African Flower Project in Progress

 

Hello lovelies.

I figured I would do an in-progress post for the African Flower Table Cover that I'm currently working on. I got my guys to help me spread out all of the flowers that I have made so far to see how many I was going to need to cover my 48" glass top table. 

                                                    

Turns out I have 64 completed motifs with another 10 started. I should have enough yarn to finish what I have on hand, however, I do see some yarn shopping happening in my near future in order to make the remaining 29 that I still need. That's right, I need 103 African Flower motifs to fully cover my tabletop. That seems like a lot when I've already made so many, but I am ready to tackle it!

I am absolutely loving the color palette. I'm using Drops Paris 100% Cotton. It is a worsted weight yarn, but I am using a size F hook to keep my motifs smaller and tighter in construction. Motifs like the one above just feed my need for gorgeous color combinations. 

My mini yarn review on the Drops Paris is that it is very soft, but a little bit splitty. You have to watch that you are picking up all the strands. It is very sturdy, and is very budget-friendly.

Where do I get it? I have ordered all of mine from Wool Warehouse in the UK. Mostly because I like the organza bags they pack everything in, but also because even with the exchange rate between the dollar and the pound, they have GREAT prices on a lot of yarns, and their shipping is very fairly priced. I typically splurge the extra couple of dollars on the trackable shipping, but even when I forget to or just don't want to I always get my packages in a timely manner. I like trackable though because then I can stalk my packages. Haha!

screenshot from Nancy Fuller's Instagram

Ok, back to the project. The crazy thing is this table covering wasn't even my original plan. I follow Nancy Fuller on Instagram (she's the older lady on the Holiday Baking Championship on Food Network), and she had taken a picture with a young lady around Christmas who was wearing the darn cutest sweater!! I had to take a screenshot so I could try and replicate it somehow, just to challenge myself.  But, as I laid the flowers out on the table just to see them together, I realized that I liked them better as a table covering that I would definitely use, more than a sweater that I would never wear. I'm just too hot and 50 years old for sweaters.  

                                                 

Here is a little tidbit I noticed in the sweater to help me create a color palette that coordinated. As I was looking through the hexagons on the sweater, I realized that the one thing they did to keep the flower colors from looking funky is they included one of the colors in every motif. They put the dark blue/purple color in every flower. It is on all different rounds, but it is there creating continuity. So, that's what I decided to do with my colors. The color I have running through all of my motifs is light purple. 

That's why when you look at my motifs, even though it seems like the colors shouldn't go next to each other...they do! The lavender color ties the whole lot together. Plus, I stayed within similar tones. Everything is very earthy and natural-looking. 

I am very excited about finishing this project. My next challenge will be how I plan to put all of my flowers together.

Keep your eyes peeled for the finished product plus a couple of resources for YOU to use in creating your own!