Happy Christmas from Northumberland, where there was dusting of snow and it was a cold but sunny and bright Christmas Day. We had a lovely day that involved opening and delivering presents, a beach dog walk and five of us for a delicious roast goose dinner, expertly prepared by K. Daughter made a decadent dessert. Son, who recently passed his driving test, was his granny’s chauffeur for the day.
On Christmas Eve I made this flower arrangement for our table. For the base I used a glass cake stand. I cut a block of florist foam to fit a glass bowl, soaked it in water for 10 minutes then sliced it in two, cutting a channel in the centre to fit round the stem of a wine glass. I used blu-tak to secure a white pillar candle in the wineglass.
We used a trip out to glean some sprigs of ivy from the hedgerows, both pieces of the mature plant with flower clusters and young shoots with small triangular leaves. I also used rosemary from the large bush in the garden and some white roses from the supermarket.
I added larger pieces of foliage first, overhanging the edge of the bowl. I kept rotating the arrangement and checking what it looked like from a seated position so I could keep the shape and distribution of material even – a table centre has to look fairly consistent from all angles.
I then added the roses, trimming stems to fit and inserting more pieces of foliage to fill in any gaps
I also used dry sprigs of alder cones and wired pine cones, both sprayed white. I also found some pearlised and crystal beads from an old necklace and wired these to add a little bit of sparkle.
These were also pushed into the foam throughout the arrangement.
The final result!
I hope your Christmas Day was as good as it possibly could have been. This year many people have had to quickly scale down their celebrations and could not spend the holidays with their loved ones as COVID restrictions were tightened at the eleventh hour. I’m thankful that I could spend the day with my family.
Stitches by the Sea 