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Are you the person who found this heart? |
Have you ever thought about putting a note in a bottle and sending it off to
sea?
Back in the day when the world seemed huge, it was a romantic idea that
percolated in my mind every now and then. Not that I ever thought about
meeting a soul mate that way, but the whole "message in a bottle" idea
seemed like such a primitive way to span time and distance. It's like time
travel without technology, in a sense.
A couple of months ago, I came across an intriguing project where people
make and leave small quilted hearts for others to find, totally anonymously.
(It's actually called "I found a quilted heart"; take out the spaces, add a
.com to the end and you'll find the corresponding website.)
After I made the
heart for Mom's window, I had a bunch of small scrappy remnants left over. I pieced some of them
together, made myself a template and cut out two small hearts. I was fully
intending on taking part in the project.
But then I read the FAQs and the rules and felt conflicted.
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| Two scrappy pieced hearts... |
The idea behind "I found a quilted heart" is to enable the finder to register a found heart and provide his/her story, but there is no way to make a direct connection with the person who made/left the heart.
I suppose it's the goal of the project for people to make a selfless,
anonymous gift that is all about the recipient. Kudos for that thought.
(Also, let's not overlook the goal of the people behind IFAQH, which
is ultimately to create web traffic for themselves, not others;
totally understandable.)
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I didn't plan this, but this scrap of Tim Holtz Dictionary fabric has an apt word on it... |
But all that aside, when I put myself in the position of being the "someone"
who finds such a heart, I thought to myself,
I would want to know how that heart came to be...
why that specific person decided to make it and leave it... who the
person is.
Even though there is a universal "why" behind IFAQH, I imagine that
everyone who participates likely does so for a very personal reason.
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| Is this heart my opportunity to leave a precious memento...? |
In my mind, the finding of a heart doesn't necessarily involve a deep
meaningful story... I was walking the dog and there it was, hanging in a tree. But for someone to take the time to hand make something and then give
it away without any expectations... isn't that (always) a story?
Since the parameters of IFAQH do not allow for the maker to be
identified, I ultimately decided to do my own thing with this idea... and by
all means, feel free to steal mine. ;-)
In the same spirit as IFAQH, however, I didn't want to be unnecessarily wordy with the message. This heart will be left with the following label attached to it.
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| The URL of this blog post is on the reverse side... |
This way, the person who picks up this heart can go online and find out the
story behind it. If that's all s/he wants to do, that will be the end of it.
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| Reverse side... |
However, if the person wants to let me know that the heart was found and add
some context, that avenue is open. (A comment can be left at the bottom of
this post anonymously, or you can keep the communication private by emailing
me via the
Contact widget on the sidebar.)
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| I put a heart shaped brad right over the spot where my free motion quilting went wonky... |
I decided to make and give away this heart anonymously for several reasons.
First, it's an inexpensive way to bring joy to someone. Whether the finder
is feeling good, bad or meh, it's always a win-win to be able to
brighten someone's day.
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| My "Handmade with Love" fabric... which totally describes this project! |
Second, the symbol of a heart brings to mind caring and kindness, which we
can all use a bit more of in these challenging times. While it didn't take
me days to make this, it wasn't just minutes. I didn't rush it and instead
focused on the thought that the person who finds this
is worth the time and effort that I was putting towards the craft.
In a very real sense, it was handmade with love, because this heart
is stitched from fabric scraps I had left over from a heart I made for my
mother.
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| My first bits of "non practice" free motion quilting were done on this heart... |
Third, I had been practicing my
free motion quilting
for a couple of days before I made this. I intended it to be part of my
sewing journey to do some actual free motion quilting on this heart — in
essence, to make it my first project using the skill — and give away the
finished item. (It was also the first time that I used a narrow binding on
something, which was somewhat tricky!)
So in the spirit of sharing what I've learned, this time I'm giving away the
tangible milestone itself. Not something I usually do.
Of course, the person who finds this heart won't know any of this upon finding it, and may never know. There is no guarantee that whoever finds it will bother to read this post. I have zero control over that.
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| I used a narrow 1" double folded bias tape to bind this... tricky to handle! |
Somehow that's fine. While I want my door to be open to the person finding
this heart, the decision as to whether or not to walk through is totally up to
that person.
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| Where will I leave this? |
I just want that "someone" to know that I truly enjoyed making the heart and
that it's something that I'll always remember as a unique experience.
UPDATE March 29, 2022: By the way, the above thoughts still apply if the heart that
you found looks like this...
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My second attempt at giving away a heart... |
'Til next...
Rochelle, your heart is precious in so many ways! I haven't found a quilted heart *yet*, but I know when/if I do, I'll wonder about its maker and wish I could make a connection. I do understand the theory behind IFAQH in making and placing the hearts anonymously. To me, it's part of the beauty of being a random act of kindness and expecting nothing in return. I do hope you make that connection with whomever finds your sweet red heart. I also hope you make and place many more!
ReplyDeleteI went to the IFAQH website and read the brief info about it on their home page, but how would one know to go there at all upon finding a quilted heart? If you make hearts to scatter about town, are you supposed to include their website? I agree with all you said about this project; it is a nice gesture and all, but who would even know where to share their story? And how many homeless people would find a heart and not even have access to a computer in order to tell their story if they knew where to tell it? I think it might be better to make hearts and take them to a children's hospital to leave at their bedsides or someplace else where a kind gesture of a heart would be much appreciated, such as a home for the elderly, a cancer ward, a prison, etc. They may only be warmed by the sweet gesture of a stranger making them a heart.
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