Friday, November 6, 2020

All the Leaves Are Brown

Happy Friday everyone! It's another nice day here in New Hampshire. After a very cold and windy start to the week, we've warmed back up like early autumn. You've got to love that!

You may think the pieces of cloth in the photo above just look like messy rags, but I dyed some more  strips of on old  white sheet with fallen leaves,  using alum and rusty water from my outside tap. I think I got some pretty good leaf images and some nice yellow and brown colors. These are sheets are hanging to dry. 
My plan is to cut this fabric down and use it with bits of my other fabric to make a wall sized quilt. I think some yellow, brown or even some printed purchased  fabric will work well with my dyed fabric.
More to come with that at a later date. 

It is really starting to look barren and like late autumn here, even with the warmer temperatures. The beautiful colors we had are about gone.
Last Sunday I started some yard clean up. I didn't rake the driveway as I was waiting for all the oak trees to drop their leaves.  The good news is the wind we had early in the week blew all these leaves into the woods. Hurrah for that!


It was cold enough  last weekend we even had some ice over the water in the bird bath.


We also had our first hard frost.





My hydrangea leaves were gone after this frost.


I think the colors and textures are really interesting on these frost hit leaves though.
The other morning we had a dusting of snow. 


The lines are the bird prints as this is next to my bird feeders.


Last Sunday we closed up the screen porch, except we left the doors uncovered still. All the yard ornaments, most of the chairs, and even my birdbath got tucked away inside for the winter.  We left the doors open and one chair out for me for another week or 2. Then the chair goes in and the doors will be covered also.


I also cut back the stems in  my garden.  The photo below is the fence that is hopefully being painted today. I wrote this post yesterday so I can't say exactly when we are painting. The hubby is taking today off so we can get this job, and the rest of the outside winterizing clean up done. Our temperatures have substantially warmed back up to painting warmth so the plan is to paint either today or over the weekend. For me that also means (hopefully) getting some of the leaves raked into the woods.


The fence does look better even without fresh paint since my husband powerwashed it a couple of weekends back. Parts of it are down to bare wood though, so painting must be done.

 
Now  I that I  have to rake,  I hope the wind doesn't return.



I am linking up these photos to Art Everyday Month.
Have a great start to your weekend.

16 comments:

Let's Art Journal said...

Your fabric project sounds wonderful with the beautiful fabric that you dyed I can't wait to see how it turned out! Nice to get warm weather and wow, all those autumnal leaves look gorgeous, what beautiful colours the frost turned them too 😁. Glad you are all getting ready for winter and wishing you a very happy Friday and weekend! Hugs, Jo x

Iris Flavia said...

:-) Let the wind do the work!
Sad to close everything for winter and by golly, that is some BBQ you have there!
Oh, wind. hm.
To a great weekend!

R's Rue said...

❤️

CJ Kennedy said...

The dyed fabric turned out so well. I'll look forward to seeing the quilt you will make. Love your garden pictures. The bird prints look like an alien alphabet. I love your chair outside the sun room for the warm weather to come this week. Hopefully, you'll get your yardwork done and have time to relax in your chair. Enjoy your day

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

You are going to town on that eco dyeing, Erika. I really like what you are getting. I know you will have to cut them, which shouldn't be a problem if you've been using an old bed sheet (the fabric yardage that has more miles for the money).

Your yard, fence, and close-up photos from the frost are wonderful. It was good to see I wasn't the only person who had snow and ice last week.

I forgot to link to AEDM last night, and didn't even think about it when I got up this morning. I was too interested in the thought that we may never again have to echo Tim Russert's famous words "it all comes down to Florida, Florida, Florida." Hope you are having a lovely day, even if it's a painting day. I get my new fiber optic phone and internet today in about an hour or three depending on when they arrive. I'm excited!

craftytrog said...

Beautiful photos Erika!
It's been icy and foggy here the last two mornings, so beautiful on our early walks. I love this season!
Happy Friday!
Alison xx

Divers and Sundry said...

"All the Leaves Are Brown" and now I have that song stuck in my head lol I love that song, though, so thank you :) I've heard it said "November = No color" but you did find some lovely color out there. Your frost photo is pretty, so delicate.

You have a nice bird-feeding station. It looks so photogenic against that fence.

NatureFootstep said...

hi, the leafs colored your sheets very nicely. :)
Frost is beautiful, but can be hard to plants :)

Valerie-Jael said...

Snow and frost already? Oh dear, but it looks very pretty, love the frosty leaves and flowers, so beautiful. Your dyed material looks good, I think you got great results, and look forward to seeing what you make with it. Have a great weekend! Hugs, Valerie

Carola Bartz said...

Isn't it nice when the wind does the raking work for you? I hope it won't go the other way round though. Our tempratures are in the lower 60s and will stay there for the next days. Mornings, nights and evenings are chilly, but there is certainly no frost. I usually take my time with cleaning up the garden, often leave the leaves on the ground and use them as mulch - it's a good way for insects to find shelter and of course the birds love to look for food there. I have planted a lot recently since fall is the main planting time here so the plants can get established in the cooler and hopefully wetter season. They weill be quite drough tolerant next year and even more so the year after.

Lowcarb team member said...

We too have lots of leaves falling ...
Your photographs show the frost so well, it can be quite beautiful.

Have a good weekend.

All the best Jan

Serena Lewis said...

Nice post title...I really like the California Dreamin' song. :)

You are the second person I've seen this week who has posted pics of dyeing white fabric using fall leaves. Cool! The other lady had dyed the bottom of a skirt.

Love the pic of the frost on the green leaves!

Your dog is so sweet. Nice picket-style fence around the garden too. :)

nwilliams6 said...

Wow, I can't wait to see your leaf died fabric quilt as it will be fabulous - I am sure of it.

Great pictures of the cooler weather effects and your preparations for winter. TFS!! Hugz

Neet said...

Now, that fabric is so interesting. I would never have thought of doing something like that so, as you can guess, I cannot wait to see the finished quilt.
We have just had a couple of nice sunny days too and it has been a real treat to get out of the house (permitted exercise in lockdown) although some of my outdoor activities are rules by the state of my back.
It made me shiver to see the frost and then the light dusting of snow you had and reminded me that despite the sunshine I can see right now there are cold days ahead.
Must have been sad to close your porch, we had to close our caravan because of Covid and that was sad - last year we spent Christmas there and it was lovely.
Hugs, Neet xx

Jeanie said...

Your world is beautiful. Love those leaves on that plate, your fenced in garden, the falling leaves.

And the good news of this morning. I can breathe again!

70s here today. Outside to work shortly! With a smile!

Anne (cornucopia) said...

I like that idea for dyeing the fabric. We still have some trees with leaves on them here in CT, but not many. Yesterday was the final yard cleanup work, even though more leaves will fall. :-( I always enjoy seeing your dogs in photos.