (9 squares across) and used those rows as a reference point for placing the squares on the rows above and below. After arranging the squares as you like them, lay out the background pieces. See the photo below if you’re not sure where to place each piece.

Sew each row together, making eight rows total. At this point I ironed my rows with each row’s seams facing alternating directions. Doing this allowed me to nest all the seams in each row with precision.

Sew the rows together, and as the last step in a completed block, add an 18.5″ strip across the bottom of the block beneath the point of the heart . Adding that strip to the bottom of the heart brings the block to an 18.5″ square and also eliminates the need for any sashing between the blocks.

To make an entire quilt, make eleven of these blocks.
*Note: typically I like to iron my quilt blocks at this point, but I chose not to iron the horizontal seams of the blocks at this point. Waiting will make sense when putting the quilt together.

Quilt Layout:

The final piecing for the quilt top will prepare the center column you see below, with the 12th heart cut in half.

After making 11 heart blocks, the final heart is made in two halves. In actuality, it is made with an extra row, which is why we added 7 additional 2.5″ squares to the beginning number, as well as 2 additional 2.5″ background squares. For the top half of the heart, piece the top 5 rows of a block together.

The 5th row also makes an appearance in the bottom half of the heart. Piece the bottom 5 rows of a block together to make this half of a heart.

Now it’s time to lay the blocks out! Arrange them in three columns, with four hearts on the outside columns and three hearts in the middle. At the top of the middle row, place the bottom half of a heart. At the bottom of the middle column, place the top half of a heart.
You will notice when you do this, that the middle column is one strip longer than the outside columns. Take the top left and top right blocks of these outer columns and sew your last two 18.5″ strips to the top of them, as you see below.

Having done this, sew the columns into strips. *At this point, I ironed the blocks, ironing each strip in the outer columns down, then ironing each strip in the middle column facing up. Doing this allowed me to nest every row together as I sewed the columns together, making the seams precise.

Carefully sew the three columns together. With those final two seams, you have a finished quilt top, measuring approximately 53″ x 74″.

There you have it! A simple scrappy heart quilt top. Approximately 3.5 yards of fabric will make a quilt back, cut in half and sewn together along the selvages. I’m working on quilting mine now and hope to share it soon. If you have questions please leave a comment and I’ll do what I can to answer them. Thanks for visiting!

*edited to add: We decided to make this tutorial available in PDF format for easy access and printing.

Click here to download it for free!
Relevant posts:

Scrappy Heart Quilt Top Heart Mini Quilt Scrappy Pixelated Heart finished quilt + heart quilting Scrappy Pixelated Heart mini quilt Jennifer

24 comments quilting, tutorials, valentine

Scrappy Heart Quilt Top

February 12, 2014 jennifer Quilting and Sewing, Valentines Day

Like everyone else, I have projects to finish and a long list of quilts I want to make, but when my little girls requested a heart quilt I cheerfully began sketching. I typically don’t do much around the house for Valentine’s Day, but after having Christmas quilts to snuggle under during the holiday season I understand their request for a Valentine quilt. I enjoyed making my mini heart quilt last year, and wanted to take a scrappy approach once again but decided to go for the pixelated look instead of taking the time to make half square triangles.

I sketched out a block that would finish at 18 inches square and decided on a layout that requires no sashing between blocks. Honestly, I think that’s my favorite thing about this quilt – the offset center strip of hearts that gives movement to it and prevents the white background from being overwhelming.

I cut strips of red, pink, purple and a bit of coral/orange fabrics for this quilt as I wanted each block to have lots to look at. The range in colors also enhances the pixelated look of the quilt. My littles are already enjoying picking out small details as they wait anxiously for me to finish this project!

The quilt top measures 53″ wide by 72″ long, a great size for two little sisters to snuggle under together. A backing has been selected and I’m hoping for time to baste it later today. Piecing this quilt top was relaxing and fun and I’m so glad I did it. We’ll see if I can finish it by Friday!

*edited to add: I was asked to share a tutorial for this quilt top.

Find it here.
Jennifer P.S. I’m linking up for the first time in many months! Feels good…

14 comments quilting, valentine

Hello again!

February 9, 2014 jennifer Musings on Life and Beauty

It’s been so long since I posted that I hardly know what to write. I never intended to allow my blogging to taper off so much in 2013, and then halt altogether for nearly three months. Life just floods the hours, then the days and suddenly the months are gone and I’m left wondering at it all. My mind and heart have traveled so many directions it’s difficult to choose just one to capture, and then capturing so many escapes me altogether and I’m left, empty handed but strangely full at the same time.

I never really reported on my goals for 2013, which has nagged at me, but now we’re so far into 2014 that I wonder how much value there would be in going back to dissect. The start of this new year has been such a whirlwind that I’m not really sure I’ve even got a handle on it yet, let alone a capstone for the year that’s gone. Tonight none of it matters. My heart is shouting, “WRITE!!!”

I wasn’t a great mother today. Every time I got a child on task and turned my attention to another one, everyone else scattered. There are days it feels like the only thing they work at is escaping my notice while they quietly do whatever they feel like doing INSTEAD of the chore/assignment they’re avoiding. Today was certainly one of those days and I didn’t rise to the occasion like I should have. By mid-afternoon I felt up to my eyeballs in everything that isn’t what I wish it was within our home and family, leaving me frustrated and discouraged.

Then I walked past a mirror in our home and was reminded of something I read recently about how a baby, when placed before a mirror, reaches for its reflection in joy and fascination at the life it reveals. When was the last time I looked at myself with joy and amazement at the life that is in me? I made myself pause and look into my own eyes until I could really see myself in them, until I saw enough good that I smiled back at my reflection. In spite of the ups and downs of motherhood and life, I have found myself lately in an ongoing experience of revelation, understanding and learning. I’ll be sitting in a chair, or driving, and suddenly I’m filled with warmth as new (to me) ideas and understanding literally fill my mind. I’m hungry, so very hungry, for the word of God, wanting to devour it all right now and yet feasting abundantly on a single sentence is equally enjoyable. With it has come enhanced and distinct understanding of who I am, not just here, but before I came here – one experience bringing so much clarity and understanding that I still can’t get over it. I am finally learning that although I am flawed in countless ways, God did not make a mistake when he made me. He knows me, understands what makes me tick, and loves me. It’s a miracle and I’m amazed by it.

Alongside and woven with this golden thread of learning is the laboratory of life – life with a lot of children, in a busy household with clutter, fingerprints on every wall, dirty socks hidden in stranger places than I can predict and more meals to prepare than I have interest in cooking. I often feel irritated with myself at the gap between my conceptual understanding of principles and my inability to actually put them into action in our family. Too often I “get it” but struggle to really “live it.” It’s occurred to me lately that perhaps never before has so much been expected of a generation of parents in so short a time as there is now. Technology and media have completely changed the game in raising teenagers and in all our bumbling around trying to find the right balance we also make a lot of mistakes. Tonight I’m grateful that my bumbling efforts also allow me to bump up against the reality and power of Christ’s Atonement. I need it more every day, not less, and the need generates a lovely, prayerful dialogue in my days.

So I guess I’m back. Back because I want my attention span to be longer than the fraction of a second it takes me to scroll past an instagram picture (fun as it is!), because I miss this layer in my life, because if I don’t do this I’m afraid I’ll turn around a few years from now unable to remember anything specific because it’s been such a blur. Back because life is good and because it is hard and because I’m so blessed and because I struggle. Because motherhood matters. So does hope. And family. (And because I can’t get enough of quilting.)

Hello again!
Jennifer

4 comments abundance, life, parenting

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