Hearts and Thorns

Inspired by Valentines day, and also requiring several cards for various reasons, as previously discussed, I discovered the addictive art of cutting tiny hearts out of tiny fabric scraps and then glueing them onto card, and adding other delicious bits and pieces such as beads, sequins and glass painting outline paste. Thus, I have a healthy stock of cards (which are now nearly all spoken for!) ...

I cut out so many hearts that I had to find a box to put them all in! I sent Mr. to the shop to find an appropriate vessel. He came back with this tiny tin, not only appropriate to its contents, but also to the day ..

And ever inspired by all things romantic and arty at this time of year, I made a birthday present for my dear friend BrainStorm who paints passionate pictures, writes novels, pantomimes and children's books, and other wonderful things including his new blog. It's one of my Moleskine book covers adapted from my original tutorial.

My big disappointment of the day was that I nearly finished my new corset, but ... IT DIDN'T FIT!! Boo hoo ... Not only do I now have nothing to wear on Saturday night, but I have such sore fingers from a day of hand stitching the necessary stabilising tack stitches required before sewing the boning channels. I'm not really sure what went wrong- perhaps the cup size (?), but suffice to say, that if I lace it as tight as I like to (as designed), I end up with 6 boobs which shouldn't happen despite the most ardent of male fantasy! Ebay, here it comes (for somebody with B not D cups)...

For Valentines day, Mr. took a surprise day off . He had intended to take me to see Sweeny Todd, but unfortunately the cinemas change their viewing times on Thursday's so the expected midday viewing had been moved to 3pm which made it impossible considering school. How much disappointment can a girl take?! We decided to visit a nearby cotswold village for lunch instead, and despite all the odds, tucked away and up a staircase, I managed to find a specialist needlework shop selling a book which made me very excited indeed! One of my resolutions this year is to learn how to knit, but I've been a bit confused and confuddled about which book to buy. This one speaks my language and unexpectedly, it has made up for my corset consternation because it inspired me again, and made me laugh. There is even a blog to read! Hurrah!