Heart Quilt Blocks – Easy Tutorial

With Valentine’s Day fast approaching, I was inspired to create some heart quilt blocks. And what fun I had over the past weekend making them!

I have outlined how to make three different heart quilt blocks below. They could be incorporated into a full-size quilt or just used by themselves as a bag decoration, cushion cover or table decoration.

The finished blocks are different sizes so you can choose one that suits your project. The completed sizes are 8 inches, 12 inches and 18 inches.

If you are a beginner, these are perfect blocks to practice with. They are mainly created with half square triangles, with a few squares and flying geese blocks.

Abbreviations:

• HST = Half Square Triangles
• QST = Quarter Square Triangles
• RST = Right Sides Together

All seam allowances are ¼”

Let’s get started…

Negative Heart Block

With this block, the colourful background makes the simple heart stand out. The beautiful colours are created using fabrics from our ‘Raspberry Ripple’ fat quarter bundle. The finished block is 18 inches square.

Instructions

Cut (6) 3 ½” squares in pale pink, put these to one side for use later.

Cut (4) 4” squares in pale pink.

Cut (5) 4” squares in four of the other colours (20 in total).

Cut (6) 4” squares in the final colour.

Pair up the 4” squares and place RST. Do not put the same colours together, ensure you have a pair that are different colours. Follow the instructions on our Half Square Triangle blog post of how to sew and create your HST’s.

Lay out your HST’s and your 6 pale pink squares as shown in the photo above and sew each row together, then sew each row together to complete your block, as shown in the diagram below.

Heart in a Heart Block

This block features half square triangles together with some squares and flying geese. It uses three fabrics from our ‘Pink to Plum’ fat quarter bundle. The finished block size is 8 inches square.

Col 1 – I used the magenta fat quarter.

Col 2 – I used the cerise pink fat quarter.

Col 3 – I used the light pink fat quarter.

Instructions

Cut (4) 3” squares in Col.1.

Cut (1) 3” square in Col.2.

Cut (5) 3” Squares in Col.3.

Cut (2) 2½” squares in Col.1.

Cut (2) 2½” squares in Col.3.

Cut (2) 2” squares in Col.3. Subcut into (4) HST.

Cut (1) 3¼” square in Col.2. Subcut into (4) QST.

Cut (2) 2½” x 1½” rectangles in Col.2.

Pair up the 3” squares and place RST. Do not put the same colours together always make sure you have a pair that are different colours. Follow the instructions on our HST blog post of how to sew and create your HST’s.

Take 2 of the 2” HST and 1 the 3¼” QST and create a flying geese block (for the tips of the inner heart). Follow the instructions on our Flying Geese blog post of how to sew and create these. Take 1 of the rectangles and place right-sides together to complete the piece (as shown below).

Repeat for the other side of the inner heart.

Layout all the pieces as shown in the diagram and sew the blocks together to make each row. Then sew your rows together.

I then added a 8” x 1½” border strip to each side and a 9½” x 1½” border strip to the top and bottom edge, both in Col. 2.

HST Heart Block

I created this quilt block using mainly half square triangles (HST’s). I choose to use batik fabrics from our ‘Red Sky at Night’ fat quarter bundle. The finished block size is 12 inches square.

Instructions

Cut (4) 4” squares in pale pink.

Cut (2) 4” squares in each of the other five colours, (giving you a total of 10 squares).

Cut (2) 3½” squares in pale pink, put these to one side for use later.

Pair up the 4” squares and place RST. Do not put the same colours together, make sure you have a pair that are different colours. Follow the instructions on our HST blog post on how to sew and create your HST’s.

Layout all the pieces as shown in the photo below and sew them together to make each row. Then sew your rows together.

The diagram below helps you plan out your design.

I hope this has inspired you to make your own heart quilt blocks. Leave your thoughts in the comments below.