Autumnal Inspirations

I wanted to share some of the things that have inspired me in this past week. I don't know about you but I absolutely love Autumn; the fresh, crisp air, golden sunshine, copper, golden leaves etc etc! However, trying to capture this beauty in photos is hard...for me anyway! I did try though:



I took this after having a yummy bowl of warming soup for lunch with my lovely friend . The leaves seemed a lot more colourful when I took the photo. Anyway...it got me thinking about making some leaves from felted jumpers to have as brooches. Or maybe even a scarf made from individual leaf shapes in a similar style to this scarf I made recently:



Then I popped into a second hand shop to see if there were any treasures and found the perfect colour jumper to felt! Possibly used with a deep rust coloured thread for the leaf veins, I think this colour will work well and be very autumnal.



The jumpers are on a hot wash as I write this - I will post what I end up making with them another time.

In the same shop I found some AMAZING fabric which, I think, is very 'Christmasy'. It has a wonderful sheen to it but is heavy as well and there were two colours (how could I possibly only get one of them?!). Each piece is about 1 x 2 metres in size too, so lots of making opportunities there! I may make some hanging tree ornaments and a couple of table runners, not quite sure yet.



Feeling inspired already by my first charity shop visit, I decided to venture up the street to another one and look what I found there!





I am guessing it's some sort of Indian inspired material or wall hanging. It is just over a metre squared and is glittery, shimmery and has such an amazingly deep purple backing. I thought this was also very 'Christmasy' and of course it was too beautiful to pass up at only £5! I am thinking some sort of hanging ornaments or bags... if I can bear to cut into it!

Last but by no means least...buttons! I was very, very happy to find these as so many charity shops don't sell buttons anymore. These were being sold by the scoop for £1 and I got 2 scoops. I will use them as centres for fabric and leather brooches. As I was rummaging through the box I had an idea...I think I will use the little red buttons for berries with some green felt holly leaves for some brooches.





Now to find the time and motivation to get started!