Starting to say goodbye summer. Hello Indian Summer- Drying Hydrangeas

I am starting to say goodbye to summer, Hello Indian summerand drying my hydrangeas.  When I was a kid, I don't think I ever gave it thought to why we call this part of the season Indian Summer, you know what I don't think  I know why today, only that it means summer is gone, fall is here, almost winter, and it is hot out.

I enjoy it so much, I just need to go out and pick dried left over seed pods and dried flower heads, walk through the leaves and smell that dampened grass, and browned leaf smell, looking for acorns and broken walnuts, gathering my left over hydrangeas to stick into nooks and crannies in my kitchen, my fireplace mantel, my glass vase in my bedroom.  I love the pinkish, purplish, creamish, brownish little colored petals.

Hydrangeas

 Thinking of making a couple of wreaths out of these snowballs to some of you and hydrangeas to others...I got creative and made a huge natural bouquet of flowers to create a heart.  I think I will try to make a smaller version of this idea and maybe even try to sell a couple wreaths.

Some people call them snowballs, so many types of these flowers.
At Cape Cod, people have purple and blue ones next to their entrances.

How to dry

2-3 Methods

1.  Put a bunchanged in a vase filled with water and let the water evaporate.

2. Tie a bunch of the flowers with longer stems together and hang in a dry area of your house for at least amonth.

3.  Put the flowers with short stems and fill a basket and dry naturally.

4.  Put the flowers with , on stems in a vase and dry.

The problem with hydrangeas is that sometimes they may dry too brown or the flower petals whither, anand that may be from cutting them too early when they are not fully bloomed.  Experimen a couple of the ways I suggested, and see what your favorite look is.  These that you see in the above pictures are a different type.  There are hundreds.  They take years to mature.  You wI'll see some in people's yards that look like bushes, and some that look like weeping trees.

This is my favorite. I like having plants I can use to decorate.

ALSO,  you can keep them for 2-3 years, I have.

AUTUMN (fall) in New England

 A little bit of oranges, reds, yellows, lime green turning brown.  I always wondered why some trees turn more brilliant in color than others.

 I just had to pick up a fist full of leaves from my yard and smell them to see if they smelled like they did when I was a kid...they almost did...

 The weather will change from one moment to the next, sprinkling with the sun out, cloudy, foggy, chilly, humid..

 BERRIES...

 Dried grasses and seed pods...

Pastel colored mums

crochet dish cloths

I have only known the simplicity of crocheting;  not fancy stitches, in fact I had to buy a chart to keep in my bag and look to remember "now how many times do I yarn over for a double crochet, or a triple crochet.  I started a dish cloth or what I always call a dish rag swap. So includingmyself, I have 9 ladies.  This is the simple dish "rag" that I made, white, with a red scalloped edge and a little apple applique.
This pattern was 25 chains and single crochet.
Last week I was visiting a family member, and she had received a dish cloth as a gift but she didn't like it and I asked her why.  We came to the conclusion that it was made too large.  So do take NOTE, when you are making a dish cloth, think about how large you would like it.  After I made this cloth, and added the edging, I think it may just a bit too large, so next time I will do 20 chains instead of 25.