Sunday 27 October 2013

Arboretum photos.

It is not a good idea to spend the morning shopping and then go to the Arboretum.  We were both wilting a bit by the time we got there and I had no idea how much it has developed since we last went, probably 25 or 30 years ago!   The bit I remember is now referred to as the Old Arboretum and there are acres of lovely walks through amazing trees which just weren't opened to the public back then.   We didn't even get to the Acer Grove but someone told us the leaves would have taken on more colour in a week or two.  That is if there are any leaves left on any trees after the forecast storm.   We hope to revisit on a non-shopping day and will phone first to find out how things are.
There are photos crying out to be taken at every turn and I did find some colours.

I love the way shrubs and small trees are planted almost peeping out from behind a majestic giant.

Or they just light up a little glade where there is no other colour yet.

I don't know which tree has these enormous leaves.   If you look carefully you will see an ordinary oak leaf lying nearby.  The large leaf must have been at least a foot long.

The colour of this bark really glowed in the sunlight.

I couldn't resist a shot of these beautiful fungi.   I must find out what they are.

The book is nearly finished so I'll put it on my next post.

  Batten down the hatches everyone, and keep safe.

Wednesday 23 October 2013

Another fortnight has passed!

Where does the time go?  I can't believe how long the gaps between my posts have become just lately.
As you can see I have been busy making more pages for my fabric book.  I'm not sure what the gentleman on the left in the above photo is doing, but it looks rather dangerous to me.

And I wonder if this one has toothache, poor chap.

I can't fathom what it is about their mournful expressions which appeals to me so much.   Usually I prefer happy faces but these are so quaint and quirky.

Now I must pluck up the courage to make the cover and bind the pages into it.

After a very doubtful start to today, it has turned into a lovely autumn day.  We are hoping to go to Westonbirt Arboretum tomorrow, weather permitting - I would like to take some photos of the glorious colours at this time of year.   Fingers crossed.

Thursday 10 October 2013

Patience is a virtue!

It's taken me three days to be able to upload these pictures.   I don't know what has been going on but I just have to go away and do something else until my laptop wants to play nicely again.
Anyway,  I though I'd share my lovely little crabapples which seem to be more colourful than last year when I think they were more yellow.  Maybe it is because the tree is beginning to mature.

I love the sun shining on these heuchera leaves - when it shines through them they look a lovely creamy ochrey colour and some are bordering on apricot.  

I sat out with a cuppa the other day, thinking that there can't be many more chances of doing so this year, and noticed this brilliant flash of red among the leaves at the base of my angelica plant.   I've grown it before but never noticed how red they are.

I have been cheating with this variegated wool which knits up like a faux Fair Isle pattern.   In this photo my camera has bleached out the lovely shades of blue which are much richer in reality.   The pattern said I would need 6x100grm balls of wool to make the garment but I found that in spite of making it a good 3 inches longer, I completed it using only 4 balls of wool,  so went back for 4 more in another colour.
Again, the colours are richer in reality.   It is such fun seeing the pattern emerge row by row, even if it is a bit like painting by numbers.

I've being doing a bit more to the book pages and the two here, above and below, are now finished I think.

This one is in the making ..............

........................ and here are some more printing blocks ready to complete the rest.
I must come up with a design for the cover.   I did think I might put the back view of the bishop on the back cover but haven't decided how to treat the front yet.   Too many ideas and too many decisions to be made.

It's a beautiful bright, but quite chilly, day here today - hopefully the nip in the air will wake me up as I've been feeling so lethargic lately.   It's not a good state to be in as the bright sunlight shows me that the windows need cleaning, the kitchen floor could do with yet another wash and various other surfaces need more than a lick and a promise.   Oh well - there's always tomorrow!

Tuesday 1 October 2013

Gardening, gardening and more gardening!

I have been trying to tame our mini jungle before the fine weather gives way to more wintry conditions and came upon this tiny forest of fungi.   Two days after taking this picture they had all disappeared - it was as if they had never been there.

Having evicted several clumps of weeds that pull up easily I was delighted to find these lovely little cyclamen.  I thought I had lost them all.

Looking out of the bedroom window this morning I saw that the honeysuckle is still doing it's stuff.  The bees will be happy and the birds will love the berries when the flowers have finished.

I took this photo through the dining room window.    I love this clematis but it is so untidy and hangs right down from the pergola.  It has climbed a good twenty feet into a tree the other side of our wall and I think I must cut it back drastically this year or it will outgrow it's strength.   

Our newest climbing rose is having one last splurge and has done us proud this year in spite of being so new.

I think this might be the last rose of summer.   Look at those leaves!   I must treat it for black spot again and if we don't have some proper rain soon I shall have to water the garden.  The weather has been marvelous but the soil is so dry.

I can't believe that it is a month since I went on that lovely book making course with Frances Pickering.   September has been such a busy month I had to be strong and put my book away and have only just started working on it again.   Progress is slow but I will post one or two more pages as they are completed.