Bits of September

We were happy to find a new garden to visit last month, Meadowlark in Vienna, Va; I passed by this building and decided to snap a pic just because symmetrical facades make me happy; inside the tiny glasshouse at the garden up the street from our house; and packing up a cactus brooch.

I was packing up these two notebooks to go to different customers, and I thought they looked good together actually...wondered if I should start selling sets; the incredible Dinosaur Land; the teepee trellis at our local garden has filled out and looks amazing (you can see what it looked like in the early stages if you look at last month's IG wrap up); and a detour through Dark Star Park.

The sunsets last month (and this month so far) have been gorgeous. I guess it's an even trade-off for the nights getting longer. I seriously have to restrain myself from posting sunset pics to IG every night! I only posted one last month, so that's pretty good. The light coming in the house has been so warm and nice too; a bull sculpture from the Alexandria Art Fair a couple weeks ago; and a late night diner date. Whenever I happen to be at a diner late at night, it always reminds me of being in high school and hanging out with friends. Anyone else have late-night-diner-nostalgia from their teen years?

A heart garland on it's way to a new home; a new-to-us candy shop that had lots and lots of good stuff; I love any and all big puffball-type flowers like dahlias, hydrangeas, zinnias, ranunculuses...I think I mentioned after Meadowlark, I'm trying to learn the names of flowers and plants I like, and some of the stuff I learned in Botany is actually coming back to me, though mostly just stuff about plant cells that isn't helpful at all haha; and I love when shops have lettering on windows like this place (also, if you're local and want Korean food for lunch, this place has bibimbap everyday and sometimes bulgogi on rice; I have never tried either because I'm not a big meat eater, but I've heard it's good from others so just thought I'd pass that along).

Wandering around Annapolis one afternoon; I'm always happy to see ghost signs peeking out on brick walls...I like when buildings wear their history on the outside; packing up a fall brooch...the leaves are just starting to get red here at the tops of trees; and I noticed I was color-coordinated with the latest notebook I'd made and felt like I needed to document it.

Overall, September was a really great month. We took some mini road trips, ate too many treats, and spent lots of time outside. I had more felt items sell this month and decided to keep making felt things through the holidays. In 2015, I will transition to mostly illustration though, so if there's anything you've been eyeing felt-wise (ornaments, brooches, garlands, etc), or something you'd like to see more of, let me know before I stop making them! :)

October is going to be really, really busy, but we'll definitely still make time for adventures around town, which I'll share here, of course. I'm trying to soak up every last second of these mild temperatures before winter hits and I hibernate. And hopefully, I'll get around to sharing more house posts and "scenes from (work) life" posts too. I still have some photos from trips in August to post!

Tomorrow we are headed to a flea market, officially to look for display items for the craft fair, but unofficially because we both really like rooting around in old stuff haha. After that I'm not sure what we're doing. I've never done the usual fall farm-type activities, like apple picking or pumpkin picking or hayrides, mostly because they always happen far out of the city. It seems like something you'd do as a kid, but I never did. I never thought I was missing out on anything because who wants to ride on a truck filled with hay or pick food? But Peter assures me that it's fun, and we do keep seeing things about harvest festivals and huge mazes that look pretty amazing. I'm still not sold on the idea of hayrides and will probably skip that, but I'm definitely up for eating some apple pie and spending a few hours outside.

What are you guys up to this weekend? xo, Mary

P.S. If you want to follow me on Instagram, my username is @my_hideaway.