Valentine’s Day is still a month away, but given the nature of 2020 and 2021 so far, looking forward to the next bright, colorful, candy-laden holiday is just what we need. Over the past two years, I have made a real effort to decorate for more than just Easter, Halloween, and Christmas. So, this year, I decided it was a good time to add a few Valentine’s Day decorations to the totes in the attic. I made a few temporary changes to our Easter wreath by adding some hand-stitched felt hearts and ribbons.
For inside, my youngest daughter was more than willing to bring in armfuls of red, pink, and heart covered stuffed animals to place around the living room. But still, the room needed a little more heart-themed inspiration to look more Valentine’s and less we-just-haven’t-picked-up-today. It needed something more official: little heart-shaped pillows.
I made three heart patterns using the shapes utility in MS Word.
Then I selected fabrics from my scraps stash in the garage and cut out three different colors in three different sizes. Yes, each heart pictured is actually cut from two layers of fabric.
The hearts were then stitched most of the way around with a sewing machine using a 1/4″ seam and bright pink thread, right sides together. I felt this was faster than switching threads a bunch of times. I did match the thread for hand stitching after stuffing, though.
After machine stitching, I figured out that clipping the seam allowance in the dip at the top of the heart kept it from puckering once flipped right side out.
My daughter sat on the floor and stuffed the pillows with fiber-fill while I stitched. I then used matching thread and a ladder stitch to close the opening on all nine pillows.
Although adorable, I still felt they looked a little plain. So, I added little white buttons with matching embroidery floss.
The sock monkeys on the mantle got the three smallest hearts, and the rest of the hearts stayed in the wooded tray on the fireplace hearth.
If these hearts are a little too “lobed” for you, you can shorten the upper rounded portion on the pattern to make the heart fuller. Here is the three hearts pattern I made in MS Word, feel free to make adjustments:
Now, we just need some Valentine’s chocolates for the candy dish in the entryway. On to making Valentine’s Day cards!
Hill County Homeschooler 