Mending a Broken Heart

I am so excited tonight I will be giving a lecture on the journey of my book, Quilts in the Attic, to Faith Circle Quilters Guild in Downer's Grove, Illinois. I will also be teaching my "Mending Your Broken Heart" workshop on Saturday. I always find it interesting how my workshops seem to go in cycles. I haven't taught this workshop in a couple of years and now it is being requested again. I started making these hearts more than 15 years ago when friends began having heart attacks, divorces, etc. I wanted to send something more than a card so "Mending a Broken Heart" came into being. I love teaching this workshop because people go home with multiple hearts nearly done (sewing down the binding). They also learn to put a complex binding on and they can use the embroidery stitches on their machines and I teach how to make fun rope so that they can hang on a door knob, hospital bed, etc. Looking forward to sharing!

Blog Giveaway with a Twist Four

Mending a Broken Heart

Congratulations to KAM for winning last week's mask giveaway!

This week's blog giveaway is one of my Mending a Broken Heart hearts. I started making these as gifts to send to friends who had heart attacks, divorces, break up with significant others, loss of pets and children, any time a heart was broken. I decided to add it as one of my Bending Quilt-As-You-Go (my technique) workshops and for a few years I traveled the country teaching it and I have to admit I was surprised when  it was the most requested of my workshops. People were always surprised that they went home with a least two completed hearts and often four. It also gave me an opportunity to teach rope making (very addicting). And as quickly as this workshop was popular, it stopped being requested. I have no idea why.  However, I continue to make and send these hearts to family and friends.

"Home is where the heart is," the old saying goes. It is not a mistake that "art" is a predominant part of the word "heart." Our homes are our refuge, the one place where we can truly express ourselves. I collect things that I cannot do myself. I love things made out of clay so I have a collection of pots and sculpture. I also have a small collection of quilts, many from friends whose work I love. I collect rusty sculpture usually incorporating rocks (another love of mine) for my garden. I still remember the high school student whose moving rock sculpture I purchased at an art fair in Geneva, Illinois. It was such a thrill to provide validation to someone just starting out. Again they are all things that I simply could not have made and yet, speak to me. What do you collect and why?

Winner will be announced ob Monday, November 7th. Followers get three chances to win because I love my followers!