Big doin's going on around here today...we'll be having a Valentine's feast tonight, starting with a shot of roasted tomato soup, followed by a nice salad with spring greens, fresh herbs and thinly sliced English cukes and radishes (cut into heart shapes, of course!) and then the main dish...surf and turf...lobster tails ($5 each, thanks Safeway!) and filet mignon, both served with butter and a side of Oregon Blue Cheese sauce for the steak...risotto and a side of grilled asparagus, and then, to finish things off, we're going to have a very basic Strawberry shortcake...Angel food cake with macerated strawberries, whipped cream and a drizzle of passion fruit pulp. Sounds good, right? Well that's the plan; The Boy will be acting as my sous chef as he is the one who INSISTED on having this meal...the mister offered to take us out for dinner...to The Dead Red Lobster with dessert to follow at Dairy Queen...yes, hard to pass on that...so we're staying home and hoping for the best...no recipes for today but if anything I have planned works I'll let you know!
Moving on...Thanks once again to Pinterest, I came across a cute idea for making a felt Valentine envelope. The Crafting Chicks came up with this idea, and I think they show a no-sew version using glue. I decided to sew mine and I whipped up several in a very short time - felt and ric-rac - very easy. I will tell you, if you decide to make some, using the stiff felt is the way to go. It holds the shape and is easy to sew on; if you use regular soft felt, you'll have a very cute but floppy envelope.
Thanks to my friend Stephanie for the very cute Cherubs on my envelopes! A year ago Stephanie had been thrifting at her favorite place, Value Village, where she picked up a bag of miscellaneous Christmas ornaments and I was the lucky recipient. In the bag were several plastic cupids... they are perfect on my little envelopes, no?
My new Valentine table runner made it's debut this morning...I like how it turned out. It was also inspired from a Pottery Barn Kids Valentine runner from a few years back. I wanted something that was mostly white so whatever I put on the runner would show better...
For example, I love my little heart runner, but it seemed to get lost on my big table...placing it on top of my new plain runner makes it look so much better!
To make the runner I used two pieces of white fabric and batting, measuring 18 x 40 inches. I hand drew the words with a water-soluble marker, then hand-embroidered them with two strands of floss. The runner is machine quilted with little hearts and the binding was sewn down by hand...have yet to see a machine binding that I like. As for the little hearts...I sewed two hearts, right sides together, and then turned them right side out; I did not slip stitch the opening closed. I used different colored red fabrics and then pinned them onto the runner where I wanted them. I machine-stitched the hearts onto the runner, using a blanket stitch, going around each heart, closing all of the open seams.
My only regret about this runner is that I didn't finish it sooner! It's been rather hectic around here lately...too much work, not enough play...I think a self-intervention is in order...I'll let you know how it goes! In the mean time...
Happy Valentine's Day to You!