XYZ pincushion, lovely gifts, konmari and UFOs...

Thank you for the warm and gentle expressions of care after last Sunday's post - both here and on social media. 

Fact is, after 4½ years of single-handedly designing, stitching, writing patterns and publishing The Stitchery Club for 52 continuous months I fell into a mentally and physically exhausted heap last Friday and since then my legs have felt like jelly, every ounce of adrenaline is gone and 'gently pottering around' very well describes my day to day actions.

It was a huge commitment, a joyous commitment, and through that hard work we were able to save hard for a home deposit and eventually buy our first home in September last year. We now have a mortgage, rates and insurance to pay like most home owners, but we don't mind...because we have a home of our own. Work always brings reward and this was mine. 

So....I'm taking things slower than I'd planned this year and here's a few updates...

# Patterns are not going into my Etsy Shop as quickly as I had previously written but they do trickle in as I have time. 

# The Rewind Stitchery Club will still happen but it will also be delayed until mid-February.

# Faith Sewing Club will be another monthly commitment so I'll hold off on that until perhaps mid-April or May and give myself a slightly longer break before announcing subscriptions.

# "Phyllis May's Kitchen" block of the month is still being designed, stitched and enjoyed! This will not be an ordinary BOM...it's quite different, and I can't wait to show you. But for now you'll have to wait while I bring it all together with love and patience. 

On to this week's alphabet pincushion stitch-a-long!

I shared the first one in August last year and since then we've bought a house, moved in, celebrated Christmas and done loads of garden work and renovations outside to turn this house into a sanctuary which reflects my husband and I. 

That's a lot of life events since sharing the first pinnie, so I decided to share the final three alphabet letters this week in a single design because I want to close off 'the old' in January and begin a fresh clean slate in February. 

I have seen many designs of various kinds with ABC over the years but can't remember seeing any with XYZ. You can use the individual letters for small projects and monograms, or do what I've done and finish this stitch-a-long with your own XYZ pinnie.

The alphabet letters were stitched onto a white cotton/linen blend fabric, then trimmed and backed with quilting fabric. A little fabric and lace tag was inserted at the X end before I filled the pincushion with crushed walnut shells and machine stitched a 1/4" seam inside the outer edges. 

I've used two green threads for the main body of the letters. X is stitched with Dark Green, Y in a lighter Green, and Z has a mix of both. I also used both back stitch and chain stitch for the letters. It's small tweaks like this which make simple or relatively plain projects much lovelier to look at.

The XYZ patterns are available as a free download here or here until February 8th. 

After that date they will be in my Etsy Shop

The R, S, V and W patterns are still free to download until January 31st. You'll find the links for them in the previous alphabet pincushions stitch-a-long blog posts (scroll here)

The A-E, F-I, J-N and OPQUT sets are available to purchase from my Etsy Shop

Since Christmas I have received some really thoughtful and creative gifts from a few dear friends and thought you may like to see them.

Sharmayne and her husband Pete came to visit from further south just before Christmas. They were visiting their son and his family not far from here and popped in for a nice long morning tea with Mr E and I. After tucking in to coffee and brownies we left the men to themselves and sat in the sewing room to talk about all sorts of crafty, home and garden things. 

Last week a card arrived in the mail with two beautifully hand crocheted dish cloths from Sharmayne, which I shall use with much gratitude...

Fee has been totally submerged in papercrafts the past couple of years and is making some gorgeous gifts and projects. If you visit her blog you'll find she's sharing regular tutorials, but I'd like to show you the pretty writing set with gift tags and greeting cards which she made me for Christmas...

Rosie and Brian came by for morning tea around New Year and after coffee and scones we left the men to talk 'boy stuff' and sat in the sewing room to talk 'girl stuff' (you can see a pattern here when we have couples visit, right?). Brian retired last year and is a member of the local Wood Turning Club. Whenever I visit Rosie she shows me the beautiful things Brian has made for her...I ooh and aah a LOT.

Well, bless them, when I opened my Christmas gift inside were some tea towels specifically chosen to match my kitchen and a gorgeous wooden bowl and two spools. I have admired the spools Brian makes for Rosie but did not expect to actually be gifted two....

 By the way, pop over here to Rosie's blog and see the beautiful recipe folder cover she designed!

It oozes gentle domesticity. 

Another gift arrived in the mail a week or so ago from a dear friend who'd rather not be named on the blog. 

"The Scrolls Illuminated" is a book filled with lovely water colour scenes taken from our own Australian landscape to mirror the seasons and subjects which correspond to the five complete books of the Bible inside...

I'm re-reading Ruth at the moment and find the full page artworks and those which drift down the margins to be not just beautiful, but calming and peaceful as well. 

The artist is Fiona Pfennigwerth and you can see more pages from "The Scrolls Illuminated" here.

She has also completed The Gospel of John which looks just a lovely.

Other things...

Have you been watching "Tidying Up" by Marie Condo on Netflix? 

I have heard about her books but honestly, that's as far as it went. But then Blossom began watching Marie's show and insisted I watch too...well, you can always teach me new things about homemaking and  I came away from the series with a list of areas to re-organise in new ways. 

I was at Blossom's yesterday and WOW you should see inside her cupboards! The girls room, the kitchen and the linen cupboards are amazing and my sweet Blossom is a very contented homemaker because like her mummy, she 'loves' organisation. 

Due to the fatigue I've gone slow this week but did pull out all the furniture and vaccum under, over, in and around everything in our home - before making a start on how to use the Konmari method of tidying in a way that works for us. 

We have an old bathroom with an odd shower recess and the wooden drawers and cupboard doors of the vanity creak and croak and will not shut properly - BUT I've actually come to like their quaintness. We don't have a lot of towels (or sheets) to store because we only keep what we currently use and a few spare sets so it was easy to fold and store the bathroom towels in the side of the vanity...

There's no colour co-ordination happening in our bathroom, just pops of various bright colours and a small palm in a pot. Over time I'll purchase new towels in similar bright colours but not until the current ones are worn out, though I shall look at buying two new bath mats next time there's a sale. 

So I was 17 rows into my Sweet Pea crochet rug.

I'd already gone up 1/2 a size on the crochet hook after the first two rows because apparently I am a tight crocheter (yet a loose knitter, go figure), but the rug still felt 'thick' and not soft and flowing.

So I stopped right there and unraveled the lot. 

Which was a good thing because apart from the heavy texture it turned out I'd gotten the sequence for the Posy version wrong, was only crocheting single colour rows instead of double and had missed a couple of trebles earlier on.

I bought a larger hook and started over again. 

I even followed the pattern this time.

36 rows along and the hook is perfect for how I crochet, the pattern is correct and the rug is wonderfully soft and flowing.

I'm happy and relaxed with this project now, plus it's given me a wonderful break from designing and stitching. This is my new hobby! 

I bought two crochet magazines the other day as a real treat (we're on a budget) and Mr E shook his head and laughed, "Don't you go making me any crochet clothes! Once you get hooked into something new your mind thinks up all sorts of things..."

I promised I won't. LOL!

Not sure if I've mentioned this recently but throughout this year I am delving into my orphan stitchery box (which overflows) and turning some of my older designs into useful projects. 

"Create Memories" was one of the patterns from my 2016 block of the month "Gentle Domesticity" which I shared on the blog. I didn't offer any instructions for sewing them, or even thread colours, because each of the twelve blocks was made from scraps and as they were not part of any actual project I left it up to those who were stitching along to use them any way they liked.

I made a cushion from "Joy in the Ordinary" and a bedside table topper from "Bloom Where You Are" but I still have ten blocks to play with. Perhaps a quilt?? Not sure...

Anyhow, there's no rush on an answer but I do intend giving the blocks a pretty project as their final resting place sometime this year.

The pattern for Joy in the Ordinary is still free (always will be) and fortunately was one of the few patterns Craftsy/Bluprint chose to leave in my old shop.  With Etsy there's no way to add a free pattern to my new shop so if you'd like to make this block go here and download it.

The full set of 12 Gentle Domesticity blocks is over at Etsy. They are inexpensive because there's no written instructions just the pattern sheets to trace and photos for helps. 

Goodness, I've kept you a while today with my ramblings so I shall sign off with a blessing and my gratitude for visiting, following along and offering your own inspirations when you comment.

Must say, I have gleaned so much from the Gentle Art of Domesticity book study comments since we began three weeks ago! Let me encourage you to go back and read through them...such a blessing.

May the Lord God who holds your precious heart next to His own, pour upon you the blessings of comfort, kindness, mercy, grace, provision, strength and rest today...

big hugs

A little house, crochet and other interesting things...

Isn't it good when a simple solution is found?

The issues I had with the yarn splitting on my cast on row and the first green pattern row were in no way the fault of this pretty and delightful yarn...it was the hook. My hook was simply too small.

I had assumed that because I am a loose knitter that I must be a loose crocheter...not so. 

Turns out I crochet 'normal', so if the pattern says use a size 4mm hook then jolly well use one.

Alas, I did not have a 4mm hook on hand but I was able to switch from the 3mm I began with and over to a 3.5mm for the second and subsequent rows.

Now there will be some crochet purists who may want to suggest I unravel and begin over, right?

No. I may do that with my embroidery designs but I simply did not own the patience to do that awful cast on row and counting row again. If you ask me one day what I do not like about crochet my answer will undoubtedly be those first two rows.

Glad I began the lap size (36" square) because it will probably come together quickly and when it's complete I shall begin another blanket using a larger hook and be rather pleased with myself.

We finished the grapes.

Thank you to everyone for your suggestions on how to consume and enjoy almost 9 kilos (18 pounds) of grapes in two weeks. Many of you said to freeze them but we don't like frozen grapes, and I did not have the creative energy to experiment with jellies, wine, tarts or cakes...so we just ate them like lollies morning, noon and night. Occasionally with a handful of cashews and brazil nuts. Other times with a bowl of potato chips on hand.

So when the final grape made it's way into my husband's mouth I thought "well, that's it, we can move on to cherries again"...but not so. Within an hour we were in the car and on our way to the supermarket to purchase two more bags of grapes - one green and one red. 

We may be addicted.

I'll keep you informed. 

Top of my to-do list this week was spending a full day writing the six patterns for the final month's issue of The Stitchery Club. Preferably this would have been yesterday but I had a delightfully long phone chat with Blossom after breakfast , followed by a wonderfully long visit from my neighbour who happened to bring over some Belgian chocolates for Mr E and I to share later.

You can see the morning was not at all wasted but full of lovely people and conversation!

So it didn't feel right to be writing that afternoon. I need a whole day with fresh brain cells to accomplish this task so it had better be tomorrow because today is already half gone. Oh dear, excuses.

My afternoon yesterday was spent finishing the next alphabet pincushion to share with you on Friday and then getting a start on something sweet to use up fabric scraps and simply have fun...whilst eating Belgian chocolates and grapes.

I finished it this morning because I have to take Bob-the-dog to the groomers before lunch which totally took away my pattern writing time again. Yes, I know, another excuse.

I saw this heart filled house block over on Bev's blog (Flamingo Toes) and thought what a nice quick project to make, one I have not designed, don't have to write a pattern for, and can pop away in my gift box for this year or keep for myself.

Lately I've come to acknowledge that my mind needs a rest from designing all the time and that kind of rest rarely happens, so this year I shall be changing that situation and allocating myself regular time out just to play.  (the sweet pea crochet blanket is one of my new playtime avenues as well)

I really enjoy hand quilting but I also like machine quilting on small projects.

There's always room for a spot of hand embroidery though...

Bev's pattern is for a 9" square mug rug but I've sewn a hanging sleeve behind mine to slide onto a small quilt hanger when I find/buy one. 

The three fabrics I used for the house section are from a 2008 layer cake "Chloe's Closet" which I purchased last year in a de-stash group. There's some very pretty prints in it but I do love the three I chose for this project so I've gathered the leftovers for a pincushion project one afternoon next week.

Now, a few things I'd like to share with you about three really lovely friends.

Fee has kicked off the year with a wonderful gift for all her readers. In fact, she's gifting them every single week through 2019!

Fee will not only share patterns and projects but she has tutorials you can watch as well, which is wonderful if you're new to a certain craft and need to 'see' how things are done.

Hop on over here to her blog and have a look see at the fun projects you can make.

Annabel from The Bluebirds Are Nesting has started a Tuesday Afternoon Club which you can read about here on her blog.

This will be something all we gentle domestic homemakers will find fun and just so you can get a better idea of what Annabel's intentions with this club are I shall let her tell you in her own words...

On The Tuesday Afternoon Club page as we make things we can post our own pictures and progress reports.  I will share whatever I have been making.   We can also share recipes, links to patterns and anything helpful to help each other with tutorials, packaging ideas etc.   Also it can be a place of help i.e. you might have materials you just can't think what to do with so you could post a photo and let everyone chime in with suggestions!

Another friend who is sharing the crafty love is Allie and bless her heart she's taken the Craftsy shop shut-down dilemma and put it behind her by embarking on something that blesses others.

You will love what Allie is doing so head over here to her blog to find out more.

Each of these friends are women I love, trust and appreciate because they have hearts for home, family and for being a blessing to others, me included.

Did you miss the first week of our book study?

It's in Tuesday's post (here) along with a free pattern and giveaway.

About KINDLE...

A number of you have commented or emailed to tell me you do not have a Kindle and therefore cannot get the book that way. Well, you know, we don't need a Kindle anymore because you can download the free Kindle app for your phone/ipad/tablet and read all your kindle books there!

That's how I use Kindle.

So if you'd like to have a copy of the book and cannot find one anywhere just go to Amazon and in the kindle section search for The Gentle Art of Domesticity...

It's easy to find and you're going to love reading ahead.

Or just look at the pictures.

Hope this has helped those who felt they were missing out on actually having a copy.

I'll be back tomorrow with the next alphabet pincushion. 

It's V this Friday...V for very very nice. Well, I hope you think so because I very much like it.

Be blessed, be brave, be adventurous, be kind, and be YOU.

hugs

The saga of the grapes...

Have you marked your calendar ready for tomorrow's start to our Gentle Art of Domesticity book study?

The busyness of Christmas and New Year often exhausts the committed homemaker so simply stopping to rest, reflect and refresh may have slipped your mind. Because that's what our book study 

will bring.

Rest to the body when we brew a cuppa or pour a cool drink and sit down for a while to read; reflection on the joys of domesticity we may have overlooked but which will come alive with each turned page, and a refreshing to our homemaker hearts as we discover the wonder right before us and take time to be invigorated by the possibilities yet to be explored.

Tomorrow we'll begin with my overview of the entire book for those of you who don't have it or those who are waiting for this adventure to begin before turning a page.

Are you as excited as me?!

Now into the final two weeks of his summer school break my husband is doing as much as he can in the yard, gardens and interior of the house before his spare time drastically diminishes.

I've got my favourite pineapple fruit cake baked and ready for morning tea times this week and will draw up a new menu plan when we sit down together for that lovely relaxed mid morning cuppa.

Although asking my husband to give me some meal plan ideas is not as productive as one would hope. Generally he'll reply - "I"m happy with whatever you make, dear" - or if he's missed something he particularly likes there's a chance that will be his one and only offering. More often than not this will be "gnocchi, we haven't had that for a while" (which means it's been more than ten days).

Blossom tells me Ross is exactly the same. Is it just a man thing, I wonder??

Yesterday I made a start on Lucy's "Sweet Pea CAL". All those coloured yarns look gorgeous!

Although I do wonder if I'll do them justice by the time I complete the lap sized quilt. Having not done anything like this before frustration did set in about five stitches into the first row due to the yarn splitting and a tiny single strand carrying over when I made a stitch. Regularly.

But carry on I did, twenty minutes here, ten minutes there, through the afternoon and later last night as we watched the tennis (well, as I listened to the tennis is more accurate because that yarn and the need to count demanded I pay attention).

So here I have completed the cast on row and the first row of the trellis pattern ...

Tomorrow I shall take this project along to our Tuesday sewing/crochet/any-craft-you-enjoy group at Marci's and have dear Karyn explain to me why this yarn is splitting and driving me crazy. Personally I'm sure its the way I hold the hook or how I execute the stitches. Will update you when the issue is resolved.

Last week (or was it the week before?) I showed you a sweet little 2019 stitchery I'd done and was about to use on the cover of this year's blog planner. A girl can change her mind.

Just as I was about to make it I showed a photo on social media of another 2019 design I'd created for the January Stitchery Club, along with the fabric which had inspired my choice of thread colours.

The more I looked at it the more I wanted that as my blog planner cover (and the other one will be for something else) so on Saturday I set to work...

Journal, diary or planner covers are very quick and easy to make if you're using just one piece of fabric, thin wadding and lining. The fabric is so pretty that I decided to keep this cover simple and just embellish with the 2019 embroidered hexie...

I've had the blog planner for years but never used it, however with all my fun plans for this year it was the perfect time to bring it into service.

Love that it has pockets at the start of each section because I'm a note taker and often jot ideas down on the nearest scrap of paper, so now I have somewhere to house them until I have time to properly give them thought.

I also added a few of those sweet dividers which I used to separate one of my Gentle Art of Domesticity books into topics for this year's book study.

If you're after one of these blog planners, alas, I have not seen them for years. My copy was purchased from Typo in 2014 I think...gosh, I've certainly let it languish without a purpose for a long time!

That's enough from me today, I'm sure you have your own list of to-dos ready to be tackled and I have a morning tea to serve and another bag of grapes to wash.

Oh, before I go perhaps you need a laugh? 

Yes? Well, I'll fess up about the grapes.

I do my groceries online with Woolies and they home deliver. I pay a yearly delivery fee which allows me to have what I need delivered any day of the week and as many times as I like in the whole year. For someone who works from home this is a blessed thing.

Unless you don't pay attention and order things you do not want.

Such as nine bags of grapes.

Green grapes were available in 900g (2 pound) bags on the order page. Great, I wanted one! But for some reason the number 9 was stuck in my head so I kept clicking the amount required button until it hit 9. And you'd imagine I'd remember doing that, right? Nope. In one brain cell and clear our the other!

The next morning my groceries arrived and I was pretty surprised at the amount of bags delivered...until I discovered three bags held all those grapes.

Yep, $55 worth of grapes were sitting on my counter. Scrambling to check the invoice I could see there was a 9 in the amount supplied box, so off I went to the computer to check my order online because I was SURE this was a Woolies problem and not my own.

Oh no, dear self righteous Jennifer...this was your own doing. 

Needless to say we've been eating grapes till the cows come home, and in fact Mr E's standing joke when I say breakfast, lunch, morning tea or dinner are ready is "But have we had grapes first?"

Yes, I tried to give bags away but only a single neighbour reluctantly accepted one bag which I almost forced upon her and Blossom just would not take one as her own fridge was bursting with fruit, grapes included.

And yes, I should have noticed the grocery bill was a bit steep, but I'd earned a $50 discount which I'd not realised at the time so it all looked  fine to me.

So here we are now, two weeks later, with a final bag of grapes ready to be washed and eaten.

My mantra has been "grapes are the new lolly" (candy), though I might revert back to sweeties once the last green grape bursts forth in my mouth.

Now I'm going...blog planning to do, a cuppa to brew, cake to slice, and grapes to finish.

Oh happy days.

Hope your day is full of happy thoughts and bright sunshiny smiles!

hugs

Sneak peeks at my BOM and day to day doings...

Now that the rain has gone for the time being (it's the wet season after all) I've discovered everything in the garden has shot into growth mode. Truly, there is nothing like God's rain from the sky to boost a garden is there? Tap water just doesn't do the same thing.

I'll show you around the garden in a minute, but first I thought perhaps you may like to see a few progress sneak peeks at my 2019 Block of the Month, Phyllis May's Kitchen....

I won't have this ready for sign-ups until March or April because I'm designing along the way and it all depends on how much detail to add or how big I decide to make it. For now I'm just enjoying the process...

I have a fat quarter bundle of Tilda's next range, Apple Butter, and will be using all of it in this project, but I've also had to add in a few pieces from her basics (the spots) and the last range (Birdpond). 

"Phyllis May's Kitchen" is the perfect project for using your fabric scraps as there's loads of applique and small pieced blocks that will use up a variety of fabrics so if you want to grab some Apple Butter when it's released in January, great, BUT if you want to use what you already have then start gathering a box of pretty scraps now. 

This BOM will run for nine months and is not a freebie. 

I'll have subscription info available in March.

What are you planning for next year -

Finish some UFO's? 

Learn a new skill or craft? 

Travel?

Redecorate?

A couple of things on my to-do list are -

Crochet

I shall be joining a CAL (crochet-a-long) shared through Lucy's Attic 24 blog!

She assures her readers it is geared towards beginners and she shall show how it's done along the way so as I am a visual learner this was a great incentive to join in.

(I also have a wonderful crochet coach, Karyn, in our Tuesday sewing group should I get stuck)

I have purchased the yarn and just need to get a comfortable crochet hook. 

Funny thing, crochet does not hurt my hands yet knitting does. I had an operation on my right hand in 2010 and have struggled to knit without pain and cramping ever since.

No good wallowing in despair over the knitting...moving along to something which is doable seems the right remedy. Crochet pretties here I come.

This is the Sweet Pea blanket Lucy will be teaching/hosting through her CAL, which begins on Friday 4th January.

You can see why I fell in love and wanted to join in, right?

I love how all my yarn arrived in organza bags.

Baking/Cooking/Herbs

Next year I'm going to spread my wings a bit and try things I've not done before. Like make a pavlova and creme anglaise. I'd also like to cure my own olives and grow a super dooper herb garden right near the back door.

But today I pulled out my old recipe for chocolate brownies and as I'd not made them for two years thought Mr E might enjoy some for arvo tea.

I was reminded they'd not been baked in a while when Blossom sent me a photo of the batch she made for Ross the other day. A great savoury cook, she's really only just this month discovered she loves baking and has not stopped. Ross is a happy husband and Blossom is smiling a lot. 

Anyhow, Mr E licked his lips when I pulled this batch out of the oven so after he's finished working in the yard and had a swim we'll pop the kettle on and enjoy some chocolate heaven together.

Righto, here's those garden pics I promised.

I wake before dawn each day and always wander around the gardens as the sun comes over the horizon. Always there are birds around, butterflies coming to say good morning, and the odd carpenter bee buzzing over the pool and into the flowering trees.

This morning I peered out into the shadows from the house and saw a new visitor perched on the clothesline...

We've not had galahs come to the feeder before so it was lovely to watch them today.

Mr E and I were sitting out back having breakfast an hour later and they hadn't left, but were helping themselves to leftovers in the bird feeder after the cockatoos and rainbow lorikeets had taken their share...

I still pinch myself at the beauty of nature which surrounds us here and breakfast out back each morning has become a time of intense joy which hubby and I look forward to.

The rains really brought the gardens to life, more so than I'd hoped. With so much new growth, buds and flowers everywhere, it's hard to know where to look first.

Here's just a few lovelies - succulents, grevillea, mock orange, ixora, basil, thyme and others...

Our many pots of Aloe Vera have multiplied beyond belief along with a few other plants from the garden...

...so I separated them and began new little pots. Some can be given as gifts in a few months and the rest will be popped back into the garden.

Princess Sophie enjoys snooping under the ixora for lizards but they are very quick and usually evade her. The gorgeous flowing plant on the chair above her is Brahmi and about eight weeks ago was a tiny thing I could hold in the cup of my hand.

It has the most delicate little purple flowers and long flowing stems now...

This afternoon I shall be finishing a project to hang in my kitchen, but there's a story behind that so I'll share about it another day.

I pray that your own day overflows with delights which you could not have imagined when you woke this morning because days like that are a blessing which cannot be measured.

God bless and hugs,