It’s hearts and love season with Valentines Day around the corner. One quilty way I celebrate is with the “Cupid Box” from Fat Quarter Shop. This box contains a mystery of notions, fabrics, and a project that ships out the last week of January. I love the anticipation and looking forward to it each year!

Between waiting on Cupid Box, and the Island Batik Ambassador box, I had a little window of time to pick up something that was just for fun. The Fat Quarter Shop released “Made with Love” a FREE pattern, to their blog. This was the perfect little Valentine sewing fix!

This project is 17 1/2 inches by 32 1/2 inches. It came together over a weekend, even with the over the top quilting I picked!

I worked through Helen Godden’s Flower Power Quilt Along series on Youtube by taking the background designs and practicing them on this quilt. It was surprising how some designs looked simple, but weren’t my favorite as they stitched out, then other designs that seemed complicated ended up making beautiful textures that felt impressive.

Here is the project list:

• All the fabrics I used were from Island Batik’s Foundations, which is a permanently available collection of fabrics.
  • Background – Cream
  • Lettering – Magenta
  • Hearts – Camelia
  • Border – Java
  • Backing – Candy
  • Binding – Black
• Thread
  • Piecing – Aurifil Mako NE 50 in 2026
  • Quilting – Hab and Dash Glide in White
  • Quilting Bobbin – Magna Glide Delight in White
• Machines
  • Baby Lock Crescendo
  • Handi Quilter Capri for quilting

And one more wonderful note on this project is that I’m finally in a good place with my sit-down longarm machine, the Handi Quilter Capri. It’s been a rough two years to be honest. after fine tuning things over time, I’ve found my machine love Fil-Tec Magna Glide Delights in the bobbin case. This is a pre-wound bobbin with a magnetic core that holds it to the case.

The Capri also operates best on low tension in both the bobbin and top thread. My stitches looked fun, but both thread were so tight that it would cause a pull on the needle, which messes up lots of other things. I’m so pleased to be in this place with this machine, and looking forward to more elaborate small project quilting!