January 2018 Block of the Month

Hi Fellow Quilters!

Welcome to our very first (ever!) Block of the Month post!  I’ve had such fun creating these twelve little block designs to share with you, and I hope that you’ll enjoy making them as well.  Please stop by each month for a new design to download (for free!) and join the fun.  I’ve created a special “2018 BOM” group on our Face Book page, meant primarily for sharing pictures of the BOM blocks that everyone makes, and I hope that you’ll join us there too.  Click here to view and join our group!

January’s block was inspired by those little Valentine candy hearts with their sweet messages of love and friendship.  I remember selecting the perfect pieces of candy to enclose inside the requisite Valentine’s Day cards for everyone in my class  at school.  My best friend got “HEY YOU” and “CALL ME”, while my current crush would receive “TOO CUTE” and “BE MINE”.  The boy who teased me without mercy got “NO WAY”, of course.

This month’s “Conversation Hearts” block pattern features four sweet little foundation paper-pieced hearts with cute embroidered messages.  The 7″ by 7″ square block is simple, with just two colors and seven pieces for each little heart, so they should go together easily for you.  Wouldn’t these little blocks look fabulous for a Valentine’s Day table topper or runner?  I hope that you’ll fall in love with them too!  You should have plenty of time to stitch up a block (or  a few) just in time for Valentine’s Day.

When choosing your fabric, make sure that you have lots of contrast between the hearts and the background pieces to make the hearts “pop”.  I had this scrap of cute black fabric, printed with multi-colored hearts, in my “private textile collection” and I couldn’t resist using it for my block.  The hearts are made with bright pastel colored “blenders”, which help the black embroidered letters to stand out.  I stitched my letters by hand, using two strands of black embroidery floss.

The pattern is available to purchase in Ms P’s Pattern Shop!

Here’s the fun miniature quilt that I made, featuring the Conversation Hearts block:

I used my finished heart block to make a miniature quilt, which I intend to display on the 12″ square quilt stand that sits on a table next to my favorite chair.  I added woven ribbon borders, pieced from a bright pink print and a bit more of the black heart print, to frame my heart block.  I quilted around the hearts, the edges of the block, and in the border, and then finished it off with solid black binding.  I love how it turned out!

You can purchase the Conversation Hearts Miniature quilt pattern from Ms P’s Pattern Shop!

Thanks for visiting our blog today!  I hope that you’ll enjoy making your own little conversation hearts block.  We’d love to see your completed projects.  If you’d like to share a picture or see the pictures from other quilters, please join our Facebook group,  2018 BOM  and post your quilt photo.

Happy quilting,

Sharon