Valentines

Here are our Valentine treats. The first is the "box of candy hearts" I made for my hubby. Below that are the two big bouquets of carnations he gave me. They're gradually all opening and quite lovely.

This was a mildly frustrating feeling weekend. On Sunday morning I realized it was because I was procrastinating beginning stitching on my TIF February piece.

When I think about it in retrospect, I did a lot. I got the piece pressed, basted to muslin and mounted on a stretcher frame. I went down into my basement stash and found all the gold metallic threads and all the crystal, gold and pearl beads I could find.

I also did a lot of things to procrastinate stitching, including laundry, errands, basting the margins in a sampler I plan to begin for a nephew's high-school graduation in June, and reading. I also found things to do in the kitchen, where the bouquets are residing. They really brighten the place up! Oh, and we watched the Daytona 500 (usually a big stitching time for me because it's easy to do both most of the time).

I also continued with my weekly clear-out. I have boxes of magazines I've stashed in the basement and they're getting musty and there are just too many to be of any use--I can't find what I want when I want it. So I'm going through a pile each week and pulling out the article or two I want to keep and recycling the rest. I don't pull anything from some issues and those I bring to guild meetings or send to a local animal shelter resale center that likes craft items. I can't do too many each week or it overloads the recycling bin. This is a wonderful procrastination activity.

I finally gave myself a talking to and at about 9 p.m. picked up a needle. After pulling out at least a dozen spools of thread, I ended up, thus far using only one: the DMC metallic that comes in skeins. I got the five arms of the candelabra done. I started the base and then realized I'd basted it off center. I ripped it out and decided to pad it a bit so I used some ribbon floss to lay the new lines and pad it a bit. I'll do a diagonal satin stitch over that. By the time I'd stitched, I'd already done my scanning for the day, but I'll try and scan the piece midweek.

Valentine's Day

I've taken some time out from my TIF challenge to work on a Valentine for my hubby. I usually give him something I've made from a poem to an embroidery.
This year I've been making lots of yo-yo hearts with my Clover tools, using quilting fabrics in pinks, reds and whites.
I then stacked the little hearts onto bigger ones and tied them together with floss and old mother-of-pearl buttons. I ended up with 20 stacks.
Last night I stitched my stacks in to five rows of four hearts. Originally that was my plan and I'd be done but I decided that it needed a backing.
So late last night I cut out and pressed two different quilt-fabric rectangles, slightly larger than my hearts, and from a third fabric I cut a bias binding and pressed that in half. I also cut out batting.
This morning before work I pinned it together and then decided it needed a bit of trimming so I came to work with pink and red threads all over my black pants. Tonight I'll seam my bias and stitch it to the "quilt" and top it with the hearts.