Moving right along...

After almost four years in this house (the longest we have ever lived in the same abode) we are on the move...

The Lord blessed us with an 'easy' choice on our first day house-hunting for a new rental, but first we needed to go through the application process with the estate agent.

That too was trouble free.

(thank you to those who prayed xxx)

Within a matter of days we had walked through the home, assessed it's suitability for our needs, filled in a lot of paperwork, been accepted as tenants by the owner, and signed the lease.

It will be a couple of weeks before we move all our belongings over as Mr E needs to finish the school term before we pack up this house, pattern writing for the next Stitchery Club issue must be completed and there's also the issue of pacing myself each day as fatigue and increased migraines are already my constant companion.

But we're very happy, very excited, at the prospect of moving into a lovely low-set home with plenty of shade, a large kitchen, room for Elefantz and a study for my beloved husband. There will even be a spare bedroom for visiting daughters and their littlies to stay. 

Because I love to christen a new home with something special for the kitchen, over the weekend I traced two of my free patterns (available here in my shop) onto flour sack kitchen towels and added pretty fabric trim across the bottom before beginning the embroidery.

The designs are quite simple and can be made up in an afternoon...

My thread colours were chosen to blend with the pretty Tilda 'Cottage' prints which trim the ends of the kitchen towels...

These fabrics will be in quilt stores early October but I was blessed to have received them early as they proved perfect for edging the cream flour sack fabric...

I intend preparing a few more to keep my hands busy in the evenings during our pack & move week.

Might even use some of THESE stitcheries as they'd be just right for my new kitchen and I've always wanted to stitch them in colours anyhow.

I'm glad our plants are all in pots on the back deck as we can transfer them from here to the new house without a problem. 

My schlumbergera cacti are in full bloom now...

...and the hydrangea has flourished with the onset of spring.

Mr E's azalea, which produced multiple flowers all through winter, is still blooming profusely.

His Granny had a large azalea this colour right beside her front door so I always think of her when a new flower opens.

It might not be quite so easy for the cherry tomatoes to move from here to the next house though as the vine runs through the wire railing and hangs down below the deck.

Hopefully I can harvest some fruit before we make that decision.

One thing I will be extremely grateful for when moving our pots of herbs 'out of here' is leaving that darn grasshopper and his relatives behind.

They particularly love my parsley and this last plant was not spared even though I've been monitoring it carefully the past few weeks...

...but fortunately they don't like oregano so three pots of that herb are thriving.

What have you been making over the weekend?

Any tips for transporting potted plants when moving?

hugs

Sewing, grasshoppers and a free pattern...

Gathering together a handful of embroidery threads which so beautifully blend together is a rather thoughtful and unhurried occupation for me when preparing a new design.

I can remember many times when I've traced a stitchery and Mr E has asked if I'd like to watch a movie with him, but I still haven't chosen my threads so I reply "Just give me 10 minutes to choose my colours."

Ten minutes? Well, that's wishful thinking to say the least.

More like an hour, or two or four. 

I take my background fabric choice very seriously, but choosing colours definitely takes more of my time than that. 

Fortunately I usually have a spare stitchery 'on the go' somewhere for those movie dates now, having learned to have a back up so I don't keep my beloved waiting. 

At the moment I'm still cutting into one of my flour sack towels and have almost completed a third project from it. There's still enough left for a fourth, and I must admit it's simply beautiful to stitch through.

Each design has been embroidered with a different blend of threads, but I'll wait till later in the month to show them to you.

Today you shall just have to be content with a few peeks at number three and the pretty pastel threads which are making it sing.

Now, how are you going with Mothers Day gifts? I admit this celebration doesn't ring on my radar until the day has almost arrived because Mr E and I both lost our mums when we were babies so it's not something we have ever had to think about for ourselves.

If you're after something sweet and quick to make I've added a free pattern to my Craftsy shop which might suit a few of you as a gift for mum, grandma, or aunt.

This lovely lingerie bag can be made up in a day, or stitch the design the night before and you can finish the project next morning. 

Download the free pattern for "Pink Roses Lingerie Bag" here. 

Remember my potted garden from a couple of weeks ago? 

Everything was thriving and I was so excited, until...the grasshopper.

We have never seen a grasshopper in our yard and we've lived here for 3 1/2 years, but we've seen one now!

The little blighter has decided to feast on my budding cherry tomato plant and parsley...

He obviously doesn't like basil, mint, thyme or chives...just tomato leaves and parsley.

If you have gardening knowledge to help me thwart this fellow's evening adventure in my potted garden please share it in the comments below. Thank you. x

Mr E and I are heading off to the caravan and camping expo in our area on Saturday so tonight I'm going to make a simple tote bag out of this old Cath Kidston fabric and vintage buttons to sling over my shoulder.

Rather plain with a pocket at the front I think, because the fabric is upholstery weight and lovely enough 'not to be messed with'. You know what I mean?

I really hope you have a peaceful end of week and that it flows right over into your weekend as well.

I wonder what your plans are?

hugs

Flour sacks, linens and herbs...

I woke this morning to the coolest breeze we've had since last August and my, it was refreshingly welcome!

Finally the worst of our very long tropical summer has passed, the nights are becoming cooler and the days mostly requiring just a ceiling fan whirring away with perhaps the air conditioner on for a couple of hours mid afternoon when the autumn sun still manages to burn the front of our high house.

Porridge has once again returned to the breakfast menu...

...and I feel like 'feathering my nest' with new cushions, a quilt in the works, slow cooker recipes, and gardening.

What do you look forward to at this time of the year?

April has been a busy month with many time consuming activities and plans focused around family, home and the business.
All this has caused me to neglect my dear blog for much of the month, and I do honestly love blogging, but life you know? It has a way of taking over and all else falls to the wayside. And that's okay, just go with the flow and in the end everything settles again for a time.

I sense a slowing is just around the corner for me and will be happy returning to regular blog posts.
I truly enjoy catching up with each of you, and love reading your comments with thoughts, ideas and those occasional small glimpses into your life as well.

On the sewing front, something I have been patiently excited to 'play' with are these flour sack towels I bought from Lehman's in the USA a couple of months ago. They are much bigger than anything we get here in Australia and at 31" x 36" each I can easily make two Aussie sized kitchen towels from one flour sack towel.

For economy sake I ordered the 10-pack which worked out to (postage included) just under $5 each. My fellow Aussie girls will know that's great value for such a huge, perfect-for-embroidery-and-applique kitchen towel.

A challenge I have set myself with the first towel is to make as many items as possible from it.

Firstly  I've cut away an Aussie tea towel sized section and begun stitching a new design along the bottom...

(...no more stitchery peeks at this for a few weeks though!)

This has left me with about 1/2 the original flour sack towel yet to work with and a number of ideas to create more useful and pretty items.

Another idea I have in mind will turn these aged and beautiful doilies into a tutorial project I can share here on the blog.
I think re-purposing vintage linens is probably my favourite sewing thing to do!

It's the Labour Day long weekend here in Queensland so I may work on one or both of these projects during that time, but Mr E has other ideas.

He wants to head back to Bunnings for more garden supplies on Saturday as his long weekend plans include potting up a few more plants and returning to his bonsai hobby. He's set himself up a simple potting bench under the back deck, in the shade...

...and I'm allowed to use it too. Ha ha!

Last weekend we bought herbs and a cherry tomato to plant in pots along the deck. Late autumn and winter are the seasons to grow vegetables and herbs in the tropics as the weather is lovely and warm but not scorching hot like the rest of the year.

I love having so much green outside the kitchen door!

We have pots of aloe vera all around the house because they thrive all year round and definitely help when I burn myself...

This lovely little gravy boat was a $2 garage sale purchase last month and now has a new purpose as a pot for some thyme.
It's so cute that I intend looking for more gravy boats in future for a similar purpose.

All around the back deck green is adding life...

...ready for me to give the area a makeover for morning coffee and Bible study now that it's cool enough. Hopefully that will happen over this weekend as well.

The palms have fruit for the large birds...

...and the trees along the side of the house are shedding old leaves and replenishing their limbs with fresh foliage, which gives the rest of our bird life shelter and shade.

A surprise this week was the very first Bird of Paradise flower we've seen on this plant! I hope it continues to flower for us.

You know, life is good.

I had an awful season of depression through March and into mid April, but our few days away up at the Lake combined with cooler weather and the daily exercise workouts I began a couple of weeks ago, have greatly improved my mental and physical state.
The increased energy from exercise, taking 30 minutes to do something 'just for me' each day, and spending more time outdoors and away from the home office was the tonic I needed.

Thank you for your prayers and kind thoughts about the struggle I was having. It meant the world to me.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone,
hugs