New free Christmas pattern for you...

 

I love to create a new pattern for you at this time of year which focuses solely on the truest Gift we can ever receive.

At the weekend I was pottering around in the kitchen and stopped in my tracks as these words were heavily impressed upon my heart - "Holy is His name"...and then I knew exactly what this end of year design would be.

I mention this each Christmas season, but for those who are new here, I'll mention it anew.

In our family Jesus is celebrated every day. He wasn't born on December 25th, more likely sometime in September by historical accounts, and even though it is wonderful to embrace this season with carols and gift giving, family and hospitality, being a Bible believing Christian is a day to day celebration of the greatest gift ever given to man by God...His Son, Jesus, our Saviour, Redeemer and Lord.

Let me encourage you to slow your 'to-ing and fro-ing' this month, to step back a little from the hustle and bustle, and to look with fresh eyes at the Glorious One your heart and thoughts should be gazing upon in awe and wonder.

His is the name above all names, and each day serving Jesus is a perpetual gift to us from the Father on High, because every good and perfect gift is from Him...and we know Jesus is that good and perfect gift beyond all others.

I love singing genuine Christmas carols about Jesus any time of year, not the ones which glorify a lie (i.e. santa), but I enjoy them more regularly through December, so as I go about my gentle domestic tasks this month the beautiful songs about Jesus' birth will fill the air. What is your favourite carol? Mine is Night Divine. :-)

Use the link below to download the pattern, and may it be a blessing to you, and those you may decide to stitch it for. 

DOWNLOAD Holy Is His Name

Bless you,

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Block 2 - The Virtuous Wife free BOM...

 

Hello December, you came rather quickly this year.

This month we're stitching block two of my newest (free) block of the month, The Virtuous Wife, which will run for fourteen months. If you missed block one please go HERE

Block 2 - "The heart of her husband trusts in her. He will have no lack of gain." Proverbs 31:11

There's really quite a lot to ponder with verse 11, and at times it can be a tad confronting. Let's start with "The heart of her husband trusts in her..."

The Hebrew word for "heart" in this verse is 'leb' and refers not just to feelings, as one would normally imagine, but the intellect...where judgement is made on facts. 

The Hebrew word for "trust" or "safely trusts' in this verse is 'batach' and means to be confident and sure. It is used all through the old testament when referring to man, and his trust in God. 

So bringing both together, we grasp the weight of this husband's confidence and surety in his wife. Intellectually, he trusts her by the fruit borne of her character, as well as the emotions of his heart which clearly overflow with love. 

His trust in her does not waver, he is confident always, just as he trusts God, just as we today put all our trust in God. Don't know about you, but comparing the husband's trust in his wife to the trust we put in God, really caused me to look with deeper perspective at my own role as a wife, examining my trustworthiness in light of God's trustworthiness. Those are big shoes to fill, yet the Bible is showing me that it's possible for us to be just as confidently trusted by our husbands. 

This example of trust (in marriage and in God) also highlights the unique connection between husband and wife, the way we balance each other, how we must work at supporting each other's God given role without envy or pride, avoiding all manner of competitiveness, but humbly serving each other because we serve the Lord, and are called to follow His example. 

The remainder of verse 11 reads - "He will have no lack of gain".

In Hebrew "no lack of" is 'chacer' and is the exact same word David used in Psalm 23, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want".

The Hebrew word for "gain" (or spoil in the KJV) is 'shalal' and describes the bounty taken from an adversary, or the booty as some would say, a profit of wealth.

This tells me his wife manages the household with financial wisdom, and is not wasteful in any way. Her diligence to managing their home means her husband has all he needs, and is not in want. 

As we go further along in our study of the Proverbs 31 woman next year, evidence of why this wife is held in such high regard will become clear, and I pray for myself, and for all of you who have joined in with this block of the month and accompanying study, that we raise our own standards as wives, mothers, women, and daughters of God. The Christian life was never meant to be stagnant, nor are we called to tread water or become complacent, but we are to grow more and more like Christ, reflecting His character in every aspect of life. This is not something we can do all at once, it's a step by step, day by day, challenge by challenge, joy by joy, journey from becoming less of ourselves and more like Him. 

On a personal note, I have spoken of this verse (and verse 12) a few times over the years because it's a call the Lord gave me a long time ago, a life calling, a wife calling, so here's part of my own testimony on marriage as the decades pass...

Many years ago Proverbs 31:11-12 stamped itself on my heart and mind, birthing a desire to fulfil that role in my day to day life as a wife and homemaker. With regularity this verse comes to mind as, I am sure, a prompt from the Holy Spirit to stop and consider whether I am indeed fulfilling that desire.

At times I rejoice because there’s a certainty in my soul of a good attitude and daily loving care being offered to my beloved man…but sometimes there is a check in my spirit to examine more closely the cracks which have begun to appear in my character.

I knew that living this out would not be easy because of my own humanity with its pride, selfishness and numerous other character failings, but also because my husband is not perfect and came into our marriage with his own strengths, weaknesses and rough edges. After all, marriage is often a series of balancing acts when two quite different individuals make a commitment to live ‘as one’ for life.

Marriage is a page by page story you write from the heart, moment by moment decisions and choices that will build the union stronger or tear it apart until only shreds remain. Over the past 31 years my husband and I have faced more valleys that mountaintops, faced crises which according to statistics tear apart more couples that draw them closer, but here we are, more committed, more loved, than ever before.

You see, many times over those years we've been pulling in opposite directions, not walking in our God given roles, seeking to be the one who was right and to have our own way. There are many tears, sorrows, losses and grief scattered along the highways and byways of this marriage, but I made a decision when Proverbs 31:11-12  stamped itself on my heart to always let him have the last word, make the big decisions, and to be held responsible before God for those choices and directions.

We stayed committed. 

We chose to forgive. 

We learned to listen to each other’s point of view and really hear what was being said.

I show him genuine respect and he loves me as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5:25-33), and always takes into consideration my thoughts before making a big decision.

When dissention threatened our peace of mind or our relationship we sought Jesus to show us a better way, and often it would be Proverbs 31:11-12 which the Lord would bring to mind again for me and I always took it to heart.

 Honestly, the teaching in those two verses has led me through seasons of pruning, planting, blooming, and hibernation (especially when my views had been totally warped by selfishness) They have changed me for the better and will keep changing me as the years go by.

“The heart of her husband safely trusts her,

So he will have no lack of gain.

She does him good and not evil all the days of her life”

I love my man, and therefore I want his heart to safely trust me.

I want him to have no lack of gain.

I want to do him good and not evil all the days of my life. 

So I take one day at a time and praise God for the opportunity to be that wife, knowing there are days I'll fail and days I'll soar. The most important thing is that I keep this close to my heart and do my utmost to live it out. 

Marriage is the relationship above all else which needs the most work, the most love, the most compassion, the most forgiveness, the most humility - and for most of us it will be a relationship which will last for many decades until the Lord takes one of us home.

Now, it's not my place to stand over my man and critique his husbandliness, that's something he and God work on together, though there have been occasions when I wanted to point the finger in his direction (and did) to my disappointment, but God is watching me be a wife, so that's the role I try and keep firmly in mind when different views arise. 

Taking our eyes off what we perceive to be our husband's weaknesses or failings and putting them firmly on what WE need to be, what WE need to change, how WE should respond, is God's way. (Matthew 7:3-5)

So have I given this marriage the time and prayer and care it needs?

I have to ask myself this on a regular basis and that's a good thing because only by honestly examining my role as a wife can I improve our marriage relationship so that it will last the distance; after all, Mr E is my best friend, lover and champion, and most definitely worth the effort.

I pray the Lord pours out a great blessing upon your marriage and widens your understanding within it that you may gain an increase of love, joy, respect and fellowship with Christ.

Use the link below to download this month's free pattern -

DOWNLOAD Block Two The Virtuous Wife 

Bless you heaps,

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Books & Roses BOM - final two patterns...

 

Today I have the final two Books & Roses BOM stitchery patterns for you. 

Have you enjoyed this year's free block (bookmark) of the month? I have heard of many ways the patterns have been displayed, and not just as bookmarks, but inside quilt blocks and also on greeting cards. How have you been completing them?

Bookmarks are such an easy gift to post away in a letter, a card, or tucked inside a book - and if you're a reader yourself, you know you can never have too many bookmarks. 

The November bookmark is smaller than usual, and that's due to having only a tiny scrap of the beautiful fabric which adorns the top and bottom of the stitchery. This little bookmark is just right for my small Spurgeon devotional.

On your pattern sheet for December I have no included '2023' but you could easily write it in yourself. It was just as I was stitching it that I thought what a nice way to begin next year with an appropriate bookmark - and I even used some pretty fabric from my new free block of the month, The Virtuous Wife. 

Use the link below to download the double pattern.

DOWNLOAD Books & Roses November and December stitchery pattern set

If you have missed any of the free monthly Books & Roses stitchery patterns this year go HERE for the download links. 

I awoke with a nasty head cold this morning, my first in ages, so I wanted to get these patterns out to you while I'm still functioning. Unfortunately my nose is now a constant drip, a migraine is brewing and my throat feels like razor blades are embedded within....so I shall sign off and take my leave to go rest and recover with plenty of homemade cold tonic and hopefully some bowls of soothing chicken soup. 

God bless you all,

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The Virtuous Wife - block 1...

 

Good morning everyone, and a happy November to you all!

Today we're going to begin a long 14 month project, The Virtuous Wife quilt. This idea has been on my mind for years, but as with all big design projects I need to wait on the Lord for what is in my thoughts to become tangible sketches and eventually a set of embroidery blocks. And as always, His timing is perfect, and His grace to lead me through the process is more than I deserve.

Some things you'll want to know about The Virtuous Wife project...

* This quilt project comprises 16 blocks, which I'll share over 14 months, so somewhere along the journey you'll receive two blocks instead of one for a couple of months. 

* The stitchery/applique centres measure 6.5" before being bordered in a Bright Hopes patchwork block. 

* The finished size of each block is 10.5". 

* The fabric requirements, applique and embroidery instructions etc, are included with the Block 1 pattern. 

* A previous tutorial for adding the Bright Hopes border to a centre block is HERE. If you do not know how to sew that border, please watch the tutorial. 

* The finished quilt top will have four rows of four blocks, but it's up to you to decide if you want to add a final border or two to the outer edges of the quilt. Personally, I will make that decision for my own quilt when I have all the blocks stitched, but it will probably be a simple 2" or 3" wide border all around.

* Each block is released on the 1st of the month, and is FREE

* In the instructions I have not given thread colours as you will need to choose your colours to match the fabrics you'll be using. 

* I am using a total of four fabrics only in my quilt top, so you may like to try that yourself. Shop from your stash, as I did, and pick four pretty co-ordinating prints. I have 1/2 metre of each, which will see me through to the end (apart from a final border and binding).

* If you don't want to do the applique, that's fine. On your pattern sheet you'll find more detail in the designs for hand embroidery alone. 

Block One...

Something different I did with the applique in this block (and in following blocks) was to blend the thread colours for the blanket stitch applique with the flow of colour in the fabric. So, if you look below, you can see that I used a green for the green sections of floral fabric, pink for the pink sections, and blue for the blue sections.

After completing the blanket stitch, I then chain stitched around the large flower, doing the same thing again with thread colours. 

The blanket stitch is sewn with a single strand of thread, whilst everything else is sewn with two strands. 

Use the link below to download the pattern. 

DOWNLOAD Block 1 The Virtuous Wife

I thought we might also take a look at Proverbs 31:10-31 as we stitch our way through the next 14 months, but rather than begin with verse 10, let's go back to the preceding verses, those which lead us into the heart and home and life and faith of this dear woman. 

The beginning of this chapter opens with King Lemuel's mother, an obviously wise and godly woman, speaking very candidly with her son about the kind of king he needs to be in order to rule righteously, but she also gives him counsel on the character of a woman he should pursue to be his queen. 

For the longest time I overlooked that Proverbs 31 is, in fact, the counsel of a mother to her son, and not originally intended as a recipe for we women to emulate. Yet, we must thank God for these instructive verses being included in the canon of Biblical Scripture, because it's simply loaded with advice for women of all walks of life. 

I also think this passage of Scripture is a wonderful teaching tool for our sons and grandsons as well. Being taught what to look for in a future wife - and I have rarely heard anyone discuss this, if at all - compliments the lessons we teach our boys on growing into faithful, strong, righteous husbands and fathers one day. It's certainly something to consider. 

Now let's move on and look at The Virtuous Wife described in verse 10 of Proverbs 31...

The word "virtuous" is translated from the Hebrew word 'chayil', but as with much English translation from the original Hebrew language, virtuous is only one word of many which fully describe 'chayil'. 

To gain a deeper understanding, we could read verse ten like this - "Who can find a capable, virtuous, strong, valiant, war-worthy wife?" 

You see 'chayil' is also used to describe a force, such as an army, (hence 'war-worthy')! Ladies, this woman King Lemuel's mother is describing is no wallflower, no lazybones, no woman of little value...in fact, this word is used to describe Naomi's daughter-in-law Ruth (Ruth 3:11), a band of soldiers (Ezra 8:22), the valiant men  of Israel (1 Chronicles 10:12), strong men of war (Jeremiah 48:14), riches and wealth (various Scriptures), character and substance (Deuteronomy 33:11)....and I could go on, but I think you can grasp the depth of character describing the Proverbs 31 woman. 

Knowing this, it gives the remainder of chapter 31 (verses 11-31) far more depth as well, and I hope you are as excited as I am to dig deeper into the example of this godly woman King Lemuel's mum wanted for her son. The more I thought about it, the more I have come to believe that the King's mother knew of a woman like this, or perhaps a few women she'd observed over time who lived their lives as exemplary 'chayil' wives. 

You may not be a wife yet, you may be a widow, or you are no longer a wife...but I think there's so much in Proverbs 31 to instruct women of all ages and life circumstances, because the key to this Virtuous Wife is her character. I read this recently in the Complete Jewish Study Bible and think it gives a wonderful description of this woman's heart and motivation, especially in the world of today...

"But who is this capable woman? She is a woman who is attentive to herself and to those around her. Her heart is bound up in the well-being of others. She is creative and resourceful, and she radiates beauty in her own unique way. She cares for herself, but she knows she is more than just a physical body: she emanates this beauty from her soul as well, in servitude and in love. She is fully aware of her place in the plan of God, seizing each moment with intention. This practical and spiritual woman aligns her thoughts, body and actions for the sake of heaven. She approaches life with fortitude and presses forth despite obstacles. She might be single, she might be married; she might work in the home, she might be a corporate executive; she might be a teenager or a grandmother. Whoever she is, she is the eshet chayil: the woman who strives to live a full life of service to God."   

Translation of 'eshet chayil' - a woman of worth, valour or strength 

Ladies, let us think on these things. Let us thank our Father for the gift of being a woman, for the treasure we have in Him and the instruction for living the life He has mapped out for us all through His holy Word. 

That sentence, "She is fully aware of her place in the plan of God, seizing each moment with intention." really stands out to me at this time of life, because it reminds me (yet again) that as long as I have breath, God has a purpose for my life...and I need to live it out each day with intention. 

I hope you enjoy stitching along with this project, and as our quilt grows, may we also grow beyond where we are today into wiser, more godly, more industrious, more generous and much kinder women, wives, mothers, sisters, grandmothers, aunts and friends.

God bless you as you stitch, as you pray, as you work on your character, as you seek to live a full life of service to Him, as you teach the young ones in the way they should go. 

Blessings and hugs,                                                                                                                                                                                           `  

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Rallying each other and 2023...

 Lately I've thought daily about the need for women to rally behind each other, encouraging one another in our homemaker journey, whether that be full-time homemaking or a balancing act between outside employment/commitments and home life. 

In a world where there appears to be less and less enthusiasm for women to nurture their homes in the old ways, the tried and true ways, the roll up your sleeves and get to work ways, many of us are pushing back in order to assert our deep desire for the delight of creating a beautiful, welcoming sanctuary within our own walls. Many of us are choosing to live fulfilling lives of gentle domesticity once again.

So just as I did back in 2015 when I first launched A Year of Gentle Domesticity, I am once more going to rally behind each of you precious home-hearted women, and embark on a new year of living the gentle domestic life in 2023...

And just because the calendar has not yet turned a page into the coming new year, doesn't mean we can't dust ourselves off right now, reflect on what has been missing in our homes, and plan for bringing renewed and refreshing life into our living spaces right now. 

In my last post I wrote about sharing with you my plans for 2023, and the first and most important desire is to lift high the role of homemaker, to extol the blessings of what it means to be the woman of the house, and to look for as many ways as possible to encourage all of you who are journeying this path, whether it has been for many decades, or just a few months. 

I have two brand new block of the month quilts, one of them a paid membership program, and the other a month-by-month free pattern which will also include a bible study (shared here on the blog). 

Today I shall give you a peek at The Virtuous Wife, as this will be the free BOM, and the very first block will start on November 1st this year. Each block will be free for the entire 14-months of the project. x

Here's a peek...

If you do not want to miss any of the free blocks as they are released, pop over HERE to sign up for my free newsletter, which arrives via email every second week.

OR, sigh up HERE to receive every blog post as it is posted. 

Do you think you'll be joining in with The Virtuous Wife BOM? There's a lot of blocks so it will run either 14 or 16 months, and I encourage you to gather your favourite fabric scraps to sew along. I chose four fabrics for the entire quilt. Each bordered block measures 10.5" square, and I've used the Bright Hopes patchwork pattern for them. I'll have more instructions, photos, and the 1st block for you to download, on Tuesday November 1st.

NOTE: My other new Block of the Month, which is a paid membership running for 9 months, will begin later in November and I'll have a full blog post about that next week. 

Now, let's catch up on what happened this week around home, shall we?

I tend to make a few salads every Sunday afternoon, the kind that will serve me well for lunches when hubby's at work, or can be served on the side of a main meal in the evenings. This week I made a Burgul salad with roasted carrots and tomatoes, cranberries, pine nuts, and various other salad vegetables. 

Burgul is very easy to make, as you simply soak the grains in boiling water for ten minutes, then drain, cool and use.

I find with slowing down our lives that meals especially need to be simplified, and that's why we use the same salad dressing for most things...besides, it is delicious! I shake together 1/3 cup of apple cider vinegar, 1/3 cup maple syrup, and 1/3 cup olive oil in a jar and store it in the fridge, only mixing it into a salad when I'm ready to serve it. This amount will do us all week long, often longer, as we don't like too much dressing on our salads, but as long as you keep equal measures of the three ingredients you can make as much or as little as you need.

Our washing machine died a painful death this week so my husband quickly sourced another of the same brand we've always used (LG) and within 48 hours I was reading through the paperwork while waiting for the delivery man to install it. 

And of course, as I now have a new washing machine, one which we're praying will last the rest of our life here on earth, it was time to finally sew a new peg apron as my old one was beginning to perish from multiple everyday use. This pretty pink tulip fabric is linen, and I bought it about eight or nine years ago on sale, knowing that one day it had the potential to become something lovely and useful...and now it is.

Truth be told, I do not use these wooden pegs when hanging up the washing each day as I'm gradually moving on to stainless steel ones from the plastic type I've used for many years. I am just buying a pack every so often in my grocery order and soon I'll be able to ditch the plastic pegs, which constantly crumble in out extremely hot tropical climate anyhow - but the old wooden pegs, such as nana always used, really did look lovely photographed with my apron. 

 

Two new books arrived. This one is a reference for using my garden produce and herbs to make  medicines and salves, a needful skill indeed.

The other book is simply a delight. Dorcas Smucker was raised Amish, and then married a Mennonite minister. She has written a number of books, taken mostly from her blog posts over many, many years, and they are thoughtful, hilarious, and very down to earth. This book is a trilogy of her first three books...and I love it!

My book budget is emptied now, so no more buying for quite a while, and that's fine because every book I have purchased this year has been purposefully considered, and not once have I regretted any of them. 

The rains came, two afternoons in a row, with thunder and lightning, and joy for my part as it meant God was watering the parched gardens for me. 

Harry-dog and Sophie-cat did what many pets do in thunderstorms, running inside to whine and meow and declare their protests. Sophie went and hid under our bed, whilst Harry had a cuddle and then escaped to his bed for a nice long nap. 

Whilst the rain brought relief to the garden, I had time to begin work on the pattern instructions and graphs for my other new block of the month. As I said earlier, there'll be a whole blog post with photos of this project next week, and you may enjoy the story behind it...

The roses love the rain, far more than water from the tap, and my vases are always full to bring beauty and colour to our home...

As I was taking these photos during the week, my heart really bubbled over with thankfulness to God for all we have, for all He has provided, whether in valleys or upon the mountain tops of life - and He does all this because of love, even when sometimes our own attitudes aren't as loving as they should be. 

Just near my desk, perched above the quilt stand, is this little pillow I designed years ago, with the gentle and true words of Mother Teresa...

It reminded once again that this is what homemaking is all about. The small things, the often overlooked and insignificant-to-others tasks, the quiet day to day rhythms we follow within our homes that don't seem, even to us, to be significantly important, and yet they are...when done with love. 

Precious woman, dear friend, even when nobody can see you tending, washing, baking, scrubbing...your Father watches, and His heart is overjoyed when you go about your day doing what needs to be done with a loving and willing heart. God is our 'audience of One', our constant companion, our help in times of trouble, the lifter of our weary heads, the provider of all our needs, and the ear which hears every prayer and answers in the way He alone knows is best. 

If you'd like to stitch your own little "Great Love" pillow, the pattern is my free gift to you. Use the link below to download it.

DOWNLOAD the "Great Love" pillow pattern

Until next week, be blessed, and perhaps pray and ponder the things you would like to pursue in the next year of Gentle Domesticity. If you have some thoughts or ideas to share, I'd love to read them...pop them in the comments below. You never know how your own thoughts may resonate with, or help someone else. Just like Terri did for me, writing this in the comments of my previous post...

"I too am thinking of 2023 already. I do this about this time each year. I always wondered why I felt compelled to think of the New Year ahead so early. It's because the Jewish calendar New Year occurs around this time! I am in sync with my Christian roots is all. You must be as well."  

We'd only just been celebrating the Jewish new year (hubby and I), and her comment made me realise that's exactly why I was already preparing for a new year ahead! Thank for that Terri. x

hugs

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October bookmark pattern...

This month's bookmark is finally done, thanks for your patience. 

I drew up a sweet stack of teacups to applique, perched them on a stack of books and popped a couple of red roses in the smallest cup. 

On your pattern sheet I've drawn little roses inside each tea cup, just in case you'd rather stitch them than add applique. 

Something else I did this month was to hand quilt the top and bottom feature fabrics, one with diagonal cross hatch, and the other with squares. I also made this bookmark much larger than previous months as some of my reference books require more than the average size to save a page. 

A triple layer of lace and ribbon completed the October bookmark. 

Hope you like this one! Use the link below to download the free pattern.

DOWNLOAD Books & Roses October stitchery pattern

 

Early each morning there's been cloud cover for a few hours, so usually I'm found pottering around the garden, doing what I can to prepare beds and pots for the very hot months ahead. 

There's not a great deal of food you can grow here outside of the winter months, strange as that may seem to most of you, but I'm studying up on what might work. So far, we've got two new pumpkin plants doing well, sweet potatoes just kicking off, more spring onions (green onions) which always do well year-round, radishes, rocket (always does well), a capsicum plant which resides in a pot of snapdragons, and beetroot greens. Much of these are under shade cloth in the raised beds, or for the smaller pots I've used old net curtains to shade them. 

I roasted the last butternut pumpkin yesterday. It was only a small one, but perfect...

For fruit we have a paw paw tree which has established itself well the past two months so we're hopeful of fruit (probably next year), and the passionfruit vine is vigorously spreading over the structure hubby built for it. Our sole blueberry plant surprised us with six blueberries last month, and has suddenly had a growth spurt, so we're hopeful for future fruit. The blackberry bush was so dormant the past six months that we though it had died, but no, it's sprouted to life and is beginning to spread it's limbs across another structure hubby built for it. 

Ginger, which we're growing for the first time, has burst to life in a pot, so I got keen and planted another ginger corm in the raised bed where we had grown tomatoes over winter. 

With regards to flowers - the geraniums, snapdragons, calendula, roses, dianthus, seaside daisy (which grow in the shade of the elder tree) and zinnias are all doing fairly well. Amazingly, the chrysanthemums are still bringing forth a few blooms as well! I have to keep my eye on everything though as our sun is already scorching petals if I'm not checking often and moving pots around to shadier spots if needed.

After browsing one of my garden books, I picked some chive blossoms the other day to make a flavoured vinegar. 

I only made half a jar as I didn't have enough blossoms for the full recipe, but it will be fun to watch this jar turn a deep pink over the next two weeks...

Apparently the flavour is delicious, and as the only ingredients were chive blossoms and white wine vinegar, if we like it I'll make more each year.

This is the book I'm reading - full of garden ideas!

Remember those pretty china teacups and saucers I showed you in the last blog post? Well, Blossom and the children were over on Tuesday and the girls couldn't wait to have a tea party! They even asked for a refill. 

Charlie is almost two now, can you believe it?! 

Every time I try to get a photo though, he's jumping around and not wanting to stand still so the photos are blurry...but, you can still see how he melts my heart!

Migraines are hitting very hard at the moment, so blog posts have slowed...but I didn't want you to wait any longer for the new bookmark stitchery, so thought while I have a free hour I'd give you a catch up on home life as well. 

I truly hope that each of you are doing well, that you're finding joyful things to put your hands and minds to...and that you remember to give thanks each day for the sacred gift of life. Beginning each day with prayers of praise and gratitude, we set our thoughts on the Father above, and this in turn brings blessing to the hours that follow. 

We thoroughly enjoying the extra time spent reading God's Word before breakfast, as well as after. My beloved, who has a stressful job, drives off in a much calmer state of mind. Spending that extra time each day in our Bible study has been, and is, incredibly life giving. In fact, I hear my husband let out a sigh when it's time to close his Bible and go get ready for work...and I think, that's what it should be like, right? We should love reading God's Word so much, that we don't want to put it down. 

Bless you heaps, lovely ones. I've got notes for the next book study chapter, but with this barrage of migraines (weather related) it's not been easy to assimilate it all into a blog post. Soon, though.

Hugs and blessings

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