A Stroll In An Autumn Garden♡

Hello lovely lovelies♡ Well, this week hurried by. I cannot believe 'tis Sunday morning again. Can you??!!

The highlight of my week was to visit, with Pete and our lovely friend, Trish,  Emu Valley Rhododendron Garden, where autumn in all its glory was on display.  Upon arrival we enjoyed scones and tea and as we relaxed in the warm sunshine we looked down upon the  sheltered, natural ampitheatre of over 24,000 rhododendrons and companion plants that performed before us.   A festival of towering trees with foliage aglow with yellows and oranges, russets and scarlets.  Autumn has dipped her paintbrush into her palette of burnished hues,  dabbing broad brushstrokes onto a canvas unlike any other I had ever seen. The theatre of the colours, shapes and textures before me was truly a vision splendid!

We spent a  pleasant couple of hours meandering along the winding garden paths where around each bend, glorious autumnal surprises waited to delight us; to take our breath away. Each bend in the path revealed yet another stunning vignette. As we walked, lovely landscaping including lakes, dry stone walls, waterfalls, gazebos, several bridges were seen...........all adding visual interest to the gardens. The lakes were magical mirrors with reflections of the trees  dancing upon the small ripples. Just stunning. As I strolled along I savored autumn's shimmering light dancing on the coloured leaves. Dotted here and there were seats for one to sit, to ponder, to reflect......to take time to drink in the beauty. I imagine in a few weeks time most of the leaves will have been swept from the trees by blustery winds, falling to the ground forming brilliant, mosaic-coloured carpets everywhere. I can only imagine the beauty of these gardens in the winter when the trees have taken on a bare and skeletal, sculptural quality. Naked, exposed; but nevertheless beautiful. It is a garden which would be breathtaking in every season. We shall return in spring when the thousands of rhododendrons and azaleas are dancing in all their floralicious colours. Mmm.....how many days, weeks, months....till it is spring?? The thought did cross my mind.......that this garden is the perfect setting for a photo shoot. =)

Not a lot of creativity happened this week. I finished crocheting my blue cardie and I must say I rather love it. The sleeves are plain with a couple of rows of the different blues of the granny squares at the hem. Finished in the nick of time as all of a sudden the days have become quite chilly. This is my third crochet pretty since I learnt this new skill at the end of last year.....and it certainly won't be my last.

I've started a new quilt.  A new quilt?? Yes, a new quilt. I saw on Pinterest improv quilts fashioned by Australian quilter Chris Jurd with a vintage embroidered tablecloth as the centre panel. Such a fun idea and as there is a dowry of embroidered vintage pretties sitting in my armoire waiting to be fashioned into another life, I thought  why ever not. Besides, it's been an age since I incorporated my vintage pretties into a quilt, together with EPP shapes....hexies....pentagons....and appliqued flowers dancing around the embroideries.

'Tis very early morning here. I'm just about to embark upon a day of travelling along winding country roads, through gorgeous rainforests and glorious countryside donning autumnal hues. Travelling 'Preacher Man' and my 'good' self are going to visit several churches and catch up with lovely folk. 'Tis a long day but it's always a pleasure to catch up with people and chat the day away. It's about a 400km round trip and we always arrive home very late in the afternoon. 'Tis always an exhausting day but a fun one. I will do a little stitching of my improv pretty later this evening for Slow Sunday Stitching.......that is of course if I don't nodd off. =) I must be off. Have a lovely day, lovely lovelies. May you enjoy many moments of love, kindness and beauty♡ 

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

Shades of Blue ♡

 

Hello, lovely lovelies♡ Welcome to my little place where shades of blue are brightening my day....and my soul♡ Blue♡ 'Tis the colour in all it's shades which makes my heart sing♡ So many colours in all their variational tones make my heart smile, but it is the hue blue that will always sing the most lyrical of songs♡

Why am I waxing lyrical (again) about the hue blue?? Why, I'm crocheting another granny square cardie, and it is dancing in lovely shades of blue.  After crocheting a cardie for my  foray into crocheting I decided I 'needed' a blue one. After all, a girl can never have too many cardies. Oh, I do love me a cardie or two.

I'm enjoying crocheting my little blue cardie. The wool is Patons 5 ply Bluebell,  manufactured here in Australia. Crochet is fast and easy...well the humble granny square is. 'Tis even faster if one didn't make little boo boos and have to frog what has been crocheted already. =) This pretty was started two weeks ago, with the sleeves left to be done. I continued crocheting these this afternoon for Slow Sunday Stitching......and will do some more this evening. It was a pearler of a day here with the sunshine beaming happiness upon my little place. The perfect Autumn day. As I sit here crocheting I'm struck again just how quickly crochet morphs into a finished garment in next to no time. Now......I really need to advance my crochet skills and learn some other granny square patterns. A flowery granny square pretty, would be tickety boo. I'm thinking a garment in pretty greens for my next garment.

A sweet brooch to cinch the two fronts together.....sweet hydrangeas, of course.

 

As I sit here in the fernery with the blue, blue sky above me and sunshine beaming happy rays through the windows; with the birdsong breaking the silence and the leaves slowly changing colour, one feels cocooned from the outside noisy and blaring, dark world. And it is deafening, isn't it?? Oh, if only we could be kinder, more understanding, more compassionate; treating others how we would like to be treated. Simple really. Apparently, not so. But enough of me philosophising....I'm off to cook a roast lamb dinner. =)

May my little light, and yours,  in our little corner of the world, shine bright, through the day, through the night♡

Until the next time...   

Autumn Days♡

 

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. 

Ahh.....the dahlias. They rather adorn my floralicousness Flower Meadow rather gloriously. I'm going to miss my showy parade of dahlias when Jack Frost arrives.

The weather forecast is for grey skies and a little rain today.  They never get it wrong..... do they?? What the weather forecasters say is always gospel, isn't it?? Whatever the colour of the skies this Sunday I will throughout the day, enjoy moments of cosying down in front of the fire and practise corralling those errant, quilting stitches, and joining the other lovely slow stitchers at Kathy's place later. Though the weather may be a tad grey outside my window I must say inside my little place it is awash with floralicous delight. Hope the sunshine is beaming rays of happiness upon you♡ Have a lovely day, lovely lovelies♡

Until the next time......