Pixelated Rainbow Heart

While I'm waiting on blocks from the Threadbias Newbees block swap (loving what I've received so far!  People's creativity never ceases to amaze me...), I decided to start a new project.

I have a dear, dear friend who loves all things rainbow and to whom the heart symbol has special meaning in her family.  After seeing several pixelated heart quilts around the 'net, I was inspired to make a gift quilt for her combining those elements.

So after drafting it out on paper, I pulled out my stash to see if I could make it work.  Since it's Christmas time,  I don't really have extra funds to put toward fabric buying.  With some adjustments to my original color layout, I found that I had enough!

Here's the beginning layout of the heart...

Many thanks to my daughter, Madeline, for helping with perfecting the fabric layout!  My first idea was to use a variety of black and white prints for the background of the quilt, but when we played around with the fabrics, we both agreed that the heart got lost.  Then I had the idea to outline the heart in black and use shades of gray for the background.

Here's the heart outlined in black...

I didn't have enough gray fabrics on hand to complete the quilt, though.  I looked at purchasing some charm packs online, but still wanted to meet my no spend goal.  We have recently moved to the Charlotte area, and I just discovered that there is a Goodwill outlet here.  You can by clothes there for $1.39 a pound!  I decided this would be the best solution--I would not be spending very much $$, I could get a variety of fabrics, and I'd be recycling (which my friend will love!).  So I brought home 11 pieces, one of which is a really cool sheet that I will use as a backing fabric someday, for $9.  Yay!  Gray dress shirts are perfect for this project.

And here's a pic of the current state of the quilt...

I'm steadily cutting out 5" charms from my Goodwill stash and placing them on the design wall.  I hope to be ready to sew by Saturday.  I have to admit...I'm a little obsessed with this quilt right now.  I wish I could put everything else aside and just work on it.  But I am very happy with how it's turning out.  I really think my friend is going to love it!  I am going to spend the week after Christmas visiting her, and I very much doubt that it will be completely done by then, but I would like to be able to show her the completed quilt top.