Christmas Wreath

This afternoon, I have been out to High Tor, Matlock and wandering between the bare trees I gathered together a range of branches, holly, evergreen leaves and pine cones. My plan is to make a Christmas Wreath to hang on the front door. I used a wire wreath frame which I purchased for 90p from a Victorian Christmas Market in Hall Leys Park, Matlock last weekend. 

From my experience as a TA for students studying floristry, I have learnt a few skills in this area which I applied today. Firstly, I arranged the materials I was using and began covering the frame with a base of bare branches threading in and out of the frame....

I prepared the evergreen branches using a set of garden pruners. Leaving a stalk bare allows for easy threading.

I began to cover the whole of the branches, turning the wreath as I did to ensure even coverage.

Once covered, I gave the wreath a hard shake to ensure that there were no loose areas.

I layered loosely ontop of the frame the materials I had left to form a plan of my design. I had a piece of bright green moss I wanted to use and pinned this in place by unfolding paperclips to form basic floristry pins. You can use the real thing, it is easier to twist the ends together, but the paperclips worked fine. 

I pinned the moss in the centre and at either ends...

As I pushed the pin through, I twisted the ends together and folded flat, so as not to scratch the door it hangs on.

Here it is so far...

And the final thing with the holly, berries and pine cones...

I love the look on the front door! Mmmm, Christmassss!

Crafty Brooch

I wanted to make a gift from items I had around the house and discovered this cute brooch design.

I used a small amount of fabric, some cotton and needle, pins, ribbon, safety pin and a button. 

Using some vintage fabric I had left over from some curtains, I drew out two circles, one the size of a cereal bowl, the other a mug.

I cut out the two rounds and Delia stepped in to help!

 

One at a time, I folded over and pinned the edge of the circle and tack-stitched making big stitches. 

Once right round, I pulled the thread tight and knotted.

 Then I flattened it down...

to make the first rosette...

I did the same with the smaller circle, although this time I did it without pins, tack-stitched an edge...

and pulled it tight....

I flattened the second rosette and stitched the two together, along with a button in the centre. 

I needed some ribbon for the leaves, but all I had was elastic, so I folded into two and stitched...

along with stitching a safety pin to fit onto a jumper.

Here is the end result, and I made a special card too. I hope she'll like her personalised items. 

When I got home from a day out, I decided to have another go, this time using smaller circles, now I understand how it comes together...

A simple, quick and elegant gift!

Stained Glass by Suzie Young

My brilliantly talented artist of a mother, Suzie Young has created this exquisite piece of stained glass artwork for the bow window of our boat. It is set off delightfully by the black cratch cover and wooden frame. We just need to frame the stained glass piece in wood, fix it in place and it will brighten our bow. I can't wait until the bow doors are open, sun illuminates the glass and I watch the twinkling of the windmill from our bed.

Stained Glass

Mum tells me that the stained glass piece to go in the bow is complete! I am so excited and can't wait to see it. I have a vague idea of the design; a windmill on a hill, one of my favourite things, the rest will be a wonderful surprise! Mum has been studying the craft of stained glass for a while now and has branched out to make a variety of gifts for people; crosses, hearts and figures as well as commissioned pieces of a butterfly scene and now the windmill. I hear she is looking into producing a circular piece for her home.

Below is a heart that Mum gave to me as a gift, notice the water effect of the glass, pretty!

Face the fear and do it anyway

I decided to do it today. Even though I haven't got all things in place that I would like, I decided to sell from the boat.


I had spoken of this before to those close and it seemed like a grand idea but considering the following it wasn't the right time. For example, the boat doesn't look very attractive, who would want to buy something from a battered looking boat?! There are obvious issues regarding BW and businesses on the cut and finally what exactly would I sell?

But today I took my brothers advice and scared of all the above, I thought I would give it a go with some baking and selling my produce.

So the morning began with Muffins and after hearing the radio 4 woman's hour going on about the 'cupcake' fad, I decided on selling my muffins in cases as cupcakes.


The blackboard in the kitchen came in very handy and the muffins awaited their recipients.


Delia kept watch for cake thieves...


and the muffins saw people stop and look and pass on by...

After a while of the cakes being outside and still uneaten it seemed only right that Leigh and I should crack into them before they went stale.

So there we have it. I tried and will try again at the weekend when there will hopefully be more walkers by.

I also decided to have a go at making a bracelet/corsage inspired by the floristry classes I work in. I threaded a selection of leaves - including Ivy and others collected from the hedgerow, with copper wire and added a daffodil (a real sign of spring!) then wrapped it around my wrist using fine green wool (Rowan's kidsilk haze - left over from MB's birthday scarf). The wired leaves are bent to curve around my wrist and frame the shape of the piece.




This could be worn at a celebration, like a wedding or just because spring is pretty much bloody well here!