The subtle slide into laziness and a free pattern...

November has been a real challenge with migraines most days due to our weather. The cloud cover is almost constant, but though just a few kilometres up the road rain has fallen on nearby suburbs, or further north, the clouds refuse to drop the water from heaven on our area. 

Barometric migraines are the worst ones for me because I cannot control them by eliminating the food, light or weariness triggers of my other migraines. That blanket of cloud feels like a vice I am trapped in, and the only relief is when they burst forth with rain - and when that happens the pain just disappears in minutes. So we are praying for rain even more than usual. This time of year in our tropics is the wet season, but so far it's started around us but not on us. Never mind, all challenges teach us something, and this recent challenge has taught me to examine how easily a bad habit can be formed during these longer than usual seasons of migraine. What is that habit you ask? Laziness.

After seven babies (with migraine through all of them) my pain tolerance is quite high, so I am still able to function at a slower, quieter pace around the home when the pain is severe. During this current bout of migraine I began crochet edging, firstly on runners for the home, and then on to new tea towels for Christmas gifts and to restock my own supply in the New Year as is my custom. 

It is such a calming, simple pastime, and as I crocheted I would listen to sermons, watch episodes of The Waltons, or historical documentaries on YouTube. I did still need to water the gardens but resorted to the sprinkler most afternoons as being outside just made my head worse. I still did the washing, prepared meals (especially a very healthy breakfast for my husband and I) and did a general tidy...but the regular afternoon rest time I've always adhered to became longer and longer. On days when I was free of pain you'd think that I would get in and do a jolly good scrub around the home, but I found myself having fallen into the distraction of spending long hours at crochet each afternoon just as on the days of pain, until it was time to begin our evening meal and fold the washing.

Well, that new 'habit' continued for about twelve days, and then I listened to a young mother of six in her mid-30's, and she spoke straight out of God's Word and into my heart. Older ladies, never turn your ears from listening to younger homemakers, for often they will point out things we may have missed or have 'slipped' away from. 

Obviously I'm not proud of my subtle slide into laziness, but I felt impressed to share it with you because so often, especially in times of illness or prolonged pain, we can slide into routines and habits that are not productive in the long term. On my really bad days I shall still sit quietly, but on the not so bad ones and the days when I am pain free, it's back to living my wonderfully gentle domestic life, embracing all the Lord has put before me, for they are great blessings!

Once I had woken up to the subtleness of my slide into long lazy afternoons, I wrote down a list of things which needed to be done around home, and depending on how I felt each day, I completed those tasks over the course of this past week. The linen cupboard was a dreadful mess. It's not on my list of important tasks, but on the seasonal list - and being that we are about to welcome summer in a few days, this big seasonal task had to be tackled. I thoroughly enjoyed bringing everything out in to the living room and going through it! I was able to donate about one quarter of what was in there, mostly items kept for the grandchildren, but which they no longer use or had grown out of. We do not have much storage in our modest home so their spare clothes, toys and games are kept there, you see. Plus there were old ratty towels and similar items which my husband can use for rags in his workshop out back. 

Grain was milled, fresh flour baked into delicious bread. Before and after...

Nutritious evening meals, like this yummy lentil curry with brown rice, were made...

Treats were baked for the grandchildren...

...and both fridges were given a thorough clean out. I also rearranged the living/dining area and scrubbed everything there as well. 

Fresh roses picked from the garden are popped here and there in vases around the house and add the most delightful scent. 

On my list of tasks to accomplish, I included fun things too, like putting aside some of the crochet and getting back to work on Blossom's 30th birthday quilt (she will be 30 next May). Now that I've returned to my hour of handwork after lunch each day (a little longer if it's a migraine day), I'm enjoying the making of Dresden fan blocks in her requested 1930's style fabric prints. I need sixteen blocks and have completed seven so far since June, the last two this past week. 

It's very relaxing to make the individual fans in the evening when my husband is home and we're sitting together watching a good sermon, or a documentary. I stitch slow because there's no rush, and because I do most things slowly these days out of choice. Why rush, rush, through the day when it is such a precious gift to be savoured? 

I have spent most of my life powering through the days God gave me, but since about 2015 I have gradually (very gradually) retrained my mind to slow, to notice what's around me, to be fully present in the day as it is given. Jesus told us to focus on today, not to faint over what tomorrow may hold because it may come with troubles, and worrying about the 'what ifs' robs us of His peace today. 

So what I have learned through November is to be watchful of subtle lazy habits which are easy to fall into, especially when pain is dominating my days. Getting up and moving through my normal gentle homemaker rhythms and routines as best I can, with a bit more gusto on really good days, is very important, more that I first imagined, because its the reason I love this gentle domestic life. Within the pain and the long lazy afternoons (there were some lazy morning too, and my floors could attest to that) I began to feel something wasn't right, like a loss of something meaningful, but I was so absorbed in the crochet distraction (even on days when pain wasn't bad) that I was blind to the new problem I had created. Praise God this only lasted a couple of weeks! Imagine if I'd kept going along that path? 

This home my husband and I share is our sanctuary, it is a God-gifted anchor to our life, a place where we are always welcome, always able to relax and unwind from the chaos of the world around us. But a sanctuary must be cultivated, loved, and thoughtfully maintained to reflect the lives of those who dwell within. It is made beautiful when purposefully crafted with generosity, compassion, kindness, hospitality and time - and it is doubly blessed by the precious voices of praise and prayer which fill each room.

As we move closer to year's end, I plan on recommitting my homemaker intentions to the Lord, to seek His will moving forward, and to let go of those habits or pursuits which He sees as a hindrance to the higher calling He has put on my life. That calling? Loving wife, mother, grandmother...devoted homemaker. Praise Him for opening my eyes quickly to that slide down Lazy Lane. May He open my eyes to every path which draws me away from His best in my life. 

FREE pattern...

I love this prayer, and think it's really worthwhile to have it hanging in our homes as a reminder that those daily chores which sometimes seem endless and boring and exhausting, are evidence of great blessings.

Use the link below to download this free pattern. 

DOWNLOAD The Kitchen Prayer pattern

God bless you, keep you safe, fill your heart with hope and joy, and gently direct you along the blessed path He created for your precious and very unique life. 

Till next time, hugs...

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Monday #9 - The Virtuous Wife block 7...

 

Hard manual work was the normal day to day responsibility of a homemaker in times past, and our Proverbs 31 wife was no different. Everything we have studied about her so far show a faithful, honest, thoughtful, deliberate, financially savvy, diligent and hardworking lady of the house.

In verse 19 our attention is drawn to the distaff and spindle, tools used for spinning wool or flax, a task not easy nor quick, but integral to clothing her family and keeping them warm. Today we just go to the shop and purchase yarn or cloth for making clothes or items for the home, or we simply buy them ready made. It’s no wonder our wardrobes are full and our closet drawers as well – but if we had to spin the yarn or weave the cloth for every item we wore I think our closets would be far smaller and with fewer options for our daily attire.

Now, I am not going to start spinning and weaving, because the focus on this lady, whom we need to be reminded is a ‘blueprint for a noble wife’ given to King Lemuel by his mother, is her godly character.

I think I need ask myself, thus far in the Virtuous Wife study, am I –

Faithful in every way to my husband, and to my God-gifted role as a homemaker, parent and overseer of the house?

Honest in all my dealings both in and out of the home?

Thoughtful and considerate towards my husband, family and all those who are in my care?

Deliberate in my thoughts and actions, that I should make good and wise choices, and in doing so honour God?

Financially savvy in managing the income of our family?

Diligent to the tasks given me at home and work? Hardworking and not lazy or looking for ways to avoid completing those tasks?

This could well be a prayer list where we ask the Holy Spirit to expose within us the ways we fall short, and requesting guidance for shaking off that which needs to be removed so we can be walking forth in the way we should go. Personally, this list shall indeed be written in my journal today and prayed over in the weeks and months ahead. I do believe we, as fallen humans in a world gone crazy, can so easily be blind to our own shortcomings, sins and omissions. It truly is Christ-bought grace which allows us to see the problems in our own character when we ask the Lord in prayer to ‘clean us out’, because it is really is His desire to do that, and we can trust He will do it for our benefit and His glory.

Verse 20...

What I loved about this verse was the activity of not just opening her hand to give (reminds me of tithing and giving donations – whether that be in money or groceries or things we no longer want/need) but actually reaching out her hands to those in need. That’s really being involved, looking out for the needy and physically connecting with them in order to assist. There’s quite a lot in that one little verse and it brought to mind Mother Teresa – hands on, all for Jesus, seeing Christ in every person, responding to their needs sacrificially because her love for Jesus was expressed in  how she loved the unlovely. 

May we grow ever closer to the examples given in Proverbs 31, but closer still to the example set by our Lord Jesus himself. 

Use the link below to download the second of two Virtuous Wife patterns I am sharing in April. 

DOWNLOAD block 7 The Virtuous Wife

If you have missed the first six patterns in this block of the month they are still free to download HERE

Have you been stitching along with this project? I'd love to see photos if you'd care to email them to me (link HERE) or you can tag me on Instagram (HERE)

Bless you heaps,

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Rainy days, mending, planning a new tutorial...

We've had so much rain this month that I've rarely needed to water the garden. In fact we've had so much rain that all four pumps in our front and back yards have been working overtime, and praise the Lord only one of them broke down. They kept our yards looking more like a lake than the oceans of times past. We are so glad hubby spent two weeks in May last year replacing and re-building all the pump wells and pipes because his hard work is paying off. We're still only in the first half of our tropical wet season, and more monsoons are yet to come, perhaps a cyclone (though we pray not), so knowing the pumps are moving the water out from the yards and into the council storm drain is a great relief. 

Each day at morning tea I sit at my desk in the sewing room and work on blogging, writing, homemaking and sewing plans for the months ahead. On the rainy days it was simply beautiful watching the rain drops glisten and fall from the Grevillea, Syzygium and Bottle Brush trees outside the window, and the little honeyeaters darting to and fro from branch to branch.

While it's been so wet, warm and humid, my attention has been given over to a jolly deep clean of the living/dining room, kitchen, pantry, bathroom and entryway...the evidence of each day's labour being my aching muscles at night. But working hard around home brings great satisfaction, and definitely worth the  aches and pains. 

I got down into the window tracks one morning, after washing the inside of the windows, and was horrified at the build up of dirt and dust. Obviously it had been a long time since I did that task.

 All the appliances were cleaned inside and out, and I must tell you that cleaning the dishwasher with citric acid is wonderful! Just add 1/4 cup where you'd normally put your dishwashing cleaner and run your regular cycle. When you open the door later it gleams and sparkles good as new. 

I've also done some mending of clothes, some curtains, and cushion inserts. I find in our very hot tropical weather, many things become brittle, even the covers of cushion inserts. This one was crumbling before my eyes...

Just over a year ago we switched to all linen sheets, but I kept the old cotton ones because they are really good for backing quilts, runners, etc...but they also make excellent replacement cushion insert covers.  I cut a rectangle from the old sheet to fit, sewed French seams along the sides, and hemmed the open end, before popping the crumbling insert inside and slip stitching the opening closed. 

Now I can safely place the newly covered insert inside my pretty cushion covers without dealing with a crumbly mess whenever I want to change them. 

After this repair I took my sewing machine in for a service. Blossom reminded me that our machines had not been serviced in a very long time (6 years - ouch!) and when we got them back they worked like new. We simply hadn't noticed any issues until then, as I find over time you get used to things not being perfect. Anyhow, this enthused me to get back to sewing on my machine more often, and that decision prompted a new tutorial which I'll be sharing next week. 

Here's a little peek at what we will be making...

It's a small sewing pouch, the kind you can fill with EPP papers and fabrics, scissors, thread and needle, to take on a journey, or to work from whilst waiting for an appointment. They are very easy to make, and will post in an envelope if you do not fill it, so they make excellent gifts.

Inside is a pocket for holding the EPP bits and pieces, and the needles and pins are held in place with soft squares of doctor's flannel (which is pure wool). 

Pop back here to the blog next week for the step by step tutorial. 

Even though it's raining a lot, the weather is still hot and humid, so cool afternoon snacks and soda water infused with frozen pineapple or citrus slices are my go to. At the moment I'm relishing grape season, and have developed a partiality for apple slices dipped in peanut butter. Oh my, it's quite scrumptious!

Did you make the bookmarks from my free Books & Roses block of the month last year? When I shared the first one last January I suggested some of you may like to use them in a quilt instead of a bookmark. Well, my good friend Joanne in the Netherlands, ran with that idea! 

She's been sending me update photos every month, and here are her twelve Books & Roses embroideries displayed inside churn dash blocks...

...and the other day I received photos of the completed quilt. I think you will love it!

Isn't it wonderful!? 

And her smiling face peeking over the top was just as exciting to see. Joanne is one of the most positive women I know, and even in the midst of her own great trial last year, she made me laugh and look at life as the absolute joy it is meant to be, praise God. She's a strong woman, and as you can see, a very creative one too. 

NEWS: Instagram

I have opened a new account on Instagram. The many months since I left IG were more beneficial than I can say, because though I may not have spoken or written of it, last year was (personally and for family members) a very challenging one. 

Taking time out to examine my life, my character, my hopes and plans, my relationship with the Lord, my available time, and the very great responsibility of being a homemaker and the matriach of our family - those many months of social media absence proved beneficial, as they gave me needed space to sweep away doubt and cobwebs, and to become sure of exactly who I was and the direction God required me to pursue. 

I actually did not think there'd be any return to IG, so making this decision over the past week surprised me...but we live in a time when the voice of conservatives, of Bible believing Christians, of homemakers, wives, mothers and grandmothers, of Titus Two women, are being drowned out. So while we're still able to speak, I'd like to encourage women in my own small way, and just as I do this on my blog, so I plan to do also on my new Instagram account. 

You can follow along HERE or search for @jennyofelefantz 

Well, I'll get back to my planning now, as I have a few tutorial ideas I'd like to work on for coming months, plus a new issue of The Homemakers Heart to compile...

...and with a great recipe book find from the op-shop recently I have notes to make because it's full of great advice for menu planning in the economy of today. So much of it I heard from my Nana's lips, but had forgotten. Now the memory is being jogged awake. 

Bless you heaps, and I pray that whatever your season, you're finding ways to beautify your home environment and infuse joy into all your tasks. May the Lord bless the work of your hands today and every day...

Hugs

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A new week, pets and life...

 

The first week of January proved to be a full and satisfying few days, interspersed with heavy rain, scorching sun, and barometric migraines (which I am managing better this summer).

As the new year plans I had made for a deep refresh, declutter, and rearrangement of our home are not something to rush through, I had a one-day-on and one-day-off strategy to maintain energy, manage the migraines, and also to visit Blossom and the children one day and shop with them for school supplies another day. 

Those days off between deep cleaning still required the steady rhythm of normal routines to continue, but I enjoyed hourly breaks to read, do some hand embroidery, watch an episode of Father Brown or The Larkins on Britbox, and enjoy cups of tea with a sweet treat.

We don't have much storage space in our small home, but with careful consideration (and discipline) I've been able to clear needed space by donating excess items such as sheets, towels, fabric, plastic containers, kitchen  items, decorations, trinkets, clothing, baby toys and old games which have not been played since the children lived at home, picture frames, books and videos, to the local op-shop (charity store). 

We still have ample sheets and towels, fabric, kitchen items etc, but now we have only what we use, with some to spare of course, and a short list of things we'd like to acquire this year, such as a vacuum sealer for storing dehydrated foods, flour and grains. I lost 15kg (about 32 pounds) of flour this past week as it was all infested with Brown Flour Mites - and this is something we face living in the hot, humid, wet tropics. I freeze all my wheat grains and rice for days after purchase, and thank the Lord they are fine, but the flour was a completely different matter. So after disposing of the infested flours, vacuuming and scrubbing the pantry and the containers, then disposing of the vacuum cleaner bag immediately after, I researched for helps with preserving flour in our climate. 

Next day I bought more flours, and after taping bay leaves inside the lids, refilled the clean containers. Apparently these bugs hate bay leaves and this method of prevention really works, but extra protection is to wipe around your pantry shelving using a cloth which has some essential oils on it (pine, eucalyptus or tea tree are recommended) so I'm doing that as well. Perhaps you can understand why we've decided to save for a good vacuum sealer?

Re-organising the lounge/dining room to suit summer, and also adding the leather chair which used to sit in our bedroom unused. We need a new rug, something to save for.

There's no rhyme nor reasoning to decor anymore, we're simply using what we have...definitely eclectic. 

I sit here each morning with my first cuppa to read the Bible and a chapter of my current book, until hubby wakes and we go for our pre-breakfast swim in the pool.

My computer desk has had a good scrub and refresh as well, and a new calendar also brightens this corner of the living room.

The little runner beneath my keyboard (above) was a free pattern I shared in one of my 2021 Homemakers Heart digital magazines and is still available to you as a free download HERE

The bedroom has had a deep clean, but I still need to wash the curtains. In fact all the curtains in the house will be washed and hung out to dry next week as long as we get a few days break from the tropical wet season.

The kitchen will get a thorough scrubbing next week as well, and I have my three favourite aprons ready on the old white cupboard. 

In November I hosted an Apron Swap here on the blog, and despite being so close to Christmas the response was wonderful. All together there were 32 swappers from across the globe, and my partner was fellow Australian, Bev Ashmore. This is the *gorgeous* apron she made me. Such pretty fabric, and look at those ruffles!

The apron I made for Bev was another of the 1929 style I tend to favour, and it definitely was not as fancy as she made me...

...but I made my own bias binding and hand stitched it around the edges, and bless her heart, Bev loved that handmade detail. She's a very kind lady, sews beautifully, and is a sister-in-Christ as well. I felt incredibly blessed when her parcel arrived, and look forward to hosting more swaps with all of you through 2023.

Many of you have emailed to ask about our lovely old cat, Princess Sophie, and how she's recovering after being attacked by a feral black cat in October. If you've been reading here for years you will know that Sophie and I have had our disagreements, due to her desire to usurp me in Mr E's heart, but beneath it all we love each other. Since the attack, Sophie, whom the vet described as the healthiest 12yo cat she's ever seen, recovered physically in record time, but the shock has obviously taken a toll on her mentally. 

Never one to enjoy being inside, she now seeks me out for company and cuddles (quite unlike her) and takes a long sleep each day in her bed behind Mr E's recliner. She's losing her sense of smell and hearing, though this is only just becoming noticeable, and like our old Bob-the-dog a few years before he passed away at age 15, she is becoming a bit vague at times. The vet tells us this is natural aging. 

In the front garden our single pumpkin plant has gone bonkers from all the wet season rain, and pretty soon will cover the entire area. It's already growing up the jasmine and ixora bushes.

There's quite a few Kent pumpkins on the vine (also known as Jap pumpkins), which I have mostly hand-pollinated due to the lack of bees in our front yard. The back yard is overrun with bees due to the elder tree so we may plant an elder out front in March/April for next season. 

In the back yard, our elder tree has already produced loads of berries which I've made into syrup or frozen. Currently it is sporting many more flower heads and berries so I'll be busy with elderberries for many months yet. Last year the tree stopped flowering in May, just before our relatively mild winter arrived. 

The rest of the garden is mostly flowers and a few herbs as the vegetable bugs are incredibly destructive here from mid spring to mid autumn, but no matter the season, zinnias flourish and re-seed everywhere all year round. I love their bright bursts of colour! 

Accepting the seasons for what they are is something I have had to learn since moving into our home just over four years ago. We fought the seasons at first because our dream to be self sufficient was strong and we hoped to subdue and tame this quarter acre to become what we desired...a food forest. 

It's easy to watch others who live in different climates, with normal growing seasons, and become envious of their abundance...but we've finally moved past that, and over the next year will be planning out a different garden layout, building higher raised beds, and planting only that which yields a crop we can eat and enjoy (along side plenty of flowers for bees, and the trees for shade). Sadly my husband does not like pumpkin but it grows well here all year round, and he does like the fact that it adds good ground cover out front through the long scorching summer. Blossom, myself and our neighbours, love pumpkin, so it will be a blessing for us to cook with and share around. 

I'm sure this is as much as you want to read of my rambling today, so I better close off and go bake a fresh loaf of bread to have with dinner tonight. I also need to finish making notes on chapter five of our Emilie Barnes book study so I can share that next week with this year's free tea towel pattern, and I'm still working on the rearranging and sorting of my sewing room/office. 

God bless you dear ones, and may the days ahead offer you times of solitude to pray and ponder the year ahead, so you can clearly see which path to follow, and be strong enough to cast off all the unnecessary burdens which to now have weighed you down. Simplify your life, guard your heart, be gentle with yourself, pursue productive paths which add purpose to each day, and lean on Jesus in all things for His yoke is easy and His burden is light. xxx

hugs

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