Exploding Heart

In January, I started the Exploding Hearth Quilt Along with Laura of Slice of Pi Quilts.  I've loved this pattern since she first released it.  I wanted to sew along in 2021 but was too swamped with other projects, so I was excited when she did it again this year.  I kept up pretty well at the beginning but then other deadlines got in the way.  I'm excited to say that I did finish, though, and I love it!

I used the Island Batik collection Contempo, a signature collection for Kate Colleran Designs.  Contempo is an absolutely beautiful fabric rainbow and I knew it would make a fabulous Exploding Heart.  

 

I was still deep in teacher quilt mode, and one of Fire Monkey's teachers said "I love all the colors" when asked her favorite color, so Contempo + Exploding Heart was a perfect plan.  Except Laura's quilt is 72" x 72", which is larger than I wanted for the teacher quilts. (I was aiming for close to 60" x 60".)  She is open that Exploding Hearts can be cut with Accuquilt dies, specifically quarter square triangles finishing at a 4" square.  I did the math at how big it would be if I cut with the 3" QST die, and that would give me a top 54" square.  I could easily size that up a tad with borders, so that's what I did.  My quilt is smaller than hers, but only because I made my units smaller; I followed her assembly chart exactly as is.  

I did add a few other Island Batik fabrics in with Contempo, though I kept to the same rainbow look.  I used what little leftover I had to make a rainbow binding.  This is actually one of the projects I took on my two-person quilting retreat back in March!  I quilted it there and sewed on the binding, but then noticed a dirt spot on the top.  I washed the dirt off and hung it in the shower to dry, and I love this photo with the partial binding hanging down!

The teacher this was destined for LOVED it.  She even posted  it on her own facebook page.  

Ms. B with her quilt.  Photo posted with permission.

I used my favorite organic wavy line quilting, but I did it at an angle.  I really like how it looks.

The backing is a fun multi-colored print wide back from Backside Fabrics.  I bought several backs for the teacher quilts during their black Friday sale, and this was the one I planned for Exploding Heart.

rainbow goodness on the back

I absolutely LOVE how this came out.  The pattern is easy to follow.  I've seen a lot of different versions and they all look great.  I will definitely make this one again!