Give your Heart away in August

This month my quilt guild will be making and giving their hearts—applique hearts, that is. The August block pattern for the Choo Choo Quilters Great Cuddle Quilt Quest is an Applique Heart with corner triangles.

Here are the directions:

Cut a 12.5" background square.
Cut four 4" smaller squares for corners. Draw on back or press a diagonal guideline on each small square.

For heart pattern:

Cut a 7" square from paper (or freezer paper). Fold paper in half. Draw half of a heart, making sure the drawn line touches the outside edges of the folded paper. Cut out heart. Unfold for pattern.

Use your favorite applique method to prepare fabric heart. Optically center the heart on the background square and applique it into place.

With right sides together, put four small squares on corners of background square (shown above on left). Sew on the diagonal guideline. Fold back on seam line to form corner triangles (right). Press. Trim excess fabric layers from back. Unfinished block size: 12.5"   (Finished size: 12")

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My Applique Notes: I drew my heart pattern on freezer paper and ironed it to the back of the heart fabric. The heart was cut out using a scant 1/4" seam allowance. I clipped the curves and turned under edges using the freezer paper as the pressing template.

Set the sewing machine for a straight stitch (2.0 stitch length). Top stitch very close to the turned edge. The smaller stitch length makes it easier to go around the curves. Stop with the needle down to pivot at the points.
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The guild will be collecting the heart blocks, grouping them into collections of 6 blocks, and assembling Cuddle Quilts similar to this. With a 2" sashing and 5" borders, the finished quilt top size is 36" x 50".

Fabric requirements:
1.5 yards backing
3/8 yard sashing

Cut sashing strips 2.5" wide
Cut border strips 5.5" wide
Cut two 2.5" squares for sashing intersections



Feel free to use this pattern and instructions to give some heart blocks away!