A Lovely Gift....

 

My dear mother spotted these lovely serving bowls at the second~hand store the other day and

brought them home as a gift to my sister and I...

Wasn't that so kind of her...?  ❤

 

...Popping them in my little hope~chest...{{smiles}}

~

Wishing a truly beautiful new week, deaerst readers... ❤

How Does My Garden Grow ~ September

Welcome to my Spring garden, dear friends...

 

Coriander growing beautifully against the fence...with California poppies in the background...

Whilst there is not much to see above the ground at present, I know there is a fair amount of activity happening beneath the surface of the soil and oh!  That makes me so very happy!

Potatoes are poking their green leaves above the soil now...

The Septemeber days have been somewhat cool and often wet with all the rain we've enjoyed lately, but there have been some rather warm days too, which means the little lettuce, Swiss chard, squash and bean seeds are popping up wherever I happen to look!  Such joy!

Ah, this season is truly glorious!

I can work in the garden till teatime without getting sunburnt or too hot, but I know summertime will be upon us before we know it!

Butternut squash about to unfurl it's next set of leaves...

This year we moved our vegetable garden to another area to the side of our house...  This garden is much flatter than our previous one and thus, easier to maintain!

Thankfully, I had help to prepare the soil and put up fences...{{smiles}}

This is where we have planted all our big crops...squash (butternut, gem and courgette), bush beans for drying, potatoes and some lettuce and chard...

Bright pansies grace our flower garden...my sister, Nancy, has planted flowers in the various containers she finds..tin pails, tea cups, and even baskets...

There is another little patch to the bottom of our yard that has been fenced in to keep the pesky chickens out, and that is where I have planted all the cucumber plants, beetroot and soon to be tomato and pepper seedlings, once they're big enough...

Swiss chard...  I love having fresh chard in the garden to use whenever I need!  

Of course, I do share it with the chickens, snails and other critters than happen to get there before me...the joys of organic gardening, I'm afraid... 

My role in our family takes on many shapes and forms, and I just love that!

Sometimes I am the head chef, dishwasher...little girl dresser...this makes life interesting!  

But, my main ''job'' is the vegetable garden, and this is a task I love...

Of course it is a lot of work, and I usually devote my Mondays to tending my patch of earth...

We make our own compost and try to garden as organically as we can...

We also have a worm farm...it took me a while to come to terms with the keeping of earthworms as ''pets''...{{smiles}}

 

These California poppues seeded themselves after I planted one or two plabts last year...they add such colour and beauty to the garden!

Each year I have very high expectations of the variety of crops I want to grow...but this season, I am not setting unattainable goals...being very busy with my little business means I can't spend all my free time pulling weeds!

 Beetroot seedlings...

 Thus, I have chosen only a few crops so that I can keep a hand on them...

Do follow my gardening journey this season in How Does my Garden Grow, which I hope to share each month!

 

Albenga bush beans...  Last season I grew some beans and left them on the bushes to dry before harvesting...  

We all agreed that we had to plant more this season as the flavour and texture of homegrown beans is just so much better...one cannot compare...

  And do feel welcome to share how your garden is faring, as well as any helpful hints and tips!

I don't know how many of my sweet readers are green-fingered as well, but I look forward to taking you on a tour of my little garden each month in the hopes of inspring you...and inspiring me!  {{smiles}}

~

Now...  How does your garden grow, lovely friends...?

 

“And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden and there he put the man whom he had formed.”

- Genesis 2:8

 ~

  This post may be shared with...

~ The Art of Homemaking Mondays, Roses of Inspiration, Wise Woman Link-Up, Raising Homemakers Link-Up, Cooking and Crafting with J and J and Modest Monday

Thursday Pearls

"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet.

Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul

be strengthened, ambition inspired and success achieved."

~ Helen Keller

"And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm. strengthen and establish you."

~ 1 Peter 5:10

~

Blessings on this beautiful Thursday, dear friends...

Painting by the very talented:  Lise Auger

Something Blue for a Sweet Friend...

One of my favourite ways to spend a quiet afternoon is doing simple embroidery...❤

 I love how something so simple such as embroidery thread and a needle can create such loveliness with just a little time and love...

~

A sweet young lady whom we met about year ago and have become friends with, is celebrating her seventeenth birthday this coming Thursday, and I thought a patchwork cushion with embroidery would make a special birthday gift for her...

 

Her favourite colour is blue, and I had a delightful time selecting different shades of blue fabric and combining them in a simple patchwork design...

Miss J loves butterflies, so once I had completed the patchwork, I drew a simple butterfly and flower design onto the cushion front and then stitched over the pencil in different shades of blue embroidery cotton...  

I also added two blue beads to the butterfly's antenna...

My sweet sister, Nancy, crocheted three little flowers for me {I can't crochet...not yet anyway!}; white, turquoise and and light blue and I added a teeny button to each one...

After I had done all the stitching and embellishing {which is the best part!}, I sewed a beautiful piece of coordinating blue fabric to the cushion cover, turned it right way round and filled it...

~

Oh, I had a delightful time sewing this lovely cushion, and I prefer this shape to my usual embroidered cushions...  

I hope my dear friend will like it too!  {{Smiles}}

Do you enjoy embroidery, my sweet friends...?

~

May your Monday be wonderfully blessed!  Thank you for so sweetly stopping by...it always brings a smile to my face when I receive your lovely comments!  ❤

 Do stop by and visit Beautiful Girlhood on Facebook and Pinterest!

 ~

  This post may be shared with...

~ The Art of Homemaking Mondays, Roses of Inspiration, Wise Woman Link-Up, Raising Homemakers Link-Up, Cooking and Crafting with J and J and Modest Monday

Thursday Pearls

"Gracious living is felt whether it is created in small or big ways."

  

"Give her the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates."

~ Proverbs 31:31

~

Have a delightful Thursday, sweet readers...  

Painting by George Dunlop Leslie

Thoughts on Letter Writing...

 

"Writing letters is the purest form of friendship

we humans can possibly express.

We capture ourselves in a moment,

and then we give that moment away to someone else."

 ~ Anonymous

Letter writing is a something I take great pleasure in! 
Thus, you can imagine my disappointment when I asked where I would find the writing paper in the store the other day and the lady replied that they no longer stocked writing paper...   
"No one writes these days..."  She said.  How very sad...

In days gone by, letters were the only means of communication, now we have the blessing of not only talking on our phones and texting, we have the internet which allows us to email and message in merely a matter of seconds!

Oh, I do love the internet...it is a true blessing and I have made the most precious, thoughtful friends through blogging...  How lovely it is to type an email and know it will be read just a little while later and perhaps even replied to on the very same day...

However, it saddens my heart to see how folks these days are out of touch with many of the beautiful, simple practices of old such as letter writing...

Writing letters is an art, and presentation is just as important as the contents of a letter, in my humble opinion...

 I realise that many of us don't have too much time for writing long letters by hand, but might I encourage you to set aside a little time every so often and put a bit of love on paper, decorate with some pretty goodies from your collection and seal it in a lovely envelope to bless someone's day...?

It is delightful to discover a handwritten letter in the mailbox in amongst bills and such, and just imagine the smile your sweet note will put on another's face!

Writing letters is a beautiful way to minister to others and share the love of Christ as well...

I have a few very dear friends whom I write to quite regularly, and who write back!   

Some I have never even met before...  This is oh, so very special...  

Isn't it wonderful that a simple thing such as a handwritten letter, can bring such joy...?

~

Thank you for stopping by today, my sweet friends...I am always touched by your kind visits!

~ Many blessings on your Monday! ~

~

 Do stop by and visit Beautiful Girlhood on Facebook and Pinterest!

 ~

  This post may be shared with...

~ The Art of Homemaking Mondays, Roses of Inspiration, Wise Woman Link-Up, Raising Homemakers Link-Up, Cooking and Crafting with J & J and Modest Monday ~

Thursday Pearls

"Your life is short, your duties many, your assistance great, and reward sure; therefore faint not, hold on and hold up in ways of well-doing, and heaven shall make amends for all."

~ Thomas Brooks 

"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith, henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day..."

~ 2 Timothy 4:7-8

~

Praying your Thursday is beautiful and blessed, my sweet friends...  I hope your heart was encouraged and refreshed today...

Love,

Painting by Melinda Byers

Precious Baby Gift Making...

Aww!  Who can resist a chubby babe, so precious and new...?  ❤

I love hearing of a momma expecting her first, second, or even sixth baby...

It is a joy indeed to create something lovely and special for the new one,

and I was blessed to have the opportunity of working with pretty girly fabric and

my sewing machine this week...

~

 As it is always exciting trying something new, I decided to attempt a fabric covered 

hanger and pretty little bag and matching heart...

Nancy, who loves crochet, agreed to crochet a lovely lacey edge for the bag and also made a pretty length of chain stitch to tie as a ribbon around the hook of the hanger...

 

My dear mother got out her knitting needles and made this adorable baby beanie from gorgeous soft baby pink wool...she added a crocheted flower and a cute button...

 

Mom also decided to try make baby mittens...she lined them with the same fabric I used for the hanger so as to create a sweet set of goodies!  So fluffy and sweet...

Of course I just had to make a card!  {{Smiles}}  How I love pearls, pink and...buttons! 

...And then Nancy and I had fun wrapping the gift...we went with a similar idea to this one, but stamped pink hearts on the kraft paper box and tied a broad pink ribbon around the box, adding a little tag...

And what gift would be complete without lace...?  ❤

  Do pop by again, sweet friends...I have a little tutorial planned for sometime soon...would like to know how I created this padded fabric hanger...?  

It was a delight to make...in fact, I made a few more for my sisters!  {{Smiles}}

 

~ Blessings on your Wednesday, friends! ~

 ~

 Do stop by and visit Beautiful Girlhood on Facebook and Pinterest!

 ~

  This post may be shared with...

~ The Art of Homemaking Mondays, Roses of Inspiration, Wise Woman Link-Up, Raising Homemakers Link-Up and Modest Monday ~

Moroccan Style Spicy Meatballs

 This deliciously spicy recipe for meatballs is just perfect for a chilly evening this week...

Meatballs are simple to make and oh so good, so make enough to freeze for use later on when you need a quick dinner after a busy day...  ❤

Meatballs 

500g lamb or beef mince

50ml each chopped fresh parsley and coriander

3ml ground cumin

1 small onion, finely chopped

2-3 fresh chillies, seeded and chopped

olive oil, for frying

Sauce

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 medium onions, finely chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

2 cans whole tomatoes, chopped 

OR 8 fresh tomatoes, peeled and chopped

5ml each ground cumin and cinnamon

30ml fresh lemon juice

10ml dried apricots, halved

10ml honey

1-2 fresh red chillies, seeded and chopped

50ml chopped fresh parsley

couscous, to serve

Meatballs

Combine all the meatball ingredients and season to taste with salt, and roll into little balls.

Heat a heavy-based sauce pan and add a little olive oil.  Fry the meatballs in batches until browned.

Alternatively, line a roasting pan with foil and grease with a little butter.  Brown meatballs in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius.

Sauce

Heat a little more oil and add the garlic, onion, green pepper and 3ml freshly ground black pepper

and saute until soft.  Add the remaining sauce ingredients except the parsley.  Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes.

Return meatballs to the sauce and simmer for a further 10 minutes.  Stir in the parsley and season to taste.  Serve on a bed of couscous.

~ Blessings, dear friends...❤  ~

  This post may be shared with...

~ The Art of Homemaking Mondays, Roses of Inspiration, Wise Woman Link-Up, Raising Homemakers Link-Up and Modest Monday ~

Blossom Beauty...

 "The earth is the LORD'S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein."

~ Psalm 24:1

 "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it."

~ Psalm118:24

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."

~ 2 Corinthians 5:17

"According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love."

~ Ephesians 1:4

 "And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."

~ Mark 16:15

A blessed Lord's Day to you, sweet readers...

 Spring has sprung and the blossoms on all the fruit trees are too glorious for words to express...  Thus, out came my camera...I just had to capture their unique beauty...  ❤

Thursday Pearls

"The way to open our hearts to others is by receiving afresh the grace of God and appreciating what it means: seeing our own need of Christ; coming to receive His mercy; sensing how undeserved His love for us is; remembering how He has also opened His heart to those whose hearts are closed against us. Then we will see that the heart which is too narrow to receive a fellow Christian is too narrow to enthrone the Lord Jesus Christ. But the heart that is opened to receive the grace of Christ will learn to welcome all those whom Christ Himself has welcomed."

Sinclair B. Ferguson

~

May each of you sweet readers have a beautiful Thursday...

 "But God demonstrates His own love toward us,
in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

~Romans 5:8

A Simple Gift Wrap Idea...

I love wrapping gifts...there is just something delightful about selecting lovely materials to wrap a special gift in...and I love how even the simplest details can make a present look beautiful and attractive...

"The only gift is a portion of thyself."  ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

...All it takes is a brown kraft paper box...

 

...A little lace...

And a simple gift tag...

...Baker's Twine...

And so much ❤...

 

 "If instead of a gem, or even a flower, we should cast the gift of a loving thought into the heart of a friend, that would be giving as the angels give."  ~ George MacDonald

Do you have a favourite way to wrap a gift...?

Blessings, sweet readers...❤