Naturally gifted...

Some days are just more spectacular than others. Today was one of those days that felt like a special gift, wrapped in sunshine and delivered in a box of smiles.

We went for a walk, the boys, the man in the house and I, through the fields where the horses graze, down by the stream and over the small, old stone bridge where the boys love to stop for a game of "Pooh sticks" (throw a stick in on one side, let the stream carry it under the bridge and see whose stick comes out first on the other side), watching the sun play in the fire-coloured leaves still left on the trees. I could stop here, and I think you would agree that the day would still sound like one of the more pleasant kind of days.

However, some of you may nod in recognition when I go on to tell you about the icing on the cake, the little extra bonus delight that made this walk score top marks in my book.... Armed with a plastic bag, I could not help but nibble a little at the scrumptious, fluffy moss along our path, and the green glory is now resting in the Swenglish home, ready to be used for all sorts of seasonal extravaganza. Being also equipped with a Scandinavian radar, it did not take me long to notice the short birch branch on the ground - rotten and screaming to be turned into candle sticks...

On our return home, it was time to play with my new "toys"...

The blog universe is such a gloriously inspiring arena, sometimes almost too much to handle... Strolling around among the many talented blog sisters and brothers sometimes fills my head with so many ideas that I feel myself on the verge of hyper ventilating... I want to do it all, and I want to do it now!! A few days ago, I saw that Anna with the lovely blog Goda stunder & Tokiga idéer had made such beautiful decorations with moss and red onions... Remembering also a simple yet stunning arrangement by one of my gardening "gurus", Charlotte with Trädgårdsflow, I quickly grabbed the left-over willow bits from my wreath-making last week, and a few snips later... another decorative copy-cat achievement...

The title of this blog entry is not a conceited reference to any personal talents of any kind. It is merely a word play referring to the wonderful gifts Mother Nature has to offer, if you only let her, and also an ode to all you inspiring fellow bloggers, who are a huge source of inspiration and joy.

Thank you bloggers and thank you Mummy Nature!

"BOO!"

Happy Halloween everyone!

 Conquered gladioli and confessions...

On the dolly tub turned side table, a few late-blooming garden flowers share the space with one of seven newly-made wreaths (yes, the small tag reveals that they were made to be sold, but I will tell you more about that another time...), a favourite candle holder and a large vase with gladioli nestled among some conquers, the latter having been invited indoors after having starred in several outdoor arrangements. 

In the old wooden box on the floor (what is it about old wooden boxes that makes my heart beat faster?) rests a floral quilt which some of you may recognize? It was the free gift when you started subscribe to the Swedish magazine "Lantliv" (= Country Life) at the beginning of the summer. Free gift? Yes, please! "Quilt" may perhaps be slightly false marketing, as it is not much thicker than a sheet, but with a little bit of imagination and a lot of fluffing, it might work...

As the big vase felt a little oversized for the small table, I moved it to the dining table. Gladioli are really spectacular flowers, I find - tall, proud, yet modest and sensual. A big bonus is that you usually get a lot of floral beauty for your money. So, there we are, a bit of pink and purple to fight off the October darkness...

I hope you have some flower power in your life too!

Ps. As regards my last entry about the lavender, I do have to confess that I did not harvest all my neighbour's lavender to put in my little "smelly" cushions. I did top up with some already dried lavender that I bought from a lavender farm here in Hampshire in southern England.

To those of you wondering about how to get the photo onto the fabric, I used normal "Iron-on Transfer Paper", often used for transferring images onto T-shirts etc and which can be found in most stationers' here in the UK, for example WH Smith. You just put the transfer paper in your printer and print your desired image from your computer. Then follow the instructions for your particular transfer paper - usually a few minutes' work with your iron set to the "no steam" setting. What you need to bear in mind is that your image will appear mirrored on the fabric, so to incorporate text on your image is not to be recommended, unless you have some means of making the text print backwards/mirrored.

Thank you so much for all your kind and encouraging comments about my little projects!

Happy transferring!

Lasting and versatile blue loveliness...

We have really struck gold with our next-door neighbours. Not only are they lovely people, they also have a walnut tree in their garden, whose branches stretch far into our garden, letting us enjoy their shade, their foliage and their fallen fruit. But today's entry is not about the lovely walnut tree, it is about the gorgeous blue loveliness growing in their front garden, having gone slightly berserk and overflowing through the iron fence onto the pavement. Best of all, our neighbours do not mind my helping myself to some of this seductively scented blue joy...

First a modest photograph, then a wreath, a small bouquet wrapped in a vine leaf, and now, the most recent usage: small lavender-filled mini cushions in pure linen, onto which I transferred the photo (mirrored on the fabric, as it was transferred with the "iron-on" method). With Christmas around the corner, I think I have got at least one stocking sorted...

Nature is fantastic and I am grateful to it for nurturing such a beautiful, versatile and health-promoting plant in its palm. Not to mention leaving in our house the most spectacular scent...

Heavenly scented greetings to you all!

A moment of me-time...

For the first time in weeks, I managed to sneak away a little me-time today, and what better way to spend an hour than to go for a stroll in our neighbouring village, Lacock. I have shown photos from this picturesque little beauty before, but as there is such an abundance of character crammed into this small village, I thought I'd shower you with some more...

In one of the windows, there is a small display of vintage paraphernalia, which feels very fitting in this village so full of character and history. Seeing the photo here on the screen, I also noticed you can see a reflection in the window of the old buildings across the street.

The beauty of this village - so often featured in films and TV-series - is that it is a living village. As I was strolling down the high street, the school children started pouring out of the local school and parents and children did what parents and children do everywhere, had a giggle or a quarrel, stopped by at the local shop for a snack, and behaved perfectly normally despite being in the middle of a postcard environment, where a foreign tourist was once heard asking "So, when does this place close?"...

So, from one of my favourite "hangouts", 

and a girl who came back from her stroll smiling and refuelled, 

best wishes for a fabulous weekend!

Very merry lingonberry...

Well, perhaps not so "very lingonberry*", as there were hardly any actual berries left on the leaves and stems I brought back from Sweden a month ago. Having been neglected in a plastic bag in a cupboard ever since, I did not harbour much hope of there being any lingonberry-inspired wreath material left to speak of, but to my delight, a small heart was born yesterday out of the contents of mentioned plastic bag. And voilà, a touch of Sweden in the Swenglish Home...

The door I have hung the heart on is usually always open, as it is the main thoroughfare in the house, but for photographic purposes, it was shut momentarily here.

Anyone tired of seeing my endless shots of various nuts and home-grown tomatoes? I don't blame you, but they are just such grateful models!

Is it just me, or are more and more blog entries - including this one - slightly Christmas-scented these days...? Well, we are nearly there, so what better way to survive the November gloom - also nearly here -, but to allow a few hints of the light-filled and festive season to emerge, even if in ever so tiny portions?

Wishing you all a lavishly light-filled and copiously cosy weekend!

* Lingonberry plants are tiny evergreen shrubs with edible fruit. They grow in the wild and the flavour of the berries has been compared to that of cranberries. The small berries are most commonly made into jam. 

Whispers of autumn...

Or perhaps more accurately put: howls and cries of autumn... It is here now, in full flow (or should I say full blow?!), and any attempts to keep the ground clear of leaves is an activity as futile as trying to make a worm dance the cha-cha-cha. So, having given up on both, I decided to once again emphasize autumn in a corner of our garden, with - even more - conquers, some home-grown grapes, the chandelier my father made for me many years ago, and a couple of the wooden boxes that happened to join our family on a visit to Sweden in the summer (a local shop was redecorating and sold off all their display furniture and details - these boxes were only GBP 2 each!)...

The Swenglish Home is a very quiet corner of the blog world at the moment, and will probably be so for the next few weeks, as time is eaten up by other commitments. Again, I would like to thank you for all your lovely comments, a particular thank you to new or anonymous readers I have not had a chance to reply to yet - I read and appreciate every word! 

Wishing you all a fabulous, colourful, autumn cosy and simply spectacular week!