Autumn Colour

This weeny jar of homegrown flowers has been delivering a huge bundle of visual pleasure for me this week. As I decided not to "do" any gardening this year, my back yard pots have remained dormant and flowerless. Excepting for a few pots of hardy herbs which take care of themselves and one terracotta pot that I planted with red geraniums, the rest of the pots have been full of weeds and dead things this year. I was both astonished and delighted when I spotted a courageous self-seeded marigold in amongst the weeds a few weeks ago, what a champion!

The rose is the last remaining one from my front garden, the geranium is the last from my back yard. And the sedum came from a neighbours front garden (said neighbour currently works abroad and I'm quite sure he wouldn't mind me pinching a couple flower stems in his absence). All in all, a pretty minuscule posy of mismatched blooms, but oh how I love the way it lights up the room!

Friday is the day I often stop at the market on my way home to treat myself to a bunch of flowers if there are any that tickle my fancy. Thankfully, the dahlias are still going strong (yaay!) and I picked out a most gorgeous bunch of mixed blooms to bring home this morning.

It always feels like such a bargain (a mere £2.50), and carrying them home wrapped up in paper makes me pretty much want to skip down the street with joy. After almost six years of living in this town, I still really get a buzz out of shopping at the market, especially for locally grown seasonal flowers.

I also love the little ritual of unwrapping and untying the flowers once I get home, then choosing a jug to put them in. Always a jug for my market flowers. Today I decided to trim the stems short so that I could use my red and white spotty jug.....

.....perfect. Sigh. Absolutely perfect in every way. Such a glorious display of colour to welcome in the weekend.

After lunch today, I had some time to myself, so I walked out the back door and up to the little patch of woodland at the top of the park. Just like that, off I went, striding out on a mission. I had an idea that I wanted to gather some Autumnal Inspiration.

I must've only spent about ten minutes rootling around in the undergrowth beneath the trees, but look what treasure I found! I came home with a handful of baby acorns, a shiny conker, sycamore seeds, beech nuts and a whole pile of beautiful autumn leaves.

When I brought them home and spread them out, I was suddenly overwhelmed with a rush of nostalgia. Memories of classroom nature tables and childhood walks came flooding in, and I had a little laugh at myself....I am still such a child at heart!

Actually, I did have a genuine reason for wanting to gather in some Autumn treasure. It wasn't a completely random, childish thing for a Friday afternoon. This week I've started on a new project, beginning a new cretive hooky journey :: I'm making an Autumn Wreath.

As you may know, I have already crocheted two seasonal wreaths for Winter/Christmas and Spring/Easter, and the design for an Autumn one has been sitting in my Creative Mind for many months.

I have been hooking up a flurry of Autumn leaves, using the pattern from my May Rose tutorial, as follows ::

Chain 8.

Start in 2nd chain from hook and work the following ::

dc, htr, tr, 2tr's, tr, htr, dc.

Chain 2, sl st in 2nd chain from hook (picot point made).

Now work back along the bottom of the foundation chain, in the single loops of the chain ::

dc, htr, tr, 2tr's, tr, htr, dc.

Sl st into end of leaf and fasten off leaving a tail end long enough to darn in.

I also tried using two strands of yarn and a 5mm hook to make a chunkier version, which worked out really well and I'll definitely be doing more of these in different colours.

I'm imagining a wreath full of Autumn leaves, interspersed with berries, rosehips and acorns.

I had a quick look in my crochet flowers book to see if there was such a thing as a crochet acorn, and yes there was indeed an acorn pattern. Need to give it a go over the weekend and see how it turns out. I'm thinking of a few autumn flowers too...maybe small yellowy orange sunflower/marigold type blooms, and maybe some purple michaelmas daisies (gosh, more childhood nostalgia rushing in, memories of the garden behind our small terraced house in London when I was seven years old)

I am really looking forward to working on this project over the coming weeks, I do so love the whole creative process of wreath making. It's a lot of work to make so many components, but yup, I am up for the challenge.

♥ x

Comments

[silvia kubista]

Hello i have seen your sooo beautifully Autonme RING can you please tell me where i can buy the information in German or french ??? Thanks a lot Silvia

[Heather]

I know I'll not be unique in saying this, but your artistry is just stunning. I'm very grateful to have stumbled upon your fascinating creativity.

[Gemma]

I love the flowers and I'm looking forward to seeing your Autumn wreath!

http://thisdaytodaylife.blogspot.co.uk/

[OkeCrafter]

What beautiful Autumn colours! And I love the idea of an Autumn wreath too.

[Darlene]

Lucy, I love reading your blog just because of your childlike enjoyment of simple pleasures and your creativity! Thank you for giving me a lift today.

[shauna]

the flowers and fall leaves are absolutely gorgeous...it's only 5:30 am here in the US and now you have me wanting to go make my yarn stash bigger with more beautiful warm autumn colors!! love the inspiration!

[Sonia Petitpoint]

Gorgeous colours !

[Jen Y]

I cannot wait to see your autumn wreath - I love the ones you've made already.

[Lyn]

Beautiful autumn leaves real and yarn! Xxx

[Maple Trueheart]

Love the colours - of the real nature and of the crocheted nature.

[Angela]

Wonderful Colors.
Angela

[berry lane]

Ah such lovely autumn colour inspiration. I have been wanting to try one of your seasonal wreaths for ages but always seem to have other things to do but this blog has inspired me to start immediately! I may even add a cute hedgehog from this month's Simply Crochet. Thanks Lucy. It's a joy as always :) Claire xx

[Katie]

You crafty people - crocheted leaves and acorns are too cute! That's the kind I need for my daughter to "pick up" on our walks - wouldn't matter if she chews on them! Thanks for the pretty pics!

[Tanya Miller]

Stunning as always. Such rich colours. Can't wait to see what you create.

[Carine07]

If you collect some heather branches, try to stick them in a potato to keep it "alive"/fresh longer (the potato feeds the branches).

[Carine07]

and a bit of heather, maybe.

[Carine07]

I love your last picture (specially the maple leaf).
For your autumn wreath, you could also add some chestnuts and some mushrooms.

[Cheryl]

How wonderful to be able to walk out your back door and find so many wonderful treasures of nature. I adore the leaves you're making and can't wait to see your newest wreath. The other ones you've made are wonderful! And, very inspirational. I have that book as well...I love it!

[Andrina T]

Love love LOVE the colors! And I know covet that flower book profusely!

[J]

Oh I'm so excited to see what you dream up for your Autumn wreath as your previous two are so lovely!

I so wish dahlias grew locally around here and were so available at this time of year! There are a lot of chrysanthemums which are also a favourite of mine but I wish there were some dahlias to be found as they are so brilliantly gorgeous!

Happy weekend!

[jeannette]

you are so not a child. one of the few things i can still respect freud for is noting that s/he who is happy does what s/he did when s/he was six. please note the fleeting pleasures of adulthood are not included, and pleasure in beauty and nature mos def are.

thank you for reminding me. enjoy.

[Lluisa]

Lovely post, lovely flowers and lovely season. Thanks for sharing your Autumn's moments in here :)

Have a lovely time <3

Lluisa x

[caroline]

I was thinking it has been a grey, murky Autumn, but you seem to have found the bright bits. Chorley must have had better weather than Preston!

You might like to take a look at the UKHA website. They have some woodland themed crochet (ok, mostly knitting) patterns. They would like people to organise PicKnits but I suspect you are organised-out! Here's the link: http://www.ukhandknitting.com/free_woodland_picknit_patterns.php

Looking forward to seeing your wreath!

[Caleena]

Never stop thinking like a child,my kids call me a female Peter Pan and I love it!!
Your blog is so beautiful and makes me feel normal as I too love collecting from nature,drawing,crocheting and being creative just on the other side of the world xx

[Ann Van Gampelaere]

Brilliant!!!