Embracing Autumn

For the last couple of weeks I haven't so much been mourning the passing of Summer, I've been trying to pretend it hasn't actually passed at all. Complete Autumn denial really! So I thought it might help me to work through my Autumn issues on here!

Chicken and dumplings - yum!

The tastiest one is always slightly out of reach!

The first ceremonial lighting of the wood burner

So here goes, I know it's no longer Summer because:

Children are all back at school, holidays are over.

We haven't been wild swimming for over a week.

Board Games are coming out now and being played much more.

Favourite fruits consumed in the house are no longer peaches and strawberries - it's now all apples and blackberries, with a few plums thrown in too.

Leaves are turning and falling.

We seem to start the days now with a low lying mist - if it's not drizzling that is.

Spiders are scuttling inside like mad.

The oak tree is covered with acorns, as is the grass underneath.

I think I've seen a squirrel every day this week - sorry, no photos though.

Our last two meals have been a hearty 'Shepherds Pie' and a lovely, warming Chicken Casserole with dumplings - try the dumplings from here, they worked well.

The evenings are drawing in and it's still dark when I get up on Monday mornings now.

Our builder is no longer wearing shorts (no before or after photos here, probably a good thing!)

I wore socks and boots for the first time yesterday.

We even lit the wood burner yesterday for the first time.

My washing isn't drying nicely on the line outside much anymore. Got a whole load of it damp inside and not drying very well at all.

Some of these are good, positive things (maybe one or two!) but mostly you might notice a slight despondent tone about these statements. In fact it could almost be mistaken for a whine!

It's not that I don't like Autumn. I do! I love the colours and the crisp mornings with a mist hanging low. I love the spiders webs covered in dew. I love the fruits and the warming suppers. And we have lots of family birthdays coming up in Autumn, mine included!

But I love Summer more and I really wasn't quite ready to see it go this year.

But since it most definitely has gone, no more denial, I've decided I need to embrace Autumn. Before it turns into Winter - and I'm mourning the end of Autumn before I've even started appreciating it! And what better way to embrace it than through some Autumn makes and crafting? Especially if these can then decorate the house.

So I've started off by making a quick and easy Autumn banner.



Some brown wool from an old blanket, with pretty prints for the letters.

 And the girls have been helping me get in the spirit more too. I saw this idea on Pinterest and really liked it:


http://www.pinterest.com/pin/65654107041243367/

There's no information about it that I could find, so we just did our own thing. We used some sticky back plastic - not sure if its called that really though. It's the clear, sticky stuff you can use to cover books - find it here if you haven't got any lying around. We made a few different versions with it. Here's a butterfly Venetia made:

And I cleared out our old 'Summer' window sill ...

 to create a new Autumn one...

There's a round sticky back plastic, leaf decoration hanging down there as well as individual leaves stuck on the window (just with blu tack). The individual leaves are ones I had left over from crafting last Autumn - we dipped them in melted beeswax to 'preserve' them. I wasn't mad keen on them last year, but they look lovely in the window this year, particularly when the sun shines through.

Another Summer window sill needed a clear out ...

The shells got packed away, and in came some 'strange vegetables'!

My older three think it's very strange that I've put these on the window sill, but I quite like them there, and I think Maria does too. The gourds in particular are very tactile, I like them there! And there's a little bowl of acorns Maria collected, as well as another sticky back plastic, leaf picture.

That's as far as I've got so far. There are lots of other things I'd like to make and bring in but I think it will happen gradually, so 'Embracing Autumn' may become a regular weekly post. Hopefully we've got a while yet before we have to move on to Winter.

I've started an Autumn Pinterest Board - here if you want to take a look. There are some lovely fabric pumpkins I want to try, could be good because I'm not sure the wool ones I started the other day are going to work! We have already tried another idea from my Pinterest board too - and so far failed abysmally! Don't these bowls look lovely?


http://thekrazycouponlady.com/family/thrifty-fall-decor-diy-leaf-bowls/

We thought they'd be great full of acorns in our display, so Venetia and I had a go...

We tried making it on a balloon - the purple bit in the middle is the slightly glue smeared, half deflated balloon. It just didn't work for us at all unfortunately!

I'd really love it if you all felt like joining in and sharing your own Autumn makes - whether they're children's crafts, sewing, cooking or anything else. The more help I have embracing Autumn the better! So I'm hoping this little linky thing will let you add your makes for us all to see:

Please feel free to add your makes any time throughout Autumn - probably up till the end of November? Then I might be about ready to switch to more Christmasy crafting! Really hoping you'll join in, and I'll be back again tomorrow with a photo, Sally.