Indian Summer.

Anne Shirley has a way of saying most everything simply and well, and I whole-heartedly agree with her. 

We've been enjoying amazing October weather:  sunny, 70's, and no humidity.

A week (or has it been two?) ago we were able to drive out to a pumpkin patch a few miles outside of town.  We met some friends, and between the sunshine, fresh air, friendly service, and great value we all left with even more excitement that what we came with.

The first minutes at the patch were primarily spent running,

 

then thinking over pumpkins,

 

 selecting the just right, perfect pumpkin,

which naturally means the biggest pumpkin you can find,

 

and hauling in the loot.

After pumpkins, we picked a few apples and bought some produce from the shed.

 

At the last minute, the girls picked some zinnias.

As I write this, the warmer days are behind us, and the nights are creeping in earlier and earlier....but praise God for these sweet Autumn days!

A Wonder-fall Wreath.

Isn't this weather wonder-fall!

(my niece made up that word and I thought it was clever).

In the spirit of Autumn, I decided to get crafty and make a wreath.

 

My poor door is usually not decorated and left to bare its 1980s facade.  I love, love wreaths, but they are so, so expensive.  So, I took Matt's advice and "just made one myself".

 

sidenote: Matt has this amazing ability to make things that require real skills  himself.  A gift I'm quite thankful for.

So, after a quick visit to Pinterest I found a few inspirations (what did we do before Pinterest?).  

 

I really wanted something colorful to pop against the door, but I also liked the texture of burlap.  

I decided to combine the elements and came up with this:

In general I like the outcome.  

My biggest critique is that it looks a little more "country" than I normally like.  I think if I would have off-centered the "T" that would've help.  It also doesn't look as colorful as I would like from the street, but what to do...

It was super easy to make, and way less expensive than just buying a wreath!

  

I purchased a metal wreath form,

 

. 

burlap, artificial leaves/flowers, floral wire, and a metal T. The burlap just weaves in and out between the wires and around the wreath.  It's pretty easy to work with.  The stuff I bought had a funny, chemical-like smell that I didn't love, but I'm not sure if that's normal.  Then I attached some of the leaves with floral wire and others I hot-glued...then, viola!

This project sat in my living room for almost a week waiting to be finished, but actual hands on time was only about an hour and a half.  So it could easily be done in an afternoon (well, after I typed that I realized that nothing gets easily done in an afternoon around here...).

Here's to completed projects!  Now to just finish painting the house...