Hearts and Flowers!! (Valentine Ornaments)

I never use graph paper for designing, except to try out charted Bargello patterns - but in this case, being already familiar with the size and area covered with these small center motifs, I have spent most of the day "doodling" on paper and a bit of canvas too. I don't use graph paper, as I can't visualize the end result according to scale and how it will ultimately look, so just working directly on the canvas has always been the best option.

Anyway - today the subject has been hearts, and I'm sure this phase will last for a few days - so stay tuned. Once the count for the "bargello" hearts is worked out, I can see many many different ways to use them. This first picture is the 4-way type, so if you want to experiment for yourself, it was made with DMC cotton floss - 8 plies to make the smooth upright stitches on 18 mesh canvas. While I was looking at it, I suddenly saw a diagonal of flowers, as I had marked the canvas as I usually do for four-way Bargello - so started that too. After stitching the little flowers, I counted out and marked a vertical line intending it to be the same width as my 4 1/4" circle for making an ornament, and then realized that it would work for a heart also.

One thing leads to another when passing the time playing around with pen, canvas, and paper, and so I made the diamond shape that would fit well around a single heart or the double ones - for a keyring, ornament, or scissors fob - or whatever else use you can think of. A great small project! After drawing the heart onto canvas, and setting it up for 4-way mitered stitching, I realized that divided into the four sections, after stitching the hearts and diagonal trim, one could stitch the four separate sections with a "fabric" replica, such as gingham checks, mattress tick going in different directions - whatever the imagination can come up with.

Notice that this heart has two stitches at the bottom of the V at the top and the bottom of the heart too to accomodate the upright stitches. I counted and marked the place to start the flower trim when using the four heart center - to give you an idea of how it's done.

The chart shows another heart that's fun to use - and you can see how these are developed, and may doodle a bit yourself and see what you can do!!

The grey slanted lines suggest that you can make long, slanted stitches for the background of the little diamond shaped ornament.