Love All Around – Quilt Block – Valentine’s Day Quilting

It’s the day of love! And what better way to commemorate it
than quilting up a little token of love and appreciation?!

I’m not one for going all out on Valentine’s Day. For me, it’s
all about the small gestures that I cherish the most. And that’s exactly how I
show my love too! A special dinner and homemade dessert are usually my go-to
for showering some love on my significant other.

With all the challenges people are facing on a daily basis –
no matter how big or small – we can sometimes forget there is still a lot of
love in this world. And, to me, that’s what the day of love if all about –
reaching out and reminding everyone that we care, we see them and we love them.

So, when I stumbled across Lee of May Chappell’s Love All Around Block and heard the story behind why she designed it, I was completely smitten and
eager to participate.

Essentially, she was tired of all the negativity she was
seeing in the world at large and wanted to design a
quilt block that would stem entirely from love and kindness. And she encouraged
us to take a moment to show that love and kindness to others. All sentiments
and actions I can get on-board with!!

And so, I have!

So far, this is the first Love All Around quilt block that I’ve
made.

I dug through my fabric scraps and uncovered a small remnant
of this Blossom print by Amy Butler.
(Side note – I was pretty sure it was Amy Butler, but totally had to Google
that as I didn’t have any selvage to reference!) I picked it up as part of a
scrap bag I made up back in 2011 at Emeline & Annabelle (a local sewing studio
and shop that has since sadly closed down). 

The central hourglass block calls
for two 6” squares and I could barely eek out 5 ¼” from my fabric scrap. But I
had my heart set on using this fabric and wasn’t ready to let it go. So, I
decided to take a chance and make my hourglass block using two 5 ¼” squares. It
worked out perfectly! I still had just enough room to trim it down to the
required 4 ½”!! (Note – I didn’t use the hourglass technique Lee shares in her tutorial.) Sometimes things just work out as they are supposed to 😉

I paired that with some beige linen that has a very faint
chevron print in it (and feels divine, I might add!) and some Kona Cotton in Woodrose
#1393 and Turquoise #1376.

Once I had her all sewn together, I was at a loss as to what
to do with her. Should I leave her as is and send it off to a quilty friend? Or
save her and create a larger quilted project? In the end, I decided to show her
some extra love and attention with some big stitch hand quilting. Oh, yes, I
did!

I initially planned on using contrasting thread in the
various parts of the block, but was concerned that would distract from the
block design. So, I went for complimentary colours in all sections except for
the outer rim of the central block. I thought this gave the final look a little
punch while also highlighting the central design. Apart from the Ecru thread
which is DMC Pearl Cotton #8, I used Aurifil 12wt in the colours Turquoise #2810,
Fuchsia #4020, and Lemon #2115.

The backing is Kona Cotton in Iron #408. I just love how the
hand quilting design pops on the back J

Not sure if I’m just taking saving fabric scraps to a whole
other extreme, but I keep all my extra binding bits. They’re all neatly rolled
up and stored in a little planter for ease of access – both to toss in and grab
😉 When I’m working on a small project, I check this little spot to see if
anything would work. And low and behold I had a little of this light blue
binding in Kona Cotton Robin Egg #1514 that I thought paired perfectly! Plus,
it kept the block from feeling too matchy-matchy.

I still don’t have a clue who I will gift it to. But I did
make a small error with the binding, which ended up puckering L I’m tempted to throw
it up on my wall of mini-quilts to remind myself of (1) the importance to
prioritise spreading love and kindness and (2) that small mistakes are all part
of the process and don’t equate a failure (i.e. show myself a little love too!).

Small gestures truly do have the greatest impact and can
really brighten someone’s day. If we all took a moment to do a simple act of
kindness – hold the door open, smile at a stranger, tell a co-worker you
appreciate their hard work – we would all live in a brighter world. Take the
time and spread the love – it’s one of the few things that are truly free and
infinite.

I hope you will join me and participate (tutorial available
here) in this great initiative of spreading a little love and kindness.

Happy Valentine’s Day my friends!

xo

Shannon

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