What is Love?
The What is Love Event is Now Live!
Celebrate love with 15 FREE modern quilt block patterns. Each from a different designer, these blocks represent the diversity of ways we define, experience, and think about love. The patterns are only available until February 14 so grab them while you can! Follow #WhatIsLoveCollab on Instagram for inspiration, community & giveaways!
Meet the What is Love Collaboration Designers
What is Love? It can manifest in many different ways and hold unique spaces for different people. What a lovely question to ponder! When Brooke of Eudaimonia Studio proposed this question and invited me to take part in this fun collaboration I couldn’t say no. The What is Love collaboration is a group of 15 pattern designers each sharing a 12” quilt block pattern for free. With the question “What is Love?” as the prompt for design inspiration these blocks are all beautiful and magical in their own way. My favorite part of this group project was reading the inspiration explanations from each designer. Below you can read the designers’ inspiration and find links to get to know them a bit better.
Brooke Shankland, Eudaimonia Studio
Brooke’s inspiration for the Grow Wild block:
“There is a saying that love is a verb. But what does that really mean? We often consider love to be a feeling, an emotion that comes over us when someone makes us feel a certain way. I've found that love - to have the profound, lasting impact that many wax poetic about - is not a passive emotion, but an active endeavor. Initial chemistry, familial ties, shared experiences, or common interests may sow the seeds, but love truly grows & thrives when it's nurtured. Just like any plant, it requires time, attention, and care. And, depending on who we are caring for, each will require its own degree of sunlight, water, and nourishment.”
Casey Cometti, Wellspring Designs
Casey’s Inspiration for the Let’s Improvise block:
“A relationship's strength is in its ability to adapt, be flexible, and handle shortcomings with grace. In life, the unexpected is inevitable. This block, "Let's Improvise" is asymmetric, scrappy, and unorthodox - just like Love. But isn't that the best part? G.K. Chesterton once quipped, "Angels can fly because they can take themselves lightly." I hope this block can be approached with lightness of mind and needle to truly enjoy the art of quilting.”
Cheryl Brickey, Meadow Mist Designs
Cheryl’s inspiration for the Hashtag Love block:
“#love - A simple hashtag used to show affection and excitement for someone or something. This block can be used to send love and friendship to family and friends with a fun and modern hashtag, tick tack toe design with a little heart tucked inside. The heart can be made using traditional or paper piecing techniques.”
Meadow Mist Designs on Instagram
Cristina De Miranda, Ships & Violins
Cristina’s Inspiration for the Rooted In Love block:
“‘To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow,” said Audrey Hepburn. And isn’t falling in love the same? We intrinsically agree to the time, energy, and patience that makes a love everlasting. It is the same care that makes a garden grow. So I turned to the forest for my inspiration and designed a tree canopy built with hourglass blocks. The canopy represents that love can grow, change, and develop with time but, perhaps more importantly, it must always be rooted in that initial belief of everlasting love to thrive.”
Erin Nichole, Mija Handmade
Erin’s Inspiration for the Starcrossed Lovers block :
“I was an English major in college and spent every moment I could reading Shakespeare. I still haven't gotten over Romeo and Juliet's tragedy! The What Is Love modern quilt block design seemed like the perfect opportunity to celebrate these two Star Crossed Lovers! I designed the block to use the maximum amount of color and to be the maximum amount of fun! I hope you have fun, stay organized (there are 17 unique HSTs!) and press your seams!”
Heather Black, Quiltachusetts
Heather’s inspiration for the Sweet Pea block:
“One of my guilty pleasures is watching period movies of books I've read like Vanity Fair, any Jane Austen Novel or Charles Dickens. One of the ways characters in these stories share their feelings is by giving their love interest flowers, especially before a dance. These small flower arrangements were called Nosegays. I wanted to capture the feel of a small bouquet flowers, one that would delight the recipient and one that would be full of color.”
Julia Wachs, Julia Wachs Designs
Julia’s Inspiration for the Apéritif block:
”Why name my block Apéritif? I’m at my happiest when I’m enjoying a late afternoon drink on a patio with my sweetheart and my family. That’s love to me. Simply slowing down and enjoying each other’s company. My design was inspired by a beautiful metal gate that stopped me in my tracks in Copenhagen. I find that traveling brings perfect opportunities to slow down and enjoy a late afternoon drink. I hope that taking time to create slowly when making my block will bring you some of this type of happiness.”
Halfway through! Aren’t these designs lovely? They’re available for free until February 14. Grab them while you can!
Karen Bolan, Karen Bolan Designs
Karen’s inspiration for the Scooters block:
“What is love to me? Well, quilting is the obvious answer. Within quilting, I love learning new things, twisting tradition, and curved piecing. The obvious result of this trifecta is the Scooters block. Made with drunkard’s path elements, the resulting block is a twisted take on a heart block. The block is especially enjoyable when you have a few to play around with and can discover new shapes in the negative space. I designed the idea for the block a few years ago based on a picture of some curved architectural details in shadow. The original inspiration is obscured, but the love shines through.”
Katie Zahm, Zahm Co
Katie’s inspiration for the Peak Love block:
“I’ve spent the last five years surrounded by the beautiful Colorado mountains, and they still take my breath away. I dream of living in the mountains one day, but until then, I visit as much as possible and enjoy my views from the city. I feel alive when I explore them and hope to continue making beautiful memories in the mountains. My design captures my love for the mountains, and I want to share it with you.”
Laura Veenema, New Song Quilting Co
Laura’s inspiration for the Soft Center block:
"A mantra I like to hold when facing the world outside my peaceful quilting studio is: "Strong back, soft front." Life can be stressful, amiright? (Unless you're quilting, that is. And even then, it's hard to leave the worry of the world outside.) How do we face a hurting world? How do we keep our balance and our hope? With love. That's the only way. Love means having a strong back - loving ourselves enough to know who we are and whose we are. Love also means having a soft front - loving others enough to be vulnerable and generous and self-sacrificial. When I thought about how to put this kind of love into a quilt design, this block is what happened. It is both facing in and out. It is sturdy and soft at the same time. That's love!"
Lynett Muhaso, LynsAvenue
Lynett’s inspiration for the Love Box block:
“I love quilting! l love heart quilts! Heart quilts for me encompass everything about why we quilt. The block is inspired by and is an ode to all the love poured into every single quilting project we make. Love Box is for that special something you do for you that fills up your cup.”
Porfiria Gomez, Eat.Quilt.Joy
Porfiria’s inspiration for the Corset Heart block:
“The block is inspired by a corset! The shape of a heart. Being a huge fan of sewing lingerie I wanted to bring that inspiration to a quilting block.”
Vickeidy Plybon, Sewspicious
Vickeidy’s inspiration for the Other Half block:
“My BFF block is inspired by best friend necklaces. Friendship is one of the greatest loves in my life, and I am so glad that I get to share my block with you! I had such a fun time designing and making this block and I hope you love it, too.”
Yvonne Fuchs, Quilting Jetgirl
Yvonne’s inspiration for the Candy Heart block:
“When I think of Valentine's Day, I think of candy hearts. When I consider what love is, to me, love is an expansive feeling and means making room for more. With those two thoughts in mind, I designed the Candy Heart Love quilt block to be a fun, cropped, modern quilt block that might just inspire you to keep coming back for more!”
Anna Brown (Me!), Wax and Wane Studio
My inspiration for the Mirroring block:
“The moon is many different things, including a mirror that reflects your inner world. Your emotions and energy levels wax and wane just as the moon does. I see this as a learning opportunity. Learn to love the moon, learn to love the cycles, and learn to love yourself. When you can love yourself you can share more love with others. As Sarah Faith Gottesdiener says in The Moon Book, “What do you call a lover that you keep chasing after, knowing even with their reciprocity, you’ll never reach their essence, never quite touch, and yet they also live inside of you, always? I call this the moon. Others call this love.”
Wax and Wane Studio on Instagram
My What is Love Makes
I had the pleasure of testing Vickeidy’s and Yvonne’s blocks and had so much fun making them! Of course, I couldn’t complete a project without using some Kona Spruce and a couple of my designs from the Dreaming fabric collection. The pink fabric is Sprinkle Geo in Geranium and the white fabric is Overcast in Fog.
I hope you enjoyed learning more about all these wonderful designs and designers. Don’t forget to grab all these quilt block patterns for free while they’re available through February 14!
