valentine countdown

in the beginning of January when I started packing up all the Christmas stuff Lily about broke down. she just loved it so. our house was just so beautiful. there will never be anything fun again.
when she found out that Valentines Day was the next big holiday coming up she began asking if we could put up decorations (and hasn't stopped).

I didn't have any. how dare you, mom. the only holiday that has all her favorite colors and I wasn't adequately prepared!

we started making things and now I'll share them with you.



and now for my very un-tutorial-like tips for making one:

• first made the back. fabric/batting sandwich. mine's about the size of a placemat. you know what? just USE A PLACEMAT
• my little pockets are lined with batting to make them nice and thick. I sewed an inside-out mini pillowcase, flipped it, shoved flat batting inside and folded the bottom unifinished edge over. this part is on the bottom of my little pockets. then stitched a U shape to attach them
• bonus: when you iron the little pockets with batting inside they get flat and the batting (if you used poly) melts to itself and makes it about like interfacing (or I guess you could just use interfacing)
• my numbers are made of first white paint....then red sharpie
• red giant ricrac was just hot-glued to the back of the whole thing as an let's-fancy-this-up afterthought
• I also glued a couple of thick popsicle sticks go the back going along the top edge to keep it flat while it's hanging. I actually did sew boning inside trying to accomplish that but it was too bendy
• if you glue on popsicle sticks after your pockets are sewn be sure that your pockets still have enough give to open. my top 2 are a little snug since the sticks are holding everything straight and tight.

wow, does anyone want to hire me to write the text for patterns because I'm pretty awesome. let's pretend that's how people talk in Wyoming. crazy-style. oh, they do.