Spring Pom-Pom Wreath

So I made a pom-pom wreath. Super easy and a nice way to use up some of the yarn in my stash.

I started with a large straw wreath that I had bought half off at Hobby Lobby this Fall.  Then I wrapped it in some pink fabric from my fabric stash. Not necessary, but I didn't know if all that hot glue I was going to be adding to it would melt the plastic that was on the wreath and I didn't want to take off the plastic because straw wreaths are messy. Nothing fancy, just glue it on and cover up all of the straw.

 I am ashamed to actually be posting that picture, but it was the only one I had. :-/
Next I made a bazillion and one pom-poms with my finger wrapping method, and hot glued them on. I tried  to glue them on so that no two exact colors were right next to each other or too close together. I wanted a random look so I didn't line them up directly next to each other either.. well some of them were like in the above pic.
That's about it. The only pain in the butt was making those pom-poms. I guess it wasn't a pain so much as boring. I did make most of them while watching Netflix though so that helped.
 I think if I ever did this again I would probably use a smaller wreath. Maybe 12inch instead of 18inch.

I used 5 different colors of yarn. Any more and it may have been a bit too much....or maybe it is already?

 I am pretty pleased with it. I thought to hang it like you see on my front door. Only I couldn't keep it there permanently because I was imagining how hot it was getting already and the bugs that might like to make their homes in the softy-wofty pom-poms. Mainly wasps. eeek! It only stayed on the door long enough to take these pictures.

Hmmm. What do you think? Does it need something else? I just felt like adding anything else might make it look overboard. Am I right? I dunno.

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Autumn Sweater Wreath

How is it possible that it is already November ?  Its crazy how quickly this year has flown by. (It was crazier yesterday when I started this post) Next thing you know it will be New Years, and I just hung up an Autumn wreath on my front door yesterday!

Only, I cant figure out how I like it... and I really don't like it at all. I like the idea of it though. See, I had this sweater, which I wore every fall, that I absolutely loved. It got a hole in the armpit and I tried to fix it with my serger, which made it even worse and unwearable. It had been sitting in my craft closet for several years because I didn't want to throw it away. Then recently I saw where someone had taken a thrift store sweater and made a wreath out of it. I knew that would be the perfect thing for my beloved autumn sweater.  I took a straw wreath  and added a hanger to the back with floral wire.
I used an upholstery needle (curved like a "c") and twisted some floral wire into the eye. 

Then I chose a spot on the back, inserted the needle, which comes right back up to the back side, and twisted the ends of the wire together. I had to use pliers to pull the wire and needle through.

Then I pulled the wire so that the twisted together ends were inside the wreath. See?

I wanted the wreath form to have some bulk so I used straight pins and pinned on some batting all the way around the form.

Next I cut off the sleeves from my sweater and cut open the sleeve near the seam. This way I could wrap it around the wreath form and sew it back together on the back side of the wreath. I just pinned it in place first all the way around to keep it straight.  I used a whip stitch, but really you could just pin it well with pins and be done with it.

I just couldn't decide how to embellish it, and with the pattern it seemed too busy for anything, but too plain without something. I did take a bunch of old flowers and leaves I had and added a small bouquet to the middle and moved the bow. I think I like this better.

Hmmm. Maybe I should shorten the dangly bits of the bow. What do you think? Any other ideas?
I thought about some felt flowers, but the one I held up to it kind of disappeared against the pattern.

  I used the rest of the sweater and made a pillow from it. I save old ugly pillows for just such a purpose and so I just sewed up 3 sides and cut off the extra bits of sweater. Then I stuffed it with the old pillow and sewed up the side. The side seam ended up being the old, finished bottom edge of the sweater so I didn't bother tucking any raw edges under. Just sewed right across the seam. It would be cute, with some chunky, brown buttons but I didn't have any.

Awe. Now on to a new Christmas wreath. I probably should think about that before Christmas is over.

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