How To Update An Old Grapevine Wreath and My Finished Winter Quilt Project

       

                      

                     From this:                                                    To This:

Keeping in character with my "worst blogger in the world" persona, I did a home improvement/craft project forgetting once again to take any "before" or "during" photos, or a video.  I just started working on this wreath, and when I was done I thought "Shoot!  I should have documented everything for my blog".  So, once again I'll just have to explain my process, and hopefully you'll understand.  It really wasn't that complicated.

So, if you look at the first photo in the upper left hand corner that was an old grapevine wreath that I had hanging on my wall since the nineties.  That area is the perfect spot to hang a wreath, so I wanted to keep it, but the wreath itself became very outdated and quite frankly it was starting to fall apart.  Originally, my house had a "Tuscan" style, now I would describe it as "Modern Farmhouse" although I do not go overboard on the farmhouse stuff.  Because my house had a "Tuscan" style before, the wreath was also decorated in that style:  large clusters of grapes, jewel tones, and a very outdated yellow chiffon ribbon.  I needed a new wreath that represented the "Modern Farmhouse" trend.  So what did I do?  Well, I went to Pinterest of course and typed in "Modern Farmhouse Grapevine Wreath" and found lots of great examples.  I ended up choosing THIS ONE to replicate.

I was able to find everything in the Pinterest wreath at Hobby Lobby, and some items I already had in my stash.  But I didn't like everything about the original wreath, so I left out the crazy grapevine twig that spreads out in every direction.  I also left out the asparagus fern looking stuff.  I tried it in my wreath, but I didn't like it, so I added a cream Astilbe stem instead.

Even though I bought everything at half off and used some supplies I already had, I still thought it was quite pricey.  Artificial flowers have always been expensive, but they have really gone up a lot too.  The whole wreath ended up costing me $46.42 to update.  I suppose that really isn't too bad since the Pinterest inspiration wreath is $205.00😃

Making the wreath was super simple, except for the part where I ended up removing a layer of skin because I got hot glue on my arm 😆.  All I did was take everything off the old wreath, leaving just the plain grapevine wreath.   Then  I layered all around the wreath starting with the dried eucalyptus,  then the "Silver Dollar" eucalyptus,  cream Astilbe stems, and finishing with the Mini Olive Leaf Bundle.  I mostly just "stuck" everything in place, but sometimes I would hot glue it in place or use green wire to get it to stay exactly where I wanted it.

I didn't want a "one direction" wreath, so when sticking the floral pieces through the grapevine, I went upwards on each side and at the very top and bottom wreath went horizontal.  You can do whatever you want, whatever pleases your eye.  Oh, and I should mention that everything I purchased was a bush, so I had to use wire cutters to cut them into stems.  And that's it! Easy Peasy!  I have a new, updated wreath!

Finally, I wanted to share my FINISHED QUILT! (I originally shared my progress of this quilt in THIS POST).   Yay!  I can't believe how many years it took me to finish this quilt.  It was really the topstitching that took forever, but it is done, and I'm quite proud.  

Now that I'm done, I will take a break from quilting for the summer as I have too much gardening to do, but next winter I hope to finish a Log Cabin quilt I started but never finished.  That one is a beauty!

This is a very small quilt, probably the size of a large baby blanket.  I had no idea what to do with it (which is probably why I never finished it for so long) and finally found the perfect spot for it at the foot of my "Master Bedroom Suite".

Apparently Jackson thought it was the perfect spot for my quilt too as I caught him sleeping on it the other day.  I almost died though when I saw his claws accidentally go into the quilt!  Yikes! Someday I hope to have enough quilts to just display them in a cabinet.  I really LOVE this idea HERE!  I also love the ladders they display blankets on, but I don't have the wall space for one.

 Oh, and if you're wondering about my kitchen remodel, it is almost done and looking gorgeous!  I'm just still waiting on hubby to put in that counter top, which he says he will do first thing after Easter, so stay tuned!

Have A Great Day!  Amy

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