Making our own...

 

TEA CUP BLESSING:

This is my new tea cup and saucer set. Last post I spoke of how I'd seen a mini ironing board at the op-shop a month previous, and regretted not buying it, so I'd prayed and asked the Lord to hold it there for me, or have another one at the shop next time I visited...and a month later, there it was waiting for me. 

Well, when I finally bought that little ironing board I saw this beautiful tea cup and saucer, and thought to myself, "Now that's a gift I'd love, exactly the set I'd choose for myself with that wee birdie and flowers." But I did not think it in my budget so I left it there and hoped someone else would enjoy it. 

Yesterday I had some errands to run, and popped into that op-shop to see if I could find a cheap cotton sheet to use for sewing up a new thin summer blanket for the Kelly-dog's bed. (He loves to wrap himself in a blanket at night and is still using the polar fleece blankie from winter, though I can see he's kicking it off before waking up each morning as its very warm and humid here this spring) Praise God, I did find a lovely blue pinstripe sheet and now that its been washed and sun-dried I can begin sewing it into a doggy blanket later today. I was so happy with that sheet, a good cotton one, barely ever used, and perfect for a boy-dog's bed, but then as I walked towards the counter to pay there was that same cup and saucer on a shelf nearby. If my heart could smile, it would have been a mile wide! After thanking the Lord I purchased it, for less than half the price it had been originally. What a blessing! I am reminded yet again, to pray over everything, even small insignificant things, and then leave it with God. Have you experienced a simple yet unexpected blessing lately? 

SASHIKO Question asked:

This comment was left on a previous blog post recently so I thought I'd answer today in case there's more of you with a similar desire to dabble with sashiko but not knowing where to start? 

"I love your work with the sashiko sewing. It is so beautiful that I was wondering what your source is for the patterns and the fabric with grids, etc. I would really like to get into that and I am not sure where to go for the supplies., maybe online? Thank you so much, Devonna"

My first suggestion is to visit your local library and borrow some books on sashiko. That's how I began. There are numerous books which can help with learning the basics, offering templates to trace, or grid pages you can photocopy. I branched out fairly quickly to Boro as well and made over a dress into a Boro top, something I will do again one day, but sashiko is part of my stitching journey now and I find it very soothing, gentle and satisfying. 

There were two books at the library which I borrowed a few times, and eventually bought my own copies, but one was more about boro and darning stitch, and that's not really for beginners, however, the other is Essential Sashiko: A Dictionary of the 92 Most Popular Patterns by Boutique-Sha, which includes 11 easy projects as well. In fact I loved that this book has grid sheets in the back to photocopy and last week I used a sheet to draw up the wickerwork design...

Then I traced it onto some repurposed pink linen fabric (which had once been part of a blouse), and chose the sashiko thread colour to match the centre of the flowers in this older Tilda print fabric.

I traced the design onto the linen with a heat erasable pen, after fusing some very thin stabiliser behind it. Linen can be quite fine so I find some stabiliser is important when employing any kind of hand embroidery to it. The fusible stabiliser I use is Staflex 3045, which is as thin as tissue paper and makes a world of difference when hand stitching. 

I have not finished a project from the completed Wickerwork block yet, but it will be done soon and I'll share it here for you to see. 

Something new for me was to buy a set of sashiko stencils, and I got these from Temu. There's 24 different sashiko templates to trace from and in keeping with my "sewing with purpose" mindset, I set about using the #1 template, which was a hexagon shape, and made a pouch to house the complete set. 

I featured the completed hexagon on the front of the pouch, and used press-studs as the closure. The templates now have a home, and I can find them easily. Actually, one thing I am enjoying about sewing with purpose, is making 'homes' for various sewing supplies. "A place for everything and everything in its place" as Nana used to say. 

The blue fabric background for the sashiko block is cotton that I dyed last year, and the thread is a DMC Perle 8 which matched the pouch fabric nicely. The sweet floral pouch fabric is a sturdy linen also bought on Temu, and the lining is made from the remnants of an old linen sheet. 

(I need to say that the few sewing items I have bought from Temu this year have not just been cheap, but they have all been excellent quality. I read all the reviews first of course, before adding them to my cart.)

Other good books I've borrowed from the library for sashiko are these. I'll include the Amazon Australia links so you can see the covers (I am not an affiliate, and just sharing links so you can 'see' the books)

The Ultimate Sashiko Sourcebook by Susan Briscoe

Simply Sashiko by Nihon Vogue

Sashiko Color by Boutique-Sha

Sashiko 365 by Susan Briscoe

MAKING HEALTHY CAPSULES:

For about the past 26 years, I have studied many various aspects of health, with the focus on natural ways to optimise my family's personal health through diet and supplements, as well as natural skin care and homecare products I could make myself.

Hubby and I have been taking turmeric/pepper capsules for many years, but over the past twelve months we have noticed the cost of these have gone through the roof and for a while we just didn't buy any. We also eat fresh ginger everyday - some from our garden, but in the off-season we buy it instead. I dehydrate much of our home-grown ginger for herbal teas, because that way we have it on hand for years. (I'd need to have an extra 1/4 acre just for growing ginger if I was to make my own ground ginger, so that's not an option)

A few months back I watched a woman on Youtube making her own capsules. She had dried herbs from her garden, ground them up and filled empty gelatine capsules, then given them as gifts...but it made me think about turmeric and I went on a little journey to find out more. Along the way I discovered that ground ginger is far more potent and beneficial than fresh, so with my new found knowledge I purchased a capsule making kit, 500 'slow release' empty capsules, and a kilo each of organic ground turmeric, ground ginger, and whole black peppercorns (which I grind myself as needed). This past weekend I made 200 turmeric/black pepper capsules, and 100 ginger capsules. 

I thought this would all be difficult, but as it turned out, I simply followed the photo tutorial inside the kit, and found it all quite easy indeed. 

We take the a ginger capsule and a turmeric capsule in the mornings with our other supplements, and I take another turmeric capsule at night. 

THIS is the capsule filling machine I bought, and THESE are the gelatine capsules. Again, these are links to show you what bought as I am not an affiliate. 

The health benefits for ginger and turmeric w/pepper are vast and we are thrilled to have found a more economic way to make our own supplements from ingredients we chose ourselves. :-)

OTHER THINGS:

I am baking one loaf of sour dough per week because if I bake more we eat more! Having that Monday 'prepare' and Tuesday 'bake' routine is good, just like my 'write a blog post' every Thursday routine is good. Routines are my favourite thing when it comes to homemaking, and just as needful as when we followed a routine through those eleven years of homeschooling. I am a girl who has always thrived in a routine, and I wonder if that's natural or whether it came from growing up with Nana? Her routine appeared so natural because everyday flowed seemlessly in our tiny flat, but I wish I'd asked about it when I had the chance (she passed away when I was 23 and I still had so much to glean from her). Was it self-dsicipline, or just the everyday life of a happy and calm woman who took pride in her little home? I think perhaps the latter, for my darling Nana smiled and laughed a lot. :-)

News of Blossom and Ross - it's time for the rental home they are in to be sold and at the 11th hour, our Father God has provided for them a new home, one that has more to offer than the previous one. It's still near the beach, and in the same suburb, so they're the same distance from us (1/2 hour drive north)as before, but what a blessing! They move on the 24th of this month so we ask that you would pray for no rain that day, and a smooth transfer from one house to the other. What a wonderful answer to prayer!

NEXT WEEK...

I have an idea, which I shall share with you next week. Something you may like to stitch for Christmas gifting. I suggested this to Blossom for the two girls, Cully May and Rafaella, and she shouted YES into the phone with such enthusiasm that I thought it might be a pattern to share here. Please pray the Lord adds His own creative touch to this idea, and that it may glorify Him. May His own heart smile...

God bless precious ones!

Until next time,

PS: My Etsy Shop is always open, so please drop by if you are in the mood for something new to stitch.

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