Crafty Friday

Yesterday the boy and I met up with E for a field trip to the Bellevue Arts Museum. They have a new quilt exhibit: American Quilt Classics, 1800 - 1980: The Bresler Collection. I wish I had some photos to share, but alas, no photography allowed. The collection included some gorgeous quilts. They grouped them into categories, including whole cloth, mosaics, albums, Amish, medallions, log cabins, and more. The boy precluded me getting to really focus too much on the details of each quilt (must be moving at all times!), but I really enjoyed the exhibit. There were some truly beautiful quilts on display and I came out feeling seriously inspired.

Later, the boy and I went over to E's house and we crafted it up! E saw some super-cute Valentine garlands being displayed around blogland (like this one) and decided it would be a quick and fun afternoon project.

Armed with my bag of red/white/pink fabric I joined E and her giant piles of felt, fabric, and trims. Now, though I do consider myself pretty crafty, the only garlands I've ever made have been paper chains at Christmas. I was feeling rather clueless as to where to even begin. So I sat back and observed as E got started on hers.


This is what she came up with. I love how she used the ribbon-- each heart is separate and then they can be chained together by tying the ribbons. And I also love the pinked edges. So cute!

Once I saw how hers was coming together, I got brave enough to get going on my own.


Somewhere in the center of the crafty chaos, you can see the start of my garland. Instead of ribbon, I went with a continuous strand of white rick rack. Each heart includes a backing fabric (I used the same fabric for each heart), two layers of felt or fleece (depending on what was closest at hand), and then a top fabric. To hold all the layers together, I used a decorative stitch around the perimeter of each heart (each one is different).

Fun fact: in doing this project, I realized I do not have a single heart-print fabric in my rather expansive stash. Crazy! Fortunately, E was happy to share a few of hers with me.

My garland finished around 9 feet long. I decided to hang it in my kitchen, over the pantry.


Right now it's being held up by tape. I might try using little tacks or nails at some point in the future. But overall, I'm pretty pleased with the happy little hearts.

Many thanks to E who helped me along, offering sage advice, materials, and great company. Yay for crafty friends!