Oiyi asked us to make a heart block for her daughter, Melody. I started to sketch out some ideas right away, but had a hard time with this one. Because this block was really for Melody, I took more time wanting it to be something that really made me happy. Oiyi, I hope it makes you happy too.
After many failed attempts at pieced hearts and "a piece of my heart" designs (the latter kept looking like broken hearts), a friend from my quilting group suggested a heart with a swoop. That lead to an applique design. With that idea in place, I made a patchwork background that had a 70's feel to it. Those fabrics made me think of my childhood just like some others in our group. I had visions of Little House on the Prairie episodes and Holly Hobbie in my mind as I worked on it.
Applique also let me use the embroidery I had envisioned from the beginning - a red running stitch on the larger heart making reference to a Chinese saying that there's an invisible red thread that connects those who are destined to meet. That saying is very popular with families who have children born in China as I do. The smaller heart was meant to be the daughter heart to the larger mother's heart done in applique. I love how the tails of the hearts nestle into one another.
Proof that I worked back and forth on this one. And I've not even shown you the sad "broken heart" sketches that wound up in the trash.
6 comments:
I love the thought that you put into designing this block. It is so sweet. And the block is beautiful.
This is such a sweet and nice block! And letting us know your creative process is very interesting. Thanks for sharing.
very cute--i love the swoopy hearts!
Awwwww...the Swoopy Hearts are beautiful. A very unique block. Perfect! Thank you so much for putting so much thought into this.
I don't think I have been to your blog before, I love your style. See me at patchesquiltworks.blogspot.com
wow what a neat block...hmmm...I think it is a great block for valentine's day coming up :o)
~simply~
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