Hello, Autumn!

I woke up this morning a wee bit earlier than is ideal, but quickly remembered that the autumnal equinox was arriving a few minutes later (8:50am here). This brought a very big smile to my face. I got up and, when the moment came, took some time to focus on my gratitude that autumn is here. Even the fact that the sun was glaring through the window was not enough to dampen my mood. I have been rewarded since then by my friends, the clouds, who have moved in to provide a welcome barrier between me and the sun and will offer up some raindrops in a while. Thank you, clouds.

I had breakfast and coffee and then got out my stitched autumn bits. It makes me happy to see these things hanging around.

side 1

side 2--i made this double-sided so it could hang in a window

Sometimes, as with the piece above, I see how I would do things differently now than I did when I first made it. The needle felted base would be sturdier if I had made it more dense and added some 'quilting' stitches. It doesn't matter for this, because it is only out for a few weeks each year and it holds up well for that. If I ever need to, I can take off the embellishments, reinforce the background, and reattach them.
This one is embellished on just one side:

needle felted leaf coaster

cross stitched with variegated threads following a chart i made

cross stitched from a chart in a book i found at a charity shop

this pattern is online somewhere--when i came across it a couple of years ago, I grabbed some scraps and tried it out

I went through a phase where I was using a bunch of smallish scraps to crochet Romanian cords--just worked until the yarn ran out, so I had cords of different lengths. One night I was playing around with some and sewed them together, adding a couple of beads from a deconstructed bracelet found at a charity shop and some thin metal pieces that came from an embellished shirt from the same shop. It was missing some of the embellishments, so no one else wanted to buy it. There were lots of embellishments of various kinds all around the neck and a couple inches deep, so even though I've used many of them, there are still plenty left.

Of course, I had to have some crocheted lace, too.

thread from charity shop and chart adapted slightly from a crocheted lace book to make it work with a limited amount of thread

i think this is the first autumnal piece I made--i used ecru crochet thread held together with a strand of brown sewing thread

I've started making more autumnal stuff these last few years, so have my own quirky collection, which includes placemats, dishcloths, reusable table napkins, and kitchen towels in addition to the decorations above

I see that I have crochet, cross stitch, and needle felting well represented, but no knitting or tatting. Hmm. Ah well, there's a season for everything. Happy autumn to all in the northern hemisphere!

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