Psychedelic Valentine - A Quilty Finish

My local Modern quilting group had a challenge for Valentine's.  I announced the challenge in November to give everyone plenty of time to have their projects completed by the February meeting, so of course, mine was not finished.  I think it still needed binding.

We could do anything we wanted for the challenge, it just needed to have a Valentine theme.  I chose to do a table runner because I love table runners and you can never have too many.  Right?  (haha)

I also chose to do paper piecing because I love it so and it's my "go to" technique.  I used Mini Love Quilt pattern from Sew Mama Sew which I've used before.  Instead of arranging the letters in a square, I just went straight down with them.  I made 2 rows and to finish the rows off, I paper pieced little hearts.  The heart pattern is from the book 365 Foundation Quilt Blocks by Linda Causee that I've mentioned before.  I added the black text fabric around the hearts until I had them the size that I wanted.

I used a charm pack of Moda Kiss Kiss for the letters.  For the parts of the letters that were to long for 5 inch charm pack blocks, I used solid Kona Cotton.  I didn't keep track of all the colors of Kona I used but as you can tell, it was shades of aqua, pink, and red.
The black and white chevron stripe fabric that I used as sashing between the rows is why I call this piece "Psychedelic Valentine".  The motion of the fabric hurts my eyes and it felt very psychedelic to me.  I think it is a fabric from one of the Moda Halloween lines.

 I quilted it on my new Juki TL2010Q.  I FMQ'd loopy lines in the letters with red thread - 50 wt. Auriful.

The psychedelic black sashing fabric has long squiggles quilted on them from top to bottom.  I used black thread, also 50 wt. Aurifil, to quilt it and you can't see it at all from the front.  Only from the back.  I didn't quilt anything in the black spaces or in the heart blocks.  I just felt like this was enough.

Speaking of the back, here it is!  I used my remaining charm squares to make the back of the runner and I used a large piece of this pink Dear John fabric that I've been hoarding.  You can see all the quilting so much better from the back.

 I used charm square scraps for my label and zig zagged it down with the black thread.  I love making labels this way.  It is from a tutorial by Kelly from My Quilt Infatuation.  I never forget my labels now.  They are just a part of the back of every quilt.
My binding is a red fabric with aqua dots that is a part of the Kiss Kiss line.

My Psychedelic Valentine measures 18 inches by 32 inches.

I hope you enjoyed my Valentine project and reading my blog.  Please come back to visit anytime!

**Linking up to My Quilt Infatuation for Needle and Thread Thursday and to Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts for Finish it up Friday