Rafaella, my new apron and news...

Rafaella spent the day with me on Tuesday and, as promised, we baked unicorns, of the gingerbread kind. 

We also baked gingerbread men, and rose centred rounds. My pretty little granddaughter had so much fun, and it was pure joy to my heart when she said, "Nana, we have the best times together!"

Gingerbread dough is stiff, so I did help a little, but my girl had her hands in every step of our baking that morning. I rolled out the dough and she pressed the shapes ready for the baking tray. While everything cooled we made the icing and enjoyed some sparkling lemon barley water because baking is thirsty business. She was so proud of her work...

Rafaella decorated everything with icing, sprinkles and roses.

There was a tiny bit of gingerbread mix remaining after pressing the shapes, so she made it into a little heart for her mummy, Blossom, decorating it all over with sprinkles. 

We then had lunch, made necklaces with beads and 'jewels', played hairdressers, and of course she played with Harry-dog. Before driving her back home we walked up to the corner shop for ice-cream and chatted about all the fun we'd had that day...the kind of day we love to spend together. 

Rafaella is a little homemaker at heart, and loves to learn about all the things her mummy and I do as housewives, but most of all she loves to bake. You can't see it but she did wear the purple chicken scratch apron in the kitchen, but it was in fact a bit long, so before our next bake-date I shall make her a popover apron in just her size. 

She loved the new apron I had made myself the day before, using that 1929 pattern from this blog post...

...and I was very pleased with it too! This was the fifth time I'd used that same pattern, but the first time I've hand sewn binding around all the edges. Have to say, it really added that something extra.

I also made two lined pockets and added a lace trim to them because lace gives an extra touch of pretty femininity, something I love in an apron.

That Apron Swap...

Wow, I have had a wonderful response to the Apron Swap which was announced in my last blog post!

There's going to be a lot of aprons winging back and forth across the globe around December 9th...and I pray they all arrive by New Year. Won't it be lovely to start a new year of cooking, cleaning, gardening and baking in a pretty gifted apron lovingly made by a new friend and kindred apron-lover?

There's still time to sign up if you'd like to join in, but I'm closing the window for joining at midnight on Friday (November 18th). Just go HERE to email me before then, with your name, address and country.

The 2022 "Books & Roses" bookmark BOM...

I apologise for not getting the November bookmark out to you on time, but I needed to get things rolling with the new free BOM "The Virtuous Wife" for November 1st. You see I'd thought this new BOM for next year would run over twelve months, but there's so much in it that I had to change that to fourteen months, which is why we began this month instead of January. 

I'll have the November bookmark ready for you on the weekend, and the December one as well. So one is late and the other will be early. This way you can get your bookmarks completed before the year ends, and use them as gifts or finish the stitcheries inside quilt blocks (which is what many of you are doing). 

Changes to my new "The Virtuous Wife" BOM...

If you missed the first free block in this brand new BOM, pop over HERE to download that pattern. 

Originally I'd decided to offer each block free during it's month, then pop the pattern in my Etsy Shop when the next block was shared the following month...BUT...I have decided to keep every block free until the end of the BOM. "The Virtuous Wife" is a project years in the planning, covered with so much prayer, and designed with the Holy Spirit as my guide so that it can be a blessing to all who choose to stitch it. And the added blessing now is that it will remain a free gift. 

Last reminder for those who would like to sign up for the Daisy-a-Day BOM...

Memberships to join this 9-month block of the month will close on November 24th, and there will be no more sign-ups accepted after that date. The patterns will not be available in my shop, only through this membership program. There are 12 patterns sent via email over nine months, and the cost is $6.95 AUD per month (approx. $4.70 US). 

To learn more and sign on, if you'd like to, go HERE

IMPORTANT: I have problems with three new memberships for Daisy-a-Day. 

The email address these ladies have used with Paypal are invalid, so if you have signed up for the BOM but not yet received your first email with the gifted double pattern for blocks 1 and 12, please email me HERE with your correct contact details as soon as possible, otherwise I'll have to cancel your membership on the 24th of November when sign ups close. I hope those ladies read this as I have no valid email address with which to contact any of them.

I realise many people do give 'fake' email address to Paypal in order to protect their privacy, but it also prevents you from receiving digital items you have purchased. 

Goodness, that's it for today, I've talked your ear off I think! 

It's definitely time to brew a nice cup of turmeric latte, put my feet up as I have a dreadful flare up of 'pes anserine bursitis' after falling on my knee late Tuesday and now have to rest it a lot, continue stitching block 8 of The Virtuous Wife quilt (I am excited to be so far ahead!) and continue listening to Agatha Christie's 'Postern of Fate' read by Hugh Fraser who is my favourite Agatha Christie narrator (though Emelia Fox is excellent too). 

I am praying for each of you who take the time to visit this blog and read my posts - that your hearts and mind are calm, that your days bring more peace than turmoil, that your plans are directed by the Lord, that your needs are provided for by God's providence, and that you are never lonely, but always, always, conscious of the loving arms of Jesus wrapped tightly around you. 

Bless you heaps,

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

Subscribe to my blog posts HERE and receive them direct to your email inbox.  

The story of an apron, and a swap!

 Aprons. 

You either wear them or you don't. You either love them or you don't. Or perhaps I should say you do love the look of them, but wearing them isn't your thing? Regardless of personal preferences, I shall raise my hand high to affirm my delight in making and wearing the humble apron.

Yesterday I dashed out for a quick trip to Spotlight for some embroidery threads, and whilst there decided to choose fabric for a new summer apron. As we're only three weeks away from yet another hot Australian summer (although it began a couple of months ago here in the tropics) I thought it would be nice to sew up a couple of new ones as my regular daily aprons are very well used indeed. I don't think a homemaker can have too many aprons (or tea towels) in her possession, for they have many practical uses alongside the obvious one of saving your clothes from spatter and stain. My most-used aprons have pockets for gathering up the small items left around the house each day, and I used to gather hen's eggs in those pockets when we had the chooks. 

I wipe my wet or floury hands on an apron, use the billowing hem to wipe away grandchildren's tears when they fall or hurt themselves, fold up the ends as a make-do basket for collecting salad greens and herbs from the garden...and so many other little things which seem inconsequential and yet become easier when wearing an apron. 

This is the pretty rose adorned fabric I chose yesterday. Fortunately it was marked at 40% off, so I purchased an extra metre for another apron, which I'll tell you about later. 

The pattern I shall use is the Magic Slip-Over Apron, my favourite one, and also the most difficult to figure out the first time you make it as the only instructions are how many inches to cut from where and this line drawing showing where you need to start, finish, and draw freehand curves. 

If you've been reading my blog for a long time, you will remember my first attempt at making this style of apron early in 2015. It was in January, right at the start of my first "Year of Gentle Domesticity" theme. The pattern was inside Amy Barickman's 2010 book "Vintage Notions" (which is very pricey these days, but still available).

It was my favourite apron that year, but I passed it along to Blossom mid-2016 when she was very pregnant with Cully May and needed some tummy cover in the kitchen. 

In that 2015 post I wrote about the making of this apron - 

*** It's not actually a pattern in the sense that you trace it and sew it, but as a diagram with written notes suitable for a 1929 geometry freak...I'm a clear thinker first thing in the morning, so ask me why I decided at 8pm last night to make the magic apron? No idea. I probably had too much coffee yesterday because after dinner my beans were still jumping and my mind declared it could master the instructions...

Mr E graciously excused himself from the area and during the following two hours his replies to my repeated self-monologue (honest, I had to read and re-read the instructions out loud over and over...how can I forget 'g meets k at 8 inches on a right angle parallel to h' between the desk and the cutting table???)  were answered with, "Not talking to you, darling. Talking to this pattern!" Did I mention you need to freehand draw all those curves??***

I can laugh now, but at the time it was a crash refresher course in basic geometry. My darling husband took a photo of me modelling the new apron (pic above) next morning, when I was in a deliriously relieved and accomplished state of mind. Ha ha!! Since then I've made a few more, but never as nice as the original. Hopefully this new rosey-fabric apron will be just as loved. 

This morning, whilst enjoying a cup of hot tea accompanied by a delicious lemon tart, I went through some of my homemaking and craft books for more apron ideas, because I'd like to sew three or four new aprons this month. 

Back in 2019 I led us through a year long book study of Jane Brocket's "The Gentle Art of Domesticity" (you can read all the study posts HERE) so that was the first book I opened for apron inspiration. Jane wore many different aprons throughout the book, but I especially loved the photos of her daughters in aprons. 

This one, worn by her youngest daughter, always catches my eye and I'm fairly sure it was purchased at a thrift shop (op-shop/ charity shop) because Jane did frequent them and the style looks rather wonderfully vintage.

I'd love a pattern for this style myself...

Here's a few others I came across in my browsing of the book shelf...

The photo above is from Tif Fussell's book "Granny Chic" which I bought back in the day because I loved the quirky style she displayed in her old blog, Dottie Angel. She really veered away from that after a while and started a new  blog which I did not like at all. But her old blog is still HERE if you want to browse for re-cycled apron design inspiration. 

Let's backtrack a bit to yesterday's trip to Spotlight, shall we? On my list of things to look for, apart from replenishing some needed DMC threads, were some baking items to create unicorn cakes or biscuits (cookies) as 4yo Rafaella will be here for the day on Tuesday and she asked if we could make unicorn cupcakes. I said yes, but then needed to consider 'how' we would do that. 

Browsing the baking aisles I found a unicorn cookie cutter shape and quickly decided we could make gingerbread unicorn cookies instead. I already have a little rolling pin she can use, but I bought a small icing spatula as well as a box of professional vanilla icing mix on clearance for $1 (originally $24 - crikey!) and some pastel unicorn-y sprinkles. 

Then, I rummaged through my apron shelf because I remembered a couple of pretty children's chicken scratch aprons purchased years ago for 50c each at an op-shop. The purple penguin apron is the smallest so I shall gift this to her on Tuesday...

I'll give it another wash and then press it ready for our big day in the kitchen! And of course, my own new apron will be made by then as well. I say that with hope in my heart as life really does come with tumbles and turns we rarely expect. 

Our baking day was meant to be last Tuesday but Blossom and the children all came down with nasty head colds again, and Rafaella fared the worst with a fever that refused to budge for days. So all going well, I want to make our day together next week extra special and fun. 

Nana always, always, wore an apron, mostly a half apron...

If I knew back then what I know now, I would have gathered together her beloved aprons after the funeral and treasured them for always...but I was a 23yo mother of three at the time and hadn't fully developed the homemaker heart which would bloom in season at age 33. 

If you'd like to download the free 1929 apron pattern I will be making again this weekend, the link is shared by Amy Barickman HERE

I thought some of you may be interested in doing a few simple swaps over the coming year, one every second month? 

Let's kick it off with an apron swap, shall we? I'll be adding my name to the swap list too (which is why I purchased that extra metre of the rose fabric!).

Go HERE to email me if you'd like to be involved

I'll try and partner you with someone in your own country or continent if possible, and there's only a few rules to follow...

* You must make an apron of the quality you would love to receive yourself. It can be simple, embellished, a full or half-apron - but make it with love and care for your swap partner.

* You must email your swap partner when you receive their details from me, and then again when you have posted the apron to them. Just knowing whether they prefer a certain colour helps a lot when creating for someone you do not know. 

* Only send an apron...nothing else. I know from years past people can get carried away and send all sorts of extras in their swap parcel, but not everyone can afford the time or finances to do the same, so in the spirit of keeping the next Year of Gentle Domesticity stress-free and simple, put your love and time into making just that one special apron for your swap partner. 

* The apron must be handmade and not purchased. 

* Give your swap partner the tracking number when you post the apron so they can follow it's journey - this is a very exciting part for those expecting a parcel! 

* You must post your apron by December 9th.

* You have until Friday 18th November to sign up for the Swap. Go HERE to email me. 

I hang two aprons at a time in my kitchen, alternating them every week or so. They always make me smile! 

Now, you may not want to be part of the swap this time, or any time, but perhaps you want to make yourself a new apron? What style do you like? Is there a pattern you already have or one you're planning on purchasing? Let me know in the comments...for I love to hear about aprons! And I really enjoy getting new ideas for making my own as well. 

Dear friends, I shall leave you today with a prayer for God's blessing on your heart and home, and this quote by Jane Brocket, which I find very inspiring to homemakers of all walks of life...

Bless you heaps, dear creative women,

hugs

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

Subscribe to my blog posts HERE and receive them direct to your email inbox.