The Book Reminder Challenge and boys to men...

 I've had an idea on my mind for months, something I wanted to share with you but was waiting for all my ducks to be in a row...and of course, well you know yourself, that's something very rare in life. So this week I decided to just forge forward because for me, this challenge needed to begin, sooner rather than later. 

I love books. Always have. As an only child my constant companion, other than Nana and Pop and Sox our dog, was books. Our library was my second favourite place to visit (first was the beach) and I would spend ages in there reading or browsing through books on many different subjects, before gathering an armload to take home. I occasionally wonder if that's what was most appealing about homeschooling? We followed the Charlotte Mason method and if you know anything about that you'll be quite aware it is wonderfully literature based, all good literature, with no twaddle. Blossom developed a lifelong love for good books during those years and created her own home library, which is wonderful for her homeschooled trio, though the kids still love visiting their local library and filling library bags to bring home. 

But I digress...

Having books on hand, in my lovely solid bookcases, is quite a joy. It means I can never be bored. I do not have modern fiction, but have a good selection of novels written by Agatha Christie, Tolkien, Austen, and Laura Ingalls Wilder which are enjoyed seasonally. Mostly I have a lot of books on faith, gardening, natural health, crafts (knitting, embroidery, quilting, crochet, beading, dressmaking and Japanese sewing), homemaking, self sufficiency, and cooking. We also own a lot of Bibles. 

 But what has been on my mind these past months is this - do I revisit my books on a regular basis? Do I take them off the shelf to reacquaint myself with them? If I were to read/browse through one or two each week, would I find them still worth keeping or would I discover some are simply shelf-fillers with a nice cover and not useful or purposeful to me anymore? 

Have you ever wondered such a thing?

Today I have begun my own 3-month challenge. Each week I will read or browse through at least two books, and decide whether to keep them or donate/sell them. These are the first two books I'll be sitting with in the next few days, alongside a lovely pot of tea and a bikkie or two...

I may go through more than two each week, but my base plan is to do at least two each week as there's no pressure in that. If there's still a lot to consider at the start of 2027 then this habit shall continue until all books have been interviewed for suitability moving forward. ;-) Would you like to join me?? Are you able to choose two books and go through them with an afternoon cuppa or a cool drink in the shade of the garden, or in a cosy chair each evening? 

I've begun with books not visited in the past year or two. There are books on my shelves which are visited on a regular basis so I already know they have permanent residency and shall stay, but the ones rarely visited (and there are many) shall be my focus.

I'd love to hear your own thoughts or experiences with an abundance of books and whether there came a time to gather some close, whilst saying farewell to others?

Last week I showed you my first practice of a decorative Japanese darning/weaving design, a rectangle made with two yarns, red and white. After that I tried a circle, using a 4ply cotton yarn of variegated peach/orange colours, following the directions in the book I'd purchased. This was not as easy as the rectangle, but I definitely liked it better, so I made another using Cosmo variegated embroidery thread (I used 3 strands) but chose the colour to match a preloved linen fabric I'd cut from an old dress. 

The fabric I stitched on is also from a pre-loved dress, which I hand dyed from cream to blue a while back. I was not sure how I'd use the green darned/woven circle, and wasn't happy with its seemingly pointed sides (well, not seemingly because they ARE slightly pointed), so I put it aside and moved on to another idea for using both the linen dress fabric and the blue fabric with some sashiko. 

I really love the little red and white rice bag and sewing set that I made last month (HERE) and use it daily, so I thought a larger rice bag would be wonderful for storing yarn when I'm knitting or doing a spot of crochet. 

Just as the red and white rice bag has embroideries on the sides, I wanted to do something similar, but this time with sashiko. 

So far I have stitched two identical blocks with the Rice Flower stitch, and I used a Perle 12 thread in a similar green to that of the linen fabric. I'll choose another sashiko design to stitch the remaining two sides over the weekend, but right now I am working on this cross-back apron. 

It's the same apron as the two I showed HERE when I removed the decorative tag that was already on them and made my own (you can see what I mean by the tag on the apron above). I will still remove the tag from this pink apron, but right now I'm stitching a sashiko design traced from a book purchased as a digital download from Etsy. I chose the cat because just as my husband is a dog-lover (we have Kelly aged 2½), I am a cat-lover (Sophie aged 16 years). I'm using 3 strands of another Cosmo variegated skein for this embroidery.

Another sewing project this past week was to re-hem two old nightgowns, and to cut up an old apron that has worn out in a few places (I have an apron on every day and they all eventually wear away). With the good remaining fabric I sewed a 12" mat for under the white fruit bowl which sits on our kitchen bench top. The backing is cream linen and then a thin wadding was fused behind the tulip fabric on top before I completed the project with hand quilted diagonal lines. I simply love hand quilting things like this as it adds such a homely finish. Isn't that a sweet word - homely...

THANK YOU...

How lovely that some of you dear girls left messages of encouragement for Blossom and Ross after last week's blog post. They thank you from the bottom of their hearts, as do I. 

One of the core homeschool skills the grandchildren are learning from their parents during this rather different season of life, is the value of caring for the home, and being a participant in the tasks required to look after it. Charlie David is just 5 years old, but Ross has always made sure that he is teaching Charlie how to one day grow into a good man, husband and father. It's something he himself missed out on growing up, so this has been important to him fathering a son of his own. 

Together they take care of not just things inside the house (along with Blossom and the girls), but the garden outside, which for the two of them is real men time. :-)

Charlie David now mows the grass on his own, under Ross's supervision, while Ross attends to the edges and garden beds. We are so proud of Charlie David!

I had a conversation recently with a lady we know, a woman not at all interested in God, or Christianity. In fact she says it opposes all her own beliefs. Anyhow, I often make things for her (she is elderly and lives alone) and this particular day I was delivering jam because she loves my jam and often requests some when she knows I'm cooking up a batch. 

We chatted for about 45 minutes and then I returned home. She has always pointed out to my husband "Jennifer is a glass half-full person all the time. She always makes me smile!" and I reflected on this because she said it again while we were talking. You see, it's rare to hear anything positive from her, and she will even describe herself as glass half-empty, and this gave me cause to consider just how important it is to always look for positive aspects in life and not to get pulled down into negativity, gossip, harshness, resentlfulness or criticism. 

I'm not saying this is easy, especially if you are someone who struggles with a less than positive attitude to life, but what a testimony to the Lord it is when others are lifted and encouraged by our words and behaviour, and not left feeling hurt or even more negative than before. It's true that I am a naturally happy person, something my husband marvels at (especially given the intense physical pain of the past 15 months - though this has really improved over past weeks thank the Lord) but that happiness was borne of some very deep sorrows. When I placed my life in Jesus' care 35 years ago, He changed me little by little, and I learned to accept the sorrows and the struggles and the losses, because I had been given something so much more than what I'd lost. I was given life in and with Jesus Christ. 

Our friend said "Christianity works for you and Mark, but it's not my cup of tea" - and yet when she has troubles, she likes that I pray for her, she likes that my husband can fix things for her, and she likes that she can trust us implicitly.

We plant the seeds of Christ in her life by how we conduct ourselves, how we speak, and how visibly she herself positively views our life as followers of Jesus. We pray God will reach her with Truth before her eyes close on this world, but in the meantime we must still work on being who He needs us to be, and giving thanks for His forgiveness every time we fail (which we do!). 

Friends, I pray that you are finding good things each day to cheer your heart and the lives of others. May goodness and mercy follow you all the days of your life, and may you dwell in the house of the Lord forever. 

Much love!!

Until next time,

PS: My Etsy Shop is always open, so please drop by if you are in the mood for something new to stitch.

CLICK HERE

 

Let's stitch a pear, and Q & A...

We are well into autumn, and yet the monsoonal rains keep coming and the heat and humidity are stifling. Last night we had an exceptional lightning and thunder storm as the heavens opend with more heavy rain. One lightning strike hit close by, plummeting much of our suburb into darkness with a power outage around midnight. 

Whilst I knew the power would return eventually, our main concern was that all four submersible pumps run on power, and without it, we had waves in the front and back yard, and water lapping at the door for four hours. In situations like this there's not a lot you can do, and with so much lightning around it was safer to stay inside (though hubby did climb up on the ladder to empty more leaves from the gutters). 

The power was back on around 3.30am and though the rain was still hard, our four pumps got to work with gusto! By dawn there was still a lot of water around, but the pumps had done a wonderful job of keeping the water out of the house. As I write this it is early evening on Friday, we've had more rain, and are still ankle deep with water in the yards, but what a difference those pumps make. 

Anyhow...all this rain has the lime tree in full bloom again, and we can tell that next summer's crop may be even bigger than this summer's one (and it was huge!). Other plants that have weathered this extreme wet season well are the passionfruit vine, which once more is heavy with fruit, the herb gardens, the green onions and chives, the blackberry bush (though it has never given fruit), and the Barbados Cherry tree (though hubby had to prune it away by two-thirds because it kept falling flat to the ground with so much water). I am patiently waiting for the 'big dry' and cooler days to get into the gardens and clean them up - what a sad and sorry lot they are at the moment. I shall try NOT to mention the wet weather again... xx

Autumn brings with it an abundance of apples and pears, both being delicious additions to the fruit basket and exceptional for preserving. We cannot grow them here in the Australian tropics, so they are shipped up from the southern parts of our country. This week I have stewed many kilos of apples to freeze so I can enjoy them with raisins and porridge over winter, and plan to do the same with pears next week. Fortunately, they are relatively cheap, especially if you buy the 'odd bunch' bags. Woolworths have a seasonal variety of Odd Bunch produce for lower cost purchases - the fruit or vegetables are either too large or too small, or misshapen, for the supermarket's regular fruit and veg displays. It's really quite sad, don't you think? I mean, a pear is a pear, and I don't care what size it is, or whether all the pears in the crate look the same. But farmers miss out on fair prices because a supermarket will only pay full price for perfect size produce. 

The pears below were in the odd bunch bag, and I can't see anything wrong with them, or is that vibrant red just too much to the buyers eye? They will be delicious when ripe and sliced up next to some cheese!

If you've never known (it has been mentioned a few times over the seventeen years I've been blogging), I love pears. Not just to eat, but as decoration. You'll find a few here and there throughout our home, and I received another on my birthday this year from Rosie, a beautiful cream ceramic one. 

I've been thinking a lot about pears this week, and looked over the four pear designs I have made over the years in order to choose one you might like to stitch. The Pear Hive won...

I chose this particular pattern because even though we in the southern hemisphere are now in autumn, most of my readers live in the far more populated northern hemisphere, where spring is being welcomed. I think my pear is 'pearfect' for both autumn or spring, with it's flourish of blooms and busy bees. 

If you'd like to stitch it, use the link below to download the free pattern. And let me know how you would display it? I have not used this in a project yet (and the completed stitchery is almost nine years old and still languishing in my box of designs) so I'd love to hear your suggestions. Perhaps it will be a UFO finish for me next week...mmm.

DOWNLOAD The Pear Hive pattern

Over a couple of days I made the change of having my DMC threads sorted by numbers, to having them sorted by colour families. In my Monday blog post I shared the link to download a 4-page chart that is invaluable for such a project.

It didn't have quite a few of the colours in my collection but I just slotted them in where they seemed to blend well. 

Many cups of tea were consumed over those days and evenings, and for a task which I'd imagined would take all week, the excitement of seeing those beautiful shades all coming together kept me going until all the solids were done. 

I don't own all the DMC colours, just a lot of them. ;-) The storage tray below is the first one completed, and all the browns and greys are in a second tray, which will also house the variegated threads I'm yet to organise. As I've had a barometric migraine off and on this week, and my hip acting up due to the weather as well, much of my time has been spent quietly sitting with these threads...

...and steadily stitching a bit more sashiko. 

I may sew the four maroon sashiko blocks that I recently finished, together over the weekend, and make the placemat for my husband. This one is the first of four green blocks, and though I love the design, I'm not sure the green stands out enough, so I'll sew another one in a deeper colour and then choose which looks best before sewing three more of the same colour (though different sashiko designs).

None of my sashiko blocks are perfect, but I do see improvement with each new block I sew. This one was the hardest to graph so far, as I am wanting to sew particular sizes and most patterns are in mm, but I prefer to graph them in inches. I required a lot of patience graphing the Asanoha block above and needed to start over three times before I got it right. 

I've had a few questions asked about the sashiko, and The Sewing Room BOM, so I'll answer them here today.

One common question has been where do I find these sashiko patterns? 

A few places. The first few blocks I made were from a book by Susan Briscoe, called The Ultimate Sashiko Sourcebook. I have a monthly subscription to Everand, which is marvellous - you can listen to as many audio books as you like, or read any book you want, without having to buy them as you do with Audible or Kindle. They have a HUGE library in the app (or you can read from your desktop), and I find this very cost effective because I rarely re-listen to an audio book, and love that I can actually see a book without having to buy it first. There are a few Susan Briscoe books on Everand.

I am not an affiliate or anything like that, I just love Everand and have never had a problem with it. 

I also borrowed some books from the library, thought they weren't really what I was after so I returned them, but your library may have a much larger selection. 

Last weekend I began watching videos on YouTube, and came across an Aussie lady who shares quite a bit about sashiko, and also a few free patterns. She also uses Patreon, and publishes one free pattern a month there. It cost me $8 (Australian) for a month, and I was able to download five great ones (she keeps four/five free patterns on there at a time) that I shall be using, and before my month runs out she'll have another one to download. THIS is her YouTube channel - The Green Wrapper

Another question about The Sewing Room BOM - can you use 1/4 yard cuts, and how many should you buy?

The Sewing Room is a scrappy BOM, and every border is 1.5" wide. You will find all the instructions in THIS free download  There's no amount to buy, because I am just using what is on my shelf. The largest cut of fabric is 4.5" x 6.5", so it won't matter if you use fat quarters or 1/4 yard cuts. 

Thank you to everyone who is praying for Blossom. She was so touched by your kindness, and wanted me to send you her love and thanks. 

I also prayed for each of you who asked for prayer, and as we know, the Lord hears every prayer. How blessed we are!

I'll sign off now, as this post may be so long you're starting to nod off, or is that me? With barely any sleep last night I am looking forward to bed tonight, and another chapter of The Long Winter before lights out. The other things on my mind, such as the recipe additions to the Pantry ebook, can wait for next week...and my, how quickly the weeks are flying by in 2025. 

God bless you, right where you are, no matter the circumstance. Our Father is near to us who draw near to him, and I cannot imagine any place I'd rather be than near Him, at His feet, safe and loved. May you be filled with His assurance of love and care today, and you heart overflowing with Hope. Never lose hope. 

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

Free study download and free stitcheries...

 

Back in late 2022, and through 2023, I shared a 16-part quilt pattern with my readers at that time, called The Virtuous Wife. It was a labour of true love, and included with each month's embroidery block was a Bible study on a particular verse we were stitching.

For those of you who are interested, I have finally made time to expand on those studies, whilst also adding more of them, so this has become almost a small book. Last night I wrote the final page, and went to bed happy and content, full of hope that this would be honouring to God, and a blessing to all of you who choose to download and use it. 

After completing the morning chores I went back to do a review of spelling and grammar, and was about to convert it from a document to a PDF file when I thought, "What if I added some Scripture stitcheries?"

And so, the next five hours were spent doing just that!

I wonder if you're like me and love to stitch from the Bible? It's such a gentle way to engrave the Word on your mind and in your heart. With the theme of this study being evident, I chose 7 short passages that described the character of a Bible-believing wife. 

Recently I decided that it would be lovely to hang framed Scriptures on the walls. I already have many of my Bible embroidery designs hanging in our home, and I do love them, but a wall of smaller framed verses would be perfect, and as this year one of my to-dos is to make over the living room and bedroom without spending any money if possible, this project will be a joy - and a bonus is that I have quite a few frames tucked away that can be used. If I need more, a quick trip to the op-shop usually provides what I require for a couple of dollars. 

So with that in mind I thought these little stitchery patterns would bless you, as well as me!

I do not mind if you share about this free study, but would just ask that you lead your friends to this blog post first, and they can download from here. I'd also love to hear your thoughts and discoveries as you read through the study, so I've made a new page on my website, specifically for Bible studies (because I shall be sharing more this year). You can go HERE to access that, or use the Bible Studies link under my blog header.  

I pray this blesses you. xxx

Use the link below to download the free "Proverbs 31 - the whole chapter"

DOWNLOAD

Other Things...

After completing the blue sashiko panel on recycled linen, my plan was to either frame it or use it as a cushion centre, but on Monday I gave the sewing room, which doubles as my study space, a thorough going over, and whilst mending a few things, realised I needed a good-sized square pincushion that I could fill with crushed walnut shells (that I save when my old pincushions have seen the last of their days)...and that lovely 6" sashiko piece looked just perfect. 

Now I've started a new sahsiko design, also on some recycled linen, but this is destined to become a placemat. We are in need of new placemats, and as our dining room is also our living room, it becomes part of the frugal makeover this year. My husband likes maroon (if you're an Australian you will probably guess what State of Origin team he barracks for) so I chose a deep maroon thread for the first one. 

I'm also stitching the next block in this year's free The Sewing Room BOM, but obviously I cannot show you yet...only eleven more days and it's yours. ;-)

In 2023 the free BOM I shared with my readers was The Virtuous Wife, and though I had sewn all sixteen blocks together, sandwiched the quilt top with batting and backing, and thread basted it...I had not yet quilted it. During my big clean, tidy and rearrange of the sewing room this week, I brought it out and decided it was time to quilt it, but as this is the tropics and we won't cool down for another 6 weeks or so when winter is almost at the door, it's too hot for hand quilting. So I did a bit of machine quilting, and within a short time regretted my decision. 

With the air con blowing around me, I sat the other day with my seam ripper and unpicked all the machine quilting, grateful I had only done a small section. Now it's waiting on my desk for cooler days when I can finally hand quilt it. 

Funny thing about cleaning the sewing room, you get enthused with ideas, most of them quite simple. There's a few pieces of fabric I thrifted about ten years ago, and haven't used yet, so when I was moving an old book I'd been re-reading, one of those simple ideas came to mind. 

Do you remember when I used some recycled linen to cover an old Bible and a journal? 

Well, I have a very old copy of The Simple Path, which was coming apart. It's a biography of Mother Teresa, and has always been like a compass for directing me back to what a sacrificial life lived for Jesus really is. 

I chose this pretty rose fabric to cover the book, and added my favourite photo of Mother Teresa to the front page. The fabric feels like cotton duck, but I can't be sure. It's good and sturdy though, so I also used it for lining the cover.  

I have a number of favourite books that inspire my walk of faith, this being one. Another is The Heavenly Man - the story of Brother Yun who was a Chinese leader of the hidden house churches, but is now exiled from China. 

The stories of Gladys Aylward, George Mueller, Jim Elliot, Oswald Chambers, Corrie ten Boom, and so many others who have lived for Christ, are used by God to teach me, to correct me, and to expand my view of what following Jesus may cost one day. 

Around home we've had more rain than ever, with the rain gauge needing to be emptied every morning, and that contributes to all my indoor activity! Which includes doing a deep clean of the kitchen on Tuesday, starting with the oven. I admit it is my least enjoyed chore in the entire house, but for some reason I thoroughly enjoyed it this week. 

Using bi-carb and lemin juice, the triple glass doors came up crystal clear. I cleaned the inside just with vinegar and water, which also worked well. The steel shelving inside was cleaned in the dishwasher, something I hadn't thought of before, but will continue to do from now on. I also clean the exhaust fan filters over the cooktop in the dishwasher too, and have done for years - which is what made we wonder about the oven shelves. Glad to have tried it. 

Responding to comments...

Dear friends, thank you for chatting in the comments! Most of you are 'no-reply' commenters, so I have begun responding via the comments section if I cannot email you. You each have a wealth of knowledge to share, and I find your experiences so interesting to read. I truly do enjoy hearing 'you' through your words, and not just having you hear me. Thank you. 

To answer a question that a few have asked recently - in my free Pantry Staples ebook (HERE) there were queries as to what Rice Bubbles are. That's what we call them in Australia, but apparently google tells me that in the USA they are known as Rice Krispies. Not sure what they are elsewhere, but here's a photo of our Rice Bubbles. 

And finally, I'd like to ask that nobody leaves a political comment on my blog posts. Now that I need to approve every comment before it is published, I can quickly delete political rants. My blog is for the homemaker, the sister-in-Christ, the quilter, the embroiderer, the baker, the gardener, the gentle friends, the encouragers...it is not a political platform for anyone. Thank you for understanding. 

Well, I am going to sign off now, and will pray for each and every one of you reading this. May the Lord use anything of worth from my blog and my writing, to bless you, to encourage and inspire you, and most importantly, to draw you closer to our dear Saviour, Jesus Christ. I also pray that if anything is unworthy that He will blind your mind to it, and correct me in His most loving Fatherly way. 

Hugs, prayers and love, 

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