Simple sewing - hearts

I have been lucky enough to have had a few weeks holiday over this festive season and I decided to use some of my lovely holiday time to do a few simple sewing projects. Believe me when I say that I have been wanting to do some sewing for a long time - my newish sewing machine was covered in dust. I am sure the lovely Kirstie Allsop would have been most unhappy with my efforts so far (if you don't know who Kirstie Allsop is I highly recommend you do some googling as she is just fantastic).

Now I am definitely not the best sewer in the world so I decided to make some simple hearts as cute additions to my home.

I used this blog from Design Sponge as inspiration and for the great heart template. Don't be tempted to use another heart template (which I did try and failed miserably) as this template ensures the point in the middle of the heart is not too deep (a deep point does not work well in this project).

I followed the instructions on this blog minus the additional pocket and I chose to fill my hearts with rice and lovely smelling dried lavender (I just love love love the smell of lavender).

The other additional thing I did was to add a ribbon for hanging. Now I added ribbon in a loop on some hearts (first photo) and strands on others. I find the strands are a bit more flexible as you can tie them to anything.

This project was so much fun. You can choose any fabric you like and raid your stashes of ribbon and buttons to make great colour combinations. If you don't have ribbon or button jars then you can go to the stores and buy some or check out the op shops for vintage loveliness.

What a great gift this would make for anyone and one of my beautiful friends will be receiving a few shortly. Just think about your friends house looks like and the colours they love and go nuts. There really are endless possibilities. Have fun!