Hello, lovely lovelies♡ Autumn has truly settled in with chilly, misty mornings, and a taste of what is to come; a landscape awash with those burnished hues for which autumn is renown. Ahh....yes, nature has began to do its thing.
The flowers are beginning to die off but in the process seeds are forming, then dropping to the ground burrowing into the soil in readiness for the magic of the flower kingdom next spring. How far away is spring again??!! =) Talking about flowers, autumn is the time when I pilfer proteas from my friend Trish's garden. Well, it's not pilfering exactly because Trish allows me open slather with her heavy-laden protea bush. Such a lovely friend, is Trish♡
Tomatoes and pumpkins are being harvested. Both did well this year as we've had a lot of warm and sunny days, though Jack Frost is just around the corner and the crop will be no more. I can see, in my glass ball, many a delicious bowl of pumpkin soup enjoyed through the coming months. My Pete cooks a mean pumpkin soup. A bowl of Pete's pumpkin soup with fresh bread for dunking, in front of the fire......yes please!
Fires have been lit this week, for ambience and warmth. A crackling fire with flames leaping upwards, coughing smoke up into the chimney really does induce one to read, to stitch, to knit.... or to do nothing at all but to get lost in ones thoughts. I've been reading and poring over each photo in a book, 'Chateau Awakening'. The story of a former Australian politician, Tim Holding and his partner, Felicity Selkirk, who bought and are renovating a crumbling 18th-century mansion, Purnon. It's a delightful read. Renovating an 18th-century chateau.....certainly not for the faint of heart.
There were also moments spent crocheting and hand quilting. Sweet Riley's vest is finished. I used leftover wool from my crochet cardie that I made last year. Little granny squares crocheted together which were rather quick to whip up.
The hand quilting of Flower Meadow is still happening, albeit slowly. Hand quilting is such a slow process, isn't it?? Most of the time I love the slow and meditative nature of hand quilting but other times, not so. Though I love all the bright and happy hexies in my Flower Meadow, and I'm loving the simplicity of the quilting, I'm finding it a bit monotonous stitching in and out, in and out; around each hexie. Sometimes my needle and thread skip around the hexies .....and other times, they don't. But I will persist; one hexie at a time, because it is a simple look I'm after. I find that when many months have gone by since I last hand quilted, and I start begin to quilt again, I feel as if I'm out of sync, with my stitches all over the place. They seem to be more wobbly and uneven than I would like. Hopefully the rhythm of the little stitches following one after the other in an orderly manner will eventuate.
Until the next time......