Autumn's goodies

I love all the seasons equally. For me it's a perfect cycle, as soon as one season ends I am ready for the next one. Each season brings with it new feelings of excitement, expectation and plenty of joy. My allotment has finally succumbed to autumn and the only veg left to pick are winter squashes and Brussels sprouts for Christmas (Christmas - eeeeppppp!).

I love autumn for its explosion of bright colours. It's a good time of the year for picking leaves, pine cones and conkers for crafting with. For me walking amongst rustling leaves is only second best to walking on crisp, crunchy snow on a bright winter's day. So, on Sunday we decided to go for a 10 mile walk to Trentham which left me with two rather painful blisters! My motivation was gathering nature's goodies and Daniel's was ice cream!

We walked along the Trent and Mersey Canal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trent_and_Mersey_Canal) which runs alongside lovely meadows. In one of the meadows we saw some wild horses.

A lovely tree with half its leaves missing at the Trentham Estate (http://www.trentham.co.uk/). I collected a whole bunch of them for crafting.






                                                                    




  The Trentham estate has something for everyone. There are pretty wooden huts selling lovely stuff, restaurants, a garden centre, a monkey forest (yes, with real monkeys!) and a two mile walk around the lake in the estate's lavish grounds. If you're lucky enough you might even spot a giant, red squirrel. They're so endangered that there's only one remaining. I managed to capture one on my camera. He is particularly happy because he's just had an ice cream.

              Lovely Michaelmas daisies below and
              Anemone Honorine to the left.

Mushrooms

                                                                                                              Lovely echinacea

 

Ruins of the old hall at Trentham estate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trentham_Gardens)

The leaves I collected were dipped in wax to preserve their colour. I used paraffin wax flakes but a small candle/tea light chopped into smallish pieces would do just as well. Start with 4-5 tea lights and see how you get on. You can always add more if needed. 

 I put the flakes in a metal container (that I don't use for food!) inside a pan of boiling water (thus creating a double boiler). It took about 5 minutes for the wax to melt.  I turned the hob off but kept re-heating the wax when it started to get too hard. The leaves were dipped into the hot wax one by one and held above the pot of wax until they stopped dripping (about 1 minute), then set aside. I made a mobile with my leaves but you can do a string of them. Here's a link www.apartmenttherapy.com

 

Pretty, crafty York

The latest news is that Daniel and I (and our two cats) are moving to York before Christmas. Very exciting! The other day we both went to York to see what it's like and I instantly fell in love with it. It reminds me of Winchester but larger and, dare I say it, nicer. Although I did love the St Catherine's hill walk in Winchester and the walk to our favourite pub in Shawford called The Bridge. I do occasionally have pangs for Winchester.  But anyway, here are some photos I took.









Yorkshire wheel, right by the train station. It was the first observation wheel of its kind in North Yorkshire, and was inspired by the London Eye which opened a few years earlier. At 54 metres (177 ft), it was somewhat smaller than the 135 metres (443 ft) of the London Eye, but could be no higher than York Minster, York's skyline height limit.






Rowing on the River Ouse which runs through York. The Ouse is partly formed from the River Ure and the combined Ure/Ouse river is about 208 km (129 mi) making it the sixth longest river in the UK.



There were lots of very friendly squirrels in the Yorkshire Museum Gardens.









York Minster. I just couldn't get far out enough to get all of it. It's pretty impressive and one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe. It clearly charts the development of English Gothic architecture from Early English through to the Perpendicular Period. The present building was begun in about 1230 and completed in 1472. It has a cruciform plan with an octagonal chapter house attached to the north transept, a central tower and two towers at the west front. The stone used for the building is magnesian limestone, a creamy-white coloured rock that was quarried in nearby Tadcaster. The Minster is 158 metres (518 ft) long and each of its three towers are 60 metres (200 ft) high. The choir has an interior height of 31 metres (102 ft). I think that's about enough info you'll need.

All in all, York seems lovely and I am especially pleased because it has about five decent craft shops which suits me just fine. I didn't see many charity shops which is a shame as I acquire much of my craft material from charity shops and freecycle. Maybe I just needed to look harder for them instead of spending hours in cute little gift shops. I particularly liked the Shambles, an old street in York lined with shops selling all sorts of lovely stuff. I had to restrain myself in the Peter Rabbit shop. I could have so easily walked out with tons of stuff having spent tons of money.

On the whole, I think we'll really enjoy living in York and it will certainly make a big change from living in Stoke-on-Trent which is decidedly lacklustre. Although I will miss my allotment and leaving Flossy's patch will be hard. 

Signpost marking the Shambles.

 The ruins of York's medieval Norman castle is sometimes referred to as Clifford's Tower. Built originally on the orders of William I to dominate the former Viking city of York, the castle suffered a tumultuous early history before developing into a major fortification with extensive water defences. After a major explosion in 1684 rendered the remaining military defences uninhabitable, York Castle continued to be used as a jail and prison until 1929.



 It will be good living in a place that has 2 veggie/vegan restaurants (Stoke has none!). I really loved El Piano. It is completely vegan and the owners are absolutely amazing. They also do weddings there. Worth keeping that in mind as I would actually like to get married in an unconventional place. I'd love to get married in the woods but in England it's not possible to get a license to do that.

Anyway, back to crafts. Here are some ideas:

        Owl mobile. Enough said.

Painted stones. I have tons of stones at home. I have often thought about painting them with chalkboard paint and using them as place cards for a rustic wedding. You could write the guest's name with chalk.

 I think these earrings are made from bicycle inner tubes. I have been meaning to make crafts using bicycle parts since I collected a bike advertised on freecycle. It's still in the shed. My PhD is preventing me from crafting at the moment. Grr...

Wood glorious wood. I have enough wood to build me a house! This reclaimed wooden coat hook is so pretty and rustic. 

Have you guessed yet that I am obsessed with squirrels? I found these squirrely handing decorations in the Cath Kidston store. So pretty. They're made of felt and would be so easy to make.

I was going to make bunting with my second hand copy of Peter Rabbit but greetings cards would work just as well.

Dried rose buds heart wreath. These are so sweet and I know just the shop in Manchester that sells dried rose buds. It's a Chinese supermarket and the rose buds are actually for making tea!

Small houses made from cardboard and covered in fabric. Again, I have been planning these for ages now. I have been saving cardboard from cereal boxes for about a year and have tons of different fabric, just need the time to make these!!

Creative juices flowing in Sardinia

Have just been to Sardinia for a week. Italy is weird. It's very Catholic which reminds me of my very odd Polish upbringing. Italians really, really like their dogs which is good but the downside is that there are a lot of stray dogs and cats wondering around the streets. They actually look fairly well kept for strays so I reckon they must be fed by people occasionally.

Annoyingly, Italians do siestas which is a big problem for tourists because after getting up (late!), showering and breakfasting you want to go around all the shops and museums. That's precisely the time when everything closes until 4-5pm. Seriously!

The other thing I found difficult is that they have no concept of vegetarianism/veganism. I ordered a veggie sandwich which had tuna in it! Apparently that's as close as it gets. They are also very wasteful. Bottled water is as common as tap water in Sardinia. Just think of all that plastic! On the plus side many of their carrier bags seem to be biodegradable which is a step ahead of Britain. We just re-use our bags. Which is better I wonder, use fewer bags or continue using just as many but most are biodegradable. Hmmmm.... I have serious doubts whether the biodegradable bags are actually composted by the user. I suspect they're probably thrown away with normal rubbish. I think we should all be using less.

But, enough of the moaning because the weather was perfect, the beaches were amazing and the little sightseeing I did was all good fun, including a speed boat trip on the Mediterranean sea. And, to top it all off, much of my trip was sponsored by my fiancé's grant and his parent's spare euros.

Anyway, every city I go to I am always on the lookout for new craft ideas. I also bring back something natural I can craft with. It's always something I find, rather than buy. This time I brought back some palm tree bark and beach stones. Thankfully customs didn't stop me! I shall put up photos of the final creations later but for now here's what I did with my finds. I used them to decorate our table at a fish restaurant in Alghero. Very tasteful I think.

Here are some of my favourite craft ideas from Sardinia:

Hessian (burlap) figures. I have lots of spare hessian fabric so will give this a little try. They also had animal figures.

Owl bag. These were really cute. I've been meaning to make a fabric owl bag for ages. No excuses now!

Shell mice. I collect shells found on various beaches so I have tons of them in different sizes. Shell animals seems like a fun craft project.

 Another owl, this time made from shells. Cute.

 I have been working with wood for about 10 years and have lots of scraps. I am sure I could construct an owl from bits and bobs.  I also have lots of tin lids, perfect for eyes.

Perfect example of upcycling tins into plant pots. Cute with buttons.

 A gourd shaped bottle made from cork board shavings. Italians like their cork board ornaments. I think I'll have to start working with cork board. Until this trip, I didn't know that cork board comes from cork oak. I thought it was mashed up and re-constituted bits of tree!

 My friend was wearing this lovely necklace made from recycled tin. Brilliant! I have tons of scrap metal mainly from tin lids.

Zip stud earrings, another upcycling idea.