17 October I went to a workshop to make my autumn wreath, and almost a month and a half later it was still looking pretty respectable, if not slightly weather worn, which given the weather we’ve had - rain, wind and snow - isn’t surprising! And with a new workshop, and wreath, booked in for the start of December its days were numbered.
And while the autumn wreath was fading, it wasn’t completely done - which was just as well as I had plans for it.
Back in 2016 I shared how I’d bleached some pine cones, and how my top tip was to start early - I think I took my own advice there as I’d not used them properly, so by my reckoning eight years is plenty early enough!!
This year was going to be their year
At least I hoped it was.
I brought in the autumn wreath as by now the weather was too chilly to do this outside, and was immediately grateful that I thought to put this on a towel and on paper. It was wet from the recent rain, which was no bad thing as keeping the moss wet helps. The towel soaked some of that up, and the white paper helped easily identify bugs crawling out of it.
I snipped off the Chinese Lanterns and some of the more faded greenery and the berries which were past their best, but left as much as I could.
To check the viability of this primping project, I placed my bleached pine cones around the wreath to check I had enough to fill the gaps. I did. So with more optimism than skill I set about wiring them into place. I had thin wire so I think this was harder to use than the thicker short lengths of florist wire which could be more easily pushed through the moss, but I go there and all the pine cones were attached successfully.
It doesn’t look too bad laying down does it?
I knew the proof of the pudding, or at least my newly acquired wreath making skills, would come when I held it vertical - and thankfully none fell off, so I could move to the next phase of the project - putting it on display.
Not taking any chances with the wind gusts, I’ve tied this on in four places - top, bottom and both sides - and it’s stayed on the gate, so far. What’s more, the pine cones have also stayed attached to the wreath, so I’m calling that a win - and a pretty and sustainable one at that.
Though this will be its last stand, with the majority of it heading to the compost bin (actually our brown bin as we haven’t sorted new compost bins yet) in the New Year. I’ll be saving the pine cones, and if I can the metal ring, but you’re not surprised by that are you?
This is likely to be my last post before Christmas, so thank you again for continuing to read and support my blog. I hope you have a great time over Christmas celebrating and/or spending time with families or loved ones, and doing what’s important to you.
We’re looking forward to spending the Christmas period with family in our new home. I hope to share a post of my Christmas wreath before the New Year, so I’ll save wishing you a Happy New Year until then.