Gentle Domesticity book study, free pattern, giveaway and Link Up Party!

It was 2008 and my friends Ruth and Pam had discovered a book which they felt certain I’d love as much as they did. That book was Jane Brocket’s “The Gentle Art of Domesticity”.

We three women were home-school mums and devoted homemakers at a time when books on being a homemaker were predominantly written as dry non-fiction tomes on why you should be one and how you should do it perfectly. Jane Brocket, however, wrote something cheerful, funny, thoughtful, bright, and full of wonderful photography to stir and broaden our own creative urges.

Crochet, baking, movies, quilting, embroidery, floristry, reading, painting toenails, gardening, colours, shoes…everything was approached with a bright and inspiring view, as if through the eyes of an awestruck novice, and I felt like that novice.

In my own mind I was already fairly accomplished in the routine and rhythm of my home duties but I discovered there was so much more to dabble in and I could even add an element of fun along the way!

It was Jane who taught me to bake my very first Battenberg Cake. She’d even knitted a matching Battenberg cosy for her tea pot, but I skipped on that addition and simply reveled that my cake was a triumph! However, the desire to make my own version of a Battenberg style tea cosy lingers to this day.

It was through her glorious pages of vibrant crochet that I first had an inkling I could add this to my ever growing crafty repertoire, and I loved that she had an obsession with painted toenails and Birkenstock sandals as much as I did. Jane has a way of describing what may seem rather ordinary to being anything but, and what I enjoyed most was that every double page brought forth a new topic, new photos, and more fresh and interesting thoughts to ponder. The nostalgic wanderings that filled my mind stirred home-making desires I’d not considered before.

As I continued to read through The Gentle Art of Domesticity it was clear that Jane has a strong family ethic, something which certainly resonated with me. 

Baking with the girls or quilting with her son – she included all in her day to day domestic doings.

This photo in the book speaks volumes…

Mrs Brocket has a natural gift for taking engaging photographs and as the book overflows with them I began to make notes on how to improve my own skills so when you leave comments here or on social media to say you love my photography I can truly tell you she was my inspiration.

Each double page is written as a conversation with the reader and as that’s my personal style of writing she had me hooked from the start.  There’s a lot of thought and respect given to each topic, served with a friendly atmosphere of sitting across the table from her, jam tart half eaten and more than a few pots of tea enjoyed throughout the afternoon – all served on faded vintage china with hand stitched napkins showing the evidence of a raspberry jam smudge. Relaxed, yes. 

 There are too many double page headings in this book to list them all, but let me share a few –

Peas, peace and laughter ~ One small stitch for Alice, one giant cast-on for me ~ Flower power ~ When the bread bug bites ~ Men at patchwork ~ When it’s hip to be square ~ Patterning domesticity ~ the art of the stitch ~ Terribly, terribly English ~ Colouring in the world ~ Green fingers and feet of clay ~ Winding wool ~ Birthdays ~ Fairy buns ~ Bag lady...and many more.

I can’t imagine any woman reading this book would not finding something of herself within the pages.

Jane refers to son Tom as her quilting apprentice, although admits he'd become so good at his job that she would see their roles switch one day… “He has developed great colour placement skills and can see patterns which are invisible to me…he knows what works, and what can ruin an effect…” (page 218)

It’s her ability to organically bring domestic arts into her home and family life that makes this my number one go-to book for inspiration when the monotony of my own domestic life has caused me to grumble and not be as appreciative as I could be, and as I only need spend 10 minutes reading a complete double page topic, it’s something I don’t have to put off till a free afternoon or an hour alone. I quite often drink my afternoon coffee, smile at her thoughts on ‘quinces’, let my shoulders drop softly as I ponder them, and am gently refreshed whilst transported to a sweeter, quieter place in my heart.

Jane has written a number of "the gentle art..."books since that first one, and I am never disappointed. Her relaxed style has helped me to ‘care less’ about perfection and to care more about enjoying the process.

In her 2010 book The Gentle Art of Quilt-making in which she takes us through the inspiration and making of 15 quilts, I was stopped in my tracks by these words –

“My fear of doing things ‘wrong’ or in the ‘incorrect way’ held me back for years until I had a perception altering conversation with my friend Lucy….I was telling her how much I loved quilts and how much I wanted to make one, but that I was convinced it was all rules and regulations and that I thought it would be too difficult. ‘Oh for goodness sake, Jane’ she said in exasperation, ‘all you have to do is cut up some fabric and sew it together!’

…I, with my imagined difficulties, was turning something that has been done in a matter-of-fact way by people over the years into something mysteriously complicated…as soon as I let go of the ideas of perfection and right and wrong ways of doing things, quilts were no longer a dream, but a real possibility.’ 
Page 7 The Gentle Art of Quilt-making.

You see, when I first discovered Jane and her books I was still in the very early years of teaching myself to stitch and sew and had struggled with quilt making because I’d known ‘real’ quilters who agonised over corners that didn’t sit perfectly, blocks that appeared miss-matched, squares that didn’t ‘square’. It made me very hesitant to design or even show a quilt I’d made. I simply felt out of my league, so I stuck with what I could do best – basic embroidery.

Reading Jane’s words took a weight off my doubts and I knew that just as I wanted to ‘enjoy’ all the domestic side of home life, I also wanted that freedom to enjoy quilting without 'bar setting' and self doubt.

Dear Jane has been my deliverer of sorts - from believing it’s all too hard or that I’m just not clever enough, to trying new things and appreciating none of them need be perfect. Just enjoyed. And that dear friends is at the very heart of our book study this year, The Gentle Art of Domesticity.

Next week  - we'll go through pages 8-13 (the introduction chapter) so feel free to read ahead, and if you don't have the book that's fine - you'll glean from the study chatter anyhow. However, if you're still after a copy and finding it difficult to source I suggest buying a Kindle copy as it's marvelous for being able to highlight passages!

Instead of a block of the month this year I am sharing one complete project with the first book study post of each month, beginning today with my "Faith, Hope, Love" table runner.

I decided near the end of last year that the whole idea of using what we already have on hand can extend to many areas of life - and for me this also means patterns. You see, I've been designing now for ten years and believe me that kind of does my head in because it all seems to have happened fairly recently (aging really does alter my concept of time it seems) but the evidence of this past decade is all around me. 
Quilts, framed stitcheries, an assortment of different home based and sewing projects, more than 100 individual Australian magazines which have featured my designs, printed copies of my own Elefantz Home e-zine and four years of embroidery patterns offered through The Stitchery Club can be found inside my home. 
With such an abundance of original resources at my fingertips this year I'm re-purposing some of my older designs by sharing them with you each month in our year of embracing the gentle art of domesticity.

Occasionally I'll share an extra pattern just for fun, but you will always receive one complete project on the first Monday of every month.

"Faith, Hope, Love" was made almost seven years ago and is still used around our home. Right now it covers my bedside table, a reminder of three wonderful attitudes to nurture, but next month it might be spread across the coffee table. I think that's what I like most about table runners, they can bring us pleasure anywhere you have a flat surface which needs a touch of pretty.

Download this month's pattern HERE until February 4th, after which the next month's pattern will be become available and this one will be added to my shop. 


A GIVEAWAY!!

CLOSED - winner was  JEAN from Nancy J blog.

Now it's your turn to share what you've been doing to bring gentle domesticity into your home and life. Join the weekly link up party by clicking below and adding your own relevant 'living the gentle domestic life' blog post so we can all come visit.

Do NOT link up unless you have a current blog and are sharing a post about living the gentle domestic life. Thank you. 

This linky is not connected to the giveaway - for an entry to that you only need leave a comment.

Feel free to save my Link Up Party button (above) to your blog post or sidebar with a link back to my blog. Just alternate click on the photo, save to your computer, and insert on your blog wherever it makes you happy.
Use www.elefantz.com as the link.

Have a gently wonderful and inspiring day,
hugs