Carole Knits

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Wreath Making

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I hate you, too, Bloglines

Last week the Hungry Quilters (which we’re still called even though we don’t necessarily quilt anymore) got together at my sister-in-law Mary’s house for an evening of wreath making. Mary has been making her own wreaths for over 15 years and when I asked her if she’d teach Lois, Sharon, Wendy and I how to do it she was eager to comply.

Now, Mary lives in a log cabin built by her husband, Randy. And I’ll tell you, it doesn’t get any cozier than a log cabin at Christmas time. The wood stove was providing the most luxurious warmth and the air was filled with the scents of pine boughs and cinnamon sticks and cloves. Mary had everything decorated beautifully with white lights and evergreens and red bows. There were home made chocolate chip cookies to munch on and warm apple cider for us to drink. I could have sat there and enjoyed the ambiance all night long.

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But Mary would have none of that and we were quickly put to work. She provided us with straw wreaths and loads of pine boughs that Randy had brought home from his last trip to Maine. We attached bundles of pine to the straw wreaths with florist picks until there was no straw showing through.

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Then we proceeded to decorate the wreaths with all sorts of natural things. We had red berries and feathers and milk pods. There were dried flowers and herbs and bird’s nests. We used glue guns to attach our decorations and we each had a beautiful wreath in short order.

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I love how different they all are!

Mary then gave us each a grapevine wreath and two huge baskets of pine cones. We glued the pine cones to the wreaths with lots and lots of hot glue. Wendy, who works in a florist shop, made us each a beautiful bow for our pine cone wreath. These went together super fast and are really quite elegant, I think.

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We toasted our friend Debbie (we miss her so much), we reminisced and shared stories and had a wonderful night full of Christmas spirit.

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Comments

  6. I can imagine the smells of that cozy log cabin with all the pine! Now that’s Christmas!

    The wreaths are beautiful. You guys are so creative!

  8. Wreath making is LOADS of fun.
    My “secret” for making pine cone wreathes is to soak the pine cones so that they close. Then, wire them loosely to the frame. Then, as they dry, they’ll open and lock into place. 🙂 Then, go crazy and glue nuts and other things onto them.

  10. The wreaths look beautiful-I have to stop by mom’s and see hers! What a fun thing to do-maybe when the rain stops I’ll go to the farm and gather pinecones…

  18. Sounds like a lovely day, and really makes me want to go home and decorate my house (Captain Destructo, aka Zorro, notwithstanding).

  20. What a crafty bunch. It’s not like they give those wreaths away either – you probably saved a penny or two as well!

  21. What a fun evening! All of the wreaths are beautiful. I love making wreaths, but we don’t have much in the way of greenery in our backyard.

  22. What a great way to spend an evening! Ya’ll are just so talented.

    I think we’re all starting to hate bloglines at this point.

  28. what a great evening with friends . . looks like fun and reminds me of wreath making we did in 4-H growing up. our teachers were two window dressers and they were so creative and fabulous!

  30. One thing I can count on is that you have posted before I get up in the morning since you are on the East Coast. So, even though my bloglines wasn’t updated, I still clicked on you and there you were! The wreaths look fab and how much fun all of that hall decking sounded! I know how much you must miss your friend. I have been thinking of her and her family and hoping that they are doing okay. What a hard time of year this must be for them.