Apple Day in the garden

Today is Apple Day here in the UK - a day for celebrating this most familiar fruit.  However 2012 has not been a good year for the fruit trees in my garden - the harvest has been small and of poor quality.  However the birds and other garden wildlife will be celebrating the day as I've left a lot more fruit than usual on the ground for them to feast on and fatten up for the cold days to come. 

I'm rather sad that I wasn't able to get to any of the Apple Day events as it has been a really beautiful day.  I had to be content with a wander round the garden with my camera as the sun started setting.

 This amazing crop of fungi was hiding behind the main flowerbed.  I haven't identified them yet but they are a bit too overgrown to be appetising even if they do turn out to be edible.

The leaves on the beech trees are always beautiful as they start to turn colour - looking up through the branches when the sky is blue can sometimes take your breath away.

Unfortunately it won't be long before all this colour will be on the ground waiting to be swept up - a huge job ever year.

There's no denying my garden has been very neglected this year but I'm rather inclined to leave all the tidying up till the spring - its all very overgrown and tangled but a sunny, still, late afternoon in autumn can make even a jungle look beautiful.

My Life in Photos - Weather for Ducks

This week I feel like a duck..... floating along calmly on the surface and paddling like mad underneath!  There are a number of reasons for this, not least the craft fair I've booked on Saturday at short notice.  When I was asked if I would like a stall at the new Vintage in the Vale fair I jumped at the chance even though there was only 10 days or so to go!  Its just the sort of fair I like and would be going along even if I wasn't selling.  I do hope it is a success for the two sisters whose idea this is.

And if you are anywhere near North East Wales on Saturday I think it will be the place to be.  Last Sunday however the place to be was Ruthin Mart for the Vintage Machinery & Threshing Demonstration Day.  We were a bit late arriving but not too late for my favourite Sunday dinner in the mart cafe!  The hike home walked off some of those chips you'll be glad to hear!

More crochet

I've been enjoying myself experimenting with crochet motifs recently and finished my snowflake garland last week.  I wanted to see whether spray starch would improve the look of the motifs and tried it out today.  It was fairly successful I think - all my snowflakes are now staying flat, but we'll see how long they stay like that.

I also tried some larger single motifs that would be suitable for Christmas decorations.  Starching them was a bit more successful as I used quite fine crochet cotton, however I crocheted the heart pattern in Lyscordet, which is a little thicker than the cotton and has a nice sheen.  Starching it has turned it rather flat and the stitches are not so defined so I think I preferred it unstarched.

The snowflake patterns came from these old American crochet pattern books I bought years ago.  They're called curtain pulls.  They seem a bit fragile to be pulled but I'm not really sure exactly what a curtain pull is.  The heart is a pattern I found on Pinterest here.  Victoria calls them Swedish Hearts and once you've learned the pattern they are quite quick to make.

And just in case you were wondering, Jess has settled in quite nicely thankyou.  She's found the warm spot by the radiator that my old cats loved so much.

October 6th: World Card Making Day!

Well, I'd better join in and make and post a card then hadn't I!  The Autumn sun was streaming through the window when I took this photo and reflected off the tinfoil under the card.  I bought a pack of these kraft-type card bases recently and rather like the diagonal lines in the cardstock but the mottled effect is definitely the sunshine.  I used Old Paper Distress ink to stamp the background which the strong sun has rather faded out in the photo.  And I copied Nichole Heady's Copic colouring technique for the main image and added pattern to the sections with the colourless blender pen.

It seems to me that Autumn and felt are really made for each other, especially when I use the gorgeous organic plant dyed wool felt offcuts I'm addicted to.  The colours really are special when you see them next to chemically dyed felt and I can't resist buying a couple of bags whenever I find them in stock at Myriad.   I added some felt die cuts to my card, just to emphasis the season.

Supplies:  PTI Autumn Hills stamp set, Delightful Dahlia dies; Memory Box Puffy Cloud dies; Copic markers

My Life in Photos - Jess

If you've been here before you may remember I lost my last beloved cat Sausage in July.  Recently I've been scanning the animal rescue centre websites - just looking you know!  But sometimes cats come to you and a week or so ago I met a lovely lady who needed to rehome Jess.  So I think it was meant to be and Jess came to live with me yesterday.  As you can see, she's already made herself at home and even had a bit of an explore outside this morning.  And one of the locals seemed keen to make her acquaintance.

September Remembered

October is here - everything's the same but nothing is the same!

Autumn, lovely Autumn

 

Saturday there was a definite nip of Autumn in the air.   On the way home from Llandudno we opted to drive 'over the tops' rather than on the busy A55 and were rewarded with long shadows, golden fields harvested of their crops and glimpses of the sea glittering in distance as the sun was setting.  My frequent shouts to stop the car to take a photo were not appreciated!

Time to pick Elderberries ripe on the bush in the garden and the perfect preserve for me is Elderberry and Apple jelly as I've collected lots of windfalls too.  I'm not that keen on making jelly preserves as they always seem a bit wasteful of the fruit, but this one is a tried and tested recipe torn from a magazine many years ago and stored in my Successful Recipes file.  I've put the fruit pulp out for the birds and hope they will find it to their taste.

I was tempted to buy some Joanna Sheen Country Kitchen stamps I spied in the craft shop in Llandudno at a bargain price.  I've not tried this brand before but they were just the job for decorating my jam jars.  I always think I will remember what's in a jar just by looking at it but I have to admit I've opened more than one jar of jam only to find its chutney!

Supplies: Joanna Sheen Country Kitchen Crabapple CL05; PTI Tag Sale #1 die; various Copic markers