Sunday, 31 October 2021

October Favourites

 October felt like a very busy month, and I didn't feel I got a lot made. I did have a couple of Christmas cards I really liked, but have only included one here.


It took me a lot of experimentation to find photo paper which worked well with smooshed DOX backgrounds, but in the end I got lucky in Dealz (like a dollar store)



The card above was for a "spooky" challenge. I don't really do the spooky side of Halloween, but took my inspiration from these lilies I had seen in the Botanic Gardens, which instantly made me think "ghost flowers".

A long-ago leftover background and some leftover tinted paste gave me this

Sentiment to be added when I send it. The textured background had been in my box for quite some time - hot glue on card, with stamped and coloured tissue paper over it


This one I was very happy with - the challenge was to use a stamp or die in a manner other than that for which it was originally intended, and after a LOT of looking through my stamps, I thought I could turn this umbrella into a passable butterfly. 





Friday, 29 October 2021

Autumn fades

 I took a trip to Farmleigh one morning last week when it was bright and sunny - and on the chillier side. Most of the colour from my previous visit had gone, and the herbaceous borders had pretty much been cleared out. 

I really liked the decaying hosta leaf, and in the walled garden, a rose petal had fallen onto a leaf. 













Thursday, 28 October 2021

Better late...

 All month I have been meaning to get back and add some photos from the Sculpture in Context exhibition. Life just seems too busy - but a singularly wet morning and a day off are a good combination.


All 74 photos I uploaded from my visit are HERE, but for anyone like me with less time, here's my quick pick of some favourites.


This was a whole array of raised dishes in a circle under some trees. The fallen leaves were a great addition









There was a companion hare to go with the fox

I'm pretty sure I remember a chickenwire sculpture from another year, a fox perhaps. I must look back. 



I can't remember the title of this, I think it had Spring in it. I would have called it Bird Brain.





Friday, 1 October 2021

September Favourites

 October has come in with a sudden drop in temperatures - a warmer duvet on the bed, heat on in the mornings for half an hour, and time to put away my cycling shorts till the Spring.

I didn't feel very productive in September - the darker evenings don't help, and of course we were away for a week. But here are my favourite cards... thank you, Lorraine, for two stamps and the stamped lighthouse image (plus your card to use as inspiration). 



This was a two-for-one stencil background - this was the stencilled one, and I added flocking to the deer's antlers, which turned out very well. The second monoprint background was used for the floral birthday card. 





A rainbow-themed challenge was a good opportunity to pull out this rainbow-coloured scratch paper - it's embossed, and then gently wiped with a baby-wipe.


Having put away my shorts and pulled out my leggings, I cycled over to the Botanic Gardens today and will be along next week (I hope) with some photos from the Sculpture in Context exhibition. 


Wednesday, 29 September 2021

Farmleigh in the fall...

 Today was a beautiful sunny day with blue skies and a distinctly crisp feel in the air. Since tomorrow's forecast isn't great, I decided to push myself out of the house after returning from leaving my sewing machine in for a service, and I went for a walk in Farmleigh.

There was a small clutch of relatively young moorhen chicks - they must have been the last batch of the season, because while they were no longer little scruffy balls of fluff, they weren't that big and they were cheeping madly. I also some some young tufted ducks, which were probably the ones I shared a video of a couple of months ago. 

Here are the moorhen chicks.


Also some of the general flora. I was surprised to see so much blue (not in the photos, but the herbaceous border had a lot, more monkshood than I've ever seen in one place before, but a couple of other things too. I always think of blue as a Spring flower colour...




I'm not personally a huge fan of hydrangeas, but I always think the dead heads look so pretty




The waterlilies on the lake are dying. I thought this one looked like a perching bird - in fact I did think it was a bird on first glance



And one utility box art which I snapped with my phone near work a few weeks ago. Our president has two Bernese Mountain dogs, and Aras is simply the Irish for "building" - so the president's residence is Aras an Uachtaráin.  I think there is also something written on the other end of it, but I haven't paid enough attention to it as I'm usually focussed more on traffic.



Wednesday, 22 September 2021

Hot off the needles

 I didn't get nearly as much knitting done as I expected while we were away - in fact, almost none. I started the sock for which I had knit so many tension samples - and got the first one finished yesterday. I'm glad to say it's a good fit, so I'll get the other one cast on tomorrow. It's an alpaca/polyamide/wool mix from DROPS (the pattern is one of theirs too) so they should both be cosy and wear well. The Latvian braid was new to me, and has a little stretch in it, good in a sock.



And then there is the scarf which I couldn't share in my last "hot off the needles" post. I really liked how this turned out, and might knit one for my sister for Christmas. I was probably a bit over-enthusiastic with the tassels at the ends, they are very bunched. There were some great owl designs when I went looking, but I liked this scarf a lot and purchased the pattern rather than using any of the freebies.