Third time lucky?

Two months.

We've been in this lovely home, our home, for two months.

And my heart wants to take the best of this gentle domestic life I've lived for years in various rental homes and make it flow with rhythm and joy in the ordinary, right here in our own new home.

Now, I'm not sure what constitutes 'ordinary' to you but top of the list for me is breadmaking. There's something about pulling a loaf of bread you've made yourself  out of a hot oven and being enveloped in fresh crusty bakery aromas which immediately cause your taste buds to salivate and your heart to melt.

My plan this week was to return to the regular baking days of earlier this year, when every loaf was delicious, not one failed, and my beloved's tummy was quite content with fresh crusty fare.

But the thing with a new house is you have a new stove top and a new oven. And they don't usually work the way you expect them to. At least that is what I have found in the twenty plus homes we've lived in since we married in 1991.

Usually I play around for a while and eventually work out whether the thermostat is perfect of not (only 2 from 21 have been) and then adjust up or down with temperatures until my degrees for each recipe are just right. This new oven, and it really is quite new, has stumped me a few times already just with regular baking but I've tweaked a bit and and now can be assured of a relatively good result. 

Except with bread.

Two loaves, Monday and Tuesday we shall call them, have landed in the bird feeder so far this week and I have made them up exactly the way I've done in the past so I was genuinely confused as to what is going wrong. The birds really don't mind and are quite joyfully picking and pecking at my failures...but I asked Mr E "do I give up or persevere?" and he chose the latter. 

So today I decided to bake a fruity loaf for breakfast toast and not to finish it in the oven but let the breadmaker do all the work. 

Normally I let the breadmaker do the kneading and bring the dough to it's first rise, then I punch it down, shape and place in a bread tin for the second rise before baking in the oven. Always successful.

Anyhow, while I'm figuring out what's going on with my oven I'll let my Breville knead and bake for me. 

Today's Wednesday loaf didn't have a burnt bottom and overly crunchy sides like Monday and Tuesday did, but it was a bit flat. Still, the fruit loaf is more dense than a sandwich loaf and it jolly well smells amazing...

My new oven is fan forced and should have even heat all around but I've been reading online and I may need to bake the next loaf on a higher shelf as this is quoted as being a problem with some ovens.

We shall see...Thursday will be another loaf and another experiment.

Next year draws closer and like many people I'm considering a fresh start with a few things, whilst letting go of others. Perhaps it's due to finally having our own home, knowing we're settled now and don't have to plan our next move ever again, that I'm excited to explore some new paths that have been on my mind for years?

There's a part of me which cannot wait to tell you what I shall be doing, but there's also a knowing that everything has its season and I cannot rush any of it, regardless of how much I'd like to. Being content to wait is a good thing because each day the vision becomes clearer and I can see the obstacles as well as the benefits to these new ventures, and I can also discuss them with my husband and some close friends who know me very well and allow me to bounce ideas off them. Having people who will pray for you when big changes are afoot (thanks Allie) or who know what running a business whilst being a committed homemaker is like and call you almost every week to check up and keep in touch (thanks Fee) is a God given blessing I treasure. 

On a personal level what I really want from 2019 is to more fully embrace the gentle domestic life and chat with you about it...in fact Fee and I will be working through the book which started it all for me (The Gentle Art of Domesticity) and sharing a lot via our blogs. I think you will love what we have in mind, but I shouldn't run ahead as we still need to plan that out.

I mentioned next door's poinciana tree last Sunday and thought you may like to see it?

Those long hands of red blooms look like flames and though not a true flame tree it's what Mr E and I call it...

I have always longed for a poinciana tree and to think God gave me one where I love to swim and talk to Him, right beside our fence should not have surprised me but it did.

Frangipani are another of my favourite trees and recently I took cuttings from four different ones in our neighbourhood - white, red, orange and yellow. Following instructions from our gardening books I let the cutting-ends dry over for a couple of weeks before planting in pots. They've all sprouted new leaves and I'm quite excited as one day they'll be planted into our yard and that wonderful frangipani fragrance will fill the air.

Bob-the-dog is still chasing the Ibis out of the yard if he sees them but if he sleeping inside they fly down and dig in the garden for bugs so I was finally able to get photos though I must keep my distance because they're not as comfortable with me as the cockatoos and rainbow lorikeets are.

We have a lot of aloe vera plants in pots that we brought from our old place and they're all sprouting new shoots so we'll re-pot some and put the larger plants into garden beds. Hubby slathers his face and neck with the fresh juice from the aloe each night after being in the garden or teaching classes outside at the school.

Our menu is still being simplified and we chat about the need to push aside current trends which encourage people to try all cuisines, and cook recipes which use twenty (or more) ingredients for one dish...which leads us on to considering just how much we need to eat, how many ingredients are necessary and how do we feel after we eat. It's been a great thought provoker but mostly we're listening to our bodies more and have found that too many ingredients do not bode well with our digestive systems. So I've gone back in my mind to growing up with Nana and simplifying again.

The shopping trolley isn't as full but the ingredients are better quality. Less has become more.

And speaking of simple food, something I used to love for lunch as a child was curried egg and lettuce sandwiches with a cup of tea and I've been having this three times a week for the last month!

 It's cheap, nutritious and delicious. The eggs are free range, the bread is light rye and the lettuce must be iceberg for the crunch. 

Seriously, I never tire of this, but it's not on Mr E's list of favourite lunches so I have it Monday, Wednesday and Friday when he's at school. I boil the eggs for seven minutes (I boil enough for a week) then peel and mash with curry powder, mayonnaise, salt and pepper...

Served with a hot cup of back tea this suits me fine.

In the sewing scheme of things I am very patiently awaiting delivery of some Tilda solid cream fabric so I can begin sewing my new block of the month. I walk past this lone churn dash block and that lovely fat quarter bundle of Apple Butter at least five times a day and sigh...so excited am I to make a start. 

Also finishing a supper cloth with the designs for December's Stitchery Club. My idea is to make something in a vintage style so that one day it can be passed along to the next generation - just the way I collect old doilies and linens. It's up to us to make for those who come after us, yes?

Oh, in case you're new here and wondered, that Joy in the Ordinary stitchery from the first photo is still a free pattern download here in my shop and always will be.

Well, enough of my ramblings today, but I'd like to leave you with something I shared on Facebook and Instagram yesterday after I took a rare selfie.

May it encourage all you dear beautiful women because you truly are precious, just as you are.

I don’t wear makeup and I don’t dye my hair so this is me, as me, all day every day. Although this is my first hair bun! Finally my hair is long enough.

Thought I'd share a photo (a rare selfie) so you can put a face to my name. Many of you only know me as 'Jenny of Elefantz', the designer of patterns, encourager in the gentle domestic life, blogger, Christian and homemaker, but it's nice to see who I am every day, yeh? 
Have to tell you I'm pretty comfortable in my own skin, aging naturally, cherishing the lines of life which each year grow deeper, the silver hair which brightens my blue eyes and the 'cuddliness' my husband, daughters and grandies love. 
Looking back on my life I wish I'd not placed so much focus of the outward appearance, but looked deeper inside my heart and worked on refining things like kindness, grace, mercy, compassion, honesty, humility, faithfulness, generosity and patience...these came along later (and are still being refined). Can I encourage you today to look at yourself, as you are, without any adornments, and give thanks for the wonderful woman you are becoming? Yes, becoming. Because we're all growing, all changing, all undergoing changes that will only make us more and more beautiful if we allow them to. 
Don't compare yourself to anyone else, just be a better version of yourself tomorrow than you are today...that's my way of thinking as I draw near to the end of my 50's. It's not about how I look, it's about what others see IN me and praying that they see those very traits I want to embrace - kindness, grace, mercy, compassion, honesty, humility, faithfulness, generosity and patience.
Girls, you are beautiful. Just wanted to tell you that today.

hugs,

This n that...

Winding down from last week's 'squeeze two years into five days' family time didn't happen as I'd hoped. Life just keeps rolling along, you know? Design work piles up, groceries need to be done, meals to be prepared, an unexpected termite issue in the front yard to be attended to, emails to answer and then one of the worst migraines all year on Monday.

My fault on the migraine though. By Sunday night I was so exhausted I could barely put one foot in front of the other so Mr E said don't worry, we'll go buy some dinner. I suggested this Thai place near where we used to live a couple of years back. It has the most delicious Chili and Basil Fried Rice ever and I had been dreaming about going back there for months. I'd just forgotten why we stopped going there.

Well Mr E said no, that's not a good idea, you always get a bad migraine after we eat their food. I reply (taste buds talking) that it may have been a coincidence. He warns me again, and again...and I  keep pushing. So off we go and the food was as delicious as ever. 

Shame about the subsequent migraine. That was one of the worst ever.

Lesson learned, listen to my husband and not my taste buds.

But let me backtrack to Saturday.

I had some gorgeous fabric to play with and in between sporadic bursts of housework I made this gorgeous churn dash block from the next Tilda range, Apple Butter, due in stores next January.

I am so blessed to receive pre-release fabrics to design with, it's definitely a designer perk and I don't take it for granted.

Being a stitchery designer with a monthly schedule that requires at least five new patterns every month I lose the opportunity to partake of much patchwork but I have to tell you I love the precision of piecing fabric and as I was making this block that desire to indulge more often came flooding back.

And something else happened, I was inspired to use my Apple Butter fat quarter bundle to make a quilt. And not just any quilt. It's vintage inspired applique and patchwork blocks and if all goes to plan I'll release it early next year as a Block of the Month.

But let's take a deep breath and not run away with ourselves, okay? Pacing myself  is not a strong character trait but I'm working on changing that so for now the sketches are drawn and Fiona at 2 Green Zebras (our Australian Tilda distributor) is sending me the background fabric for the applique  blocks so I have no choice but to wait. Or draw the quilt layout, something I find challenging.

In the meantime, back to the sewing room I went and put together a sweet door hanger using one of my new November patterns, Welcome Friends...

I love door hangers and always have a number of them displayed around my home on door handles or cupboard knobs, but when my daughter Anita was here last week I remembered just how much she loves them too (especially ones I've made and used) so into her suitcase went a special one and I'll be sending her some others in the future.

This of course meant that I needed more for our home so I began with the welcome design.

For those who are new to sewing, let me assure you that a nice gathered frill across the bottom isn't as difficult as it looks. In fact a number of years ago I made a tutorial to show how it can be done using leftover quilt binding so if you'd like to try this technique you'll find it here.

The frill on this door hanger is longer than the quilt binding one shown in my tutorial and I think it works well to balance the bold aqua applique on the stitchery.

I left an opening along the side for filling. 

I wish I'd remembered to add some dried lavender to the filling but I can do that with the next one. You don't need to over stuff a door hanger so just a bit of poly toy filling works well. 

This will hang near our front entrance as soon as Mr E attaches a lovely shelf to the wall. I bought it at a garage sale years ago for our 'one day' home and it has four hooks under the shelf for hanging keys, charms or a pretty door hanger. 

Should I have called it a shelf hanger, do you think??

I don't often design 'friend' patterns but focus mostly on home and family. Next year however I'll be writing a series of posts on friendships - nurturing them, investing wisely into them, and learning when to step away or draw closer. My introvert personality is such that I have just a handful of close friends and only one lives in my town, but I sense the Lord is going to teach me about making more friends in the months to come -  just a few more. Close by. 

I've started attending a small craft group on Tuesday mornings and am loving it. The girls are gorgeous, so friendly and kind, and as it's only a small group I'm not overwhelmed. My attendance has been sporadic during this season of looking for/buying/settling in to a new home but now that life has begun to find a nice rhythm again I can enjoy those morning more often.

I still had to add my favourite word. HOME. As I read this back to myself my hand went straight to my heart...yes, home holds my heart for always.

The pattern for this stitchery and the door hanger is in my November Stitchery Club issue but membership for this month closes on Friday 16th at midnight so if you'd like to know more you can read about it here and see the other designs everyone will receive.

Other things at home are the beautiful flowers I find in the garden, like this little stunner which bloomed by the front door and caught me quite by surprise. I'd almost ripped it out weeks earlier but was distracted with the back garden and the building of Mr E's noise/privacy screen.

And the purple-grey-pink in these flowers is simply breathtaking...

My hot pink Kalanchoe has decided to burst forth in a second flush of flowers just as I'd thought it was done for this season...

...and the first of our eight pineapple plants is fruiting!

On the table we're indulging in fresh mangoes every morning at breakfast, a perk of living in the tropics. We can buy buckets full of fresh mangoes on the side of the road for around $9, but some of the teachers at Mr E's school have mango trees and bring bags into the staff room for others to take home. Until March we shall be enjoying them daily...

Still eating a 90 - 95% plant based diet has definitely been good for us and I'm finding it much easier than planning meals with meat. With so much vegetable variety to choose from, and wonderful recipe books and bloggers who share their recipes freely, I am finding this style of life a delight.

Of course I'm still baking. How can I not?

As the postmistress Dorcas Lane (from Lark Rise to Candleford) would say, "It's my one weakness!"

Blossom and the girls have come down with a nasty head cold this week so tomorrow I will head over there and take some love, some baking, and more vitamin C.

Ghastly things those summer head colds. You just want to wallow in your favourite flannie pjs and wrap a snuggly quilt around your shoulders while you drink hot lemon and honey tea and watch Pride and Prejudice...but it's so darn hot this time of year so you just yearn for a winter cold and curse the summer one.

Bloss would appreciate your prayers.

And really, you must be quite ready to close your web browser about now. 

What a chat we've had! Thanks for listening, looking, leaving a comment, being my sounding board on life. I am very grateful that you visit me here and hope you know that.

((hugs))

Now to go trace Friday's alphabet letter and make a pincushion...I'm so behind.

Bless you heaps,

The weekend...

We had a wonderful day celebrating Ross's birthday on Saturday. He, Blossom and the girls came by late in the morning and after cool drinks and the opening of presents we settled down to his favourite mother-in-law birthday meal - chicken pasta salad. Ross requests it every year and I have to tell you my heart swells with joy about that.

I had made a huge amount so they could take the leftovers home, as well as raspberry coconut slice and a banana cake with passionfruit icing. I don't think anyone leaves my kitchen with a hungry tummy because there's always plenty to go around and usually more to take home...

At first Cully May patiently waited for us to take her into the pool, but then she impatiently reminded us over and over again as it became obvious to her that lunch was drawing to a close. Gotta love a persistent 2yo! 

We ended the day with a good long swim followed by coffee and cake, then bade our fond farewells as the little girls yawned and our precious daughter and her beloved took them home.

Next morning Mr E and I headed out early to visit a few garage sales our council had organised. We'd gone to a few the previous morning but returned home with nothing so next morning we traveled further afield and came home with some lovely plants, a brand new electric hedge trimmer ($10!) and a book on growing cactus and succulents. 

Mr E trimmed the hedges later that afternoon and was very pleased his purchase did such a good job...

...and I am still deciding where to plant the dwarf bougainvillea and the cordyline negra.

Quite possibly they'll become part of the front garden.

I may not have mentioned this before but we live on a main road and though the back of the house is beautiful and peaceful, the front is very loud from traffic and it does hinder one's desire for a restful night's sleep as the main bedroom is right near the front door. 

So my beloved is working on a noise barrier, but instead of something ugly we shall be creating a rock garden on the road side of it, and put lily pily shrubs in pots on the bedroom window side. (we cannot plant on the bedroom side as there's a pump under the ground for removing excess water during the wet season)

It will have a slight V in the centre when complete but at the moment hubby has just begun painting all the wood so it may be another couple of weeks before we're ready to add rocks, soil and plants - all depends on how much time he has as this is a busy term at school.

We'll also close off the gaps in the front fence, but one thing at a time as we must save first - our purpose is not to create extra debt but to pay off the mortgage as quickly as we can and save for everything else we need.

My rescued lemon tree is thriving but a few unwanted visitors had to be removed the other day...

Fortunately welcome visitors took their place.

The cuttings I took a couple of weeks ago from the Elephant Bush (Jade) were ready to plant yesterday so I've got quite a few prepared and hopefully they'll all take root as Blossom would like some for her backyard as well. 

SEWING...

Well, I am behind which is no surprise after the house move and all that's gone on around the garden and unpacking and the settling in during the past month...but it was definitely time to take a breath and get back to work because we do have a mortgage after all.

The check print is from Bonnie & Camille whilst that vibrant floral is by Tilda.

I was looking for a few fabric duos to make more alphabet pincushions when the idea to use these two in a design for November took over my thought process so out came the sketch pad and by the following afternoon I had a design traced and stitching was underway!

Once the household chores were done this morning, and all emails had been answered, the coffee machine delivered me a steaming soy cappuccino and I was ready to let my stitching fingers get back to work. 

Of course I did make a mistake first up. I chose to watch the movie 'Florence Foster Jenkins' and as I'd not seen it before I hardly got any stitching done at all! 

It was obvious I need to pull out my Marple and Poirot and Jane Austen DVDs if I am going to get work done. Fortunately, tomorrow is a new day and I shall be staying home and hopefully catching up with work at last.

I can hear hubby calling me for an evening cuppa so I'd best say "Bye!" for tonight and finish my thoughts in the next blog post. 

What thoughts, you ask?

Plans for 2019...

Big hugs