An unexpected slowing, a pattern and a tutorial...

I think many of you know that I've been pursuing a slower, simpler life for more than a decade now, probably since around 2012.  At first it was all about discovering who I was after many years of homeschooling, and then a realisation graciously unfolded before me from the Lord that I was now about to embark on a new season of life. I was an empty nester, no longer teaching, and discovering life with just the two of us left at home held a great blessing and immense joy. 

Life in the home would be slower, simpler, and different - though my natural "I can do it all" personality would thwart me off that track for many years. Slowing for me meant slow to learn! But I have, bit by bit, found that slowing, and especially living more simply, is what my heart truly needed all along. 

When I announced retiring from the blog last June, it was with full intent to not return. I spent the first two weeks shredding sixteen years of Elefantz Designs paperwork, and the next two weeks working in the garden. My heart soared in the garden! The joy was indescribable, and I felt perfectly at peace with my retirement decision. It was as though a huge weight had been lifted and I was free to live a much slower paced life as a very contented homemaker. 

And then I had an accident and injured my knee, an injury which ten months later has not improved, and is actually a bit worse than before. I was shattered at not being able to move around the garden, and follow through on the plans I had made for it and for our home. There have been other health issues since then, which praise the Lord have now been resolved, but the knee injury is the one which restricts me like no other. 

Back to blogging in November, there was joy being able to connect with you again, as I rarely see anybody since the injury, and that helped me to put the disappointments aside and get on with life as a slightly much slower homemaker. In fact I look back now and see all of this a blessing in disguise. My heart's desire was to live a slower simpler life, and God has used my unexpected physical limitations to teach me exactly how to do it. 

So here's the thing I have been reflecting on this week...

When you can only walk slow, everything in life slows with it. As the months have passed, I find myself not only unable to hurry, but not wanting to either. Not as much gets done around the house, or the garden, in any given day, but things eventually get done in time. I have learned that there's no rush to housework, no checklist to mark off at the end of the day, and no feelings of failure when tasks have to wait.

The garden is coming along well because of those small increments of care given in pure delight, and the preparation and care of making our sourdough bread over 24 hours every third day is an absolute slow joy after many years of baking a loaf within three hours. 

When I look around our home I see a place that is lived in, with a lot of love, a sanctuary for my beloved and I to enjoy each other where we can close a door on the world outside. I'm noticing things that eluded me before, and delighting in what once was seemingly unimportant. When I do something like cleaning the oven, I take my time, and it can be many hours of slow work, but I notice things which had been invisible before. 

For example, cleaning the oven this week I thought about what a home baker once said about putting dough to rise in the empty oven with just the light on - that it would give a subtle enough warmth to help the dough rise, and with milder winter days coming that setting would have been beneficial but alas I do not have an oven light. 

Then as I cleaned, I thought to check the oven manual. You never know what's right before you until you slooooowwww down. 

On my oven settings there's fan bake, ordinary bake, rapid bake, grill...quite a few settings, and I use them all for different things. But in the manual it mentioned a Defrost setting which can be used to defrost food from the freezer AND to rise dough! I walked slowly to the oven dials and yes, there it was in plain sight and I'd never noticed it. 

I wonder what else I'm going to discover that has been overlooked these past eight years living here? There's so much to love about this slower life, my friends. Yes it involves pain, and yes, it prevents me from driving the car, but it has so many benefits to rejoice in, and I choose to rejoice.

Now, this week I wanted to give you a couple of free projects. 

One is an embroidery pattern that ties right in to choosing a slower life. May it be a gift that blesses you, and anyone you choose to stitch it for. Use the link below to download my free "Message to Self" pattern.

DOWNLOAD the free pattern

The second gift is a tutorial which was originally shared here during Covid. I want to share a few home-focused projects with you in the coming weeks, and this is a favourite of mine. The Farmhouse Produce Bags are simple to make and you only need a few things, one of the them being a cotton tea towel. 

I made two back in 2020, one for onions and the other for potatoes, and they have stood the test of time because I still use them today. Six years on and they are still pretty, still functional and have not worn out. Using good quality tea towels may be one reason for that, but I also think the French seams have kept them sturdy.

We use brown onions and red onions, but all this time I've mixed them both in the same onions bag. Early this week that changed. I decided the red onions needed a bag of their own, so I followed my own tutorial, and made one...

If you'd like to make some Farmhouse Produce Bags, I have put the tutorial into a PDF file for you to download and keep. These bags would be fine for storing other things too, such as dried beans, parsnips, or whatever you like to store in cotton that will keep well. 

Use the link below to download the free tutorial.

DOWNLOAD the free tutorial

I completed the cushion made using the free Bird in Pot pattern I shared with you HERE and it's sitting in my leather chair by the front window, where our dear Kelly-dog loves to watch all the roadworks which have been going on out front since January. 

How are you? Have you had an experience which forced you to slow down, but became a blessing in disguise? Perhaps your slowing is still fresh and its been very difficult to accept - know that I am praying for all of you who are going through such a time.

Remember always, God sees you. He is not blind to your struggles, nor ignorant of your joys. He is our Father who loves us, and His mighty hands hold us even through the fire, the storm and the valley. This season has taught me to not just pray for healing, but to pray for my eyes to see the good in it, and my heart to overflow with happiness and gratitude.

ABIGAIL - I almost forgot to tell you that I have made the entire Abigail Bible study into one PDF file. You can download it HERE

God bless,

until next time,

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You will find loads of patterns for instant download HERE in my Etsy Shop 

The everyday life and contentment...

LATE AUTUMN...

It's late autumn here in the far north of Australia, and though the early mornings are refreshingly cool at around 20-21C these days, the noonday sun has been climbing to 32C at my place every day this past week. Though I would love for the days themselves to be cooler, and they should do in the weeks ahead, I am very grateful that the daylight hours are much shorter now, and you know, the evenings are already rather lovely.

In the garden I need to cover many of the fragile seedlings before the sun climbs over the nearby mountain and bears down on them a few hours after sunrise, or I hide some pots under the elder tree, where they benefit from the sun's warmth whilst sheltering under the long thin, leaf-laden limbs above. My carrots especially love that spot. 

When the sun sets I remove the covers, allowing the cooler night air freedom to circulate easily. Next morning I usually discover more seeds have sprouted, whilst those having already made their way through the soil a few days earlier, have grown taller. I never grow tired of the miracles displayed in a simple garden! Seeing the wonders of God at work, still creating, stirs my desire to plant, grow, harvest...even if its only in our small backyard garden and not a field. 

REFLECTIONS IN LIFE FROM BREADMAKING...

Over the past few weeks, the steady ritual of making a sourdough loaf every three days has also brought much joy to my soul. It took a couple of months to 'perfect' a loaf which comes together easily in our climate and without many steps, because climate matters a great deal when dealing with sourdough. I am so glad to have figured out those things because now I need no recipe as its in my head, I can work with whatever the weather does that day (and the next), and though there were a few mistakes along the way because I'd forget the simplest things - like scoring the loaf before it went in the oven, or forgetting to lower the oven temp after the first 20 minutes - it's all working fine now, and we are loving our rye/wheat loaf. In fact, we don't toast it because we enjoy it 'as is' even on day three, and we're even getting to the stage of not needing to butter it. We just really love this bread. Praise God. 

I was thinking about bread one morning last week as I waited for the dutch oven to heat before I placed the risen bread dough inside. There was a time, in the not too distant past, when I spent far too much time, and far too much money, trying all different ways to make a meal. Whether that be stews, soups, cakes, biscuits (cookies), international dishes, doughs, breads...it was as though I needed to find the next best thing, or a more perfect way of cooking something I'd made for years. I had way more cookbooks than I'd ever use, and a multitude of failed meals under my apron and still, I would scroll online recipes, borrow even more cookbooks from the library, watch homecooks and chefs make amazing meals on Youtube, and spend $ on ingredients we could ill afford, did not like, or never used again. 

Apart from when my husband takes us on a Sunday drive through the countryside, I've been predominantly housebound for the past five months, only venturing out on my own three times this year, so I've had to rely on grocery deliveries as I cannot go to a supermarket. What a blessing in disguise! Our income had decreased towards the end of 2025 due to changes at my husband's work, so I was already being extra mindful of expenditure, but as the months rolled on in 2026, and we needed to help family members for a while, I challenged myself to not just lower the grocery (and other) expenditure, but to eat even better at the same time, even though we already had a healthy diet. 

One way I achieved this goal was to stop looking for new recipes, donating most of my cookbooks, shopping from the pantry and freezer first, planting the garden with a wider variety of vegetables and fruits, and cooking simpler meals that we already enjoyed. 

Which brings me back to pondering that loaf of bread last week. The recipe I'm using is the only one I'll use. It makes a lovely healthy loaf, very tasty, and a perfect size for the two of us to enjoy over three days, so none is wasted. There is no need to try another recipe, or play around with this one. Nothing is wasted and we're very content to have this as our daily loaf. 

No longer am I searching for new ideas. I wrote up a list of the simple meals we have enjoyed regularly over the years, and that's what I make. My roasted pumpkin and garlic soup is delicious, so why try a different recipe? The chicken curry I've made every month for the past six years is a Family favourite so why try another? My husband enjoys the same breakfast every morning (Sultana Bran and fresh fruit, with a banana smoothie) and does not want a change. I enjoy coconut yoghurt, nuts and fresh fruit for breakfast, and do not want a change. Can you see where I'm going with this?

I have two different biscuit (cookie) recipes we always return to, one basic scone recipe we've loved for thirty plus years, and then there's rissoles (my husband's favourite!), porcupine meatballs (grandkids favourite), spaghetti bolognese, noodles, roast chicken or lamb with veggies, or corned beef with coleslaw and chips. These are the meals my man will enjoy and say "that was yummy!" as he carries our dishes to the sink. 

I make our jams, relishes and pickles from in season produce, and bake our own bread. Herbal tea is made from whatever is growing in the garden that season, and we use honey and maple syrup as our sweeteners (or sugar for biscuits-cookies). 

There's about eight or ten more meals/bakes in my list of regulars, but what I have found this year is that this is all we needed. I restock groceries or buy meat that will be used in those everyday meals and snacks, and its delivered to my door so I'm not wandering the supermarket being tempted anymore. I am so content with this new ordinary, this simpler way of living...and if I did not have this knee injury, and become housebound and unable to drive, I do not believe this lesson would have been so quickly or easily learned, and this beautiful simplicity of days be lived out as it now is.

So, this is my story, and I know it's not something you might draw inspiration from, but one thing about blogging these past eighteen years, is that I share life as it is being lived here in my home, and this today is me taking you along as I write what will be a journal of Jennifer's life for my children and grandchildren, because I wish I'd had something like this from Nana. Oh the wealth of old-ways commonsense, and how she was able to live a rich and contented life on very little, that she could teach me!

Share your life with your family, dear friends, because there are gems in there which may be lost before the little ones grow up and need them. 

"Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations. Ask your father and he will show you, your elders and they will tell you." Deuteronomy 32:7

"Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths where the good way is, and walk in it." Jeremiah 6:16

I'll be back next week with some tutorials, useful things you can make for your home. Until then, God bless dear ones...

My free newsletter is back. Just sign up HERE and you'll receive it every couple of weeks.

You will find loads of patterns for instant download HERE in my Etsy Shop 

March days at home and Abigail part 4...

 

How quickly these weeks pass in 2026. I've been needing to take a number of rests each day, but in between those rests my heart is happy to do precious homemaking tasks, which are essential for my good mental health. 

The Lord assists me to ponder the blessings of life, and to keep up with the essential chores, as well as the ones that are done monthly or seasonaly. Last week I spent hours on and off through Monday to deep clean our laundry, knowing the following day would require complete rest, and my goodness, the sense of accomplishment and satisfaction felt afterwards was akin to enjoying a bar of my favourite Turkish Delight! So naturally I ordered one in the following day's grocery delivery. Blossom and I have spent the past 30 years enjoying these as a treat! Do you have a favourite chocolate bar??

I've had numerous emails and messages asking about my knee and many of you thought it was arthritic in nature. I'll answer quickly here, to avoid more email overload (though I am so very thankful for the prayers, love and concern you show me!)...its not arthritis, but a number of other things that occurred during an accident last July. The main source of the pain however, are two 'bone marrow oedemas' which are akin to very sharp knives stabbing my knee and tibia all the time, but worst of all during the night. I finally get to see an orthopaedic specialist next Tuesday and I am hopeful he will be able to guide me through ways to heal. Would love your prayers - thank you. xx

Above is the UFO project I have chosen to complete this month. The blocks began back in 2024 as part of a quilt project a friend and I were both making at the time. She has continued with it, but I got to a certain stage where the reality hit that I would not be able to quilt it by hand as it is a very large quilt, and living in the hot tropics would make such an undertaking very taxing, and we simply cannot afford to have a quilt top professionaly quilted. 

So last year I chose a few blocks to use in a table runner, as I really love the fabrics and colours. The prints used were many years old, and belong to fat quarters, charm squares and yardage, from Lecien a decade ago (who no longer produce fabrics) and some Mary Englebright from about 2008. There's also some other very old prints, and all together they make the happiest display for a table topper. 

Have you been working on a March UFO project? What is it?

One other project I already finished this month was the bunny I knitted all the pieces for last October and November, but had not sewn together. Finally I did that the first week of March and gifted it to Rafaella for her 8th birthday last week. She absolutely loved it and takes her bunny-girl to bed every night.

There was a lot of purple DK yarn in my knitting supplies after the bunny's dress, shoes and bow were completed, so I thought it would be fun to knit myself a pair of slipper socks in the hope of having a cool winter this year. My mindset was "if you make it, winter will come". Ha ha!! We shall see. ;-)

Not being at all interested in knitting socks on four needles, I came across this pattern for two-needle socks on Pinterest and decided to give it a try. Now the pattern called for DK yarn and 3mm needles, so I assumed (we should never assume, right?) that using the Stylecraft DK yarn from the UK would be the same as what was in the pattern...but nooooo. 

Having never heard of Super Corfou, I did a google and it just said DK, so I googled no further. And admittedly I did not knit a tension square, because I'm lazy like that. Shocked? Don't be. 

Not far into the pattern I could see these socks being rather small for my size 7 feet (EU 37)...

...but still, I knitted on. Once begun, I loved the texture and colours, so I decided they'd fit one of my granddaughters.  

Both feet are completed now, I just need to stitch them up. Before winter would be good. 

Now that I know the instructions I followed, using my DK yarn and not the one suggested, knit up a much smaller slipper sock than I can wear, the instructions shall be modified to fit my dear feet. Sadly I have no more purple yarn, but there are many other pretty colours in the yarn stash to choose from. I shall keep you posted on how this modified plan works out if you're interested. Or perhaps you have some advice to share?? Larger needles perhaps??

Sourdough baking is becoming a twice a week delight, with a third weekly loaf of 'ordinary sandwich bread' in between. My husband can eat bread with anything, and I mean anything. It's what he goes for around 8pm each night, with a thick slather of peanut butter, and is what he likes generous portions of in his packed lunch for work. Fortunately, breadmaking is my delight! 

It's been almost two months since Rosie and I have been able to meet up for a lovely morning tea and chat. One reason is that I am unable to drive with my knee problem so I can't visit Rosie, and another is that our road is being ripped up (been going on for two years, but now they are right in front of our house and many homes on either side) to lay new pipes, widen the road, alter the lanes, tear down trees, put in traffic lights, and various other obstacles to a peaceful existence, and a third is the monsoonal wet season which has brought flooding much of the time. 

But I had a wonderful surprise on Saturday morning, when Rosie knocked on my door for a two-minute visit, and to bless me with birthday and get-well gifts! Non-residents are not allowed to drive into the roadwork constructions areas, so her dear hubby Brian parked up the road and Rosie walked down to my place. What a happy hug!! Seeing her was so good for my heart, and I was incredibly blessed with the bundle of lovely gifts. She knows me well, and included in all the gifts was a gorgeous ceramic pear and a bag of spearmint leaves (I collect pears, and spearmint leaves are my favourite lollies).

Hopefully I can get back to short sessions on the sewing machine next week, as what I intend making only requires a few minutes on the machine, and the rest can be hand sewn and crocheted. You know I love making jar toppers, and as well as sewing a lot for myself, I have gifted quite a few at Christmas and birthdays. They are so simple to make, and quick too. Some have lace sewn around the edges, some do not, and others I have crocheted around the edge. Some jar toppers are just fabric (lined so that both sides are different), and some have embroidery on top. You can get quite creative with how you make them, but the best thing is how lovely they look in the pantry or on a shelf. 

The photo below was taken in January and you can see what I mean about how lovely they look on jars, especially when they are together along a shelf...

...but this week, I did a huge pantry stock-up shop (home delivery is such a blessing right now) and all my shelves have had to very slowly be emptied, cleaned, and reorganised to accommodate extra supplies.  I decided to use one of those shelves to house all my dried and medicinal herbs, the ones I use for herbal teas. Right now the jars look so very plain, but in coming weeks some new pretty toppers will make everything pleasing to the eye. 

I've quite adjusted to doing everything slowly now. It was hard for many months, and I did my recovery no help by being frustrated and pushing my leg beyond it's ability more times than you'd know. Finally, after my latest MRI in February, I was content to go slowly, to consider my capability and pain level each day before beginning a task. Knitting has been a true delight, beyond any other crafty pursuit since my accident last year. I hope to get back to crochet when winter arrives in June, and eventually complete the blanket I began in 2024, but for now, those hand stitched UFO projects each month are satisfying, and the small knitted items are easy to pick up and put down. Breadmaking is a joy, and so are the simple wholesome meals of old that nourish us and are quick to make, or easy to languish in the slow cooker. I have even learned to roast a whole chicken in the air fryer and it's delicious! 

The garden is too often flooded this wet season, and completely overgrown with weeds, but it can wait until I am healed and functioning. Some things just have to wait, while other things take priority, and there's no need to feel bad about that. Life is a series of seasons, and when you accept that, and choose to work with whatever season you're in, your mind can be calm, your heart at peace, and you know that you know God is still in control. That truth is what I lean on, it's what gives me hope, it holds me steady when the storms of life swirl around, and it is what I hope you know too. 

ABIGAIL: part four

The final part of our study has been published and you will find it HERE on the Abigail page of my blog.

What a blessing this study has been in putting my own character under the microscope of God's Word! May it be a source of blessing to you as well. 

Until next time my lovelies, 

My free newsletter is back. Just sign up HERE and you'll receive it every couple of weeks.

15% off all Elefantz patterns HERE in my Etsy Shop until March 20th.