Felt Bouquet Redux

For the past couple of months, I've been working on a bridal bouquet for my great-niece. Thought I'd share a few of the pics taken on the way to a finished bouquet.

It's been an extended process with lots of photos posted on Facebook for approval as she lives in Pennsylvania and we're in Texas. Here are a couple of shots of the beginning flowers, the tutes for which I found all over the 'net. Amazing what you can find from talented bloggers out there!

Her great-grandmother (my MIL) died before Elizabeth was born but I had some small doilies Mum crocheted and used a few in the bouquet.

The one on the left was a triple flower doily folded into a three-layered single flower. I used a felted ball as the center for it and for the one on the right, which was a square ruffled into a flower shape. I was careful not to ruin the pieces; they can still be unstitched back to their beginning shapes.

This is another ruffled square; I used a bead center on it.

One of my dry run photos. Eliza preferred the bouquet without greenery so I deleted them in the final bouquet.

The penultimate audition shot. Bridesmaid dresses are black with begonia sashes so I used both black and begonia as accent colors with several shades of light pink as well.

She wanted burlap and lace as a handle wrap. I picked up burlap ribbon and crochet lace from Walmart, which is pretty much my only crafting supply source out here in the country. That and the internet. Thank God for Etsy!

I removed the original lace trim from the ribbon, leaving a raveled edge, and stitched two layers of the crochet lace onto the burlap with a chain stitch, making a 2-edged lace overlay.

Here I wrapped the handle with a thin felt for softness. The felt came from a roll I found at a thrift store; it's not wool and fairly thin so I ended up using four layers.

Here's the burlap and lace pinned onto the handle, final audition shot.

The completed bouquet. As accent, I used a brooch also found at a thrift shop. 

I really like the end result. Hope she does too.

Springtime in Texas

I haven't posted in quite a while but wanted to share some pictures of springtime in Texas.

The view from my kitchen window. It's gorgeous this time of year, with the cross vine in bloom. Wish the honeysuckle was; deer have eaten it so badly it's just not doing as well as usual. I have to be more diligent with Deer-off this year.

The north side of our property. The copse of trees on the left is made up of smallish trees, but it's a lovely little shady spot where the hub keeps a bird feeder and birdbath.

The back of our house is a bit untidy--we've both been ill. Today, though, we'll be bringing plants out of the greenhouse and I'll tidy up at the same time.

A view of the field south of us, and of course my orange kitty, Max, eating grass. And, yes, he came right into the house and threw up on the carpet in the guest bedroom. He's obsessed with eating grass and prefers weed grass to the stuff I planted for him. Guess he's what they call a cheap date.

Another view of the copse of trees--and the honeysuckle. As I said, everything's untidy right now. I can't even show the front yard, it needs tending so badly.

 A view of the back property, the part we let go to weed. Don't the bluebonnets look gorgeous!

Another view of the back property.

And that's all for now. Happy springtime to you, wherever you are!

Upcycling, Part trois

More upcycled pillows:

This was made of a designer fabric sample, backed with raw silk, which I purchased new.

The matelassé I made this pillow from was gleaned from a discarded bedskirt.

The doily was from the thrift store. Don't you know the woman

who made this beauty was proud of it.

It's gorgeous!

This tea towel was a thrift store find more than fifteen years ago. Because the towel  

pattern is so yummy, I made the pillow so the towel could be

restored if anyone should choose to do so. The zipper is 

hand-picked, a couture technique.

This pillow was made from a cutter quilt I picked up somewhere ages ago

 and thrift store lace.

All the pillows in this post are currently available in my Etsy store. In the future I might do a post on pillows from the past, but not today.

Tomorrow I'll show tea cozies from upcycled materials.

Upcycling, part deux

Today's pillows are all made from recycled fabric/vintage towels, one of my fave kinds of pillows.

This one was a gorgeous linen tea towel that had a big hole in it. 

Couldn't be darned or else I'd have tried. I used it and a piece 

of new chenille fabric bought as a remnant. The flower

is from a silk bought as a remnant from a

design curtain/upholstery firm.

This was a kitchen towel. I'll admit I didn't buy it at a thrift store; 

it was new from Dollar Tree. The buttons though are

vintage, as are most of the ones I use.

The doily's the upcycled bit here, that plus the wool for the flower and 

the linen itself, which also came from a thrift store. 

Ditto on the button. 

Again a doily was the upcycled bit, but the glass for the 

button was a thrift store find too. I used new

linen for the underfabric.

This was a Battenburg tablecloth from a thrift store. It had a hole,

which could have been darned but the tablecloth

 wasn't unique enough to warrant doing so.

That's all for today. Check back  tomorrow for more upcycled pillows. Oh, and all but the top pillow, already sold, are available at my Etsy store.

Upcycling, part one

Do you recycle/upcycle?

I admit it's an obsession with me, taking something old and making it new again. I love redoing pillow covers, and I admit recycling isn't always necessary with the ones I find. But--since I have an Etsy shop and they only allow items made by others if they're more than 20 years old and I can't actually use all the pillows I come across, I find recycling necessary.

In this part of the country, pillow covers/pillows can be had for a song, and, with a little creativity--and a certain amount of  work--they can become truly magnificent. (That's my opinion, of course.)

This was a Crate and Barrel pillow, in excellent condition. I bought it originally because it was a cheap price to pay for a down pillow form. Then, well, I couldn't discard the cover, now could I? So I added a flower, made of an old cashmere coat I'd felted, and needlefelted the center to tie in with the pillow itself.

This was a Calvin Klein pillow cover, again in excellent shape, again with a down pillow form (which I can pretty much ditto on every one of these). It took me ages but I stitched the buttons into the ampersand shape. I'll admit this is one of my faves.

A grape silk cushion cover, this. Need I say I bought it for the down form? This one had stains, which I thought I might be able to get out. And I did, after hand washing it. Then I stitched the buttons into the etc. shape. It's another one I like, though neither this one nor the Calvin Klein, nor even the Crate and Barrel work in my home. The first two have sold, this one's still up for grabs in my Etsy shop.

This is upcycled merely in that it was a vintage tea towel I made into cushion cover, then monogramed with buttons. It was my first button project, something I made probably six or seven years ago. It too can be had for the taking .

This last is also not a reclaimed cushion cover. It's made from a vintage sampler I picked up somewhere in my thrifting and remnant fabrics. The design is one I saw, again many years ago, at a semi-local way cool fabric store: Cowgirls and Lace in Dripping Springs, TX. They were asking $125 for theirs. Mine's in my Etsy shop for $50.

That's all today. Check back in tomorrow for more upcycling.