One More Valentine Decoration

   I like to hang garlands from two set of spotlights in my ceiling for holidays and seasons.  It's a great way to keep decorations from prying kitty noses and paws.  I found some ultra cute red gingham hearts at Hobby Lobby yesterday and I had to have them to make a garland for Valentine's Day (even though they were not on sale).

   These hearts needed loops and I know the easy way would be to get some red ribbon and glue that to the hearts, but I don't have any pretty red ribbon, so today at 5:00 a.m. I was rooting around in my fabric stash looking for some red fabric to make loops.  I wasn't sure I would find any because I don't have a lot of red fabric because of the dye running issues it has, so I usually stay away from red. 

   I was lucky I found a piece of red with tiny white polka dots on it in and that became the fabric for my loops.  I cut the fabric into 2" x 4" pieces and folded it up, ironed them, and sewed the folded edge closed..  I plugged in the glue gun and glued the ends together to make the loops and glued the loops onto the back of the hearts.  This project took about an hour and a half from fabric finding to finish.  So easy, fun and adorable.  I'll be stringing these up with some jute twine.

Scrappy Valentine Day Hearts

           I'm supposed to be working on Christmas decorations but I found a picture of a scrappy heart quilt and since it's almost Valentine's Day, I had to make a couple.  This is a  pattern on etsy that popped up when I did a Google search for heart quilts.  The picture that popped up had a nice grid and you could just count how many of square and half square triangle you need in each row.   Since it was so easy to look at and copy I did not want to pay $4.00 for the pattern.  So I guesstimated what sizes I would make the half square triangles (I used 3" squares) and regular squares (2.75" squares) and just started cutting and sewing.  The seams don't all line up but that's okay, I like it like that.  I found all this fabric in my stash of scraps and pieces and I even got a chance to use some scrap batting in them.  It sure was nice to be able to use material I already had and not have to go shopping.

          I did simple cross hatch quilting and I put two triangles on the back to slip a dowel stick in for hanging.   I'll be making more of these for other holidays as well as just decorating around the house.  I want to make a blue and yellow one for the kitchen to keep up all year round and a green and pink one for my bedroom.  I may have to make an animal print one for the cat's room as well.