Quilts to Warm the Heart

In the middle of February, it makes perfect sense to find a way to warm up. Any way. Warmer thoughts. Hot tea. Cocoa even if it spills in your lap. Pets who sit on you. Beach movies. Especially this winter.

But we forget about how strongly we respond to color.
So it's no surprise that there's a holiday that gives you the opportunity to make everything warmly, wonderfully red.
If Valentine's day hadn't been a tradition we would have had to invent it. Just to warm up. Imagine Valentine's day in July. You just can't. It's made for cold weather.

And it's made to lift us up in the dark of the winter. When we're young it's about candy and paper valentines. When we're older it's about matters of the heart. When we're a bit older than that it comes back around to candy, with or without the cards. But it's about two things, always. The promise of warmth in the middle of cold. The promise of the people we love, even in the coldest time of year.

Modern Heart Tutorial
http://blog.sewbittersweetdesigns.com/?p=1505

So get out your red fabric and make yourself warmer. Here's some modern quilts, for Valentine's Day.

Vanessa Christenson  I Heart You
http://quiltinspiration.blogspot.com/2013/01/vintage-and-modern-valentines-part-2.html

Love both of these half hearts. One appliqued, one pieced. Sometimes part images are much more striking than fully realized ones.

MICHELE BILYEU http://www.with-heart-and-hands.com/

There are a number of great pieced heart patterns. 

Pamela Lincoln, Mug Rug
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10122575@N04/5463371975/

And there are quilts that have a personal message, that's not clear, but is lovely anyway.

https://www.etsy.com/market/valentines_quilt

You can cut a heart.

Leah Day, The Free Motion Quilting Project.

Stitch hearts

Marian Howard Gallian,Pink Hippo Quilts, 

Applique them.

Or lose them. 

But no matter what, they remind you of the sweet warm things that seem to get forgotten in the snow.

http://stitchesfromthetub.blogspot.com/2013/02/studio-sunday-10-candy-kisses-quilt.html

Don't have enough red fabric? We have a sale going on right up through Valentine's Day. We can help you fill out your red stash, just to warm up.