Fabric Flowers for Spring Sticks

Wow, the days really seem to be getting away from me lately. Also, I think I'm in a pregnancy induced state of no brain functioning. I had a Doctor's appointment this morning and after it was over I went to pick up my youngest at a friends house and as I was sitting there talking to her I reached up to rub my eye and realized I only had mascara on one of my eyes. And that's pretty typical of how things have been going lately. So, I know the day is almost over but as promised here is the tutorial for anyone interested in making the flowers for the spring sticks.

Start by cutting out several strips of fabric that are 3/4 inch by 8 inches. You will probably want 3 or 4 different coordinating fabrics.

Thread a long needle, with a knot at the end of course, and sew a running stitch along the entire length of the strip.

Slide the fabric along the thread to gather it and pull tight. Keeping the fabric taut bring the right sides together and either machine stitch the two ends together or if your lazy like me just dab on some fabric glue.

When it's done it should look like this.

Run a little seam sealant along the edges to prevent fraying and then if you want an extra touch you could add a fake flower center or glue on a cute button.

I made a whole bunch of these in just an hour so now I need to find another way to use them, since they aren't going on my sticks.

Spring Sticks

Before I get started on my post, I need to give one more shout out to Jodi, who was the winner of our necklace give away. We would love to send you your new necklace, so please email us with your contact info. If we haven't heard back from Jodi by Friday, we will pick a new winner.
OK, onto the good stuff. Several months ago I bought this book. There were so many pretty things that I was excited to make, but about a week later I was hit with the morning sickness so the book got put on my shelf to sit and be lonely. Well, last week when I was finally feeling normal again I went and dusted off the cover and spent over an hour pouring through the pages. At first I was overwhelmed trying to decide what to make first, but then I came across this page and I knew it was meant to be. I loved this arrangement for two reasons. 1) It's pretty and whimsical and 2) there are sticks all over my backyard right now that need to be cleaned up. I ran right out in the freezing cold to gather a few of those sticks and then got the rest of my supplies at JoAnn's. Here is everything you will need Sticks, hem tape or ribbon, and coordinating fabric for the flowers. I found a hot glue gun to be very useful also, although Martha was talented enough to make hers without one. To wrap the sticks, simply put a little dot of hot glue on the bottom and make your way up overlapping the ribbon slightly. Be very careful when you get to the ends of the stick or if your sticks are really skinny because it's easy to break them if you are wrapping to hard. I did it several times.

At the ends of each stick or anywhere you want a leaf, simply tie a knot and cut off the ribbon at an angle. If you make a leaf mid stick, just put another dab of hot glue and start wrapping again,

Wrap all of your sticks and arrange them how you want in a pretty vase.

I filled my vase 3/4 of the way with popcorn kernels and then once the sticks were in I added some river rocks.

At this point is where you would start gluing on your flowers, which I did, but after 3 of them I realized that I loved the simplicity of just the sticks and pulled the flowers back off. For anyone who interested in making the flowers though, I will post a quick tutorial tomorrow.