Autumn...

How to Preserve Autumn Leaves...

My mom used to help me with this project every fall when I was just a tadpole.

Go for a walk in a park, along a street, in your backyard - wherever you can find some beautiful autumn leaves. Place a square of waxed paper wax side up on an ironing board. You can tell which side is waxed by scratching it with your fingernail.

Arrange the leaves on the waxed paper. Place another piece of waxed paper, wax side down, on top. Place a dry cloth or tea towel over this and smooth with a medium iron setting. Allow leaves to cool. They will be coated with a thin layer of wax which will help preserve them.

You can create cards, tape them to a window or save them in a book. K has some favourite books he read in grade school in his collection and pressed between the pages are several waxed leaves and four leaf clovers. They’re almost 50 years old and not crumbly yet.

I finally finished Sarah’s sleeping bag and pillow in all her favourite shades of pink. Her friends gathered round while she was trying to sleep, just to admire the new knits:



It was a simple design. I knit a rectangle of 48 stitches of stocking stitch and 6 garter stitches on each side. I added a buttonhole at the third row of garter stitch, just so I could close it up with two teddy buttons I had in my button stash:



The three sides are sewn together and voila, you have a bunny sleeping bag. The pillow is knit in a smaller rectangle of double moss stitch in one colour for half the length and garter stitch stripes for the remainder. Sew up three sides, fill with polyester stuffing until it's just the right softness and you have a bunny pillow.


In the Mail...

We received several catalogues this week, including LL Bean's Christmas edition. What an eyeful it is, full of holiday delights. I never order from these companies but about twice a year I sign up for a new catalogue, just so I can browse through all the offerings. Sarah enjoys them as much as I do.




Renovations Continued...

We had a minor setback this past week with the hallway reno. The original paint we chose was supposed to be a semi-gloss but as happens in life, things aren't always as they first appear. K slapped on the first coat and it looked ok as it was drying so he threw on the second coat. Next morning when we walked downstairs, we were almost blinded by the brilliant white finish.

It seems the paint was actually a gloss, not recommended for a hallway entrance. So K had to sand down the walls again and start over. Now we have two coats of flat paint in a softer white and the hall looks beautiful and full of light. Yesterday he painted the inside of our front door and what a difference it makes to the hallway.

Still in the early stages with several coats worth of paint to go before the door will be completely covered. K removed the old dark wood frame and will replace it with white moulding.


In the Nature Park...

These are just two of the many photos K took of this little red squirrel. Here he was just resting quietly in the sun's rays:



Blending into the background:




You are invited to A KNITTED WEDDING where everything will be knitted, including the food (but not the bride and groom). The site provides patterns to knit your own flowers, candles, doves and ham sandwiches.









"The winds will blow their own freshness into you,
and the storms their energy,
while cares will drop away from you
like the leaves of Autumn.”
~John Muir