Whole-Hearted

Good morning, my friends. There was another pretty sunrise this morning. 

And it was a good day for sewing yesterday. The weather is a smidge cooler, and Mike went out for a couple of bike rides. I spread out on every available surface with the hope I could finish the Vintage Valentine quilt top. So, let's just see how that went.

You might remember I was planning to redo the top row of the heart. I wasn't happy with the background fabrics at the edge of the heart. It messed up the shape of the heart.

So I took out the two pieced blocks and set them aside. My plan was to use them elsewhere. So, I first needed to make another pinwheel and a broken dishes block.

When I had them sewn into the top row, they looked like this. I like that better.

Okay, continuing on, I needed blocks for the second row. As I made the blocks, I counted up how many I would need in other rows, and made them all at once. That was the plan, at least. I miscounted in a couple of places. The second row had a rail fence block. I needed two for the quilt. All of these blocks finish up at 2-3/4 inches.

Also I made two 4-patches. Only one was needed for the second row. I switched to my wool pressing mat for this, but I’m still having trouble getting them to lie flat. Next trip, I’m bringing my clapper. 

Also...a bow tie block.

This one is called a Yule Log.

And this one is called Homeward Bound.

When I had all the blocks I needed for the second row, I sewed them together,

And then sewed them to the top portion of the heart.

For the third row, I needed an hour glass block. (I didn't get my points matched up very well, but I left it as it was.)

And then, I needed two 9-patches.

Also, I needed one of these...this is called a Lincoln Log. (Sorry for the blur.)

This one also used one of the rail fence blocks I made earlier. When it was sewn to the top of the heart, it looked like this.

Next, I needed a friendship star. (The friendship star is one of my favorite quilt blocks.)

Here I used the pinwheel and the broken dishes blocks I'd made earlier. When they were all sewn together, it looked like this:

Next, I needed another Yule Log...

And another 9-patch.

By then, I was on the home stretch.

I just needed to sew the final blocks to the bottom of the heart, and it was finished.

It still needed borders. The pattern claims this will finish at 13-1/2 x 16 inches. Mine ends up at 16-1/2 x 18-1/2 inches. I'm not sure what accounts for such a large discrepancy, and I suspect that’s a typo. 

I could not have completed this quilt top without the assistance of my excellent sewing cat.

So that was a good day of sewing. I'm always happy when I can finish a top. The weather has turned a little bit cloudy. We've intentionally put off our indoor to-do items for the cooling weather. Today, we're going to head to the Bellagio Hotel & Casino. They have a Bellagio Conservatory & Botanical Garden that is free and open to the public 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Seems like a good way to spend the day.

We have just three more days here in Boulder City (including today), and so we'll be winding things up here. Our next stop will be just a couple of hours north of where we are now, in Pahrump, Nevada. There's nothing special about Pahrump, except that we like the RV park there. We'll be there for another two weeks.

Okay, and that's all the news I have for you today. I'm hoping I'll have some pretty botanical images for you tomorrow.