I first made an ornament wreath about five years ago, or before you could find them everywhere.  I was cool before I knew it.  My first wreath used glass ornaments which I attached with wire.  It was pretty, but using wire caused all of my ornaments to move around and they all face downward.  I have since moved and done my house in beachy colors and my old red and gold wreath just doesn't go with my other decorations.

I found the following on Pinterest and immediately fell in love (from Better Homes & Gardens):

Isn't it beautiful?  I had just purchased and refinished a china cabinet and I decided that I needed this wreath to go on it.

I searched for various instructions for how to create a new wreath and most used shatterproof ornaments and hot glue.  So off I went to Michael's and came home with all of the necessary goodies.

1.  Straw wreath.  You could use a holiday green wreath or a styrofoam wreath, but the straw was the cheapest.  Leave the plastic wrapping on it.
2.  Lots of ornaments!  I bought 100 large, 24 small, and then a little baggie of teal, white, and silver balls for fill ins.
3.  Pretty ribbon!  If pink feathers don't say Christmas, I don't know what does....
4.  I needed a new glue gun and glue as well.  It has been a LONG time since I glued anything together.

Before you begin, pull all of the little silver ornament toppers off. 

I began by gluing my larger ornaments around the wreath.  Because you want it to lay flat, don't lift it off of the table or floor so that your ornaments lay flush with the back.

Continue attaching your ornaments to the wreath.  As you fill in, get them as close together as you can.  This took almost all of my 100 larger ornaments.  I have about 4 left over.




Then start filling in with your smaller ornaments.  To keep the wreath looking round, don't cram them all the way down to the surface of the straw base.  I attached mine to the sides of my larger ornaments. 

And then voila!  You have a beautiful ornament wreath. 



Mine turned out quite a bit more colorful than the inspiration wreath.  And although I still love that elegant wreath, my house is not really elegant.  My house is Key West in the Blue Ridge Mountains.  I think what I made goes right with my yellow and turquoise kitchen!  Plus, my tree ornaments are all the same colors (on a white tree...again, nothing elegant here!). 

If you look really close, I still have a few tiny holes I'd like to fill in.  If I were to do this again, I would wrap my straw base wreath in a coordinating solid ribbon.  That way, if I had holes they would be less noticeable.  I would also put the cat up.  All of those glittering balls were way too much for her and she went into kitty overload.

I'd love to see your own wreaths if you give this project a try! 

I've never done a mood board before but I love looking at others.  I know that Pinterest is a tremendous mood board, but I wanted to create my own to share...not just pins.  So here it is...

Images from left to right, top to bottom:

Gretchen Hirsch from Gertie's New Blog for Better Sewing.  It is her writing and creations that made me believe I could create wonderful garments as well.

A vintage turquoise phone from Etsy.  I can't believe how far communication has come!

"Paris is always a good idea"...I've always wanted to go to Paris!

Pretty in Pink circa the 1950s (source)

Vintage inspired teal wedding dress (LOVE!) from Love my Dress.

This painting exudes vintage with the colors.  From Victoria's Vintage.

Beautiful golden gown from Moda.

Audrey Hepburn, the epitome of class.

  

My coat for Gertie's sew-along is a Murphy's Law at every turn.  The universe keeps telling me to stop, to put it down, to give up.  But I am stubborn and determined to see it through to the end.

I couldn't quite decide if I wanted to attempt the coat or not, but then I saw this amazing creation that Katrina from Edelweiss Patterns Blog made using Gertie's pattern:

Have you ever seen anything so gorgeous?  I had to have one of my own.  So I joined the sew-along with visions of of beauty in my head.

I searched all over for a suitable fabric.  I think everyone knows of my Fabric.com debacle and the cancelled coat fabric order because they don't know how computers work (if not, read about it here).  I headed over to Gorgeous Fabrics and ordered a purple wool and floral lining.  I received the purple wool but the wrong lining.

Gorgeous Fabrics was nice enough to send me the correct lining AND let me keep this one.  But the purple wool has an obvious diagonal stripe which the pattern says not to use.  Fabric #2 was now out.

Fabric #3 is a solid red wool from my local JoAnn's.  My lining is a red floral that I adore.

I'm ready to begin!  I now have 7 yards of purple wool, 6.5 yards of red wool, and three different linings.  And I thought this would be cheaper than buying a new coat...and I see a purple wool skirt and a couple of blouses in my future...

I made two muslins, one which was too small and one which was too big (which also took two patterns...and a little more money).  Was trying to be Goldilocks that difficult? I set it all aside out of frustration (and a little fear of cutting my red fabric...I just couldn't bear to buy more!).

In the meantime I managed to lose a smidgen of weight and the first muslin fit.  Or maybe I was just stretching it really, really hard to fit.  Gertie warned that it would take about 2 hours to cut out my main fabric.  It only took me two weeks!  Phoebe liked to help when she could...

I was lucky to get one piece cut out before she drew blood.  Thank goodness the coat is red...hides the bloodstains...

I finally, after two months of preparation, did some actual sewing today.  I followed Gertie's blog posts and videos as I went and successfully managed to make the bodice!  Only I put it all together backwards.  The next few hours were spent pulling out multiple seams and sewing them all back in again (correctly this time).  I had wanted to get my skirt done today also, but because I did such a great job screwing it up, I figured I better stop while I was ahead.  Here is what I have so far...


 It looks a little tight because I have lost weight since making my dress form so the dress form is the fatter me with about 20 layers of duck tape added. And sorry about the lousy pictures.  When I find $400 laying on the sidewalk I'll use it to buy a decent camera (or use it to pay off all of my fabric purchases).  The sleeves really are even and the glowing orb is just a lamp. 

And if Phoebe doesn't stop helping me?  I'm giving her away....this mess is courtesy of her:


Like how I worked a pin cushion into the shot? 

Because I have over booked myself all week this week, I won't get the chance to work on my coat.  This week could induce a mental breakdown.  But I'll just keep reminding myself that I will have a nice cozy coat created in time for Spring!