The Same Ol' Same Ol'

Hello lovely lovelies❣ How has your week been? Mine vanished in a whirl of rain, hail, wind.....and a little sunshine. One more week of my least favourite season done and dusted. Goodness me, I wish my life away, don't I. Though, if Old Man Winter always behaved like he did today.....whipping up a beautiful, sunny kinda day, then perhaps I would regard him more highly. =)

The painting of the cupboards is finished. While painting this week, I almost reconsidered my propensity for slapping on paint all over wood.....almost. =) My  paintbrush lives to see yet another day; safely stored away for the next furniture paint job. Thankfully the mythological wood gods did not heap fire upon me and my cupboards...and paintbrush; turning everything (and everyone....me) into a pile of ashes. But then, hot flames would have warmed me.

This week was a little  same ol', same ol'. A little more organising of my sewing room and the culling of stuff happened. I am a little bit over whipping all my stuff into a tidy fashion.  Wish oh wish my fairy godmother would swoosh in and with a wave of her wand make everything orderly again. A lot of my pretties are stored away in suitcases  which I have acquired over the years. Suitcases are fabulous for storage and they look great, too. Well, I think they do. So, in order for me to remember what lies within the holdalls I fashioned some pretty tags to provide a visual for my muddly brain. I used snippets of fabric for the tags, stiffening each fabric tag with Mod Podge. I then wrote the contents of each suitcase on itty bitty paper doilies, gluing the doilies onto the tags.  I really, really have way too much time on my hands. =) Remember.....it's all about the look❣

It was a week where I also snatched moments to read, shop in a fabulous new store (found the perfect tea towel) and watched the Aussies (and the rest of the world's athletes) perform amazing feats in the Olympic arena. 

My 'wall' of bright and colourful leaves edged with the bias strips received a little of my attention on Flowers In Her Hair, Flowers Everywhere quilt. Just one more strip to be stitched and then the wall should be done.....I think. Why I say this is because I will design a little more this week and play with more details. I might find that I need to lengthen the wallpaper a little more. This is what happens when one makes it up as one goes along. Hopefully, I will stitch the remaining strip later this evening and join the lovely band of slow stitchers over at Kathy's place.

My husband took this fabulous photo the other night of God's sky. The sky never ceases to enthrall and delight with the brushstrokes of The Master Painter. Can you see the hand?? It reminded us both of  the verse in Proverbs of God holding him, me.....and you.....in the palm of His hand. A beautiful reminder of God's grace, care and love in these deeply troubling times we find ourselves in. Even though these times are dark, bewildering and just so menacing; and so, so sad, no matter what comes my way, God is holding me in the palm of His hand❣ Indeed, the sky beaming a smile from God, upon me❣

Upon thinking of me being safely held in God's hand, I happened upon this you tube clip of Alison Kraus singing The Palm of Your Hand........just beautiful. I know there is no better place I would rather be; in the good times, the not so good times, those impossible times, than in the palm of  God's hand. So very thankful for His grace and love. He sustains me when life can be pretty grim❣

May your week be one with smiles from God sprinkled here, there and everywhere❣ May you know that He loves you❣ God bless you❣

Until the next time..........

There's no place like home.............

Good morning to you!! We are back home again (the royal 'we' being my husband and I), and I must say I am loving being  back in our quirky li'l ole 'Home Sweet Home'. Cliche I know, but there really is no place like home, is there. I am delighted that I have been able to unpack everything after our little city sojourn, kick off our wintry boots and just enjoy our home......though we will be back in the city next week for my husband's operation. But for now, with the Winter of our discontent behind us and just a hint that Springtime is peeking around the corner of our country road, I am enjoying being at home and just 'being'.

With the rugged radiation therapy behind him, my husband is feeling well at the moment (as well as one can be living with a cancerous tumour) and has regained his proverbial horse appetite once again. His thinness aside, one wouldn't know he is 'unwell'. There is nothing quite like being back home surrounded by God-inspired  vistas to help one begin to heal......and of course the first signs of this sweet earth waking up with pretty daffodils, helps a little as well.

It is wonderful to sink deep down in our 'oh so comfy' bed  and soak in a bath tub again (the little cottage in town only has a shower), a shower I might add, where one has to walk under for an inordinate length of time to get wet. I am a gal that luxuriates in a bath. Even as a little girl a hot bath was always my preferred form of bathing. Living here in this far rural outpost, the word bathing brings a whole new different connotation to the meaning of the word. Being situated smack in the middle of farmland means we live on irrigation water. At the point of sale of our humble abode, I didn't for one moment, think to ask  the real estate agent if there was clean, the type that overcomes one and knocks one out by the fumes of chlorinated, kinda water. Coming from Sydney, and considering clean water to be a given, my naively put question to the agent was "is there plenty of water?". At the time of leaving Sydney, Sydney was in drought mode and as my husband loves gardening, a regular drop of good ole H2O was of utmost importance. I didn't think to ask....."and is it sparkling clean?"!!!! These days, when this girl bathes, it is with never knowing what amphibious creature, in the minutiae, will gleefully escape from the faucet!! But not to worry, the water is piping hot and besides, frothy, sweet-smelling bubbles tends to lull one into a false sense of security as to what is lurking beneath!! Aaaah yes......the bathing experience is not quite what it used to be........but I digress.

Though I have stitched a few pretties, it really hasn't been my usual frenetic pace. I have for the last couple of weeks been buried deep in the environs of my sewing room, reorganising everything. I bought a new work table, and a 'little worse for wear' cupboard, which of course demanded everything in my sewing room be tipped out, sorted, stored in some new box or hat box...... and put back again in a new home, making my sewing room function a little better.

It is only a small room so organisation is of importance. I find it annoyingly bothersome searching for yonks, for some pretty or some paraphernalia needed for the job on hand, that I know is somewhere but can't get to it quickly.

So, I arranged fabrics to happily cohabitate beside each other, in all their glorious colour and pattern behind glass doors. Eeeks.......perhaps it would be wise not to purchase any fabric for a while.....there is simply no room left. Note to self.......under no circumstance whatsoever must I acquire any more fabric!! But then......I don't really ever listen to myself.  I do confess, this 'armoire' is not the only one stored with textiles.......I fear there are several throughout our abode wholly devoted to this purpose. I am doing my darndest to lessen the high rise pile of pretty cloth.

I arranged pretty trims, ribbons; a little bit of this and a little bit of that in fun polka dotted, lidded jars. Ten glass jars sitting on a wonderfully aged shelf......if one glass jar should accidentally fall...............oh dear, perish the thought!

My new work desk. Love, love, love this trestle table!! Love the shelves below for extra storage.

I unearthed this really cool, rusty plant stand from the garden and found a new purpose for it. Love how it creates so much storage for more crap.......stuff of paramount importance!!

My cute as cute Bernina looks perfectly at home.

I added a new light to join my light that I tarted up and wrote about here. One can never have too much lighting in a sewing room,  can one!!

My 'new' cupboard that I happened upon in an op shop. Of course I gave it a lick of paint and roughed it up a bit. I have a propensity for peeling paint, scuffed furniture and the odd bit of rust. I don't know why I subsist happier surrounded by pieces of furniture that have seen better days.....I can only put it down to a deviant gene. My darling mum didn't possess the 'it's gotta be old and scruffy look'.......the lovely vintage look, gene.....no, no, no....she would always roll her eyes heavenwards when I dragged a relic with a previous life home with me. The shelves are great for storing boxes and of course one can store hat boxes, beauty cases etc etc. I love the clean lines and behind the sliding glass doors is more pretty fabric.......and of course behind the wooden doors, more fabrics sit.

There is oodles of space on the shelves to store pretty boxes all individually labelled with little serviettes just in case my muddly brainpan forgets where everything is.

I gave the door of this cupboard a coat of blackboard paint. It is great for writing notes to myself, writing a quote or making a list of what project the kiddos are stitching. My brain pan is a wee bit muddly of late and I never seem to be able  to remember which kiddo is what making what pretty.

I also finished stitching my patchwork curtains that I made from the gob smackingly beautiful, Trish Guild fabric samples that a  friend gifted me a li'l while ago. I wrote about these too die for fabrics eons ago here. I had stitched curtains for one window but now the other window is dressed with some new pretty coverings.

Another task ticked off my list. I must say I am rather partial to the random prints and colours. Somehow they just all go together like Gable and Lombard, Bogey and Bacall, Rogers and Astaire.........or peculiarly, for those of you who live in the USofA......peanut butter and jelly.

The new curtains.

A new comfy sewing chair was needed..........a lovely white one, of course.

I love this beautiful rug. It's lovely and soft with the funkiest of designs. I spend a lot of time on the floor of my sewing room these days. More time than I probably should as I just can't seem to get up again....'dem poor ole knees'!!

Reorganising my sewing room has been fun. If for no other reason than discovering some pretty that I had forgotten about and delighting in it's loveliness all over again. 'Tis rather akin to finding lost treasure. I love the new spacious look. I love there is a big space in the middle of the room for me to make more creative mess!! And......it is much more spacious when sewing lessons commence with my kiddos again. I am always on the lookout for some lovely suitcases in which to store more pretties, but for now my little sewing room will just have to do....not that I am complaining.

For now though, I will enjoy my home a little more before we return to town for the 'big day'. I might even lock myself up in my sewing room never to enter the real world again. My sewing room is such a happy place.

I feel it has been rather a long time since I last wrote. Paradoxically there has been much to say, but then.......nothing at all to say. My words seem to have been lying dormant of late, hiding within the depths of me, with no rhythm, with no periodicity. Perhaps they will come gurgling out in the not too distant future. But enough of deep ponderous thoughts. For those of you who have sent me lovely emails to inquire as to what has been happening in my li'l neck of the woods....thank you.

Until the next time...........

Enjoy the little things in life.

Linking up with the lovely Stephanie's 'Roses of Inspiration' at The Enchanting Rose.