October has been a strange month, with warm, sitting-out days midmonth, and days of blanket grey low cloud for most of the month. It is always a busy time of the year, but this October seems to be really quiet, yet so much has happened. It's all about jam jars and Little Plant books as I prepare for the Decorating Christmas Lanterns workshop in December and decide where and how I will promote my book.
I would just like to say thank you to a few people who donated the over postage they had paid for combined items to the bunny rescue. I'll get extra carrots with your donation, for when I visit the rescue in December to make our annual contribution.
Tuesday 1st October
Autumn is here
This little bush, a Callicarpa Bodinieri Giraldli (Beauty Berry), does nothing all year, but in autumn it is quite spectacular. This photograph is clearly autumn leaves, but the colours are very untraditional. Purples, pinks, and apricot browns harmoniously demonstrate that autumn comes in many hues, and this unconventional palette offers a creative uniqueness only available to folks who admire nature and its inspirational alternatives.
Friday 4th October
An October sunrise
This is a month where there are some spectacular sunrises, though I am not sure who drew the straight lines across the sky! If there are several layers of different altitude clouds, there will be a reoccurring sunrise as the sun rises and kisses the underneath of the different clouds. There are only a few seconds when the sunset is rocking the perfect colours, and if you're lucky, a few minutes later there will be another show.
Saturday 5th October
White Christmas Rabbits
The jingle bell box came out over a month ago, as Christmas always starts early in this house, mind you, it's also over by mid-December! Tsuki (boy bunny on top of the box) and Sun Tzu, (his number one wife) were very curious about it, and spent ages sniffing and hopping over and around it. The bunnies have all just grown their winter coats, so the season is definitely with us. They are now soft little carpet bears with really luscious furs.
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Thursday 10th October
Relative weekend
Beauty beauty everywhere, from lightened window, to worn old stone stairs! It isn't very often we have a day out, too happy at home, but we had relatives over and took them to Boston for the day. It was beautifully warm, we ate butchers-made sausage and onion pies by the river and went around the Stump. I am not religious in anyway, but I really enjoy sitting in the Boston Stump. If you are lucky, as you sit and watch the light cast through high, stained-glass windows, evidence of past vast fortunes, you may also get the shadows of the pigeons flocking outside. Their circling shadows pass around the stone walls, and you could be forgiven for imagining they are part of a bigger picture, one that I haven't worked out yet. It's a real treat if you get to see this phenomenon, only after midday though, once the sun is in the right place.
Monday 14th October
Farewell chookie
This is Samantha Carter, our 6 year old ex-battery hen, who for the last few weeks had slowed down, so we gave her special attention and plenty of fussing. We made a nest in Paul's PlayStation room and adhered to hen bedtimes, by leaving her in peace to roost as the sun went down. She was eating and functioning properly, except her aching legs had failed her. She was alert enough to watch the action of the computer games too! Paul was totally dedicated, so much so you couldn't tell there was a chicken in the house. For two weeks, life was a little different, taking Carter into the garden on warm sunny days and making her favourite breakfast of hot mash, with raisins and mealworms. She enjoyed the attention and would often hold onto Paul's finger with her foot, and if he tried to move, she would tighten her grip. She passed away peacefully in her sleep and will be greatly missed. She was a very clever chicken and understood several words. I taught her to say 'Aul' when Paul walked on the gravel towards the coop, so she associated the word and sound with him, eventually mimicking the sound so she would call for him. Knowing that the end of her life was the complete opposite to her battery-farm start is some consolation in her passing.
Wednesday 16th October
Mince pie pincher
I am starting to think that the animals in this house have it too good. Here is Stella helping herself to a mince pie (I told you we start Christmas early!), she is obsessed with all human food. Rabbits are supposed to have delicate tummies, but our Stella loves the strangest things. My spag bol plate was on the floor, and there she was, licking up the juices! I had a huge old rabbit years ago, and he was the same. His favourite snacks were marmite on toast and Haribo's. Then there was Tee, a Rex rabbit who loved burnt toast, I had to make it for her each morning, and she'd be at my feet all excited whilst it cooked! Rabbits are complicated little things, but their pleasures are simple.
Thursday 17th October
King of Cucumbers
This is my prize cucumber, it was the biggest one I grew, and there were loads of them this year. I asked Paul to hold it in such a way that it would show it's size, well, you can guess how that went. We had a few poses before the one in the photo, nothing remotely appropriate for my blog, but it was very funny! I was very proud of my cucumbers this year, maybe it was the measured watering system I tried, or maybe the rabbit poop soil I grew them in, but their taste was remarkable, and they were so crisp they sounded like an apple when we bit into them.
Saturday 19th October
Luscious Lantern Lids
Throughout the month I have been experimenting with my lanterns. The lids are the prettiest things and so easy to make that I will do a photo blog to show how to make them, with better quality photos, not these production photos. The picture below, furthest left, shows the fabric being sculpted to fit the jars, with elastic bands holding them in place. Once the glue is dry they can be easily removed, and if done right they will keep their form, ready to be finished off with a jute twine band and bow. Once I have made all the lanterns, I will match them up to the perfect accompanying lid. I have about 40 pretty cotton quarters, so I am hoping they will be a real hit. It is such a shame that I cannot post them, they are large pickle jars and completely impractical to post successfully. Therefore, they'll only be available at a local Christmas fayre I have yet to decide on. I have also been working on my workshop plan and cheat sheet for the lantern workshop in December at the local village hall. I am very excited about this as I think it will be great fun.
Monday 21st October
Lantern lights
I have been searching for the old photos of my lanterns from 2017, many of which I sold at Christmas craft fairs. I am so glad I kept the photos, as they have given me new ideas. At the time I stocked up on these plastic fishbowls, which today have gone up in price by 800%, making them a great investment for Christmas Fairs this year.
All of these ideas will be shared at my lantern workshop in December.
Wednesday 23rd October
Liberty Square
I wanted some non-traditional Christmas fabric for my lantern lids, and everything I found was all too obvious and Christmassy. I nipped into the fabric shop in town and found these perfect Liberty print fabrics. They are contemporary in colour, with two of them pushing the colour boundaries of red and green by being pinky reds and turquoise. Looking at them all together I realise how different they are, while retaining their 'Liberty's' look.
Friday 25th October
Stair Cases
Our cottage is full of bookcases and when I ran out of room, we made shelves that went up the stairs, creating a huge set of shelves for smaller books, without taking away too much of the landing space. My copy of Short Stories for Little Plants was ceremoniously found a slot on a shelf, followed by a long time lost sat on a step looking through some of these, something I do often. I LOVE my books and refuse to take advantage of what electronic books have to offer. There is nothing better than the dusty smell of old, when you open a book that has been loved by many people before you, or indeed the smell of a brand new book when it's opened for the first time. I think preserving books is really important, a thought highlighted when I look through my pristine set of 1950s encyclopaedias.
Tuesday 29th October
Landscaped Lanterns
I have been so busy making 20 of these jars with matching handmade lids. These two need some jute twine to finish off the tissues raw edges, making it neat and very rustic. I am trying to create contemporary lanterns with a touch of traditional country cottage accents. When the light shines through these, especially the blue/green ones, it almost looks like a misty, hilly scene of coves, lakes, and a rocky shore with grey storm clouds rolling in!
The official photos will show the colours much clearer, these are production photos.
Thursday 31st October
Wonderful new technique
Today I went on Photoshop, and using this Christmas lantern I made a promotional poster for the workshop in December. This lantern was such fun to make and it was the first time I had tried this technique of drawing detail on top of the tissue colour. This came about as the white was too opaque, and looked like it had been added in error, it needed something adding to finish it. I decided to make the white into black-lined baubles, the large red became decorated with white outline to resemble snowflakes,
and finally the small red rounds that were
prominent in colour as they were added on top of the other colours. Like the white that looked incomplete, these small reds looked too heavy and out of place, therefore I made them into berries with simple mark-making using both black and white pens. I really like the depth created by the layers built on top of each other and there is great potential to develop this process further, maybe by adding subtle grey shadows and extra high-lights.
You have just read 'A Gardeners Crafting Diary October 2024'
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