More Hearts

     Paper hearts - quick, easy, and you can make an endless supply in no time.  Crocheted hearts take a bit longer, but they're worth it.  I got a few patterns from Pinterest and ravelry.com.  I made my hearts out of #3 red cotton thread.  Then I stiffened them with straight out of the bottle laundry starch.  Some people use white glue for stiffening crochet projects.  The old timey method for hardening crocheted pieces is to use 2 parts sugar dissolved in 1 part water. 

The starching process was messy.  I put some starch in an old plastic bowl and soaked a heart for a few seconds until it was saturated.  I wrung out the excess starch, then blotted the heart on an old towel.  The next step was to shape the heart on some layers of cardboard which I covered with plastic wrap.  Once the heart was shaped, I pinned it with stainless steel pins and let it dry.  After drying overnight, I removed the pins and checked to see if the hearts were stiff enough.  I thought they could use more starching, so I used an old paint brush to coat them with some more starch.  The next day, I added strings for hanging. 

     I sent these hearts to a friend who plans to hang them in her windows. 

The hearts have arrived.