Hanging Heart for Needles

I don't know about you but I find sewing needles ridiculously easy to lose.  Where do they go?

So I came up with a stupidly-easy-to-make place to stash them, which (I think) also happens to be quite pretty.

Then I hung it on the wall by my sewing machine.  It's the little heart on the right:

In case you might want to do something similar, I've put together a quick tutorial.  This is so quick to make, you could have it done in 10 minutes.  Seriously!  It was that quick to make that I forgot to take step-by-step photos, but I really don't think you'll need them.

You'll need:

Felt in two colours (I used red and pale blue)
Tape, ribbon or string (mine was recycled from something long-ago-forgotten)
Sewing thread (contrasting , mine is black)
A button (optional)

This is how to make your needle hanger:

Cut out two hearts in the backing felt (red)
Cut out one (slightly smaller) heart in the contrasting colour (pale blue)

Layer the hearts on top of each other. Stitch the three hearts together, with the raw edges of the tape/ribbon tucked in the top edge between the two backing hearts, making a loop for hanging.

To create the sketchy outlined feel, stitch three times using black thread and don't be too precise - it's the little wobbles that help create the sketchiness!

That's it, really.  You could add a button to pretty it up.

Hang it next to your sewing machine and you are more likely to remember where you stashed that needle!  In fact, if you are anything like me, this visual (and easily accessible) reminder makes it more likely that you will actually use it and not leave your needles lying around...

If you like the idea of somewhere pretty to stash your scissors, too, here's the tutorial for the heart-shaped scissor keeper just in case you missed it first time around.