Tutorials - an oldie, a newbie and rearranging...

 After my post last week with the free Jam Jar pot holder pattern I received a number of requests to show how I made the little hanging loop, so yesterday as I was beginning work on a UFO finish for November it occurred to me that I could photograph the steps to make those loops for you, because they'd be appearing again in my UFO anyhow.

Back in 2016 I released twelve 'gentle domesticity' applique and stitchery designs, but up until now I have only used three of the blocks in actual projects, so browsing through them yesterday I got to thinking about various ways they could be displayed in our home. I also decided that these blocks would become part of my monthly UFO challenge for the rest of this year and into 2022. Will you be joining me? Originally I wrote that this would kick off in November, but after a heavy morning of cleaning and rearranging the living/dining room I retreated to the sewing room to go through my UFOs and choose one to start on immediately.

I barely have any of the fabrics used in the applique left, so I'll be mixing and matching what remains from that year with what's on my shelf now. 

Beginning with the "Take Time to Breathe" block, my idea was to finish it as a mini quilt for the sewing room or a pillow for the bedroom. A few borders later and it was ready for hand quilting...

This was also the perfect time to make some hanging loops like the one I made for 'Jam Jar'. 

Hanging loops like this can also be used to secure button closures so whether my UFO is completed as a cushion or mini quilt, I will use the loops.

You can make these loops any width you like, simply double the width + 1/4" when cutting the fabric. Choose how long you'd like the loop to be and add 1" in length - you can trim it to the right length after the loop is made.

My loops yesterday finished at 3/4" wide, so I began with 1 3/4" wide fabric strips. 

Fold the length/s of fabric in half across their width, right sides together, and sew an 1/8" seam along the bare edge. Gently press the seam open before turning right side out and pressing flat so that the seam lies along the middle.

With the right side of the hanging loop facing you, fold the top to create a point...

...and press the point flat.

You need to secure the little point section with some hand stitching, or you can machine a line across the edge of the back fold instead.

I hand stitched mine, though looking at the photo now I think I'll unpick the front and do it again with ladder stitch instead. A girl can get sloppy when she's tired! 

This is how the hanging loops will be positioned if I choose to finish "Take Time to Breathe" as a mini quilt...

...but if I decide on a pillow they will be used to secure two large buttons at the back opening.

If you'd like to stitch this design it's HERE in my shop and includes detailed applique and embroidery instructions, as all my patterns do. 

THIS WEEK'S "OLD" TUTORIAL...

I also wrote last week that I'd be (slowly) going through my old tutorials to update the pattern sheets and then re-sharing one every Wednesday till the end of the year. I'm choosing those which might be excellent projects for gift giving, and in my mind these Farmhouse Produce Bags stand out as a favourite.

Made from tea towels and scraps of lace, a few buttons and cotton twill for ties, they are not just pretty but very functional. 

The tutorial is HERE along with the pattern sheet to download the words for tracing. 

Yesterday, as I mentioned earlier, began with a big morning of rearranging the living/dining area. Due to our east facing home being hit with the scorching morning sun I always change the layout of furniture to suit the season. 

From late autumn to early spring I have the dining table at the window so we can enjoy a warm sunshine-y breakfast together, but from mid spring (now) till the middle of next autumn the table is moved to the opposite side of the room as breakfasting in front of the window is no longer pleasant and the curtains need to be closed for a few hours until the sun has moved over.

You'll notice in these photos just how bright this area is even in the afternoon, but I'm very happy with the layout now and also thrilled to have my computer desk right where the cool air of the air conditioner can find me.

 Once everything was done, and my short tutorial photographed, I sat down with a nice cup of tea and two Marie biscuits to stitch and begin watching the new season of All Creatures Great and Small (on Britbox). I love this show, and must admit not as much stitching got done as I'd planned...but the afternoon rest was lovely, and I really did 'take time to breathe'. 

I shall leave you today with this photo of Cully May. She starts school next year (in Australia our school year runs from late January to mid December) and is already preparing by attending a local kindy each Monday until Christmas. Her teachers cannot commend her highly enough - "what beautiful manners" - "she's so clever" - "her handwriting is beautiful" - "she's so kind to others". That's the fruit of all Blossom's mothering, and I'm so happy our 5yo is already showing this fruit in her life.

Bless you lovely friends, and I pray we shall all live by the good fruit of the Spirit day by day, giving others the opportunity to see how living for Jesus smooths our rough edges, tames our thoughtless tongues, and grows deep abiding kindness and grace in our hearts.

hugs

October days...

Working six days a week, month after month, really began to take a toll on my sweet man, so he's arranged with his employer to take one day off every fortnight, allowing him opportunity to catch up on things which can't be seen to at the weekend, like doctors, blood tests, dentist, hobby interests, optometrist, hair cuts...all those things which are much easier done from Monday to Friday.

This past Thursday he went off in the early morning to run his errands and then came home to clean the pool and do a bit of pruning around the garden. We have a variety of different hibiscus trees in the front, side and back yards, but there's this stunning one right outside the front door which has the most exquisite pink flowers and I often go out to admire it in the afternoons when the scorching sun has moved to the back of the house. 

When hubby was pruning on Thursday he came in with two small cuttings of that lovely hibiscus to display on my desk, and though I grow gorgeous roses and have them displayed in vases around the place, these two vibrant hibiscus blooms took my breath away...

I popped them in a white milk jug to admire as I sat quietly with pencil and paper to sketch a new design amidst a relentless migraine, aware they'd be wilting by Friday and therefore intent on enjoying them for as long as possible. (When a migraine strikes my creative ideas flow like a waterfall so I make myself sit and draw as long as possible)

Hibiscus are not a flower for cutting and keeping in vases; they thrive on the tree, though even there they have a short life - but they truly are one of the prettiest flowers in our garden.

Hubby made my day with his gift.

This is the beginnings of one design I sketched on Thursday...

...inspired by the colours of my remaining fat quarters of Tilda's Windy Days, which were sent to me a few months back by Tilda Australia to design with. 

I recently mentioned falling in love with needle-turn applique, as I've been slowly working on an old applique quilt pattern which used needle-turn to hone my skills. 

All my design life I've preferred blanket stitch applique, and I still do for those tiny little shapes which frequent my patterns, but I have grown to enjoy needle-turn for larger shapes and decided to employ this style into the new design, "Choose Happy". 

Here's how it's coming along...

Just the other day a small parcel of fabrics arrived, a rare online purchase for me, but they are so pretty that I bought four 1/2 yard cuts. One of the pieces had some lovely little sentiments written between the flowers and garden elements (I'll show you the fabric another day), and one of those sentiments was "choose happy".

Well, it was as though God was speaking right into my heart. I thought about it for a while and then realised how needful it is to CHOOSE how we feel when the world around us is full of challenges and trials, when the news does nothing to uplift the spirit, and people around us seem always so forlorn. 

This, in the midst of a migraine, spurred me into the sewing room to sit under the air conditioner at my desk and bring those words to life with needle and thread. I'll have this design in my new Club later in the year.

More than inspiring me to design and sew, though, those two words inspired me to alter my thinking and to consider how choosing a positive attitude through the ebb and flow of the week ahead could literally be life changing, especially if it became a natural habit to do so. Just food for thought, yes?

Speaking of food...

I'm back to doing meal prep once or twice a week. I followed Lisa of Downshiftology for quite a while and got loads of encouragement and recipe ideas last year, but then I dropped away from planning and for the life of me cannot tell you why. But, I've gotten back into that wonderful habit and have been enjoying opening the fridge to find much of what we need already chopped and stored or cooked and only in need of heating up. 

This morning I roasted trays of broccoli, sweet potato, red onion, carrots and beetroots - all of which can be used in salads, or heated to serve with some form of protein. I made rice in the rice cooker, enough for the week, and roasted marinated chicken breasts before slicing and storing as well. 

I also made Zucchini Bread which smells amazing!

HERE is her Zucchini Bread recipe if you'd like to try it. 

If you're after some meal prep inspiration watch some of Lisa's videos on her blog, like THIS ONE which inspired today's cooking. And THIS ONE which has the delicious (and moist) roast chicken breast recipe.

(photo below from Lisa's blog)

In the garden...

we still have an abundance of herbs, which is great because we use so many of them, but we've also been able to harvest the last few capsicums and tomatoes from our winter planting. This is the end of produce until next year as the weather now is ghastly hot and humid, and we've been warned to expect a worse than average cyclone season with a wetter than usual spring and summer. 

The cockatoos still come by every morning for sunflower seeds, but the rainbow parakeets drop by all through the day for a feast of sweet nectar from the native flowers and bits of fruit or seed we leave out for them.

I'm really surprised that one pot of pansies still blooms, but it is in the garden beds under the large pepper tree so gets shade. 

Every day I can pick a few roses, they are thriving in the heat, though need to have some shade in the afternoon or their petals burn to a crisp. 

Another purchase I made recently was a Chronological Bible as I have long wanted to read the Bible through 'as it happened'. 

I've just finished a study on the life of Kind David and it was wonderful to read it through in sequence from the books of 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 Chronicles, 1 Kings and the Psalms. This expanded my understanding because I wasn't going from here to there, reading only one book at a time, but it was quite panoramic studying through events as they occurred...and I gained more insights than ever about David. (have I mentioned that Blossom's little boy, Charlie David, is named after King David - a man after God's own heart)

Anyhow, that's it for me today, and how nice it is to be back blogging proper again. 

THANK YOU for every loving, kind, and caring comment written on my last post. You have no idea how your love and expressions of care poured balm upon my bruised heart and brought an abundance of joy to my spirit. I will respond to your email comments in a day or two, but we have Blossom and the children dropping by tomorrow and I must prepare a breakfast feast tonight in readiness.

It is time to choose happy, sweet friends, and I pray that YOU know joy, and that you know peace, and that you are filled with the immense and gracious love of our Heavenly Father today. 

I'll leave you with a photo of Charlie David just waking up around dawn. He began walking at 9 months, and now runs everywhere after his sisters! He's 10 1/2 months old now...the time has flown.

Much love

Posies block 10 and planning ahead...

 Another month has passed and October came knocking on our door this morning. Every year about this time I seem to be saying "goodness, the year is flying by quickly" and today was no different.

I like new months, and I like new years, but when I see them advancing quickly I feel inspired to do a deep clean of my sewing/office space and make sure everything is back where it should be so that I can begin the new month or year with visual, mental and creative clarity. 

After a cloudy morning with a light rain shower, perfect for cleaning and tidying whilst listening to an audio book, the skies cleared at lunchtime and the bright spring sun came streaming through the window, so the 'after' photos reflect this...

I moved a few things around so that now I can stand at my cutting and design table and feel the full benefit of the air conditioner coming towards me (tropical heat takes a toll) instead of having it above and behind me. I can spend many hours at that table, sketching, re-sketching, drawing the final design, tracing onto fabric, preparing applique...it really is a work station, and being cool through the many long hot months here is important.

The air conditioner is above my fabric shelving, and as this is a small room and some of the fixtures are permanent, I can really only move the cutting table direction or placement. But I really like the way it is now and wonder why I haven't thought to face the other way before? 

Its especially important around now that I focus on, and finalise, the plans I've made for Elefantz in the coming year, and as you can see by my desk after everything else was tidied, pages of plans sketched over the past few months were everywhere!

I tend to write lots of notes and ideas through the year and gather them in groups, folders, notebooks - so spending an hour going through each page or book allows me to eliminate some, throw away duplicate ideas (if I have a duplicate of an idea then I am pretty sure it's something I'll definitely work on), rewrite a few more, and then order everything in sequence of importance or time frame. 

Once this was done I brewed a lovely cup of vanilla tea and treated myself to some delicious jam tarts whilst preparing to write the rough drafts of ten brand new patterns.

Before deciding on a start date for my new stitchery pattern club, I decided to have three months worth of patterns sketched, traced, embroidered, patterns written and then everything photographed. My plan is to always be a full season ahead as life has a tendency to step in and upset the apple cart when you least expect it. Forward planning and then following through with those plans can eliminate any future hiccups or anxieties when running a home business on your own. 

I'm also working on two new block of the months for next year. One of them is my regular freebie and runs for 12 months, and the other will be a subscription membership which runs for 10 months. 

I'm loving them both, and can't wait to show you, but let us all slow down that wee bit and enjoy the moments yet to come our way through October, November and December. Every day is a blessed gift, something I understand more and more as I age. 

Besides, you still have three more Posies block of the month patterns to receive, and today one of them is all yours...

Isn't that bird in the vase beautiful? And I love the fabric borders too. 

I stitched a double row of chain stitch across the vase, making sure it did not cover the dove in flight. The flowers are made with blanket stitch and the centres are satin stitched. Backstitch the stems and sew tiny lazy daisy leaves before adding your border fabric.

UPDATE...

POSIES was free until January 1st 2022.

The complete 2021 POSIES quilt is now available from my ETSY Shop.

In case you're new to Elefantz Designs, here's a photo of the wall quilt we're making with the Posies blocks this year.

The monthly blocks are all free to download until December 31st, 2021 and I share a new block on the 1st of each month. If you've missed any of the previous blocks just pop over HERE

Last week Blossom and I ventured to Spotlight with her trio of pre-schoolers in tow. The girls love the store and offer numerous suggestions for various fabrics their mummy can buy to sew pretty things for them, but Charlie was more interested in watching everyone go by and all the bright colours of fabric around him. 

Bloss eventually purchased a few cotton spandex prints for leggings that will be finished with ballerina ribbons at the ankles (she is an in-demand pattern tester for many children's wear designers), and fabric to make Charlie a summer cot quilt; but we also found these tape measure lanyards and thought how clever they were as we can clip our embroidery scissors onto them and avoid that constant frustration when at the sewing machine of looking for our little scissors (usually hidden under fabric, right?) as well as having a tape measure at our fingertips the whole time. Brilliant.

Hubby is on holidays for a week and I'm so happy as he's had no time off work since last December, and six-day working weeks are exhausting (especially when you're not so young anymore). We went for a drive by the sea this morning with coffee from Zarraffas before heading home for brekky and getting stuck into our various tasks - me to the cleaning/tidying/sorting/writing, and he to repair the car lights and generally give our 4WD a good clean and service. 

Tonight I'm roasting tomatoes from the garden and tossing them through fried gnocchi; and we'll enjoy that with a side salad and fresh sour dough as well. Ice cream and strawberries will finish off our dinner very nicely. I wonder what you're preparing for dinner tonight??

God bless each of you, and may the love of our Father above abundantly fill your lives in this new month, and lead you closer to His Son.

hugs

A special project, help, blessings, and a thank you...

NEEDLE-TURN

For the past three weekends I have given over my sewing time to making an old 2007 quilt pattern by the very loved and sorely missed Rosalie Quinlan (Dekker). She was a gentle and kind woman, someone I grew to know in the last six years of her life, a friend who became a committed prayer partner as we held each other's children before the Lord and shared their needs. 

Kindness is what first comes to mind if I'm ever asked to describe her, and lately as I have been stitching the first three blocks of Rosalie's "Home Is Where My Heart Resides" quilt pattern, I'm praying about kindness and asking the Father to illuminate the areas in my life where it is needed more.

I'm also practicing needle-turn applique for this quilt, and have to tell you I am loving it! There's a been a handful of times in the past (2013?) when I've dabbled with this technique, but I've always been drawn back to blanket stitch applique - especially the past three or four years when my touches of applique on a stitchery design have been tiny. I really wouldn't use needle-turn for them...but for larger shapes, oh yes, I shall in future.

(Faith, Hope, Charity pincushion pattern can be found HERE in my shop)

THE ELDER TREE & CITRUS...

It's spring and my elder tree is really coming into bloom so I'd love to use the flowers for cordial. Having never grown an elder tree before I am a real newbie to the treats which can be made by both the flowers and the berries, so...can you give me some advice please?

Exactly when is the right time to pick the flowers?

And do berries form from the flowers left on the tree??

I have a second elder tree which has been hardening up in a pot for the past few months but which will be planted in the garden early October when hubby has a week of work. 

Another spring blessing is our lemon tree, which is alive with flowers!

It's also becoming heavy with fruit...

Last season we got one lonely lemon from the tree, but this year it is loaded and I couldn't be happier as we use heaps of lemons and the price of them has gone nuts at the supermarket and market. 

We also have flowers and a few tiny fruitlings on the lime tree, another citrus we use a lot of. 

PRICKLY BEAUTY

We often go for a wander by the beach down along the Strand and I always used to stop and admire a very pretty but extremely prickly pink plant which grew beside the driveway of a small motel. I mentioned many times to my husband that I'd love to have a few in our garden but he would point out the prickles and shake his head, saying "You'll prick your fingers too much."

Well, one day last year in the garden section of Bunnings there was one, marked down to $1 on the clearance pallet. I couldn't leave it there and he rolled his eyes as I carefully placed it in our already loaded trolley.

I'm so glad I did!

My deep pink Euphorbia has dealt with dry conditions, wet conditions, neglect, over-caring and every other obstacle plants can succumb to. 

Yes, it is indeed very prickly, but once it's settled in it's place you never touch it...

...you simply admire it's beauty, and thank God for something so vibrant flourishing unaided in a rather forlorn area of the back yard.

Life itself can be a mix of prickly troubles and splashes of beauty and joy. The two extremes can often be found living side by side, but it's which one we choose to focus on that makes the difference to our mental, spiritual and physical nature. 

Accepting that life is rarely a gentle wander through rolling hills and lush green forests under clear blue skies, but is a balance of prickles and blooms, sunshine and showers, sickness and health, abundance and need, helps us appreciate beauty when it crosses our path or catches our gaze.

God has placed much beauty in His world, and I find that by looking intentionally for this beauty in my day to day surroundings helps me manage the more difficult aspects of life when they arise.

Just today I was reminded of a study I once shared here on the beautiful blessing from Numbers 6:24-26, and thought I'd share it again to encourage you.

The LORD bless you and keep you...

In the Hebrew text when the Lord says to 'keep you' it means He will hedge around you, guard you, protect and attend to you. Isn't that marvelous!?

The LORD make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you...

In the Hebrew text 'and be gracious to you' means that God bends down towards us in kindness, showing mercy and pity, to favour us. How loved we are!

The LORD lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.

The word for peace here is Shalom, the beautiful greeting or blessing which the Jews still offer today. In this verse the Lord literally turns His face towards us, looking face to face at us, and offers us His gifts of friendship, good health, prosperity and safety.
There are no gifts to compare with those the Father has for us!

I'm praying this blessing over all of you today, lovely ones. 

Perhaps you will pray it over those in your life too, for we are not just to receive blessings, but to offer them and pray them for others. You never know how God can use a blessing from us to impact the life of another.

Over the past year I have received a few beautiful letters and cards in the mail from women across the globe who read my blog but whom I have never met. They wrote to encourage me, to share a little of their own lives, and some sent small gifts as well. Each time my heart would melt and tears of gratitude would fall...for they did not realise how the Lord had used them to lift my countenance and strengthen my faith.

Thank you to each one of those very special women, who stepped out in kindness and extended a hand of love and encouragement. You are in my prayers and deeply loved by the Father.

It's time to sign off for we are soon to depart for Blossom's where we shall enjoy a lunchtime catch-up with her, Ross and the children. Such wonderful blessings await us, and I pray your eyes are opened to the blessings awaiting you as well.

hugs