Autumn Glory

Autumn in Tasmania is a beautiful season. With a pronounced chilliness in the air, the trees have taken centre stage. The trees are now dressed in multitudinous shades of burnished yellows, russet browns and  burnt oranges. Their Spring and Summer verdant frocks are gradually being changed into rustling, crunchy, taffeta-like leaves. With each day the leaves subtly change to different hues, where the weary branches finally release their grip; the leaves slowly tumbling to the ground forming a crackling carpet.

Oh have a lookity look at that......a fairy or two in my Weeping Cherry tree!

Well I never!!

Soon the trees will be naked against the misty backdrop, but for now I am just enjoying the glorious Autumnal shades that never fail to delight. As we drive through the countryside as far as the eye can see, there is a patchwork of rich and glorious shades of Autumn. We experience days of clear Autumn light, bringing a clarity to the subtle hues of the landscape. Alas, we also experience days of howling winds which seem to almost blow our humble abode from it's foundations......up, up up into the windswept skies. Winds, which in one foul swoop, strip trees of their leaves, leaving them skeletal. Yes indeedy, a sure sign that Old Man Winter is nearly upon us.

The flip side to cooling Autumnal days is that there is always an open fire ablazing. And.....of course cooler days means a little knitting. I have knitted a few more of my cabled strips and stitched them to my patchwork, mohair throw. I have a frozen shoulder (which the doctor informed me could stick with me for a year or more.....oh joy). I can only knit a little each time......but my pretty throw is growing, albeit a little slowly. Frozen shoulder or not, a gal's gotta do what a gal's gotta do!

My pretty throw is growing ever so slowly.

Long country drives, warm toasty fires, a little knitting,.....yes indeedy, Autumn down here at the bottom of the world is mighty fine.

Linking this week to the lovely Janine's, Wool on Sundays. This week Janine has shared with us a tutorial for the lovely crochet purse, similar to the gorgeous one she gifted me here. So do visit, Janine, you won't be disappointed.

Until the next time........'tis toodles from me.

Absolutely Beautiful Things

Hello there! Remember me?? My good husband and I have returned from our little holiday. I must say our friends, who kidnapped us, certainly know how to pick the most glorious spots in which to relax and forget about the rest of the world. This amazing house is in a little place called Four Mile Creek. The house is called Watercolours and is about 50 metres from the ocean.......heaven!!

Our friends insisted we have the best bedroom, so.....not wanting to break the ties of our friendship, of course we accepted! =) Beautiful blues.....the most amazing bath......bubbles.....candles......just heaven!!

Each morning my good husband and my good self woke up to glorious sunrises such as this. Yes this was the view from our bedroom!! One could not sleep through this glorious show, now could one.

My good husband and I are both early risers and each morning we would lay in bed, enjoy a cuppa and drink in the beauty of God's wondrous creation!

BUT......we are home again. Back to 'normality'! 'Tis a pity as I could have happily stayed at Watercolours forever. I haven't been creating at my usual maniacal speed of late. I have been sewing curtains for several people (BORING) but other than that, the creative magnitude on the Richter scale has been zilch!! No earth-shaking creative pursuits happening here. =(

BUT......the purpose of this post is to show you what pretties, the royal representative of Her Majesty's mail service has so sweetly delivered to me in the last couple of weeks.

Janine, of the beautiful blog Rainbow Hare sent me these absolutely beautiful, pretties......(I was the lucky winner of her giveaway). A gloriously coloured, crochet blanket and the most divine little purse!!!

Now how on earth did Janine fashion this beautiful purse??? 'Tis beautiful, isn't it!!!

Just stunning!!

Thank you, Janine, for my ..........

A b s o l u t e l y   B e a u t i f u  l   T h i n g s !!

BUT......the friendly post lady didn't only present me with Janine's "absolutely beautiful things".......she also presented these absolutely beautiful pretties from Sandy, who lives in New York. Sandy doesn't have a blog, but one morning I was delighted to receive an email from her. I don't know how Sandy found my drivel of a blog, but she told me she loved reading about my happenings down here at the bottom of the world. Imagine that!!!!! This thing they call blogland is fascinating, isn't it.

Sandy gifted me oodles of squares of pretty fabrics. Fabrics of many, many different colours and patterns. The funny thing is that all the fabrics are ones that are not in my stash. Amazing really because I have quite a fabric stash!

Sandy crocheted gorgeous flowers; some that are brooches. She also knitted this pretty teapot cosy, in the prettiest dusty pink. A teapot is so much the cosier when dressed in a knitted woolly!

Sandy gifted me a cute measuring tape which retracts into it's cover. One can never have too many measuring tapes.....oh....and this sweet, sweet pin cushion. Pin cushions are another pretty which I always seem to lose. I love this one!

Sandy gifted me this lovely notepad together with this sweet pen......soooooo pretty. So, so many beautiful pretties.

Thank you, Sandy, for my .........

A b s o l u t e l y   B e a u t i f u  l   T h i n g s !!

NOW......before I say toodles, I want to show you some more pretties that were gifted to me. No, not via my letterbox but by a friend. One day when my friend, Anne and I enjoyed a sewing day together, my friend's husband, Gary, brought out an over-spilling box of pretties. Gary said, Anne knew a lady who was a milliner, who had long since retired. The Milliner had given Anne oodles and oodles of vintage pretties that she had collected and used over the years, when fashioning her gorgeous concoctions of hats. Gary said, "Kim......you might like these". Like them!!!!! Oh my giddy aunt!!!! When I picked my jaw from off the floor I had a lookity look!!

Anne let me have half, and Trudy, Anne's daughter, took the other half. You might say Trudy and I divvied the pretties up. It was a fun afternoon oohing and aahing over all these treasures.

Sooooooo many gorgeous laces not seen today. Pinks, blues, teals, creams, beiges, taupes, whites, yellows,  oranges, mauves.......the colours go on and on........as do the lacey designs.

Gorgeous heirloom laces wound onto cardboard.

Gorgeous floral motifs mixed amongst all-over floral laces.

Billowy waves of to-die-for lace pretties!

When I cross the threshold of a milliner's shop, although my eyes ricochet from each pretty concoction of a headpiece to another, I have always thought the 'stuff' that makes my heart go pitty pat is at the back of a milliner's store; the workroom where the glorious tangled mess is hidden from the madding crowd. The back room over-spilling with all those fascinating bits and bobs waiting to be whipped up into a pretty hat. I think I could get lost at the back of a milliner's forever, fingering each tantalising pretty, imagining how each one would be used.

Are not all these laces so very pretty?? What a blessed gal I am to be gifted all these pretties.

Thank you, Anne and Gary, for my..........

A b s o l u t e l y   B e a u t i f u  l   T h i n g s !!

Alas, no more pretties to be shown. So it's toodles from me. Me thinks I might just go and ooh and ahh once again, at  my absolutely beautiful pretties! There is nothing quite like a little fabric, a beautiful crochet pretty or a 'smidgen' of pretty, vintage lace to get a gal excited!! Oh...and I just might have a cuppa......the teapot is steaming hot under Sandy's pretty woolly!

Wishing you all a most wonderful weekend. Until the next time........

Linking up this week to Janine's, Rainbow Hare.
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A Woolly Week

There are no prizes as to guessing who is the slowest knitter in this neck of the woods. Why, it is me of course. My husband quite rightly said to me the other day that if my lovely woolly is to be seen round and about this far rural outpost this Winter, I should perhaps get a move on.

My aran jumper is progressing, albeit a little slowly; a little too slowly for my liking. =) The cranium gymnastics are still in full swing. If there were prizes given out for amazing, cranial gymnastic, feats, then I would have a medal of the shiny, gold kind pendulously swinging around my neck!!

My pretty aran is not quite where I would like it to be as I have damaged my shoulder as a result of maintaining the garden, whilst my husband recuperated after his operation. Yes indeedy, I have shovelled one too many barrow loads of mulch, pulled out one too many weeds, lifted one too many heavy objects.....you get the picture...... hence, making it difficult to knit my aran jumper.

But.....I have been doing a little knitting of the easy kind. While gadding about the countryside last weekend, we happened upon a pop up shop where the lady was getting rid of all her 'stuff' that had been piling up over the years. My eyes fell upon these lovely mohair scarves which hale all the way from Bonnie Scotland. Nine lovely scarves, oozing pastel prettiness. The thought did cross my mind that these mohair pretties would make a lovely blanket. So holding on to that thought I purchased a couple of balls of cream mohair wool to knit strips of cables, joining these to the cut up scarves at intervals.

Knitting these strips is child's play and are rather easy on my rather lame shoulder. I can knit these whilst watching the TV at night, something which I cannot do with my aran pretty. These knit up rather quickly and I have begun to join them at the seams, stitching them to the patched scarves.

The beginnings of what perhaps will be a pretty, lap size blanket for those chilly evenings.

And...........what do roses have to do with all things woolly, I hear you ask?? Absolutely nothing at all, except perhaps they enhance my cabled pretty. =) Besides, our roses are in their last flush of blooms. Each morning now, there are only a few pretty roses to greet me. Jack Frost has been paying us little visits, reaching his icicle fingers here and there. I have no doubt the infamous Mr Frost is building up to his glacial crescendo where the full force of his frost-bound presence will be in full swing. Perhaps these will be the last blooms until next Spring.

Yes indeedy, me thinks that these are the last of our pretty roses for a good while.

Some lovely friends from Sydney are whisking my good husband and my good self away for a little holiday to an idyllic, undisclosed location......somewhere down the beautiful east coast of Tassie next week, so I will be missing in action for a couple of weeks.

So, until the next time, 'tis toodles from me.

Linking up this week to Janine's lovely blog, Rainbow Hare.

Come, let us have some tea........

......and chat about happy things. Happy things such as a tea cup exchange where ladies from all around the world swap pretty tea cups with each other. The lovely Stephanie, from The Enchanting Rose hosted another tea cup and mug exchange, an exchange in which I was delighted to be a party to.

The art of tea drinking is a very serious matter. There is nothing quite like an ambrosial cup of tea  and a natter shared with a friend, is there?? 

My parcel of tea-time delight has winged it's way from Hampshire, England. Valery Anne who has a lovely blog called Mrs T, sent me all these pretties!

In my parcel of tea-time delight  Valery Anne gifted me a lovely tea cup. It is the sweetest design of tiny, pink roses. It has the name Patra stamped on the bottom.

Valery Anne sent some aromatic tea bags called Morning Glory  which hale from a company called Teapigs which Nick and Louise, the owners of Teapigs, started in November 2006. The tea bags were peeking from within this pretty, teapot box. Isn't the box sweet. Valery Anne fashions the most beautiful cards and boxes.

Valery Anne fashioned this gorgeous card. It is so pretty with its lace, ribbon, flowers, pretty paper and depictions of tea cups. The pastel shades are delightful.

In my parcel of delight was also a teapot, tea cup/mug coaster. Isn't it sweet.

Valery Anne also sent me a teaspoon from her spoon collection. It is one which she bought 20 years ago from Palace House Beaulieu which, Valery Anne enlightened me, is the family home of Lord Montagu and is one of  the Treasure Houses of England. How lovely of her to gift it to me.

Mmmm.......this magical brew, "Morning Glory",  wondrously creates pretty, lace patterns which delicately float to  the surface. =)

It has been said, "tea is water bewitched". It is, isn't it. Many of us enjoy tea every day; the aromas and the flavours that delight our palette. So many of us have our favourite teas. So many of us enjoy the variety of tastes and textures of our favourite teas. As for me, Valery Anne has introduced me to a new tea. I must say the Morning Glory tea which she gifted is a delight to my palette. Another reason why lovely Stephanie's teacup exchange is wonderful.........it introduces us to new friends and the opportunity to savor and drink teas from all over the world.

Another lovely tea cup exchange. Thank you Stephanie for your generosity of spirit and the selfless time and effort you put into this exchange. You are amazing! AND.....thank you Valery Anne for all my pretties! I love, love, LOVE my pretty, new tea cup.

So....let's put the kettle on and all have some tea!