And just like that.....

 ....WHAM!

After four major heatwaves, and barely any rain to speak of for months, September has called an abrupt halt to summer and torrential rain is currently throwing itself at my craft room windows.  In normal times there is usually a gradual segue from summer to autumn, with a mix of warm, sunny days, interspersed with cooler, misty ones.  Here in the UK we don't tend to get the same spectrum of leaf colour seen in the likes of New England, or Canada and there's even less chance of any autumnal blaze this year, as we've had high winds ripping still green leaves from the trees.

Still.... autumn isn't all bad.  Yes, so it's damp and mushy.  No crisp piles of crunchy leaves to jump through here.  They're quickly soaked and form thick, slippery layers reminiscent of a soggy millefeuille pastry.  Yes, the days are shortening and dark evenings are just around the corner.  Yes, it feels like aeons till spring...

BUT.  It is traditionally the time of year when projects which have languished over the summer months are unearthed, dusted off and reviewed with a critical eye.  Long time readers will be well acquainted with my modus operandii of starting new projects with great enthusiasm, which normally lasts till the next project grabs my attention.   

This chart accurately represents my technique...

In my craft room I am never any further than a few feet away from an unfinished project. Every drawer, cupboard,  shelf and storage box contains at least one...sometimes many. 

When I retired, I threw myself into all the crafts I'd never really had time for before...dressmaking, jewellery making, crochet.  Liberation from the relative tyranny of having to constantly come up with new ideas for miniatures felt simultaneously intoxicating and emancipating and I embraced my new found freedom with zeal.

Fast forward 17 months and I'm overhauling my project list.  I have many unfinished miniature projects, not least my lovely French doll shop, to which I added a third storey two years ago.  I can go for months without opening it up and looking inside but I know there are lots of odds and ends to finish off, not least populating the ground floor shop with a minimum of 20 little dolls.  I have a box of little undressed dolls, all in their underwear, patiently awaiting costuming and wigging.  Back in the summer I even made a batch of pleated silk ribbons with a view to making a start.  Of course that hasn't happened and the silk ribbons are currently sitting accusingly in a box right behind my chair.  So in view of the extremely inclement weather, I'm sorting through my ideas boards on Pinterest and selecting costumes I'd like to recreate in micro miniature.  I'm going to set myself a target of dressing two little dolls a week, which is eminently achievable... you heard it here first. 🤣

I'm also dusting off my La Mignonette notebook, where I'd written down lists of 'Stuff Still To Do' which runs to several pages. 

My wet and windy weekend in prospect is looking up already.....