HeartStrings Quilt Project

I love the bold center strings on this one.

Photos from Stephanie of her recent finishes. A Sharon inspired HeartStrings quilt …

And a view of the back. She says she likes to make her backs kid oriented because most are donated to a kids shelter.

Another Sharon inspired quilt.

A crumb quilt from donated blocks.

And the back! It’s fun to see what’s on the back isn’t it?

We’re having a problem uploading photos of quilts for donation on Yahoo so we’ll share some of them here. Not all of them will be string quilts as we tend to make and donate other quilts in addition to our HeartStrings quilts and not all our members are able to take and share photos of the quilts they finish and donate but we’d like to share the ones we can.

My most recent 3 finishes for donation include this HeartStrings quilt and two others.

This blog will no longer be updated as of January 2016.

The HeartStrings Quilt Project has made and donated thousands of quilts over the last 9 years and we will continue to make and donate quilts but on a smaller scale.

Please feel free to look around the website here for inspiration for your own quilting. We also have online albums you can access via the link on the right sidebar.

Our Yahoo group will continue as a place to share what we’re working and inspire each other. We’ll continue to make and donate quilts but in a smaller, less structured way. Please join us there if you’re interested in being a part of our group.

HeartStrings Quilt Project – Yahoo Group

On Saturday, Oct 3rd a group of 13 quilters met for the day in Roberts, WI. Kathy reported that Sue Frank brought tops/backs and block sets sent in by group members and that the group worked on more HeartStrings blocks during the sew-in. Kathy and Rhonda split up the tops needing quilting and will finish and donate them in the Roberts area.

She shared a few photos including this little one finished by Sue that will be donated to the Holiday Angels.  Doesn’t it make a cute doll quilt?

And although our focus is string quilts, we do donate quilts from other patterns too – AnnG brought these two tops from Bonnie Hunter patterns to be finished and donated.

Lynn shared two tops she just finished inspired by the string quilts other HeartStrings members are making.  

You can find instructions for the half square string blocks on my website

It’s always fun to see Sharon’s planned HeartStrings quilts and she’s inspired us again to repeat our Sharon Quilt Challenge this year with the two quilts she worked on at the Maine Sew In.  I could tell I was going to love this first one just seeing the blocks as she was piecing them. 

  
She was going for a ‘guy’ quilt and I think she nailed it.  

 

Her second one was a winner too! That’s Jackie holding it up after binding it. 

 

If you’d like to play along with us, here are the guidelines:

EDIT: please review the guidelines to see how we make our blocks first and then adapt them as noted below. 

• Choose 8 fabrics – I yard each ( not all of each fabric will be used)
•  All strips are cut 2 inches (fabrics 1-7)
• For the corner triangles (fabric 8), use the same fabric on both sides of the block and they are cut from 4.5 inch squares (cut the squares first and then cut them on the diagonal).
• This is a planned quilt with all the strips in the same place for each block.

The deadline for the challenge is Midnight, December 31 but you only need to have the top finished. 

NOTE: Nann made one last year and was a little more precise in her fabric measurements — we just estimated a yard of each knowing there would be some leftovers but I’m including Nann’s measurements here in case you have some fabrics you’d like to use but have less than a yard of them. 

*It turns out that you don’t need one-yard pieces of all eight fabrics. Label the center 1, the strips flanking it 2 and 3, then 4 and 5, then 6 and 7, and the corners 8. #1, #2, #3 — 16 strips (32″). #4 and #5 — 12 strips (24″). #6 & #7 — 11 strips (22″), #8 — 4 strips (8″). That is handy to know if I try another Sharon quilt. 

Jackie started with a back that she liked (pieced by Tish and sent along with others for the sew-in), pulled some matching strings, made some blocks …

….added a border and this little top is ready for tying.  We’ll roll that backing around to the front for binding and just think how cute this one will be. 

It’s time again for our annual Maine sew in hosted by Bev in Yarmouth. It officially begins tomorrow and we’ll be here all week. 

Ready to tie – look at this huge roll of batting Bev has set up for me.  

 

Brenda and Jackie opened boxes from Tish with backings and from Kathleen with two tops and a set of blocks! We appreciate both their contributions and will put them to good use. 

  
Stay tuned for more updates!

Every now and then we like to play around with different combinations and colors and our project for July and August uses light colored centers. If you’re sending in blocks for group quilts, use the block guidelines (Link on the right sidebar) and substitute a white center strip like Joyce did.  

 

If you’re making the full set, 24 blocks for a child or 48 for an older child or adult, you can choose any light colored center you’d like. You can send in the full set of blocks, send in a completed top, or complete the quilt yourself and donate it locally. 

Nann chose solids for her top.  

 

Stephanie chose powder blue centers for hers.  

I chose to make my gray center strip a little narrower ( I cut it 1.5 inches rather than two inches) and paired the gray with brights.  

What combination will you choose?