Quick and easy: Dried flower wreath

Supplies: Basic wreath (I bought mine from Wilkinsons, just before Christmas), any kind of decorations - in this case dried flowers, and patience ;)

Time: Depending on concentration and amount of flowers, mine took about 30 min - but as I was listening to an online lecture at the same time, I could probably have finished it a bit quicker.

Process: I had dried some carnations that I bought a few weeks before christmas. Drying flowers can be really easy. Cut their stems to the desired length. In this case about 15 cm. Next tie them together and hang them with the heads down. This ensures the flowers keep upright and therefore look nice.

I took the bundles apart, and started adding the flowers by gently into the gaps in the wreath, making sure they were stuck in place between two branches. I added all the flowers, but you can add fewer or more depending on your preferences. Here are a few progress pictures:

If you don't have a wreath like mine, but a general wreath (or just want to attach the flowers more) you can attach the flowers by using metal wire, or even a glue gun in some cases. I suggest you try the metal wire option first as it ensures that the wreath can be reused if you want to change it later.

Result:

Hope you like the result. It is now hanging on my bathroom door. As this is rented university accommodation I am not allowed to put nails in the walls. Fortunately I had a suction hook that could attach to my metal door. Check back later this week for a post on living in university accommodation. It will be the first in a series where I give a few examples of things you can do to make it feel more at home, while still complying with university regulations.

Hope you had a great weekend!

Best wishes Sasha :)

DIY - cutlery storage

The blog has been very quiet lately. There are many reasons for this, one I haven't had anything I wanted to share, have been working, been contemplating my move to Uxbridge and finally I have used up the Internet I have available on my stick.

Anyway back to my cutlery, that this post is really about. I bought a set of 48 spoons, forks, knifes and teaspoons (enough for 12 people) about a year and a half ago. They had still to move out of the box, and inspired by Sherry and John from www.YoungHouseLove.com and their "Dude, Get On That Already" project, I found instructions for cutlery keepers made from tea towels, in my folder of things I want to try to make, and set about making them. I will share how I constructed mine, since I did not follow the instructions entirely.

You need:

Cutlery

Tea towels - I used four of the cheapest I had (from IKEA)

Needles

Ribbon - for tying the whole thing in the end

Scissors

1) Fold the tea towel having the right side facing downwards. Place your cutlery on it to measure how deep you want the pockets for them - you should aim to have about a half to a whole cm of cutlery free.

Pin both sides.

(This is the only picture I have of this step - I forgot to place some cutlery to illustrate proportions.)

2) I decided to sew both side seams first to make sure they were secure and would not move about.

Before sewing however we need to add the ribbon. This is done by measuring out two 20 cm strips, and placing them on top of each other. Then place them in the middle of the turned up piece in between the two pieces of fabric. As illustrated below.

For the sewing, sew a straight line 0.8-1cm in from the edge and add a zigzag out towards the edge. (Remember to sew back and forth at the beginning and end plus at the ribbon to secure)

3) Now place the chosen cutlery and measure out the size of the pockets for the cutlery.

(I only need to mark with two pins as I had vertical lines in the weave to navigate from, but you might need more depending on your tea towel's weave)

Once you have pinned, you want to check that the cutlery does indeed fit into the pocket you have created.

4) Proceed to mark all the pockets you need for all the cutlery. Making sure, as you move along, to check that the cutlery fit into the pockets.

5) You are now ready to sew the pockets. Sew in straight lines from the pin at the one end to the corresponding pin at the other end. Making sure to secure the threat by sewing back and forth at both ends.

6) When it is all sewed you can place the cutlery in their spots. Fold down the top part of the tea towel and the roll it and tie the ribbon.

You are now the proud owner of your own tea towel cutlery holders.

If you try your hand at this DIY I would love to see it.