For My Valentine

I didn’t make my husband a Valentine’s card this year.  Instead I made him this little card-sized Valentine’s quilt.  (He has learned to roll with my creative obsessions!)

The quilt measures roughly 8 inches (20cm) square.  I’ll say more about piecing together these tiny squares when I show you the second block I’ve created for Deborah’s Quilts of Hope.  But I’m very pleased with how this has turned out, and I wanted to show you a few of the details.

My starting point was to place four red squares slightly off-centre in a block otherwise made up of whites, creams and pale pinks, and then to use stitch to create a heart shape by masking / converting some of the red to white and some of the white to shades of red.

I added interest by embroidering tiny squares (running stitch), to which I added buttons (two vintage mother of pearl; one bright red heart).  Later, at the quilting stage, I quilted around these squares to add dimension.

I then pencilled the word ‘Valentine’ on to the fabric and quilted it using mid-pink quilting thread.  This didn’t show as well as I had hoped so I added a red embroidery thread in and out of the quilted stitches.

I love stitching calligraphy.  The quilt has a little patch bearing the words ‘with love’ in the lower right hand corner, as well as a more complete dedication label on the back.

And how was it received…?  Well, when I gave it to my husband this morning his first words were ‘Oh God, is it today?’!!!

But he is not so completely without romance as this might suggest.  He did have a card and a little box of Swiss chocolates ready and tucked away in a drawer for me.  And he asked me to attach tapes to the back of the quilt so he can hang it from the wall above his desk.

Happy Valentine’s Day!