Sewing with a touch of crochet...

Do you remember back HERE when I first began my obsession with crocheting the edge of all my teatowels? I made them for gifts, for family, and lots for myself. I simply could not stop crocheting edges for months! And then I took a break. 

But...the break is over. Ha ha! And this time it's not tea towels that are given the pretty vintage trim of crochet. It's my own stitchery designs. 

About four months ago a parcel arrived from Fiona at Tilda Australia, and inside I discovered a 1/4 metre bundle (10" wide x WOF) of Sunday Brunch. These fabrics took me back a lot of years to the lovely florals of Tilda's early design days, when I bought them from Europe because we could not buy them in Australia. When they eventually did hit our shores I was thrilled, but also blessed because that's when I began to receive some of the Tilda ranges to design with. 

Now I only get them sporadically, and sometimes I decline the offer, because her style changed a lot and the colours were too bright or even 'garish' for me...but though some of the colours in Sunday Brunch are brighter than I'd personally choose, specifically the orange if I'm to be honest, many of them are simply beautiful. 

And so I needed a design that would work with the fabrics freshly opened out of the postbag. It's always a big thing to plan a project when you've been gifted the fabric, because you have a responsibility to the supplier, and also to Tone Finnanger herself, to 'show up' the fabrics in the best possible way. I pondered all this for about a week, and had many ideas drawn up, but then I had an idea. After so many years designing embroidery patterns, I have a large plastic tub full of my original stitcheries, all waiting patiently for their moment to shine in a project. Well, I found one that was a favourite, and it was in just the right thread colours to blend perfectly with the Sunday Brunch prints.

I've always loved this prim style crow design which was included with my July 2016 Stitchery Club patterns, along with the other prim style designs I offered that month. Now I could finally let it shine as a small wall quilt. A number of mini-quilt sketches were drawn up, and I eventually chose this one, as it displays a lot of the lovely prints in Sunday Brunch.

The decision to add a crochet edge around three sides came easily, as did the half-inch crosshatch hand quilting - they both gave this sweet wall quilt a bit more impact, and it's definitely a special project for me personally. The addition of the applique pear was a nod to my quirky love of pears and the lovely ones I've collected and been gifted over the years. Yep, I love pears!

The finished wall quilt measures 17.5" square, and you could skip the crochet and easily turn it into a cushion cover, but then again, you could crochet around all four sides and still turn it into a cushion cover. Hmmm, a new crochet edging idea is forming in my mind!!

The pattern is in my shop now and you'll find it HERE. It's actually a great way to use lots of little scraps too, which is why I'm planning another one, but with a different stitchery. I love collecting small offcuts of the fabrics I use, especially those that are the last remnants of a favourite print. Do you do that too??

But wait, I did not stop there!! 

Going through my collection of original stticheries, I saw another that could do with a fresh reason to shine, and once again, crochet edging came to mind. 

Ten years ago I created this design for Australian Homespun magazine (it even made the cover), and I really loved it, still do, but after a while I decided that the border and the large wooden picture frame I had displayed it in weren't my style at all, so I pulled it out of the frame, ripped off the borders, and promptly added it to my steadily growing stack of original hand embroideries. 

You know, many people love to hand embroider more than quilting. And many people have a lot of UFO stitcheries in their cupboards. I know this because its a common question I am asked - "What do you do with all your stitcheries? I have a lot and can't think how to use them." 

I'm not much help really. As I design and stitch for a living, I can't avoid having lots of my work stored away, but I do make some into gifts, and some become items for the home, but overall they're mostly in the 'waiting room'. 

Anyhow, this is the design I started telling you about, and how I have finally given it a makeover with absolute delight in my heart! Crochet edging too!

This is one of those designs that has a lot of my heart in it, for it's a reminder of Nana and the simple old-fashioned life she shared with me and Pop when I was a child. Flowers, tie back curtains with a ruffle, apple pie and an open window. Everything home baked with love. The addition of the bird was to feature another love of mine. 

The gingham borders just worked so well, adding another touch of the past, a nod to simpler days when gingham meant home and comfort and security and love, and delicious food served in steaming bowls atop the centre of a gingham tablecloth. 

The crochet edging is only along the bottom edge, as it is another reminder of the ruffle-edged curtains in Nana's kitchen. This is now hanging in my kitchen area, pride of place. 

The pattern is in my shop HERE

Now as much as I'd love you to purchase one of my patterns, I'm hopeful that these projects have given you ideas for using some of your own completed stitcheries. Why don't you gather them together, brew a nice cuppa, and spend some time going through them all...let your imagination take over and consider ways to display your lovely work. Let us not allow new projects to pile up whilst the older ones are still waiting for their time to shine. 

I can honestly say that over the past few months I have fallen in love with my sewing machine, and that's a new thing for me, but its allowing me to create from what I already have on hand...not just fabric, but stitcheries, just like the two I have shown you today. 

Already I have a new idea for a number of small ones I completed years ago, and am excited to see if my idea will work. And I am excited too, about how I can incorporate a touch of crochet.

 You know, God created us in His image, and that means we have creative genes from our Father in heaven. I learned that back in 2007 when I first prayed that He would share with me some of His creativity. We were in the final few years of homeschooling and I wasn't sure what I'd do when the kids graduated, but I had only just taught myself to embroider and quilt by reading magazines, and wondered if He would bless me with an ability to design my own patterns. I prayed that for about eighteen months, and in early 2009 I shared my first free block of the month right here on the blog. The fact that He has kept on blessing me for so many years still astounds me. May I always give Him the glory! His grace abounds always. 

So if you're not sure what to do with your own embroidered pieces, patchwork blocks, paintings, sketches, pottery, jewellery projects - anything you've spent time creating with love and joy - just pray and ask for a measure of His creativity.  

I shall leave you today with the final new pattern just added to my shop, and it has a message for you. This is not an old pattern of mine, but it's based on an old, much simpler one that had the same message. Miracles Happen. Because they still do. 

God bless each of you, my precious blogworld friends, and may your life overflow with the gift of creativity, given by the Father who loves you so dearly. 

Next time, it's back to homemaking...see you then.

Hugs

You will find me on Instagram HERE @jennyofelefantz

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The gratitude bag and free stitchery pattern...

What a lovely process making this new tote bag has been over the past week. It all began with an idea to remake and share one of my very old stitchery patterns from 2014 with you. From there, I decided to display the design on a pretty tea towel, cutting it up to create a simple tote bag.

But not content with 'just' a tote, I thought that adding some crochet edging around the top would definitely make the whole project a little more special. 

The tea towel was 18" x 28" and I needed to unpick the hems to press it out and give me more fabric to work with, and the upside of this was that I had enough extra to make the two handles. 

The stitchery itself was hand embroidered onto some pale pink linen that I bought way back when Cully May was a baby, and I'd only used it once before as a stitchery background because it's such a fine linen weave. But waste not want not! I am using everything on hand these days, which is really fun. 

I fused some Staflex 3045 interfacing behind the fabric after tracing the design onto the linen. After I'd finished the embroidery it was needle-turned in position on the tea towel fabric. I'd considered blanket stitch applique at first, but decided it was a much nicer finish with the needle-turn. 

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Here's the bag after I'd completed it as a simple tote...

A lovely tote with a good message...but I knew the crochet edging would definitely lift it. Around the top edge I blanket stitched with a very pale turquoise 4ply crochet cotton, similar to the colour in my tea towel fabric. 

Then I switched to this lovely rusty pink 8ply yarn for a row of double chain (chain in the US)...

...followed by a final row of trebles and double chain (double chains and chain US). The pattern is very simple - 3 trebles into one stitch, then 1 dc into each of the next two stitches. Just follow that to the end. 

I really love how this turned out, and it's perfect for our lazy Sunday country drives. I always felt weird taking a handbag on a country drive! 

The inside lining is an old Tilda print I bought back in 2009, which has been used in quite a few projects over the years as I originally had about four metres of it. 

The centre of the flowers are needle-turned and then I added a bundle of yellow double wrapped French knots to help them pop. Every colour used in this project, including the crochet yarn was chosen to blend with the colours in my tea towel. That's advice I have been giving for years here on the blog and in my patterns - choose your fabric first, and then choose your threads to match. 

I know there's heaps of lovely bag patterns around, and if I'd had more fabric I might have chosen to make one of them, but I wanted to keep things simple, using what I already had on hand so that I do not have to spend even a cent - and that is part of finding "joy in the ordinary" for me this year. 

And I am so grateful to have sewing fabrics, tea towels, yarn, threads and a sewing machine to make items with! 

Like the words on the stitchery, we need to keep an attitude of gratitude in our heart and mind every day. Most of us who sew have more than we need, and therefore don't need to spend money on sewing supplies. In 2024, I'm looking at what is right in front of me, and getting excited about using it to create lovely useful items for my home, myself, my family, and for gifts. 

Use the link below to download the free pattern

DOWNLOAD the "Attitude of Gratitude" hand embroidery pattern

This past week I have been deep cleaning the house again, baking up a storm for the family, and sorting through years of Elefantz files, but I'll share more about that in my next blog post. I have some very simple and inexpensive recipes for you to try as well, recipes my family love and refer to as comfort food. 

Do you have a specific comfort food?? Mine are Nana's roast dinners and her baked rice custard...how I miss them. No matter how hard I try, mine never tastes like hers. 

What have you made this week? Have you started a new project for 2024, or are you completing UFOs? Have you been baking? 

Bless each and every one of you in the week ahead, and may your hearts be at peace in your home as you take each day as the gift it is, and choose to live with joy in your ordinary lives. 

hugs,

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Free Christmas gift pattern number 3...

 

With finances tight for many families and singles these days, creating small gifts which can fit inside a card, whether for Christmas or birthdays, means we can still reach out with love to family and friends near or far. 

The three little gifts included in this one pattern today can be sewn using small scraps of fabric, and embellished with beads, lace, ribbons, tiny buttons - the small bits and bobs we save because they are pretty and we hope to use them one day. 

Inside this free pattern you will find not just embroidery instructions, but tutorials for making the sweet gifts. The lavender sachet below can be kept under a pillow, in an underwear or nightgown drawer, or hung as I have done from a coat hanger in the closet. 

The bookmark is a lovely gift to send to an avid reader, and could even be gifted inside a book. Are there some lovely books on your shelf which you will no longer need or read? Consider regifting them with a pretty bookmark, or perhaps you could sew a pretty cover for the book using one of the little embroidery motifs in this pattern set? 

For many years I would gift Blossom one of my vintage novels every Christmas, and she was thrilled to receive the beautiful works of Jane Austen, Louisa May Alcott and other favourite authors which I had read with her during our homeschooling years. Now they sit on her own shelves, awaiting the day when she can begin reading them to her own daughters. Perhaps you can do something similar with treasured books to be handed down?

The gift card is such a cute way to dress up a wrapped present, but is also lovely just as it is because it can be used as another bookmark. 

One of my projects for 2024 is to make a box of these kind of gift cards, using small fabric pieces such as vintage or recycled linen, lovely cottons, sweet satins and old lace. I'll also make some of the lavender sachets and the bookmarks, because there's nothing more satisfying than to have pretty handmade, useful, gifts on hand to send away in a card. 

Oh, and I'll also be making cards, something I have planned for the longest of times, but which has not been followed through on thus far.

Use the link below to download the free pattern.

DOWNLOAD We Three Gifts pattern

If you missed the first two free 2023 Christmas gift patterns they are HERE and HERE

Not a lot has been happening here at home. There's been no rain other than the hour we received a week ago, so the garden is a bit worse for wear. My roses easily scorch on the tips of their petals if I don't pick them first thing in the morning, when still at the budding stage, yet they smell divine and grace my desk with beauty and dignity. 

Blossom bought me a bunch of sunshine yellow chrysanthemums last weekend and they are still as fresh as ever! That's what I enjoy about mums - they last and last, decorating your home with their presence for weeks. 

As we need to stay indoors more at this time of year due to the intense heat and humidity, once the housework is done I settle down for a bit of reading and a cuppa. I have all three of Rhonda Hetzel's books, and have read them a few times each, but this little one is brilliant for a condensed read and I have highlighted and made notes all through it - adding more each time I read it. 

If you haven't got her two large volumes, or don't have finances for them, then let me assure you that this small book is simply marvellous for learning of her journey to a simpler life, the success and freedom she and her husband found, as well as the challenges along the way. Its available here on Amazon Australia

It's also available here on Amazon US and I just checked and the Kindle version is only $2.99 at the moment. 

I am NOT an amazon affiliate, just really love her books and think this little one is a great place to start. 

Molly-dog is now one year old, and has become our little shadow, no matter where we are. The funny thing about pugs is that they don't look happy, and yet I have found them to be very happy dogs. Molly loves her toys but her favourite is a piece of checked fabric which I tied with a knot in the centre. She was getting into mischief in my sewing room, you see, pouncing on any bits of fabric I dropped...so I thought, "Aha, you are fabric lover too are you, Missy? Then you shall have your own." Since she got her own large piece she has not touched mine. Yay. 

Many of our sunflowers have gone to seed now, which has brought even more birds to the garden. A gorgeous pair of red-winged parrots visit each afternoon to feast, and they are joy to behold! 

The cockatoos prefer to eat from the bird feeder, as do the rainbow lorikeets, but these parrots swing back and forth on the sunflowers and have dinner there instead. 

I have been doing some more crochet edging, but mostly for my older daughters. I'm sending them new crochet-edged tea towels for Christmas (they live in other states far from us) as they both prefer something handmade for gifts. I bought tea towels on sale at Bed, Bath & Table yesterday, in a mix of styles as both girls (and Blossom too) have very different preferences. These are a few I'm working on today...

I finished this blue one last night. It only takes an hour and keeps my hands occupied while we listen to a sermon, or teaching on various subjects like gardening in the tropics or health related seminars.

I always match the cotton yarn with the print of the tea towel, and leave a few pairs on the table at a time so that even if I only have twenty minutes or so of free time (while dinner is cooking perhaps) I can pick one up and make a start for later in the evening.

This is the new runner I'm working on for the top of a chest of drawers in our bedroom. I'll get back to it once all the girl's gifts are made. It's more of the Cath Kidston cotton duck fabric I have had on hand for years. 

Today is Charlie David's 3rd birthday!!

But I am going to ask you to pray for him as he has been ill for a few days - dreadfully high fever, vomiting etc. It has gone through all of Blossom's children, plus Ross (and it was his first week on his new job), but little Charlie got it last of all. So we shan't see him today as he needs rest and healing. Your prayers would be the best birthday gift. ((thank you))

Did I ever tell you that the 'David' in his name was for King David? Blossom always knew that if she had a son she'd want him to be a man after God's own heart and that she would have David in his name so that she could teach him all about his namesake and how God was able to use him. 

(Charlie David pretending to be Nana at her desk - :-)

How are YOU?? What's been happening in your life this past week? Is there anything you need prayer for? Just ask. xxx

My love and prayers go out for all of you who read along, knowing that our God hears them and acts on your behalf because He loves you so much. His answers may not always be what we wanted, they may not come as swiftly as we'd hoped, and for a while we might think He is deaf to our needs...but no, He is our Father and He always answers prayers in the way that is best for us because He is outside of time and knows the beginning from the end. So, we must have faith, hold fast to hope, always choosing to live according to God's Word, and remembering we were bought at a great price by the blood of His Son.

We have a cyclone on the way, and the Bureau of Meteorology expect it to hit somewhere around our region on Wednesday if it follows their predicted trajectory, however, having lived in this cyclone region for more than fourteen years now, I know that cyclones can change their track at any time, so it may move further north, go south, or decide to make landfall here. For the next few days we'll just watch and prepare 'in case' it comes close to home. Thanks for all the emails asking me about it's proximity to us. I'll update on Monday when I share the fourth free pattern. 

God bless you all!

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Free Christmas pattern number 2...

 

I love making a new pincushion from fabric scraps, especially during a change of season or when beginning a quilt project.

Back in 2014 I designed this "Noel" pincushion as part of a set of Christmas projects, and at that time I was also designing for some Australian sewing magazines, which sadly have since closed due to the rapid rise of the digital age. Anyhow, at that time I often designed with fabrics and colours that were not really my style but 'hit the brief' for magazines which wanted to show projects in various themes to suit as many different magazine customers as possible. That's why I made the original version of 'Noel' in a very country blue. 

Now don't get me wrong, I still loved this pinnie! But over the years I've thought about remaking it in fabrics that show my own style...and this weekend I did just that. Naturally, with my current love of crochet edging, I ditched the binding part of my pattern and opted for some lacy, almost gathered in appearance, crochet.

The yarn is 4ply crochet cotton, from that op-shop bargain bag I found recently. One of the colours was a perfect match to the vintage Tilda fabric I used as the stitchery/applique background. 

The floral applique and scissor pocket fabric is from a beautiful old piece of Barefoot Roses by Tanya Whelan, one of my favourite fabrics lines ever. 

Now, I am no crochet expert, as I have said before, and I cannot do graphs or anything like that to explain how I do an edging, nor do I intend learning - life is to be slowed, not wound up these days - but the best I can describe it is to say that (in UK terms), I blanket stitch the stitches slightly less than a 1/4" apart...and when I begin the crochet I do a full row all around of double chain (chain in the US).

Then, for that nicely gathered look, I crochet into every single stitch of that first row. So I start in a corner and do three trebles (UK) into one stitch on the row below, then a chain (not into a stitch) and  then into the next stitch on the row below I do another three trebles and another chain (also not into a stitch). From there I continue a pattern of one dc, three trebles, one dc, three trebles, into every stitch on the row below. Between each of the dc and three trebles I do a simple chain that does not go into any stitches on the row below. This creates the gathered effect because it's so full. 

Normally when I crochet my edges I skip a stich on the row below when I do a chain between the dc and the three trebles...but not with this pincushion edging. And that's about as technical as I will ever be with crochet edging. I just use what I have and sometimes fudge the corners a little, but in the end it looks lovely and I am satisfied and quite pleased with the end result. 

Getting back to my magazine days when I designed to a script a lot of the time, it really stretched me as a designer, and I learned a lot of skills along the way. I only began designing in 2009 at age 50...so I had a lot to learn. But by 2015, I stepped away from the magazines and decided to design for my own pleasure, and that's when my first Stitchery Club began. 

I learned back then to stay true to myself. And though over the years I dabble in different styles and fabrics, I find myself always returning to my first love - that soft, shabby chic almost, style. Another favourite is old 1930's, and sometimes fabrics with a real vintage look about them catch my eye and inspire a project, but the stream of gentle florals always runs true in the end. I'm not a fan of gaudy or bright prints, and I do not like Christmas fabrics or any novelty prints to be honest. 

Knowing your personal style is so important. It defines you, and it brings JOY to your work. Don't be concerned about what others (or me!) like...create the way you like, make items that bring a touch of *you* to your home environment. My one concession though, is when I make for others...always be mindful of their style and make things that reflect them and not yourself. :-) 

You are unique in more ways than you will ever know this side of heaven. Created by the Master's hand, He made you to be just that, YOU. If you make this pincushion, choose the fabrics that make your heart soar. As you decorate your home to celebrate Jesus, do it in such a way that it shows the beautifully unique style the Father impressed upon your mind when you were first made in His image.  

Our God CREATES, He did it from the very beginning, and we are made in His image. So we can create too. I prayed every day for two years that He would bless me with a touch of His own creativity. And one day in 2009, that prayer was answered and a gift I'd not previously had, was given. To this day I am still astounded that at age 50 He taught me something new, and He opened doors for me that I could not have opened myself...and He blessed this blog, my writing, and my heart. 

Today, He still teaches me, corrects me, stretches me beyond what I can do alone, and at time he re-directs my path, tells me when to slow down or lay down certain things, and shines a light on the things that matter most - His Son. 

He also prods me to write more and more about this beautifully gifted homemaker life, and the high importance it plays in the family, from the days of babies and toddlers, to the latter years of grand-children, rocking chairs, and fewer sunsets at the end of the day. 

Today my mind is stayed on Him, on the gift of His own Son, on the depth of LOVE for all mankind that brought about a birth, a ministry, a death and a resurrection...all delivered as a gift for you and I who love, obey and believe in Jesus to receive. 

"Noel, noel...noel, noel....born is the King of Israel."

Use the link below to download the pattern.

DOWNLOAD Noel Pincushion pattern

If you missed the first of my five free 2023 Christmas patterns go HERE

God bless you...

Don't miss out on any Elefantz news or free patterns. 

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