Tuesday 31 March 2015

Easter Wreath

OK, so it's a bit dainty but it's a wreath - I took some left over fake flower stems (with a kinda pussywillow look) and a beautiful bright yellow flower together with a piece of green dotted ribbon I had hanging around and just wired everything together and planted it on the wreath hanger on the front door - it's going to have to do for this year - I'm too busy doing other things.


NEXT!

Sunday 8 March 2015

A Garland of sorts!

After I finished up with the 45 napkins (yes made 45 of them) I had a few pieces of left over fabric.  Not that that was going to be enough for my next inspiration but like all good sewers, I have a stash of cut off pieces of cotton from other projects and I'm sure there HAS to be something in there that will match the decore for the Wedding Shower (maybe I should give this soiree a name . . . hmmmm)!  Yes, I have some left-overs so I get to work fusing the fabrics together (just in case it's windy I don't want them too floppy) and get a heart shape that I like and get cutting! 

I have no idea how many I made, but I do know that there's enough for a garland to be strung somewhere . . .


I simply stapled them on to a piece of garden twine and tied an 8" piece (all different) of ribbon in between each heart


More fun to come!

Take home gifts - Flower Halos

I found a ton of ideas for take home gifts for this wedding shower but nothing really inspired me . . . and quite honestly I don't even know how I came on to the halo idea (may I saw it on Pinterest for another wedding shower) and I had the thought that everyone could make one.  Then I realized that not EVERYONE is crafty or would want to MAKE one but I'll bet everyone would want to HAVE one if they were already made!  My first thought was to have them made out of fresh flowers but the cost to do so would have been exorbitant so I ixnayed that idea (remember I need to have 45 of them).

Here are the beginnings of a few that I have started on and my bride's sister (the other niece) has graciously agreed to help with the balance.

I started with about $30.00 worth of purchased silk flowers and scrounged around the house for some that I was no longer using and/or were collecting dust and got to work.  Using stems that have multiple florets on them are actually the better deal (the sweat peas were $1.49/stem and there were 8 flowers on each stem) and I just cut everything off into smaller pieces as you really don't need much for each crown.



The wire came from Michaels and I just cut them (sealing off the ends first with floral tape) into lengths larger than a normal person's head, put a loop in one end and threaded the other end through that loop; then looped that one to the threaded piece so that it became adjustable.  Here are some of the finished products; I still need to make some purple and orange to go with the colour scheme but I have a start!

Wednesday 4 March 2015

How I love thee a cloth napkin!

I know it's a bit early, but my beautiful niece is getting married in August.  I have offered to host the wedding shower in my back yard (PLEASE dear God make it a beautiful weather day)!  I've told her she can invite 50 and hopefully 40 will show up (at least that's what I'm planning for).

I have a myriad of ideas running through my head but I need some inspiration - that usually means a piece of fabric for me.  But I don't start with the fabric this time, I start with a colour scheme and what comes to me is purple, red, orange, pink and cream (or some variation of that).  I set out to purchase the lanterns and tissue paper pom poms and they arrive a week later - and I LOVE the scheme when it's all put together.

Now I need fabric . . . and while some of you might think this is bass-ackwards, if you know me you know that I never work alone - I KNOW that I have had Divine Intervention on my side so I always trust when I'm looking for something in particular and I stay focused on the "help" and hope for miracles, it usually happens . . . and one arrives in the form of a piece that has gorgeous purple butterflies and red and orange background.

I decide I'm going to make them "lunch size" (say 14") napkins (because you can only get three out of one width of a 45" wide piece of material) and I need to make at least 40 napkins - I end up purchasing 5.3 metres (I know I switched from imperial to metric there but a girl has to do that some times - mostly because I'm really (really) bad at math! Therefore I get the cutter clerk to do it for me) LOL

Because I am only getting a 14" (or so) napkin I decide to serge the outsides so no hem on them this time - they'll only be a "one time use" (well not really true, my sister has already requested I turn them over to her for the "gift opening" the day after the wedding) but they'll survive two uses anyways - who knows maybe something can be made out of them after . . . that's for another Blog!