Studio 31 - Day 1

I've decided to give myself another 31 day challenge. The last one I completed was to watch a movie a day for 31 days. I was able to get though a nice chunk of my Netflix queue that way.

This time, I'm giving myself a challenge to spend at least two hours per day in my Studio. I've got quite a long list of PILLs (Projects in Long Lines), just waiting for me to give them some attention. In particular, I have about twelve projects on my cutting table that are getting in the way of me doing any real sewing. So I'm hoping to have most of those done by the end of my month. One of them is my granddaughter's embroidered quilt that I've been working with off and on for months.

I've also got a couple wreath ideas, a painting experiment, an autumn floral pumpkin idea, some mending, some card-making, some beaded ornaments, a Fall cross-stitch, and much more. If I get those done, I'll move further into my stash. Sometimes the amount of things I want to make and the number of techniques I want to try get overwhelming because I already have most of the supplies in my stash. Maybe if I clear this one table in 31 days, I'll develop a regular habit of spending more time in my Studio.

So today, I started by making one of the wreaths. This is an idea I saw on Pinterest. It's a colorful summer wreath made of the little paper umbrellas used in tropical drinks.

Dale was able to find the umbrellas on Amazon. There are more than enough umbrellas for several wreaths.

I bought this 8 inch floral wreath form at Dollar Tree. I used the wreath form as is. I didn't wrap it to camouflage the foam because the umbrellas would cover the entire base.

Each umbrella is kept tidy in the box by a rubber ring. I slipped the ring off, opened the umbrella, and measured it against the wreath form. The smaller gasket on the toothpick holds the umbrella open when slid up under the canopy.

Since the toothpick part of the umbrella was longer than the depth of the wreath form, I used some pliers with a cutting edge to snip off about an inch-and-a-half of the stick.

After that, it was simply a matter of sticking the umbrellas into the foam. I thought I might have to hot glue them in place, but I didn't because the toothpicks stayed put in the foam where I placed them. I started in the center and worked my way to the outer edge. I kept the colors in a loose pattern so that not too many umbrellas of the same color would end up on top of each other.

I made the hanger out of some 30-gauge floral wire and a couple floral pins.

I looped the wire between the two pins, then wrapped the loops for a tidy finish. The pins slipped easily into the back of the wreath.

That's it! I hung the wreath by the front door.

Were I to make this project again, I think I'd use a larger wreath. I think the proportion is off a little bit. This size of umbrella would be better on a ten or twelve inch wreath, I think. And a ten or twelve inch wreath would be a better proportion on the front porch.

I have plenty of umbrellas left, so ...


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Inspired by Family Chic
They used a grapevine wreath as a base. Ah.