Blanket-stitched Felt Hearts

From the first moment of December 1st,

it is decreed that I am finally allowed to play Christmas songs.

{If I had my way, I think I would play them all year round...but possibly I would have to move into a lonely, but very musically fulfilled, cave far away.}

Don't you just love this time of year: creating the feeling of Christmas magic around the house?

The carols,

the decorations,

the wondrous meaning of it all,

the excitement.

Today, I'm joining in with Make It Merry,

hosted by Diane at Home Sweet Homemade.

This year, I thought I'd drive the Christmas Magic Santa Express

for my own felty project.

It was pretty easy but gave a fanTAStic result. So easy that I made two.

And so gorgeous that I keep I will be keeping them up all year.

{See, already I made my hermit cave more homely.}

Do you want to have a go?

Is Santa's belt tight round his wobbly tummy?

Course it is!

Here's a tutorial just for you...

All you need to do is this:

Cut out two large red hearts of the same size,

one medium sized cream or grey heart

and one small red heart

{you can, of course, choose the colours of your dreams, but I rather like the look of the small and large hearts being the same colour and the medium heart providing some kind of contrast}

Pin the small heart to the medium heart.

{I like it centred but, again, you can choose to offset if that appeals to you.}

Then, using three strands of a contrasting embroidery thread and an embroidery needle, blanket stitch all around the edge of the little heart to attach it to the medium sized heart.

Do exactly the same with the medium heart

onto one of the big hearts.

{Try if you can to make your blanket stitches the same size all around the hearts, and pay special attention to the pointed base for a super-neat finish.}

Then stitch the two large hearts wrong sides together, leaving a gap at the top. Pour generously into your felt heart the filling of your choice for

a really plumptious look.

I used organic lavender.

{Yum.}

Then continue the blanket stitching,

leaving a large loop of thread at the top for hanging.

The last stage, to stop your filling from seeping out through the stitching, is to machine stitch around the edge of the large heart, following the line along the bottom of the blanket stitches.