Hearts and Letters

It is almost Valentine's day and I decided to make something for the occasion. My goal was to use only materials I had, and to buy nothing, because I already have way too much stuff.  I managed to do that.  There are always lots of branches in my yard too.  I like to use them to hang things from.  One day I will show you my snazzy branch toilet paper hanger!

 By the way, see that tree on the left?  That's our gnarly walnut.  It has a heart shape burl on it, so cool!

So I started with the roll of ribbon and divided it into 3 pieces of about 36 inches each.  It is see-through checks,  white on white with iron wire in the edges,  to keep it in shape for bows, I suppose.  Here it did not help me much and I had to run the iron over it to get the ribbon straight.   But it did bend nicely over my branches and so the 3 strips of ribbon were easy to glue on with the glue gun.

Then, a la Ruth Rae, whose book "layered, tattered & stitched", is my current craft bible  for interesting stitching projects -  If you don't have a copy yet, get one, it is well worth the small price - I stitched up the letters.


For the letters W and E I took an old pink linen napkin, folded it in half, and put some stuffing from an old bed pillow in it (pulled out to a very thin layer) to give it some body. I stitched up and down about a quarter inch or so apart in dark brown thread.   I then cut it in one inch wide strips and "built" them into letters.  Except the U, of course,  which I did freehand and which came out a bit too small I think.  But I considered it all my first Ruth Rae experiment.

From another red polka dotted napkin, I cut out a 4 hearts, sewed  two of them together  and stuffed it with the same old pillow stuffing.  Hand slip stitch the opening.

Then I glued the letters and the heart on the ribbon with the glue gun, added some little silk flowers here and there,  and glued the bottom of the three strips of white ribbon around another stick to give it some weight.

Finally, I added a bow, and a garland from the left over red dotted heart cut out pieces and a cord with which to hang it, and now it hangs on my front door, greeting visitors.

☯

~ Tranquility and Tolerance ~