Trying something new, and repairing the garden...

This year I have been enjoying learning more about Japanese embroidery and sashiko, and these are two things I find incredibly relaxing, especially as I like to keep my fingers busy in the evening, when the work of the day is behind me. 

Currently I'm working on a pattern by Yumiko Higuchi, from her book 'A Year of Embroidery'. The book was gifted to me by a very kind blog reader, Debby, for my birthday in February, and I have chosen the cover design as my first project from it. Living in the tropics, we are constantly surrounded by geckos and lizards - in fact you can watch geckos running here and there across our floor and ceiling every night - so the lizard in this design caught my eye immediately. 

In my own designs I always use two threads, or perhaps a single strand for bees or words, but its been quite a learning curve to embroider with six strands! But I am loving it. :-)

When I visit our local library nowadays, the first shelf I walk to is the one where I can find Japanese craft books. They don't have many, but the ones they have are good, and this week I came across this one...

I don't usually 'read' craft books, but flip through to find something of interest to make, however, I could not put this down last night. The author creates the most interesting and lovely clothes from old worn pieces, to which she will stitch patches, in various sizes and overlaps, to cover holes or threadbare sections, but also adding more to bring visual balance to the item. She saves all her scraps, and gathers more from trips to charity stores, so that she can take her time repairing her clothes, or making something from various pieces, using just the right colour or scrap. 

Boro began from sashiko, the simple art of running stitch to mend. Over time sashiko became more decorative, but boro is still associated with mending patches over each other. 

The author, Harumi Horiuchi, takes you through different stages of her clothing makeovers, and shows the varied techniques she uses, including dying old fabrics and sashiko threads together to get the right shade for mending or adding extra patches to the background fabrics. 

I am so inspired by her, that I dug out a few very plain cotton dresses, white and cream, that I had purchased for a few dollars back in 2020 and intended to dye. I also pulled out my stash of linen scraps, and created a bundle of pieces to use in my own version of a boro dress. 

I have an idea in my mind of how I'll do this, but in reality this will be about learning a new skill, and creating something useful and wearable in the process. I shall keep you updated on my progress with this. 

Kelly has been with us for two weeks now, and already he is a very different dog to the nervous and sick little boy he was when we brought him home from the animal rescue shelter. He brings us so much joy, and in return he showers us with love. He is still very wary of other humans, but loves Blossom and her family, including their dog, Barnaby. 

This morning we took Kelly over for a visit, and Barnaby and he met outside on the front lawn, both on leads. Now both Kelly and Barnaby do not like other dogs, but they quietly rubbed noses, had a sniff, and hung out together for the next twenty minutes, calm as can be. We are overjoyed! Now we know they are fine together, Blossom can bring Barnaby over when she and the children visit us. 

Our garden was pretty well decimated during the months of monsoon rain and floods, but we're slowly removing things that couldn't cope, nurturing things that did, and planting a few veggies and herbs (a little at a time).

It's lovely to see flowers in bloom again, and various herbs thriving. Interestingly, the only things that survived well, were plants in pots or raised beds, as we could move the pots, and the larger raised bed had good drainage. 

(white angelonia, and the sage in the backgound flourished all through the summer monsoons and heat - sage never has before)

(likewise the basil never let up, and all areas of the garden where we had it in pots or raised beds, it thrived)

(chives and spring (green) onions struggled and most died, but they are coming back wonderfully now - I also sprouted some basil from a cutting and it's doing well in a pot)

(more sage, and purple angelonia)

(mint, lemon balm, lime balm, a potted bay tree, aloe vera, and ferns, among other things, have come along well in their pots over the past few dry weeks)

 

I did a lot of pruning after Easter, and cleared this area above. To kick start our winter growing I have planted out parsley, rocket (arugula) and cucumber seedlings in various pots around the yard, and planted seeds of snow peas, dill, coriander, and various flowers into raised beds and a few pots. 

There's still so much to do, but small steps add up and I can see life in the garden once more. The passionfruit and mulberry are fruiting, as is our lime tree (though it gave an abundance of huge heavy fruit all through the monsoon season). My ginger also fared well and will be ready to harvest in another month.

Our fallen Poicianna has been chopped into pieces for burning in Blossom's fire pit through winter, but hubby kept one long piece of trunk for us to use as a bench seat. He still has a lot of work to do on it, but it will be lovely one day. 

He took advice from Rosie's husband Brian, who is very knowledgable about all things horticultural, and we're trying to save what's left of the Poinciana, hoping it will regrow. Only time will tell. 

It is odd to see the cut piece of trunk growing, but that just means there's still a lot of nutrition in it. The piece of trunk still in the ground is also sprouting. Time will tell if we can bring new life to our dear tree. 

I hope you have had a lovely week, and wonder if you are working on anything in your own garden? Have you tried Boro, or some other new-to-you craft? I'd love to hear about the things you're doing. 

God bless dear ones, and I pray that just like my garden, if you've had some difficult times this year, that you can see recovery in the weeks and months ahead. My garden is currently a lesson in slow and steady, patience, hard work, and hope. We must never lose hope. 

Until next time, may the light of Jesus fill your dark spaces, and His JOY overflow in your hearts!

You will find my design account on Instagram HERE @jennyofelefantz

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