In case you thought I might have put this quilt away until next Valentine’s Day, I thought I’d share some progress.

This quilt has been here, there, and everywhere, in planning. Because I didn’t have an end game. I designed a block–not a quilt. It went from a block, to a lap size quilt, to maybe a twin size, and now it is almost queen sized. When I usually design a quilt, I have some some kind of a plan. There might be some tweaks. But it ends up close to my original design.

Not with this one. I started with the Heart Strips block and it grew from there. Lots of trying out different layouts. Making more blocks. Throwing them out, adding them back, trying out more. So many decisions.

At some point I decided that I wanted it to be queen sized so I could use it in our basement guest bedroom. The room is dark. I wanted to brighten it up. And this is a HAPPY and BRIGHT quilt. But how to get it from tiny to huge?

I considered putting 9-patch scrappy blocks between each heart strip block. I love 9-patch blocks. But thought maybe that would be too busy–a little too scrappy? Then I played around with 2” finished strips between each block. Each corner would have a solid or “low volume” two inch square.

Then I realized it would still not be large enough for a queen size bed. So I made ANOTHER column. (Will it ever end? I gotta say that I am really burnt out on making the heart strip blocks!)

When the quilt was 8 rows by 6 columns and divided with 2″ strips, it was the max size for my design wall in my Creative Cave.

It really brightened up the room, but it was time to move to a bigger space for the next addition.

Fifty-six blocks and it’s now upstairs in the guest bedroom. And the bottom row still has to lay on the floor!

There’s a Murphy bed there and I regularly hang my quilts on the frame to take pics. This is one of my favorite rooms in the house. (Shoot, every room in this house is one of my favorites!) I’ve turned it into not only a guest bedroom, but my music room and yoga room.

The guest room has a sweet little sun room attached.

Athena and I like to come up here in the evening, enjoy the view, and read. (Okay, Athena doesn’t actually read! She doesn’t even let me read to her! But she does come up with me and look for the stray lizard!)

Anyhow, I digress…..back to the quilt.

It’s now about 85″ by 98″ which is queen-sized but the bed I want to put it on has big mattresses so it needs to be at least 94″ x 104″. I still have some more stitchy additions to meet my criteria. But I’m not making any more HEART STRIPS. I love the block, but after making 56 of them, I am ready to move on!

When I get the quilt completed, I’ll write up the directions and share with you. Could be awhile, though. Maybe by next Valentine’s Day?