fabric buckets

Umm... nesting is kind of insane.  Our house has never been so clean and organized, I mean, I even scrubbed the not-very-dirty-to-begin-with baseboards.  That has never happened before!  But aside from all the deep cleaning and closet re-organizing that's been taking place,  there has also a bit of a sewing frenzy going on. 

 Enter the fabric bucket:

Or three fabric buckets (because if one is good, three is better?).  

I made these buckets based loosely on this tutorial (I added some height and then figured out an easier way to sew in the lining).  I tried three different types of interfacing:  from the left I used a SUPER heavy pellon one, which I thought was too stiff.  For the middle one I used a medium-weight fusible interfacing that was just perfect (it wasn't too stiff to fold the top edge over, which I liked), and the last one had no interfacing at all.  And it's a little slouchy for my taste.  So long story short, I would recommend using a medium-weight interfacing.

I used up fabric from my stash for the outside and some old curtains from our Billings house for the linings (Maria von Trapp, anyone?).  Can I get a hooray for free projects?

Hooray!

merry christmas!

wishing you all things merry and bright!
xoxo

decembering

 

 

 

 

 

a little spot of sun

We moved the blue chair out of the family room to accommodate the Christmas tree (we talked about getting a real one this year, but when push came to shove we just put up the little fake guy again....mostly I'm afraid of what Gesso would do if there was a real live tree in the house).

And we like it in it's new spot so much that it might end up living there forever.  This exciting new development led to me deciding that there needed to be a new pillow for mr. blue chair (remember that I have a problem?).

So on a particularly gloomy afternoon I cut out a million yellow circles and sewed them round and round onto a pillow.

 

And then the next day the sun came out!  I know!

Evan was out of town the day that I made it and the first thing he observed when he saw it was that it looked a little like Big Bird's butt.  Which, you know, it totally does.  So now I like it just a little bit less.

(it was supposed to be a dahlia...)

boxwood wreathing

(this is a boxwood wreath)

I am normally not a very patient maker/crafter, but this project forced me to follow steps and really take my time.  I started it a month ago and just finished hanging my last wreath this afternoon!  That kind of patience is really unheard of around here, so I'm thinking it was good practice?  Patience practice?  Sure.

While I was researching for this project, I had a hard time finding a thorough tutorial--most sites just sort of glazed over the steps and made it seem like no big deal.  And I mean, it wasn't a really big deal, but I like to have pictures and clear instructions.  So I made sure to take lots of pictures for you.  You're welcome!

Step one: trim your boxwood bush with your garden shears.  Optional: puppy supervision.

Step two: using a hammer, smash the ends of your branches.  This helps the vegetable glycerin absorb with greater ease.  

Step three: patiently wait while your bottle of vegetable glycerin arrives from amazon and mix up one part glycerin to two parts water in a bucket.

Step four: Add some green food coloring to the glycerin mixture so the leaves will keep their shiny green luster.

Step five:  submerge branches in bucket and wait 2.5 weeks for your branch pieces to soak in the glycerin/color (this step prevents the branches from drying out and turning brown).

 

 Step six:  channel your inner martha stewart and lay pieces of boxwood on your wreath while securing them with floral wire.   I made one large wreath and seven smaller wreaths and my fingers are still kind of mad at me.  But it was worth it!

I hung them in all of our big windows downstairs and I'd like to think they are so festive they make up for our lack of christmas lights (Evan has some unresolved issues with christmas lights....).

I'm not a fan of artificial wreaths and fresh wreaths can be kind of an expensive habit (they need to be replaced every year), so I'm hoping these little wreaths will last for a few years to come (they should?  I'll keep you posted.).