Saturday, January 28, 2017

Tumbling Hearts quilt tutorial

In my last post I showed you my recent finish, my Tumbling Hearts wall hanging.  

If you'd like to make your own Tumbling Hearts wall hanging, here is the info you will need.
I started with 2  one yard cuts of Sending My Love by Marie Cole for Henry Glass Fabrics and some White solid.  I did not figure out the total yardage as I was designing this on the go and wasn't sure how many blocks I wanted to make.  You could also use scraps to make your blocks if you'd like.
I cut 2 1/2" strips from each print and then cut 2 1/2" squares.  You will need 3 for each block.  If you duplicate my quilt, you will need a total of 24 in each of your 2 fabrics.
You will also need 4 1/2" x 2 1/2" blocks, 1 for each block you are making, or to duplicate my quilt, 8 in each of your 2 print fabrics.
These were my cut pieces for my Red blocks.
With the White solid fabric for each block, cut (1) 4 1/2" x 2 1/2" block, (3) 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" blocks and (2) 6 1/2"' x 2 1/2" blocks.  For my quilt I used a total of (48) 2 1/2" squares, (16) 4 1/2" blocks and (32) 6 1/2" blocks.
Layout each blocks as shown below.  Then you just sew together the pieces into rows and the rows into a completed block, matching up seams where needed.
While making my blocks I had someone that wanted a little bit of attention and some tummy rubs.  Who was I to deny him that? :)
I pressed all seams toward the print fabric.
This was the perfect little project to work on during some recent snow storms.
These blocks are great for chain piecing and before long all 8 of each color are completed.  Your blocks should be 8 1/2" unfinished.
Here is where my original vision went awry.  The intent was to have the print corners of each block meet up with the corner of the adjacent block but when I laid them all out this was the result.
While not a bad layout at all, it wasn't what I was going for and the fact that the blocks are tilted hearts totally got lost.  

I decided that I needed to separate the blocks in some fashion.  I pulled out the Brown print that I also had of this fabric line that I wasn't intending to use and tried a few settings using horizontal sashing.  These were cut at 2" wide to finish at 1 1/2".  Here is Version 1 that was rejected.
Version 2 was also quickly rejected.
Version 3 wasn't bad but didn't really speak to me.
Version 4 was getting a little closer to something I'd be happy with but I wasn't there yet.
Version 5 also was a possibility but I still wasn't loving it.
Then came Version 6.  No choir of angels were singing to tell me this was "the one".
Any of these layouts would have looked great for the finished quilt but for me, I was searching for a certainly vibe and I just wasn't feeling it with any of these previous versions. I gave up for the night and went to bed to wait for fresh inspiration on another day.

When I was able to get back into my studio, it was as if the light bulb went off when I realized that I didn't need to have the sashing strips going horizontal.  Why not try it vertically? I know that the print is a directional fabric and I already had the strips cut but that really didn't bother me at all since the blocks themselves are off kilter.

Once I set the sashing vertically I knew this was the right choice.  From there all it took was sewing the blocks into the rows, adding the sashing rows and sewing all the rows together to have a finished quilt top. For my sashing I used 5 strips 2" x 32 1/2" long and 2 strips 2" x 40" long.
It was quickly loaded on my frame and I set to work to add some pretty texture and design.
The binding I used was the Red heart print and that took a total of (4) 2 1/2" strips.
I think this quilt would look adorable in all sorts of color ways, even rainbow with each heart a different color.  I'd love to see your versions of my Tumbling Hearts quilt so please send me an email with pictures of your creations.


3 of you added your own colorful comments:

HeatherK @ A Reformed Heath'n said...

Love it! The vertical rows add that little something. Way to trust yourself!

Jeanna said...

Such a pretty wall hanging. Thank you for the tutorial!

Connie Kresin Campbell said...

Beautiful quilt Michele, and it is always fun to see all the different variations that can be made......we could make all kinds of different quilts!