Make a pretty dolly quilt...

 

4yo Rafaella loves dolls, bunnies, fluffy toys and pretty much anything she can cuddle. 

For her birthday I made my precious ringlet headed granddaughter a new dolly quilt, but when the idea first evolved I had no real plan, just that this would be a wonderful gift and it should be made in pretty pastel prints.

Just around that time Fiona from 2 Green Zebras asked if I'd like to design with some fabrics which would not be available in quilt shops until April, and after viewing the photos she sent, I was definitely sure they'd be perfect for Rafaella's dolly quilt!

The fabrics are called "Sarah Kay With Love" and are so pretty. The range of tiny florals, checks, spots and tonal prints are perfect for little girl clothes, doll's dresses, bags, and of course - a dolly quilt. 

I chose to make 2" hexagons the main feature for the quilt front, with the addition of tiny flower and bee stitcheries. Adding cotton lace across the top added to the sweetness. 

Today I'm sharing the pattern sheet of those little flower and bee stitcheries so that you can use them in a similar project, or perhaps something else you've got in mind. 

Use the link below to download the pattern sheet.

DOWNLOAD the pattern sheet for Small Stitcheries for a Dolly Quilt 

Blossom had an idea to use some of the fabric to make a doll's dress for Rafaella's 18" doll, and her seamstress skills certainly show in this cute little frock!

As you can see there's many pretty little prints in the Sarah Kay With Love fabrics. I really love the two Blossom chose for the dress!

If you'd like to see something really special, Blossom made the best 'reel' of the dress modelled with Rafaella's doll on Instagram. If you like to watch it just pop over HERE or search for her page, lucyandmay on IG.

These fabrics should be available from quilt shops around Australia this month. Just do a google search for "Sarah Kay With Love" fabric.

We've had five days of rain now and the garden is mostly happy, though some things don't really like being drenched for so long. There's still more rain ahead, and I am not complaining. Our town dam really needs the water and we'd thought 'another failed wet season' just a week or two ago, but here it is very late - but better late than never! 

Hubby is on three weeks holiday and already he's installing new internal doors, whilst I pull everything out of the pantry to reorganise the space. I have a whole kitchen in turmoil at the moment, and as you can imagine there's a lot of mess and wood shavings in each doorway...but these opportunities for him to get some big jobs done in the house are rare, so I'm not at all concerned about mess. We've both got a list of things to get done in the next few weeks and I have to say, it's wonderful to have him home all day and be working side by side to accomplish these tasks together. 

One extra task is to make use of the abundance of huge lemons from the tree. This morning after breakfast I made a lemon meringue pie. I got 3/4 cup of lemon juice from just one lemon.

It will be lovely to enjoy the pie for desserts over the next few days, but I'll need to come up with more lemon recipes, probably to freeze...like lemon drizzle cake. I could make lemon butter/curd...well, I'm sure ideas will come as I'm busy with other things.

Do you find that? You can wrack your brains over a problem and when you put it aside and work on something else, an idea forms with no effort at all. 

Okay, I'd best sign off as I can hear hubby vacuuming the floors around the door mess, which means it's time for a cuppa and the last bits of that apple gingerbread I made a few days ago. Nothing quite like a warm cup of tea and some pudding on a rainy autumn afternoon.

Bless you heaps!

Days of sunshine and days of rain...

 April can be a funny season here. Most years the tropical summer extends into the very last days of the month, it's hot and humid fingers holding fast till the end. 

This year has been pretty much the same, though the earlier sunsets and relatively cool nights we've enjoyed these past ten days or so have been welcome relief. It's been especially refreshing to sleep without air conditioning, finally opening wide the windows to usher in a soft evening breeze.

When the weather forecast warned of heavy rain to fall over a few days from Thursday, Blossom and I decided it would be a good idea to take the children up the mountain on Wednesday so that they could run wild and free before the rainy days curtailed their outdoor fun for a while.

A wild bush turkey enjoyed nibbling the crusts of their sandwiches, and Charlie was fascinated watching it.

Back and forth between running amok, the children would keep watch over their new feathered friend. And I think he kept watch of them too...

On Thursday, as the rain began to fall, I decided to clean out the two fridges, bake bread, and generally tidy up the pantry areas whilst also using up any older produce. 

I had a large bowl of apples which needed to be cooked and a delicious apple gingerbread pudding was the perfect use for them. 

If you've never made the recipe before I'm putting together a file of my favourite recipes to share with you next week.

I chop the apples into thin slices and stew them before pouring the gingerbread sponge over the top and baking. Served with custard, cream or ice-cream it's simply delicious.

 

Recently I read about dehydrating your fresh apple peelings because you can make tea from them. Isn't that a wonderful idea? So I set the dehydrator up and within three hours had a jar full of apple skins ready to brew tea. 

I often plan breakfasts days ahead because if not, we end up having the same thing day after day...and that's not a bad thing because muesli, yoghurt and fresh fruit every morning is a wonderful brekky.

But I like to prepare something different at least twice a week, just for variety.

Yesterday I milled some wheat grain, and using up leftover chopped apricots and sultanas, I baked a honey fruit loaf to have as morning toast. We had it with fresh strawberries, banana and coffee this morning (Friday) and it was quite delicious!

The rain last night was very heavy and the pumps were working overtime to bring the water down in the front and back yards. Sophie loves fresh rain water and will even venture out into the sodden yard to drink it. 

The olive tree was bent over the roses this morning, but the weight of the rain always does this. The leaves are long and slender, perfect for making olive leaf tea.

It's almost time to prune back the roses for winter, but at the moment they are full of new buds and blooms so I'll enjoy this final flush of beauty for a while yet.

Some of our raised beds were planted out with tomatoes, dill, jalapenos and rocket (arugula) last weekend, amidst companion plants of marigold, zinnias and chrysanthemums. This rain will definitely boost the smaller seedlings.

As I type this blog post the rain is falling again, and I can hear it getting heavier, so I shall brew myself a cup of herbal tea and head into the sewing room to make a list of projects I'd like to complete over the coming cooler months...and then I will put on a pot of soup and it can simmer away while I finish a book and listen to some instrumental music.

This week's inspirational video I've chosen to share with you is another beautifully crafted day in a life, productive, creative, delicious, thoughtful and peaceful. I do hope you enjoy it.

Even though I'm in mid-autumn, many of you are enjoying spring, however this is one of those videos for any season...

God bless your dear hearts, and may your own days overflow with sweet delights, productivity, and times of rest and refreshment. 

hugs

Missed a blog post? Follow along HERE or add your email address to the pink box in my blog sidebar. 

Resurrection Sunday...

 

This morning the grandchildren and Blossom came by to celebrate Resurrection Sunday with us.

We read the story of Christ's last days beginning with the Passover meal, then to the betrayal by Judas, the Crucifixion of our precious Lord, and finally - the glorious Resurrection.

This year I used a hollow chocolate egg to illustrate the dark, sealed tomb which held Jesus' body after Joseph of Arimathea took it down from the cross and wrapped it in clean linen. 

Though the girls are just 4 and 5, they grasped it all...Rafaella especially took in the painting of Jesus on the cross in her children's bible, and looked at it long and hard before she would allow me to turn the page to the story of the tomb. 

They heard once more of how Jesus had told his disciples that He would be raised to life after three days, and then I unwrapped the chocolate egg and held it before them.

The egg became a tomb, solid and impenetrable. I asked Who was inside this tomb. They answered together, "Jesus!"

"Well", I said, "let's open the tomb and look inside."

So I cracked the chocolate egg and a piece fell away. They looked inside and shouted, "It's empty!"

I responded, "Yes, because Jesus always tells the truth, and He said He would be raised from the dead, so today we celebrate the empty tomb and our Risen Saviour."

There was lots of cheering from the girls and little Charlie joined in too. Blossom and hubby sat nearby, and soon we were all breaking open empty chocolate tombs together. 

We don't use the word Easter anymore in our family as it's simply not related to the truth of what we know about Passover, the Crucifixion and Resurrection Sunday...we name the days for what they are, and by doing that we tell a story, a true story of God's Son who came to earth to die for all, so that we could all be reconciled to the Father should we choose to. Jesus paid it all. He gave what we could not.

A perfect sacrifice that was truly horrible - but which ended in the most glorious day of His Resurrection.

As I prayed over what to share on the blog about these profoundly life-altering days, the Lord reminded me of this older pattern which I'd shared before, so I decided to stitch it again.

As I looked at it, there was a jump in my heart as I read the words with fresh understanding, an understanding for this very season we are in, for this very Resurrection Day.

...The WORD of God...

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." 

John 1:1

The WORD of God is Jesus. 

So let's look at Hebrews 4:12 anew this day.

"JESUS is living and powerful"

Yes, our Lord is LIVING. 

He is alive and He is powerful...He is Jesus the Christ, Son of the living God, our Redeemer and Saviour. He died but was raised to life triumphant over death and hell. He defeated the enemy, He won the battle, He paved the way to God for you and I with His own blood. 

Use the link below to download the pattern. 

DOWNLOAD The Word of God

Friends, hold fast to what is true. Do not be swayed into following the traditions of the world, but study the truth and embrace it with a whole heart giving all glory to God.

It's hard to avoid the easter egg bombardment at this time of year, I know, but we can use it as a tool to share about the empty tomb withy children and adults alike. When the children were saying goodbye today, I sent them home with another small hollow chocolate egg each and my heart was overjoyed to hear them call it "an empty tomb". 

Children really do catch on to truth when we share it with them.

hugs

Adjusting and choosing joy...

 

I'm adjusting to the slower state of days, the importance of not doing more than my heart can handle, longer periods of appreciation for who and what are right before me, and acceptance that though God holds my life (and yours) in His care, that I also have a part to play in doing what I can to breathe life, health and happiness into the years still to be lived.

Ordering my days is somewhat natural to me after all these decades of homemaking, and much of that order will not change, it just needs a little adjusting to suit the season I'm in right now. 

Simple things, like preparing and baking malted fruit bread early in the morning, draws satisfaction to the surface of my thoughts, and a sense of accomplishment. Preparing food for my family is a great delight, both for me and for them, and it also brings my blood pressure down to normal. 

The cardiologist listened as I described to him the activities which lower my blood pressure - being in the kitchen, the garden, swimming, cleaning the house, even vacuuming and mopping. He smiled, and then said "Obviously those activities are calming and enjoyable to you...keep doing them." :-)

The plump fruit within the honey drizzled loaf reminds me that my life can bring forth good and bountiful fruit if I use my time wisely, consider my words carefully, and live with holy purpose. I think it's marvellous the way God can teach us lessons through the motions of our every day life, don't you? Even in a malted fruit loaf.

"The way you keep your house, the way you organise your time, the care you take in your personal appearance, the things you spend your money on, all speak loudly about what you believe. The beauty of thy peace shines forth in an ordered life." Elisabeth Elliot

I've found that many things around home can be done without much effort on days when I'm too weary for heavy chores - like filling the dehydrator and letting it work on my behalf. 

Following Annabel's example a few weeks back I bought up on bags of frozen mixed vegetables, 100% Australian produce, and continued to fill the pantry with dehydrated veggies in large glass jars - stocking up while the prices and supply are still reasonable. 

During my rest times I am slowly re-stitching an older design in colours more suited to my preferred pastel palette as I watch a new mystery series on Britbox Australia - "Sister Boniface" - which I'm rather enjoying. 

Watering the garden in the shaded early morning before the humidity gets the better of me always brings calm to my soul and joy to my thoughts, especially with so many native bees darting in and out of the two huge Thai basil shrubs. We don't eat Thai basil as we're not keen on the flavour, but we grow the plants simply because they encourage native bees to visit.

It's hard to get good photos of the bees as they tend to move faster than the honey bee, but here's some of the lovely blue-banded bees that frequent the shrubs. I've added a circle around the bees so you can find them in the photos.

The quote "busy as a bee" was penned by Geoffrey Chaucer in his Canterbury Tales (1392), and he used it in reference to women, busy about their daily chores. 

Here's a great carpenter bee. They love the huge hands of elderflowers on our elder tree.

For a better photo here's one I took in the garden two years ago. These large bees are my favourites in the garden and I often just stand outside talking to them as they buzz around.

Day by day I am adjusting to an enforced slower life, and though at first I was (to be honest) rather rebellious about it, once the shock wore off and I spent time researching enlarged hearts, and especially their connection to Hashimoto's, then shed a few tears (oh woe is me, you know?), I did what most women do when faced with an adjustment to their lives...

I put my big-girl panties on and chose to be grateful for every new day, and to do all I am able to in order to regain health, energy and longevity for the years ahead. 

My plans are to keep trusting God with my heart and life, giving thanks for EVERYTHING He brings my way, plus - planning and eating a more heart-healthy diet, continuing to swim gentle laps in our pool every afternoon, learning new things because my time is now freer to do so (watercolour painting is top of that list), accepting help if I need it, blogging more regularly, trying a variety of crafts that take my fancy...and spending more time with my loved ones. Can you imagine the smile on my face? I'm beaming! 

Well, that's it for today. Hope you're doing well wherever you are, that you've got support if you need it, that you are supporting others if you're able, and that you are making time to step outside and appreciate the natural beauty which the Lord created for His pleasure and ours.

I shall sign off with this video, which really inspired me to explore things like natural dying, and using old clothes and fabric to create new things. Simply wonderful story of an 'old' Japanese lady!

You'll need to click on the 'Watch on YouTube' link below. 

hugs

Free Project to make and a week in this life...

 

I love discovering new kitchen crafts to make, new recipes to try, and new decor ideas to ponder and plan. In fact anything to do with adding life, beauty and function to our home puts a smile on my face and a skip in my step. 

Years ago I saw a very cute 'string' bag in a magazine and thought to myself, "I'm going to make one of those bags someday"...well friends, my someday arrived. I'm sure these little bags with a hole in the front for pulling string through hung in many kitchens when my Nana was a young wife and mother during the Depression, but I can't remember seeing one in modern times. Needless to say, they are quite a handy tool for the homemaker, so why not make it really pretty as well?

I drew my little bird up on a piece of linen, then fused a piece of very thin fabric stabiliser behind the traced stitchery.

A tiny hole was cut at the centre of the flower, and for a few days I spent a little time each afternoon on the slow stitching of my bird.

 

The linen measured 10" high by 12" wide, and I folded it in half so that I had a 10" x 6" linen bag shape. I measured up 2.5" from the base of the bag front and traced my bird so that it would sit in the centre of the bag. See in the photo above.

Once the stitchery was completed (the hole is made with buttonhole stitch) I opened out the linen and measured down 2" from the top of the bag as a guide for sewing some cotton ribbon casings, which would later be threaded with string to close the bag. 

Isn't this old Tilda ribbon lovely? I discovered it hidden at the bottom of one of my lace and ribbon boxes where I had forgotten all about it! 

Next I made a hanging loop from more of the ribbon and hid the ends under the centre of the ribbon at the back of the bag. 

Then it was time to sew the bottom and the open side closed with a French seam. If you're making this for yourself...

French Seam: Press the piece of linen in half to create the bag shape, with the bird stitchery centred on the front half of the folded linen. Keeping the wrong sides together, sew down the side and across the bottom of the bag with a 1/4" seam.

Now turn the bag inside out, and sew another seam down the side and across the base. This now encloses the raw edge, and you have made a French seam.

Turn the bag right side out.

A few final steps followed. 

I sewed a double 1/4" hem around the top edge of the bag...

...then threaded a 20" length of string through the ribbon casings so that both ends of the string come out on the right side of the bag.

Bag complete, I popped a ball of string inside the bag and pushed one end out through the hole in the bird. Pulling the casing strings through the ribbon and tying a knot to secure the bag closed, my new string bag was ready to hang in the kitchen!

I wonder where you'll hang your string bag?

I have mine hanging near the pantry door, where it looks pretty and is easily accessible should I need a length of string.

This Kitchen Craft project would be great to make for homemaking friends so why not sew a few and pop them in your gift box? Use the link below to download the free stitchery pattern.

DOWNLOAD the String Bag stitchery pattern.

For the rest of the year I'll bring you new ideas for Simple Kitchen Crafts, but if you have some ideas of your own please leave them in the comments. Next week I'll have a different version of the string bag to show you, and a second free stitchery for it. 

READING:

I began reading a new book this week, one of four I recently purchased, and it's even lovelier than I'd hoped. "For the Love of Homemaking" by Mrs Sharon White is a collection of her blog posts from 2009-2012 and I am so inspired in my own homemaking by her writings, so I'll share titbits on my own blog as I journey through this book.

I was also surprised by how much I'm enjoying Shana Schutte's devotional book "Two Minutes in the Bible for Women". None of the devotionals are more than two pages, but they pack a punch so be forewarned. By the sixth day I had ordered another copy for Blossom!

Another book by Mrs Sharon White looks promising too, though I've not yet begun it. "A Mother's House: the Blessing of Being a Christian Housewife" were blog posts published in 2015-16. 

You can no longer read the blog posts, but I find it wonderful to have them all together in a book.

The fourth book I bought was a children's story about that wonderful man of God, George Muller, and this morning I sat at Blossom's with the children gathered around and read it to them. So many questions they had, especially as they are privileged not to live as homeless starving orphans and were wanting to know more. 

Children are never too young to learn about great men and women, for in teaching them about such people we can encourage them to be good and kind and brave too.

COOKING:

When I went to Blossom's this morning I took a batch of sour dough raspberry and lemon muffins. I cook a lot with sour dough these days, and am regularly experimenting with new recipes that make use of my sour dough discard.

A favourite recipe are these sour dough crackers which I find hard to stop eating once I begin! The only ingredients are -

185g of sour dough discard 

30g melted butter 

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon garlic powder

Mix everything together well, then spread thinly on a parchment lined tray. Scatter a little more sea salt across the top. 

Bake at 160c (325f) for ten minutes and then take the tray out of the oven to score the batter into squares with a knife. Place back in the oven and bake for another 20-30 minutes until golden brown.

Remove from the oven, cool, and then break apart along the score lines. Seriously delicious!!

I find myself baking two loves of bread a week as that is sufficient for the two of us. My Mockmill 100 grain mill is amazing, and the home milled flour has added a wonderful flavour and texture to all my baking.

Another recipe for using sour dough discard is this Banana Bread. Wow, this was really good, and if you'd like to try it pop over HERE to the King Arthur Flour site. I replaced half the ordinary white flour used in the recipe with my own freshly milled flour and the banana bread baked beautifully.

I was cleaning out the fridge yesterday and discovered a kilo of organic pears I'd purchased at Coles, reduced to $1 - how often do you come across bargains like that? I don't, so it was important to make use of the pears before they ripened too far. 

My husband doesn't like pears, but I love them, so I decided to make a jar of pear jam. HERE is the recipe I used. I haven't tried it yet, but as soon as my next loaf of bread is cool it will get a trial run. Hopefully it will be yummy.

Much of what I've made in the past few days has been chosen as a way to use up what was already in the fridge. 

The sour dough discard needs to be used every few days. The banana bread was made because I had five almost black bananas in the bowl. The raspberry muffins because I had almost two punnets of raspberries which needed to be eaten quickly. The pear jam because the pears were almost too ripe. And then there was this bread and butter baked pudding, which used up the last of our milk, eggs and bread - but also the last bit of apricot jam in the jar. 

I must say that spreading the apricot jam over the buttered bread before pouring the custard mix across the top is something I shall be doing every time I make this recipe. Hubby and I both loved it. 

Meals have been simple and delicious - chicken and roast vegetables / chicken and corn soup made with my own bone broth and the leftover chicken / nourish bowls with brown rice, fresh vegetables, black beans, brown rice and Korean sauces / and yummy dahl with brown rice were some of the dinners we enjoyed this past week.

I had my second ever trip in an ambulance on Wednesday, just a precautionary measure ordered by my doctor. I spent the afternoon and evening with simply wonderful nurses and cardiac doctors, and was allowed back home by bedtime with a list of tests and procedures to look forward to in the weeks ahead. At least now I know one thing - I have an enlarged heart. 

I'm totally calm and at peace, grateful for such good care on Wednesday, and relieved at knowing the Lord holds my life in His care and will be by my side in the journey ahead. Your prayers are appreciated, because who doesn't want prayer? We are called to pray for one another, so if you have a prayer need right now leave it in the comments below and I will pray for you, and I'm sure every believer reading your request will pray as well. 

Just so you know, I'm feeling very well today and have been back in the garden for an hour to keep doing those little things that all add up to big things in the end - atomic habits. 

Bless you all so very much, and know that you are loved and treasured by an awesome God, and that your life has meaning, no matter what season you are in. 

Ephesians 2:10 is a verse which has helped steer my course through many moments of doubt, and I pray you take it to heart as well because God created YOU for a purpose and if you still have breath, dear one, you have a purpose. 

(If you'd like to stitch this pattern you will find it HERE)

Hope you didn't mind the long blog post today. From Monday I'll be doing a few shorter blog posts each week instead of one large post. Much easier to read and write I think. 

hugs