Fabric Flower Bouquet - 05

Bouquet number 5. 

I placed the yellow stretchy sparkly vase wrap on a straight sided drinking glass.

This wrap featured the flap from the earlier ones because of the ease of sewing.  It gives a place to do some slow stitching.

I added the navy linen flower with the same fabric as the wrap in the center of the flower.

I had to make a spacer on the inside of the glass to keep the flower in the center.  I cut a 3.5 inch piece of chipboard onto which I scored a line at about 2.25 inches. I then cut slits all around the circle which allowed me to fold those over to fit inside the glass. I added a blue water fabric onto the top of the spacer then punched 1/8" hole in the center.  It was tucked inside the glass.

All five bouquets are now at the Spruce Grove Art Gallery Gift Shop.

Fabric Flower Bouquet - 04

I combined my Hot Pink Vase Wrap with my Tulle flower into a Fabric Flower Bouquet.

I cut a blue circle of fabric for the water. The glass I am using for the bouquet is a drinking glass so it has no lid. I cut a piece of chipboard bigger than the opening of the glass.  I made some slits from the outer edge to the size of the opening. I tacked the blue "water" fabric to the chip board and made a hole in the center. I pushed the wire from the flower through the hole then I twisted the wire stem onto a piece of bamboo skewer which measured just under the height of the glass.  Then I placed it inside the glass making sure the fabric was pressed between the chipboard edge and the side of the glass.  This keeps the flower in the center of the vase.

A very bright and cheery color for spring.

Bouquet - Embellishments

I added some stitching to the first bouquet Vase Wrap.

I chose alternating running stitching in red along the height of the vase wrap.

Gives it an additional touch of red to highlight the color of the flower.

You can see the bouquet here. 

On the second Vase Wrap I stitched around the flowers on one of the fabric strips.  I added some yellow running stitching along the edge of that strip as well to work in the yellow color of the flower.

You can see the bouquet here.

On the 3rd bouquet I added some color to the edges of the organza flower with Peel Paint Distress Stain.  It provides a bit of definition to the flower and works with the color of the vase wrap.

You can see the bouquet here.

Fabric Flower Bouquet - 03

I combined the organza flower and the green fern vase wrap into a bouquet.

I cut a bamboo skewer as tall as the inside of the bottle.  

I cut a circle of warm blue fabric and put a small hole in the center.  

I put a hole in the center of the metal lid with a nail and hammer.

I then pushed the stem wire through the fabric circle, then through the metal lid and then wrapped it tightly around the skewer.

Then I dropped the skewer/wire into the bottle and screwed on the lid to the bottle.

I placed the wrap onto the bottle from the bottom ensuring the flower was where I wanted it.  

I tucked the blue "water" fabric circle between the jar and the wrap.

And I have another bouquet ready to go.

Fabric Flower Bouquet - O2

I chose to make a yellow flower for this fabric vase wrap because I like the color combo and one of the strips of fabric had yellow in it.  That helps marry the 2 pieces together. 

I wanted to cover the inner parts in the bottle so cut a 5 inch circle of teal fabric. I placed a hole in the center of the water circle and passed the wire stem through it then the stem also through the hole in the metal lid.  It will sit on the lid the bottle.  Then I wrapped the wire stem around a wooden skewer which is cut to the height of the bottle and now provides stability to the flower. The skewer is then placed inside the bottle and the lid is screwed onto the bottle.  

The wrap is then placed onto the bottle from the bottom and the water circle is tucked into the vase wrap.

The fabric flower can be removed and real flowers can be placed in the bottle vase.

Fabric Flower Bouquet - 01

After weeks of working on this idea I finally have something I am happy with.

It has brought together a Fabric Collage Vase Wrap which uses scraps of fabric into something pretty, an empty sauce bottle that was headed to the recycle bin, and scrap fabric to make the Fabric Flower on bendable wire stem.

The challenges were:

1. Make the flower proportional to the vase.

2. Make a stem strong enough to hold the flower.

3. Will I build adjustability into the wrap?  I decide in the end no.

4. Will I have a strip extend from the body? Yes, this makes sewing the flat piece into a tube much easier.

5. How deep will I make the strip? Do I want to make it a feature?  If it is a feature then you need to put a piece of fabric on the lining side or chose your lining fabric carefully.

6. How do I hide the jar lid?  Put a piece of blue fabric to represent water.

I plan on make some of these bouquet for the gift shop at the Art Gallery.  They will all be unique which will make a perfect gift for a special person.

The fabric flower can be removed and real flowers placed in the bottle vase.

Ink Drawing - Flowers

A pretty set of flowers today drawn with another Staedtler pen - cool roller.

Turns out it is not permanent so no watercoloring this bunch of flowers.

I love these nice smooth lines in this cool ink color.

I am working on the kitchen today and leaving just bare minimum dishes to facilitating feeding myself. 

Still waiting! 

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I brought these beautiful flowers home this week.  They are a sympathy bouquet with pink roses, freesia and lilies on the passing of our dear Mom on Sunday, January 22nd. Some of her girls were with during her final hours and she passed peacefully.

These flowers were given to my sister but she could not keep them due to lilies and the cats. 

I am blessed to receive them and enjoy them - it is a gorgeous arrangement.

I am glad Mom is now with Dad and no longer in pain.

I received this Anniversary Clock when things were cleared from Mom's room at the Lodge. We were blessed to have many hands to make light work of moving furniture, clothes, appliances, sewing machine and entertainment center.  She had been in the hospital since Dec 11th so we had some warning that she would not be returning to the Lodge.

I don't know the story of the clock and on my last visit with her she was not responsive so I did not get a chance to ask about it.  It must have been precious as she took it to the lodge with her.  Maybe Dad gave it to her for one of their over 60 wedding anniversaries.  I hope someone in the family will have the history.

It has been around for a long time I think.   It is battery operated and it chugging away keeping time on my shelf now.

I dropped some stuff at the ReUse Center this week and did pick up a few things.

There were some small glass ornaments - The Nutcracker on the left and mercury glass acorns on the right.

There was a good amount of the yellow pear fabric which came home with me.  Not sure what it may become - maybe a towel hanger for the oven door.

The Best Detective Stories of the Year - 1972 edited by Allen J. Hubin. 

There were several good stories in this collection.  They were short enough to finish in a half hour before going to bed.

Bizarre story about trying to photograph heaven as beings are being killed to achieve this goal.  Another about how man in a  large transport truck terrorizes a guy in a car on a lonely stretch of road. One story documents a number of financial deals which ends up with someone being hoodwink of lots of money in the end.  A turn of words makes the difference. 

Maybe it was not the best reading just before bed.

We are headed back into the cooler for the next few days.

I managed to get groceries and run a few errands before that arrived.

O is for Outlaw by Sue Grafton was another great book in the Kinsey Millhome series. 

This central figure in this one is her ex-husband Mickey Magruder who now lays in a hospital bed in very bad shape. 

She learns that the circumstances under which she decided to end her marriage to Mickey may not be quite what they seemed.  Now, she must investigate the situation to clear up if and what she misunderstood.  Time is precious as Mickey is not long for this world.

Mickey was a cop and lost the job he loved and took a downward spiral - let's say not always on this side of the law.

It was interesting to see Kinsey have to look at her life and maybe see things and do things differently.   She usually is so sure of herself and generally a straight shooter.  A great read.

Small Gifts - Oil Diffusers - One of a Kind - Set 2

I have started another set of bespoke oil diffusers.

Ice Cream Cone - This is a ceramic Easy Tiger Matte Ceramic Ice Cream Cone mini planter.

I paired it with a warm and fuzzy yarn in peaches, creams and aqua color.  I created one ball for the ice cream you can see then a small one to anchor this one in the cone.  I stitched them together.

I used a silicone bead with a piece of yarn which I wired to keep it up in position as an accent on top of the cone. The tones all work together in this piece of art.

The oil can be dropped on the cherry on top or the ice cream.  

The ceramic cone will contain the oil. 

Red & White Bouquet - A clear glass bud vase holds a red and white bouquet of pom pom flowers.

I have used another wooden spiral to hide the wire armature of the bouquet.

The bouquet is weighed with a wood bead on the inside of the spiral.

The red pom pom flowers can be used to hold the essential oil with little concern of discoloration.

Again, the glass vase will protect your surface from any drops of oil.  

Just 2-5 drops of oil will be enough to give you scent for 20 minutes to 40 minutes.

Key to my Heart - A crystal glass candy dish holds a set of 3 felt hearts.  This were hand cut to match the shape of the glass dish.

I chose red, pink and white in graduated sizes. I added a small gold tone metal key held in place with 3 tiny stitches of cotton thread.

The stitches also hold the 3 felt hearts together.  A Zot on the glass holds the hearts in the proper place in the dish.

The oil should likely be applied to the red heart to avoid any discoloration to the white heart.

Again, the glass dish keeps your surface free from damage from any oil drops.

Sunflower - A handmade felt sunflower in a clear shallow glass vase.  If I had to guess it's original purpose may have been has a terrarium.

Well, it still holds a flower but now it has bright colors of orange, golden yellow and sunshine yellow with a brown center.

I made the flower following this tutorial. Check out the following link for the details. DIY Felt Flowers - No Sew Fabric Flower Tutorial   It fits in the vase perfectly.  

The dark center will be ideal for the drops of essential oil as discoloration will not show.

Glass will protect your surface from stay oil drops.  Love it!

A Glass of Sherry - I wanted this small vintage glass to look like it was filled with sherry.

I chose a loose burgundy yarn with a hint of gold among the threads to fill the bowl of the glass.   I wrapped it around a felt wool ball to give me a stable core and for it to assemble easier.

I chose a gold metal filigree at the top to cap the loosely wound yarn.  I topped it with a glass & gold bead which is held in place with a tiny gold ebead.  It was strung together with gold metallic thread which holds the accent, the loose yarn and the wool ball core as one piece.

Zots hold the nest of yarn to the glass which will protect the surface from oil drops.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

The fruit trees are all in bloom.  The crab apples, choke cherry, apple and cherry trees are sporting great colors this week.  Deep pink, light pink, white and some shades in between.

It is feeling like summer.  I was out for my 1.5 hour walk this morning and visiting my favorite park and garden for the first time this year.

Can't beat those Alberta blue skies.

I heard then saw red winged black birds at Paul Kane park this morning.  I have not seen these birds so far into the city.  The pool was filled with water so that may have made the difference.  Generally, the city is later in filling the pool.

There was a male and female so I expect there was a nest in the dry bullrushes. This is so exciting!

There were Canada Geese, Mallards, House Finches, and magpies all making an appearance.

I received a bouquet of flowers yesterday.   It was really nice to get flowers on the remembrance of my Dad's passing on May 12th.  We celebrated his life on May 24th.  He was 92 and passed quietly in his sleep which is exactly what he wanted.

It was a couple of weeks of funeral arrangements, visits with Mom, and the first in person funeral in 2 years for the funeral home.  I pray that everyone remains well following that get together.

Mom and Dad celebrated 68 years of marriage the day Dad passed.  He had tested positive for COVID so it was in full PPE no less.  At least they were together as Mom had been in isolation earlier, had brain surgery and had not be able to see him regularly.

I brought Mom some purple pansies this week.  She has been given a raised flower bed at the lodge so she will have pansies, tomatoes and  Osteospermum - African Daisies in her bed.

Unfortunately, she will not be able to see them from her room so she will see them when she goes into the dining room 3 times a day.

It will be good for her to have something to tend to now that Dad has passed.

She is gaining strength every day following her surgery.   She was thinking about sewing again when I saw her on Monday.  That is a very good sign.

I found these at the community garden.

I found an Aquarium BluRay DVD the other day at the thrift store.

I am enjoying the sights and sounds on the TV when there is not too much else that is very good on.

There are about 6 different scenes and well as quite a few fish swimming around.

It's like putting on the fireplace at Christmas time.

I finished this book this week.  P is for Peril - Sue Grafton.

Kinsey Millhone is hired by Fiona, the first wife of Dr. Dowan Purcell, to move along the stalled investigation by police of his disappearance. He disappeared nine weeks earlier. The first wife is more concerned than present wife Crystal. Fiona, embittered by the breakdown of her marriage, is convinced that Dow has engineered his own disappearance, as she alleges Crystal is having an affair and admits that Dow has gone missing a couple of times before. In support of this, his passport and thirty thousand dollars seem to be missing. In contrast, Crystal, a former stripper Dow met on a trip to Las Vegas, is convinced he is dead. Not impressed either with Fiona's haughty personality or the chances of turning up something on a cold trail, Kinsey accepts the case with misgivings.  Kinsey ends up finding the Dr., having a brush with some really bad characters and is trying to find new office space.

I found this book a little slow but it may have been the distractions in my life the last couple of weeks more than the book itself.

Check this duck out on the small pool at Paul Kane.  It is a Greater Scaup - a diving duck.  The male and female where casually swimming the water.   

It was so great to see them there.  There were about 10 mallard males just sitting in the sun.   I have seen this before so I am not sure where they have left Momma and the ducklings.   There is not a lot of water nearby.

Wishing you a great week!

Recent Photos!

I bought tulips for my Mom and sister at Easter.

I decided that I deserved a bouquet of them myself so on the weekend I added these to my table.

I chose the same color that my Mom loved.

They were pretty closed so they will last a few days!


I finished this book this week. 

It is a very intriguing book and the tag line is what inspired me to bring it home.  "Creative Living beyond Fear"  by the same author as Eat Pray Love.  I have been struggling with the end of my card making classes and was looking to find some ways to move forward with my photography.  Basically, I took away the following: Stay Curious, Always Do Something!, When Stuck - Look in a different direction, Inspiration is always looking for a place to land so be open and accepting, Everyone is Creative, and “It`s just that inspiration comes from another world, so sometimes we have trouble understanding each other.”

I bought this watch on the weekend thinking I could adapt the bracelet for my watch. 

Well, that was not possible so I bought a battery for it but that was a bust too!

I finished my taxes today. I had to pay this year which was unusual for me so I had to learn a lot to figure out what happened! 

The research I had to do sort of fell into the lessons in the book above. 

I found these shadows this morning. I will have to learn how to photograph these better. 

This was the best composition I captured this morning. 

Love the softness of the edges.

This was an idea was generated by a book I read quite a while ago, Window Sill Art.

Again, following inspiration from the book in this post I had nothing to lose by trying something new.

I created a mosaic with my bouquet of tulips. 

I used several backgrounds and captured some nice colorful bokeh!

I remember when creating bokeh was a challenge and after a couple years of practice I can do whenever I want.

Sharing with
Angie host of Mosaic Monday at Letting Go of the Bay Leaf.

Mersad host of Through my Lens


The challenge for Flickr Macro Monday was "Eye of the Beholder"
I took a picture of this spinning wood top.  I love this object.

You can check out my Flickr photo stream.

Mosaic Monday - Blooms & Critters

Here's a few photos from the weekend. 

Pink and yellow tulips in Mom's vase for Mother's Day.

A soaked chickadee sitting on the bird feeder.  It rained non stop for 2 days.  There was water everywhere.

The shrubs have finally burst into flowers. 

The Red Winged Black Bird at the Heritage Wetlands.  I just  missed the pelicans so another trip is in order.

Squirrel on the wooden frame in the yard at Mom & Dad's. I don't know why he is not soaked like the birds.  He moves fast so he may be skipping the rain drops.

Sharing with Maggie at Normandy Life who hosts Mosaic Monday #40.

Mosaic Monday - Recent Projects

I have been doing a lot of photography in the last few days.  I created several bouquets in various color schemes. 

I used this wonderful wool blanket as a background and I found this bouquet worked with it very well. 

I placed it on a rectangular Battenburg Lace doily.








This little Teddy Bear is a recent acquisition. He measures 6 inches sitting down which he can do on his own. 

He was photographed in front of the tea cup box from the Inside Out Heart cups. He has a lovely navy vest and a silver bow.  He is a great size at about

I`ve spent some time at the sewing machine in recent time as well.  I created a companion piece to the Thread Catcher Bag which is a Litter Bag with a plastic container lined with a disposable bag.  This works well where you may have wet or messy litter.  The car comes to mind. 



Being in the first few weeks of the New Year check out the areas of my life I want to work on in this coming year.  I layered a digital smooth texture file on the bouquet above just to provide a smoothness to the original file.  Check out my Blog Give Away.


Sharing with Maggie at Normandy Life who hosts Mosaic Monday 22.