Padded Cath Kidston hearts

We've had a bit of a holiday this week so we haven't done much sewing to speak of. But we managed to knock these hearts up made out of Cath Kidston material. We're not sure about the design but we wanted to have a practice at machine applique...using a close zig zag stitch (almost satin stitch). It took a while to get our machines on the right settings. Too close a stitch and the material puckered. My machine kept protesting by snagging too which made it very frustrating! I did check that the needle was in straight this time, which I'm pleased to report it was! (for a change!!)

When I changed from the zig zag to the straight stitch to stitch the hearts together, my machine wouldn't sew more than two sitches before it jammed.  When I managed to extricate the material by removing the bobbin and everything else that's physically possible to remove without a screwdriver (hook race cover etc), all I could see was a huge tangle of cotton!  So I dutifully unpicked the hoops of cotton and tried again.  Yes you guessed it, two more stitches and the same mess again!  By this point I am fretting that my machine is bust and woe is me!  After four attempts....and yes really, 4 attempts later, I throw my arms in the air and declare defeat!  I call my friend (who is dealing with more important matters - putting the kettle on to make a well earned cup of tea!) who runs to my rescue and then quickly declares that the machine isn't for the scrap heap after all!  It was merely a simple case on not threading the machine properly!  I'd missed out one of the stages completely!  After much severe blushing and trying to wonder how indeed that had happened when I know I threaded it correctly speech....I breathed a huge sigh of relief that my sewing machine was going to live another day after all!

Once the hearts were stuffed to bursting, I sat and hand-stitched the gap we used for turning, closed with ladder stitch, whilst watching tv of course! It somehow seems to make watching the hum-drum of soaps on tv more bearable, and should I say, acceptable because I'm doing some sewing at the same time - multi-tasking I believe they call it!

We're not happy with the design yet.  We think the heart in the middle is too large, dwarfing the Cath Kidston material?  We would welcome your comments!