Affairs of the Heart

Here is the last of my current long-term projects.  I just can't seem to resist a challenge!  A group on the QB is working through the book "Affairs of the Heart" starting in June.  I plan to join them!

The quilt in the book is made from 7" blocks and features a black background with batik needle-turn appliqued floral/heart motifs.  I've decided that I want to make this a bed quilt for my daughter for when she graduates from a toddler to a twin bed, so I've made some modifications.  Ginger's "Baby Love" quilt will be a bit different than the pattern in the book.  I've blown up all of the blocks to a 12" size and I'll be using a white background because I think that is a little more appropriate for a little girl (and our white cat who would be sure to gravitate toward any dark quilt!). I'll be changing the layout a bit since the quilt in the book is square and I need a twin bed sized rectangle.  Also, instead of needle-turn, I'll be doing machine applique to make the quilt more sturdy and washable.  The blocks also feature embroidery - fun and different!

I haven't sewn the shapes down yet, I've just used fusible web to stick them to the background, but here is my first block, just to give an idea of my colors and what the blocks look like.  This is block #9 in the book.

AOTH Block #9 - fused but not sewn or embroidered.  It's hard to see, but you can almost see the outline of where the embroidery swirls will go.  I have it lightly sketched in.  The swirls on the background will be done in green.  There are also swirls on the pink hearts and I will do those in either a lighter pink or a purple.  Still thinking on that.

I bought a bunch of dark green embroidery floss to make leafy tendrils out of my embroidery.  I like that except where is lays on top of an appliqued shape.  I may end up using various colors and not just green.  In the book the quilt has only gold embroidery.  Nice on a black background, but I thought that I needed more/deeper color on the white.

I ordered a bunch of thread from ConnectingThreads.com (my fave!) and as soon as I get all those colors in, I will start satin stitching these shapes down.  I have done some practicing - but my practice block is a bit of a debacle and not worth showing.  I was trying lots of things and wasn't using the right color thread.  I hope to have this block done soon since the QB group is starting in June and we are moving in June.  I want to have a couple-block head start so that ultimately I am not behind!