Blogtoberfest Day 7 ... Autumnal Walks and a little bit of morris!

This morning I went on a early morning walk ... well it was early for a Sunday! I love watching the world wake up, and the autumnal mornings we have where the sun is shining yet there is a wonderful fresh nip in the air.

The sun was rising beautifully creating a fabulous orange hue across the sky and the mist was rising over the river ...

The morning was highlighting the layers of this view wonderfully ... shame about the telephone wires though!

And here is the sun rising over the town ... if you look close enough you can see some of the landmarks ...

This is one of my favourite views of the town, it is taken from a path the winds down the hill in between two roads ... a little treasure of a path ...

And to the river I then wondered with the houses catching the sun and if you look close you can see the mist on the river.

isn't it beautiful ...

As I went back up the hill I took photos of a few things that caught my eye ...

The first being the name of an alleyway ...

A letter box ...

And a gateway .... leading to another world ... maybe!

A conker bursting out of its shell ...

And then down the lanes ...

A gate to one of my favourite houses in the town ...

And the lane winds on ...

I love this tractor ... one day I will draw it, but in the mean time I will continue to take lots of photos of it ...

Autumnal trees ...

And cobwebs covered in dew ...

On and on goes the lane ...

Hawthorn berries ... one of my favourite trees ...

And a great majestic oak ...

Acorns ... these used to be given as gifts between pagans to quietly acknolegde the different festivals ...

A view back over the river with the mist rising ...

A footpath to another adventure ... but not taken today!

 

 And then I was home ... and breakfast was eaten!!

And then began the Morris Day of Dance ...

It was a truly fabulous day and such a great atmosphere in the town too. I am now feeling the effect of all this exercise which can only be a good thing!!

I will tell you more tomorrow about the day of dance with photos too!

I am off to rest my weary feet!!

bye bye for now!!

xxx
 



Blogtoberfest Day 6 ... Grace Shrug!

 

It is Saturday evening and I am sat at home, with the cats asleep beside me (snoring!!), Pride and Prejudice on, and I am ready to update you all on day 6 of Blogtoberfest.

 

May I firstly introduce you to my two cats, the first is Evans a ginger tom cat, he is quite independent as all cats are, but loves his morning cuddles,

 

 

 

next we have Prilly a black girl cat, very conversational and a bit of a shadow, following me around the house wherever I go!

 

 

Unfortunately Prilly came in this afternoon with a poorly leg ... she is limping quite badly, although she is starting to put a little more weight on it.

 

After anxiously checking it wasn't too serious as best I could ... it was a phone call to the Vets to see whether they would agree or not ... which if not would have meant an emergency visit to them!

 

Thankfully it was classed as a non emergency ... unless she starts howling ... no chance of that now she is asleep, and yes she is the one snoring!!!

 

I was able to breathe a sigh of relief ... although the cat basket is out just in case ... and there may yet be a visit to the Vets on Monday!!

 

Ooops ... !

 

I have just realised that I headed this post 'Grace Shrug' so I had better mention that too!!

 

Work continued on the shrug last night, I am only on row 53 which isn't far at all in the pattern, but I am loving the pattern of it already!

 

Although I have come across a little problem ... I have two sets of the same stitch at the start and end of the row, rather than the repeated pattern ... a mystery to be solved!!

 

But it looks good anyhow ...!!

 

So its gone from this ...

 

 

To this ...

 

I am only at the start of the sleeve ... but this is what it looks like on so far ...

And as for the question I posed yesterday about autumnal colours ...
 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autumn_leaf_color

has a few of the answers behind, why there are reds, yellows and oranges during the autumn months, and why carrots are orange, daffodils are yellow and strawberries are red!!

Until tomorrow ... !!

xxx


Blogtoberest Day Five ...

I've been taking photos of leaves ... I love the colours this time of years brings and I couldn't resist (especially with the Autumn Challenge in my mind too!!)

It amazes my simple mind how each leaf turns different colours ... what causes the yellows, the oranges and the reds ...

There is a wonderful article in this months Mollie Makes for making fabric flowers which I love ... I will have to find some beautiful fabric to make some I think ... have autumnal colours the whole year in my home!

http://molliemakes.themakingspot.com/

My crochet time was productive last night I have now got a cuff for my grace shrug ... a small but significant step I feel ... no photos at the moment but by tomorrow you never know!!

I have also been thinking about Christmas Presents ... and I have on the list a jumper for him, and fingerless gloves for friends ... and the list continues to grow!

Well its the end of the week and the weekend looms so I am hoping for a few more autumnal photos, I am fortunate to live with a forest on my doorstep so there are plenty of opportunities!! 

There is a dance out this weekend with a few other sides so there will be a few Morris Dancing photos too.

... and lots of crochet too!!

xxx

Blogtoberfest Day 4 and a little bit in awe!! x

 

I recieved a message on my way home from work ...

 

 

'Giant crocheted animals in Leciestershire by Shauna Richardson ... WOW!!'

 

 

So it was only polite I had a look ... erm ... WOW!!!!

 

 

http://www.lionheartproject.com/home/

 

 

And its all crochet ... fabulous ... !!

 

 

I feel a visit to the Zoo is needed soon ... well before the 21st December!!

 

 

I am off now (apologies this is short and sweet) but crochet time is needed after a busy and long day at work.

 

 

See you tomorrow!!

 

xxx

Blogtoberfest day No 3 ... and Whoops!!

Well this evening I sat down for 5 minutes before getting ready to go to Morris Practice ... and two hours later I awoke a little disorientated!!

 

So may I dedicate part of this blog to Wytchwood Morris ...

 

 

The Wytches a mixed morris side dancing border, cotswold and molly traditional dances from England.

I have been dancing with a Morris now for a number of years and throughly enjoy it, for me its about keeping one of Englands wonderful traditions alive and breathing!

Wytchwood also fits in with the Autumnal colours challenge with the colours of our tatters!! We dress in the border style of morris, which comes from the border between England and Wales.

Kat at I Saw You Dancing in her day 3 Blogtoberfest blog has talked about the healing power of music in her Worthiness Wednesday post. This got me thinking about music in my life and how powerful it is for me.

My Dad is in a band, and during my childhood I fell asleep every third Thursday (there are three in the band and they rotate practice between each others homes) to the sound of my Dad singing.

Sometimes me and my sister would sneak out of bed and listen from the top of the stairs.

There are now so many songs that the me as a child loved and that me as an adult still loves because of listening to my Dad sing.

Its because of this nusic is a big part of who I am, it allows me to escape a little from the world around me, it can help make me happy when feeling a little sad, it can make me cry and always I love singing out loud!!

Thank you Dad!!

xxx
 

Blogtoberfest Day 2 - Samhain ...

And here it is day two of Blogtoberfest, and the thoughts about what to write about have been on my mind and then I realised Helen from moonstruckcreations had said about joining her Autumn Challenge and posting pictures of autumn views ... so my camera will be at the ready!! And to show I am taking part as Helen has requested I have added the below picture to my sidebar ...

So now I am doing two challenges in one!! 

Then there's Samhain ...

I mentioned it in my last post and I thought during the month I could give you a few facts about this pagan festival.

Samhain is the quarter festival between autumn equinox and winter solstice and marks the new year for pagans, marking the end of the harvest and the start of winter.

As this marks the end of the month, I would like my giveaway to be based on Samhain, so will included some suitable crafty items ...

Those will be revealed during the month, so to take part please follow me!!

And of course ...

There's the crocheted creations that I will update you all about too.

So after all I have LOTS to tell you during the month!!

bye bye for now

xxx

Blogtoberfest 2012

Oh my here is a challenge ... Blogtoberfest 2012, a challenge to;

* challenge yourself to blog every day for 31 days
* discover kindred blogging spirits
* carve out a tiny slice of time each day to write and to read
* share any creative projects you have on the go
* host a giveaway, if you feel inclined to spread the love

The above has been taken from I saw you dancing  which explains in more details the challenge for the month ... and so I am signed up to give it ago ... GULP!!

The giveaway ... I am considering ... and may giveaway something handmade and suitable for the month of October ... maybe the pumpkin Emma Varnam has created for Inside Crochet. I shall have to have a think, but something suitably Samhain me thinks!!

I wonder what I will find to blog about ... please forgive me now if some posts aren't at all interesting!! You may see the Granny Stripe and Grace Shrug grow ... and maybe an update on the progressing of Christmas pressies to keep the crochet theme. There maybe lots of photos of Autumn and the beautiful colours around us at the moment ... oh so many things!! I had better get the camera battery charged.

So here I go diving in head first ... see you tomorrow!!!