I found a quilted heart.

 A few months ago I came across the IFAQH website. After reading the rules and how to take part I thought what a sweet idea. Then I thought, I have scrap fabric, I could do that.....So I did.... again and again and again. In fact  I've  probably done it a hundred times. But I am only showing a few of them.

If you've never heard of IFAQH before... it stands for I FOUND A QUILTED HEART. The idea is people make quilted hearts from scrap fabrics then label them with the website address and then leave them in random public places for strangers to find. There is a printable sheet of labels on the website for makers to pin or sew to their hearts. There are some rules about where not to leave them and what not to put on your hearts.  These can be found on the website.

The hearts are supposed to bring a smile to the finders face and brighten their day without ever knowing who left the heart. The hearts can be as simple or as elaborate as you want. It's entirely up to you.  You can add ribbons, buttons, trinkets, bows, lace, sequins, embroidery, anything you want really. But not words or  messages. They must have some sort of batting between the fabric layers for body and for it to be classed as quilted.

The website recommends the size of the heart is about the size of the palm of your hand. Mine tend to be a little bigger. There is no pattern for the hearts. You make your own. That way you can decided the size easiest for you to work with, and the heart shape you like. 

You can make a heart from  a single piece of fabric or from many different fabrics. The choice is yours. One thing to bare in mind, is that a lot of hearts are found by children so make sure you sew any embellishments on really well.

When found, the finder can report the heart as found and add a photo of it, along with the story of how they found it and how finding it made them feel.  There are some lovely finder stories on the website.

 Finders are not expected to report the hearts as found, but it's really lovely when they do.

I have sewn  dozens of heart over the last couple of months, but hubby does most of the heart sowing (hiding the hearts) when he walks the dog. But I have gone out with him a few times and sown a few myself.   Whenever we have gone back to the places we've sown hearts they have always gone sometimes it takes a few days for them to be found but they do go eventually. Sometimes they go very quickly indeed, within a couple of minutes and  I have only been about 10 foot away.  I always find that so funny, especially when hubby says, "No! don't put it there. Nobody will see it there". Five minutes later we go back to the car only to find the heart has gone.

We take a bunch of them out with us whenever we travel, so we can plant a few in various parts of the country.

We've probably sown about 50,  but I've only had 2 reported found. It was so lovely to read what the finders said and the joy it brought them.  I do hope that the non reporting finders got a little joy from finding one of my hearts too.