Block 7 "The Love of Home" ...

This month's block in The Love of Home series is one that made my heart sing with every stitch.

Cross stitch, a HOME theme, fussy cutting applique and tiny 1/2" hexies...a recipe for warm and happy hearts, yes?

Those pretty fabrics I've used in the border and fussy cut for the applique heart and paper pieced hexagons are called "Bunnies & Cream" by Lauren Nash for Penny Rose Fabrics. 

I've never been a bunny person, but...one day it happened. The fabric happened actually, and the bunny love came with it.

And cross stitch. 

I adore the gentle homeliness of it stitched on linen...

In fact I'm so pleased with this design that it was difficult to choose how I'd display it in my home.

A door hanger came to mind initially, but over the weekend as I was sorting out my old recipes to share with you for our Living the Gentle Domestic Life Cookbook I realised it would be perfect as a binder cover for the recipes!

More pieces of that pretty fabric, a linen lining, some wadding, hand quilting and a few hours of sewing play...

I even used some lovely "home" cotton lace along the spine!

Isn't it perfect?

Inside there's a clear envelope to store new recipes I collect and if they are really good I'll make up a recipe sheet which will then be included in my cookbook binder. 

It was at this stage I realised the recipe sheets I've shared with you so far weren't really the right colour or style for my pastel binder.

So I made some new ones in pinks and blues...

...and this time I made them smaller so that the recipe prints on one page instead of two. 

There's even a new cover page.

I don't know how you'll display your sweet block when you stitch it, but I'm very happy with how my cookbook binder has turned out.

It also keeps me on track for making useful projects that serve a purpose.

You'll find the pattern HERE

Use the link below to download the new pastel cookbook cover page.

New recipe book cover page

If you'd like to know more about the Living the Gentle Domestic Life Cookbook read this post. 

It's Monday night as I write this and tomorrow Blossom and Cully May are coming for lunch and probably afternoon tea as well, so I have baking to do in the morning and toys to prepare for our almost 1 year old.

Last week I filled an old plastic vitamin jar with buttons and Cully May thought her new shaker was wonderful. My next idea is a jar of pretty ribbons which she can pull out and put back in again...simple things for motor skills really, but children do tend to enjoy the simple toys.  

That's why I'll be sure to wrap her birthday present in layers of gift paper on Friday - scrunching and ripping the paper is always the best gift for toddlers.

May your week be blessed with goodness and grace, health and happiness, stitching and baking...

hugs

UPDATE 2023 - I still use this folder for my recipes, and love it more than ever! 

Choosing the quiet life...

There are a handful of life verses which over more than a quarter century have directed and corrected my path and 1 Thessalonians 4:11 is one of them.

This past week I've been drawn to it time and again and I believe it's the Lord's way of bringing my heart back to it's most natural beat, taking my mind off too many 'should I' or 'could I' temptations for busyness.

Though many choose a life of constant activity and adventure, I am at peace in the quiet, in the slow, in the day to day meanderings of a home based vocation. The temptation to do more comes not from a personal desire but from what others have written is necessary to experience a fulfilling life. 

Do you read about someone else's life and imagine your own to be boring, menial or of no real value? Does that cause you to doubt your life choices? Occasionally I succumb to this, usually when I am physically or emotionally weary.

Thankfully the Lord soon draws my eyes and ears away from that road and reminds me gently of my own nature, the things which give satisfaction time and again. 

And this is what happened around 4am this morning...He brought tranquility into the pre-dawn darkness and settled my thoughts on the goodness around me, the natural rhythm and hum of this home-based life I embrace, the fullness of heart which brings me joy as I serve my loved ones and share His grace. And I was happy.

Being in the moment, taking in each sound, every fragrance and the visual beauty God has created for our senses...it grounds me. Revives my soul. It allows me to breathe.

For those who choose the whir of a busy life I wish them well. But for me?

It's the quiet life, the gentle domestic life, which I delight in. 

Blessings,

your sister in Christ,

Harvest Flight...

In early June I shared a photo of the newest Tilda range, Harvest, which I was kindly sent by 2 Green Zebras....

If you've known me for long enough it's no surprise the little bird prints stole my heart.

And there in lies the inspiration for my Tilda Blog Hop design.

It's not often I create a project without a signature Elefantz stitchery but this time I wanted the fabric to shine, so here's my "Harvest Flight" mini quilt, complete with borders of small flying geese blocks...

I tried to capture as many little birds in each section as I could from the fat quarters I'd be given, carefully saving four different birds to feature on a hexie in each corner.

The finished mini quilt was even prettier than I'd hoped.

Hand quilting small projects is such a restful pastime that I spent a weekend doing just that before finishing the quilt with binding.

Something else made using this fat quarter bundle is the cushion I showed you the other day...

Would you like to see more projects made with Harvest by Australian designers?

The blog hop links are below...

July 21st - Aqua Paisley

July 22nd - Tied with a Ribbon

July 23rd - Andrie Designs

July 24th - Tadah Fabric and Patterns

July 25th - She Quilts A lot

July 26th - Molly and Mama

July 27th - Wife Made 

July 28th - Jenny of Elefantz

July 29th - A Spoonful of Sugar

July 30th - Two Green Zebras

Truly, some gorgeous eye candy awaits you. 

Over the weekend I'll be working on completing this new design as a sweet project...

...with a plan to border it inside a large hexie shape. 

"Nesting on a Heart" is one of my patterns for the August issue of The Stitchery Club.

You'll find sweet pics of all next month's patterns over here. 

I hope you'll be creating pretty things over the weekend break, too?

May your days be blessed with goodness, grace and peace,

hugs

A sneak peek and keeping things simple...

It's less than a week until I share the next free design in this year's BOM "The Love of Home" so I thought today you may like a little peek at my progress so far?

My colours were inspired by some sweet "Bunnies & Cream" fabrics purchased earlier this year and I'm thinking of using more to feature this design as a project to hang in my home.

But how? I'm pondering that...

Another new project has already been completed and sits outside on the back deck in my old wicker chair where I have a late afternoon cuppa before preparing dinner. 

The stitchery I've used as the centre of this simple strip bordered pillow was in the April 2016 issue of The Stitchery Club (just in case you're a Club member and want to find the pattern) ...

(the stitchery pattern is also here in my shop)

I'd recently designed a mini quilt using the new Tilda Harvest fabrics which you'll see here on the blog this coming Friday during the Tilda Australia blog hop, and when it was finished I still had a few leftover fabrics to play. 

The colours were a perfect compliment to my stitchery...

...so over the weekend I pieced and hand quilted the cushion front, and on Monday I completed the back with a simple button closure.

I think mismatched buttons are beautiful, don't you?

I'm really enjoying digging through my rather large box of stitcheries and giving purpose to one every week or so. This new cushion certainly adds colour and life to my old wicker chair, as well as providing a comfy back rest when I sit down with tea and cake amidst the palm trees and birds.

The nicest thing is that I didn't complicate the final design, but kept it simple and do-able. Makes me think that life itself flows easier when it's simplified.

Food for thought, eh?

And speaking of food,  I certainly did a good deal of baking yesterday!

It's seems to have become a pattern each week that Tuesday is baking day and I manage to do enough to bless us for the week, as well as give to Blossom and her little family.

My little kitchen bench certainly tells a tale of activity...

First off I made Matrimony Slice, then a Lemon Drizzle Cake, Blackberry Swirls and a Savoury Pie which we had with salad for dinner last night...

One after the other they made their way into the oven. 

And one after the other baked beautifully.

Are you downloading my weekly "Living The Domestic Life" recipes with simple bonus stitcheries?

I decided to go back through all the recipes which have been shared here on the blog the last 8 or 9 years and re-make them one by one as I do tend to tweak things over time and the recipe might be a little different now.

This week you can download the recipe for Blackberry Swirls.

It's a favourite in our family and one which my daughter Aisha taught her own daughter to make, Now 16 yo granddaughter Ebony carries on the tradition. Isn't that lovely?

It's very quick, with just a few simple steps and only a handful of ingredients...

Mr E loves his served with lashings of creamy custard, but I like mine with thick cream or ice cream...

The recipe and accompanying stitchery pattern can be download here from my shop.

Blossom and Cully May are coming for afternoon tea today so I'd best be away and set the table.

Think we'll have some lemon drizzle cake with strawberries on the side, and squares of matrimony slice with a nice big pot of Earl Grey.

We may even sit out on the deck in the cool breeze...yes, that's what we'll do.

May your day be sweet with many blessings too,

hugs

This bird needs a pie...

I was a bit under the weather over the weekend, energy levels at a complete standstill, but Mr E and I still drove out early Saturday morning to get coffee and stop at a few local garage sales to see if there were any treasures to be had. 

As my beloved would say, it was "slim pickins" at first, the first five holding nothing to catch our eye - but then we found the one  and a smile spread across my face as I gathered an armful of goodies.

The pie bird gave me an instant hankering to bake pie...though I still haven't decided what kind. Blackberry and apple keeps wafting through my mind, though. 

Mr E was lucky too when he spied a child's wooden kitchen stove, something Blossom had recently mentioned she'd like for Cully May. He paid for it and with a mighty wide smile placed the handmade piece onto the back seat of my little yellow car (the Jeep is still in repair mode) before setting our course for Blossom's house.

She was thrilled, and asked her dad if he could cut a hole on one side to put in a small tin sink, which he thought was a great idea. As Cully May turns one on August 4th Mr E will be sure to have that done before her birthday.  Like us, Blossom loves to do simple birthdays with gifts that have meaning or purpose, and this pre-loved child's kitchen stove/sink for Cully May is perfect.

I'll take some photos when Mr E has completed the task.

This morning I sat down with a number of favoured cookbooks, buttered toast and a pot of tea. 

We've run out of baked goods you see, so all I had was bread to accompany my cuppa.

But I'll tell you a secret. 

I absolutely 'love' cold toast lathered in real butter. 

In fact it took much self restraint to stop at just two slices.

I'm thinking of baking Paul Hollywood's "Lemon Drizzle Cake" because I've never made one and I believe citrus cakes to be the yummiest.

It does require lemon curd in the recipe, something else I've never made, so this cake shall be a 'two new recipes' experiment.

I'm also spurred on by an old episode of The Great British Bake-Off which featured a Drizzle Cake challenge so I will pop that on the telly as 'background' encouragement to my baking this afternoon. Do you do things like that??

Last night I made Beef Bourguignon from Julie Goodwin's "Essential Cookbook. 

She was the very first winner of Australian Masterchef in 2009, a true home cook who loves comfort food. Served with creamy mashed potato and baby peas it was delicious, and I totally forgot to take a photo!

My plan was to top the leftovers with puff pastry for dinner another night, but something awful happened to spoil that idea.

Whilst we were eating dinner I'd left the remainder of the beef bourguignon to cool in a bowl on the kitchen bench before popping it in the fridge. I suppose we were twenty minutes at the dinner table before I gathered our empty plates to carry to the sink.

Rinsing them off I glanced over at the cooling stew and was horrified to see a fly sitting on the rich red wine infused beef and just under it's rear a speckle of white freshly laid maggots. 

I was gutted. We're so careful to keep flies out of the house but this critter had snuck in and hid until we were out of sight. 

The fly was killed with a few good bolts of spray, as were his offspring, and the spoiled leftovers relegated to the rubbish bin. 

Not sure I'll make this again for a while, but anything I do make will have a cover over the top as it cools in future.  

From the library I borrowed a few books for inspiration this week, plus The Darling Buds of May dvd set (again)  because it makes me smile and also warms my baking heart.

Now you may be wondering about the Handmade Lampshades book?

I thought it looked interesting and something I could glean from as we have one old lampshade stored away which I've often thought needed a makeover (or replacing).

Thinking old doilies would be nice, interspersed with lace or other fabric??

Anyhow, I may give it a go.

And the pies and puds book?

Well I bought that pie bird at the garage sale so logically I have to bake a pie to use the bird. 

Could be an interesting (and tasty) week.

Will you tell what you've got planned around the home this week?

Hopefully it involves warm hearts and wide smiles.

hugs