Go on as usual...

 

We had a few days of heavy rain this past week, which curtailed all my gardening plans. But with every cloud, there is indeed a silver lining. We have had no rain since the end of March, apart from one morning when it pretty much evaporated before it hit the ground, so these days and nights of constant downpour from heaven were greatly needed and much rejoicing was made. 

My only complaint was finding the passionfruit vine raided by our local cockatoos. A few were scattered over the backyard and immediately I knew that was because I'd forgotten to fill the bird feeder with sunflower seeds, so I quickly remedied the situation and saved the rest of our passionfruits. 

It was providential that just as the rain set in I read this quote by Louisa May Alcott - "Go on with your work as usual, for work is a blessed solace." 

With that in mind I considered indoor tasks for occuplying my time and hands, tasks separate to my ordinary housework routines. We had run out of strawberry jam, so one morning I made four jars...

And of course, once I got started in the kitchen, it seemed a good idea to keep making and baking. Soon followed small spanakopitas for hubby and I, plus a larger one for my Cypriot/Greek son-in-law Ross who only gets to enjoy the foods of his heritage when I make them for him (this naturally makes me a popular and much loved mother-in-law). I also baked a sour dough loaf (it is still rising in the photo below)...

...and baked later that day. 

We were out of breakfast cereal so I made up a large batch of delicious granola...

...which we have with Greek yoghurt (me), or milk (hubby), fresh blueberries and raspberries. 

I also baked peanut butter cookies and rock cakes, by which time I was ready to enjoy a tall glass of herbal tea whilst waiting to bake the bread. I make a large pot every morning at sunrise, after picking a variety of herbs from the garden.  That first cup is hot, but later in the day and in the evening I have it over ice. 

This tea was made with fresh mint, rosemary, self-heal and tulsi, plus dried ginger, sliced lemon, and dried rosehips. It's absolutely delicious!

Afternoons were mostly to do with sewing, reading, and working on the herbal remedies course I began recently. I'm also continuing to sort out the sewing room, as I have a good deal of fabric in plastic tubs that must be sold soon and they take up precious space. But bit by bit it's coming together nicely...

 These rainy days also gave me more time to complete another couple of UFO projects. One of them is a favourite pattern of mine, as it's very near to my heart! You may have seen it HERE in my shop? Now it has been given a purpose as a notebook cover to keep track of my long list of partially made, ongoing, applique quilt projects...

Once the cover was completed, I listed all the quilt projects on the first page, and then chose one to work on this week. 

I  think if I do a block or two each week these lovely quilts will eventually be made, so I'm using this notebook as a journal now, with a hand written update every Sunday of what I made, and for which quilt, in the previous week. 

For this week I chose Anni Down's "Where We Love is Home" to work on. About half the blocks were already made, and as I do love needleturn applique so very much, rather than one block I ended up making another three. My colours are much brighter than the ones Anni used in her version, though I'm trying to keep a vintage feel to the fabrics I have chosen...and I'm only using what is on hand, not buying any fabrics at all. 

I'm wondering if I'll keep going with this quilt, or switch things up to a different one next week? Mmm...decisions. Maybe stay with this right now and see how far I'll get by the end of the month. 

Reading has been a mix of library books, and books off my shelf, with the focus being on living with a Mediterranean diet for better health. I had a wonderful chat with my doctor recently and though she is Indian, she is a great encourager for using the Mediterranean diet (diet as in a healthier way of eating as we age, not a weight loss diet) and as hubby's ancestry is Italian, and Ross's is Cypriot/Greek, the whole family is happy to know I'll be planning our menus around traditional foods from those regions in future. 

With the books off my shelf the focus is on a few things - herbs, foraging, more food, and a wonderful book set in England during WW2.  

And there's always time, rain or shine, for Bible study...

Finally the sun came out!! 

And I did not need to water the garden, in fact, today I only need to water the potted plants and herbs as the ground is still wet three days later. 

The cockatoos, rainbow lorikeets and red tailed parrots are happy as can be, and I am not forgetting to top up their feeder. I love sitting outside watching them, listening to their chatter and squabbles with each other....

Out the front, we have kookaburras on the power lines every morning laughing up a storm and causing me to stop what I'm doing and just gaze at them with pure delight. They truly are my favourite bird. 

Now that it's sunny and blue skies, I am back to sitting under the large poinciana tree to watch the to-ings and fro-ings of life in and about our quarter acre every afternoon. The late winter garden is bursting with life, and this recent rain is part of the reason. 

I have taken quite a liking to homemade mayo and sliced tomato on sour dough toast, with a sprinking on fresh basil, for lunch - the sunshine and very warm days seem to call for it...

...and a cool snack of watermelon and passionfruit is perfect when sitting in the garden.

Each day I pick a bunch of herbs to serve in meals, or make teas, and there's always a few cherry tomatoes and chillies as well. We decided not to grow tomatoes or cucumbers this season after the infestation of bugs the previous four growing seasons, but hubby ended up planting one cherry tomato up the back beside the pool and though it doesn's supply all our tomato needs, we do very much enjoy just snacking on them.

The herbs below -parlsey, spring onion and dill - were used in the spanakopita.

I really do believe the sentiment in that quote, for no matter what is happening in life, as much as is possible, stick with your usual rhythms and routines. Having a routine is one of the kindest things I do for myself as a homemaker living a gentle domestic life, and there is indeed solace, comfort, and a firm reassurance for our family when they see Mother going about her day in the usual way. 

As a child I found this with Nana, and I believe its why those childhood memories of life with her are so indelibly eteched in my memories. 

I had forgotten some of my childhood, by choice at first when it came to the bad memories of my father, but over time I no longer think of those bad times, but have gathered to my heart the GOOD memories, the patient and self-sacrificing love of my Nana and Pop - and everything else has drifted away like dandelions blown in the wind. 

If I can offer any words of advice today, it would be to let go of the hard memories, and treasure the goods ones. Fill your heart with goodness, and close the door on memories that draw you into a dark place. Pray and ask the Lord to help you do this - He helped me by shining the Light of Christ into every room in my mind, so that over time, the dark rooms no longer came into view. I am so grateful for the gift of Jesus, for the hope and happiness which fill my heart each and every day! I pray that for you too, my sweet friend. 

Another week is passed...I wonder what next week will bring? Let me know how you are this month. Many of you are no-reply commenters, but rest assured I read every comment, I pray for you, and I am also encouraged BY you. 

Till next time, bless you...

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Hubby joins our August UFO finish month...

 My husband has been busy. Since his torn muscle and cracked rib injury he hasn't been able to do all the heavier garden work because every time he does, the injury regresses, so he decided to tackle a few UFO projects inside the home while he continues to recover. But being a man (smile) the inside jobs required more than a light hand. 

He's such a hard worker, and it's near impossible for him to rest, or to just sit and let his body heal...so he does what 'he considers' to be light projects. When we bought this house in late 2018, he declared one of his first jobs on his long list would be to fix the back door and replace the back security door. Well, he did start on a few things from that list, but then the flood happened a few months later and there were far more important things to deal with in the next couple of years to protect the house should we face that sort of event in the future. 

This month, referring back to the old list of indoor projects, he decided to begin with replacing the back security door. That door was an inch too high at the bottom, and an inch too low at the top. It also had a very old pet flap, and these three things all added to the invasion of spring/summer/autumn flies in our tropical climate. The security screen door is just 6 feet from the kitchen (with the laundry between the door and the kitchen) so this really has been a problem when the main back door is open. 

New screen security doors are pretty expensive brand new, so he bought a used one in very good condition on Marketplace. It was larger than the door space, so he needed to cut the door smaller, replace the lock, and shave away some of the original door frame. To keep the flies out of the kitchen while he worked, a plastic drop cloth became a psuedo-door (above).

It ended up being a two day job, but eventually we rejoiced over the new door and lock! 

Then he began on the main door, which was a bit the worse for wear, but really just needed to be sanded down and repainted. Well, he sure surprised me with this one!! I assumed he'd paint it cream, or some other bland colour, because he's never really been into colour (family joke that he loves everything to be mission brown!) ...but no, he said we should be adventurous (wow!) and paint it the same turquoise as our shelf in the front entrance. 

So off we went to Bunnings for some colour swatches. I brought home the ones I thought were close to the shelf colour...

...then back to Bunnings and that evening the first coat went on. 

The following night he added a second coat, and now I have a bright and cheerful back door!

In the midst of all this, my love brought home a gift after work one night. A new kitchen tap. I mentioned to him a few years back that I liked this style and maybe one day we could get something similar. I never mentioned it again...but he saw one on sale and remembered. 

He spent the next hour removing the old tap and installing this one. I am so blessed!!

I've completed a few more UFO projects myself, mostly in the garden, but some were sewing projects.

I 'finally' hand-quilted my red and green version of "We Will Serve the Lord" before hanging it in the front entrance...

...and I bordered and hung Home Sweet Home. The version in my shop (here) is a little different than this one, apart from this being stitched in blue and the original stitched in red. In the original version the top left section has three houses, but I stitched this blue one for my own home and drew just a single house. 

I really love this blue version, but we have turquoise through our home and it just doesn't look right anywhere, so I'm going to add it to my shop for sale next week. This is the first original Elefantz stitchery I've ever offered for sale, other than some quilts I auctioned for charity. I'll probably keep using the red version as it works well with all the turquoise. 

A lot has been done in the garden this past week. I had plenty of seedlings to plant out, potted plants that needed to be put in the ground or moved to shadier areas (it's already getting hot outside, but quite lovely), and plenty of fertilsiing and pruning.

After a long day in the garden yesterday, I sat back with a cuppa in my little spot under the huge umbrella canopy of the poinciana and considered what still needed to be done, while the birds flittered here and there singing their late winter tunes. It was a beautiful way to end the afternoon. 

I pray you have a lovely weekend, my friends, and that you take time to sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labour. A day of rest is the most wonderful thing after six days of homemaking, don't you agree?

"And God saw everything that He had made, and behold it was very good...And on the seventh day God finished His work that He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work that He had done." 

Genesis 1:31 and Genesis 2:2

Hugs

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FInishing what I started and a FREE pattern for you!

 

As promised the other day, I have a bonus free pattern for you this month, one which I hope will encourage you to keep track of all your UFO projects, or WIPs as some call them (works in progress).

Back in December 2017 I designed and stitched this notebook cover for my Stitchery Club members, as a reminder to them throughout 2018 (mostly a reminder to me!) to take stock of all those projects we had begun but never quite finished. 

I made sure that I wouldn't lose track of this notebook's purpose, slotted in amongst all the other books which at that time stood side by side on my desk, by stitching along the spine, "finish what I started"...

It worked well most of that year, but then we bought our first home in the September of 2018 and other things took priority in my mind, naturally. A first home when you're almost 60 is quite an adventure! :-)

It's six years later and I'm revisiting my notebook, and wanted to offer the pattern here today as a gift for any of you who'd like to join in as I make a start on completing as many uncompleted projects as I can this month, and then on through the rest of 2024. 

I began by laying out quite an array of completed stitcheries (my own designs, some old and some new that have never been released) and writing up a plan for August...

Already I have completed the first two on my list. Both had their stitcheries completed, but I'd gone no further in a practical sense, other than a mental picture of how I'd finish them 'one day'. Very happy this week as 'one day' arrived.

The Faith Hope Love stitchery was included with my September 2020 issue of the Faith In Hand club...

On Wednesday afternoon I trimmed the block and needleturned it to the front of a teatowel (a matching towel to the one I cut from in the photo above). That evening I added a lovely crochet edging...

It's now hanging on my oven and looking just lovely! You'll find this stitchery pattern HERE in my shop if you do not already have it. 

The second project I completed this week was something new. I designed and stitched 'Pray' last year, but never got around to sewing it as a hanging heart until yesterday. 

It could easily be appliqued onto a quilt, small wall hanging or other display, but I chose a wee stuffed heart to hang near the Bless Our Home mini quilt. 

With the project complete, I was able to finally write the pattern for Pray, which you'll find HERE

Now, back to the free gift pattern I promised you. Use the link below to download it.

DOWNLOAD the pattern for 'Finish What I Started' notebook and embroidery

You may have noticed that I have also given the blog an update, with some lovely cheerful colours and floral displays. Planning an August that shines a focus on completing forgotten projects, and following through on old plans that were lain aside for more important things...well, it has brought a very refreshing, cheerful air in our home right now. 

For finishing things isn't just about sewing, though I will focus mostly on that this month - it's about making use of the bits and pieces which have been purchased over the years for making candles, lotions and salves...it's about starting the watercolour course I bought back in 2020...it's gathering the courage to paint some shelves and add a bit of decoupage on things...and its about getting serious with making my own clothes, cutting my own hair (eek!!)...making greeting cards...and so this list goes on. 

Already having everything I need for these projects, activities and lessons means no excuse not to slowly and methodically enjoy every one of them. And that's the best thing - ENJOYMENT. 

Now I had best head out to the garden and clip some more calendula flowers. One of my unfinished projects last year was the making of calendula oil and salve. I did grow and dry the flowers, but went no futher - however last years flowers have now been sitting in a jar of extra virgin olive oil for two weeks, and in another two weeks I can strain them and make the salve, saving some of the calendual oil for skincare. 

This year I am growing a lot more calendula, with a decided heart to make good things for my family too. Each day I pick about ten more flowers, and when dry they go in the jar. the more flowers you pick, the more grow...its marvellous. 

Have a lovely weekend dear ones, and I pray you can find time, with a hot cuppa or cool drink, to write down all the many unique ways you, in your own life, can complete projects or ideas this August. Even if it's one you've put aside for five years, or five weeks...enjoy it, and let the satisfaction of a task completed encourage you forward to work on another. 

God bless, and may His great and mighty hands hold you safe in His care, and give you many moments to laugh and smile and be grateful in the weeks ahead. 

Hugs

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