heart speech bubble quilt block

You’re probably familiar with the pinkalicious quilt I made for my sister in law a few months back. The heart in a speech bubble I designed for that quilt was begging to be made into a mini of its own, and I’m excited to announce that it’s ready for release!

I named this pattern Hello, Love! , which I, well… love! The mini quilt finishes at 20″x20″ and would also be perfect for a pillow or as part of a larger quilt. The pattern is my first publicly available traditionally pieced pattern (that’s right–it’s not paper pieced! *gasp*) and is fat quarter friendly. There are clear instructions for cutting and piecing, including diagrams and tips. The pattern also includes diagrams showing how to make two half square triangles (HST) at a time.

This pattern is a great way to showcase your favorite fabrics, or show your love for anyone or anything. The heart is a great place to applique anything under the sun, be it the name of your bestie, your kiddos, your fur babies, or a picture of a unicorn, camera, or kale (don’t we all love kale?). Note that applique details are not included in the pattern.

Hello, Love! is available in my Craftsy store (and Payhip for those of you in the EU) and will be on sale for only $5 for the first week, after which it return to its normal price of $8.

hello love tester versions — Just a peek at some of the testers’ Hello Love minis! Makers left to right: Christopher @the_tattooed_quilter, Lisa @duhquilts, and Michelle @frustratedquilter.

Many thanks to my testers, who provided helpful feedback and spotted my late night typos. You may have seen a few of these minis around the Instagram world already, and can see more by checking out the tag #hellolovequilt. When you make your version, please tag #hellolovequilt and @nightquilter so that I can see!

I’m linking up my flimsy and pattern finish with Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday. I bought a new sewing machine, so I’m waiting until it arrives before I quilt this mini, but I just couldn’t wait to share the pattern! Enjoy, and I can’t wait to see what you create.

I went easy on myself this month for A Lovely Year of Finishes (ALYoF) and set my April goal at finishing the quilt top for my sister-in-law’s baby shower yesterday. I made a totally pinkalicious Hazel Hedgehog quilt featuring a giant sized hazel and a fun heart speech bubble I created just for this project. Did I meet my goal? Yes!

hazel hedgehog flimsy finish — Hazel Hedgehog “Hello, Love” baby quilt flimsy finish.

Even with the heart speech bubble addition, I was able to finish the flimsy (quilt top) before the baby shower. Since I finished this flimsy in the midst of a rare “full mommy sew day” when my mother-in-law took the kids for a play day, I decided to forge ahead and start basting and quilting little (giant) Hazel.

After a particularly late night and early morning quilting/binding session, I managed to quilt the entire background and speech bubble, AND make and attach the binding. Normally, I would complete all of the quilting before binding, but since I really wanted a presentable quilt for my sister-in-law Stephanie’s baby shower, and since the unquilted portion is completely enclosed in quilted background, I decided to get a little cheeky and bind the quilt before completely quilting.

quilt wrapped nicely — The purple bag with pink tissue and ribbon on the left contains the quilt.

With the quilt bound, I was able to roll it, wrap it nicely in tissue paper and a ribbon-bound bag, and gift the quilt with no worries of fray.

gorgeous spring baby shower gifts — Spring baby shower gift table decor–so alive!

My sister-in-law LOVED it, so mission accomplished! Even with a few basting pins still in Hazel and the heart, which will be quilted as soon as the color matched Aurifil thread arrives, it was fun to get to give this gift. Just think: hidden behind this quilt are two big baby bumps–cousins destined to be rolling around on top of this fun quilt (Stephanie is due a couple weeks after I am).

I will share more detail photos of the quilting and finishing in a later finish post once the quilt is completely finished (this will help keep the fire lit under my bum so that I actually finish it before baby time!) But for now, here’s a closer look at the speech bubble heart I’m calling “Hello, Love”. I’m planning on writing up a pattern for this block, since it’s such a perfect block to add to any of Elizabeth Hartman’s giant creatures, and I could definitely go for a speech bubble heart pillow!