Needles threaded with Autumn magic.

 

Autumn leaves are little gifts falling from the sky, making everything look magical.

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Hello everyone, its lovely that you are here and have come to join me.  Why not get a warm drink, pick a comfy chair and cosy down. I have my warm drink  .... the vintage  whimsy ramble is about to begin.

Warm and sunny Autumn days have been so perfect here in beautiful Dorset, the Jurassic Coast is stunning  every season. The Summer months it is crowded but Autumn when schools go back but we still have the warmth is perfect to me. Wandering along coastal paths taking in the sea air and the enormous amount of natures inspiration .... it is perfection.

Sketch and ideas journal is my constant companion and walking along ideas seem to flow. It clears your mind of other things and for me at least, it enables me to think in creative mode.

A by product of sorting through my fabrics this last few weeks is I have been able to make up bundles of

fabrics in Autumnal colour ways for my designs. One of my delicious quilts is on my bed now for the colder nights and every week I change the patchwork quilt on the bed, which I love to do.

A bed without a quilt is like a sky with no stars.

Suddenly on Sunday though the weather changed.  The rain came down in stair rods and there were high winds.  So much so it snapped my rose arch in 4 places.  In the rain and wind I had to, on my own, cobble together a support system which consisted of two out side brooms, a rake and a path clearing tool.  Lots of string to tie some of the structure to my gate posts and large quantities of FRAGILE tape!  what a to do it was.

 I do not know how I did it but I think it was pure determination that my rose was not going to snap on me.  It has taken four years for it to climb across the top and I was in tears at the thought of it breaking and dying.  I have ordered a new and much stronger one to replace it with and this will be a two person job to untie my rose and get the other structure in place to tie the beautiful rose back on!!  My makedo and mend structure is holding right now so fingers crossed for me. 

I have also needed some roofing sorted too so its been a really horrid 10 days really and I have to say I have not really picked up a needle because of it.  This however today is about to change.

My needles are threaded and I have sorted some stunning fabrics out for me to use on my four projects I currently have on the go. The hexagons are still being made up for beautiful hand stitched and pieced

pin cushions.  A really lovely meditation role which will incorporate things like Monets garden and Autumn leaves etc.  Then a piece of slow stitch with couching and all sorts of wonderful things and last but not least my cross stitch which all I have managed is some needle threadings.  I am wonderfully busy but it just came to a halt. The picture I slotted in here is of a gorgeous brick press, when the bricks were all handmade and its on my large table in my studio with my couching threads in there.  I love it and I prefer to see it like this than hiding in a drawer, its a piece of lost history.

The weather is very strange here in England, well in Dorset where I live anyway and I am not sure we have not caught the back end of the Hurricane that Florida has been experiencing, often days later we get a little backlash from these events and it is no where near as bad as my friends in the States experience but here we are not prepared for it mostly!

My logs were delivered and my two log baskets indoors are filled as well.  As I said before my Winter nesting has begun.  So I can now stay warm, cosy and dry so sitting in my cosy chair by the fire stitching is on the horizon and I am determined to settle in for long days all be the light is fading earlier and earlier, that's where you will find me.  I will keep you updated as to how I get on.

Two weekends ago I managed to get to the Jurassic coast and foraged at low tide in all the rock pools and came home with treasure of the sea.  I found some wonderful seaweeds and they are nestled in my seaweed press now and I am so excited to see the results in a few weeks time.  In addition to that I found the most outstanding pebble which I am going to varnish because that will make it look like it is  wet all the time and brings out its natural beauty.   Then to my happy little find some gorgeous blue sea glass so all in all that hour was well spent in wellies with a lidded bucket.  My hair was tied back and what a really happy day I had at Lyme Regis ... 

Adventures and tea and not always in that order!

There are great independent coffee shops and I had a lovely lunch in one of them.  I also got to wander around the little shops both boutique ones and charity shops and few antique places as well.

Journaling has been on my list as I have been updating my quotes and saying journal and it is easy to find words or quotes for me to use on here and in my sewing as well.  I make some up as well and they are all now in a journal in sections and just ready to be used and of course added to.

My Threads of time studio had a late spring clean as you know and I have been able to keep it tidy.  Now the filming for my YouTube channel can begin when my rose arch is up and I can do it with no interruptions from anyone.  I do need to start that very soon.

I have been sorting things like a tin for all of my orts.  Thread bits still useful but it might be one or two strands of a colour left from a project they go in the tin instead of being wound round the old peg with the rest of the thread.  Also half a bit of thread for when you just need a little bit of a colour but do not want to cut a new piece off for a few tiny stitches.  I had little piles in my studio and now they are all together.  It is fun pulling out a thread from there and actually they look like a piece of art to me as well in their own right.

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A while ago now I started making up squares to make a rice bag or two and I love using up beautiful strips of fabric for them.  I love that the fabric strips are all different widths and a little raggedy I am designing a moon series and a Buta series too .. for those of you who do not know what a Buta is, its in paisley fabric the little decorative almond or pine shape with a upper curved end.  These are personal

projects and so they often sit for a while.  I am going to be very strict about having an hour a day in the day light hours to do cross stitch and the same for my rice bag stitching... they make beautiful project bags that are a thing of beauty in themselves.

Today in contrast to what has been happening with this weather it is warmer and so sunny and it really is beautiful out there.  The garden is changing and I will be going to the pumpkin farm next week to fetch some for the garden decoration.  A walk by the river today will be lovely too and I can take lots of photos for inspiration on this glorious changing season.

Autumn is love poetry each leaf a lyrical heartbeat.....

Thank you all for joining me over a warm drink and being here for my ramble today.  I hope where ever you are in the world that its sunny and that everyone effected by the Hurricane is safe and well.

Please join me next time and maybe we will be in my studio for our catchup, Threads of time studio is a cosy happy place to be.

As always take care and Happy Stitching!

Sarah XX

Butas ...