To all the sweethearts out there, Valentine’s Day is coming in a couple of weeks and what better way to express your affection than with a lovely fabric Valentine that hold concealed pockets to tuck notes, flowers or chocolates into. This will be the project for my upcoming Art Journal Quilt classes at two locations – Pioneer Quilts and Montavilla Sewing Center in Gresham. The class will be at Pioneer Quilts on Friday February 2nd and at Montavilla Wednesday February 7th.
The mini-quilts are decorated with hearts cut from pretty fabrics – some are simply fused on but others are clandestine pockets that you can tuck little treasures into. Those of you who enjoy embellishing will find plenty of options to apply decorative braid, lace, beads, buttons, sequins and/or decorative embroidery or stitching. As this project goes together very quickly, there will be plenty of time to complete your Valentine before Valentine’s Day.
Now for a word on what we consider ‘romantic’ design and color. Growing up and participating in Valentine’s card exchanges at school, the cards were pretty much red, pink and white. Walk into the card section of a store as I did yesterday and you will see a vast ocean of those very same colors but what do YOU think of as romantic? You will see in my two photos that one of my quilts was created in a sort of Victorian style with salmon colored brocade, black velvet and floral prints with black lace and pearls while the other is a Renaissance Fantasy of a vibrant silk brocade, gold silk, exotic embroidered braid with beads and a little golden key (to someone’s heart). The beads on either side of the bottom beaded fringe are the result of one of my last last Journal Quilt classes I had at one shop where we made embellished fabric beads.
I do hope you will consider joining me at one of these two sessions to make your very own Valentine for a sweetheart or just for yourself, after all – you deserve a little love too. Contact the shops for more information or to enroll.
