Heart Strings - A Work in Progress

I started this project back in the winter, just before or around the time my mom first got sick. I haven't shared anything about it yet so I thought I'd share a little about my process in designing this quilt. I actually took many more pictures along the way, but I summarized the major shifts in the process below.

My intent with this piece was to do something like October Sky, but with reds on the vertical. I'm also thinking about mounting this one on a canvas, but we'll have to see if that will work when it's done.

I worked on the layout back in March-ish. Given everything going on with my mom's health in the Spring, working on this quilt this actually became somewhat therapeutic, hence the name.

There it is on the vertical (please ignore the triangles showing through on the design wall, they are not part of the piece). Hmm...not quite what I had pictured. I found the big dark red strips on the edges were too thick.

One side fixed. Sort of. I'm not liking the portrait layout.

What if I cut it in half and made it a landscape composition? Yes, I like that more (I folded it over to test it out before cutting it).

Right side strip is now a little better, but not quite there yet.

More value changes were needed in the red.

Right side fixed. Also started inserting different greys to get more depth.

I'm liking the subtle shifts in the greys. It still needs a lot of work, but the top is almost there.

Happy quilting!