It’s probably not a shocker that someone who confesses to an obsession with rosy colors, as I did in my last post, might be pretty hot on Valentine’s Day as well. What with pink and red heart-bedecked cards, chocolates, and rosebud posies, February 14 is a silly, sentimental diversion that I absolutely adore.
Beyond that, though, Valentine’s Day is all about celebrating aching, hopeful, yearning . . . hearts. I can’t help it: I love a romantic ending. To me, every heart beat is an opportunity. As long as your heart thumps in your chest, you’re alive and you can do anything–like sending us a valentine for our challenge (click that heart icon for details!). We’ll award prizes and display the collection of entries in our newly inaugurated See How We Sew gallery (click for a preview) through the end of February.
Now that my sons are grown and I don’t get the vicarious pleasure of a school valentine exchange, I try to think of ways to keep the spirit of the day. My latest diversion is making little heart pillows to hang on doorknobs or drawer pulls. Sometimes they’re sachets as well, but mostly they’re just pretty bibelot (good seven-letter Scrabble word, BTW). This year, though, I’ve been sidetracked by a quest to list heart words and phrases and that, in turn, has inspired a “black-hearted” piratical valentine. (Gotta admit to loving sea-faring, bodice-ripper romances with sword-wielding corsairs and damsels in distress. What’s not to like–other than embarrassingly cheesy book covers that I want to hide?)
Be mine Jack Sparrow, you black-hearted rogue!
Jack Sparrow’s valentine (click here to download PDF) was so much fun to make that I’ve placed the instructions in our Pattern Library to share. Also, take a look at my list of heart words and phrases before you start; you just might find unexpected inspiration for your own riff. At last count, after an evening spent in hearty brainwork, my snarky eldest son and I came up with an easy 114, and we’re still finding stupidly obvious ones we missed.
If I’ve whet your appetite for valentine fare, you can find much theme-appropriate creativity online. It’s astonishing to see the extent of the heart-shaped craft and quilting universe collected on image-compiling websites like Pinterest and Google Images. And that’s just the inedible category. Check out the mouthwatering heart-themed foods and candies at Google Images.
Craft & Quilting Valentine Resources
Sisters Marina and Daryl Lyn at Quilt Inspiration gather links to free quilt patterns from top designers at their fabulous blog:
Hearts & Valentines Part I: http://quiltinspiration.blogspot.com/2012/01/free-pattern-day-hearts-and-valentines.html
Hearts & Valentine Part II: http://quiltinspiration.blogspot.com/2012/01/free-pattern-day-hearts-and-valentines_04.html
The go-to page for the full Martha Stewart valentine array: http://www.marthastewart.com/276967/valentines-day?tab=index
So now that I’ve delivered a multifaceted valentine experience to you, do send us a photo of a heartfelt valentine that you’ve created by February 10, 2012, and perhaps you’ll win a prize?!?
