My Achy Breaky Heart

Now I know it is not Valentines Day or even close to it, but hearts have been on my mind as of late. I feel like I have fallen off of the Blogging World these last couple of months. There have been lots off life things going on that have been occupying the part of my brain that used to be dedicated to blogging. On-top of all that I have had some unexpected health issues. I have 5 million issues as is that I am working on, but the other week by heart started acting up and was racing and skipping beats. So after an EKG and emergency cardiologist appointment. I ended up on a heart monitor for 24 hours and had an uncomfortable tiring week to say the least. 

Thanks to my wonderful husband and brother-in-law I made it through and feel like I am slowly recovering and coming back to life. My husband even witnessed that I am life force of the house when he saw that as soon as "Mom" went down the garden started to die, the fresh cut flowers on the dinning room table wilted, and everything else went to pot. I told him it was kinda like Avatar. 


So to top off this post I thought it would be appropriate to include a tutorial I found for a cute little heart pin you can easily make with craft scraps. So here is to Hearts and all that they do for us. I know I am more grateful for mine now.

Molly's Sketchbook: Valentine Pins

These little valentine pins are as fun to wear as they are to make. They would be a perfect project to make with kids for their class valentine swap. Each one takes minutes to make so you can whip up a bunch in no time!

Materials

• One Wool Felt Bundle in Spice (I also used individual piecesof fuchsia and a bright pink which I had left over from our all of our Christmas projects.)
• Valdani Embroidery Thread in various shades of pink, red and orange.
• Bamboo Stuffing
• Small safety pins
• Pinking Shears

Download, print and cut out our Heart Template here. I traced mine onto a piece of cardboard so it would be sturdy and reusable.

Cutting

Cut two 2 1/2-inch squares from one of the felt pieces.

Stack the two squares neatly on top of one another and trace the heart template on the top square using a pencil.

Using pinking shears, cut through both pieces of felt around the marked heart. You will have two heart shapes. If there are any pencil marks visible just flip the pieces over so their tops are mark-free. Line up the two hearts wrong sides together.

Sewing and Stuffing

Cut an 18-inch length of embroidery thread in a color that contrasts pleasantly with the felt. Sew the two shapes together all around the edge, 1/8th of an inch from the edge using a small neat running stitch. In order to hide the knot start your first stitch in-between the two pieces of felt. Stop before you get all the way around so that you leave a small gap as pictured above.

Using a pencil or a knitting needle stuff the heart tightly, using one small bit of stuffing at a time.

Once the heart is stuffed tight sew around to close the gap.

Tie a knot on the back side of the stitching and then stick your needle through the back of the heart. (Do not poke through to the front!) Pull the thread through and clip it very close to the felt, this will hide the end and make the back look nice and neat.

Attaching the Pin

Place a small safety pin on the center of the back of the heart. Make sure it's oriented so that you will easily be able to open the pin once it's sewn onto the heart.

Tie a small knot at the end of your embroidery thread and begin sewing the pin onto the heart through the back ring of the safety pin as shown above. This will help to anchor the safety pin.

Sew the safety pin on securely as shown above. When you're done you can hide the thread end in the same way as you did in the "Sewing and Stuffing" section and you'll be all done! Repeat as many times as you want to make a beautiful array of pins!

purl bee January 28, 2009