Last year we simply ran out of pine cones at the end of our four day workshop.  Usually we have extras to store, but our decorators use a lot of pine cones.  The call went out early in the fall – please collect fallen cones and bring them to wreath making.  Other items on our annual wish list are unusual greens and holly.  Thanks to our wonderful members, we had beautiful variegated holly, lush white pine and black pine, cedar, juniper, rose hips, and some greens we just couldn’t identify but used anyway.  For a Christmas look, nothing beats holly and pine cones!

We are a Club that welcomes all – we don’t care where you live, or if you work full time and can’t make meetings, or if you don’t know a petunia from a petiolaris.  Supporting our mission through membership dues is the way to our heart.  Of course, when past members come back for wreath week because they know how much fun working on wreaths can be, we are doubly grateful.  The wreath below was done by a neighbor, an architect who recently retired and may rejoin the Club now that she has more time. She certainly did a fabulous job with this design!

Most of our wreaths are composed of all natural materials, much of which is collected in our gardens or in friends’ gardens.  We’re known for this.  Sometimes, however, a designer decides to focus on sparkle and jazz, provided the client is someone we know will like it.  In this case the wreath was intended for a kitchen door in Cambridge – the front door wreath was a more sedate one with red bow with natural materials.  We will post that wreath on our Facebook page.  However, when the wreaths were picked up, the client chose to hang it on her front door.  One of our members asked if Cambridge was zoned for this.  We love it!

We are rightly known for our fabulous bows, and while most bows are made on the spot for decorators after they receive their assignments and choose their ribbon, some are made up in advance, “on spec” so to speak.  This year we had a number of them and decided to bring them upstairs to the Church courtyard to sell.  Our order form allows customers to purchase just a bow for $15, but somehow this year no one was looking, and we got it into our heads that extra bows were $10, so that’s what we sold them for.  All you lucky buyers out there beware – the price will not stay at that level in 2016!