"after the boys of summer have gone......"

It is the last day of August

and the end of the summer.

Two thirds of the way through the year

and I am two thirds of the way through my challenge

to make one hundred things in 2015.

Number sixty six will more or less

be finished today.

I have enjoyed this summer

and have been very productive

not just with my makes but also 

many of the outstanding jobs on my home.

I feel more in control of things 

and my house is getting to how I want it to be.

Some of my summer highlights have been

lots of visits from friends

some I haven't seen for a very long time.

Hearing my nephews' excitement

about all of the adventures

they have had this summer.

All of the beautiful nature on my own doorstep,
meteors, bats, a chrysalis, flowers,
growing plants from cuttings and seeds,
sunsets and sunrises

The cistus, the flowers only last for one day

The mysterious house 

that peeps out of the trees

A painted lady resting on my wall

The full moon, goodnight Summer.........

#sixty five

Number sixty five

is a photograph

which I am entering into a competition

in my local library.

The theme is pictures taken in the local area.

This is the back gate 

of the house opposite mine.

Its not "pretty" 

but I think it makes an interesting shot

Magical evening

I love to go out into my yard at dusk

and spend a while 

looking across at the trees

in the parkland at the bottom of my lane.

It is so peaceful, 

and a lovely way 

to wind down for the night.

Tonight has been magical

as it is a still, clear night

and the moon is full.

I got my camera and took a few photos

Then, I noticed

a pair of bats

swooping and swirling around

up and down the lane.

I've never seen any around here before,

we have an owl and foxes

but I never knew we had bats.

I sat on the stone steps 

and watched them for about

half an hour.

They were the perfect

companions to the full moon.

Storm

This website is so my favourite thing

when I know 

there are storms coming

http://www.lightningmaps.org/realtime

There's torrential rain

with a good chance of thunder due here

in the next couple of hours.

It will be a good test

for the house repairs

I've just had done

Today I'm singing

Tiny Dancer

by Elton John

Metamorphosis

There is an exciting event

occurring on one of my ivy plants

I noticed this little cocoon 

which a caterpillar

has spun between 

two leaves

It will be interesting

to see what happens next.

Summer is growing old now

and the plants 

are getting ready for autumn.

These are my neighbour's poppy heads,

I must grow some next year

they are beautiful

when the flowers are finished

#sixty four

Number sixty four

is another use up/finish off project

A little shawlette

made from 

King Cole Galaxy DK

in Ocean

This week I am reading

The Woodlanders

by Thomas Hardy

#sixty three

This little tapestry

has been in my cupboard

for about ten years!

I had completed about a third of it,

then it was just left

sitting there

waiting to be finished.

It fits perfectly

into this grey frame

£4 from Tesco

which I've added some of the

gold wax to

since taking this photo.

Number sixty three

"There's no place like home......."

#sixty two

Number sixty two

is a pencil drawing of an alder leaf.

I can only draw leaves and naked men,

as the men are in short supply

it has had to be a leaf!

The tree is outside of my front door,

some of the leaves 

are starting to yellow and drop already.

It won't be long until autumn is here.

This drawing is the first entry

in a multimedia/sketchbook/jotter

I am making

mainly based on nature

#sixty one

Its a very wet, gloomy morning today

and

I have decided to have a day

spent entirely

on creative endeavours.

Some of my next few makes

are going to be 

either using up materials

I have cluttering up the house

or

projects that have been started and left,

some of them have sat around for many years.

Number sixty one

is one of these.

This mirror is from about the 1960's

and belonged to my Grandma.

It was a horrible gold colour 

and looking battered

but not in a good way.

I painted it with an emulsion tester pot

then highlighted 

the scroll work with

a tiny amount of

metallic finish wax

Rub 'n Buff in Antique Gold

Quite happy with it

and will probably hang it on the wall now

Mission successful!

Out of bed at 3am,

into yard,

torch in hand

21 slugs and 2 snails 

successfully evicted from the premises!

But

the fabulous part 

of my nightime raid

was seeing two meteors

shoot across the sky

from the Perseid meteor shower.

WOW!!!!!!

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/perseid-meteor-shower-how-watch-9840359

Reading The Summer Book

by Tove Jansson

only the last chapter "August" to go

I love that book and never want it to end

#sixty

I can't believe I've made 

sixty things 

so far in 2015!

Number sixty 

is a piece of weaving.

It is a simple thing to do

but is concentration-intense

and I find it very relaxing.

I took some homegrown 

lavender stems

and dried them.

Then I found some pieces of thin ribbon,

(I always snip off and save the ones that come in your clothes to keep them on the hanger),

and wove them in and out

of the stems

tying each end in a simple knot.

I think it looks lovely 

and would be beautiful 

lying on a pillow.

I have placed mine in 

the linen press

to keep everything smelling fresh.

Dead flowers

I have a bit of a thing

for drying flowers at the moment

I love roses dried

they look even more beautiful

and sort of tragic

These lavender heads

remind me of mice

I have dozens of them on a paper

on the blanket box at the bottom of my bed

I'm going to use these sprigs of lavender

for a little weaving project.

If it works you will see them again soon.

Am loving the little EP by Wildflowers - Let it Go

#fifty nine

I've knitted socks!

Its years since I made socks

and now I remember why,

so fiddly

and lots of end to sew in,

but they are

cosy and snuggly.

I'm going to give them

to my mammy

(I'll put them away for Christmas so shhh don't tell her)

Number fifty nine completed

Yorkshire

The First of August

is Yorkshire Day.

A celebration 

of my favourite county.

It has everything,

the most beautiful countryside,

fabulous coastline

and great cities, towns and villages

and some special people.

Here are a few photos of Haworth,

I so wish I was there.

I may be back one day