October in Pictures: Terrific Tiles, Seasonal Stitching and Lovely Leaves

The clocks have gone back, the days are misty and the nights are drawing in... helloooooo November! I've got lots of crafty goodness planned for this month, but in the meantime let's look back at my Instagram photos from last month.

October started rather brilliantly as I spent the day on a photowalk with friends, exploring the southern end of the Northern Line and taking lots and lots and lots of photos. You can read more about the photowalk and the places we visited over on Kate's blog (I'm sure I'll get round to blogging about it eventually!)

Two of my favourite photos from the day involved tiles. Gorgeous black and green tiles in one of the Art Deco Northern Line stations we visited...

... and some equally fabulous tiles in a south London doorway.

It was so much fun walking round London in a little group looking for things to photograph - it's amazing the details you spot when you take the time to really look, and really interesting seeing how everyone's photos turned out.

Later that week I headed to the Knitting and Stitching show at Alexandra Palace, helping out on the Interlace stand for a couple of hours (aren't their bowls amazing?) then spending the rest of the afternoon checking out all the other stalls and soaking up some textile inspiration.

I also made use of my Network Railcard and my Art Pass and went to Brighton for the day. I'd been meaning to visit Brighton for about five years, and I'm really glad I finally did! I spent the morning walking along the beach and the pier, then went to the Royal Pavilion for lunch and a long look round (oohing over the fabulous decor and discovering the building's fascinating history).

With Halloween approaching, I shared photos of a couple of spooky projects: the felt vampire I designed for Felt-o-ween (which includes 40 scary-cute projects to make from felt)...

... and the cute bat ornaments I designed for the "celebrations" section of my first book, Super-Cute Felt.

I also shared photos of the kitsch stocking I designed for October's issue of Mollie Makes magazine (it's always such a pleasure having my work in this mag!). 

Dreaming of autumn leaves while I was stuck indoors working, I dug out a couple of my fave photos from last autumn - a splash of gold at Kew Gardens... 

 ... and the Thames looking kind of amazing during an autumn walk this time last year.

I also looked back at a few Nice Days Out here on my blog - visits to an art exhibition in Reading Prison, Kirkgate Market in Leeds and a walk through Bristol. Three very different places, all filled with interesting architectural details!

I simply had to Instagram these beautiful church floor tiles I spotted on my Bristol walk.

When I wasn't busy reminiscing about past travels, I was working behind the scenes on some new things.

I couldn't resist sharing a sneak peek of one of the patterns I'm working on. These auricula brooches are one of the design variations I'll be including in my Primroses & Auriculas pattern.

I've also been prepping for my November class at the Village Haberdashery in London (we'll be making these vintage-inspired felt Christmas onaments!)...

... and sharing lots of festive felt ornament tutorials here on my blog.

 

In my spare time my craftiness continues to revolve around the Christmas quilt I'm making for my sister.

I hit the halfway mark with the quilting (woohoo!) then did so much quilting that I got totally sick of it and had to take a break to stop myself going a bit bananas. I've got to get back to it soon though or I'll run out of time to have it finished in time for Christmas!

That wooden hoop is a massive 16 inches (about 40cm) wide - you use it to keep a section of the quilt flat as you stitch. I'm using red thread and hand stitching a grid of lines across the quilt, sewing one line either side of each seam.

Each line takes at least an hour and a half to stitch: I've got 30 lines sewn and 14 still to go! Then of course there's the binding, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

Finally, we were lucky to get some sunshine at the end of the month and I got to enjoy all the autumn colour on my walks to the Post Office and my days off (hurrah!). Autumn sunshine and bright autumn leaves are a great combo.

Every year that yellow tree drops a whole carpet of yellow leaves and a few float over the road and onto these yellow lines. All that yellow makes me so happy!

I'll share another Instagram round-up next month :)

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