Creative Autumn Endeavours

Hello and welcome to Autumn. It is such a glorious season here in England and perhaps I appreciate it more because of all the years we lived away on overseas postings. When we first returned, I was immediately struck by how the seasons here are so clearly defined - in both Russia and Sweden, Spring and Autumn were barely a whisper - it just seemed to go from Summer to Winter in a matter of weeks. I remember how we would return to Moscow after the summer holidays, ready for the start of school and we would still be in cotton tops and then a sort of grey stillness would descend upon the city and the temperature would drop by the day over just a couple of weeks and soon and then it was Winter. The trees that lined our boulevard seemed to shed their leaves in a single shake and all was calm and in waiting for the first snow. Here in Yorkshire, Autumn has time to really show off it’s golden hues and wild heathers and the colours make me want to start on new projects. This year, I seem to have excelled myself in lining them up!! But before I overwhelm myself by listing these, I have a invested in the most beautiful leather notebook cover, appropriately embossed with my intentions in mind. I love to take notes as I work on projects and have finally smartened up my desk with this. It’s from Undercover UK on Etsy here and exceeded my expectations. What is more, I chose the colour to team up with my laptop travel bag that I made this summer and it’s perfect. It is the most beautifully finished leather cover with a high quality journal inside - so let’s hope it inspired ‘beautifully finished’ projects!

After last year’s winter project of a needlepoint cover for my knitting box (here), I am returned to the frame with a project to revamp this chair which has been in our garage for 7 years, since we moved back to England. It came from the stuff that was in storage from my Mum’s house and I always liked it because of the cut out shapes on the ladder back. The quatrefoil is such a pretty shape and always reminds me Venice where it is so gorgeous in coral pink and white mosaic designs on the exterior of the Doges Palace. The seat needs a new cover and I might even paint the wood which is a bit tatty. Tapestry is perfect for this kind of project and I so enjoyed making my freestyle needlepoint garden that I rather fancied to try another freestyle idea. I have absolutely no idea where it is going, but the colour palette is made up of cinnamon, lemon, aquamarine, mulberry, tangerine and lime shades. These colours follow on from my new quilt project.

This quilt project has been sitting on my shelf for absolutely ages. I made the smaller version of Elizabeth Hartman’s Green house quilt a while ago and it hangs cheerfully on the wall by our kitchen and is always a favourite with visitors (You can see more about that) here.

This time the colour palette is a bit different for me - no red for a start! I am also planning to make the whole quilt and these fabrics from an old collection by Amy Butler are just perfect for the bigger version and as I have a bolt of pineapple fabric just waiting for to leap on to the back of it, I think I am set. I haven’t done as much quilting as I had hoped over the last few months, but this project seems perfect to kickstart the chillier months.

As if all that wasn’t enough -I also have a new knitting project ready to go. Loop of London’s book is one of my all time favourite publications - every page is oozing with gorgeousness. A while ago a friend knitted me a wonderful powder pink lacy caplet which I have worn so much and find both practical and fun to wear. After my tentative steps with fair isle last winter, this version looks possible…..maybe. It is knitted in the round so this is the number one challenge for me as I have precious little experience of this technique, let alone with fair isle. However it is aran wool so should knit up quickly and the yarn I have chosen is hand dyed merino wool in colours Seagull (from Biffsugar on Etsy) and Moss (from the Crafty Bird on Etsy). I hope it will remind me of the sea, which sadly I don’t seem to have manage to get to this year. I am really very excited by this project so fingers crossed I can navigate it and learn something too.

And finally….dressmaking. I get so frustrated with myself about not making more of my clothes and this autumn am determined to try to do more. I plan to start with pyjama bottoms, which I am sorely in need of and want to make some to match the dressing gown I made last year. I figure this is not too difficult to start with, so perhaps that will encourage me to get on with the plans for a smock top, a waistcoat and a shirt that are stacked up on my cutting table.

I think that putting it all up here is a real statement of intent (lol!) Needless to say, with all this lot on the go….you will know where to find me. See you soon for some updates. Love Ruby x

Useful links:

Biffsugar yarns are here

The crafty Bird is here

Loop of London is here

Elizabeth Hartman patterns here