The Blessings of Christmas

My family have started arriving for the holidays, so my special Christmas blessings have begun!

I've finished making donated Christmas Decorations:

enjoyed the citrus colours of another bag:

whipped up another notebook cover:

and had fun making a bee hive pincushion:

There was time to make a rustic pot stand/trivet: 

and that's just about it for my 'makings' for another year.

Now it's time to focus on the bigger blessings of Christmas - celebrating God's wonderful gift of Jesus!  I was commenting recently how blessed I am to have 'an available God'. My world is full of people who are not available when I want them and I have to wait – Doctors, RNs, Government Agencies, Carers, Specialists. How amazing that Jesus has come, Emmanuel, God with us. He is always there, always available, always with us. 

How can we not rejoice at the ‘good news of great joy’ this Christmas Season!

Many blessings

Val

It's more blessed to give than to receive.

 Over the years I have been on the receiving end of lots of gifts. It's lovely to be the recipient of birthday and Christmas presents, surprise bunches of flowers, or chocolates for no reason whatever. 

They put a smile on your face, lift you up and remind you that people care about you. They are wonderful expressions of love.

Much as receiving is wonderful, Jesus said there is more blessing in giving! His upside-down Kingdom values are just so different. Isn't it true that there is great joy and delight in giving and seeing a person's face light up and knowing that they have been blessed by what you have given?

I've been experiencing that over again as I continue to sew donation gifts.

The Shops have their Christmas decorations up so I thought I had better make some Christmas Tree ornaments too.

I'm so grateful that I am still able to enjoy stitching and have enough eyesight to see what I am doing (even if I have to use a magnifier some times!)

I hope you have enjoyed seeing my latest creations.

Val

Using up the fabric stash

I have a lot of fabric! One of my grand-daughters labelled it as 'insane stash'!  13 years of designing for Craft Magazines meant that I did accumulate quite a bit! Now age is creeping on and I've slowed down a lot. All but one of the Craft Magazines for whom I designed have closed down. Time I used to work on sewing projects is now spent visiting hubby in Aged Care. I tend now to relax with either crochet or embroidery, neither of which use much fabric! 

Then there is the question as to what to do with all that crochet and embroidery. The wardrobe in our guest room is already chock-a-block full of projects I have made!

I haven't bought any new fabric for five or six years but it doesn't seen to be reducing much. I could just give all that fabric away, or leave it for my children to dispose of when I die. However, when I open those drawers of fabric, I see the potential of lots of pretty and practical projects and so I hesitate and close the drawers and continue to dream.

One day recently, I had a bright idea! One of our daughters manages her Church's Christian bookstore. Maybe I could make things for her to sell in her shop? Then the doubts immediately set in. Would anyone want to buy a hand-made item these days when there are so many very good factory-produced items available?  Would things I make be good enough to sell in a store?  Would my daughter be embarrassed about having these articles in her shop?

Daughter said, 'Let's try it and see what happens." As a result, over the last few months, I have been combining embroidery and crochet with fabric! Hot pad Trivets, Notebook Covers, Mini-Organisers, Bags, Pincushions, Mug Rug, Tissue Holder, have been very slowly reducing that fabric stash. All the projects are Christian-themed with a thought or Bible verse.

People seem to still like hand-made items and quite a few things have sold. It's a win-win situation - I am still able to enjoy craft, the designing skills are being used again, the fabric stash is slightly diminishing, I have the joy of donating to a worthwhile cause, and daughter is happy to have unique items for the store. Blessed!

Happy stitching!

Val

Laughter is the best medicine!

Evidently, the saying that 'Laughter is the Best Medicine' has been medically proven to be true! I find that I tend not to laugh so much when I'm on my own, but I did have a good giggle recently when a very funny TV presenter told her story of how she had read that raw egg was really good to nourish the hair. She decided to try it then spent the rest of the day in the sun, with the result that the egg cooked in her hair!!!

A couple of Saturdays ago I decided to have a go at removing a few weeds in my cactus garden. It's a bit of an art to get between all those prickles and not get attacked! After bending down to pull the weeds, I was at great pains as I stood up not to grab any of those tall cacti to steady myself. They look harmless enough but are full of hairy prickles that are really difficult to remove.

What I didn't take into account was that I needed to lift my feet high to clear the cacti on the ground! You guessed it - I tripped and landed on my backside on the thorniest cactus I own and my leg collided with the other specimen of the same cactus!

I cleaned up my bleeding leg and everything was super painful for an hour or two. Over the next week, 90% of my 50 or so puncture wounds had healed well. The 10% on my leg were still sore, a bit red and looking as though they might be slightly infected. It was time to try out our newly opened local 'Minor Incidents and Illnesses' Satellite Hospital.

The triage nurse thought 'it looked just a little bit red' and left me feeling that I was probably wasting their time and there was nothing worth worrying about. The doctor, however, decided there might be a bit of thorn left in one of the punctures. After quite a bit of deliberation and probing, finally out came a 1.5 cm (5/8 inch) thorn!

Word soon got around and next thing there were seven staff all there to watch the action as there was thought there could be more! Over the next half an hour, cheering accompanied each successful extraction and disbelief at the sizes of the five thorns!

They told me it was definitely the most interesting case they'd had that day and they all had smiles on their face telling me I had 'made their day'!

And watching their reaction and comments gave me a good laugh - I haven't laughed so much for a while!

I've been blessed to have my daughter stay a couple of nights as she travelled through and then one of our daughters-in law also stayed for four days. There's always laughter when there's family around!

Hubby too has been laughing a lot lately so it's lovely to see him so content and comfortable.

Hope you like the photos of some of my latest creations.

Many blessings

Val

Godliness with Contentment is great gain!

I live a very circumscribed existence ... and I am very content with it!!! I've had a very full and satisfying journey through life - and still do! 

I don't have any more great ambitions! I reached the top in my jobs. I always had this secret desire that one day my craft would be recognised, and amazingly I became an internationally- recognised craft designer, and Craft Magazines published more than 200 of my original designs. I am blessed that my gifts of administration and craft are still being used.

Hubby and I have been married 58 years and have raised a wonderful family. There are now 41 of us, and we are still growing!

My circumstances are far from perfect. Being separated from my wonderful husband, my soul mate, through illness, is a difficult journey I walk each day.

There are a lot of things that I would like to have done, especially travel, which didn't happen. But, hey, I can sit in the comfort of my loungeroom and experience amazing scenery and places all around the world, at no cost, with photos taken at the very best angles at the best time of day by professional photographers!

I have certainly found the truth of the verse from 1 Timothy 6:6 that 'Godliness with Contentment is great gain'. As I have sought to put Jesus in the first place in my life, He has blessed me in ways I could never have dreamed. Lots of things haven't gone the way planned or expected. There have been lots of hiccups along the way; it certainly hasn't been a bed or roses, but His grace has been sufficient and I have had the 'great gain' of an abundant, overflowing life. 

Our God is certainly an awesome God, a verse which I have put on a crocheted bag I have made. 

Hope you like my latest creations.

Val

With age comes wisdom, but sometimes age comes alone.

I'm rather intrigued with the reality of Oscar Wilde's quote: With age comes wisdom, but sometimes age comes alone. Generally speaking, one would expect that the older you get, the more wisdom you gain.

 I've been reflecting on wisdom a bit this week or the lack of it - in others and in myself! There seem to be so many situations lately where I need special wisdom.

• What do I do when the Aged Care phones me just after midnight and tells me that my husband is unwell and is having difficulty breathing?
• What do I say to that friend who is going through a tough time?
• What do I reply to that person who has a totally inaccurate picture of the circumstances they have written about?

I really like this quote: The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. That one is from the Bible - Proverbs 4:7. The Bible is full of quotes about wisdom. Proverbs alone has 55 quotes with 'wisdom' in them! 

Sometimes we need wisdom in small things too! Some of my family have been staying with me for a couple of weeks. What do I cook for them? Along with my own dietary issues, some of the family also need to be careful what food they eat. How do I cook nutritious, healthy and delicious meals and still avoid the problem foods? Thankfully, I know that when I lack wisdom, I can ask God! (James 1:5) (The only one who had any bad reaction to the food was our daughter who was very ill after eating out at a local restaurant, and not as a result of my cooking!!!)

And we certainly need wisdom in the big situations too! I went into panic mode last week when someone was trying to access my Bank accounts. What I should have done was stopped and prayed for wisdom on how to handle it. Instead I jumped in a rush into a very sophisticated scam and the person who was helping me fix it all turned out to be the scammer! They had so many of my personal identity details to start with and now they have even more thanks to my lack of wisdom! But God was looking after me and the Bank recognised there was something wrong with the attempted transaction and stopped access to the Credit Card from which they were trying to steal. They were not able to get a cent. Now I pray that God will protect my identity too and they will not be able to use that for evil!

The collective wisdom regarding Hubby was that an ambulance should take him to hospital for tests and xrays. It turned out he had Aspiration Pneumonia and thankfully with antibiotics, both intravenous and oral, he has made a good recovery and is back to his happy self.

Hope you like the photos of my latest craft efforts. The first two are Notebook covers. The Laundry bag is an adaptation of my pattern "Over the Rainbow Travel set".

And a final say on wisdom: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom! 

Blessings

Val

Firing on all six cylinders!

Here we are in June and our temperatures have dropped dramatically to signal the start of Winter, my least liked season of the year! I usually want to go into hibernation, but this year I am thankfully firing on all six cylinders! After a couple of bouts of illness that demanded rest, it is great to be up and about and active again, and facing each day with enthusiasm!

My days are faily predictable. I like to get up reasonably early, go for a morning walk, then have breakfast when I get home. 

The rest of my mornings are mostly spent on the computer. Being secretary of our church keeps me on my toes, and then I spend a lot of time preparing Bible Studies for our Home Group.

I try to keep my afternoons free from any 'work'. It's a lovely feeling that I can have the rest of the day off after lunch - that's my concession to retirement! I spend a couple of hours relaxing with hubby in the Aged Care, then maybe prepare some appliques or trace a stitchery. I feel so blessed that I can spend time doing things that I love.

In recent weeks, I have taken some of my original projects, and redesigned them by adding a verse from the Bible. Above is another hotpad trivet, a cottage tissue case and a couple of notebooks. I enjoy some happy hours in the evening stitching these little designs. Some of them come together quite quickly. I put the stitched ones aside until I have a few ready for construction, then have an hour or two at the sewing machine, It's very satisfying to have completed another collection of items that would make useful gifts.

Happy stitching and many blessings!

Val

When you are on a 'Go Slow' strike!

It's amazing how your body can tell you exactly what is needed. Mine recently went on what I would call a 'Go Slow Strike'!

I had a regular doctor's appointment booked for the Tuesday, but started getting a tickly throat on the Friday before, then by Sunday a cough, then a nose that demanded virtually a whole box of tissues in an afternoon!

I turned up for the Tuesday appointment, and read the sign on the door: 'Do not enter if you have xxx" (all the symptoms that I had).  I duly rang the surgery and was told to wait outside until called. The doctor's first reaction was whooping cough, because she had just had two patients diagnosed with that, so I was sent off for swabs.

The next few days were a bit of a blur. My very good appetite disappeared, all my energy went down the drain, and lying on the recliner was about all I could manage. My body was on strike! Fortunately I found enough energy to work the TV remote and in my waking moments I binge-watched one whole series of the BBC Great Pottery Throw Down. I decided that whatever virus I had, it was three times worse than when I had Covid! In my more lucid moments, I realised that vaccinations had meant that I had had a very mild dose of the Corona Virus!

Thankfully after 12 days I started to feel better and was finally able to visit hubby again. It turned out to be Influenza A and my notoriety is that I am the first patient the doctor has had this year with the virus! I wasn't too impressed, especially after having had the Flu vaccination. 

But how wonderfully our bodies are made. The one thing I needed was REST, and so my body put itself in a state where that was all I could do!

Now I'm back firing on most cylinders and I've enjoyed making some more Hot Pad Trivets, notebook covers and a pincushion - all with a Scripture Verse on.

Today was Mothers' Day in Australia and it was lovely to have our son, daughter-in-law and grandson come to share lunch with me and to have phone conversations with other members of our family. 

It's taken me a while, but I'm gradually realising that 'Go Slow' is a valid option at my age, even when I'm feeling great!

Happy stitching!

Val

Time and the Love Language

I'm sure you would all know about Dr Gary Chapman's five love languages, describing ways that we receive and express love. Personally, I find that all five are important to me and it's hard to scale them in importance, but generally quality time probably pips the others at the post. This last month I have been blessed with beautiful expressions of this love language.

Hubby continues to be quite well, happy and content, so I felt free to have a little trip away over Easter, without being anxious about him. Our younger daughter moved into their new home the Saturday before Easter. She works four days a week, and is doing a course of study, so I knew she would be facing a mountain of boxes to unpack and things needing to be done. She assured me I wouldn't be in the way so I booked my train tickets and arrived a couple of days before Easter. Amazingly, she had managed to set up a lovely bedroom for me, complete with ensuite and pictures on the wall!

The sewing machine was out in readiness for my arrival, so the mending, alterations and ironing were at the top of the list while daughter and her hubby were at work. The rest of the weekend, in between wonderful Church services on Friday and Sunday, celebrating Jesus and the blessings of his death and resurrection, I was in my element. We unpacked box after box, sorting, arranging, rearranging, and enjoying hours and hours of just being together! I left happy on the Tuesday morning, with a sense of satisfaction knowing that the main rooms were very functionable, dozens of boxes had been flattened and I had had a lovely time away (even if I came home for a 'holiday'!)

(And a bonus when I arrived back, was that my hoya decided it was decided to burst into flower.)

A few days later it was my birthday. My children know I do not need presents from them, but they all gave me the wonderful gift of quality time on the phone, Facetime, or Skype. One of my lovely daughters-in-law came to visit and celebrate my birthday, bringing one of her legendary cake desserts (and this beautiful orchid!). We chatted for hours after the roast lamb dinner!

Then I was blessed to catch up with a lovely friend who popped in unexpectedly on a rather stressful day. It was so good to spend unhurried time together and talk about our life's happenings.

I've even found some time to do some craft! At the moment, I am making some hot pad trivets. I've had fun finding just the right fabrics, working out what Scripture verse to add and what threads to use. I love being able to use up some small ends of fabric this way - it could become addictive.  

Happy stitching!

Val

Emotional Roller Coaster

I've never been a person who seeks the thrill of one of those amazing rides you see in theme parks! My limit is a ferris wheel, rather than a roller coaster! 

However, last week I had to get on board an emotional roller coaster - a ride that wasn't planned, desired, or enjoyed, but a ride when I knew Jesus was with me and a journey that eventually came out of the tunnel into the sunlight. 

Covid is pretty much 'ho hum' these days. It's never going to go away' you can still catch it in spite of vaccination; there's anti virals to take and generally most cases are mild. However, put it into an Aged Care home, and it is a very different story. 

Thursday a week ago, when I went to see hubby, he obviously wasn't well. He had been tested for Covid but was negative. I talked to the nurse who took another test and yes he was positive and anti-virals were commenced. He had had covid before and had no problems so you can imagine the shock when I had a phone call the next day to say he had deteriorated dramatically and they had him on oxygen. Then the nurse started talking about advanced health directives and that he was at the stage where I needed to agree that they wouldn't try to keep him alive but would make him comfortable in his last few days!

I let all the children know and raced in to see him. He was VERY sick, cold to touch and had this terrible gurgly rattly breathing. He was more or less in a coma, but did squeeze my hand once as I spoke to him. The medicos told me there was no hope that he would pull through and so they put him into palliative care, assuring me they would do everything in their power to make him comfortable. I knew I needed to accept that it was his time to go to meet Jesus whom he had loved and served all our married life.

Our daughter who lives in Japan packed her bag in 10 minutes and caught the first plane out to Australia, arriving early the next morning. We headed off to the Aged Care, not knowing what to expect. Amazingly his breathing had quitened down and sounded fairly normal. When we saw him open his eyes for a brief moment we were really surprised. You can imagine the huge surprise when we found out that he had eaten porridge, egg and yoghurt & fruit for breakfast.

We stayed with him all day in our PPE gear and hour by hour he seemed to improve. He ate a fair bit of his dinner, enjoyed his afternoon tea and started trying to pull the oxygen out! By the next morning, he was off oxygen and all his vital signs were OK! A week later, he has proved them all wrong, and he is back to what he was before all the drama. He maybe is a bit sleepier than usual, occasionally has a slight cough, but apart from that, in his awake moments he is alert, bright and happy, with plenty of interaction! Needless to say, we are so thankful that he is with us for a little bit longer. 

24 out of the 26 residents in the Aged Care Wing have now contracted Covid. It's impossible to control it in a Dementia Area where there is no understanding or remembrance of rules like 'Stay in your room'! We are praying that we won't get it too!

So it's sure been a roller coaster of emotions and a growing and learning experience as well as I trust his life and mine to Jesus. Needless to say, there hasn't been much craft done, but hopefully next time there might be something to show!

Val

Beauty amongst the thorns!

Thorns are not very pleasant! I always seem to find myself on the wrong end of a thorn whenever I handle roses! But what amazing beauty we find amongst the thorns.  

This gorgeous patio rose thankfully doesn't have big thorns, but its sweet flower brings great delight to me. This one was given to me on my last birthday. It seems to be just about always in flower even though it is quite tiny and in a pot.

I recently completed this rose embroidery below - not half as nice as the real thing! It came as a kit with Bunka thread which is a very different thread to what I normally work with. I was reasonably happy with how it turned out - it is definitely one of those pieces that is best seen from a distance, so you don't see the thorny unpleasant bits of embroidery closeup!

When we purchased our home 14 years ago, it came with an established cactus garden. I saw no reason to change it, even though it does seem incongruous for our sub-tropical climate! Over the years I have added a few plants, not cacti, so I like to think it is more of a rockery now. 

Some of the cacti are VERY tall. The one above can be seen towering above the roof tops when you are out walking in the suburbs. It flowered for the first time recently but they are just those green bits sprouting out from the top. It's not a lot of beauty to compensate for the deadly thorns it has all the way up to the top!

This cactus, however is different. It has those same terrible thorns, and I can't count the number of times I have gotten too close, but it is quite prolific with the beauty it displays and most weeks it will have four or five flowers on a few of its trunks.

However, this cactus doesn't share its beauty with everyone! You have to be an early riser or a night owl to see the flowers. It shows all its glory in the middle of the night, and as soon as the sun rises, the flowers start to close up and they are all gone very quickly!

Every morning, my ritual is to have a peak around the blind to see if there are any flowers on this cactus. The sun is blazing through the windows early in the morning in summer, so I leave the blinds down to keep the sun and heat out for a while.  A week or so ago, I could not believe my eyes as four of the trunks were laden with blossoms. The sun had been up for a short time, so there was no time to waste to grab the camera. I counted 37 blooms, the most I have ever seen. The flowers are so delicate, so short-lived, mostly unseen by human eyes, but all pointing to an amazing creative God who loves designing beautiful things.

After gazing at all that beauty, I did a little stroll around through my courtyard which is loaded with pot plants and there was this little face staring at me! It is just a harmless common tree snake but it did add to the excitement of my morning in the garden.

I've been thinking about the thorns of life. You don't have to live very long to know that life isn't a bed of roses. There are plenty of hurts along the way, things that don't go as planned and sometimes you have to wonder where the beauty is amongst those thorns.

I love the words of this verse of John Whittier's 19th century hymn:

Drop Thy still dews of quietness,

till all our strivings cease.

Take from our souls the strain and stress,

and let our ordered lives confess

the beauty of Thy peace.

That's where I find the beauty amongst the thorns - the wonderful peace that Jesus gives as I walk with Him through the prickly paths of life.

Val