Nature as Muse...

Fall-ish, Winter-ish, Spring-ish dusk ambience had me thinking I'd rather be outside in the evening, sitting in my yard with the cat - than anywhere else... except maybe inside a really phenomenal museum. The early nighttime of Daylight Savings Time had the moon out even before dinner, but the temperature was unexpectedly pleasant enough to enjoy being outside at night - no shivering. Birds chatted and chirped. Everything felt very peaceful. I suddenly wondered how serious gardeners winterize their gardens - because so many of my flowers still thrived despite the a light frost or two. The next day I weeded my flowerbeds and put them to sleep with a light layer of shredded leaves and pine needles - a homemade mulch - topped with a light sprinkling of dirt (to prevent the wind blowing it away). 

I've enjoyed being outside so much that I've actually felt immersed within the traditional Toile de Jouy cloth scenery of tree silhouettes and countryside. If you visited this blog in its origins, you know of course the name Toile La La did not spring from my love of that fabric, but from my sewing of small-scale clothing toiles. 

When I first began the blog, in 2009, my goal was to explore fashion design and art - and the history of both. At the moment though, I'm going through this back-to-nature transition and really there's nothing I love more than what Nature itself creates... a beautiful moonrise, foggy mists lifting off water and out of valleys, the silhouettes of the trees against a pinky-blue evening sky, flowers in all phases - even faded and papery on the stem or stalk. I love the varying shapes of trees, the intricacy of flowers, the swooping and soaring flight patterns of birds, and the changing scenery of the sky.

Throughout the year, my kitchen window became a museum to a small collection of things I find in nature - in my yard, on paths, or alongside a river... expired butterflies, hatched-out birds' eggs, glittering beetle shells, smooth old pottery shards, papery remnants of flowers. You can see some of the things from my window collection at the Art Fashion Creation blog.