Felt Hearts - 50 makes of Christmas 12/50

I pulled out my bag of felt to do a quick "stock take" before starting on my latest project and got a nice surprise as I found some sketches and ideas from last year.  Amongst them were the notes I made for some felt hearts I used in my advent adventure last year.  I liked them so wanted to make some more but a little smaller this year to hang on the tree.

I found the ideal template in one of my favourite book Handmade Scandinavian Christmas this book is filled with simple projects to follow or to provide inspiration for you to develop your own ideas.

I picked red grey and white felt in keeping with the colour palette in the book and also fitting into my own colour scheme.

I cut them out with the pinking shears to give them a bit of extra texture as my plan involves the hearts having external seams. I cut out two layers at the same time so I know that the front and back will have the same imperfections (all part of the handmade charm).

Next came the fun bit, choosing which buttons I would use to decorate them with

This is the selection I settled on

I wanted to hand sew these to add to emphasise the handmade element.  I started by sewing the buttons on the top heart and a short length of ribbon or string onto the back in a loop to hang the finish item from.

I then started sewing the front and the back pieces together, I stopped about an inch or so away from going all the way round and put in the stuffing, making sure that it was poked into every corner.  Then continued round to the where I started, I added a couple more stitches to help strengthen the hanging loop.

Voila the finished items

I think they look quite cute hanging on my little olive tree on the patio and I might dress it up come December.

Do you put up any decorations in your garden?