Forever in My Heart

 I have plans to create a series of quilts called "Healing Hearts", all with a heart theme. My dream is to write up the patterns and have them published in a book. The quilts will be horizontal, rather than vertical (landscape orientation instead of portrait), so that the recipients can wrap themselves up in them. I want the larger ones to be big enough to qualify as a Quilt of Valour, and the smaller ones a good size for a child to wrap up in. I also want the patterns to be able to utilize pieces from clothing, so that they can be memory quilts for a deceased loved one. That's my dream, but very difficult to accomplish this when I still have to work for a living. However, I have numerous ideas, some on paper and some just in my head. And I have managed to make two of them. The first one was Healing Love. This is the second one, Forever in My Heart. 

The hearts could be made from clothing, the panel could be chosen to represent the interests of the person being honoured, and photos can be added to the larger hearts, if desired. 

This is the first time I've added photos to a quilt. I used Avery Printable Fabric and my Canon inkjet printer. The resolution and colour aren't bad, but not great. I have no idea how well the photos will wash. The fabric has an adhesive backing, which I did not need as I did an allover quilt design, then stitched the pictures down, then went back and couched the edges. Unfortunately, the adhesive left the pictures hard and stiff. And I found that when I tried to couch over the edges, it wasn't always catching the yarn. I'm not sure if that had anything to do with how stiff the pictures were, or more the quality of my yarn, or the size of the couching foot I used... So next time, I will try either making my own photo fabric or buying EQ Printables, which have no adhesive back. 

On both Healing Love and this quilt, I used a Minky backing. 

I just love how soft and comforting Minky is, and when you want a comforting, healing quilt to wrap up in, Minky is the way to go. Though it doesn't look great with the dense stitching required to couch the edge of a photo. 😆 The pantograph is Hearts in Bloom by Timeless Quilting, from Willow Leaf Studio. This panto stitches up quite quickly and the density is appropriate for quilting on Minky. 

The unfortunate thing about wanting to make a book of quilt patterns is that I would need to have the quilts for photography for the book. And I don't tend to keep a whole lot of my quilts...  When I make a quilt with a recipient in mind, I generally want to get it into the hands of the recipient as soon as possible, not keep it around until I finish several more so that I can write up the patterns and put them in a book. Until I retire, that could take years. So, in the meantime, I'll just enjoy making - and giving - quilts.