New Tilda peek, and a free Grace pattern...

It's mid April already...how has this year run so quickly through my calendar? I'm still not used to writing 2025, but I imagine when it does become second nature a new year will be upon us. We've had many birthdays in the family so far this year, and next month dear Blossom will be 31. How quickly they grow up, and how soon we grow old. My husband and I occasionally talk about having less years ahead than behind, and I think for a while that bothered him, but the Lord holds our days in His hand, and so now we just give thanks for His grace each morning and keep moving forward. 

For myself, I feel less hurried these days, less inclined to be bothered about the things which used to catch my attention, and more easily able to let things go - stuff, responses, ideals, regrets, and sorrows. God's grace holds me fast, and because of that I am able to show grace in ways I never used to. But that's all part of walking closer with Him. The more we seek to live according to His ways, the more we take on His character. Of course, I am far from being where I ought when it comes to the character of Christ, but with every year I am that little bit closer. His grace is indeed sufficient for me, and this year GRACE has been a very real prayer and pondering point. 

Which is why I am sharing this pattern with you today - a reminder for us all to grow in the grace of our Lord and Saviour. 

To grow is "auzano" in the Greek, and means to enlarge or increase. Paul uses the same word in 2 Corinthians 9:10, when he writes to those at the church in Corinth that they should increase (auzano) the fruits of their righteousness. In Acts, Luke writes how the Word of God increased (auzano) and the number of disciples in Jerusalem were multiplied as the gospel spread. 

2 Peter 3:18

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen

So 'auzano' is an active word, not a passive word. It's an active directive from Peter in this verse...we are to increase, to enlarge, in the grace and knowledge of Jesus. How do we do that? By studying the Word, by seeking His help in growing us closer to His likeness, by surrendering our fleshly nature and putting on the nature of Christ. 

I used to think a Scripture verse was lovely when stitched and displayed in the home, but now I want it to be more than a decoration - I need to understand all that it is saying, and then act upon the depth and breadth of what God is saying to us through that verse or passage.  

Many of you have asked me to share more of how I study the Bible - well, its by using the concordance, and then cross referencing everywhere in the Bible that word is used. When you do this, the word comes alive in ways you may never have imagined. The English language is very limited when compared to the Hebrew and Greek of the Bible. Go on an adventure, dear sisters in Christ, and dive right in to word studies. 

Use the link below to download the free stitchery pattern...

DOWNLOAD Grow In Grace

How has your week been so far? I've had a string of migraines lately, but in between there's been gardening to do, jam drop biscuits (cookies) to bake, jalapenos to pickle, and some secret sewing for Tilda's next fabric ranges, Wallflower and Bellflower, which are due in quilt shops this coming June. 

I'm very blessed to be one of the Australian designers who are given the Tilda fabrics many months in advance to design with, and this time I had fun creating projects that were slightly different than my usual style. 

This 'Round the Garden' bag featured many of the new prints, both on the outside and in the lining. I've had the wooden handles for about twelve years and they were just perfect for my bag! 

Apart from the machine sewing of the stripes, everything else is hand stitched and quilted. Even the handles were hand stitched in place, because I doubt it would have worked with a machine.

The stitchery is one I designed back in 2014, and has long waited for its moment to shine. The contrast of a circular embroidery on a striped background was exactly what I wanted when considering a bag design. 

I left the back as simple stripes. This will be my new bag for short outings, or trips to the market with hubby. 

The second project took quite a bit longer to make, as it began with a paper-pieced star, to which I added smaller fussy-cut paper-pieced diamonds inside the larger diamonds.

From there I drew leaf shapes and appliqued them around the large star, before sewing smaller diamonds either side of the larger one. The larger leaves were all fussy cut...

Over time the ideas continued to flow. I added little blue birds. Their body is from Tilda's Creative Memories, whilst the wings are all fussy cut from the Wallflower range. 

There was too much open space though, so I drew some large daisies in the top right and bottom left corners, and stitched them. Still more was needed, so smaller flowers were drawn in place and stitched.

Scattered berries were positioned in and around the leaves...and finally, I was content with the display.

I hand quilted with cream Pearl 12 thread around the stars and all the applique shapes, before completing the project with an envelope style backing, binding around the outside, and the insertion of a pillow form. I can't wait to display this on our bed!

For now, it's on the reading couch as that was the only place with good natural light for photos today. Over the Easter break I'll set to work looking at what I have in the linen cupboard to re-do our bedroom in colours that will let this lovely pillow take centre stage for a season or two.

These Tilda fabrics will be in quilt stores from June 1st, and I'll have the patterns for my bag and pillow available through my Etsy Shop in May, but I'll let you know exactly when in a couple of weeks. 

Thank you for your hugs and encouragement over our Kelly-dog. He has been with us a week now, and is so settled that you'd think he'd always lived here. 

Blossom, Ross and the children are coming for lunch on Easter Sunday and will meet him then, which we're all excited about, but it has been good for him to just find his footing around our home first. The grocery delivery man came the other day and dear Kelly was hiding behind me and terribly anxious, even though the man is a lovely gentle fellow...but Kelly has had a traumatic start to life for his first year or more, so he needs a lot of time to heal. Praise God, he is happy and loved here. 

I wonder what plans you have for the Easter break? 

It's a very special time for those of us who love Jesus, and I'm thrilled Blossom always has a new activity for the children each year. This year they built a tomb, and on Good Friday they will place a bowl in there with rocks and then cover it with a black cloth. On Resurrection Sunday the children will remove the cloth and see the tomb empty...the rocks replaced with little chocolates. They will all cry out "Jesus is risen!" and celebrate with chocolate, a gift to remind them that God gave them the greatest gift, His Son. 

God bless YOU dear ones...and thank you for coming by, and for your prayers over our family, and sharing your lives and thoughts in the comments. It's like a big kitchen table at Elefantz, with sisters from all across the globe dropping by to catch up with each other. 

Oh, and Blossom is recovering slowly. Her doctor is wonderful and is trying a new treatment, which is making a difference. God heard your prayers, and I thank you. 

Till next week, 

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

Free study download and free stitcheries...

 

Back in late 2022, and through 2023, I shared a 16-part quilt pattern with my readers at that time, called The Virtuous Wife. It was a labour of true love, and included with each month's embroidery block was a Bible study on a particular verse we were stitching.

For those of you who are interested, I have finally made time to expand on those studies, whilst also adding more of them, so this has become almost a small book. Last night I wrote the final page, and went to bed happy and content, full of hope that this would be honouring to God, and a blessing to all of you who choose to download and use it. 

After completing the morning chores I went back to do a review of spelling and grammar, and was about to convert it from a document to a PDF file when I thought, "What if I added some Scripture stitcheries?"

And so, the next five hours were spent doing just that!

I wonder if you're like me and love to stitch from the Bible? It's such a gentle way to engrave the Word on your mind and in your heart. With the theme of this study being evident, I chose 7 short passages that described the character of a Bible-believing wife. 

Recently I decided that it would be lovely to hang framed Scriptures on the walls. I already have many of my Bible embroidery designs hanging in our home, and I do love them, but a wall of smaller framed verses would be perfect, and as this year one of my to-dos is to make over the living room and bedroom without spending any money if possible, this project will be a joy - and a bonus is that I have quite a few frames tucked away that can be used. If I need more, a quick trip to the op-shop usually provides what I require for a couple of dollars. 

So with that in mind I thought these little stitchery patterns would bless you, as well as me!

I do not mind if you share about this free study, but would just ask that you lead your friends to this blog post first, and they can download from here. I'd also love to hear your thoughts and discoveries as you read through the study, so I've made a new page on my website, specifically for Bible studies (because I shall be sharing more this year). You can go HERE to access that, or use the Bible Studies link under my blog header.  

I pray this blesses you. xxx

Use the link below to download the free "Proverbs 31 - the whole chapter"

DOWNLOAD

Other Things...

After completing the blue sashiko panel on recycled linen, my plan was to either frame it or use it as a cushion centre, but on Monday I gave the sewing room, which doubles as my study space, a thorough going over, and whilst mending a few things, realised I needed a good-sized square pincushion that I could fill with crushed walnut shells (that I save when my old pincushions have seen the last of their days)...and that lovely 6" sashiko piece looked just perfect. 

Now I've started a new sahsiko design, also on some recycled linen, but this is destined to become a placemat. We are in need of new placemats, and as our dining room is also our living room, it becomes part of the frugal makeover this year. My husband likes maroon (if you're an Australian you will probably guess what State of Origin team he barracks for) so I chose a deep maroon thread for the first one. 

I'm also stitching the next block in this year's free The Sewing Room BOM, but obviously I cannot show you yet...only eleven more days and it's yours. ;-)

In 2023 the free BOM I shared with my readers was The Virtuous Wife, and though I had sewn all sixteen blocks together, sandwiched the quilt top with batting and backing, and thread basted it...I had not yet quilted it. During my big clean, tidy and rearrange of the sewing room this week, I brought it out and decided it was time to quilt it, but as this is the tropics and we won't cool down for another 6 weeks or so when winter is almost at the door, it's too hot for hand quilting. So I did a bit of machine quilting, and within a short time regretted my decision. 

With the air con blowing around me, I sat the other day with my seam ripper and unpicked all the machine quilting, grateful I had only done a small section. Now it's waiting on my desk for cooler days when I can finally hand quilt it. 

Funny thing about cleaning the sewing room, you get enthused with ideas, most of them quite simple. There's a few pieces of fabric I thrifted about ten years ago, and haven't used yet, so when I was moving an old book I'd been re-reading, one of those simple ideas came to mind. 

Do you remember when I used some recycled linen to cover an old Bible and a journal? 

Well, I have a very old copy of The Simple Path, which was coming apart. It's a biography of Mother Teresa, and has always been like a compass for directing me back to what a sacrificial life lived for Jesus really is. 

I chose this pretty rose fabric to cover the book, and added my favourite photo of Mother Teresa to the front page. The fabric feels like cotton duck, but I can't be sure. It's good and sturdy though, so I also used it for lining the cover.  

I have a number of favourite books that inspire my walk of faith, this being one. Another is The Heavenly Man - the story of Brother Yun who was a Chinese leader of the hidden house churches, but is now exiled from China. 

The stories of Gladys Aylward, George Mueller, Jim Elliot, Oswald Chambers, Corrie ten Boom, and so many others who have lived for Christ, are used by God to teach me, to correct me, and to expand my view of what following Jesus may cost one day. 

Around home we've had more rain than ever, with the rain gauge needing to be emptied every morning, and that contributes to all my indoor activity! Which includes doing a deep clean of the kitchen on Tuesday, starting with the oven. I admit it is my least enjoyed chore in the entire house, but for some reason I thoroughly enjoyed it this week. 

Using bi-carb and lemin juice, the triple glass doors came up crystal clear. I cleaned the inside just with vinegar and water, which also worked well. The steel shelving inside was cleaned in the dishwasher, something I hadn't thought of before, but will continue to do from now on. I also clean the exhaust fan filters over the cooktop in the dishwasher too, and have done for years - which is what made we wonder about the oven shelves. Glad to have tried it. 

Responding to comments...

Dear friends, thank you for chatting in the comments! Most of you are 'no-reply' commenters, so I have begun responding via the comments section if I cannot email you. You each have a wealth of knowledge to share, and I find your experiences so interesting to read. I truly do enjoy hearing 'you' through your words, and not just having you hear me. Thank you. 

To answer a question that a few have asked recently - in my free Pantry Staples ebook (HERE) there were queries as to what Rice Bubbles are. That's what we call them in Australia, but apparently google tells me that in the USA they are known as Rice Krispies. Not sure what they are elsewhere, but here's a photo of our Rice Bubbles. 

And finally, I'd like to ask that nobody leaves a political comment on my blog posts. Now that I need to approve every comment before it is published, I can quickly delete political rants. My blog is for the homemaker, the sister-in-Christ, the quilter, the embroiderer, the baker, the gardener, the gentle friends, the encouragers...it is not a political platform for anyone. Thank you for understanding. 

Well, I am going to sign off now, and will pray for each and every one of you reading this. May the Lord use anything of worth from my blog and my writing, to bless you, to encourage and inspire you, and most importantly, to draw you closer to our dear Saviour, Jesus Christ. I also pray that if anything is unworthy that He will blind your mind to it, and correct me in His most loving Fatherly way. 

Hugs, prayers and 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

Wasps, a fruitful vine and stitching...

 

It's been nine days since my last blog post, and it seems a long time ago now, and yet a short time, for many things have happened, and I find that when a lot of different things fill a week, or a month, or even a year, time itself feels stretched in one way, and reduced in another. I wonder if you feel that way too?

Last week on Thursday, I decided to finally begin pruning the various shrubs in and around our garden areas. I grow many herbs, but none as large as the Tulsi bush (also known as holy basil). Unchecked it would become a tree, but I keep it at shrub height so that I can easily harvest the leaves for herbal teas. After the monsoon last month, and the garden being soaked beyond saturation as the yards flooded around our home, we had some plants that couldn't cope and died off (or should I say drowned?), but we also had some that simply thrived. They were the ones in raised beds, and boy did they shoot up and out through February and into March.

After that we had about ten to twelve days with no rain at all, just fierce dry scorching sun, and to be honest this was good for drying out our sodden yards, and allowing time for fixing a few more leaks. Anyhow, last Thursday as I pruning the sides of the Tulsi bush, something quite unexpected happened. As I began to trim closer in, three large wasps came at me. One stung my hand, the other my neck, and as I automatically opened my mouth in shock and pain, another flew into my mouth and stung the underside of my top lip. I cannot describe the pain. It was something I never want to feel again. Being home alone, all I could do was drop my shears and run like the wind inside, splash water over my face and neck, and suck on a ice pack we had in the freezer. Then I smeared Stingose over my mouth and neck, and into my lip. I could barely see from the pain in my mouth, and my lip was swelling. That ice pack was the only thing that kept me going for the next fifteen minutes until I could think what else to do. I remembered we had phenergan tablets in our first aid kit from when I had contact dermatitis a few years back, so I took one of them and laid on the bed with that ice pack stuffed in my mouth. And that's where I stayed until hubby came home a couple of hours later. 

It took six days for all the swelling to settle in my lip, and for all the pain to subside. Though a horrible experience, and having no-one here to help, I knew the Lord was with me, and that was my greatest comfort. 

I missed Rafaella's pool party with her friends (her 7th birthday) on the Saturday, as I felt the stinger still in my neck whilst in the shower, and pulled it out, not realising that was a silly thing to do. It released more venom and almost immediately I got sick with migraine, nausea and exhaustion. The day was spent on the couch, doing some very simple sashikostitching to keep my mind occupied...and a few movies to watch in the background. 

I had already drawn a graph on some more of that recycled linen sheet...

...and calmly stitched away, slow stitches having always been very soothing to my mind. Here's the completed piece, six inches square. Think it will become the centre of a pillow. 

This week has had ups and downs, but I had my 'happy cup' filled twice - once with Blossom and the children, and again with my friend Rosie. Spending quality time with people you love, and who love you, definitely has its own medicinal qualities! 

Peaches, plums and nectarines are at the very end of their season, and they usually disappear from supply around the end of March, so I made more nectarine relish, and tried the pickled peaches recipe (in the pantry staples ebook I shared with you HERE) Well, I already knew the relish was good, but wow, those pickled peaches are delicious!

You just make the pickling liquid, pour it over thinly sliced fresh peaches (must be fresh), leave to cool, and then store in the fridge. Use within a couple of weeks...ours did not last that long so I'm making more.

I have had to keep preserving limes, as our tree has still not stopped giving. I found more limes up high and also hidden in the middle (before the wasp incident). I decided to measure out juice and rind in quantities to make cordials over the coming winter and spring, and now have four containers in the freezer for that purpose. I also froze juice and rind in smaller quantities for making lime curd as well. Plus there are some whole limes in the freezer, along with lots of lime juice frozen in ice cube trays - these will be great for curries, and tapioca puddings. 

I've also chopped up nectarines and red onions in small containers, enough in each one to make a batch of nectarine relish whenever we want it. I think this is the first time I have ever thought to freeze ingredients together to make a fruit recipe out of season. I would have loved to do the same with peaches so I could pickle them, but after making the pickles, you can't beat the lovely firmness of fresh peaches in that recipe. 

On Sunday my head had settled, but we still stayed home as I needed to rest a bit more. In between rests, I baked some slices (I think in the US you would call these a bar) to freeze - a ginger lime slice, and a lemon coconut slice. I froze half of each, and the rest I shared between Blossom's family and my husband, who takes a packed lunch to work every day and likes a little sweet treat included. Today I baked a chocolate peppermint slice, and I'll freeze half of this as well, as soon as I cut it into 24 pieces.

The sage I cut and hung inside just a day or two before the monsoon hit at the end of January, was ready for processing yesterday afternoon. I removed all the leaves, then chopped them in the food processor, so now I have about two cups of chopped dried sage to add to my home grown herb supplies. I LOVE the smell of sage! Fortunately we still have plenty in the garden, but the rain has returned and everyday we are getting heavy storms, so I can't pick any more bunches for drying just yet.

Here's the stitching I am currently on during my afternoon tea break, and in the evenings. I stitch the Yumiko Higuchi design during the day because there's a lot involved, but at night when the light is dimmer and I'm getting tired, I work on sashiko...

The backgrounds are both repurposed linen. 

BIBLE STUDY

My favourite part of any day, apart from when my beloved returns home from work, is time spent in the Word. I bought this large lined notebook at the beginning of the year, and use it for word studies.

So far in the past six weeks or so, I have studied 'work', 'contentment', 'humility', and being a 'wife' - all from a Biblical perspective. The more I delve into the various teachings, and study the root meanings of each word and verse from the Hebrew, the more our Lord opens wide my understanding of what He wants from me, and what He meant when He inspired the text. I cannot recommend word studies highly enough!

I'm just finishing the 'wives' study with regards to the verses and passages of Scripture, and am now about to delve into every character trait the Bible says about wives, the good and the bad. I don't think women take as much note of the bad traits, as they do of the good ones, and I confess that its made me really pray about my own role as wife, and wanting to overcome anything negative, whilst building on the positives.

Years ago I used to draw and colour in my Bible journals, or studies, but these days I like to use pretty washi tape and stickers...I'm more focused on the words themselves than drawings. For some of the previous studies, like the one on Work, I cut photos from my Country Living magazines of people working in the home and the garden. I'll show you some of them another time. 

The first character trait I'm looking at is from Psalm 128:3 - "Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine, in the very heart of your house." as this was the Psalm we read at our wedding in 1991. 

So far, this verse has shown to be a bit different to what I used to think. I associated her fruitfulness with having children, but that is only one aspect of the meaning, so if you'd like me to share more about these studies, just let me know. 

I am praying to be fruitful in ALL things to do with our home, and my treasured role as wife. 

I shall sign off now, as this has become a long post, and you may be yawning at this stage. ;-) I pray for no more wasp attacks in future, and hope to be blogging again early next week, as I have something else to share. 

God bless you, keep you safe, watch over your coming and going, surround your home with His comforting presence, and guide you into the fullness of His Word so that you may overflow with wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and a desire to do all He has commanded. 

Until next time, love and prayers, 

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

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