New Bible study, and home life...

 

HOME...

Every morning when I step into the garden, the sounds that greet me are both chatter and songs from a myriad of birds in all shapes, sizes and colours. They know me, and I know them. Those that have visited for a long while are not bothered when I walk up close to say good morning and ask how they're doing. Whether hanging around in the elder tree, or busy having a breakfast of stale bread and mango leftovers, they seem to be quite at ease with my delight in their company, and my own chatter or song as I pass them by and head towards the pool for my daily exercises and to feed our 15yo cat, Sophie, who took up residence in the pool enclosure when we adopted Kelly-dog last April. Since then I have placed things there solely for her comfort and the other day I remarked to hubby that her 'enclosure' looks a bit like a feline holiday resort. Though Kelly-dog is never welcome in the pool enclosure (they are mortal enemies, sadly) Sophie does quite enjoy the visiting birds who drop by.

It is mango season again, and most homes around us have huge mango trees laden with fruit. There's quite a bit of fruit sharing generosity abounding, so neighbours or work friends will gladly drop a bucket or two or three or four (!) in for others to enjoy! The father of one of my husband's co-workers came to the car yard with a trailer load for the employees, and hubby gladly accepted this delicious bounty on Monday night.

Some of the mangoes are almost as large as a football, while others are 'normal size'. We found a couple of ripe ones immediately and enjoyed them, but the rest are not ripe yet. I intend making jars of mango chutney, dehydrated slices to keep for use in cakes and muffins until next season, and frozen pieces for hubby's breakfast smoothies. Shall also try a green mango salad tomorrow. 

We decided to purchase a large order of organic spelt grain last week, as our regular health food & bulk food supplier is closing down and they had a few bags left on the shelf. I placed the seven kilos we bought in the freezer for a week, as in our hot and humid tropical climate it is so easy to have any grains inundated with bugs. The bug eggs are in the organic grains, so at this time of the year the weather is perfect for them to hatch out. Placing the grain in the freezer for at least 48 hours kills the eggs, but I choose to leave them in for a week just to be sure, and have not had an outbreak of bugs since starting this practice. Milling the whole grains into flour is quite exciting to me and I never tire of it.

I baked this loaf at the weekend and it is delicious, especially when toasted. I love the crunch of a wholegrain slice when it is toasted, then spread with avocado or peanut butter. Let me know if you'd like the recipe.

SORROW...

I imagine nearly all of you have heard of, or seen footage of, the terrorist massacre here in Australia by now. I will never grasp the mindset of evil that can set out to kill and destroy innocent lives, whether it be children, or the elderly and all ages in between, because their belief and faith is not the same as their victims. 

I shall say no more, and really want to avoid a clash in politics or ideaology here on the blog, but what I do hope we can all do, is pray for those families who now need comfort, and for those who were injured in the shooting and are still recovering or fighting for their lives in hospital. 

Fifteen innocents dead, over 40 innocents shot and recovering. Lives forever changed. 

Lord be with them. Lord heal them. Lord comfort them. Lord, teach us to follow your commandments and live lives worthy of Christ's sacrifice. Lord thank you for those brave people who stepped in and risked their lives to save others. Amen.

BIBLE...

Early this year in my diary I listed some deep dive Bible studies to do throughout 2025. First in my list was Abigail, who became a wife to King David (1 Samuel 25). I wrote some basic notes about her character, before studying the Scriptures for the ancient Hebrew meanings of the words used. You know, it didn't take long for me to recognise a similarity to the Proverbs 31 woman we studied throughout 2024, except, as I wrote back then, the Proverbs 31 woman wasn't an actual person. King Lemuel's mother listed those beautiful attributes as a description of the kind of wife the King should look for, the wife she would be proud to have her son marry. That's why I said at the time that the entire Proverbs 31 chapter should be taught to boys and young men, so that they would know what to look for in a spouse, and choose wisely when the age of marriage came upon them.

But with Abigail...she was a real woman, a humble and courageous woman. And that's what stood out to me when I began looking closely at her life, almost right on the heels of the previous year's P31 study. 

Just before I said goodbye to you all in June this year, I had written in the previous post about sharing a study of a woman from the Bible, but as you know, I decided to close blogging from my life - and despite what some of you dear ladies have said in comments, it was indeed the Lord who led me to stop when I did. He had many lessons for me to learn, and they could only be fully understood and applied if I thought my blogging days were at an end. His timing is perfect, and always for reasons that may not be understood right then and there, but sometimes, not always, He gives us the revelation and all becomes clear. 

I have that clarity now. I know what needed to be learned (and is still being learned I should add), and it's an honour to be loved so much by our Saviour that He will not allow me to stay the same, but will continue to smooth off my sharp edges until the day (God willing) He takes me home. 

So...back to Abigail.

I like to decorate the pages of my notebooks when I'm studying a topic or person in God's Word, and maybe you do that too? Then I thought, as I was pretty much bound to a chair these past few days with my knee and arm injuries, that I could make up some pretty notepaper for you to print out and use if you'd like. I do everything very slowly at the moment, and it would be easier to sit in a chair or lay on the bed and just rest through the pain, but God never made me that way. So as long as my mind is able to function I will find a way to create something lovely, even if it takes way longer than before these injuries.

Here's the notepaper which you can download and use to write your own notes on Abigail. Use the link below to download the file. They are a free gift. 

Just be sure to choose 'actual size' or 'do not scale' before printing the file. 

DOWNLOAD the Abigail sheets for your own personal study notes

I advise you to read 1 Samuel 25 first, then pray for the Holy Spirit to open the eyes of your understanding and read it again. Write down the things that stand out to you. Something I always do when it comes to a Bible study, is to go through the book, or passages about the topic or person, and take my own notes before I ever read or listen to anyone else's teaching on the subject. 

With this relaxed, unhurried, and intentional study of Abigail's character and life, I'll write a little bit in each blog post, and REALLY look forward to your own thoughts as we go along. Early next week I'll begin with my notes on the background at the time in Israel, and the first three verses of 1 Samuel chapter 25.

For now, I need to rest. It has taken all day to write this post thus far, but it has brought joy to my heart to connect with you again, especially with so much sadness in my country this week. Bless you for all your comments, and the insights into your own day to day lives. Soon I hope to be able to write back in the comments or in email, but for now, I ask for continued grace as I put my numb and tingling fingers to work writing here. 

God bless dear ones, and may you be ever assured of the love our God and Saviour has for you, for the tears you shed and which He catches in His own hand, and for the open arms with which He waits to welcome you when you have strayed from Him and gone your own way. Lift up your eyes, my dear ones, for our redemption draws near! Luke 21:28

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Block 4, sashiko, and kitchen prep...

 

It will be the Ist of April tomorrow, but I do like to share the new Sewing Room block a day early. 

The theme this month is 'threads', something we who stitch, quilt and sew, cannot do without. Threads are an integral addition to any sewing room, and can be displayed in many ways. I have large glass jars filled with small balls of Perle 8 and 12, which I use mostly for hand quilting, and I have four large organisers with stranded embroidery threads, such as DMC and Cosmo. In the wire drawers under my makeshift ironing bench, my machine threads are stored in repurposed shoe boxes, and in some cute little wooden drawers you will find vintage cotton spools. Lastly, in a stacked plastic tub I store all my duplicate embroidery threads (the colours I use the most). No wonder I was inspired to create the 'threads' block this month!

My embroidery threads all need reorganising, as I'm keen to store them in colour families, rather than their number sequence. Hopefully I can begin that transition in the next month or so. If you'd like to do something like this I found a downloadable chart HERE. How do you store your embroidery threads? In colour families or in numbered sequence?

Use the link below to download block 4 -

DOWNLOAD Block 4 of The Sewing Room

I have finished four sashiko blocks now, and I'll soon sew them together as a placement for my husband. I chose maroon thread on recycled linen (an old linen sheet) for his placemat, but I am trialing two shades of green for mine. 

I am absolutely loving the calmness of sashiko and think that the more I do it, the better I shall be. Like anything, it takes practice. The green so far does not stand out as much as the maroon did, so I may use this particular block for something else, and choose a deeper colour for my own placement. We shall see what happens when I complete the stitching and iron the graph lines away. 

Mondays are usually spent giving the house a good clean, but my husband had to work yesterday so I did it then. Today I was able to do a bit of meal prep, mostly sides, plus a cake. 

Things I prepared - a delicious salad dressing, marinated carrot salad, two jars of tomato pesto, a new batch of pickled peaches, a lemon sour cream cake, stewed plums, and last of all I used my grinder to make vanilla powder from some old vanilla beans that had dried out too much. 

I'll make a file for you later in the week of these recipes (you already have the pickled peaches HERE) to add to the free Pantry Staples ebook I shared a few weeks ago. My plan is once a month to create another page or two of recipes that you can print up and add to the Pantry Staples book you have already. 

A short blog post today, but before I sign off, may I ask you to pray for Blossom's health please? Her doctor has sent her off for a long list of tests, and I am afraid that's all I can tell you - but God knows all about it, and we have total trust in Him. As sisters-in-Christ, I've always found it a privilege to pray for any of you who need it, and I also feel that same privilege when you pray for our family - so I truly do appreciate you taking the time to lift our precious daughter's health concerns to the Lord. God bless YOU.

Till later in the week, may the Father's hand and heart be upon you in all you do, and in every situation you may be facing right now. 

Love and prayers, 

You will find my design account on Instagram HERE @jennyofelefantz

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

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

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

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

Kitchen days...

 With our lime tree literally staggering under the weight of so many large juicy limes after all the rain we've had, I needed to find different ways to preserve them from now until next season's crop. 

A family favourite, especially for Rafaella and myself, is lime curd, so I made a few jars of that, and would have made more except for the scarcity of eggs. I'm going out to get some groceries later today and am praying to find eggs so that more limes may be used this way before the end of the week. 

I had intended making cordial last lime season (and the season before!) but never got around to it as our limes were smaller and we had less of them, but with this bumper crop I happily made up four litres on Saturday. 

It was an instant hit and very refreshing with soda water and ice, especially for hubby who spent two full days chopping the limbs of our fallen tree into smaller lengths, stacking them in a truck and a trailer, and then taking them to the council tip, before unstacking them all and leaving them in the area where they make mulch for the council gardens around town. It was a huge job, and hubby is still aching, but as tree limbs piled high in a yard attract snakes, they had to go. 

I juiced more limes and froze the juice in ice cube trays. These will be used this year in the many curries I make, and in the asian noodle dishes my man loves. I will probably do larger containers of juice and freeze them as well, for making more cordial in the months ahead. 

The dehydrator is working hard too. I used the mandolin to make uniform slices of lime so that they'd all dry at the same rate. Once done I plan on storing some in jars, and processing the rest as lime powder for flavouring cakes,other baked goods, and probably icing for Rafaella's 7th birthday cake in March. 

I found a recipe last night (when organising my recipe folder - gee, the things you find!) for a lime and coconut tapioca (sago) pudding, which only has a few ingredients and will make a lovely dessert. I've added tapioca to my shopping list as I'd run out of it a while back, and plan to make use of it a lot more in this very frugal year ahead. Nana used to make a lemon sago pudding, and I remember it had golden syrup in it (which I have a good amount of in the pantry) so I'll see if I can find that recipe. 

I made a big batch of protein balls yesterday, and instead of adding grated lemon or orange rind, I used lime rind this time. One thing I've been pretty lazy about the past year or so, is making most of our snacks from scratch. I don't know why, but I started buying the protein balls I add to my husband's packed work lunch, instead of making them. After watching prices continue to rise at the grocery store, I've renewed my weekly meal/snack prep to what it used to be a year or so ago, buying ingredients in bulk and making much of what we use from pantry supplies. 

Protein balls are easy to make in a food processor, and hubby finds them great for mid afternoon energy boosts. I don't add anything fancy, just medjool dates, cashews, dried cranberries, coconut and citrus zest. 

As this is stone-fruit season in Australia, I have quite a lot on hand right now. At this time of the year nectarines, plums and peaches are cheaper than apples. 

So far, peaches have been stewed and frozen, plums have been made into jam, and yesterday I tried a new recipe for nectarine relish. YUM. This recipe is a keeper! 

I spread it on gluten free sourdough toast and topped it with pastrami and swiss cheese for lunch (with a side of fresh nectarine and lime cordial). Hubby will try it today on his work lunch. 

So before the end of February I'll make more of that nectarine relish, plus more plum jam, stewed plums to freeze for winter porridge, and more stewed peaches. I also found a recipe for pickled peaches which I'll give a try. I'm also hoping to find apricots cheaper than they have been so far this season, as Blossom loves apricot jam and it would be wonderful to have a few jars in the pantry beside the current jars of plum jam and last year's strawberry jam. 

Oh, and I think I'll make lime marmalade again. The batch I made in 2023 was delicious and we have none left. 

Refilling staples for the pantry, or the fridge, is high on my list of to-dos before the month ends, and a favourite of mine that had just run out is cashew parmesan. As with all the recipes I have been making, there are only a few ingredients, and they are all staples, so as I work on menu planning and pantry building in the months ahead, it will be those simple staples that can be used multiple ways, that I shall focus on. I have to be careful with the amount of dairy I consume, which is why I make almond milk for us, and even though we do still indulge in a bit of cheese each week, I found that this cashew parmesan is even nicer than the real thing, so I make it regularly. 

It's just cashews, nutritional yeast, salt and garlic powder. I have many recipes for cashews and almonds, which is why they are staples in my pantry or fridge.  

Remember the almond butter I made last week? Turns out I made the equivalent of four $9.50 jars from the supermarket, with just $7 worth of almonds! For some reason I got my numbers wrong last week, and thought I'd only made double, and that the almonds were $8...but I checked the brand at the supermarket for size, and weighed what I'd made. So I made $38 worth of almond butter for $7. How wonderful is that?! 

We had run out of biscuits (cookies) by the time I packed my husband's work lunch on Monday, so I used some of our almond butter to bake a batch of almond, maple and sultana biscuits (cookies). These are gluten free and really good with a cuppa. 

The grandkids like choc chips instead of sultanas, but we prefer dried fruit in them. 

In the seasonings section of the pantry, I made up some rosemary salt from the rosemary I dried last week, and some of the pink rock salt we had on hand. We use celtic sea salt for cooking and our meals, but I find the pink rock salt to be excellent for making herb salts. I'll use the rosemary salt to sprinkle over roast potatoes and lamb, or across focaccia before it bakes.

I've also been chatting with Janice about making tomato sauce (ketchup) from tinned tomatoes, as she had kindly shared with me her grandmother's recipe and a CWA one as well. I found a couple in my own QCWA book from 1959, so now I have a few to play with, though they all use fresh tomatoes. 

Janice suggested I may need to cook the sauce longer when using tinned tomatoes, which is what I'll do. The reason I am using tinned tomatoes is because after the 'blown' tins in the study pantry last week, I want to use up all the remaining 'good' tins before restocking tinned goods in the cooler kitchen pantry. 

Have you made tomato ketchup from tinned tomatoes? Any hints or tips you can share?

Well, I'd best be off and do that grocery shop. I have my budget, my list, and ideas. Working with the seasonal produce is obviously wise, so that's where my focus is, plus gathering things like almond flour when it's on special for our baking. I use it mixed with good GF flour that I buy online, and find it's pretty good for most things, but there will always be a bit of experimenting happening...just not as much as there used to be, as failures mean $ wasted. 

God calls us to steward all we have wisely, and stewarding can mean many things, but finances are a big responsibility and it always makes me extra conscious of this when I re-read my life verse as a wife, Proverbs 31:11-12...

My man will change jobs on May 1st, and the budget belt will be significantly tightened, but we have no concerns about that because where God leads, He also makes provision. We're looking at this as an adventure...hand in hand with the Lord. 

God bless you dear ones!

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

Jam making two ways and shopping from home...

 I only make two types of jam. Plum for myself and Cully May, and strawberry for the rest of the family. January is the season for plum making, as is March, and you may wonder why both months?  

January, because plums are abundant and both Cully May and myself are scraping the bottom of our last jars from 2023, and March because plums are at the end of the season and can usually be bought at their lowest price. Thinking about that now, I should plan to make double the amount of plum jam in March so we do not run out by the following January. Now why did I not think of that before?? ;-)

Most of my family prefer smooth jam (I like lumpy) so for the past couple of years I have washed, cut, and then chopped the fruit in my food processor and found this to be the easiest way to make the jams they like best. 

The pulp is smooth, and the jam cooks quicker too. 

Then I add the sugar and a split vanilla pod, and let it all marinate together in a covered pot for about 3 or 4 hours.

We don't like jam that's too sweet, so my ratios are mostly fruit, with about 40% less sugar than most jam recipes. For this batch of jam I began with 1.8 kg of plum pulp, and added 1 kg of sugar. 

(That's around 4 pounds of plum pulp and 2.2 pound of sugar, for those in the USA)

After the 4 hours I boil the mix, and just before it's ready to fill my pre-sterilised jars, I add a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice and 25g of Jamsetta. Then boil for another 5 minutes before testing a teaspoonful in the fridge.

I use exactly the same method for strawberry jam and it always works perfectly. If apricots were cheaper I'd love to make apricot jam, but the prices at the moment, and usually all through summer, are beyond my budget. Also, I don't make strawberry jam in summer, as here in the tropics, our strawberry season is winter and come August they are the cheapest price all year - so I buy a lot and make loads of strawberry jam. 

Did you notice the lovely lids for my jam jars?

If we want a marmalade, or an apricot jam, I usually buy Bonne Maman, as does my neighbour and Blossom, so I have a regular source of Bonne Maman jam jars (I now have a cupboard full) for preserving my own jams. 

Last year I went on the hunt for new lids for those jars, and discovered these gorgeous gingham ones from Amazon, which fit the jars perfectly, and now I use them for all my jam making. They measure 82mm if you're after something similar and I bought them HERE on Amazon Australia (I am not an affiliate, just sharing the link in case it helps you). 

What I love about these gingham jam jar lids, and the fabric jar toppers I make a lot of, is that they brighten my pantry shelves! Recently I made a new batch of jar toppers from leftover Tilda Sunday Brunch fabric, but I also made a rather different type of jam jar to sit on the shelf as well. 

This is actually a pin cushion, and I made it on the weekend from Amy Sinibaldi's 2014 book, "Sweetly Stitched Handmades". It cost me nothing but my time as I am shopping from my stash this year to decorate my home and make gifts...but I also didn't have to buy a pattern. Admittedly, I failed in the first attempt because of a missed step in the pattern instructions, but I soon worked it out and the second attempt made my heart sing as its so cute on my pantry shelf among the remaining jars of strawberry jam.

It occurred to me last week as I was considering things I'd like to make for the kitchen and pantry, that I have a lovely big shelf of craft books, and some of them 10-15 years old. So I decided to brew a cuppa and sit down with a few and browse their pages for projects to make this year. I mean, after all, they are a free resource, another way of shopping from home!

Here's a project idea that will soon be on my cutting table with associated threads. It's from Caroline Zoob's 2013 book "Hand-Stitched Home", and she has two options in the pattern section for an embroidered shelf edging, one is red...

...and the other is blue.

The book has all the pattern sheets to trace, and it is full of many other gorgeous vintage style designs too. Like this one, an embroidered egding for a chair cover...

I am actually considering using the chair embroidery for my planned shelf edging...it's so sweet and simple and perfect for my kitchen style. 

Do you have craft or sewing books on your shelves that are gathering dust? Perhaps a nice afternoon could be spent browsing through them, making notes, and planning a few slow-stitched projects for your home?

Sewing for the home is an aspect of Gentle Domesticity that I love, especially unrushed, slow-stitching, that has a purpose. Creating beauty in your home is indeed a worthwhile purpose. When God created in the beginning, just ponder the extraordinary joy it gave him, far beyond anything we can understand or have the imagination for, and the satisfaction at the end of the day when He looked over all He had made and said, "It is good." He could have created the world in one instant if it had been His desire, but day by day He added to His vision, until all was complete and ready for us.

Little by little this year I shall be bringing beauty to our home, by the work of my hands, and using what is already here. I'm so excited about this, and added to this plan, I began an extra Instagram account that focuses just on the home, homemaking, home crafts, home cooking, faith...yeh, all things to do with HOME. You'll find it HERE or search for @elefantzhome on Instagram. (My original IG account will now just focus on designing) 

So I'd best sign off for today as my plum jam mix is still marinating in the pot, and it's about time to begin cooking it. Cully May will be thrilled!

Thank you for praying for Blossom and her family. It just might be possible that they'll find out today about a house, after missing out on about thirty others. I designed and stitched this little framed stitchery late last year (inspired by an old one with the same message that I did many years ago), and yesterday the Holy Spirit prompted me to take it over to her, so I did. The message was very clear. 

We do believe in miracles, and we do believe they come in God's perfect timing, so we keep the faith and let Him work it all out. That has brought our family a whole lot of peace recently. 

If you're interested in the pattern for someone you know, or for yourself, its HERE in my shop. 

God bless you today, and every day, and may He garciously impart a portion of His creativity into your own life this year. 

Hugs,

You will find me on Instagram HERE @jennyofelefantz

And my NEW IG account just for homemaking HERE @elefantzhome

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