OMG: February--Pink Ribbon Heart Quilt update

For being the shortest month of the year, it seems like a long time since I started working on this month's project.  It took me nearly all month to complete my Pink Ribbon Heart Quilt.  Or at least the quilt top, which was my goal.
I started off with 9 blocks that I won in an eBay auction in January of 2005!  (Yes, I had to go back through ancient emails to find the transaction.)  The auctions were held by Better Homes & Gardens/American Patchwork & Quilting to raise money for Breast Cancer Research.  There were 8 pieced blocks (which I'm not sure I'll ever be crazy about) and 1 appliqued block, all 10" square (finished).

I decided to enlarge each block to 15" x 20" (finished) by using a sort of scrappy log cabin method (see previous project post for other ideas I made in EQ7).  I began by going through my stash for pinks.  But didn't have enough that looked right with the 9 blocks.  So I began pulling purples and one white.

After working on about 3 blocks, I realized I needed more variety in my fabrics, so I pulled more pinks and purples, and actually bought a few more pinks.  While I was hoping to make this a complete "sew my stash" project, that didn't quite work.  I cut the strips into 1.5", 2.5", and 3.5" strips.  And began sewing them around each original square until they measured 15"x20".

Sometimes I broke up the strips by piecing in more fabrics, resulting in some pretty scrappy blocks.

After completing the blocks, I put them together in a 3x3 grid, resulting in a 45"x60" quilt top.  I was competing with wind and sun, so never got a really good outdoor shot of the complete top.

Hoping to turn it into a lap quilt one of these days.  I bought a pink/purple variegated thread for the quilting, and made decide to add some handquilting in the pieced heart blocks (in hopes of making them actually work in the quilt).  I've pulled enough of my leftover 2.5" strips to use for a scrappy binding.  Still deciding on the backing fabric(s).  And trying to find a clear space large enough in my tiny house to do the basting.