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

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

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

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

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

2 Peter 3:18

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

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

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

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

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

DOWNLOAD Grow In Grace

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I wonder what plans you have for the Easter break? 

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

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

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

Till next week, 

You will find my design account on Instagram HERE @jennyofelefantz

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

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

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

Week 2 of the Stitchalong and a reveal...

 

I'm sharing part two of the Stitchalong a day early as its my birthday tomorrow and I shall be enjoying a morning tea with hubby and the family, and then a quiet rest of the day at home, possibly making tomato sauce, and possibly beginning a new project. I shall see how the day progresses, but you can be sure I'll be taking things easy. 

Have you stitched the first six hexie flowers? Or will you be using the little embroideries for a different project? I'd love to know what you're making. 

My final decision for displaying the twelve hexie flowers was a sewing machine cover. I had a few other ideas but kept coming back to that, so then it was just a case of measuring up the size I needed and playing around with my hexie flowers for a pretty arrangement. 

I liked the idea of filling empty spaces in and around the flowers with hexagon shapes in running stitch, and the overall effect was better than I'd hoped. 

I apologise for the quality of the photos, but it is threatening rain this afternoon and the overcast skies make the house very dark inside. 

My machine cover is 25" x 20" and the hexie flowers have been needleturned onto a linen background, the same linen I used for the embroideries, which also happens to be the very same recycled linen sheet I have used for a number of projects so far this year. 

I added medium weight fusible Pellon before hand quilting the running stitch hexies. The cover was completed with more reycled fabric for the lining, and some extra pieces of the Tilda Sunday Brunch fabric for the side ties. 

 

Use the link below to download the pattern sheet for the final six stitcheries...

DOWNLOAD part two of the Sunday Brunch Hexie Stitchalong

Next week, as requested by many, I'll have a recipe file for all those yummy things I made HERE in the previous post, and I also want to chat more about being a homemaker, and the various responsibilites that entails. Looking back in time, I have discovered some fascinating things to share with you.

In the meantime, I will be praying you each have a lovely weekend ahead, days of joy and delight, even if things are hard at the moment. A lesson this week for myself, has been to let go of what is no more, and see with new eyes what is still before me. 

You see, now that our huge poinciana tree is no more, I am sorely missing all the birds who visited every day and made their nests in the thick limbs and branches, because birds are my favourite creatures and living amidst abundant birdlife has been a source of inexpressible joy for me. Many of you already know that from all the bird photos I have shared over the years.

But today a kookaburra sat on the power pole out front, my favourite bird, and I felt the arms of God hugging me. Then cockatoos returned to our bird feeder, followed by the rainbow lorikeets. Just before I began writing this our old Black-faced Ibis friend was wandering through the garden with his long beak, digging for worms, and then a sweet song from the tiny honeyeater in our pretty Maraya bush serenaded me when I gathered washing off the line as tiny raindrops began to fall. 

Life will always have its losses, but the Lord also provides joys, often in unexpected times or ways. For me this time, you may think 'its just a tree', and you'd be right, but it was our tree, and it had a story behind it that we shall remember, just as we remember how we lost it. 

The Bible tells us in Ecclesiates 3:1, "To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven." I find many things in that verse - comfort, hope, acceptance, and even contentment. I pray you feel the loving arms of God hugging you today if things are hard, or you're feeling lonely or concerned. Fall into His Word, and let His love surround you, dear one. 

Until next week, 

Love and hugs 

You will find me on Instagram HERE @jennyofelefantz

And my NEW IG account just for homemaking HERE @elefantzhome

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

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

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

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

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