Valentine Hearts

Yes I know I am a day early but I might not get near the computer tomorrow so I thought I would just get on with my 'Valentine's Day' post today.
You may remember my earlier idea of 'felted, crocheted, beaded circles' (really must think of a catchier name!) that I featured in an earlier post. Well, thanks to all your positive feedback, I have decided to pursue them and have added these heart shaped versions.
It is quite hard to crochet a heart! This is a pattern from one of the best books I have found on crochet, "201 crochet motifs, blocks, projects and ideas" by Melody Griffiths. I am pleased to tell you that this will soon be available to buy from my shop. We had a very successful trip to Spring Fair in Birmingham this week, and one of the new things I ordered was a big range of lovely craft books. Soon I will be able to sit at work reading them all (for quality control purposes obviously!).
Here is the crocheted heart on it's own, padded, with a running stitch around the edge and the lovely button I got from 'secret santa'. This was a first attempt which I think worked better than some of the later versions!
The crochet bit in the felted hearts does look a bit wonky in the top photo (this doesn't look so bad in real life) so I think I might need to practice a bit more with the heart shape. But I like the colours and I even like the reverse side of them. Maybe I should just forget about the crochet?
I am thinking of making the 3 above into key rings to go alongside the mini quilts I made a few weeks back. The mini owls have now been released from their keyfob shackles as I decided that they should be free to just be owls (there are 8 of them now). It just seemed cruel to attach a metal keyfob to their heads! Plus Margueritte from Adventures in Quilting and Sailing made a very valid point that they were a bit fat for a key ring (no offense owls!).
This little silk and velvet hanging was a valentine present I made for my husband about 10 - 12 years ago. It is still hanging in our bedroom. It just shows how little my interests have changed over the years, as it features lots of beads, buttons and blanket stitch, all of which I have been using on the hearts I made last night! It's got a shisha mirror on it too, I must buy some more of these as they are lovely to use as embellishments and really fun to do once you get the hang of them.
And speaking of my Valentine, not only is he a wonderful, loyal, romantic husband (he nearly always makes me a beautiful valentine card), he is also a very talented photographer. He just launched his own photography website last week called 'Natural Light'. I have installed a link button at the top of the page or just click here to take a look at his amazing photos.

Happy Valentine's Day Jonathan! xxx