Autumn Inspiration

 The past week has been filled with activities.....it was half term here and i spent some wonderfully happy autumn afternoons with charlie and daisy...... with magic painting books, colouring books, spying tiny yellow mushrooms in the lawn, collecting leaves and acorns, playing, reading, having fun...........charlie has just turned six and had a football party at the weekend..........after the party charlie went to choose his main present, a hamster.........my daughter rang me up to tell me he'd chosen a two colour hamster, (grey and white farrow and ball shades apparently) and the hamster's name is....... patchy :).....love it............

 .............i also had two magazine deadlines to meet this week, with projects to finish, steps to write up and templates to draw................but i still found time for a bit of crochet too.................

 ..........working on my autumn blanket by the fire, and making a little pincushion from the same yarn, like the spring one i made earlier in the year................

 ............the picture below is of the rosehips at hilltop, beatrix potter's garden, that i took a few weeks ago on our lake district trip...........

 ...........the constant bright sunshine of that week, the blue sky, brightest of bright red berries and golden orange berries as well as the still green leaves really inspired me to pick out the colours for this blanket...............

 ............it's going to be a big blanket so i'm taking my time making it......though the join as you go method does seem to speed it along rather well..........the lovely friend who taught me to crochet is also a wonderful knitter and in the summer she surprised me with this adorable strawberries and cream tea cosy...........it is perfect to use now for our fireside afternoon tea and scones with strawberry jam.....................

 ..............the weather here has been bright and rainy alternately, with blustery days and some high winds but nothing damaging.......i am so sorry for those who have been affected by the huge storms.......

 ..............some pretty leaves being strung together with sewing cotton to make a sweet garland.............

............my project in this month's crafts beautiful magazine...........christmas has well and truly arrived for makers and crafters now......it is time to begin making gifts and creating christmas cards ready for the festive season...it's not that far away.... little crochet pincushions make nice little gifts..............

........here are some more of the sweet gifts i received from judy's giveaway recently......the prize was actually a voucher to spend in judy's lovely etsy shop 20 north ora, so i was able to pick the sweet little trees that i so admired ........they are made using old spools and beautifully decorated.........they will be treasured christmas decorations here from now on :)...................

 ..........the children are excited about halloween, and straight after that it is bonfire night.........with a small family firework party followed later in the week by a neighbourhood bonfire and potluck party.........

............i do love autumn days, even the grey gloomy ones, but the colours this year have been amazing.......time to wrap up though, get out the padded coats and woolly scarves and the soft warm shawl another sweet friend made for my birthday in the summer.......time to cosy up and enjoy peaceful time at home beside the fire...........thank you for visiting me here in my little blog space, lovely readers, and for your sweet comments too........i hope you have a happy autumn week wherever in the world you may be, with cheerful crafty days and cosy evenings.........back soon xxxxx