I am not a cold weather person. Each winter, I try my hardest not to brave the frigid temps and fluffy white stuff that inevitably turns into nasty wet slush. Blame cabin fever or just the instinct to feather my nest, but as this time of year rolls around, I find myself taking up all sorts of cozy craft projects. While usually copious amounts of crocheting fulfills this urge, this year I was inspired to teach myself something new: the art of making felt flowers. Plus, every room in my house already has a color-coordinated afghan or two, and the households of my immediate family are quickly approaching maximum blanket capacity as well.

I know there are a lot of simple circle flowers out there in craft-land, but I wanted to take it to the next level and create something that actually resembled the anatomy of a real flower. Turns out, this entails cutting lots of individual petals and sewing them and many tiny beads by hand. Thus far, I’ve figured out a dahlia, poinsettia, mum, daisy and another four-petaled creation that I’ll admit probably doesn’t exist in nature. Nonetheless, creating them is a welcome change of pace—and the finished product takes up much less space in my house than a full-sized afghan!

I’m keeping some pieces just for myself, but the rest of the fruits of my labor are available here.