"Love you too!"

Welcome to my blog, Mrs Moen, and thanks for stopping by. I am a Norwegian quilter, -designer, -book author and –teacher, and you can read about me in the sidebar, or by clicking the About me tab on the top of this page. There are also tabs for my tutorials and patterns.

I have been working at taking digital pictures of some of my old quilts, and was looking through my files in search of the perfect quilt for the Red and White Quilt show at SewCalGal. This phase of the show is for quilts made before 2014, so as I started quilting back in 1998, my old quilts would certainly fit into that category.

I am a big fan of SewCalGal’s site; she is sharing lots of valuable information, and it’s always fun to participate in quilt shows hosted by her. This year there will be three Red and White Quilt shows, which you can read more about here.

“Love you too” (2003)

Early in December that year, I decided to make quilts for my daughter and my husband for Christmas. It was a crazy idea indeed, working on hers when she was out, working on his when he was out, and lots of wrapping things up and putting them away in a hurry. I kept each project in a paper bag so that they would be easy to take out and put away again, but I came close to blowing the surprises on more than one occasion. In case you wonder – I did finish both quilts in time, and neither one of them had any idea of the other one’s quilt.

My daughter had wished for a red and white quilt with big hearts. The quilt is very simple, but well loved. I had to reattach the side of one of the hearts last winter as the appliqué seam started to come loose, but after a little stitching and a spin in the washer and dryer, it was ready to go back home.

The reds go from orange to dark pinks,

the white fabric is flannel

and the hearts are appliquéd with straight stitching without any fusible added (hence the need for reattachment). As they are quite large, they would turn out too much on the stiff side for my taste.

It has a fleece backing, and is quilted “in the ditch” (please do notice the “-s as being in a hurry does not necessary improve my ditch aiming skills). It is also tied in the middle of each red square, and free motion stitched along the edges of the hearts.

The fleece backing had a life of its own as it shrank like 30cm (12”) during prewashing and had to be improv pieced late one night when all that I had on hand was a piece of white fleece. This is why I always recommend purchasing extra fleece and prewashing it. You can see my tips about using fleece here.

The label is a white heart, stitched onto the back before quilting. It also has an Oioi bird which is a private joke.

 

The quilt measures approx 140cm*210cm, and was too big to hang on the fence without touching the sidewalk. What I should have done was to hang it horizontally. Oh well, live and learn, that is what freezing temperatures will do to your brain.

I have been thinking of making a pattern for the quilt as it would be a great beginner’s project, or for anyone really, I just need to borrow the quilt to trace the heart shape first..

That was my red and white “Love you too!” quilt; to see the rest of the show, click HERE.

Will you be participating in the Red and White Quilt show; you still have time to enter, the linky will be open until Friday 9th?