Sunflowers

I'm keeping up with my bouquet making. The latest is made with several of the densely sown sunflowers I planted in my garden. Most of the stocks are under three feet tall and they have the smallest blooms because their growth has been so stunted, but they are so cute!

These were all grown from seeds I collected last year from Sunflower Steve's Van Gogh's Fantasy Mix. Several of my neighbors grow more standard looking sunflowers so after a few years all the sunflower seeds I collect will look plain. Some of the sunflowers in my garden are going to seed and I think I will collect them, but am looking to add some fun doubles and different colors so if you have a favorite sunflower let me know so I can find the seeds for next year.

Sunflowers and Hydrangea

The latest floral bouquet is two. More sunflowers are blooming so I cut some of them. I also cut some dahlias and two types of hydrangea then decided I liked just the yellow and purple together so I ended up matching the dahlias with some dusty miller again. Next year I need to grow more filler type flowers.

Coat Hooks

This project has been on my to do list for some time now and the worst part is it didn't actually take very long to make! As part of my bedroom tidying, I finally made coat hooks for my tote bags so they are no longer hanging on my door handle!

To make this lovely project, I used the leftover piece of wood from my floating shelf and took a router along the edge to make it look a little nicer. Then I stained it with what I thought was the stain I used on the aforementioned floating shelf, but it was much darker. This is the only part of it that I'm a tiny bit sad about, but it's mostly hidden behind my door so I don't really see it and I could sand it down and stain it again if I really wanted to. 

/div>

After the stain dried, I figured out where I would need to drill a mounting hole so it would align with the stud in the wall. I marked that line then figured out where I wanted the hooks so that one would cover that mounting screw. Once that was figured out, I drilled tiny holes for the hooks' screws and larger holes for the mounting screws. Then after this photo was taken I realized I needed to recess the mounting screws so the hooks would sit flush against the wood so I made some larger holes that only went part way down then assembled it and hung up my tote bags! Hurrah for a finished project!

Dahlia Bouquet

Hello Again! The dahlias are blooming and I made another bouquet!

This bouquet is made with dahlias and dusty miller, both from my garden. It’s a simple bouquet, I thought the silvery leaves would look nice with the showy pink flowers. I should have several more weeks of dahlias for bouquets so I’ll need to try something different next time. 

Another foraged floral bouquet!

This one was made with the help of my niece. We decided the bouquet needed ten flowers (the greenery did not count towards this total) so she picked some dandelions and grape hyacinth from the yard. Then cut some coyote brush for the greenery and Japanese pieris for the remaining flowers. I think the flower clusters each counted as one, but we still went over our target of ten flowers. 

Craft Fail

I've been wanting to make a spiderweb trellis as a gift for my friend and I finally got started on it yesterday. The plan was to use some of the leftover heavy gauge wire from my row cover as the frame and weave some smaller gauge wire to make the web. It turns out it needs much more support because the frame is way too floppy. I gave up with this design basically immediately. The next try will probably use branches for the frame. Hopefully it works out.

Basement Wall Makeover

We are working on giving the basement some 70's vibes and a big step towards that was installing this fun yellow and orange floral wallpaper!

This project has been a wish for quite some time and earlier this year I placed the wallpaper order. When it finally arrived we had to get to work prepping the wood paneling. We filled all the grooves, smoothed out the surface the best we could, then primed the wall to make sure no brown peeked through. This is the wall after the first layer of filler. 

While hanging the wallpaper I got very frustrated aligning the flowers and could only do a few panels at a time so I could calm down. There are some places that the flowers don't perfectly align, but when you step back the wall looks pretty good. I'm pretty happy with how the basement is looking so far. The next little project is painting the window trim on the wall to the left. I think that middle orange color will look quite nice!

Shorten the Daffodil

I made another foraged floral bouquet! One of the flowers even came from a neighbor’s yard (after asking permission though).

Over the weekend I noticed that the Japanese pieris in the yard was now blooming so I clipped two branches to start this bouquet. After wandering around the yard for a bit I picked a few sword fern fronds then started building my bouquet. It definitely needed a large statement flower at this point so I got up the nerve to take a daffodil from the neighbor’s yard. They happened to be outside so I got permission and don’t have to feel bad about taking their flower. 

Now that I’ve been looking at the photo of this bouquet, it would probably look better if the daffodil was shortened a little bit. I might do that, but probably won’t.

Foraged Bouquet

I made a bouquet this weekend! I felt a little weird about taking parts of plants from my neighbors so I just used plants from my own yard. This bouquet is made with sedge, arborvitae, and rosemary. The rosemary is blooming now and their little blue flowers are just so cute!

Maybe when things are flourishing more I'll feel okay about taking bits of my neighbor's plants. Even when I don't, I should continue making foraged bouquets. It can be my new frugal hobby!

Foraged Floral Arrangements

My neighbor's daffodils are blooming, we still have dandelions and beach daisies, and I'm thinking I need to make a foraged floral arrangement for Valentine's Day.

This is an arrangement from a few years ago when I was making foraged floral arrangements on a semi-regular basis. It has dandelions, muscari, honeyberry branches and possibly some maple flowers in the bottom right corner. None of these plants are traditionally used in floral bouquets which is why I find foraged floral bouquets so interesting. I think I'll wander around my neighborhood tonight with some pruners and a basket. Hopefully I find some interesting flowers and foliage for my bouquet. I'll share my creation next week!

Raised Garden Bed

We finished making one of the raised beds this weekend! 

The other raised bed is sitting in the garage ready to be assembled. One we finish it, we have the really hard work of digging into the rockiest soil to get them mostly level on the slope. Here are a few more progress photos.

Vintage Tapestry Needlework

Another project I completed last year was framing these vintage tapestries my great grandmother made. 

I think these floral tapestries were originally intended to be seat cushions, but they never made it on to chairs. Instead, they were stored in boxes for decades until my mother and I decided they needed to be displayed. 

We started this project by looking for frames. This part took a very long time, months and months until I finally found these green ornate oval frames. They were originally mirrors and I think they are perfect for this project. 

The next part didn’t take long, but I put it off for months and months per my usual style. We blocked the tapestries so they were more straight then I cut them into ovals and attached them to some very thick fusible interfacing. To finish, they were placed inside the frames and the backing was glued on. Now they are hanging on a wall!

2026

Happy New Year!!!

Since it’s the first post of the year, I’m sharing my crafting intentions! They are a bit different this year, bingo card style instead of a list. Last year (and again this year because they are fun) I made monthly bingo cards of things to do that encourage exploring and trying new things. For these craft resolutions, I’ve got a single bingo card filled with different craft projects in five different categories. Some of these projects have been on my list of crafting intentions for years, some are new because I’ve recently purchased the supplies, and others are crafts I’ve never tried before or want to improve. A blackout is highly unlikely, but maybe I’ll surprise myself with my motivation.

The categories are:
Yarn
• Spiral Tube Socks - I am curious about this pattern.
• Moomin Pattern - I got a Moomin knitting book as a present and should knit something from it!
• Leopard Hat - My longest knitting WIP.
• Scarf for Ruby - My niece wants a new scarf. 
• New Shawl - I bought some bright pink mohair!

Sewing
• Denim Quilt - Yeah, yeah, it’s still not done… 2026 might be the year!
• Catnip Toys - I can always have more of these since the get ripped open often. 
• Culottes - I want to make a copy of some of my pants.
• Chore Jacket - I wanted to make a cape with this fabric originally, but a chore jacket is more my style.
• Ikea Fabric - I bought fabric from Ikea.

Photos
• Photo Calendar - I want to take enough photos this year that I could make a decent calendar.
• Macro Photography - A style of photography I want to get better at.
• Free Space - Every bingo card needs a free space!
• Timelapse Photo - Something new to try.
• Frame a Photo - Get at least one printed and frame it!

Gardening
• More Raised Beds - I think I need more growing space.
• Floral Bouquets - Bouquets make me happy and I’ll be growing lots of flowers.
• Plant Everything - My collection of plants still in their nursery containers will be planted!
• Snail Seed Starting - I haven’t tried it yet, but I think I’ll like this method.
• Actual Gardening Plan - I’m not going to wing it this year.

Other
• Another Floating Shelf - This has been on my list for years!
• Kinusaiga - A new craft to try.
• Laser Cutter Project - I have a laser cutter and need to practice.
• Melty Bead Project - So I use some of my supplies.
• Christmas Slug- For my Christmas light display next winter.

Each column is a different craft category and the placement is kind of random within columns. Now that the bingo card is made, I'm trying to figure out which line will be my likely first bingo. A diagonal maybe? Which is your guess?

Moomin Journals

Whenever I go on a "BIG" trip with my family we journal along the way and I decorated these journals with drawings of Moomin characters for our trip to Finland! I'm sure you've seen the cute white hippo-looking characters. They are Finnish and they are actually trolls. I struggled with a few of the drawings, but overall they turned out pretty good. Here they are in the order I drew them: Stinky, Snorkmaiden, The Hattifatteners, Snufkin, and Moominpappa!

Furniture Onlays

The painted furniture onlays are now attached to my bed and I'm quite pleased with how it looks! I wanted to add a little something extra to my plain bed frame and decided on some furniture onlays to coordinate with my nightstand. The white paint is a bit more bright than bed frame, but the color difference is not that noticeable because they are close to the ground and in a shadowy part of the room. My next project for this room is to add another floating shelf! I've got lots of decor items and hardly anywhere to display them!

Painted Onlays

I bought these furniture onlays at the beginning of the year to add a little something extra to my bed frame and I finally painted them! The paint is literally drying in this photo. Next I have to sand down the wood filler that I added to hide the seam in the bed frame and then glue these pieces on! I hope I like it once it's done!

2024

Happy New Year!

It’s the first post of the year so I’m sharing my crafting intentions for the year ahead and also recapping my previous year’s resolutions. First, my 2023 recap: I got like 70%! (If I’m fairly lenient on what qualifies as complete and round up. These are my goals and my blog so I did pretty great!) 

Gardening is the category I did most poorly in, completing only one of my three goals (the row cover). Using my oil pastels and sharing about it gets a solid A grade. I completed 3/4 of my in-progress projects! (That quilt!!! Is 2024 the year?) And I’m saying I fixed the unreliable rss/email subscriptions because I thought I had twice and the issue is mostly out of my control.

Now on the the 2024 goals! Are some of them repeats of years past? Obviously!

My 2024 Crafty Intentions are:

In and For the Garden

• Pumpkins!!!
• Cut flowers
• Build three raised beds

Knitting

• A brioche knitting project
• Finish the leopard hat
• Knit more little men

Other Crafts

• More oil pastel drawings
• Mending clothes
• Floral bouquets
• Monthly photo challenges
• January - negative space
• February - portraits
• March - reflections
• April - frames
• May - leading lines
• June - macro
• July - shadows
• August - texture
• September - patterns
• October - silhouettes
• November - color
• December - bokeh

Abstract Fused Glass

Last month I went to a glass fusing studio and made a little abstract piece to hang in the window. I really liked the pastel purple and green, but didn't know what to make with them so I decided on nothing in particular and added bits of clear glass to continue the bumpy texture. The bumpy texture makes the light refract in an interesting way, I'm a fan.

Halloween Suncatcher

Last week I had a virtual craft night with my long distance friends. We all painted these silly Halloween sun catchers; mine is a frog in a pumpkin with a bit of glow in the dark paint on the back. The glowing is not spectacular, the green and orange do not show in the dark which I'm a bit disappointed about. The frog and pumpkin do look pretty good in the daylight though.

Floral Bouquet

I got back home from a trip just in time to see the first dahlia blooms! These black dahlias, 'Verone's Obsidian', are the first in my garden to bloom. They were a little bit nibbled on so I grabbed one that was just about to open and made a tiny bouquet with it, a hydrangea cutting, and some fern fronds. I need more practice on my bouquets, but this one did bring me joy.