Bless your heart quilt back

I decided to go ahead and make words for the back of the flimsy I posted on Friday. The words were a lot of fun to make, but it easier to make them more uniform than it was to make them wonky! I have even worked out a quilting pattern that I can do on my DSM, using my very limited abilities at machine quilting. Next week is spring break for my kids, so after that I will see about basting this and actually quilting it!

Bless Your Heart Friday Flimsy

Today's flimsy is one I call 'Bless Your Heart'. In the South, bless your heart can be used to express gratitude, or to get you off the hook when talking bad about someone, as in, "that girl is such a mess, bless her heart!" My dear MIL from Queens, NY, loved this expression! In her book, Scrap Patchwork & Quilting, Marti Michell recommends cutting 1 1/2' strips from all your fabrics before you start cutting for your current project, and save these strips for log cabin quilts. I did this for many years, until my ziplock storage bag was overflowing! When I wanted to learn to paper-piece, I searched the web for small heart patterns, and made those up when I felt like doing something small. Eventually, I combined the two, using the paper-pieced hearts for the center of the log cabin blocks. I added a piano keys border with larger hearts in each corner. Maybe I'll free piece some letters (a la Tonya at Lazy Gal Quilting) that say bless your heart and use them as part of the backing...hmmmm.

Friday Flimsy

I am going to try and post a picture of one of my flimsys on every Friday. It will be good to see them all, I keep them stored in 2-gallon ziploc bags with binding and backing(if I have the fabric for them already picked out). Today I am showing you 'There is a Bear in the Woods'. My inspiration for this quilt was a post dated Oct. 20, 2009 that Bonnie Hunter did on her blog that dealt with adding elements to an older UFO to suit her taste now. I had made 30 of these Bear Paw blocks many years ago and was never happy with them. I had tried to get rid of them several times, but always pulled them out of the donate pile at the last minute. I also inherited my Mom's UFOs when she passed away. After seeing Bonnie's blog, I rethought these blocks, pulled these green strips my Mom had cut to make a tree quilt, set the blocks on point, and ended up with this flimsy. I really like it, and now I am able to donate the remaining blocks without any regrets! My Mom would be happy that I used one of her UFOs! Check back next Friday to see another flimsy.