Joy in the Ordinary block 5...and hats...

 

I enjoy watching and re-watching the Miss Marple movies with Geraldine McEwan more than any other version...but I think some of you may have preferred Joan Hickson or Julie McKenzie instead? It really doesn't matter, but I would be interested to know your favourite.

In Murder at the Vicarage, the vicar's wife Griselda loves hats, and has many beautiful ones to choose from. 

In fact, in every Marple movie (they were set in the 1950's) all women wore a hat. 

I have often pondered with Blossom our combined love of these movies, and how we never, ever, tire of them...and you know, it's all about the little English villages, the flower fronted cottages, the afternoon cups of tea and scones or cake, hats and dresses, and the homes. We are very much drawn to the very simple, ordinary life which is portrayed by everyday people in many of these movies.

My Nana wore hats, though we rarely took photos 'back in the day' as we did not have a camera, but I do have this one from the mid 1950's of her and Pop. 

And this is a photo of my mum, aged 19 (1960) at a family wedding, and me at that same wedding a little later when mum took off her hat and placed it on me. (((my favourite pics to remember her by)))

Blossom loves hats, and has one of those heads that really suits them! Here's an old photo of her (aged 20) from 2014 when we tried on all sorts of dress-up hats one day at Spotlight. 

And this trend carried on with her daughters Cully May and Rafaella, who also like trying on headwear at Spotlight! This is a photo from 2019...

Now all this hat stuff today was to explain why there's a hat in this month's free pattern for my Joy in the Ordinary BOM! 

I was thinking about Griselda's hats when I watched Murder at the Vicarage for the umpteenth time last month, and well, it inspired me. Hope you like it. Thought I'd add the phrase too, as it has always been my intention to have it displayed somewhere on this small quilt before we finished it. 

Do you wear hats?? Do you have childhood memories of hat wearing women? I only wear one for gardening these days, but to slip back into the 1950's would be such a treat if I could wear those lovely dresses and a pretty hat like Griselda's.

Use the link below to download the free pattern.

DOWNLOAD Block 5

If you missed the previous four blocks you will find them HERE

Now I'd best be away and water my garden. Barefoot. It's a wonderful thing to walk in the grass, don't you think? God bless and have a wonderful first week of May!

hugs

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A little town, baking, old doilies and a gift...

A few weekends ago, hubby and I took a long drive south-west to the lovely old gold-mining town of Ravenswood. There was a time when we visited regularly, but since we bought this home in 2018 we've only been there a couple of times. 

It's a very quiet town, almost deserted on a Sunday morning, with old weathered buildings, and some  exquisite iron-lacework on the display around their wide shady verandahs - something which always catches my eye when we're in outback towns.

This is the main street....

Further along the street...the corner shop/post office/petrol station all-in-one (love the old petrol bowsers and the red telephone box)...

Molly-dog always comes along on our Sunday drives and gets very excited when hubby picks up her halter to secure her in the car. She's seen a lot of the Australian outback, coast and countryside in the eight months we have had her and is an excellent traveller.

These old Fords would have stories to tell...

Gold was discovered in Ravenswood in 1868, and the following year there was a gold rush. Today this tiny town has over 400 workers at the Ravenswood mine, which is the largest goldmine in our state of Queensland. 

You can see the mine easily from the town, but I took this photo as we drove away because the local lookout is temporarily closed.

The reason we love this place is the peace and quiet. It's been a dream of ours for many, many years to one day move to a small country town and settle there in retirement. The Lord may have other ideas, and that's okay, but for now we relish the long Sunday drives and the mental and physical refreshment we gain by being right out in nature with our dog, a flask of tea, some sandwiches, homemade biscuits (cookies) or cake. 

Just wanted to share this with you today, as I think we all seek quiet places at times, don't you? 

Gift pattern...

Nine years ago I designed this sweet little stitchery for one of my clubs, and the message still resonates today, so I thought you might like to stitch it yourself. It's only small and can be made quickly, or maybe you'll stitch as I do - with a slow and gentle rhythm? 

Use the link below to download my free pattern.

DOWNLOAD the Quiet Places pattern

I tried two new recipes in the kitchen recently - a delicious sweet shortcrust pastry, and some lovely sultana & sour cream biscuits (cookies). Having never had much success with shortcrust pastry in the past, I was so excited that this one worked and tasted amazing. 

We had a kilo of Royal Gala apples which needed using up so along with some blackberries I baked an apple and blackberry pie. 

Royal Gala apples don't break down like Granny Smiths when cooked, they keep their shape with a bit of bite, exactly how hubby and I enjoy them. 

With the leftover pastry I thought of Nana, and made myself a childhood favourite - jam tart baked on a bone china plate. Truly, I smiled all afternoon as I nibbled bits and pieces, because it's more than a comfort food. It's a memory which overflows with joy. 

I may have mentioned this before, but my husband much prefers a slice or biscuits (cookies) to cake, so I'm trying some new recipes from old Women's Weekly cookbooks. This week I made Sultana Biscuits, though I have renamed them Sultana Sour Cream biscuit because sour cream is a main ingredient and replaces a large percentage of the butter we'd normally add when making biscuits. Oh, these were delicious!! Rolling them in coconut before baking adds to the flavour. Yum! They will be a regular on my baking list from now on.

I'll share the recipes with you in the next blog post if you like?

In the sewing room I'm making more jar covers, some with embroidery, some with crochet edging...

...and now I'm playing around with repurposing damaged vintage doilies to create even more. I simply cut out a usable section of the doily and needle-turn it to the centre of a suitable matching fabric. I will finish these ones tomorrow, and perhaps add lace edging as well.  

Time now to sign off and do the late afternoon chores - take the washing off the line, make my husband's lunch for work tomorrow, fold the washing, feed the pets, water the garden and do a general tidy up of my sewing room. 

It is such a privilege to have a home, to have people to care for, to have the skills to make, create and grow things, and to walk each day with the Lord. 

I hope and pray you are cherishing what you have, dear ones...and that you know how much YOU are cherished by our loving Father in heaven.

(I'll be back on Thursday with the next free pattern in this year's Joy in the Ordinary BOM)

Hugs

Don't miss out on any Elefantz news or free patterns. 

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Ordinary days of autumn...

 We've had no rain for almost a month now, so it's back to hand watering the garden just before sunset each night. The daytime temps for mid-autumn have been a consistent 31C (88F) and the nights 22C (72F)...and oh how I am longing for the day time temps to drop into the 20s, and the nights into the teens. I actually bought a cardigan this week in HOPE of actually getting a winter this year. Ha ha!! It's only a thin open-weave cardigan, but I shall enjoy wearing it when the time arrives. 

The Cubby - 

Around home I've been moving things about in our back undercover area. Cully May and Rafaella asked if I could fix up the cubby house and turn it into a cafe - hmmm. This spurred me on to re-organising the outdoor area so I could bring more natural light into my dark kitchen. By moving the cubby nearer the garden, my kitchen window was free to accept sunlight, and the children also have way more room to move about in this area. 

Anyhow, once this was done I sewed new curtains, added a faux potted plant and tablecloth, and a Cafe sign above the doorway. 

Here's where it used to be, in a corner with not a lot of light or space...but now the old couch is there, and the old cupboard which holds their Cafe bits and pieces, plus my kitchen window above the cupboard is no longer half hidden. 

I bought them a teapot, sugar bowl and milk jug at the op-shop, and they're using some of my old vintage tea cups and spoons as well. I forgot to take a photo of the three of them having a high-tea in their cafe on Tuesday, but believe me they loved it! 

For cold drinks and food they have pretty paper cups, serviettes and plates left over from birthdays last year.

I crocheted edged three tea towels, one each. 

I sewed pretty girl aprons for Cully May and Rafaella, and a sturdy boy apron for Charlie David. He thought it looked great with his Fireman's helmet. ;-) 

Apart from the $3 at the op-shop and another $3 for the faux plant at Reject Shop, everything came from what I already had on hand. The cubby has been given a new life after almost a year of non-use and the whole project spurred me on to finally moving things around out the back to better serve the whole family. There's suddenly a lot more space where it once looked crowded and dark...it's amazing how a little re-organising can produce this kind of outcome around the home. 

Behind the cubby is where my garden potting area resides. I have been gradually raising seeds for the garden - flowers and herbal plants mostly, but also snow peas and asparagus peas. Some have gone into the raised beds and grow bags already, and are doing very well. New seeds have just been planted and all going well they should be in the garden 4-6 weeks from now. Then I'll plant the herbs that need a much cooler temperature to germinate, especially coriander. 

I'm very grateful that we have such a large undercover area for these things, as for most of the year our tropical sun is very fierce to be out in. 

Sewing -

Another (almost) completed project is Blossom's 30th birthday quilt. I sewed all the blocks together and was able to take a few photos to show you the quilt top.

As the quilt top is mostly white, and the backing and binding will be too, I was made to realise that hand quilting it with a heavily shedding dog and cat inside would be too stressful. It would take weeks and I'd have it over my lap all the while, with it folded around me or laying over the couch (places our pets LOVE to sit)...so for such a special birthday gift it would need to be longarm quilted.

A lovely lady not far from us has it in her care right now and will quilt it in a leaf pattern which my Blossom requested (she loves leaves). We are so excited as the Lord provided the cost through two weeks of higher than normal pattern sales in my Etsy shop. He knew, before I did, that hand quilting a white quilt was not the best idea given our home situation, so we praise His kind and generous heart for this provision!

I am still enjoying sewing jar covers from my scrap fabrics, but have moved right on to embroidered ones. As the stitcheries all need to sit inside a 4" circle I decided to choose patterns from some of my previous quilt designs. I finished this one earlier today, and the little embroidery is from one of the Simple Days blocks, though I did reduce the size a smidgin...

I have two more traced and ready to stitch but intend adding a lace edge to them this time. I find this little project very relaxing, and my gift-box is filling with them so that's a real bonus. 

In the Garden -

Well, we had such a wet season this summer that there were no bees to pollinate my pumpkin plants. Here is the only pumpkin we grew (it's called a Queensland Blue), and we've named it Survivor, so I'm planning on making something special with it soon. Earlier this month I planted two new pumpkin plants in the front yard and as we're back to the dry season I might have plenty more to harvest by late spring. I planted our old favourite this time, a Kent (or Jap is another name for it) because we always get an abundant harvest from it.

Our fruit trees are doing well, especially the Mulberry, Pomegranate (has flowered for the first time), Lime, Fig and Barbados Cherry. The two passionfruit vines are also heavy with fruit.

Kitchen - 

Bread is baked a lot as it is a staple (sour dough and focaccia mostly), plus jam drop biscuits (cookies), banana choc muffins, curries, stews, bone broth, pesto (we have so much basil in the garden)...and the list goes on. Just today I sent a jar of pesto and a fresh baked focaccia over to Blossom. My dear husband spent all morning fixing her car, so I made food to deliver when he took her car back. It's very handy having a husband who trained as a motor mechanic before becoming a teacher, and now a car salesman! 

How are you?

I often wonder how you are managing in your week? My life is quite ordinary, and that's just how I like it. Each week has it's own natural rhythm that rarely alters, but within that week there are always new things as well. I find that the change of season brings with it new ideas to try, old ways to retire, fresh eyes to look around my surroundings, and new things to give thanks for. 

Anzac Day -

Today is Anzac Day here in Australia, a day we honour those who served in the armed forces through every war we can remember. It's mostly focused on the ANZACs though - Australian and New Zealand Army Corps who fought bravely at Gallipoli in 1915. More than 130,000 Australian, New Zealand and Ottoman troops died in that horrendous campaign. We will remember them. 

Blossom has been reading books to the children this month about Gallipoli, preparing them to watch the Anzac march on telly this morning. She sent me photos of the girls helping her make Anzac Biscuits while they watched the march. Last year both girls walked in the march as part of their school, but this year they are homeschooling so they studied it more deeply and understood why the march was so important, why the day itself has so much meaning. 

How is your April to-do list coming along? Have you been gradually marking things off along the way?

I am really pleased with how many things on my list have been accomplished - mostly big things that seemed too hard at one stage, but are now done. And to be honest, Blossom's quilt top was really weighing on me, but when I hung it up to take a photo my heart was bursting with joy. The Lord got me there, because for a while I wasn't sure it would be done in time. 

No matter what we have going on, if we hand it all over to God and ask Him to help us, He will. He never fails...we might fail (I can attest to that personally) but He will not. So if you've got a lot of weight on your shoulders right now, or a must-do list that seems never to shrink, or if you have so much going on you don't know where to start - go to the Lord in prayer. Humbly ask Him to show you the way. 

He showed me that my plans for Blossom's mostly white quilt would cause me a lot of anxiety and problems...and I had not even considered this until he showed me one morning in prayer! And once he told me, well...it was obvious, and I had been blind to it previously. And then He provided the money to pay for machine quilting. 

Honest, you may not think that's amazing in the same way I do, but I did not even ask Him for this...yet He loves me and He knew what I needed when I didn't have a clue. That's our God, ladies. That's our loving, caring, generous, forgiving, amazing, Holy God. 

Pray. Pray often. Open your heart to Him, obey Him, teach His Word to your children and grandchildren. Never doubt Him. Just trust. I couldn't live any other way. Why would I want to? The very best in my life is Jesus and you can't top Him. Amen!

Take care dear friends, and please let me know how you're doing in the comments below. Need prayer? I'll be praying for you. Until next time....

Hugs and blessings,

Don't miss out on any Elefantz news or free patterns. 

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