Okay – so in my quest to create a wall hanging for each season (we have wall space but not much else), as well as making an effort to use some of the scraps and the fat quarters I’ve picked up over the course of time, I decided to throw together a Valentine’s Day project and share it with you!
Holy run on, Batman!
Anyway – this is not going to be an in depth tutorial as I wanted it to be an easy to project to put your own spin on – hopefully you will take it and run with it! This wall hanging finishes at 32” by 32” and is very scrap and/or stash friendly.
A brief overview: The hanging is made up from 16, 8” finished blocks. 8 are foundation pieced and the other 8 are half square triangles, or HSTs.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
Foundation Piecing
I will say this now – I love foundation piecing. I love the fact that you can create all manner of different designs, achieve very precise points, and generally do some things that you have a much harder time doing otherwise. That said, I have encountered many people who don’t care for it at all. If you are unfamiliar with it, I recommend a tutorial on YouTube from Connecting Threads. There are lots of tutorials – if you don’t like this one just look for another. I like the up front mistake she made and showed everyone, since anyone who has paper pieced knows – we all make mistakes. Read on for mine!
For materials – you will need to print out the paper piecing templates, either on special foundation piecing paper or regular printing paper.
I have used regular printing paper.
It does work, though it isn’t really the best option…
I used it for this.
Did I mention a quick project with things I had?
Some specifics about this pattern. There are two separate downloads available for each heart – the actual foundation pattern for Heart 1 and Heart 2 as well as simply a copy of the block itself for Heart 1 and Heart 2. I wound up using the copy of the block itself, vs the pattern. The pattern prints out on two sheets of paper which must then be taped together.
I didn’t like that.
It works.
But I didn’t like it.
I played around with the copy of the block and was pleased to discover it had a built in 1/4” seam allowance on the sides (check your printer settings to make sure that it is set at .25” margin) and the block is just the right size. I did have to write the numbers for the pieces on those but it worked out just fine. I also needed to be careful about adding the seam allowance on the top and bottom.
This is me adding a seam allowance to the bottom of the block
When foundation piecing, do NOT… I repeat do NOT… cut on the solid lines.
Been there… I have had to redo blocks.
Anyway… I used the copy of the block (the second time anyway) and here is how I labelled them.
I have now added to this add a quarter ruler to my list of things to get. Since I do like to foundation piece I think I will invest in one. As it stands right now I generally do not bother trimming unless it’s a dark color behind a light one – or unless it is a piece large enough to use elsewhere in the block.
I would also suggest checking your tension – often. I have discovered that my tension needs to be adjusted differently for paper piecing. Of course I learned this lesson the hard way. I had finished piecing my Storm at Sea quilt and afterwards discovered my tension was off. Stippling it was for that quilt… Oops. I also shortened the stitch length to make tearing it off easier.
Okay – back to the project! For my 8 heart blocks, I did 4 each of two different designs. This is really entirely up to you – if you like one better than the other then feel free to use what you like!
Yardage info – you will need 1/2 yard total for the pinks for 4 blocks (so 1 yard total for all 8 if you use just one version). You need 1/2 yard for the background of these blocks.
For you scrap lovers – A 2.5” strip will work to cover the stripes in the heart and with the exception of the more plain heart, I didn’t use a piece larger than about 5.5” square.
I’m going to operate under the assumption that you either have experience in paper piecing or have watched and learned via YouTube and move on for the sake of the length of this post.
Half Square Triangle Blocks
If you have been quilting for any length of time you have probably already become well versed in the HST. If you haven’t yet ventured, are a newer quilter and not sure you know the best options for your fabric situation at the moment, or just want to peruse – check out my post on Methods for HSTs.
For this project I used the strip tube ruler, because I was dealing with some strips and some fat quarters. I will admit – though I started out with the best of intentions in shopping my scraps and stash first, I did discover I don’t have a lot of pink.
Oops.
So I picked up some fat quarters to go along with the few partial 2.5” strips I had. I also decided to cut the pink with a bit of grey – so from the yardage I cut 2.5″ strips.
You will need a total of 128, 2.5” half square triangles.
For the math: if you are using yardage – you will need ½ yard each of a dark and light color. I was able to get roughly 10 HSTs from a set of strips roughly 20” long using the strip method. Yes – I meant to say 20″ as I opted to mix it up with fat quarters, so I cut strips from those.
I started with 8 fat quarters – 4 light, 4 dark – and was able to get 7, 2.5” strips from each FQ. If you are mathing along with me (yes, I know that’s not a word) you know that you will have extra if you use all of that.
I do.
Lots of extra pink.
For another project.
Next Valentine’s Day….
Anyway – the blocks are a 4 x 4 HST and I intended all the dark sides to be up and pointing the same direction.
It didn’t happen.
Oh well. Once was a mistake – twice is a design element.
Point is – decide what you want to do and have at it – use any formation of HSTs that makes you happy and just have fun with it!
Wall Hanging Construction
Okay – assuming you’re still with me, assemble your HST blocks and your heart blocks for assembly. Rows 1 and 3 will be HST-Heart-HST-Heart and rows 2 and 4 will be Heart-HST-Heart-HST.
Not super complicated. Please note that as a general rule, I leave the paper on my paper pieced blocks until they are joined with their neighbor. I don’t know that it is necessary so much as it makes me more comfortable as it seems to keep everything where it’s supposed to be.
Once you have put your blocks into rows, put your rows together and press. There aren’t any borders on this because, well, reasons….
Sandwich and quilt as desired – then grab your binding. I attached hangers to mine as I put the binding on (this finishing business is sort of new to me and I don’t think I have ever thought to add the hangers on before I finish the binding – I was please with myself.) using some scraps from the backing fabric. In my case, because it’s for us and it’s a wall hanging, I just backed it in muslin. I folded a square into a triangle, pinned it to the back before I stitched my binding strips to the front and called it good. I did pin it well prior to sewing to try and keep the corners in the seam – it appears to have work out okay.
Yay for finishing something!
Recap
To recap – the required yardage is:
Hearts – 1 yard for 8 heart blocks, ½ yard each design
Background for the Heart blocks – ½ yard
HST blocks – ½ yard total light color; ½ yard total dark color
Scrappers – go forth and be adventurous – you need a total of 128, 2.5″ HSTs
Binding – ¼ yard
Backing – 1 yard
Batting approx. 36 x 36
Let me know if you whip this up for Valentine’s Day – and I would love to see pictures!
Let’s get quilting!
Amanda
