Fall....In the Nick of Time

These pictures should have existed two months ago, but with just days left to think brown, gold and orange, I finished this garland. It's hung in the doorway between our dining room and living room, which is quite wide. I wish I could show a full shot of it, but it would also show all the chaos and clutter that is/was going on in the surrounding areas. Believe me, it's not pretty. The leaves were cut from felted wool sweaters that I and those who love me have been gathering up for me. I used a template from Martha Stewart for the Maple leaf, and just drew my Oak leaves free hand (her Oak leaf looked to thick to me....maybe we have different Oaks in the South) and then did some free motion stitching on them to give them veins. The rest of the garland was made with fabric strips, burlap, ribbon, raffia and beads. I'm still trying to decide if I like this or if it came across as too country cutesy. I almost wish I'd just stitched the leaves together in a chain. Maybe next year.

These were another project that I'm still scratching my head over. I was going for something natural and autumnal, but I think I got Christmas pine cone trees instead. I'm thinking that sticking them with pumpkins didn't help. And in addition to them not really looking very autumnal, I can see a lot of dried glue on them, so I'm thinking I need to invest in a can of spray "snow" and give them a good dusting. The Mr. says he's not a fan of fake snow on things, but I'm not really a fan of Christmas tree decorations in October or visible globs of dried glue. Glitter was my other idea, but I'm not sure that's the best course of action either. Either way, I need to give up on fall and focus on Christmas now, which will be easier now that I have a new iron to replace the one that went kaput the other night. I can't say it's from all the clothes that I iron, but I'm guessing it croaked after all the fabric and seams it has ironed over the past years. The important stuff, you know.