The year has turned and exciting news….

Today it seems the year has turned.  Last weekend the horse chestnut trees still sported a canopy of glorious colour, the best I have ever seen, fading through golds and ochres to a glorious russet brown.  But today the wind has changed, and the canopy is ragged and torn, with perhaps less than a quarter of the leaves remaining on the branches.

It’s colder too, and raining – we will be lighting the woodburner on a regular basis before long I think.  But I don’t mind too much, this shift in the seasons feels right to me, rather than the almost summer-like warmth we’ve been experiencing for the last couple of weeks, as this after all is the time when nature retreats and rests, gathering strength for the spring to come.

Autumn inspired two projects in the November Magazine…..

Both of which, whilst not Christmassy in themselves, are designed to be quick makes, great for festive present-giving.

The pattern for the Woodland Animal brooches is available to purchase here, but I haven’t released the pheasant separately, so he’s only available in the magazine.

I was interested to see these strange alien-looking growths on our magnolia tree earlier this week and, after googling what they might be was delighted to discover that they are in fact seed pods.  I haven’t seen these on our tree before, perhaps the warm extended summer might have encouraged them to form?  Anyway, I have collected some of the round red shiny seeds and decided to try to germinate them.  It seems to be a bit of a hit and miss process (you can read about it here) and it can take up to fifteen years for the tree to flower, but as the tree has gifted us these seeds, I thought I would try at least.

And finally, some very exciting news!  We have a new team member joining us here at Bustle & Sew HQ very soon….

Little Alfie, a Jack Russell terrier pup!  We will be bringing him home next weekend and I’ll be sure to keep you updated as he grows. I expect Rufus will be hoping he doesn’t get as large as Ted….

Yes, that is Ted and Rufus in both photos, taken just a couple of years apart!

2 Comments

Hi I’m not on Instagram so thought I would look on your blog.Awww Alfie looks sooooo adorable and it’s lovely to see the gorgeous Ted and Rufus such wonderful memories you have,they are never forgotten.remember when you lost Ben.xx

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