A little bit of everything and not much at all, really

A lovely welcome to my little autumnal place♥

What have I been up to this last little while?? I suppose a little bit of everything.....and not much at all, really. Oh, I have been busier than a bee, but it's just that I don't have a lot to show for all my busy-ness.

Autumn is casting it's beauty all around the place. The countryside is decorated with trees showing off their autumnal hues. Everywhere is cloaked in the gorgeousness that only Autumn can conjure up. It is as if almost overnight the trees have decided to put on their show. Before too long gust force winds that visit often these days, will strip the branches of the leaves causing them to rain down upon the ground forming a mosaic carpet underfoot. The scrunching of the leaves under one's feet is truly a magical sensation.

The Cosmos and Dahlias too, have been delighting us with more pretty colour. I suppose they must disappear sometime soon, but for now I will eke out every last bit of enjoyment, whilst I can. How pretty the flowers look with french ribbons coquettishly dancing around them whilst resting upon a bed of crisp autumnal leaves. Truly, my heart smiles....yet again♥

There has been a little building happening here, too. My husband has desired a fernery for those plants that need a little warmth and nurturing in the cooler months. For years now he has been squirrelling away windows and wood for such a project as this. He tells me he has been having the best fun.....making it up as he goes along. I call it 'Pete's Folly'.  As a gal who has always hankered after one of those conservatories that grace  Victorian and Edwardian buildings of old, this will be my own little glass sun catcher. A humble one, yes, but nevertheless a little greenhouse showcasing mismatched windows and whimsy. I am loving the progress of this little building. I am loving the mismatched windows, the peeling and cracked paint; the higgledy piggledy nature of this folly. Me thinks it might not only be used for warming up plants' toes and protecting them from Jack Frost, but it would be an excellent place in which to enjoy many an afternoon tea party.  A small afternoon tea gathering mind you, as let me make it clear this folly is a simple one. It is going to have windows all the way around so as to catch the views; the veggie patch, the garden and the paddocks and mountains in the distance.  'Tis very early days yet.....so watch this space!! I cannot wait to see it finished. In my mind's eye I am styling it already. I have mentioned to my Pete that his folly is going to be the most excellent of props. =) Of course he just did what he always does when the subject of props and styling is chatted about......he just smiled.

The Hydrangeas have been fading to shades of blue green, crimson, magenta....all in different stages of fading for their autumnal display. I love how Hydrangeas fade for months on end during the Autumn and Winter seasons.

Yes indeedy, Pete's Folly is an excellent location for a photo shoot or two. What say you??

I have been enjoying a little applique this last little while, as well. I have appliqued most of the baskets of my Buds in the Basket quilt. So I suppose with small moments of daily stitching there has been an accumulation of a lot of stitching, really.  I fashioned oodles of leaves and circle buds to be appliqued onto the baskets.

There are only three baskets to applique now and then I can join them all together. As it is Sunday tomorrow I will enjoy a little happy hand stitching, perhaps in the afternoon. I am still dithering how to border the baskets. I suppose a border of puddles of scrappy fabrics would be the way to go, but I am thinking I might just use one fabric with flowers blooming all over. Cutting  oodles and oodles of scrappy fabrics and then stitching them together is not something I really want to do, as the last couple of weeks I have been cutting and stitching tiny scraps of fabrics together on a project for one of my stitching girls. Besides, I have used a border of scrappy fabrics previously for two of my quilts and this time I might mix it up a bit.......decisions, decisions?

Anyway........'tis delightful to have you visit my little autumnal place. I hope you are all enjoying a most beautiful weekend. Sending all you lovelies a little love, swirling around and around on the wings of those blustery, autumnal winds.♥

Until the next time...............

Linking up to Kathy's, Slow Sunday Stitching.

A Li'l Bit of Happy

Hello all you lovely lovelies♥ 'Tis Sunday again. The day when I take it a little easier....the day of rest (well it is at least for me)..... the day for a little slow hand stitching. This week I have been enjoying a li'l bit of happy stitching. More fabric baskets and handles, which I chatted about here, have been stitched together. More playing with bright and happy reproduction prints.....and of course more playing with flowers cut from the garden.

More tiny circles of pretty fabric have been coaxed into flower buds and appliqued onto the baskets. I must say these little buds and leaves are the easiest to applique.....much easier than the flowers on my flower garden quilt.

If I am not careful my fingers will forget how to fashion flowers for my flower garden quilt. My fingers will forget the deft touch needed to shape those sometimes complex flowers. Funnily enough, if you leave appliqueing the more ambitious flowers even for a little while, you easily forget all those little tricks you discovered and learnt along the way. It is so easy to consign into oblivion those little things that make forming fabric flowers more facile, those little tricks that prevent you from going a little loopy after you have just formed what seems a gazillion tiny petals and having taken all day to fashion them. If I am not careful those helpful tidbits I have gleaned as I dawdle along the flower applique path, enabling a more pleasurable stroll.........well......they will slip from my memory. Aah yes....that memory of mine.....mmmm!!  Note to myself.....Must, Must fashion Cosmos so they can bloom on  my Flower Quilt, this week......if only to reprogram my brainpan and kick start the memory; to enable all the encodings in the nerve endings of my needle-pricked fingers to start computing again! 'Tis amazing the process of  flower applique....isn't it. =)

Another row of scrappylicious flower buds sitting in baskets...soooo much fun to stitch. This quilt is going to be queen size so there is a ways to go yet. As it is Sunday I am going to steal some moments  of a li'l bit of happy.......a li'l bit of hand stitching. Ain't Sundays grand??

Once again, the calendars all around the world show us that Valentine's Day is nigh. The day that comes but once a year, when sweet-faced cherubs with swathes of gossamer-like fabrics covering their modesty, appear with their chubby little arms laden with flowers and chocolates, gifting them to those whom believe. May a sweet little cherub find his way to you at your lovely place, this Valentine's Day. Sending you all a little beauty and LOVE this blue sky, sunshine-filled kinda day.

Until the next time..........

Linking up this week to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching.
                                       Judy's Design Wall Monday

Flowers, Flowers .....Everywhere

A lovely welcome to you! My little world of late has been filled with flowers, flowers and then some. There are flowers blooming everywhere in the garden; Tulips, Irises, Granny Bonnets, Rhododendrons, Azaleas, Lilacs, Foxgloves and so on and so on.  There are more flowers blooming on my quilt as well, but more about that later on.

Spring down here is constantly delighting with the most amazing colours and fragrances. Truly, the garden never fails to delight and surprise. Each morning as I walk around the garden it seems new magic awaits me. At the moment the Irises are showing off. They truly are gorgeous.

It won't be long till the Lilacs and Wisteria take centre stage. Oodles of preserving jars are filled with blooms ready to be scattered throughout my home and what better way to take happy snaps of these pretties than to showcase them with the backdrop of the pond. =)

The Tulips at the Tulip Farm I visited a couple of weeks ago were a vision splendid. Hectare after hectare of rainbow-filled gorgeousness. I tippy toed (well at least in my imagination, I did) up and down, row after row of floralicious delight. Indeed they were a delight to all the senses. Can you imagine a meadow (or as us Aussies say a "paddock" over-spilling with these splendid flowers??  I can! I will have to speak to my gardener to see what those miraculous green fingers of his can do!! =))

Flowers of the fabric kind have been growing on my quilt as well. Hydrangeas, Daisies, Tulips, Poppies and sweet little blossoms kissing the water's edge have as if overnight, magically begun to blossom. Did I say "overnight"?? Believe you me it has been hours and hours and many more hours of me coaxing fabric into petals and then into flowers. There doesn't seem to be much progress does there?? I do believe this flower quilt is going to take season after season to blossom in all it's beauty! At least the bottom corner of my flower garden is finished! All the finer details of each flower and leaf will be embroidered  or quilted later on.

Each flower not thinking of competing with the flower next to it. Each flower blooms......and beautifully so. Though, in saying this me thinks the Iris might think it's the star!

Thank you so much for visiting my little place. Indeed each and everyone of you makes me want to dance on my tippy toes through my garden! Why, I think I just might! =) So, so sorry for a gazillion happy snaps of all the pretty flowers, but somehow I didn't think you would mind.....at least, I hope you don't.

I am off to enjoy a little slow Sunday stitching this sunny Sunday afternoon.......by the pond, me thinks. Have a most beautiful day♥

Until the next time......

Linking this week to Kathy at Slow Sunday Stitching, and
Soma's, Wandering Camera over at Whims and Fancies.