Mother is Love Decoration

This is a fun cross stitch project to make for mom. Have her read the saying every day: Another word for mom is love. It will make her heart melt.

Materials:

• Kreinik Silk Heritage Collection
• 36-count Edinburgh Linen (Zweigart) in Sand color
• #28 Tapestry needle
  Pattern
   

Steps:

1. Each square on the graph equals one fabric thread. Stitch this design using tent stitch over one thread. Use one strand of Silk Mori. For tips on using Silk Mori, visit the Silk Mori page on www.kreinik.com. (Note: if the fabric has a lot of sizing, ie feels stiff, you may wish to use a larger needle to open the hole in the fabric so that Silk Mori can move through smoothly).
    
2. Cut two pieces of linen. The first one 8" x 8" for the large heart, and the second one 6" x 6" for the small heart.
    
3. Center each design on the appropriately sized fabric. On the small heart, stitch your initials in the spaces provided using Silk Mori 3017 using the accompanying alphabet. The year is also stitched on the small heart using 3017 as indicated.

Finishing:

1. Our model was professionally finished by Marcia Brown at The Binding Stitch. The design is worked in two pieces that are linked together with twisted cord made of matching colors in embroidery floss. The large heart has more cording at the top so that it can be hung on a door knob, bed post, on the wall, etc.
    
2. The smaller heart attaches to the large one right below the point and has a tassel of embroidery floss on the end.
    
3. Alternatively, the two designs could be framed by heart-shaped purchased frames, or framed together with a specially-cut matboard of heart shapes.