Curved piecing makes the best heart quilt block for Valentine’s Day

Have you finished the cute table runner for the holiday season I showed you in my posts this week? Piecing curves might take a little practice at the beginning, but it isn’t that hard, it’s all on how you place your fabrics under your needle.

If you haven’t had the time to try it out, I have another great project using curved piecing. It’s a variation that will help you make the best heart quilt top and you’ll have plenty of time to practice your curved piecing in time for Valentine’s Day.

Once again, my PFAFF creative icon made it easy for me to sew the block. Since this is my last blog posts of the year, I will summarize all the things that simply amazed me on this machine throughout the year when piecing:

• the ¼” foot with the IDT™ system and straight stitch needle plate
• huge workspace
• perfect lighting
• ease to change foot
• ease to change needle (using hole in the multipurpose tool)
• ease to refill bobbin either from the top of the machine or through the needle
• bobbins are designed to hold 30% more thread
• telescopic thread guide
• able to place large spools directly on the machine
• self-threading needle (has never let me down once this year)
• cut off thread button
• tie off thread button
• knee lift for presser foot (thought I would hate it, but couldn’t live without it now)
• big screen with video tutorials included
• download apps on your smartphone and tablets that let you see tutorials while away from your machine
• mySewnet™

All of these features are available in the PFAFF creative icon and performance icon. The difference between the two machines is that the creative icon also comes with the embroidery unit. I will touch base on those features tomorrow.

Let’s go back to the heart project. Here’s what you need to make the block:

• Omni Arc by Omnigrid
• 28mm rotary cutter
• Six (6) 5” square of printed fabric
• Six (6) 5” squares of solid fabric (pink)
• Two (2) 4” square of printed fabric
• Two (2) 4” square of solid fabric (pink)

Here are the simple steps to sew a curve:

1. Take the concave (inward curve) unit first to position carefully under your foot. Using the red lines on the ¼” foot, align your needle ½” inside the concave curve. Place the needle down so that the needle is also positioned at ¼” from the edge.
2. Take the convex (curved outward) unit and align the curve so that it sits perfectly in front of the needle, right sides facing together with the same ¼” seam allowance.
3. Start stitching while pulling (not too much) the concave unit so that it is straight and aligning the convex unit to the edge.
4. Your convex piece will end at about ½” from the edge of the concave unit.
5. Press the seams towards the concave unit. If it looks a little bit distorted, don’t sweat it, you will be able to fix that in the next step. If it’s too distorted, don’t pull as much on the concave unit when stitching.

This time, I’ll square up the blocks to a 4” square while ensuring that the seams are aligned at ¼” from the edge on both sides. You can rotate your ruler until it all fits! Than cut. I suggest starting with the concave unit first (see photo). Then rotate the block and cut the convex unit to have a 4” block.

You should have 8 blocks made.

Using the two 4” solid blocks and the two 4” printed blocks, position your blocks to form a heart shape. I sewed the blocks into two 6 units blocks, ensuring that the seams would not overlap to prevent bulking. Then I sewed them together for a final piece measuring 14½” x 11”. I played with some leftover fabrics to create a border on the top and bottom part of the block to make it a square.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my curved block variation. You have plenty of time to make several blocks for a bigger finish on Valentine’s Day. Come back tomorrow to see how I quilted this heart block using the wonderful PFAFF creative icon.