I heart Christmas

I wanted some slightly padded hearts to tie onto Christmas presents this year, but didn't want to involve the sewing machine as wanted to curl up on the couch at night under a blanket, thanks to the coldest start to summer in 50 years.

So, during the day, I traced a large heart-shaped biscuit cutter onto two pieces of fabric, which I then cut out with pinking shears.

In the evening, I sewed around the edges with embroidery thread, leaving a gap at the top, into which I stuffed a few feathers from an old cushion insert. Slipped in a piece of ribbon, finished the stitching and then put buttons on either side so that the hearts are reversible.

The cards I made during the day, with bits and pieces I pulled out of the craft cupboard. Apart from the doiles. I picked up a pack of 250, made from biodegradable sugar cane pulp, for about $4 the other day at The Essential Ingredient. I see many an experimental doily project coming up.

The Child was inspired and now wants to make cards for her friends. I didn't expect her request to make variations of my doily card as her grandmother, my mother, is quite the doily abusing decorator and thought The Child had been scarred for life. When I sewed doilies onto a vintage blanket to hide a few holes, she thought I'd gone mad.

But she's come round. I have a convert.

Hallelujah.