This Valentine's Day, celebrate the crazy little thing called love with little "crazy" quilt hearts.
Also called "scrappy" hearts, they are made with pieces of quilt stitched in a haphazard fashion, and stuffed with lavender, said Liz Simpson, a New West elementary school teacher who has made a bunch of them as part of her Valentine's Day collection.
What Simpson loves about crafting the pocket-sized stuffies is that, much like love, “there are no rules to it," she said.
“You're just stitching pieces of fabric together randomly.”
However, the journey to discovering this technique has been far from random for Simpson.
It's a result of a longtime passion for stitching — one that goes back to the '90s.
The lockdown unlocks a passion for embroidery
Simpson was introduced to stitching when she was 12 years old, and worked at a stitchery between the ages of 17 and 22 — “That was in the ‘90s when cross-stitching was really popular.”
But the world of threads and needles took a backseat when she got into a teacher training program and started work as an elementary teacher.
Almost three decades later, when COVID forced the world to isolate, Simpson brought back a lost love from her distant past for company: stitching.
“It just snowballed from there,” she said.
Around that time, she noticed an “exploding” interest in all things embroidery (be it knitting, crocheting, etc.). More embroiderers were starting their own YouTube channels, offering online classes on Zoom, and sharing their work on social media, she said.
Suddenly, embroidery enthusiasts in North America had access to online classes from world over, including Europe where embroidery is far more popular than in Canada, noted Simpson.
The learning curve
Simpson was hooked; she took up online classes, scoured Instagram profiles (like those of the U.K.-based embroiderer Nicki Franklin's) for inspiration, built a mini embroidery library, and committed herself to stitching everyday.
Books like Embroidery by Lucinda Ganderton, Embroidered Country Gardens by Lorna Bateman, The Intentional Thread by Susan Brandeis and Textiles Transformed by Mandy Pattullo among others, exposed her to hundreds of stitching styles.
Simpson learned to do about a dozen of them including straight stitch, running stitch, split stitch, open fly stitch, pistol stitch, bullion knot and her favourite, the French knot.
"You don’t need to know many stitches to create a beautiful piece,” she said.
Every evening, after a busy day at work, she sewed for about two hours.
“It's my stress relief, my meditation and my creative outlet,” said Simpson.
She even maintained a linen journal to record patterns of pebbles, weeds and birds during one of her summer trips to Galiano Island.
Stitching had become part of her routine; and by the end of 2020, her creations filled up her house: “I was making and making… I was like, ‘What do I do with all this?’.”
Her online shop, Pins and Needles Stitchery, was born as an answer to this.
The business attracted interest on Instagram, has been part of craft sales and pop-ups, and now organizes flash sales on its website.
“It was very organic. I never set out for this,” she said.
“I still pinch myself... I'm still shocked by the fact that people love my pieces and want to buy them. I'm very grateful and humbled by it.”
How scrappy heart came to be
Over time, scrap pieces left over from her various projects grew into a sizable mound. Instead of trashing them, Simpson decided to find a way to re-purpose them into stuffed hearts.
But instead of opting to do a regular patchwork with structured and straight lines, she decided to add a bit of “crazy” to it, opting for a more loose and organic approach — which is how scrappy quilt hearts came to be, she said.
"There is something special about giving something old a new life, a new purpose" — in this case, as little tokens of love.
“I don’t know… it just feels right.”
Simpson’s Valentine’s Day sale on Jan. 28, starting 5 p.m., includes framed embroideries, basket stuffers/pin cushions, heart garlands and special Valentine cards besides the scrappy quilt hearts. Check out Pins & Needles Stitchery for details.
