Autumn Cleaning

In years gone by Spring was my favourite season!

I used to love spring cleaning:   unpacking every single cupboard;  putting down fresh shelf liners;  adding scented bags to the clothing and linen cupboards;   washing and packing away the blankets after the winter!

September and October used to be the best time for gardening and spring cleaning - it was warm but mild!    The last couple of years have just been unbearably hot here in Johannesburg (right from the beginning of September) - so hot that all I want to do is laze about by the Pool.

This has forced me to move my "Spring Cleaning" to Autumn - and really our Autumn weather is wonderful - warm and mild - occasionally a bit windy and a bit cool at night - but WONDERFUL!  The kind of weather that makes you feel energetic and INSPIRED!

I started my Autumn Cleaning with a tidy out of my craft space.    Sorting, rearranging - admiring all my pretty papers, paints, pens, embellishments and most of all YARN!!

Rolling the yarns that are no longer "whole" into cutesy little balls (by hand by the way - very relaxing!) and piling them into pretty baskets!

Taking the crochet blankets out - giving them a wash and a tumble dry (with those delightfully fragrant anti static sheets!)

Pretty Pinks and Reds,  (top down), GYPSY BLANKET;  HEXAGON MOTIF BLANKET;   DUSTY ROSE AFGHAN

Loving the pretty flowers and simple edging on my Gypsy Blanket

Blissful blues and purples,  (top down)  BLUE HUES;   BLUEBERRY CHEESECAKE;   SHADES OF BLUE and a luxurious corner to corner granny that for some reason I never blogged about!
 

Glorious grannies, (top down)  HAPPYGHAN;  a grey, tan and teal granny blanket (added in some really weird looking variegated yarn and some fluffy yarn left over from making infinity scarves);  my  OLD GRANNY BLANKET  made about 25 years ago;   and a purple / turquoise granny blanket also made some years ago from odd squares!

Warm winter colours, (top down) HEXAGON SCRAPGHAN  and a RIPPLE AFGHAN!

This Autumn Cleaning is a slow process - I keep getting sidetracked by all the lovely little details that make up my life!   Sitting looking through my scrapbooks,   taking out and packing away sentimental keepsakes - feeling happy!  happy!  happy!

Speaking of happy - I am still rather elated by my contribution to Lucy's (Attic 24) vision for YARNDALE 2014!

 

It was SO difficult to keep the secret while Lucy was preparing her blogpost!    My lovely bloggy friend, Pat of SUNSHINE AND A SEWING BASKET guessed my secret and not only agreed to keep my secret with me but to test the patterns before I published them!!!   Head on over to Pat's beautiful blog and have a look at all the happy, colourful mandalas she has been hooking!   She recently published two gorgeous designs of her own too!

And in keeping with the theme of Autumn look (oh just LOOK) at the gorgeous colours she used!!!!

Thank You Pat!    For making my patterns look SO good!

Tomorrow I plan to do a bit of stocktaking!    Sorting and prioritizing works-in-progress and patterns that need to be written / published.

But for now....... a nice cuppa and a few Bachelors Buttons (lovely jammy cookies) my son and I baked this morning!