24.10.13

autumn rose






















Each autumn I find myself inspired by the autumn roses.
I love that they are still there,
made even more lovely by their beginnings of faded autumn decay.

I love the name Autumn Rose.
I think if I were to have had a little girl I would have called her Autumn Rose, is that not a lovely name?

But instead I will offer up this name, put it out there if you like, make something new.

Begun in the autumn and inspired in the most poignant way by the roses I catch glimpses of around me,
they make me take a breath,
and want to possess them in a way I cannot.


the need to rip pretty vintage papers, stick pictures and use my new washi tape,
and somehow collage together,
beautiful material and pieces of crochet has been growing for a while.

........and I wonder if I am infact one who journals?
I know I am a collector of pretty things.
and the scribbler of good advice, and I do love to remember a good quote.

so I think this journal will become a place to collect my quotes and scribblings together.
If you could see my wall of post-its, you'd understand.

and now I have a new way of typing these quotes,


........and I'm really rather happy about that. Brother de luxe is very at home here!

*****

My first quote will be this one by Eckhart Tolle, that I keep going back to at the moment,

"some changes look negative on the surface but you will soon realize that a space is being created in your life for something new to emerge" 

I'm really trying to go with that.

Before October is over I must show you this months screen saver picture found on geninne's art blog. Her birds and artwork are lovely and I actually kept her December screen picture up for months. I think the same may happen with this one too. Another pink glow in my life!

Hope the autumn is going well for you,

Heather
    X  
                                                               

16.10.13

the tale of a pink lamp, heavenly sent....

This weekend I took a wander down by the canal. Still feeling jarred and not really quite sure what to do with myself. I needed to head off away from my usual paths.
Driving along I noticed a sign for a jumble sale in a village hall on the way.
Not one to let an opportunity like this slip by,
 and only armed with 60p,
I quickly turned the car around and headed back on my route to find a cash point!
I still had an hour until it started and a dog needing a walk.
So I parked up near the village hall and went for stroll.

The little village of Frampton on severn, feels almost lost in time.
It's reputed to have the longest village green in the UK.
Around the edge of which I've never seen so many original tudor houses in one place.
It's a place somehow a bit cut off geographically, curled around by the River Severn.
I imagine the village pond had seen many dunkings in it's medievil past.
and the villagers may all of been descended from families which have lived here for centuries.....
Actually it felt a bit strange walking around.
Like I might not actually find my way back out!
I grew up reading 'Misty'
a kind of spooky comic for girls.
I think my imagination was in over drive that day......
I found a very old looking apple tree with blood red apples,
just like something out of snow white.
I picked up some windfalls on my side of the wall, discretely,
and hoped no dogs had found their way there too!
It was the most amazing tasting apple,
like something from my childhood,
a distant forgotten appley memory.
I can still remember it now..... 

I didn't rush to the jumble sale, I decided that if there anything for me,
it would still be there waiting.
I couldn't remember being in a jumble sale since my childhood.
I loved them.
I would go with 50p and buy a bag full of clothes.
All kinds of things.
and wear them.

It costs me 20p to get in,
I wasn't sure what to expect.
Inside there were long tables piled several feet high with clothes.
determined ladies armed with laundry bags!!
people on the floor under the tables scrabbling amongst the clothes!
the idea seemed to be that found your place, dug in your heels and riffled through your section.
as fast as possible.
I couldn't believe my eyes.  
  
I didn't have the emotional stamina for that!
I wandered along the bric a brac aisle instead,
and there it was,
a brand new pink ikea light,
still in it's wrapping
just waiting for me,
for 20p,
divine intervention!
just what I needed to add a colourfull glow
to my living room, 
and I didn't even need to go to the cash point.......! 








so now I'm bathed in a lovely pink glow,
which compliments my navy blue cushions really well.
and this room's cozying up now.

*******
Thank you for all your moral support on my last post.
I can't really blog the details,
but the situation is landing and we've got more support on board,
which is always a good thing.
The teenage years can be tricky,
I remember that myself.
I'm three sessions into my teen 'training' course and it's starting to make sense,
in principle!
There's always the chance that a new direction could lead to good new things.
I'm sure it will.

bye for now
Heather 

12.10.13

birthing a new project

To be honest the last two weeks here have been very difficult. We seem to have fallen off the edge of a precipitous slope that we didn't want to go down, we may still land the right way up, sometimes things need to crash and tumble before they can land in a new way. I hope so.








I felt the need to clear away all my shop things into my craft room, it was taking over the living room, and distracting me from being able to think and act, in a way that I needed to. I also thought it was a bit unfair on teen boy to expect him to live in the middle of frilly heart making! My craft table was slap bang in the middle of the room. So I've cleared that now. I've needed to become a cog in the wheel of what's happening here, without distraction. This week has been a time of climbing into the works in different places and pushing relevant authorities into action. At last.

But it's been hard and stressful for both of us and comfort and safe space has been much needed.
This is my go to comfort soup, potato, carrot, leek, a teaspoon of Swiss bouillon, and chicken pieces (apologies if your vegetarian, it would be nice without too). Together with toasted pitta bread and butter. 
It's warming and hearty,
in fact I make it so much I've almost forgotten how to make anything else!
  this is my new cozy spot.
new beginnings are being made.
The living room actually feels a bit bare now.
I am struggling with the white walls!
I need to make a new blanket.
I feel as though I could sit here on this sheepskin all winter and do just that.
I love this friendly little table too.
It says just sit here a while and think and everything will be alright.

 I need to make a blanket that's earthy and warm. Not too jazzy. I'm feeling jarred and I can't do big colours.
I need soft and gentle with little pops of colour.
I like this paint box picture.

This feels nice and easy.

























you can see where it's going already,
although I think you may be surprised when you see the dark grey.
I am loving this charcoal colour right now. 













the colours remind me of pebbles and stone, with little colour pops,
I don't want to be too girly.
Have to have the colour pops though!
Perhaps it because I didn't get to my pebble beach this summer.......









I'm hoping it will look good here,
and warm things up, in a modern and not too girly way (i know I've already said that!)
notice the vintage car and the dark blue.
I think this couch would be nice covered in a denim blue.
It still needs something else.
and maybe another sheepskin rug.
It's definitely getting colder here.
oh and I must dig out my fairy lights, that always works.











I hope I can stick it out, this blanket making mission! I tend to fall into making cushions instead.
I will do my best.
promise.

I will faithfully carry my new project on the go bag, to all my appointments.
and not find myself with idle fingers, quietly wishing I had my crochet with me!

Hope you have a nice weekend,
Heather
X


10.10.13

a shawlette for the autumn

Do you ever notice a link between what you are making and the world around you, a kind of theme? sometimes it creeps up on you and then you realize where the inspiration is twinkling at you from. 





















the little things that catch our eye every day and call to us.
See the pretty mauve flowers in both pictures, I was very tempted to add a little strip of mauve here! but I carried on with the oatmeal colour, which I'm also loving. This is my current favourite neutral colour. It keeps on appearing in my projects.
I spent some time here quietly crocheting, then I noticed the colour of the head board (a pretty table cloth!) the flowers and the colours of my shawl!
This was a lovely rythmic pattern to work with. The shells are very addictive! Sometimes watched by you know who, until the excitement became too much. A sweet little spot to snooze don't you think. It's all moved around again now!
okay, here she is my september shawlette, finished in october. I had a big 'to tassle or not to tassle' moment, but it felt as though it needed something else. My blocks of colour were quite heavy and I wanted to balance the blue, without making more stripes.
the tassles were fun, my first ever tassles!!
lessons learn't, oh yes.....
mind which way your shells are facing when you change colour,
and use as soft and snuggly a wool as possible,
nice and drapey is good!
I added a blue strip along the top to bring it all together,
but don't look to closely
as it might be the wrong way round!
nevermind.
I am practising 'done but not perfect' these days.
.......right what's next,
take care,

Heather
X