Scissors Fobs and Blanket Stitch

On my other blog, 365 Sewn Hearts, I am currently in the middle of a challenge to sew one heart every day for a year.  I've been scouring the internet and wracking my brain to come up with new hearts, and last week I had an idea:  scissors fobs.  They're small and cute and useful and relatively quick to make; but the best part is that they can be decorated a million different ways (and I only need about 200 more!).  They are made of wool felt, embroidery floss, baker's twine, and polyester stuffing, and they are finished with a blanket stitch around the edges.

Here are the 8 fobs I've made so far:

The lovely Lime Riot, who is an amazing crafter and embroidered, actually asked ME if I have any tips about the tricky part of the blanket stitch edging:  finishing the last stitch.  Since I do have a standard method that I always follow, I am happy to share it with her, and you.

This is the fob I am using for this demonstration:

Oh, I should mention...I am left-handed.  So if anything looks backwards or upside down to you, that's probably why.

Okay.  I always start sewing the back to the front in the same spot:  midway on the right-hand side, and I work counter-clockwise around the heart.  In the picture below, you can see that I have started the first stitch by putting the needle into the inside of the back piece, and pulling the thread through.

Next, I insert the needle in the outside of the front of the heart, and push the point right into the first hole you made when setting the knot (above).

That's your first stitch.  For this stitch only, I run the thread under the stitch, and pull it out on the right-hand side.

Now I continue sewing the blanket stitch in the regular way all around the heart.  (I just noticed that there's a long, stray filament of the stuffing material right in the middle of the picture!  Please try to ignore that!)

When there's only about an inch left to sew, I stuff the heart, then continue sewing.

When I have sewn the last stitch, I pull the thread through the first stitch I sewed, and tie a small knot there.

Then I tie another knot about 1/4" from the last stitch and pull that inside the stuffed heart to anchor the thread.  Pull the needle up anywhere on the back and trim the end of the thread flush with the felt.

All done!  (I can't believe that stray filament is still there.)

I don't know if I shared any new information, but I know it can be helpful to see how someone else does things...there may be some small detail here that is new to you--and possibly eye-opening.  I hope so!