Polly put the kettle on!

Yes indeedy. The new kettle has arrived. We picked him out at John Lewis on Saturday using some of our left over wedding vouchers, and I must say - he really is rather fetching.

The only flaw is that he gets incredibly hot - you can only pick him up by the handle. No more holding with both hands or hugging to the chest to warm up in the cold winter months.

We've had a fantastically productive weekend. I even managed to get my sewing machine pedal mended - apparently the electrics had gone, hence the uber-fast setting, which after the initial exhilaration, was wildly annoying. Time to dust off my Liberty fabric and Amy Butler patterns and begin sewing.

Which is great news, particularly as we officially said goodbye to Summer at the weekend. Such a brilliant, bright weekend with just a hint of Autumn chill in the evenings. And so, as if it were only yesterday, we return to raking leaves from the lawn, slow Sunday roasts, cutting sedum in full flower, drawing the curtains early, wiping away early morning condensation from our lovely sash windows, pulling out forgotten knitting projects and digging around the coat pile for our warm, but lightweight jackets - for it's not winter, not just yet.

As a final adieu to Summer, here is a photo of our super fuchsia that flowered again this weekend. We picked it up at the local scout plant sale back in June and, despite the squirrels and lack of sun, it found the energy to put on this bloom .

Such beautiful skirts - what a glorious finale.