It's (Almost) the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Fall is almost here!  If you read this post's title and thought about Christmas, you are wrong, my friend!  I think autumn is the most wonderful time of the year, and for so many reasons. Yeah, there are pumpkins and gourds (gourds!!!), colorful leaves and crisp days, but I also get my husband back after a long, hot (and very pregnant) summer.

In fall we get to celebrate many family birthdays, including Nathan's (can you believe he'll be three?), our anniversary (this Saturday, yay!) -- and this year, we're welcoming our second son into the world.  A wonderful time, indeed.

I've updated the seasonal look of my blog to reflect my excitement for the season. Now that I'm officially on maternity leave from my freelance writing career, I hope to be in this space a bit more during the next few weeks while we wait for baby to arrive.

I have a few more pieces of the baby's nursery to show off before I do the final reveal (for now you can read about my lamp makeover, a Scandinavian birds embroidery piece and my fabric pennant banner + tutorial), a tutorial for homemade carseat strap covers to share and an original knitting pattern for newborn socks that actually fit that I'll let loose very soon.

And since I have a ton of blocking to do, I'd like to share all the baby knitting I've been up to and do a stash-busting update (remember The Challenge?) and link-up soon.  Get ready to join in and share what you've been knitting from your stash!

Looking forward to next time,
your friend,
Kelly

I made this maternity dress over the summer and haven't yet shared it.  I wish I had a better photo!

 

Fall Sunset & Fun with Instagram

I love fall sunsets, even if they're not as spectacularly colorful as summer ones.  The low angle of the sun is fun to be in -- I feel like the sun is shining just on and for us.  (Although I hate driving when the sun is so low and always shining in my eyes -- that's quite a different feeling!)  I love the fall sunset's orangey hue and the yellowish glow it casts on the fading grass and trees around us.  It just makes me feel good!

(unedited)

It turns out that my iPhone takes pretty good pictures.  They're not as good as the photos my old point-and-shoot Canon takes, but in a pinch, taking photos on my iPhone a good, easy solution.  And it's really fun to use Instagram, a photo sharing application for iPhone. 

I'm not really into apps -- I just use my phone to look things up, go on Facebook and *gasp* make phone calls (shocking, I know) -- but I'm really enamored with this one.  It lets you take square photos and then quickly apply filters to transform the look and feel of the photos.  (You can also crop and use photos you've already taken on your iPhone.)  And then the photos show up in your Instagram feed and you can tweet them, share them on Facebook or send them to people via e-mail.  Really convenient and really fun.

Here's what I did with the photos I took at sunset on Friday night.  I posted the original photo below each one I edited in Instagram.  (Pro tip: You can also choose not to apply a filter to a photo on Instagram and share it as-is.)

This one's my favorite.

I love the old-school feel of this photo.

Old school, again, and it really makes me think about fall compared with the original photo below, which is greener.

Awesome colors and border. This is one of my favorite effects, but it doesn't work well with every photo.

I'm sure you can imagine what happened directly after this photo was taken...

Was that fun, or what?  (I'm sorry if you answered or what.  I thought it was!)

If you're on Instagram, my username is kellypatla, in case you'd like to follow along.  If not, you can still see my pictures -- I tweet some of them on Twitter (KellyPatla).

Full

Thanksgiving was so fun and full.  This was our second year hosting Thanksgiving dinner and it felt great having both sides of the family come together again to share a meal.  I'm always grateful for my extended family, but I couldn't help feeling extra grateful as we all sat around the table together for a tasty homemade meal, interesting conversation and good laughs.  We all left full, and in more ways than one.

We also celebrated Nathan's and T.J.'s birthdays, which are this weekend and just three days apart.  I think their birthdays make the holiday even more special for our family...Even though Nathan was scared by our singing Happy Birthday and cried and burrowed his face in my neck.

My knitted Big Bithday Owl wasn't as big a hit as I'd hoped -- maybe one day it will be -- and I kinda knew this would the case.

But Daddy's gift of a real toy guitar was a big hit.

I hope your holiday was just as fun, thankful and full.

The Colors of Fall

We had a lot more leaves on our trees and a lot more green and chartreuse in our landscape before the early snowstorm last month. (I took these photos the week before the storm -- can't believe it took me this long to shar them!)  I haven't been outside much since then to see what the landscape looks like now, but from my window I see a lot more brown leaves and bare branches, plus the ones violently knocked to the ground by the weight of heavy snow.

I just love the colors of fall.  Reds, golds, oranges, auburns and spots of green.  I really need to get out and photograph one of the most colorful places on the farm in fall before it's too late.  I think I just inspired myself to take a much-needed walk tomorrow with Nathan.

Happy Weekending!

Indian Cigar Tree in Fall

I took these photos three weeks ago, long before my beloved Indian Cigar Tree (Catalpa) lost three big limbs in the wretched October Snowstorm last weekend.  He'll survive (it's a he) and will hopefully look somewhat normal again someday.  I couldn't actually bring myself to take a close look at the damage. 

I'm glad I took these photos of its final perfection, in the glow of the setting sun, while the leaves were turning yellow but not yet shriveled and brown.  Catalpas don't turn pretty colors like maples and oaks -- this is about as good as it gets.

I look forward to seeing his seed pods and fresh new leaves in the spring.