That’s a dangerous statement to make around my park of Western NY, seeing that it’s not out of the ordinary to see snow flurries in April or May. The weather today is 50 degrees and rainy. I’ve got my windows open to air out the house and I took the storm window off the back door. All I need now is to purchase an Adirondack chair to set out on the front porch and I’ll declare Spring’s arrival. Until then, this wreath that I made will have to do.
The Hubster and I have a thing for finches. We feed our finchy friends all summer long. For winter, we hang a curtain I made out of finch fabric. We even have finch ornaments that adorn our Christmas tree. So, one day, after cleaning up my scrap room a bit, I came across these sweet birdies and decided to make a wreath out of various odds and ends.
I started by wrapping a styrofoam wreath from the dollar store with a nice tweedy chunky yarn. It took about 20 minutes, a bit of patience and an episode of the United States of Tara to complete. To create the nest, I took strands of natural raffia and wrapped them around my hand to form the nest shape. To secure, I simply tied a strand of raffia in a secure knot in the back, leaving the tails long. I tied the tails to the wreath and then added a few pins to hold it nicely in place.
The artificial forsythia branches and pussy willows were leftovers from other arrangements. I tucked those behind the nest, tied them securely with more raffia and pinned them in place.
The finches had wires already attached to their feet, so I just wove those into the raffia nest. I then stuffed sphagnum moss into the empty space to prop them up a bit.
To finish off the wreath and cover up some of the pins, I added scrap felt rosettes and some hand cut wool felt leaves. I just pinned those in place. If you like, you can hot glue them, but I was too lazy to drag out my gun that night. I tied a springy ribbon to the top and called it complete. All in all, it took less than an hour.
I’d like to make another version of this for next winter with cardinals, holly branches and white yarn. When I get around to making it, I’ll post that project too.
Now, I’m off to do a bit of Spring cleaning. Or not.
it’s cute!