Baubles, Ribbons and Pinecones

The Setting 

One fabulously frosty, cold, sunny morning.

One beautifully warm yurt with a blazing fire going in the log burner.

Christmas music playing.

A table covered in greenery ...holly, ivy, spruce, variegated shrubs.

Boxes and baskets of baubles, ribbons, teasels, pinecones, acorns, pompoms.

Eight people eager to learn how to make wreaths (well some I feel had done it before)

 What we did

We used circles made from our own willow, as a base. 

 

We padded it out with cypress lleylandii and laid spruce in layers all round, tying off as we worked round the circle. We used garden string or florists wire.

 

Then we had a teabreak with little gift boxes containing chocs and silly Xmas jokes.

We exchanged the greenery for the goodie boxes and began the really fun part, adding all the pretty bits. There were a few hints about wiring up various things such as pine cones and baubles.

(Pine cones are easier to wire up if they are opened up. And it was easier to pull the ends off the baubles and wire tightly round the little ridge there.)

The most difficult item to wire up, was the delicate gold sprayed acorns but we managed.

The great thing to see at this stage was how the wreaths became so individual and the "look" that people favoured.

Some were delightful in their simplicity.

Some were more natural looking.

Some were "busy."
 

All of them were lovely in their own way. And everyone was proud of their own effort. 

The Results

 

Hollie nearly escaped before her photo was taken.

 We ended the session with home-made tomato and lentil soup courtesy of Anne and butternut and lentil soup courtesy of Jan and Julie. I tried both ..... delicious.

Paula made a batch of her lovely mince pies with cream.

We all had a wonderful time, a lot of laughs and ended up with very special wreaths.

And I think we might be doing it again next year.