Make Your Own Fall

As a New Englander stuck in LA, I get most homesick at this time of year. LA knows no fall. There's no such thing here. It's kind of like summer stops and then...nothing. It's not hot anymore but nothing really changes. When four distinct seasons have been ingrained into your soul every year since you were born it can be very hard to do without. It's kind of like living in a time vacuum. There are no signs that time is passing.
The other day I saw that they were selling cute little gourds and pumpkins at Trader Joe's and it reminded me of the first fall we spent out here, two years ago, when I first bought little gourds and pumpkins at that very same store. The memory made me very excited. It actually gave me that feeling I've been missing. It gave me a sense of a new kind of fall, in my new(ish) life in LA. Even though there are no changing leaves, the change in produce works for me and I'll take what I can get.

Since I need to cobble together some semblance of a New England fall here, in addition to my gourds I'll hang this sweet little garland that I made last year. It was as easy as pumpkin pie to make so I thought I would share a little "you-know-what" tutorial with you.

You will need:

• several different patterned cotton fabrics in fall colors (I didn't use fall novelty prints. I don't like to be too literal.) The colors I used were dark brown, goldie yellow and dark orange with a little red in some of the fabrics.
  
• several different colors of wool or wool blend felt, all in fall colors (the number of different fabrics is up to you)
• 11 feet of natural or brown raffia (you can get this at any craft store)
• thread, also in a fall color

1. Click here for the leaf template.
2. Print out the template and cut that baby out.
3. Using the template, cut out ten leaves from the cotton fabric and ten leaves from the felt.
4. Pin cotton/felt pairs of fabric together, right sides facing out, sandwiching the raffia between the two. Space the leaf pairs one foot apart, leaving one foot of raffia on either end of the garland. Don't line the leaves up, all pointing in the same direction. Make them a little more random (like they're falling!).
5. Top stitch through the leaf sandwiches mimicking the veins of a leaf (see the picture below), being sure to catch the raffia.

Ta-da! You're done. Hang it up and take a picture!

(Seriously though, send me a picture.)