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

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