Let's stitch a pear, and Q & A...

We are well into autumn, and yet the monsoonal rains keep coming and the heat and humidity are stifling. Last night we had an exceptional lightning and thunder storm as the heavens opend with more heavy rain. One lightning strike hit close by, plummeting much of our suburb into darkness with a power outage around midnight. 

Whilst I knew the power would return eventually, our main concern was that all four submersible pumps run on power, and without it, we had waves in the front and back yard, and water lapping at the door for four hours. In situations like this there's not a lot you can do, and with so much lightning around it was safer to stay inside (though hubby did climb up on the ladder to empty more leaves from the gutters). 

The power was back on around 3.30am and though the rain was still hard, our four pumps got to work with gusto! By dawn there was still a lot of water around, but the pumps had done a wonderful job of keeping the water out of the house. As I write this it is early evening on Friday, we've had more rain, and are still ankle deep with water in the yards, but what a difference those pumps make. 

Anyhow...all this rain has the lime tree in full bloom again, and we can tell that next summer's crop may be even bigger than this summer's one (and it was huge!). Other plants that have weathered this extreme wet season well are the passionfruit vine, which once more is heavy with fruit, the herb gardens, the green onions and chives, the blackberry bush (though it has never given fruit), and the Barbados Cherry tree (though hubby had to prune it away by two-thirds because it kept falling flat to the ground with so much water). I am patiently waiting for the 'big dry' and cooler days to get into the gardens and clean them up - what a sad and sorry lot they are at the moment. I shall try NOT to mention the wet weather again... xx

Autumn brings with it an abundance of apples and pears, both being delicious additions to the fruit basket and exceptional for preserving. We cannot grow them here in the Australian tropics, so they are shipped up from the southern parts of our country. This week I have stewed many kilos of apples to freeze so I can enjoy them with raisins and porridge over winter, and plan to do the same with pears next week. Fortunately, they are relatively cheap, especially if you buy the 'odd bunch' bags. Woolworths have a seasonal variety of Odd Bunch produce for lower cost purchases - the fruit or vegetables are either too large or too small, or misshapen, for the supermarket's regular fruit and veg displays. It's really quite sad, don't you think? I mean, a pear is a pear, and I don't care what size it is, or whether all the pears in the crate look the same. But farmers miss out on fair prices because a supermarket will only pay full price for perfect size produce. 

The pears below were in the odd bunch bag, and I can't see anything wrong with them, or is that vibrant red just too much to the buyers eye? They will be delicious when ripe and sliced up next to some cheese!

If you've never known (it has been mentioned a few times over the seventeen years I've been blogging), I love pears. Not just to eat, but as decoration. You'll find a few here and there throughout our home, and I received another on my birthday this year from Rosie, a beautiful cream ceramic one. 

I've been thinking a lot about pears this week, and looked over the four pear designs I have made over the years in order to choose one you might like to stitch. The Pear Hive won...

I chose this particular pattern because even though we in the southern hemisphere are now in autumn, most of my readers live in the far more populated northern hemisphere, where spring is being welcomed. I think my pear is 'pearfect' for both autumn or spring, with it's flourish of blooms and busy bees. 

If you'd like to stitch it, use the link below to download the free pattern. And let me know how you would display it? I have not used this in a project yet (and the completed stitchery is almost nine years old and still languishing in my box of designs) so I'd love to hear your suggestions. Perhaps it will be a UFO finish for me next week...mmm.

DOWNLOAD The Pear Hive pattern

Over a couple of days I made the change of having my DMC threads sorted by numbers, to having them sorted by colour families. In my Monday blog post I shared the link to download a 4-page chart that is invaluable for such a project.

It didn't have quite a few of the colours in my collection but I just slotted them in where they seemed to blend well. 

Many cups of tea were consumed over those days and evenings, and for a task which I'd imagined would take all week, the excitement of seeing those beautiful shades all coming together kept me going until all the solids were done. 

I don't own all the DMC colours, just a lot of them. ;-) The storage tray below is the first one completed, and all the browns and greys are in a second tray, which will also house the variegated threads I'm yet to organise. As I've had a barometric migraine off and on this week, and my hip acting up due to the weather as well, much of my time has been spent quietly sitting with these threads...

...and steadily stitching a bit more sashiko. 

I may sew the four maroon sashiko blocks that I recently finished, together over the weekend, and make the placemat for my husband. This one is the first of four green blocks, and though I love the design, I'm not sure the green stands out enough, so I'll sew another one in a deeper colour and then choose which looks best before sewing three more of the same colour (though different sashiko designs).

None of my sashiko blocks are perfect, but I do see improvement with each new block I sew. This one was the hardest to graph so far, as I am wanting to sew particular sizes and most patterns are in mm, but I prefer to graph them in inches. I required a lot of patience graphing the Asanoha block above and needed to start over three times before I got it right. 

I've had a few questions asked about the sashiko, and The Sewing Room BOM, so I'll answer them here today.

One common question has been where do I find these sashiko patterns? 

A few places. The first few blocks I made were from a book by Susan Briscoe, called The Ultimate Sashiko Sourcebook. I have a monthly subscription to Everand, which is marvellous - you can listen to as many audio books as you like, or read any book you want, without having to buy them as you do with Audible or Kindle. They have a HUGE library in the app (or you can read from your desktop), and I find this very cost effective because I rarely re-listen to an audio book, and love that I can actually see a book without having to buy it first. There are a few Susan Briscoe books on Everand.

I am not an affiliate or anything like that, I just love Everand and have never had a problem with it. 

I also borrowed some books from the library, thought they weren't really what I was after so I returned them, but your library may have a much larger selection. 

Last weekend I began watching videos on YouTube, and came across an Aussie lady who shares quite a bit about sashiko, and also a few free patterns. She also uses Patreon, and publishes one free pattern a month there. It cost me $8 (Australian) for a month, and I was able to download five great ones (she keeps four/five free patterns on there at a time) that I shall be using, and before my month runs out she'll have another one to download. THIS is her YouTube channel - The Green Wrapper

Another question about The Sewing Room BOM - can you use 1/4 yard cuts, and how many should you buy?

The Sewing Room is a scrappy BOM, and every border is 1.5" wide. You will find all the instructions in THIS free download  There's no amount to buy, because I am just using what is on my shelf. The largest cut of fabric is 4.5" x 6.5", so it won't matter if you use fat quarters or 1/4 yard cuts. 

Thank you to everyone who is praying for Blossom. She was so touched by your kindness, and wanted me to send you her love and thanks. 

I also prayed for each of you who asked for prayer, and as we know, the Lord hears every prayer. How blessed we are!

I'll sign off now, as this post may be so long you're starting to nod off, or is that me? With barely any sleep last night I am looking forward to bed tonight, and another chapter of The Long Winter before lights out. The other things on my mind, such as the recipe additions to the Pantry ebook, can wait for next week...and my, how quickly the weeks are flying by in 2025. 

God bless you, right where you are, no matter the circumstance. Our Father is near to us who draw near to him, and I cannot imagine any place I'd rather be than near Him, at His feet, safe and loved. May you be filled with His assurance of love and care today, and you heart overflowing with Hope. Never lose hope. 

Love and prayers, 

You will find my design account on Instagram HERE @jennyofelefantz

And my other Instagram account, just for homemaking, HERE @elefantzhome

Subscribe to my free Friday newsletter HERE and never miss a blog post, pattern or tutorial

Stitch my free 2025 block of the month 'The Sewing Room' HERE

Another miracle, journaling, hexies and a stitch-along...

 

If there's anything I have learned in my almost thirty-four years walking with Jesus, it's that He determines our ways, and He will only take us home in God's perfect timing. 

Last week I shared about the miracle of God that saved my husband from serious injury or death when just seconds before a huge tree limb came crashing down in the very spot he sat crouched over a submersible pump fixing it, the Lord called him to move. (if you missed that post it is here)

Well, it happened again. The first incident was on February 1st, and then one week later on February 8th, in the middle of the night, the Lord woke my exhausted husband and said "Go fix the pumps and the pool"...we were (and still are) in the middle of a flooding monsoon. In the darkness he went out and sure enough he needed to empty water from the overflowing pool, and then had to crouch down where the previous limb had fallen to clear debris from two submerisble pumps so they could continue pumping water from our ocean-like back yard. An hour later he crawled back into bed, relieved that the rising water around our house could recede again. 

At 6:30am we were having breakfast when we heard a tremendous crash and raced outside to see that a second major limb of the tree had come down, right where he had sat just hours earlier fixing the pumps. 

This time it was a bigger limb than the first one that came down (the tree had three major limbs with numerous large branches) and covered the entire front of the shed...

Hubby had to crawl under the tree and push the roller door up as far as possible before crawling inside to get the electric saw. He cut some away, but then had to go to work for the morning. Home from work at lunchtime, he began the work of very carefully (because the remainder of the tree is not stable) removing branches and smaller limbs. 

Sunday morning he realised he'd need to stabilse the remaining limb and trunk of the tree, so we prayed, and he climbed up on the ladder cutting off what he could, and then stacking smaller limbs over by the lime tree, and mulching all the branches and leaves to cover some of the sodden ground before the next lot of heavy rain arrived.

And now this is all that's left, apart from the smaller limbs which are too big for the mulcher. 

All that area used to be covered by the poinciana; it was our main source of shade through the hot and humid tropical seasons which last about eight months a year. The rest of the tree will need to be removed by professional tree loppers, and the trunk/root dug out of the ground. All that mulch has given us an extra six inches of cover over the worst affected areas of our flooded yard, which is a blessing as its all ankle deep in water still. 

I admit to shedding a few tears over the loss of that tree (we'd planted it in 2019, fulfilling a long held dream to plant a poinciana when we one day bought a home of our own), but I am far more grateful to have my husband safe and secure by the hand of God on his life. 

The monsoon is still here, the nights especially bringing the heaviest rain, but we are far better off than those in communities nearby who were cut off for a week before the army built a temporary bridge over the highway for emergency services and supplies to get through. I pray the monsoon moves out to sea very soon, and that people can get out and about to repair damage and start the process of returning to normality. Lord help them. xx

In the midst of all this I have continued to make time each evening to sit quietly and stitch. The second little Japanese pattern I began last week is now complete and I'm very pleased with how it turned out. The tone on tone fabric and thread choice was a new one for me, and I think now that I may do it again in the future. This little finish is only 3" edge to edge, and very detailed, using mostly three and four strands of Cosmo Seasons thread. I have it sitting inside a 5" hoop and will probably stitch down the excess fabric tonight. 

I won't use the Sticky Sulky-Solvi ever again though. Stitching mostly with four strands of thread through the SSS and the linen was so hard on my hands that I had to take many rests between sections. In future for tracing onto dark fabrics I am going to try graph paper with a Sublime Stitching Iron Transfer Pen. 

But still, I love this little design by Yula and will be stitching more of her patterns in future.

I've done a lot of Bible journaling this month, with a number of word studies because I simply love to delve deeper into context and the original languages and their meaning from the time they were written. 

Late last year I made an intention to put together a Bible study basket, and found this nappy bag (diaper bag) to be the perfect answer as it has divided sections inside and pockets around all four sides. Made of grey felt it only cost $17 Australian (about $10 USD) and is serving it's purpose wonderfully.

I got these Paper Mate Flair felt tip pens as well, because they do not bleed through my Bible pages. I highly recommend them!

Inside I have a prayer journal, a personal journal, a new journaling Bible (NKJV), daily home and business planner, a large book to write down all my word studies, some good devotionals that I have used for quite a while, pens and washi tape. 

I haven't journaled daily for a few many years, and I was really struck by the need to do this in 2025, thanks to prompting from the Lord and a very inspiring video I watched about being intentional each day with the many aspects of our Christian walk. Doing some of this was a financial investment, at a time when we need to be very careful about expenditure, but as with all things I try to follow Christ's advice to "Count the cost" before making financial decisions, and decided this was worthy of the financial outlay...and six weeks along I am so glad to have made that choice. 

...STITCHING HEXIES...

I had a lot of fabric scraps left over from the bundle of Tilda Sunday Brunch I was gifted with last year to design with, and thought it would be fun to use them in some EPP. As the scraps are tiny I chose to use 3/4" hexagons, and to stitch hexie flowers with an embrodiery centre. At first I used bits of all the colours, but decided they just weren't suitable for the project/s I had in mind (because there are a few, but a single favourite is still waiting to be chosen), so then I unpicked the few flowers I'd already made and started over with just three colours. 

The flower centres are tiny stitcheries I drew up, and the thread colours were chosen to blend with the hexie fabrics. So far I have completed eight of the twelve I plan to make...

If you'd like to stitch along with me to make the little embroidered centre hexie flowers, let me know in the comments. If enough people are interested I'll make up a download of the stitcheries for you all, and make a proper decision about how I shall display them. 

If you have any ideas for a project using the twelve hexie flowers let me know...I only have three ideas currently, as I want to make sure the project will be useful as well as pretty.

Well, I'd best sign off as I have peaches to stew, plums to preserve, necatrines to make into a relish, and focaccia to start. Nothing like an afternoon in the kitchen, especially wearing the beautiful apron that Pat sent me, along with her intricately knitted hand towels (in yellow to match my cookware), which Blossom and I love! 

Thank you Pat xxx

My heart is aching to get stuck into a deep clean of every room once this monsoon passes and I can hang things to dry in the sun and beat the rugs the way Nana did, and to stock the pantry with things I've never made before (nectarine relish is a start, along with tomato sauce once I find a good recipe), and to reorganise our small spaces so that the sewing room doubles as another pantry and apothecary. I have many plans afoot, and perhaps March will see them come to fruition, but what I know today is that God must be in the centre of all my plans, hopes and dreams for this gentle domestic life that I live and love.

Blossom feels the same way, and as she edges closer to her 31st birthday, I see a deeper maturity within her for the Word of God, an incredibly gentle yet fierce love for her family and home, and her unashamed surrender to all the Father has for her life in the years ahead.

God bless YOU dear one, and I pray that His protective hand is evident always in your life.

And THANK YOU for al your prayers, and your loving comments and emails - I apologise for not replying lately, but we've had so much going on the past few weeks that I needed to allow myself the luxury of stepping away from a few things. Life is heading back to normal now though...xxx

Love and hugs

You will find me on Instagram HERE @jennyofelefantz

And my NEW IG account just for homemaking HERE @elefantzhome

Subscribe to my free Friday newsletter HERE and never miss a blog post, pattern or tutorial

Stitch my free 2025 block of the month 'The Sewing Room' HERE

Grateful, grateful, grateful...

Well, what a huge five days we just had. When I added that short update to my last blog post, just three hours after I had originally posted it, I did not yet know the full brunt of this monsoonal weather event we were only just beginning to experience.

It was 11am on Friday and Blossom and Ross had just picked up the keys for their new rental property after being without a home for a week. They were excited, we were excited, and the children - wow, they were thrilled beyond words. But just minutes after they had those keys in their hands, the monsoon fell hard. A trip that should only take them 20 minutes to their new home, took more than four hours as roads began flooding and traffic was banked up for miles. The bus company was quickly flooded in and news reports told parents they'd have to find ways to get their children from school as no buses could get there. And so it went on.

A family member living nearby gave them an air mattress, three sleeping bags, and some towels. They couldn't go anywhere once they were in the house. We couldn't do a thing that night for them other than pray - which as we know, is greatly important. The heavy rain and wild winds continued, rivers oveflowed, roads were cut off, but at 4am the next morning my sweet husband found a way back to his work in the car yard and borrowed a sturdy 4WD...then he and I filled it with as many boxes as we could, plus food, and slowly made our way to them checking for any free roadways. 

And so this went on through Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Hubby would drive out when it was safe and pick up Ross. Then they'd come back here and fill the 4WD, and if a covered trailer was available for rent, they fill that as well. Five trips on Saturday, six trips on Sunday, two on Monday...everyday starting around 4.30am. 

We still haven't been able to get the big furniture to their house as there are no trucks available to rent right now, but as soon as we can get one, they will finally have everything (though some has moulded from the rain and humidity and will need to be taken to the tip). I am so proud of Blossom, who has had to scrub that house with every ounce of energy as it was filthy when they arrived, grease over everything. And through it all, she is happy, so very happy, because God provided just as she knew He would. It's a lovely home, just hadn't been cared for, but she will change all that. They did have water flowing in through the back bedroom, which eased yesterday when the rain slowed, but the carpet had to be pulled up. And still she did not complain, but thanked the Lord for a home to care for, a place to lay their heads, and a backyard their children will love.

Whilst the dam is still at 150% full, it has come down from 175% due to regular opening of the dam gates. With another week or more of rain yet to fall, we all have to wait before doing a good clean up outside, and of course, it will take a very long time for the ground to dry out. Our hearts and prayers go out to those north of us, in the small towns that suffered, and are still suffering, the effects of extreme flooding. The highway collapsed between us and them, so they have not had the measure of help needed. Pray for them. xxx

MIRACLE:

On Saturday, whilst my husband was repairing one of the submerssible pumps in our yard (we have four, and they prevented water from coming in to the house, but they break down constantly due to the plant matter that floods into them), a very frightening gust of wind came through our yard. He had just gotten up from the pump and began walking back to the house, when a huge crack was heard and our large poinicana tree split in half, falling behind him...if he had not gotten up to come inside he would probably have died or been seriously injured. Below - that white circle with the red pump, still not fixed at the time, is where he was crouched just seconds before...

To say this was a life changing event, is an understatement. We were obviosuly shaken, as was Ross when he saw it that afternoon, and Blossom when she saw it on Monday. We praise the Lord for prompting hubby to move away. 

On Monday afternoon, during a wonderfully welcome break from the rain, he sawed off all the branches and ran them through the mulcher. This was so good because you may not see it in photos but when you walk down the yard the water is above your ankles, and adding all that tree mulch to the ground gives us a bit more support as we check on things around our quarter acre. 

Our back fence came down on Sunday after another fierce gust of wind, and the laundry ceiling (which fell through during the 2019 floods) is leaking and damp is spreading across the ceiling again. But really, we got loads done for Blossom, despite the monsoon, the flooded roads and the winds; and our home is predominantly dry inside, and nobody got hurt in all the activity that was going on within the family. 

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS

Each night, we'd all pretty much fall into bed exhausted, but I'd spend an hour or so working on the mushroom wreath embroidery, and last night it was completed. 

 

I began this at just the right time. Through the past days it has been a wonderful source of creative calm, and though not what is commonly called slow-stitching, it was for me that very thing...a slow, gentle, calming experience. 

Apart from the the scattered leaf fronds, which were sttiched with two strands of thread, everything else is three strands, something I'd not done before. I needed a tapestry needle for that, and found it to be simply perfect for this project. 

As I mentioned last time, this pattern came from Yumiko Higuchi's book, Stitch of Seasons (in Japanese) or Stitching the Seasons if you can find the English version. 

Now that I am on a bit of a Japanese stitching journey, I have started on a very small project by Yula, from her book Botanical Embroidery (also in Japanese). This time I am using a blue linen background, and because even with my lightbox I was unable to trace the small design through the dark dense fabric, I decided to print it up on Sticky Fabri-Solvy. I'll be honest and tell you I really don't like this stuff, but as I am not rushed or designing much these days, I am looking on it as just another slow stitching experience and will be happy as I bring it to life. 

The fabric is darker than in the photo, but I've had it for years and think it will be beautiful with this stitchery upon completion. 

In her book, Yula has a number of tone-on-tone designs, which is what inspired me to stitch this one on a blue linen, with blue variegated thread. I love Cosmo Seasons threads in muted colours like this, and am really looking forward to displaying this in a small hoop when its finished. 

Whilst Blossom and Ross were moving, we had their two rescue cats, Howl and Kiki (pics in the previous blog post). Neither of them are very friendly, having been rescued from atrocious backgrounds, but they are not aggressive, just quiet and distant. They are indoor cats, unlike our Sophie-cat.

But Howl is desperate to get outside, much like Sophie-cat 14 years ago when we brought her home from the RSPCA. And just like her, he looks for ways to escape. His favourite places are staring out the back door, staring out the living room window, or staring out my sewing room window...

We took them home on Monday afternoon, and Blossom's dog Barnaby was thrilled. He and Howl are best buddies and immediately curled up together to get caught up on their nine days apart. ;-) 

Our Sophie cat is just happy the other two cats have gone, as she is a most unfriendly animal, except with my husband, whom she adores. During their stay here she was not allowed to visit inside because she was hissing and spitting at them through the glass door. She's 15 this year so we give her grace. ;-)

One thing I really enjoyed yesterday (Tuesday) was cleaning the house, washing and drying anything and everything that had a touch of moisture in it, and baking. I'd made food for the family during the weather event, but this was different...it felt so normal, and we've all needed that.  Pineapple fruit cake...

Thank you again, for your prayers and kindnesses. 

I probably won't blog again till next week, but I do have something fun to share with you then, a small slow-stitching project for your own quiet hours. 

May the Lord BLESS you, always, with the greatest measure of grace, love, kindness, faith and peace. 

Love,

You will find me on Instagram HERE @jennyofelefantz

And my NEW IG account just for homemaking HERE @elefantzhome

Subscribe to my free Friday newsletter HERE and never miss a blog post, pattern or tutorial

Stitch my free 2025 block of the month 'The Sewing Room' HERE