Playing with Liberty Flower Shower Spring by Riley Blake Designs

Happy Valentines Day Lovers – whether it was yesterday or today I hope you spent it in the best way possible.

To be honest we are not massive celebrators of holidays in this house – in fact we usually forget them, both being as equally terrible as each other at remembering dates. It has never bothered me much though to be honest – I would way rather he spontaneously vacuum the house for me than buy me flowers hahaha.

Still I have to admit that making this heart quilt got me way more into the spirit of the day than usual and finishing and photographing it on Valentine’s Day was perfect – clearly I ate all the shortbread when the shoot was over because romance.

Lets start with the fabric, my favourite starting point! When this gorgeous bundle of Liberty Flower Show Spring for Riley Blake Designs arrived I had so many plans for it. So many. I fell in love immediately with all the prints and colours. It has all the joy of Liberty of London but in a quilting weight cotton meaning it was so lovely to cut and piece for the quilt top. Usually I need to use starch when working with the lawn but it wasn’t necessary this time. I also used the white and white print from the Blossom Basics range – I love that it wasn’t just a plain background but had a simple detail that didn’t distract from the liberty details.

Now like I said I had lots of ideas of what I was going to use for my fat quarter bundle but when I saw that Maureen Cracknell and Sharon Holland were holding a loveheart quiltalong for Valentines Day all previous plans flew out the window! Does anyone else do that? I couldnt get it out of my head so shelved all other ideas and got to work on my heart blocks instead using the brilliant tutorial by Alison Harris from Cluck Cluck Sew.

Look how pretty those love hearts look. I used the rest of the fat quarters from the bundle to make that scrappy edging as well as yardage of that beautiful floral print. White binding was the perfect way to finish it off as well and keep it lovely and soft.

For the layout of the hearts I decided to follow my Blustery Day Quilt pattern for a more scattered look across the quilt top. I brought the block size down slightly so there wasnt so much white space and think it looks just lovely. I kept some hearts whole and others I mixed up prints for a bit of extra detail too. It was fun to play with no idea and work really organically, I don’t get to do that as much anymore.

It probably comes of little surprise that I opted for wavy quilting, it really has become my go to. If I had of had more time I think I would have changed things up but I was working to a tight deadline – giving myself only 3 days from start to finish. I washed and dried the quilt before taking photos to give it a lovely crinkly and vintage feel. Its already been stolen by the kids and is wrapped around Hannah on the couch as I type this!

Lets talk about my gorgeous Marley and Lockyer mug quickly. This was a gift from a friend of mine last year, she knew I had been coveting one for many many years. I wont lie, I cried. I am so appreciative not only of her thought and time to buy one for me (it isnt easy to purchase pieces) and love that I have a friend who gets my unending passion for handmade. I don’t use it daily because it is so precious but it lives right beside my sewing machine so I can stare lovingly at it when I am working.

Such a pretty scene – it is photos like this that makes me love my job so much. I think my photography improves each and every day as well.

It was such a pleasure to make this quilt and perfect timing too.  How lucky are we that so many beautiful fabrics exist with endless amount of projects to go with them.

Now before I forget too – my own quiltalong starts TOMORROW! I am so excited to create all things lemon squeezy with you guys. There is still time to sign up and a wee competition on my Instagram feed too.

And now my friends I am signing off to spend a lovely Saturday afternoon with the kids doing all sorts of nothing – I cant wait!

Sarah xx

Ps. one last pic before I go – you should know by now I can never resist 😉