Be My Valentine

Valentines Day is right around the corner. Not only is Valentines Day a great excuse to pull out paper, scissors and glue, doilies, glitter and jewels, but it is also gives one a good reason for a grand time for stitching with felt and creating needlework heart treasures for the day devoted to LOVE.

Now at the shop is a sample I just finished stitching called “Choco-lot Forget-Me-Knot “… It is described as a candle mat, but may also be used as a centerpiece for a small china dish of chocolates or homemade heart sugar cookies. And…speaking of cookies, here is my favorite personal baker, daughter Nelly’s favorite cookie recipe from an old "Pockets" magazine which makes perfectly delicious sugar cookies, just in time for Valentine baking.

yum...

Also available at the shop is this sweet hearts wool felt design, called “The Layers of My Heart”.
These kits retail for $36.00 and include pattern, wool felt, floss, needle and marking pencil, everything you will need, except interfacing.

Coming soon are some quick to make felt heart ornament patterns, nice to hang on a door or hang on a package. Chocolate maybe?

Or you can design a pattern of your own… I am in love with this perfectly darling little design by Mimi Kirchner.

And then , there is always just good old scissors and paper (free template from http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1592852/neiljrook_valentine_papercut_cutout.pdf)

In writing this, I have a thought about hearts… they are so tender and fragile. Sometimes we want to put them in a box… maybe swaddled in soft yarn, or cushioned fleece, just to protect them. It is hard sometimes, because when they are out in the open they sometimes get broken. It is hard to take them out and expose them to the possibility of hurt and pain, but somehow in a box they can never know love or learn the meaning of compassion. Sometimes hearts seem to be wrapped in a tangled web of pain and forgiveness, suffering and mercy, hurt and grace. I think sometimes to live is to love and to love is sometimes to experience joy as well as grief. These hearts we cut and sew and paint remind us that we are to keep on loving again and again despite the difficulties. I, myself, am a hopeless romantic. I love the heart motif and all it stands for. I love garlands of hearts, heart cookies, heart papercuts, heart quilts, heart cross stitch, painted hearts, but most of all I believe in the power of the love that dwells in the human heart and its capacity to overcome great difficulties. I have a ring that I wear and it is a daily reminder for me of an important truth. On it is etched these words...

AMOR VINCIT OMNIA

Love conquers all

And in the midst of hardship and life’s inevitable relational struggles, I try to remember these words.

And so, with scissors in hand, paper, glue, needle thread, paint, and glitter, flour, sugar and butter, Valentines Day here we come.

Bring on the hearts...