December 3, 2019 – Heart Christmas ornaments

         Our church, the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, is having their annual Christmas bake sale this coming Saturday, the 7^th of December and I am making goodies for it.

         At the last meeting, they mentioned there would be a craft corner and that got my crafty/creative mind to ponder.  Last year I researched snow flake designs I could embroider with beads and then I fell out with the flu and the project was immediately shelved.

         First, I dug out the snowflake designs and then I thought about what I could make for Christmas ornaments.  I dug around in my felt box and pulled out the pattern for a “country heart” which is a lopsided type heart.  Then I dug out the beads and crewel yarn and pondered about the felt.

         AH HAH – I had been given two old wool Army blankets by a friend who indicated they were too hot for her.  They are warm, but twin size and don’t cover my bed completely.  But, I am not one to toss things out.  During one episode of the flu, I had one of them tossed over the top of my blankets for extra warmth and darn if I didn’t overturn a cup of hot cocoa, what a mess.  But, what was worse, I couldn’t get the stain out. 

         I washed the blanket a couple of times and as is the case with real wool blankets when washed, they become felted and softer.  I set the blanket away with the idea of making a vest or a jacket to keep warm – just cut around the stain – as the fabric was soft to the touch. 

         I traced a country heart shape with a pen around the cardboard pattern over, and over again along the length of one side of the felted wool blanket.  I studied my snowflake designs for a simple six-sided design and found one that would fit within the heart shape.  I sliced off the row of hearts, and carefully cut them out with fabric shears.  Amazing how lovely just the heart shapes felt and looked. 

        

         I made a template by drawing the snow flake design on a piece of cardboard and then took that to a spare piece of soft wood and pounded a small nail at each tip and the center.  I now had a snowflake template with seven holes and could lay it over a cut out heart and poke a colored pencil in the hole and twirl it to leave a small reference dot.

         One evening I affixed pearl beads in a starburst design and then embroidered between them. I stitched two of the embroidered hearts back-to-back and stuffed them, ending with attaching a hanging loop.

         That was relaxing and fun.

         I hope everyone who reads this can find inspiration or creativity to tackle a little craft project or bake some holiday goodies as that is what Christmas is all about - using the talents that God has given you.