Surrounded By Love « modafabrics

Hello again from Robin at Craft Sisters. It’s great to be back sharing a quick and easy project. This one could be fun for your February table or wall. And… adorable tucked around your littlest Valentines in the car or the stroller. I’ve made two so far in two different Moda lines but both in luscious pinks and reds. One from Sandy Gervais’, Table for Two and the other using Deb Strain’s, Surrounded By Love. The idea for this was to make a big, modern, Log Cabin-ish looking block. One Moda Candy or Charm Pack makes the heart and two half-yard pieces are used for the backgrounds.

1 Moda Candy or Charm Pack – Table For Two – heart
½ yd. Diamond 1775611 – Table For Two – background 1
½ yd. Rose 1775513 – Table For Two – background 2
⅜ yd. Rose 1775613 – Table For Two – binding
1 yd. Backing fabric
1 yd. Low loft batting

Layout the heart
Place the 42 – 2.5″ squares from the Moda Candy or Charm Pack on a design wall or floor.

If you are using a Charm Pack, cut 42, 2.5″ squares (obviously more color choice with charm pack).

Audition color placement of squares until you get the color arrangement that you like. It’s fun to play with it. I ended up using darker squares to outline the heart so it would stand out in the photograph. Make the heart more subtle and pixelated looking, by mixing up the colors more.

Cut background squares, strips and complete quilt layout

Cut the squares and strips from background fabrics 1 and 2 as shown on the quilt layout map (it’s at the end of this post).

Following quilt layout map, add background squares and strips to design wall around the heart. It always looks completely wrong to me when laid out like this, but feels great when it all comes together after sewing.

Sew squares and strips to form horizontal rows
Use a ¼” seam allowance throughout this project. It really helps in matching up squares if you sew a consistent seam width, ¼” or scant…

Press seams in opposite direction. This avoids bulk and makes it easy to nest seams when sewing everything together.

Sew the rows together
Start sewing the rows together in the order you like, top to bottom, from center out, bottom to top. Whatever makes sense to you.

Press seams in one direction.

Make a quilt sandwich
Layer backing, batting and quilt top. Baste using pins, spray, or use fusible batting. Quilt simply or more dense, whichever you prefer. This is a good one to try your free motion quilting on because of the size.

One small but Big Hearted quilt for February or anytime. Mine finished at approx. 28.5″ x 29.5″. Hope you try this one and have fun doing it. And please stop by my blog over the weekend. www.craftsisters.com/robins-blog.html There’s a giveaway for some Table for Two background fabrics to use in this project. – Robin