Valentine Four Patch Hearts

With Valentine's Day quickly approaching, many are looking for quick projects to spread a little cheer. These patchwork fabric baskets, which many of us wove from paper in our younger years, fit the bill nicely. They can be filled with goodies for a quick gift, or used as a table favour at a Guild party.
Before I begin the tutorial, I would like to extend a very sincere thank you to the quilters at quiltchat.net who invited me in as their guest in a "superchat" last evening. It was a lively time and I enjoyed it a great deal. Hopefully most have recovered from the one -ruler bombshell :) It was really interesting to connect with quilters one-on-one from around the globe in a very relaxed and friendly setting.

On to the tutorial!

Patchwork Hearts

Finished size: Basket is 5" h x 5" wide; heart applique is 5" to fit a 6" block
Materials Required: (for basket)
2 pieces contrasting fabric each 9" x 3"
2 pieces heavyweight fusible interfacing each 9" x 3" (Pellon Decor Bond used in sample)
2, 9" pieces 1/4" satin ribbon
Sewing thread to match
Directions: Iron interfacing to wrong sides of both 9" x 3" fabric pieces.
Round end of one strip as shown to resemble top of heart. Tracing around a can (such as this spray starch) makes the task easy.
Fold fabric in half lengthwise and round the other end to match. Using this piece as a pattern, cut second interfaced 9" x 3" fabric piece to match. If you are planning to make more than one heart basket you may wish to trace this shape onto paper to use as a master pattern.
Keeping each section folded in half, measure over 1-1/2" to find centre. (Notice the ruler, quiltchat quilters! :)
Make a cut 3" deep.
Press both pieces flat, wrong sides together.
To weave the basket, take the left strip of one piece (in this case white) and slip it through the right strip on second (pink) piece as shown. Slide it up as far as it will go along the slot.
Open the left strip on the top (white) fabric and slip the bottom (pink) strip through it.
Weave remaining strips in similar way, alternating colours so that a chequerboard is formed.
Your pieces should open to form a basket:
To make ribbon handles, open up basket and stitch one end of a 9" ribbon to basket front at heart centre. Repeat for back of basket.
If desired, topstitch the front and back of the basket together just above patchwork and extending up about 1" as shown between x's in this photo. Repeat for other side of heart. This adds a bit of stability to your basket, and keeps it from flopping open too far.
Tie second 9" ribbon into a bow and tack over stitching on front of heart.
You may choose to add ribbon roses or buttons, depending on how elaborate you would like your basket to be.
To make coordinating 4 patch applique heart:
Materials Required:
2 pieces contrasting fabric each 2" x 5"
2 pieces contrasting fabric each 4" x 2-1/2"
Directions:
Sew the 2" x 5" pieces together along long edges. Press seam to one side. Cut apart into 2" segments. Flip one segment upside down and sew the segments together to form a chequerboard.
Using your heart basket, trace along curved top of heart on each 4" x 2-1/2" piece.
Cut out with scissors, adding 1/4" seam allowance along top (curved) edge. Sew straight edge to top of 4-patch chequerboard as shown. Press.
Applique as desired onto a 6-1/2" background.
If there are comments or questions regarding these patchwork hearts, please click on "comments" at the bottom of this post and I will do my best to respond to you there. Enjoy!