First Look: Love of Quilting January / February ’24

When it comes around to Valentine’s Day each year, hearts are ubiquitous. Heart motifs are prevalent in quilting for a good reason: they resonate with all things quilting! Love of our craft, country, communities, colleagues, causes, neighbors, friends, and not least home and family. Which brings us to the theme for the Love of Quilting January / February ’24 issue: Home is Where the Heart is. We asked designers to express through quilts what this theme means to them, and their response was heartwarming. 

Star of the Family by Sara Gallegos

Sara Gallegos, co-host of Love of Quilting TV honored her mother by gathering favorite extended family photos, printing them onto fabric, and piecing them into quilt blocks for Star of the Family. Alternatively, fussy-cut motifs from a favorite fabric collection or scraps, showcase machine, or hand-embroidered patches—the sky’s the limit!

Fuzzy Love by Angela Huffman

And co-host Angela Huffman considered how pets enrich our lives in her delightful, textured ode to kitties, Fuzzy Love. Mix and match assorted prints for unique cats and add texture with fun precut chenille strips. It’s easy to customize each kitty with different ears, chins, or even a patch eye, and assorted novelty button “noses” provide a whimsical touch, giving each cat its own personality.

Heartfall by Rachelle Craig

Colorful hearts dangle brightly from cheery chains to light up any room in Heartfall by Rachelle Craig. Clever construction techniques make this two-block design look much more complex than it is! Note how the placement of colors is reflected on the right and left sides of the quilt, forming a fun “pennant” border; similarly, the top and bottom edges echo the same hues horizontally.

Hometown Hero by Natalie Crabtree

While contemplating having gone to high school in a very small town, where everyone knew everybody, Natalie Crabtree thought of neighbors joining the military or heading out for deployment. She designed Hometown Hero, symbolizing how a community (represented by houses) centers around the flag. Her scrap-friendly design features comfortable, softened hues, evoking nostalgic Americana to warm your home. We include a color option for a traditional Quilt of Valor® award quilt. (Note that this colorway is suitable as a QOV award only when the recipient is known and prefers a more nonconventional, colorful quilt—see our traditional QOV color option!)

Measure in Love by Jenny Kae Parks

Jenny Kae Parks shares Measure in Love, a pillow design with a moving message she wants to always remember; we show you how to quickly transfer letters to your fabric and then couch them in yarn.

Chocolate Cherry Pie by Lynn Christiansen

And this issue wouldn’t be complete without something from the kitchen! Lynn Christiansen thought of romantic picnics when she designed Chocolate Cherry Pie. Baker’s choice: Select just a few fabric ingredients to replicate the colors shown here or substitute other colors as desired to make a different flavor—or a whole assortment of pies.

Family Game Night by Kari Mathews

Vibrant prints and tones in various values add high-energy excitement to Family Game Night, by Kari Mathews. It celebrates fun times spent playing various board and other games together at home.

Celebrating 25 Years

And speaking of celebrations, it’s the 25th anniversary of Love of Quilting magazine! In this issue, we look back on our covers through the years. Stay tuned for our 25th-anniversary mystery quilt series and more! Use your scraps and contemporary quilting techniques to breathe new life into a vintage block in our new feature, Play It Again. Keep up with the goings-on in the quilting world with the Community Sampler, Shop Hop, and Sew Many Tips departments.

Find inspiration in Sherri McConnell’s (of A Quilting Life) Trunk Show and 90-year-old quilter Betty Vitas’ most challenging quilt yet. Help us celebrate our anniversary and kick off 2024 by joining the fun of our second annual Quilted Postcard Swap! (All the info you need is in this Jan/Feb 2024 issue—postcards must arrive in our office by January 23, 2024!) After all, you, our readers, are at the heart of everything we do at Love of Quilting. We hope you enjoy the Love of Quilting January / February ’24 issue as much as we enjoyed making it!

Quilt with joy,
Valerie