"Love from home" project

I started a new project this week. This winter I read a bunch of letters my grandmother wrote to my mom and her sister Charlotte when they were in college in the 1940s. I always liked how Grandma closed her letters with such warm regards....simple but rich. 

I am thinking of a project using various phrases from her letters, but in the meantime I am taking my favorite and am going to make a small heart pillow for Mom's 93rd birthday in March.

 I have stitched the closing using a single strand of embroidery floss. I tried using the stem stitch but I wasn't good enough at it to make the writing clear, so I used the back stitch. I like how it turned out. The linen fabric in the base is from mom's grandmother and over 100 years old.  I am experimenting with different antique lace pieces. It can be intimidating to cut the beautiful lace, but I'd like it to be used and enjoyed rather than being stored and aging silently.