I've been thinking about my fabrics, threads and sewing notions lately. More precisely, do I need to take them all with me when we move? (no, we haven't found a house yet but we're confident the right one is out there somewhere just waiting for us) A fresh culling is something I do every six months or so because as the years go by I've come to realise my desire for more fabrics has diminished drastically so keeping only what I really like and intend to use is the yardstick for choosing what stays and what goes. So there I was on Friday night, browsing the fabric shelves of my lovely sewing room bookcase when I spied a remaining scrap of beautiful Lecien floral linen which I've loved for so long and avoided using because the thought of not having it anymore saddened my heart as it can never be replaced. From memory I think it was a special linen run of Old New 30's from 2013. Removing it from the shelf I decided to use the colours within as inspiration in choosing embroidery threads for a pastel version of the monogram I stitched on Blossom's birthday cardie, but I needed to be patient as we had another big weekend ahead of us. However, hubby and I were feeling overly exhausted yesterday from our eighth weekend of house hunting and so deciding to set that pursuit aside after just two hours of viewings we chose to return home in order to unwind - which gave opportunity for me to stitch my project after all! Tracing the monogram onto some lemon tonal fabric I gathered the previously chosen threads, a fresh needle and my sewing pillow while Mr E chose a movie for us to watch. With fresh cuppas made, thick slices of pineapple fruit cake piled onto a plate between us, we settled down for the afternoon and I stitched this... It occurred to me that the pretty R monogram would be lovely made into a hexie shape so this morning I brought out my stash of hexie papers to find the right size, hoping the idea would work, and it did! Bravely cutting borders from my lovely floral linen I sewed them above and below a piece of blue gingham. The idea to create a zippered pouch for displaying the monogram was becoming clearer... At first I quilted diagonal lines across the front and back of the pouch... ...but when I lay down the stitched hexie monogram to position it before hand stitching in place I thought the overall effect looked a bit unbalanced so added more diagonal quilting from the opposite direction to make a cross hatch pattern instead. Much better! To be honest, I think I was being lazy when I just did the single direction quilting...you know, want to get a project finished quickly!? Ha ha! But I'm really glad I took the time to quilt the cross hatch because it's much nicer and I think the pouch will be lovely when it's finished. Having barely any time lately to spend a few hours here and there at the sewing machine (for pleasure) has not been good for my mental health, or my creativity. Plus, with the Jeep off the road again and not having my own car to get out and about (hubby needs it for work right now) the only time I leave the house is to go look at houses on the weekend, so I guess there's a number of things that have been at work to stifle my creative time. It's too easy to cram life with the have-to's, which for me at the moment are staying on top of the housework, two days a week out house hunting, menu planning/groceries, cooking and catching up with my business whilst also creating and stitching new designs. All of these are non-negotiable and when right in the thick of things it seems there's no spare moments just to play, have fun or relax. But the moments really can be made if you see them as a priority. Yesterday when we opted to come home early and spend the rest of the day relaxing, we reacquainted ourselves with 'time out', and as the afternoon hours passed and sunset fell upon the horizon our hearts were clearly lighter for it had been a good day, and now we were both physically and mentally refreshed. I made Mr E's favourite meal for dinner, rissoles and mashed potatoes, and we had more fruit cake for dessert before putting up our feet and watching a second movie. Honest, I don't remember the last time we did that, but now we know how needful those hours or days of rest are because both of us slept better last night than we have in months. It's the winter school holiday break soon and my beloved teacher husband will be home for two weeks, but we shall not be spending all that time juggling house hunting and my work...no, we shall spend some restful days doing nothing in particular, and maybe take a couple of day trips into the rainforest with packed lunches, a thermos of coffee and our cameras. Learning to balance work and rest in every season of life must be given a priority. Even an hour doing nothing but sipping a cool drink and watching the birds flit here and there in the trees with your favourite music playing in the background is worth planning for. Another lesson I'm learning. Bless you heaps this week as you go forth, whether that be to follow a dream and strike a new path, to plan peaceful moments of refreshment, or to catch up with the washing and ironing. Whatever you do, stop every once in a while to consider the time you're giving out and whether you need to slow down a while and gather some in instead. Big hugs, PS: I am including the monogram design with full alphabet in the July issue of The Stitchery Club (over here). PPS: Blogger still haven't fixed their glitch with forwarding comments to my email...but all in good time. I am reading them here and will reply her as well if needed. xx