TGIFF! - Heart Strings

This quilt is two years in the making. I first shared the my design process for this top in September 2015. I wanted to do a vertical version of October Sky, but in reds.

Just as I was starting the hand stitching, my mom got very sick. She spent almost two weeks in the hospital and I brought this project along to help pass the time and manage the fear and sadness.

After her stay and all the emotion from that time, I just couldn't work on this project for a while. She's had multiple hospital visits since and each time, I've brought this project along. It's been quite therapeutic.

I finally finished this in the fall. I'm so glad this one is done. It feels like closure on that time.

With all the emotions stitched into this project, the design and the colours, Heart Strings seemed an appropriate name. To me, this is not a happy quilt and I've been reluctant to share it. Given the events of the last few days in the States and in Quebec City last night, I feel like my heart is breaking again so I thought it's time to share the quilt.

Some photos of the details.

I really love the texture of the hand stitch and machine quilting combination. I used 6 shades of red DMC floss and Aurifil thread for the red section and 2 shades of grey DMC and Aurifil thread for the grey background. 

Final size: 30" by 19"

I'll be linking up with TGIFF! later this week.

Hopeful things will get better. Take care! XO

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!