Hot Summer Hearts

A wonderful swap called "Hot Summer Hearts" yielded this dozen blocks. We tried to incorporate as many as possible of the wonderful colors that we find in the summer sunset.

Carol and Debbie's daughter Jill will be graduating high school this June and it's really important that I make a quilt for her to take to college.

You see, the baby quilt for Jill was the first quilt I ever made to give away to someone outside our household. Pink and green, it was also the first project I ever hand-quilted -- up until then the handful of quilts I'd made had all been tied. It seems impossible that so many years have passed since the night I sneaked into the hospital after visiting hours, emboldened by my chaplaincy badge, and held little Jill when she was just a day old. She's grown into a tall, artistic, athletic young woman who loves color. So I think these hearts will be fine for her.

Haven't decided exactly how to set them yet; am thinking of making either Log Cabins or full-size HSTs for the alternate blocks. I'll need to make one more heart block for the lay-out I'm envisioning. They were a lot of fun to make, and certainly are brightening up my wall these days while I ponder the options.

This is the third of the four blocks I'm helping Branky with. It's for Jan who sent the focus fabric and requested a nine-inch block of the maker's choice with WOW background and any color but orange for the contrast. When I made my block, I used a pink for the contrast; this time I dug into the batik box and found the precise shade of green that was needed.

I have one more Branky block to do; it is a blue and yellow basket for Karrin and I plan to get it made and in the mail before this week ends.