The Open Heart quilt block is the next addition I am making to my Heartfelt Charity Quilt. I bought this pattern long before this event occurred because I love the potential this block holds. For an idea of the potential just keep scrolling to find out.
When my quilt kit came in the mail I immediately checked the pattern for the size of the blocks we were making. I was just thrilled to find that these quilt blocks were as I suspected 12” finished.
If you love this pattern and its potential as much as I do. You can find the pattern by going onto Lella Boutiques’s website by clicking the button below.
Tips and Tricks
The pattern suggests that you press all the seams open. I did a combination for just the top arches and the bottom point of the heart. I pressed the rest of the block open. I will say doing this did make the seam near the top of the heart very bulky. Which I didn’t mind but may concern you.
The cutting and sewing directions are spot on so no need for adaptations to any of these areas.
Bonus Blocks
With this block, you will have bonus HSTs if you sew a half-inch away from your sew line on the lower part of the heart block. If you choose to do so, you will have 2 – 3 1/2” HSTs per block. Since I made 5 blocks I have 10 HSTs.
Final Touches
The inside of this heart block pattern can be used for so many things. I chose to embroider the first name of each member of our family. Fun!
Now if you have no OCD tendencies my suggestion would be to embroider the name on the upper left or upper right side of the heart blocks. Instead of the very center like mine.
This will help you avoid having to work hard to push your embroidery needle through 2 or more layers of fabric.
I don’t know about you but I don’t have nice handwriting. If you do have nice handwriting you can just write directly on your quilt block with a water-soluble pen.
However, if you are like me this is what you should do. I grabbed the Hometown Christmas pattern by Sweetwater and used the lettering guide to trace out the letters onto my quilt block.
If you don’t have the same pattern that is fine. Go to your computer choose a simple font you like and type the name of each member of the family in a simple document and hit print. Be sure you like the size of the letters you are printing. You’re ready to trace.
To do this you will either need a light box or a window on a sunny day. Tape your lettering on the window or light box and have your quilt block lay over top of the window and trace with a water-soluble pen.
Pull out your floss you are ready to embroider. I chose to do a simpler backstitch to fill in the name for each of the quilt blocks. If you know more about embroidery than me though you could do some really fancy stitches to make them pop even more.
Donation
If you haven’t already please consider making a donation to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. These patterns are available because Fat Quarter Shop has made them available for free to help raise money for this organization. Click the link below to make a donation directly to Make-A-Wish.
DonateIf you were making this quilt block what would you fill in the center of the heart with? Elaborate embroider? Appliqué? I would love to know. If you found this fun and helpful please share it with a friend.
