Beautiful Saturday

This is what I miss. Sunshine in the early morning. There is something about the light of a fresh sun that is different- the same way the evening sun has that special golden glow- and at this time of year, I can only experience it at weekends. I really wish that I had a job that meant I could stay in bed until the sun came up, rather than waking and dressing in the dark (usually putting clothing on inside out), and then returning home and going to bed in the dark.

At weekends I can pootle about the garden in my crocs, clutching a mug of steaming coffee in my hand, inspecting the changes the seasons are bringing to the garden. Although the leaves are starting to turn, it is considerably mild and I've noticed Crocuses flowering already, and our lovely Pink Rose is having another go too.

Looking out of the French doors at the back of our house, directly in front of the patio, is a Staghorn Sumac (Rhus Typhina), and yes I did just Google that. It is one of the first trees to turn a brilliant red colour although the leaves all eventually drop off and the tree looks very forlorn. It is a definite sign that Autumn has arrived though.

Crisp, cool, mornings are the best way to start a day, and The Cat loves it. He gets distinctly grumpy during the latter part of the year and spends a lot of time moaning and moping around the house before settling somewhere and refusing to come out. Food is rejected as boring and uninteresting and he spends more and more time indoors. During the summer he's a totally different cat, you only see him at mealtimes when food is  wolfed down so he can get back outside in the sunshine to melt completely into the patio or collapse, exhausted, in the shade of a flowerbed. So far, on these in-between days where it is still sunny but not hot, his moods swing wildly but this morning he is quite content which is lovely to see.

At lunchtimes this week I have been working on a new Stitchscape, which is inspired by a view I get every morning coming over a high hill and looking over rolling hills and fields below. The sun is just about starting to come up then and the valley is shrouded in wisps of mist, the colours bleeched out of the landscape and looking soft and shadowy. So here is me, trying to recreate that in stitch! It is such a challenge to get the mental image in my head out into the hoop but I'm game to give it a go.

I like how, when you hold the hoop up to the sun, it reveals all of the layers of fabric, the bits you can't see. It does actually look more like my imagination this way than flat where the layers are hidden. The prints on these fabrics are just beautiful don't you think?

So here we are then. I am working downwards, row by row, adding stitches as I go depending on what I feel like or how the print inspires my needle. It's all still quite an organic process, I never know what the finished piece will look like- there isn't a scrapbook of designs and options and thought processes, it's just throwing some fabric on the calico and seeing where it takes me. The best way to work!