Valentine's Day 2018

I always have enjoyed this sweet little holiday in February......after the Christmas decorations come down.....the house always looks a little sad and all those red and pink hearts just fit the bill and brighten things up until spring starts to appear.

A box full of hearts from a lot of special people over the years.....be still my beating heart!

A wonderful hybrid valentine book (one of Heidi Swapp's)  full of vintage images and family photos.

This such a cute picture from 2012.......it's on the refrigerator at the moment too.  Some of the grands several years ago with big  lips.....that are whistles!  Too fun!

In honor of our 45th anniversary......a few memories and a memento or two of that time!

The bride and groom dolls were from my Great-grandma Rose Weaver......she always had this set with the bridesmaids too.  I put out the bridesmaids at Easter because they are all dressed in pastels.  The candle, blue ceramic bucket, the bell, sugar flowers off our cake.......all from our wedding day.  The two hearts in counted cross stitch was from our friend Jan on our 10th anniversary.  It was so cool to take Lizzie's photo shoot of us and make them into a book.  The quilt on the wall was a gift from my Sadie Quilt Group, back in the day for my birthday.  I LOVE that quilt. 

I am just getting over being sick and watched more videos and tv for hours.....so much so I was sick of that too.  But one of the fun videos I caught was from Missouri Star Quilt Company and this cute, fast heart piece and I had just the fabric to do it with. Missouri Star Heart Quilts

The cool thing about this piece....the background is all done from the same charm pack, I just turned them over and have the wrong side face up......they become this wonderful muted background that fits so well with the front.  Clever!

The right side of the fabric becomes the wrong side!

The finished top....that won't get quilted by tomorrow, but there is always next year and it's always fun to crank out a finish in a short period of time!

Happy Valentine's Day and show love to your friends and family!

Valentine Love

Remember the banner from my mother's birthday party, well the banner has morphed from my mom's birthday party, to Christmas and on to Valentine's Day!  I haven't gotten tired of it yet and whether I am having a party or not....it makes me smile when I walk past the doorway!

Here are some of the valentine hankies I found in my "hoard" of hankies.

This is a pale pink dotted Swiss hankie....very cute.  Not too practical for a hankie I  would say.

My mom taught school for several years and hankies were one of the teacher gifts of choice at that time.  Then I have bought a box or two at auctions and all my grandma's had nice collections as well.  So let's just say I might have a vintage suitcase full of hankies....not saying I do....but it could be possible.

As I was pulling ones for the Christmas banner, I notice all the Valentine ones....so cute!  So I must do a Valentine's banner too!

I love the edges on many of them....so fun!

Sweet designs....

Look at those corners....this might be one of my favorites!

Fun little border print with tiny scallop edges.

This one is embroidered with my Great-grandma's name....with a lovely crocheted edge, which I think she would have done.  It is not in good condition....so I am sure it was well used.

Little hearts all around and tiny scallop heart border.

 Don't you just love these little pieces of sweetness!

 Cute border prints!

Love the edging on this one too....way too cute!

Happy Valentine's......sorry for the glare....too many windows in my dining room!  I always struggle taking pictures in there.

 Be My Valentine banner .....isn't that cute!  I sewed the paper letters on a piece of rick rack and finished the loops on each end with red buttons.

We had a couple visitors last weekend for Sam's 8th birthday.  He invited his sister, Cora, to share his sleepover.  The kids love to make designs with Perler beads.  You can get them at the local craft store, I even scored a bunch of them at Goodwill one time.  :)

We played Valentine Bingo and I know two kids that won some prizes....what's not to like about that?

Happy 8th Birthday, Samuel!

Isn't this just a hoot....I took this picture last year of some of the tribe and I got some free $$ from Shutterfly....so I dressed this pic up in Photoshop Elements and had it made into a puzzle.  To say it is stinkin' cute....... is an understatement.  The grands will love doing it!

Happy Valentine's Day to my Sweetie Pie.....we're off to do something fun today!

Right click and you can save it!

The Year of the Little Black Dress Part Deux

Remember this?  I wrote about this at little lovely at Coldwater Creek right after Christmas while shopping for a pair of black jeans.  If you haven't, go back and check out the December 30, 2011 post.  So this won't get too wordy, I am going to add a few random valentine's pics for you to enjoy!!!! 

This week was a big week around here.  After 3 years of study for my "Silver Fox" it came down to 75 questions to pass his RN boards.  We ended up traveling to Rochester, MN to pass Iowa boards.....now doesn't that make sense?  It was the closest location we could find so he could take it this week.

A cross stitch piece I did several years ago, I love the frame too.

So while he was taking the test I was at the nearby mall, shopping and praying for my guy to do his best.  And what was the first store I happen to spot......Coldwater Creek, here I come.  Now just remember I don't have one close by.....  so this gets me excited.  I head to the sale racks and start going through every item and what to my wondering eye should appear but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer........no that's not right....couldn't help myself.  :)

But there was the little black dress I so loved 8 weeks ago, marked down twice since then and then an additional 50% off.  I was beside myself.  So I hauled two different sizes to the "dress up" room.  And while I was trying them on.....Adele came on singing .......Rolling In The Deep.....  which for some reason that is still not clear to me, I LOVE this song.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XV9IQ_JzDhg&feature=related

Well, I took this as a sign...the clearance price pretty much had me as long as it didn't look like a sack on......which it didn't.  So I now have this little sweet thing hanging in my closet waiting.......

I made this valentine for Jeff last year.  On a whim hung it in front of Susan  Banch's book.....looks so neat!!!

After checking my watch a couple times thinking of my guy killing himself on this test.  He finally called ....the test took a little over an hour and the computer shut down at question 75, which was the minimum number of questions you could take.  To say this was an emotional moment right there in Apache Mall was an understatement as he met me and burst into tears as soon as he saw me.  We stood right there hugging, crying and pretty much oblivious to everyone around us.  As we finally could say this journey is finished. 

A beautiful valentine that my Grandma K. received at some time....isn't it stunning?

After pulling ourselves together I told him about finding the dress, the song, the clearance, the sign......then the bag with said dress.  He loved it.....now where to wear this baby on it debut.......stay tuned!!!

P.S.  I am taking a little break, but will be back in a couple weeks hopefully with some inspiring things to share with you. 

Happy Valentine's Day To You

A fun stack of " embroidered love" on my old kitchen scale all gifts from my friend, Normajean.

A ladder full of red quilts and stack of "love" books.

Valentine Greetings!!!

A valentine to my "Silver Fox" several years ago.  Find a verse that you love and print it out in several fonts and sizes.  Audition on a light box and trace the lettering with your light box and pigma pen.  Beautiful!!!

I added some silk ribbon embroidery too.  I just saw some linens like this at the dollar store for a buck.

Still life on my treadle, the young girl is my Grandma T. as a young girl.

I love pincushions, this is a sweet little red beauty with crocheted blooms.

A treasure box full of pink loveliness.

A box full of red hugs and kisses.

Happy Valentine's Day from me to you.

(Right click on the clip art and save if you wish.)

Valentine Button Heart

It is snowing here in the frozen tundra of Ioway today!!!  Been snowing ALL day....so a great day to work on a little valentine project.

Since this little sweet heart is going on my Valentine tree, I like to finish it on both sides.  So to come up with my heart shape I used a vintage Valentine fabric and cut it out 1/4" larger than the design.  But you could use any fun heart print that you had or liked.

To make it symmetrical, I cut half of it and then folded it in half and cut the other side.

Place your print fabric on a white piece of wool or felt, right sides together and stitch around the outside edge with an 1/8" seam leaving no opening.

Cut out the wool using your print fabric as you guide.  Clip carefully at the top "V" of the heart, not cutting through the seam allowance.  You don't need to trim the seam, since it is narrow.

Pull the fabrics apart and cut a small slit in the center of the wool fabric, being careful not to cut through to the other side.

Turn right side out through the slit opening and stuff tightly to make a nice heart shape.

Using a single strand of pearl cotton or  a couple strands of embroidery floss, feather stitch around the outside seam.

Then hand stitch the opening close leaving the wool nice and flat.....tack a loop of ribbon to this side as shown.

Then using red pearl cotton cover the wool side with buttons...filling is as necessary.

I added a ribbon rose to the top on the other side.  A fun two sided valentine for a special valentine.