A wreath of holly and red beads

I’ve been wondering for a couple of weeks if you were able to get holly from the florist at this time of year in Australia, I did a bit of googling but nothing conclusive came up. Last Saturday, I rang the local florist (Northside Flower Market) and asked if they were able to obtain holly at this time of the year. The lady on the other end, politely laughed and said they have buckets of it! This of course meant a happy Helen and a couple of hours later I was in the cold room carefully examining the holly bunches for which had branches that were not too woody (i.e suitably bendy) but also had well formed holly leaves. After some time, I found two bunches that fitted my criteria.

We then had this, yes I picked up some spruce bunches as well, mmmm spruce.

It was then over to Spotlight, which surprisingly was just about empty!!! I know on a Saturday afternoon … I didn’t even have to line up at the checkouts… Crazy. I picked up some steel rings (one which was 400mm in diameter and the other was 350mm) and some floral wire.

The holly then went into a bucket of water downstairs in the cool till last night when I decided it was time to get up close and personal with the holly (read, let’s get prickly). Apart from the prickles it was dead simple to make and probably only took about 30 minutes or so, I was listening to Nightlife and spent some time just listening. The interview with Katy Gallagher (ACT Chief Minister) was most interesting.

The progress shot, uploaded to Facebook.

I arranged the branches round the ring and then went round wiring the branches on, using about three pieces of floral wire per holly branch and then used more wire to make a hanger that is is the same style as on the back of picture frame. I then wrapped a length of red bead garland round the 350mm ring and hung it behind the holly wreath so it “sort of resembles” holly berries.

The final product, hanging above the plates over the stair well. Do you see the the mini candle wreath on the Royal Doulton Rustic England quatrefoil bowl? The plates do not escape Christmas πŸ™‚

Holly Wreath

Strawberry Jam, Dec 2010, Made by Helen

I made Strawberry Jam in December which I gave as part of my Christmas boxes. I finally got round to taking a photo of one of the jars! The felt topper changed between jars depending on what I had at hand but they were all tied up twine and finished with jingle bells.

December 8, a yarn wreath

Yarn Wreath

I started this wreath when I was off work with my foot. It was something “easy” to do though I’ll say it now, if I ever make one of these again, I’m using thicker wool! I used some Patons Bluebell 5ply that I found in my stash (originally from the Salvos store at Bundamba). I’ve been looking at the wreath the last few days deciding what it needs. Wanting to keep with a pretty clean and muted palette, I added a doily which is a few shades darker than the cream wool and an old Christmas decoration thing that I picked up in a mixed lot from the Juicy Junk Shop in Pomona at the start of the year. (Look at that I’ve just mentioned two of my favourite second hand stores in the one paragraph). Wrapped some gold thread round the rest of the wreath to carry on the gold from the decoration thing and there she is. It makes me smile.

Up Close
Yarn Wreath

On my bedroom door
You can just see my Christmas apron peeking out from behind the back door, a early Christmas present from Mum – to wear when doing Christmas baking.
Yarn Wreath

December 2

Advent Calender

This is the advent garland/calendar that I made last night. I picked up these little pegs from Tiger (I liked Tiger, I wish we had Tiger here) when I was in Iceland, threaded a length of ribbon through the spring on the pegs, hung it beneath my shelves with the trusty 3M decorating clips and there it is. I’m using the little santa card to mark the day. This morning when I woke up, I moved the card to peg 2. It felt so good. I have a chocolate advent calendar at work. πŸ™‚

I put up my little tree last night and was most distraught to realise that I left my box of miniature tree ornaments at Mum’s. I’ll be picking that box up pronto. I do have some suitable ornaments to place on each day till I pick that box up so not all is lost. I haven’t put the ornament for today on yet. Still a little while to pick the one that suits today.

The lights on my tree.
Oh Christmas Tree

I was having a little browse through the Tiger catalogue and I came across this hat … yep, this hat has so much more class and style than your run of the mill Santa hat.

A Camera Case

Tonight I made my new little camera a new little case. It turned out pretty close to how I pictured it in my head. Now my camera will be protected from bumps and scratches in my bag πŸ˜€ I used some Japanese fabric that I picked up a few years ago along with some matching navy linen for the lining. To show who I am I also added a name tag to the back πŸ˜€

Camera Case Camera Case

a granny rug update

Granny Square Update

As promised on Wednesday, here are some new photos of my rug. I am now over half way into my third ball. My routine most days is that I will crochet a round a night before bed. If I catch the train to work, I crochet on the train but as I ride pretty much every day now I miss that crochet time but instead get lovely cycling time. A fair trade off.

Granny Square Update