Valentine Creations

Here are some things I made this year in the Valentine theme:

First I made a bunch of stacked heart lapel pins. They are all reclaimed wool from thrift store sweaters, boiled wool jackets and sport coats. I felted them at home in the washing machine and dryer and I even overdyed some of the tweed wool. I used Cherry and Fruit Punch Kool-aid that time instead of the Wilton dyes.

I cut out the hearts in 3 graduated sizes and sewed them together. Some are stacked in penny rug fashion with blanket stitching. Others feature vintage buttons cut from wool jackets or sweaters. After adding a pin back, I had a basket full of Valentine pins. I sold most of them at school. I wore them on my coat, my hat, my sweaters, etc. and put up two posters in the teacher's workrooms.

I made a penny rug for myself with lots of hearts. The penny rug is not really a rug, it is a decorative mat made with wool. I tea-stained the wool background to make it look older. The hearts are stacked and stitched with perle cotton using a blanket stitch. The edge of this penny rug is finished with blanket stitching. Click on the picture to see more detail.

Here is the penny rug I made for Stacey, my sister. I used a black wool background and a color palette leaning more towards lavendars, purples and pinks. I cut out the letters "LOVE" from a felted sweater and attached them with blanket stitching. The project is finished off with narrow twill binding tape. I almost lost my cool stitching the binding on. At one point I threw it on the floor and resolved to not give it to my sister since it looked "terrible." But them I got ahold of myself and finished it for her.