Quietly Content at Home

 I first made a mild healing salve in 2020 for our Boo Boo Bag which lives in the car. I remember it had olive oil, beeswax and a few other things in it and it worked a treat for minor scratches, cuts, mozzie bites and even a mild burn or two. But the blog I got the recipe from is gone. After some research and reading through my amazing books from Love Thy Oils  I came up with this recipe which is working well so far. Homemade healing salve 1 tb beeswax pellets 3 tb extra virgin olive oil 10 drops each of lavender, lemon, peppermint and frankincense Tins or small jar Method Melt together oil and beeswax using a double boiler or bowl over a saucepan of boiling water. Add your essential oils. Decant into the tin using a dropper or your preferred method for transferring hot liquids without burning yourself.  This is a very small batch, less than 100 mls.  The dilution is very mild but please decrease the amount of oils even further if using for children under 5 years ol...

 Every year I try and make a batch of Farmhouse on Boone's Organic Peppermint Cocoa lip balm. I didn't get around to it in 2023 so I am very excited to get a new batch going. My last batch filled about 20 tubes and lasted 18 months. This is my husband's favourite and the peppermint cocoa flavour is such a winner. I cut the recipe in half this time and filled nine tubes to the brim. These make great Christmas presents and stocking stuffers or even teacher gifts bundled with a gift card or handwritten letter. Using organic ingredients not only improves the quality of the lip balm but gives you peace of mind that your lip balm is one less thing adding up exposure to questionable ingredients that can irritate skin. Small easy swaps add up over time. I am not that concerned over the plastic tube as beeswax is inert, I opt for BPA free/non toxic and the lip balm has never really melted even in school bags on warm days but paper tubes are a great way to make it even safer. My eld...

Originally published 19 September 2022 under my crochet business, Liz & Lottie. These crochet King's Guards are made in one piece with almost no sewing! Suitable for beginners with just a 4mm hook and some 8ply/DK yarn, make a set of these soldiers for a castle play set. I started drafting this pattern back in 2015, hoping to make a set of little soldiers for a toddler's Grand Old Duke of York play set. My amigurumi skills were not quite up to it and I made a set of peg dolls instead. With the sad news of the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, I thought it might be time to finish it off. We have not been to visit our girls' grandmother's home in England since 2016. The youngest has never seen the Grenadier guards in person before but was very interested in the soldiers when watching the tv coverage of the proclamation of King Charles III. I had barely cut the threads on my draft prototype of this pattern before she toddled off with it to play with her castle...

 It seems it was another lifetime, but my husband and I met in another city at university. Of the things I studied during that short time before we decided that our new family was more important, creative writing and archaeology were my best subjects. Feeding all my old drafts, manuscripts and notes (including a novella and a poetry collection) through the shredder a few years back while decluttering old tax papers was the most freeing and cathartic act. What I was writing wasn't bad but those papers had served their purpose back then in my pointless, lonely university days and have no place in my happy, full adult life of family and meaningful work so I joyfully shredded them. And you know what happened next? After thirteen years of writing nothing beyond thank you notes and grocery lists, the words began to flow again. I started with a story about my daughter finding a fairy blown in her window from a storm, then another about my other daughter trying to name her pe...

 Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands. 1 Thessalonians 4:11 I have really been leaning into this verse lately. I have very few memories of my grandmother speaking her opinion out loud yet she was the centre and head of the family through living by example. I cannot find the artist, if you know them please tell me When I say "It's been one of those weeks" I am not complaining about my wonderful life. My home, children, marriage and work are wonderful. What I am referring to is the small, seemingly endless one thing after another worldly problems that pop up and suck away energy and contentment. Things in your own home like one of the children figuring out how to get netflix or something on an old device they were using as a calculator and binging an entire season of some useless show. This child then wandered into the kitchen at 9.30pm asking for help with an assignment due the next day when they "resu...

 Ironing is one of my favourite cosy chores. It's like a window into your family seasons. One day you are ironing tiny baby clothes, then netball uniforms and piles of skirts. My husband's dress shirts don't get out much these days as we are blessed with semi-permanent Work From Home conditions for him. But I remember well what it was like ironing his work shirts with our eldest in a bouncer at my feet in our first apartment. I'll be ironing her high school uniforms soon. Woman Ironing, Study for the Washerwomen (1888) Albert Edelfelt I remember being the age she is now and ironing my own school clothes. I could not wait until I was ironing for my own children. Every time I cooked a meal for my sisters, baked muffins or read a bedtime story - I was looking forward to my future as a mother. And now I'm living it. Even when I'm tired or rushed, standing at that ironing board will never lose its charm for me. Whether I am 12 years old ironing for my sist...

 I love cross stitch magazines, my Addi knitting machine, making personalised icy pole holders with my Cricut and pumping out dozens of bookmarks. But picking up a crochet hook and some yarn is like arriving home after a long drive. I browsed through a crochet magazine on my library app and reading the patterns was like hearing my first language after working so hard on cross stitch for so long. Attributed to Tasha Tudor I have been using my girl's crochet play purse pattern to make little presents for a special little girl's second birthday. I am so happy with how the rainbow variegated one came out. Making it brought me so much joy after a long and tiring term. Left, centre are my crochet pattern linked above. Right is a daisy square by Melanie Ham I made into a bag.