Keepin' Calm 'n' Carryin' On...

Okay...so I'm on what feels like I've made at least one-hundred and umpteen of these babies and I'm still going strong.  All of those early morning garden sessions and long summer evenings out tending lavender beds and then harvesting lavender are still lingering in my workroom while I sit, faithfully, at my antique of a sewing machine, assembling lavender sachets.  Yep...I'm keepin' calm 'n' carryin' on!

My sewing machine which I inherited from my mother-in-law, Lynn, is carrying on like a trooper, too.  I think it may have somehow thankfully set itself on "auto-drive" as I begin to feel a little battle-fatigued from overexposure to pretty fabrics and sweet smelling lavender laced with rose petals and hydrangea flowers.  Really--it can happen when night after night is spent making these! Who needs computerized machines when you have a singer sewing machine, that I'm pretty sure is older than me, and makes the Ever-Ready Battery Bunny look like chump change.  I mean, really!  And, these "Keep Calm and Carry On" sachets certainly do keep on going, making, I suppose, wonderful gifts for the nervous and jittery types.  Or, maybe a nice gift for those who just need to be reminded to take a breather now and again in the midst of all of the hub-bub.

The phrase, Keep Calm and Carry On first came into being by the British Government in the very beginning of the second World War when posters were placed throughout London and the rest of the country to help bolster the spirit of the Brits while under the threat of a German invasion.  The meaning of the poster was meant to convey a message from the king to his people that the worst may be yet to come but British citizens should show courage and keep up the fight for their country, no matter what happened. By the end of the War, the posters went into oblivion and now there are only two known original posters from those war days still intact outside of another few archived by the British government.  But, never fear, I've got plenty of keep calm sachets on hand

Around the year, 2000, British nurses were credited for bringing it back into fashion by posting it in hospitals and the slogan apparently seemed so catchy, the rest is history once more as, it seems, that we all need to be reminded to Keep Calm and Carry On as we go through our own daily lives. However, for a change of scenery, I decided to try a few heart-shaped sachets with  a Fluer-De-Lis design on them.  Very nice but not quite as popular, for whatever reason.

So, I'm keepin' calm 'n' carryin' on bravely cutting, sewing and filling lavender sachets and heart sachets, too while sneezing and wheezing a bit from all of the lavender swirling around me.  Sometimes, when I'm sneezing and wheezing, keeping calm means reaching for more than a few tissues, too to quell my runny nose.  In the meantime, I shall keep a stiff upper lip, maybe have a cup of tea, or two and then return to my trusty behemoth of a sewing machine to battle through the wonderful world of making lavender sachets.  I'm pretty sure I have at least one-hundred and umpteen more to go!