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.

Sometimes a gal has just gotta sew

Another week has passed. Another week somewhat similar to the last one with daily zaps of radiation treatments for my husband, daily strolls around the city, some drives to surrounding towns and a week where a gal has just gotta sew.

Another week of carting my sewing necessities from our home in our far rural outpost, to the city cottage where we are staying during the week. Oops.....you can see I seem to cart one or two suitcases filled with my pretties. Yes indeedy, it takes a few holdalls to carry all what may be required in readiness for a little embellishing. I have to lug oodles of pretties with me because I just never know what I will need. Invariably the little pretty that I really, really need to make the finishing touch has been left at home.

At the moment my husband is having his daily snooze whilst I sit here effusing about my latest tarted up jacket.

As I hinted at in my last post, I found this little jacket at an op shop whilst strolling around Launceston. I am always on the lookout for jackets with 'good bones' that I can add the 'Kim Sharman' touch. Normally I don't do a lot of brown but this jacket tripped me over as I walked past a rack filled with rather unremarkable garments.

Did I say I am not a fan of the colour brown? Paradoxically, the last two jackets I have embellished to an inch of their lives have  been various shades of the hue brown!! Why oh why is there never a lovely blue, grey or even purple jacket to be found in these op shops?? Perhaps one of these days I will happen upon one.

Anyway back to the tarting up of my new find. I have always loved the look of a double breasted jacket or coat and I must say I rather like pin stripes as well. I love the wide, overlapping front flaps with the parallel columns of buttons.

First things first. I decided to banish the rather plain fastening doodads that were stitched on the jacket.

Normally jackets have buttons, times four or six or whatever......BUT.....I have decided I want five different buttons. As you know I am a gal that loves to play and be a little different. There are some seriously funky buttons in this lot.

Then of course, I dived into my slew of pretties in the name of all things embellishment and came up with these.

I thought it would be rather cool to stitch some upholstery fringing down the front of the jacket.

To make a statement on the sleeves, I stitched these lovely trims to the cuffs.

As for the collar I thought I would keep it simple and just border it with this pretty velvet, swirls upon swirls, ribbon. Ooops...did I say simple?? Wow.......unbelievable! I did audition other trims but thought them a little over the top.....even for me.

This jacket doesn't have a breast pocket so I thought I would gussy up my jacket by stitching a corsage-like pretty, using vintage lace flowers, crochet flowers, ribbon, a pretty fan brooch and other triflings.

There you have it, another tarted up jacket, which when stepping out and about town, one certainly won't become lost in a crowd. Another jacket which was perfectly fine and acceptable unadorned, but for me who is not a fan of wearing what all those other gals are turned out in, needed a little sprucing up....a little gussying up. Another pretty, making merry with needle and thread and oodles of bits and bobs. Another pretty with a wee bit of experimentation. Another pretty which has been transformed with each soothing stitch, calming my spirit, relaxing me, causing a li'l of my anxiety to flee for a while.

With each stitch my jacket  has slowly come together into another upcycled garment. displaying my own personal and unique taste and creativity. That is the best thing about this kind of sewing.....there is not another jacket quite like this one. Not to mention the fact this kind of stitching is rather akin to therapy sessions without having to unclasp the purse! I once read somewhere, that sewing mends the soul.

Yes indeedy.........sometimes, oh all right most of the time......this gal has just gotta sew!

I wonder what this gal will stitch next week.........perhaps I will find a grey or even a blue jacket to tart up or deconstruct??

Whatever this week brings this one thing I know for certain........

.....I am eternally thankful for the peace of God which passeth all understanding!!

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

Thank you........again I say thank you !!

Thank you everyone for your lovely thoughts, prayers and those warm and embracing hugs you have sent to this li'l corner of the world. They have all been received with much thankfulness; they have meant so much to both my husband and I. You will never know just how much they have comforted us in those moments where one feels at a loss, those moments when one feels alone.....thank you! The blogging community is filled with the loveliest of ladies who genuinely care, you are all little smiles from God!

My husband's treatment has begun and we have settled into a daily routine of hospital visits, walks and resting up. At the moment he is not unwell, but I suppose this will change sometime down the bendy path we find ourselves upon. As we live in a 'far rural outpost', which involves a 3 hour return trip to the hospital for ten minutes of being zapped with radiation, during the week we are staying in a cute little hundred year old cottage across the road from the hospital. Driving to and from the hospital each day was too exhausting. As there is no treatment on the weekends we wing our way back to our humble li'l olde abode......back to the peace and 'normality'.

In the mornings we have been going for a daily walk and exploring some of the cafes, parks and the 'sights' which the city of Launceston has to offer. The doctors have ordered my husband to walk for forty five minutes each day. and to "fatten"' up.....so who are we to disobey!! The problem with this 'edict' is that I am afraid I might just "fatten" me up as well!! The task of fattening up my husband is an impossible task. He has never put on a single ounce, pound, gram or indeed kilo in all the thirty seven years we have been married........(yes.......I was a child bride).....so the task of expanding his girth and wherever else fat likes to deposit itself in his anatomy is futile......but try we will!

Oh, there have been a few op shops and vintage establishments to explore as well. Rest assured, I wouldn't dream of making my husband wander around these treasure troves. No, on these occasions he is comfortably ensconced in a cafe, seeing to the task of fattening himself up and taking it easy.

Mmmm....how serendipitous.......this quirky establishment, the Vintage Red Fox, decided to include a cafe right next door!! Just means one doesn't have to travel far from perusing all those vintage goodies to partaking in a cappuccino.....or two!

Of course I took my sewing machines with me to the 'big smoke', with a suspicion perhaps my sewing mojo would percolate to the surface once again.....and percolate it has. Whilst my husband has been resting in the afternoons I have been enjoying a little sewing, in a sunny spot at the back of the cottage. Sewing is my happy place, a place that somehow helps me to smile for a little while.

Whilst packing for our 'holiday' in the city, I found this piece of vintage Hungarian embroidery. I had an idea formulating in my brainpan that I just might fashion a bag with oodles of vintage pretties. I had stashed this gorgeous embroidery away ages ago because when I washed it, all the colours had collided into each other and caused it to become a li'l 'muddy'. The once bright flowers were now tonal with all the colours that had escaped. Upon unearthing this pretty embroidery, I decided I like the muddiness of the flowers. I like the tonal qualities of the flowers AND I love the 'it has been around for a very long time' look, the vintage feel this piece suffuses.

So.......hankering after a quick project AND being in need of a new, sling across your body, boho type of bag, I decided to play with all my pretties once again and stitch a bag to carry around town.

I must say I am loving the worn and antiquated look of this 'looks as if it has been around for a good while' Hungarian embroidery. 

After gathering oodles and oodles of pretties together, I started to play. Oh how I love to play with vintage pretties, stitching and placing them wherever they magically find themselves. It is so calming and soooooo easy on the brainpan. With the meandering of ruched velvet ribbon around the Hungarian embroidery, the adding of doilies, the sprinkling of pretty trims, crochet flowers and the twining of cord; the prettying of the front of the bag is singing a colourful melody.

The bag is fashioned with a charcoal grey, canvas-type fabric. I chose a gorgeous vintage fabric from my "dowry of cloth" for the lining. Love, love, lurve the oranges, greens and purples of this fabric.

With my vintage inspired, boho bag all stitched up, I might just enjoy a little more playing with my bits and bobs.

Remember me saying I have been darkening the threshold of a few op shops this week......well I found this Victoria Cooper (an Australian Designer) cute little jacket. Can you guess what I might be doing this week? However did you cotton on.........am I really that predictable? Yes indeedy, amongst the hospital visits, appointments with doctors, and the morning walks, I might just find myself sitting in a sunny corner in the cute li'l cottage some afternoons, tarting up this little pretty whilst my husband rests.

We are at home for the weekend which means I can dive deep down into my plethora of pretties in readiness for the tarting up of this jacket. Once again thank you all so very much for your kind thoughts and prayers! Both my husband and I have been overwhelmed with your kindness, prayers and generosity of spirit!!

Wishing you all a lovely weekend.

This too shall pass...(now would be good)

Little did I realise when I wrote my last post just how life would propel my family down the most difficult of paths that we have ever walked along. Little did I realise as I sat in the sterile, hospital room with my husband, gazing out at the vignette of the autumnal trees with the lovely church spires ascending to the heavens, that our lives would change forevermore.

My husband has been diagnosed with Cancer, and whilst I have always regarded my blog as a happy place, always wishing to beam a spark of cheerfulness and sprinkle a little colour and whimsy to you lovely people who follow my blog, I feel I need to explain why I have not visited each one of your delightful blogs of late.

These last couple of weeks have been a constant revolving door of doctors, specialists, MRIs, CT scans etc etc. We have been bombarded by a plethora of information that I have been engulfed by an anaesthetised numbness. It has been an emotional couple of weeks. I have my 'blubbering idiot' moments, my moments of sheer panic and my moments of calm.

Both my husband and I have a deep faith in God. Our daily walk is one of faith even though we cannot see. We have no idea what paths this next journey will lead us down, but we believe that we can only take one day at a time. To look at the gargantuan boulders in the middle of the road blocking our way, to look at the Tolkien-esque huge and looming trees overhanging the road, swiping us as we pass would only cause me panic. There have been many moments these last weeks where I have come face to face with this execrable creature, they call PANIC! I have cried many, many tears. Why oh why was I born with an oversupply of tear ducts??

There are many of you, I know, who have a loved one walking along the insidious path of cancer, or indeed a loved one struggling with an overwhelming illness. I have sensed from your writings it is a grueling and exhausting journey, a journey filled with the gamut of conflicting emotions. I am thinking of you with compassion as I write.

We live in a small rural town where friends have been amazing. Both my husband and I have been humbled and overwhelmed as to the loving support and care some of these salt of the earth 'treasures', which we are honoured to call friends, have shown us. Smiles from God indeed!

So.....the ensuing weeks....months......will find me waiting in hospital rooms whilst my brave and wonderful husband undergoes treatment. It will be strange to think the world outside will go on as usual whilst I am waiting.....waiting.  My husband truly is the best man I know. As I wait, perhaps I will stitch my hexie quilt (aaaah yes....my hexie has been rather neglected of late and has a ways to go) or perhaps there will be the clickety clacking of knitting needles, breaking the hushed tones of the waiting rooms. I have a feeling the stitching of a pretty or the knitting of a woolly will perhaps keep my mind from sliding down that slippery slope.

So over the next coming weeks, months, from time to time, I hope to visit your lovely blogs and read  your engaging posts; as you all in your own unique way bring a smile to my  heart......please forgive me if I miss one or two.

As I finish, I am comforted in the familiarity that God whispers in my heart...."do not fear, I am here". He and my family have walked many a difficult path together through the years and I am assured He is walking with our family today....tomorrow......and at times, carrying us. He has done so many a time before and I am assured He will once again. So in the coming weeks........months, I pray God will steady each one of my family's hearts, quiet our minds so that we may hear our Heavenly Father's voice and throughout the difficult days ahead, we will recognise the peace of God in our hearts. AND.......perhaps, dare I utter it, there might even be moments when my husband's and my wicked and droll senses of humour gurgle to the surface.

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