Friday, October 1, 2021

Posies block 10 and planning ahead...

 Another month has passed and October came knocking on our door this morning. Every year about this time I seem to be saying "goodness, the year is flying by quickly" and today was no different.

I like new months, and I like new years, but when I see them advancing quickly I feel inspired to do a deep clean of my sewing/office space and make sure everything is back where it should be so that I can begin the new month or year with visual, mental and creative clarity. 

After a cloudy morning with a light rain shower, perfect for cleaning and tidying whilst listening to an audio book, the skies cleared at lunchtime and the bright spring sun came streaming through the window, so the 'after' photos reflect this...



I moved a few things around so that now I can stand at my cutting and design table and feel the full benefit of the air conditioner coming towards me (tropical heat takes a toll) instead of having it above and behind me. I can spend many hours at that table, sketching, re-sketching, drawing the final design, tracing onto fabric, preparing applique...it really is a work station, and being cool through the many long hot months here is important.





The air conditioner is above my fabric shelving, and as this is a small room and some of the fixtures are permanent, I can really only move the cutting table direction or placement. But I really like the way it is now and wonder why I haven't thought to face the other way before? 


Its especially important around now that I focus on, and finalise, the plans I've made for Elefantz in the coming year, and as you can see by my desk after everything else was tidied, pages of plans sketched over the past few months were everywhere!


I tend to write lots of notes and ideas through the year and gather them in groups, folders, notebooks - so spending an hour going through each page or book allows me to eliminate some, throw away duplicate ideas (if I have a duplicate of an idea then I am pretty sure it's something I'll definitely work on), rewrite a few more, and then order everything in sequence of importance or time frame. 

Once this was done I brewed a lovely cup of vanilla tea and treated myself to some delicious jam tarts whilst preparing to write the rough drafts of ten brand new patterns.




Before deciding on a start date for my new stitchery pattern club, I decided to have three months worth of patterns sketched, traced, embroidered, patterns written and then everything photographed. My plan is to always be a full season ahead as life has a tendency to step in and upset the apple cart when you least expect it. Forward planning and then following through with those plans can eliminate any future hiccups or anxieties when running a home business on your own. 




I'm also working on two new block of the months for next year. One of them is my regular freebie and runs for 12 months, and the other will be a subscription membership which runs for 10 months. 

I'm loving them both, and can't wait to show you, but let us all slow down that wee bit and enjoy the moments yet to come our way through October, November and December. Every day is a blessed gift, something I understand more and more as I age. 

Besides, you still have three more Posies block of the month patterns to receive, and today one of them is all yours...


Isn't that bird in the vase beautiful? And I love the fabric borders too. 


I stitched a double row of chain stitch across the vase, making sure it did not cover the dove in flight. The flowers are made with blanket stitch and the centres are satin stitched. Backstitch the stems and sew tiny lazy daisy leaves before adding your border fabric.

UPDATE...

POSIES was free until January 1st 2022.

The complete 2021 POSIES quilt is now available from my ETSY Shop.

In case you're new to Elefantz Designs, here's a photo of the wall quilt we're making with the Posies blocks this year.

The monthly blocks are all free to download until December 31st, 2021 and I share a new block on the 1st of each month. If you've missed any of the previous blocks just pop over HERE


Last week Blossom and I ventured to Spotlight with her trio of pre-schoolers in tow. The girls love the store and offer numerous suggestions for various fabrics their mummy can buy to sew pretty things for them, but Charlie was more interested in watching everyone go by and all the bright colours of fabric around him. 

Bloss eventually purchased a few cotton spandex prints for leggings that will be finished with ballerina ribbons at the ankles (she is an in-demand pattern tester for many children's wear designers), and fabric to make Charlie a summer cot quilt; but we also found these tape measure lanyards and thought how clever they were as we can clip our embroidery scissors onto them and avoid that constant frustration when at the sewing machine of looking for our little scissors (usually hidden under fabric, right?) as well as having a tape measure at our fingertips the whole time. Brilliant.


Hubby is on holidays for a week and I'm so happy as he's had no time off work since last December, and six-day working weeks are exhausting (especially when you're not so young anymore). We went for a drive by the sea this morning with coffee from Zarraffas before heading home for brekky and getting stuck into our various tasks - me to the cleaning/tidying/sorting/writing, and he to repair the car lights and generally give our 4WD a good clean and service. 

Tonight I'm roasting tomatoes from the garden and tossing them through fried gnocchi; and we'll enjoy that with a side salad and fresh sour dough as well. Ice cream and strawberries will finish off our dinner very nicely. I wonder what you're preparing for dinner tonight??

God bless each of you, and may the love of our Father above abundantly fill your lives in this new month, and lead you closer to His Son.

hugs



11 comments:

Joanne said...

Hi Jennifer,
Zarraffas for coffee...I went and googled...Looks like a yummy place ! and open from 5 am ! What a beautiful way to begin a Spring day !
Thank you for the 10th posies block :)
A tape measure lanyard with cm and inches..very useful indeed ! Spotlight...also googled... looks like a fun and creative place :)
Have a great weekend !
hugs,
Joanne

Little Quiltsong said...

It feels so good to have everything clean and tidy again :)! Your coffee and snacks always look so delicious. Thank you again, for the lovely free download. Love your measuring tape lanyard - so pretty and yes, very useful. I made a big pot of pumpkin soup lately, and we still have enough for one more meal. I did overindulge in the little dumplings this time, so each scoop has plenty to go around :)! Going into Fall here, and you are going into Spring - enjoy all your lovely garden produce, Jennifer!

Patti said...

The posy patterns have been fun to receive! Thank you.

Julie said...

Your sewing room space is about the same size as mine Jennifer but I love the bright clean layout of yours - just ideal. I think mine is much darker than yours. The new stitchery design peeks look beautiful as always - do I spy a touch of Tilda Woodland there I think 💙 Wishing you a wonderful weekend dear friend - I am off to my Mum's for a few days to help out. xx

Susan said...

Thank you for the great posy pattern. I think I have a fox fabric that might make a good vase, too. Your room is so appealing, a comfortable place to work. I know you all had a wonderful time in Spotlight and wish we had something similar here. We used to, once upon a time. I'm not fixing dinner. I took a friend to Outback Steak House for a bloomin' onion this afternoon and won't be hungry for hours. It was nice to do something social again.

Christine M said...

Your sewing room is so lovely and bright Jennifer. Have a lovely weekend. Hugs, Christine xx

Ondrea said...

Oh how I would love a stroll through Spotlight. Internet orders are not quite the same as browsing in the store. I wish I could keep my sewing room as neat and tidy as yours. No matter how many times I clean it up, toss things out or take things to the Op Shop I still seem to be in a mess. I hope you can have more relaxing days while hubby is home. Thankyou for your sweet stitchery.

Maria said...

Es una maravilla ver cuando tienes todo ordenadito. Te llama a coser.
Un besín

Carla said...

Your room looks so organized and so pretty. Mine tends to look like a hurricane went through.
I guess my sorority nickname suites me ... hurricanecarla. LOL
I love the Posies wall hanging!

launisa said...

merci pour ce nouveau bloc, bonne journée

Cheri said...

Thank you for giving us a chance to catch up. Beautiful as always.