Scrappy Vintage Kitchen quilt assembly and around home...

Now that all nine stitchery blocks have been shown it's time to bring them together as a pretty wall quilt for your home.

Honest, I love my finished Scrappy Vintage Kitchen and as it's been pieced with scraps of favourite fabrics which span over a six year period there's also a lovely touch of 'stash nostalgia' as well as the nostalgia of a life growing up in Nana's kitchen which was the original inspiration behind every stitchery and the eventual vintage-retro quilt display.

In the first week of this 18-week journey of sewing together I gave a tutorial for the bright hopes block, because that's how I've framed each stitchery, and made a new pincushion using the same measurements as the completed blocks ...

If you missed that tutorial you'll find it HERE

Then we continued stitching and piecing one block every second Friday until the final block was shared with you last week.

Along the way I had sewn all my blocks together, added a border and begun to hand quilt.

Today you can begin these final steps too.

Once your stitcheries are pieced inside a bright hopes block using the measurements I gave here, sew them together in three rows of three.

I chose my block placements to balance the flow of colours and fabric, but mostly it was about the whole quilt being pleasing to the eye once it was bordered and bound and hanging on my wall.

There's no set sequence to the order of the stitchery blocks though I did begin with 'My Vintage Kitchen' at the centre and moved other blocks around it until I was happy. 

Once the nine blocks were sewn together I added a 1" red gingham border.

After that, a 2½” wide second border was added using a soft and sweet floral on white print from Elea Lutz's 'Bluebirds on Roses' range, before adding wadding and backing.

My quilt was all hand quilted with cream Perle #12 thread.

I toyed with the idea of red gingham binding but decided to stay with the same fabric used in the second border because this allowed the stitchery blocks to really stand out, and I'm so happy I went with that decision because the final display looks beautiful in our home.

The complete pattern for My Scrappy Vintage Kitchen can be found HERE

 Have you enjoyed this stitch-along? 

Are you making a quilt or using the little designs in other projects? I'd love to know.

If you've made any of these blocks and want to show them off leave a comment below with a link to your blog or Instagram page so we can come have a look. 

If you haven't found my own Instagram page yet it's HERE. Tag me with your Elefantz stitchery photos please, I'd love to see them!

AROUND HOME

It's been so dry for many months and though we water on our allotted days (council water restrictions) mostly it's just keeping things alive, not thriving. Last week I removed some struggling plants from the ground and potted them until they can recover when our wet season arrives. In the meantime they are getting some good worm soup from Mr E's worm farm and gaining health again. 

We have a particular cockatoo whom you've met here before. Betty. She has recently begun sitting quite near us each morning at breakfast, and when Mr E talks to her she always replies in her own cockatoo language. It's rather lovely having her just six feet from the outdoor table where we have meals, never fearful, and always content to sit and chat with us until I clear the table and we go off to our day's chores or work. 

There's another cockatoo who's become a regular visitor to the feeder, mostly when the other birds have left for the day because the healthy, younger birds push him aside. As you can see he is getting on in years so I add more seed when he arrives so he doesn't miss out.

Haven't named him yet as I can't settle on one that suits him.

This week we had two nights where it rained, not a lot of rain, just about 20-30 minutes of fairly light drizzle but enough that there's a noticeable difference in the garden. 

Where we are in the world, the tropics of northern Australia, many trees lose all their leaves in spring and not autumn. Our tabebuia trees are like that and it was sad to see the pink one we planted late last year bare and forlorn looking recently. But now it's beginning to flourish again and my husband is thrilled because we are still new to growing trees and did not know it was normal for them to lose all their leaves so at first we thought it was dying.

Just as we were about to mulch the old winter beans into our garden this little bit of rain has revived them and suddenly more flowers have appeared.

I love how the rockmelons which self seeded from our compost happily live under and around those beans.

This one's an odd shape, very elongated...

...but the rest of them are round and we've got this one almost ready to eat.

Yesterday Blossom, Cully May and Rafaella visited for the morning and after we supped on fresh scones and homemade strawberry jam I took Cully May outside to check if the chooks had laid their eggs. She was so excited because she loves our hens and always wants to pat them.

Well, even more exciting was collecting her first, warm, freshly laid egg...

Her delight in accomplishing new things, discovering something fresh, being read to, hugged, smothered in kisses and given treats from my cupboard - all of those things remind me that this is how God wants us to be with Him, like little children still untainted by the world...and I want Him to be as delighted in me as I am in Cully May.

I must away now to Friday's chores.

I cooked a roast chicken dinner last night and there's a lot of leftovers so after I hang the washing and scrub the shower I'm going to prepare a big bowl of chicken, vegetable and pasta salad, bake some rock cakes and put a loaf of sour dough in the breadmaker. Mr E likes to have fresh bread with his dinner every night and I too often forget that...note to self: serve bread with dinner.

In case you've missed my recipe for Rock Cakes here it is again.

2 cups of sifted self raising (self rising) flour

90g soft butter

1/2 cup castor (superfine) sugar

1 cup mixed dried fruit

1/2 teaspoon mixed spice

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/4 cup milk

Preheat your oven to 200 C (390 F)

Sift the flour and mixed spice into a bowl.

With your fingertips rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs.

Stir the sugar and dried fruit through the flour.

Mix the egg and milk together.

Make a well in the centre of the flour mix and pour in the egg/milk mixture.

Using a knife quickly mix everything together but don't over mix.

Place heaped spoonfuls of the dough onto a lined biscuit tray (makes 24) and bake for 15 minutes.

Cool on a rack and enjoy! 

May your weekend be one which is abundant in the Lord's refreshment,

hugs

The last Vintage Kitchen block and a special gift...

When I was growing up and even in my teenage motherhood years nearly every home had a display of canisters in the kitchen, typically holding flour, sugar, tea and coffee and occasionally salt. 

I remember a particular canister at one home labelled bi-carbonate of soda and though at the time I wondered why anyone would have a big supply of it on hand as I only used a tiny amount when baking Anzac biscuits or banana cake, these days I use it all the time for cleaning and need a very large container to store it.

The set of canisters I've stitched in this final block of My Scrappy Vintage Kitchen are very much like the simple ones my Nana had on a shelf in her kitchen. They were plain, melamine I think, with solid green lids and raised red letters glued on to make the words. 

These days many women tend to store their ingredients in glass jars but in Nana's time she would save glass for preserving her pickles and jams. 

The complete My Scrappy Vintage Kitchen pattern can be found HERE

If you missed the previous blog posts for blocks 1 - 8 they are listed here

Next Friday I'll share the finishing instructions for bringing all nine blocks together as a small wall quilt.

After spending Wednesday morning at Blossom's I wasn't expecting to see her and the girls again until next week but what a surprise when they turned up at my door yesterday with a gorgeous vase of flowers, doughnuts, huge cuddles and the happiest smiles!

While Cully May and Rafaella played (we have a good supply of toys, books and pencils on hand all the time), my sweet Blossom opened the Word of God and we read together, discussed what we were reading and pondered the importance of applying the lessons within to our individual lives. 

Though unprepared for their visit, I was struck by the simplicity of our day as it unfolded.

I think many times we over-plan when a visitor is coming, at least I do. It seems there's always a rush to make sure the house is 'right' and food is abundant and fresh.

But yesterday's impromptu visit was incredibly simple because all we thought of was the joy of spending time together. Bloss had brought with her a delicious bottle of kombucha (which we both love), fruit juice, a tray of cinnamon doughnuts, bananas and blueberries - so the four of us feasted well. 

The little ones climbed all over me and cuddled till I almost couldn't breathe, in between peeling stickers from my stash of colouring books and playing tea parties, then at lunchtime they finished off pasta leftovers from the night before. Truly it was a simple and simply delightful day and we both agreed these are the sort of days we enjoy the most. 

The other day I mentioned a very special gift which I'd received from my dear friend Rosie and today I shall show it to you...

For the longest time I have watched Rosie make the most exquisite books from cardboard and paper; each one a work of art and an example of her craftsmanship with paper.

I never expected to receive one of her unique creations yet wrapped carefully in a large blue box, last Friday this became my own. 

Every page has pockets, many hidden inside the page itself, plus all sorts of cards and labels...

...where I can put photos, write recipes or quotes, special notes and thoughts.

You know, Rosie was the first person I shared my heart with about pursuing a gentle domestic life back in 2014. We'd spend hours at each other's kitchen table, stitching in hand, discussing our love for the simplicity of the old ways, the gentle ways.

So I think you can see Rosie poured a lot of that sentiment into her gift for me.

My heart was overwhelmed with this, and it shall be treasured.

How blessed am I?

Another thing I mentioned the other day was sharing a sneak peek at the free BOM I'm working on for next year, but I've decided to hold back on that for a little while...after all, it's still October.

So let's wait until November's page is turned on the calendar, for I think this project is worth waiting a little while longer for, plus my mind continues to think of extras I can add to the final display.

Hint. It's not a quilt.

May the Lord's day of rest refresh you this coming Sabbath and be a true delight to your soul, 

hugs

Another hospital visit and the next free vintage kitchen block...

Nana used to say "It never rains but it pours" and so it's been with our family recently.

This morning Cully May, our 3yo ball of endless energy, decided to climb, climb and climb some more till she reached the highest place in Blossom's kitchen where the medicine is kept safely out of harm's way. She then chewed and swallowed a codeine/paracetamol tablet which Blossom takes for her migraines.

It was as she swallowed that chewed tablet and her face screwed up (because it tasted awful) that Blossom caught her, at first thinking Cully May had eaten a vitamin but then discovering the more sinister truth.

I met them at the hospital and we were seen immediately, Cully May monitored for the next five hours. 

Initially very drowsy and just wanting to sleep, she picked up as the hours wore on and after regular monitoring by the nursing staff the doctor gave us the all clear to take her home. 

Praise God! There was a lot of prayer offered up in the hospital and Mr E was praying at work too.

Blossom was amazing, so calm under pressure (takes after her dad) which is important in situations that can frighten children. We're just so relieved Cully May is fine and the emergency is over.

A motorbike accident, a dog bite and Cully May in hospital - all within 13 days.

Mr E, Blossom and I all agree that we could use a break from accidents and hospitals right now!

I'm showing the second last block in My Scrappy Vintage Kitchen today and it's one of my favourites, The Apron.

You'll find the complete pattern for My Scrappy Vintage Kitchen HERE

If you've missed any of the previous patterns in this stitch-along the links to them are here

We're planning a quieter weekend than those of late and I do pray your own will be restful and calm as well.

Excuse me for the short post today but there's a cup of chamomile brewing and a dear husband waiting to watch a documentary so I'm going to sign off and settle in for a restful and hopefully uneventful evening.

hugs

Mixing Bowls - block 7 Scrappy Vintage Kitchen...

Have to admit I love a pretty mixing bowl, though they are not easy to find. Could be why designed a flower strewn bowl to stitch...

Baking day is a good day in our home because the entire process brings me joy and puts lip smacking smiles on the faces of my husband, daughter, grandchildren, son-in-law and neighbour because they all receive a share of the treats.

It's that beautiful process of mixing, kneading, beating, whipping, crumbling and chopping which stirs joy in my soul because from a few very basic ingredients I can create treats like fruit filled biscuits, a healthy loaf of bread, luscious lemony desserts or a thick pot of berry jam...really, there's no end to the wonders which flow from a kitchen when the cook has a heart to make and bake.

As you stitch this little block, ponder the kitchen treats you remember from childhood and give thanks for the hands which made them. 

Then perhaps gather ingredients and bake something you've not had in a while...create a new memory for your loved ones, neighbours or friends.

The full pattern for My Scrappy Vintage Kitchen is HERE

Links to blog posts for the previous six blocks are here. 

I'm showing this block a day early because we're off for a couple of days into the rainforest, a place we find calming to the soul and spirit, a calm which is needed after such a huge year.

I'd love it if you'd hold us in prayer during these days away. I woke this morning with the beginnings of a chest cold, and as I've not had a cold at all this year it's come as a surprise, and not a welcome one. 

I'm leaning on the Lord to heal and soothe as He alone can.

Bless you all so very much, and may He heal whatever ails you as well.

hugs

Popping back to share the next free Scrappy Vintage Kitchen block...

I'm still on my little retreat from blogging etc, though I do plan to share another book study post next week...but for the next few days I shall continue to let peace surround my heart so that I can more clearly discern the Lord's directions for my next big project.

I've called this block "Potted Herbs" because I truly have many pots of different herbs around the place and they bring me joy. Just being able to snip some chives for scrambled eggs, tear off a handful of basil leaves for the pasta sauce or cut slim stems of thyme for roast chicken, right from my own yard, brings immense satisfaction.

As I was thinking about my herbs today and the various ways they can be used I even surprised myself at how many aromatics grow in and around the home. 

Parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, chives, pineapple sage, oregano, lemongrass, dill, coriander, basil, spicy basil and mint - so far. There's many more on my list but for now this assortment is wonderful because a fresh herb or two can make the simplest meal quite delicious.

The full pattern for My Scrappy Vintage Kitchen can be found HERE in my Etsy Shop

Links for the previous five blog posts in this project are here

Until next week, be sure to count your blessings because like my herbs they'll add something special to your day.

hugs