July Challenge Day #29

About a year ago, for a Craftster swap, I made a felt heart covered in buttons. I've thought about that heart many times since then, wishing I had one for myself--so with this challenge for motivation, I finally made another one, just for me.

Here are the two halves of the heart, completely covered in buttons.

Here's the finished product. For me, the appeal of this heart is the assortment of buttons all in a shade of the same color. It was so easy to make I can't believe I put it off for so long!

July Challenge Day #16

Yesterday I saw a really cute, folksy-looking heart at The Silly BooDilly, and I wanted to make a similar one. When I went to my sewing room to look for materials to make the heart, I came across a lovely quote by Oscar Wilde, which at some point in the past I had printed onto fabric. I decided to use it for the centerpiece of my heart, with embroidered vines and flowers around the outside.

I really liked the look of the raggedy-looking edges on the inspiration heart, so I tried to recreate that on mine. I think I like the way the boarder came out...

Heart Bombing

You may have heard of "yarn bombing", where crafters covertly cover public objects such as a bus or a tree with hand-made knitting or crocheting.  It's a kind of graffiti or street art.

"Heart bombing" is different--it involves deluging an individual with hand-made hearts.  It's an act of caring for someone going through a difficult time.

I'm working with two of my friends to do a mini "heart bombing" for a third friend, "S", who is having surgery soon.  We are each sewing some hearts to mail to her to let her know we are thinking of her and wishing her all the best.  I already have a few hearts on hand that will be perfect for her, but I wanted to make her one that was new and special.  Here it is:

It was easy to put together.  Below you can see that I cut out a linen heart shape (using a template), then cut simple shapes for the house and tree free-hand.  For the words, I used a set of rubber alphabet stamps that snap together so I can stamp an entire word at once--I love that because I don't have to agonize over the placement of each letter as I stamp the words.  It's quicker, too!  (If you are inspired to buy some of these stamps, do yourself a favor and get TWO sets.  That way you can spell just about anything without having to un-snap and re-snap your letters.)

I chose the phrase "life is good" to encourage my friend to focus on the positive.

With the edges left raw, I sewed around the perimeter of each shape using my sewing machine.

I finished the hearts the usual way, and I included a loop of baker's twine at the top so S. can hang up the heart if she wants to.  I made two so I could choose the best one to send to her.

I'll be mailing all four of these hearts to her this week.  I think hearts are even better than flowers, and they last longer too!

Love Never Ends

I spent this morning making the nicest card I was capable of making, and I mailed it to my Aunt Helen this afternoon.  Her husband, my Uncle Jack, recently passed away after a long and happy life and I wanted to write to express my sympathy.

At first I thought of sending her a card along with some of my stuffed hearts, with words of love and encouragement on them, but I know she is living in a small apartment now, and I didn't want to send something that might be in the way.  I didn't want to send just a card either, so I came up with a kind of compromise:  a card with a flat heart on the front, which I cut from a piece of a damaged antique quilt.

 I started by gathering supplies.  I had a "practice" heart left over from some sachets I made for Valentine's Day this year, so I used that as the model for this heart.  I cut out a paper template, and I found a piece of scrapbooking paper with an interesting vintage look to it.  In the picture below, you can see these items sitting on top of the damage quilt square.

After cutting out the heart from the quilt, I gathered a few more things:  pink and green embroidery floss, felt for a flower and leaves, and a butterfly charm.  As it turns out, I didn't use the butterfly.  I wrote the phrase "Love never ends" on a piece of white fabric, using a light box and a Micron marker, and machine-sewed it to the heart.

Next, I embroidered around the edges of the phrase patch, then added the green vine and pink blanket-stitching around the edge.  I cut out a flower and four leaves from the felt and sewed them in place with the embroidery thread.  A few French knots and two buttons completed the heart.

If you look closely, you can see the lines of hand-quilting sewn by the maker of the quilt:

I softened the appearance of the scrapbook paper with a piece of patterned vellum cut just a bit smaller than the front of the card.  

I wanted the heart to be secure on the card, but I value the old quilt too much to use glue or anything else that would be permanent, so I sewed it onto the card using the same embroidery thread I used on the heart.  I was really surprised at how easy it was to sew through the card!

Halfway through, here's how it looked on the inside:

I lined the inside of the card with a piece of writing paper, and wrote my letter to my aunt there.  At the end of the letter I explained how I made the card.  My love of quilts actually began on a family visit to Aunt Helen and Uncle Jack's house when I was 14 years old--that's where I first saw a hand made quilt.  As soon as I got home from that visit I started sewing my first quilt, and I haven't stopped sewing and quilting since then!  That's why using the antique quilt for this card was especially appropriate for Aunt Helen.

The finished card:

Cute Outfit

I didn't intend to sew another outfit for my Blythe doll, Bonnie, so soon; but when I was working on a dog-themed heart for my heart blog, inspiration struck--I had seen dolls with headbands with an ornament of some kind... and a flat heart is an ornament...and I have cute scottie-dog fabric that would be a good doll dress...and I could put a scottie dog on the heart...and it became something I HAD to make, quick!

The dress is made from the same pattern as the one in the previous post.  The pattern includes two pockets, but I decided to make it with just one heart-shaped pocket (I wonder what a dolly would carry in her pocket?  I always have a ChapStick and a tissue in mine!)

To make the scottie shape, I simply took a scrap of the fabric with the dog on it, placed it on the black felt, and cut around it with small, sharp scissors.  I sewed the finished heart onto paw-print ribbon, and voila!  A headband! 

It looks cute, but the ribbon doesn't stay on her head very well, and the paw prints are rubbing off from being handled.  I need to come up with something better the next time I make headgear for Bonnie.

Happy Birthday, America!

"God Bless America" wallhanging, 9 1/2" x 11 1/2".  Cotton fabrics, polyester batting; machine pieced; appliqued, embroidered and quilted by hand.  This has been half-finished for the longest time; I finally managed to add the binding this week!  I will add a hanging sleeve to the back and find a place for it on a wall in my living room.

Felt Fishes and a Heart

I have enjoyed making and swapping felt badges on Craftster, so I was thrilled when Sophie of Threadhead agreed to a personal swap with me.  She is such an amazing stitcher!  We each made two felt badges, based on the other person's Pinterest. 

Sophie has a lot of things on her Pinterest, so it was hard to choose just two themes for her badges, but I finally decided to go with interests that we have in common.  She has a category just for fish, so I made this one first:

I cut the fish from felt free-hand; then I used a chain stitch to embroider them.  I thought it would look like scales, and it does!  Three shades of embroidery floss give the fish gradations of color.

For the second badge, I found a heart on Sophie's Pinterest, and I made almost an exact copy of it.  I made a template to cut the heart shape, then cut the leaves and circles free-hand.

Both badges are made of wool felt and embroidery floss, and are just under 3" at their widest points.  The heart has glass beads accents.

I love hearts and I think this one is gorgeous, but it is the fish badge that got all the comments when I posted pictures on Craftster!

I mailed these (from the U.S.) to Sophie in England on Friday and she received them on Wednesday--that's fast!  I hope hers come to me just as quickly.  I think I'll go check the mailbox right now!

Dishcloth Surprise!

I just brought in today's mail, and look what I found--a wonderful surprise "thank you" gift from zkatom on Craftster!  She is one of the participants in the recent Fabric Basket Swap, to whom I sent heart-shaped pincushions as my entry in the Random Acts of Crafty Kindness challenge.

It's a beautiful, crocheted dishcloth!

She used my favorite colors, and incorporated my favorite symbol, a heart (on Craftster I go by the name "Leslieshappyheart")!

She also sent a note on a card with a hand-stamped image of a cat's face (cats are another favorite of mine).  One of my kitties needed to check it out!

Thank you so much, Shannon, this was a lovely and uplifting surprise!  I appreciate the time you put into it, the attention to including my "likes", and the beautiful crochet stitches .  I think I will use it on the kitchen table as a hot pad so I can see and enjoy it frequently.

Matchbook Notepads

Here's a tiny little gift that I like to make in big batches so I always have some on hand--these Matchbook Notepads are fairly simple to make, and they are great to tuck into a card for a little something "extra".  I saw something similar on etsy and decided to make my own.  They are great to have in your purse--if you need a slip of paper, just tear one out!

Here's a tutorial all in one picture! 
1.  For the outside, cut a piece of pretty cardstock 7" x 2 1/4".
2.  Fold the cardstock 1/2" from one end, and 3 1/8" from the other end.  (When both flaps are closed it will measure 2 1/4" x 3 3/8".)
3.  Cut regular computer paper (or any kind of paper you want) into 2 3/4" x 2" slips.  You will want 12-15 slips of paper per notepad.
4.  Position the slips of paper under the short flap at the bottom, and staple in place. (You will want your staple fairly low, to leave room for the big flap to tuck in.)
5.  Decide how you want to decorate the front.  I used my Word computer program and printed the phrase "happy heart" on whitecard stock, and cut it 1 7/8" x 2 1/4".
6.  With the notepad cover closed, center the white card stock and glue it to the cover.
7.  Cut fabric scraps into heart shapes (or flowers, or anything you want) and glue them to the white cardstock.

That's it!  I included the quarter for size reference. (Someone melted a hole in it before it came into my hands!  I will do something with this special quarter some day--but I don't know what!)

I included one of these notepads in each package I sent to partners in the recent Jar of Hearts Swap at Craftster.  They were PERFECT for that!  I also include one when I mail an etsy purchase to a customer.  They are great in a thank-you card too.  Try making a few, I'm sure you will find lots of ways to use them!