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“LOVE” Letters Mini Quilt

tters Quilt at The Crafty Quilter

LOVE letters mini quilt at The Crafty Quilter

I “LOVE” Valentine’s Day and to celebrate, I made this little mini quilt to share with you. This little guy is 12″ square and it hangs nicely on the wall along with some other Valentine props:

"LOVE" letters mini quilt at The Crafty QuilterIt would also be perfect in a smaller scale, say 8″ square, for a mug rug.  Just substitute small ric-rac for the jumbo.  So let me show you how it’s done:

Supplies:

  • 2 Coordinating Fat quarters (or scraps) for letters, heart and block squares
  • 1/4 yard (or fat quarter) white fabric for border
  • Fat Quarter for Backing
  • 1/4 yard binding fabric
  • Fusible Web
  • 1 1/2 yards of jumbo ric-rac
  • Ribbon and dowel (optional)

Instructions:

Prepare applique:  For more detailed information about applique, please visit my Applique Series.

  1. From the two coordinating fabrics, cut out (2) 5 1/2″ squares of each.
  2. Print out the letters and heart template from the pdf file:  LOVE Letters pdf  Make sure that it prints out at the actual size; no scaling or shrinking to fit.  The letters have already been reversed for fusible applique.

3.  Trace onto the paper side of fusible web.  Cut out roughly around each shape.

Heart shape traced

4.  Also cut out the middle of the heart only leaving about 1/4″ around the inside – this will keep the shape a little more flexible (optional).  The letters aren’t big enough for this step.

Heart trimming inside

5.  Press onto the wrong side of fabric scraps.  Make sure the colors are such that they will be the reverse of each other when put into the “LOVE” four patch.

love heart fused to back

6.  Cut out shapes on lines (carefully).

Love heart cut on line

7.  Remove paper backing from shapes and fuse onto the right side of the 5 1/2″ squares.

8.  Machine stitch the edges of the applique shapes with a zig zag stitch or blanket stitch.  Use a stabilizer on the back if necessary.

applique heart button hole stitch copy

9.  Repeat the steps above for each letter and trim the four applique blocks down to 5″ square.

Love square trimmed

Assemble Block:

Sew the four applique squares from above into a four-patch.  Make sure the letters and heart spell out “LOVE”.  This unit should measure 9 1/2″ square.

Love letters four patch

Cut 2″ wide strips from white border fabric.  Sub-cut into (2) 2″ x 9 1/2″ strips and (2) 2″ x 12 1/2″ strips.

Stitch border strips onto four patch, creating a 12 1/2″ (unfinished) block.

Love with side borders

Layer with batting and backing fabric and quilt.  I stitched in the ditch along the main seam lines and stippled around the applique.  I added straight lines of quilting along the border.

love quilted untrimmed

love quilting detail

Trim excess batting and backing.

Love trimmed

Add jumbo ric-rac.  I will be doing a separate tutorial in the very near future on how to add the ric rac.  It deserves its own lesson, so that it’s easier for people to find.  Here’s a quick visual of the process:

ric rak steps at The Crafty Quilter

Add corner triangles to the back of the quilt for hanging.  I did this by cutting 2 1/2″ squares and folding them in half diagonally.

love corner triangle steps

  Pin to the back, top two corners of the quilt.  Baste in place.

love corner triangle close up

Add binding.  I used 2 1/2″ wide binding because of the added thickness from the ric rack.  (Usually I prefer 2 1/4″ wide binding.)

Love back side

Insert a wooden dowel into the corner triangles on the back and add ribbon for hanging if desired.

Love back with dowel and ribbon

Ta Dah!  One little quilt full of “LOVE”.  I’ll be adding this to the Across the Pond Sew Along for February.  Amy DeCesare from Amy Made That! came up with this month’s theme: hearts!

LOVE Letter mini quilt at The Crafty Quilter

Love Letters Mini Quilt at The Crafty Quilter

Love Letters Quilt at The Crafty Quilter

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Julie Siggy-1

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21 Comments

  1. At my quilt guild, we do a themed lotto block every month. For those who participate, her name is entered into a drawing. the winner gets to take the blocks home and make them into a quilt, wall hanging, etc. May I have your permission to share it with our members? Your block may be made between 2-10 times.

    1. Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally, it seems as though
      you relied on the video to make your point. You obviously know what youre talking about, why waste your
      intelligence on just posting videos to your weblog when you could be giving us
      something informative to read?

  2. I absolutely LOVE it!! Too cute! Thanks for the tutorial. We’ll be married 26 yrs. on Valentine’s Day, so I need to make this for next yr.

    Tanya

  3. What a delightful little quilt! Absolutely adorable–thank you so much for the inspiration, and the easy to follow tutorial 🙂 Happy Valentine’s Day!

  4. Oh, another gorgeous display of love!!! You are a fountain of hearts, Julie! I am the biggest fan of ricrac and the jumbo stuff is so perfect here! That gray version…steals my heart! Thanks for your contribution to the sew along!

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