IHQ 3 -- Happy Valentine's Day!

Just in time for Valentine's Day, I found two panels in the International Honor Quilt box yesterday that are perfect for the holiday.

Here's a piece made by a group of quilters in Evanston IL in 1982.  The maker of the concentric hearts with the crochet medallion was Kay Burlingham; the maker of the brown appliqued hearts was Marissa Zwick.  Each of the makers left a threaded needle in the panel, ready to take up for more stitching.

Here's a piece made by Sally Jane Nelson in honor of her mother.  She found an old linen handkerchief or tablecloth, so finely woven and well used that it is almost translucent.  At the right, elaborate floral embroidery from its first life; on the wrist, a bit of cutwork embroidery.

She put the heart and hand onto the panel with beautiful shadow applique, putting pink and red shapes underneath the handkerchief and outlining them with hand quilting.  What beautiful work!

And now for something completely frivolous

My to-do list is long these days but I've made huge progress during a week of "vacation," during which my husband went to Florida to seek some warmth and I got to stay home in the studio.  So after four days of impressive achievement, I decided to take the afternoon off and make something silly.  It's so easy to make Valentine hearts out of your assorted pink and red scraps, trapped between layers of tulle with lots of stitching, and some years I even remember to do this enough in advance that I can actually put them in the mail to arrive before Valentine's Day.

My realization this year is that Valentine hearts aren't just for Valentine's Day.  I made a bunch and saved several for use throughout the year -- stick one in a card to your sick friend, or in a birthday card, or tie it on a present, or just hand it to your hostess.

If you want a tutorial on how to make these little guys, here it is.  But I'll confess that my process this year was a lot simpler than the one I described in 2010.

I have abandoned the Solvy.  I trapped a lot of fabric bits between two layers of tulle, stitched around the edges so none would escape, then scribbled a bit in the middle to hold the scraps in place.  Where I saw blank spots, I added more scraps on top, catching them in the scribbles.  Finally I put a third layer of tulle over the top and stitched again.

I also abandoned the needle for making the cord loops.  Instead I just cut a length of cord, put a knot in it, and caught the knot end in the stitching.

So there's still time for you to make some hearts for your sweetie, your sister, your friends.  Why don't you take the afternoon off and devote it to love.

Cute little crafty things

My sister found three wonderful little doodads at a Christmas bazaar and we oohed and aahed over how clever they were and how easy to make, should the spirit move you.

Here's a tiny felted wool bowl, about three inches across.  The bowl was knitted, then tossed into the washer and dryer to felt and shrink it.

Here's a rose made from a man's tie.  This one is fitted as a hair clip, but it could be made as a pin or maybe even strung on a cord for a necklace.  Check out the bottom view for a clue as to how it's put together.

Finally, here's a sink scrubby, crocheted from strips of nylon tulle, cut from a roll.  (Don't know how wide the strips were, sorry.)

I know Christmas is over, but Valentine's Day approaches.  Could there be a more romantic gift than a handmade sink scrubby?  Probably you should do it in red.  And if you're really good at crochet, maybe you could make it heart-shaped.

Be my valentine

It occurs to me that this blog is called "Art With a Needle" but there hasn't been very much discussion of art with needles.  I will remedy that.

I was in the fabric store, bumped into a rack of tulle and remembered that Valentine’s Day is coming up – but still far enough away that I could sew up some hearts and get them to my assorted faraway loved ones before the appointed time. Usually I have these brilliant ideas the week after, so I was energized.

Making tulle doodads is the easiest sewing project you can possibly do. The only supplies you need are some tulle and some Solvy.

Cut a sheet of Solvy (I cut about nine inches worth off the six-inch roll) and three sheets of tulle a little bit larger than the Solvy. Put one tulle down on the table, then the Solvy, then another tulle. I used two colors of tulle, a red and an orange.

Now get a bunch of tiny bits and pieces of fabric, thread, lace, yarn, whatever you find on your work table or floor or miscellaneous drawer. I found some sheer fabric, some bits of gold cord, a piece of fancy netting with gold inlays, a metallic orange “raffia” cord, and a bunch of fabric snips in reds and purples.

Arrange the bits and pieces evenly over the sheets of tulle, then put the third sheet of tulle on top of everything. You may want a couple of pins to hold it all together and to keep the bits from falling out as you slide the package to the sewing machine.

The fun part: sew and sew and sew the layers together, trapping the bits and pieces inside the tulle sandwich. The Solvy holds everything firm while you sew. I used red cotton thread in the needle and metallic gold in the bobbin (my machine doesn’t like metallic threads on top so I humor it). Eventually you will get tired of sewing and will take the sandwich out.

I used a Sharpie to draw hearts on the sandwich, then switched to a darning foot and went around the outlines once or twice.  I cut the hearts out just outside the outline stitching.  Finally, you soak the hearts in hot water to dissolve the Solvy.

If you are making a lot of hearts, the second batch is even easier because you will save up the snips from the first batch and recycle them into filling for the second sandwich. I saved the snips from my second batch in a little plastic bag and stashed them in my miscellaneous drawer for next year.

One final construction tip: here’s how to put on the hanging cords most efficiently. Thread your needle with your cord of choice but do not cut the thread off the spool. Thread all the hearts onto the cord and push them a good ways up toward the spool so they don’t fall off. Now take the first heart, slide it back toward the end, cut off enough cord for its hanging loop, and knot it. Repeat with the second heart and all the rest.