Candy Hearts for Valentines Day

Happy Valentine's Day!  Do you do anything special to celebrate?

For the last few years, I've been making the first two weeks of February all about celebrating my incredible daughters, and letting them know how much I love them.  We call it "14 Days of Love!" Each morning of the month, until Valentine's Day, they wake up to a small surprise.  Sometimes its a gift or a treat, but often its a note from me, or a gift to complete and give to the other sister.  I don't ever spend a lot of money; its about the fun, the thought, the love and appreciation.  One year, I plastered their bedroom doors with cut out hearts on which I wrote things I loved about each of them.  The highlight this year was silly Valentines' Day jokes written on slips of paper and placed in their buckets.  The answers to the riddles were in the sister's bucket, so they had to work together to complete the jokes, then they read them all to Dad at dinner that evening.  It was goofy and fun and we all giggled.

This year, the "14th Day" featured a "big" surprise!  I made the girls a lap quilt!  Blankets get used in our house just about year round.  We have at least 5 throw size fleece blankets in our living room at all times - but nothing that I've made.  Time to change that!  I'm hoping that "Candy Hearts" will be the one they reach for when they need a snuggle.

When I got the idea to make them a quilt, I immediately reached for the Project Planning pages in my Quilter's Planner.  What a great spot to keep all my ideas and notes!

I had made a handful of heart blocks using the tutorial from CluckCluckSew for the #QuiltsforPulse drive last summer.  So, using that block again was an easy decision.

Once I decided on hearts, I just knew they'd need to be in the colors of Candy Conversation hearts.  I always love the way those hearts look in a fancy bowl.  Some pastel, some slightly more saturated colors, and all of them sugary sweet!  I went through my scrap bins and folded stscks and pulled any colors that fit the bill.  This is the first time I've worked with my fabrics since they've been organized.  Oh my what a joy it is!!

I decided that I wanted each heart to be bordered in the same low volume fabric used to make the corners of the heart block.  In most cases I was able to match, but there are a few extra scrappy blocks.

I cut all of the pieces for all of the blocks right away.  This made it really easy to sit down and sew a block or two whenever I had time.  I tried to do most of the sewing when the girls were out of the house or too busy to visit me in the sewing room.  I really wanted this to be a surprise! ( I did get busted by my younger daughter.  She is very observant and loves to pop in to say hi while I sew.)

Why does a pile of trimmings make me so happy?

It felt really good to make this whole quilt from stash!  Not only did this use up some scraps, I also used up LOTS of partial spools and half bobbins.  I got a little thrill each time I tossed an empty spool into the bucket!  It's really fun to use stuff up!   Is that weird?

For backing, I used up a large piece of soft pink fleece, and simply folded the excess around to the top, trimming the corners, and securing with a big zig zag.  It's a quick finish, and I think it will hold up well.

There are plenty of chopped points and wonky seams and not quite squared blocks in this little quilt.  It's not technically even a quilt, I guess, because it's backed with fleece and there's no batting.  It is very lightly quilted, and, because I didn't take time to baste well it's a bit bunchy in spots.  None of that matters.

Please excuse the early morning, bad lighting, bed head and glasses photo!

This was made with for my girls.  It's full of my pride in them, and stitched with all the joy I have in being their mom.  Its beautiful, just the way it is!

Linking up to all the fun at :
                    Sew Fresh Quilts,  Let's Bee Social,
                     the Valentine's Linky Parade at Quilt Fabrication