Kelly

Quilts and sugar paste

Not much doing here creatively. The Maisy quilt saga continues with me making use of my seam ripper and pulling all my work to pieces because I didn’t like the “busy-ness” of my fabric choices. Now I’m playing safe with white sashing. Much better.

I’m focusing on indulging in another of my passions – baking and cake decorating. Perfect weather now that it’s cooler and I like having the oven on.

I’m experimenting with sugar paste and am quite taken with Mich Turner’s work, so lets see what I can do with Easter just around the corner.

Don’t forget to enter the “Pay it forward giveaway” which ends Saturday.

Thanks for dropping by!

Pay it forward giveaway

by Kelly 15 Comments

I have been very blessed as a blogger to receive gifts and giveaways from others but I don’t always end up using everything and thought it a good time to “pay it forward”. So, for this giveaway I have some books:

1. Toys to sew

2. Knitty Gritty Knits

3. Teddy Bear Redwork

and some patterns:

1. Goodies and Baddies – Jodie Carleton

2. Summer Fling – Make it Perfect

3. Sleep Well – Favorite Things

Just leave a comment to enter. Sorry – Australian residents only for this one!

I’ll draw on Saturday evening.

Good luck!

Saint Gemma Galgani

by Kelly 4 Comments

Today is the feast day of Saint Gemma Galgani. As one of our girls is named after her we had a little tea party to celebrate.

Not suprisingly, her favourite colour is pink! In addition to the pink cupcakes we had strawberry milkshakes.

I made little sugar frosted flowers out of fresh geraniums and discovered that a geranium in the bud stage looks marvellously like a miniature rose bud!

Hope you’re having a great day whatever you’re doing. God bless.

Be kind always

by Kelly 7 Comments

One of my mother’s favourite sayings (I’m sure we’re all familiar with this one) was “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all”. I couldn’t agree more. It doesn’t take much effort to keep your mouth closed rather than ruining someone’s day (and may be even more).

I’m writing this in support of Tracy. Tracy has a wonderfully large family and is a talented sewer, quilter, knitter and spinner to name a few things. She spends a lot of time sharing her own patterns and tutorials and if you visit her blog you can see what I mean, she is very generous.

Lately some bloggers have left unkind and negative comments on Tracy’s blog, specifically about her patterns and fabric choices. Now, one of the great wonders of God is that He created us all different with individual tastes. He didn’t give us these differences in order to judge one another but in order to appreciate one another!

What I’m asking today is that we all be a little kinder. We don’t have to be fake or over the top, just kind.
Happiness can be spread so easily, but so can hate.

Blessings and happy faces to you all!

What are you going to do when you grow up?

by Kelly 5 Comments

Image source

This question has been playing on my mind a little lately. You see, I’ll be 35 this year and still haven’t decided on the right “thing” for me. When I say “thing” I’m referring to some sort of a career or occupation other than being a wife and mother.

When I was little I wanted to be a hairdresser (feel free to roll your eyes) but the novelty of that idea didn’t last. When I completed high school I was strongly encouraged (pushed) to go to university. Unfortunately my scores were not high enough to go into my 2 choices of either Psychology or Nursing so I ended up in a course I loathed and subsequently quit. I’ve quit a lot of things since then and find it very difficult to stay with one thing.

I realise that as my children grow older I need to be able to have some sort of an income. And I do relish the idea of one day having a bit of extra money. The thought of working in the types of jobs I did pre – babies does not thrill me in the slightest. I no longer want to work just for money – I want the fulfillment that comes from using your skills and talents to support yourself. I want to be excellent rather than mediocre.

So here’s a bit of fun.

When I grow up I’m going to live in the country in a grand and beautiful old home. I will offer classes from my home in various arts including embroidery, cake decorating, bread and patisseries. My husband will not need to work as we have a collection of sought after farm animals and are proficient in their husbandry. Our children are all happy and superbly educated (ahem!) Sounds good hey?

So how about you? Have you decided what you want to be when you grow up yet?

Roasted Pumpkin Soup

by Kelly 1 Comment

We have a beautiful harvest of various types of pumpkins this year so I’ve been making soup. Here is my recipe that has evolved over years of soup making! It is simple and makes a big batch.

2.8 kg pumpkin

3 potatoes (medium)

1 leek

2 onions

garlic cloves to taste (as a guide use 4ish)

2 smoked bacon bones

5 – 8 cups chicken stock

Weigh out about 1.8 kg of the pumpkin and chop into large pieces (leave skin on). Put into a roasting dish and into the oven at 180 degrees (C) for approximately 40 minutes, turning once.

Meanwhile, chop your onions and fry in a stock pot in a little olive oil and butter. Add chopped leek and garlic and stir until sweating. Throw in the chopped and peeled potato and raw, peeled pumpkin. Now remove the skin from your roasted pieces and put them in the pot too.

Add the bacon bones, stock and season to your preference with salt and pepper. The stock should be about level with the vegetables for a nice thick soup.

Allow to simmer until vegetables are very soft. Turn off and leave until the soup is warm but not boiling hot! Puree in a food processor. Serve with a dob of cream and extra pepper if you wish.

Did I mention it’s perfect with homemade bread hot from the oven?

My Creative Space

by Kelly 7 Comments

Our pumpkin harvest for this year. Some seeds were from the Lost Seed, some were saved from last year and others were given to us by other gardeners, so we have a good variety. The aroma of pumpkin soup is wafting through the house as we speak.

Here are the linen/cotton napkins I mentioned in a previous post for the purposes of hand printing experimentation.

A little messy, but not too bad!

This piece of robinia took ages to cut out as a stencil and I don’t think the results were worth it. Maybe I just need more cutting practice.

Head over to Kirsty’s for more Creative Spaces.

Hand printing

by Kelly 3 Comments

I’ve been wanting to try screen printing for an awfully long time but haven’t due to the cost of setting up. Last year I was really inspired after reading Lena Corwin’s Printing by Hand and decided to give freezer paper a try. I didn’t get far. I think my designs were to intricate for a beginner and my head wasn’t in the right place.

Enter the new year and my new sense of trying to fulfill my creative inspirations! I’ve been very busy drawing designs, cutting (love you Xacto knife!) and experimenting with printing. I’ve been collecting a lot of folliage from the garden and various trees to take impressions from.

I bought some linen and will see what I can come up with!

There is something so special about hand printed fabric, don’t you think?

And I completed my first ever cross stitch! It has now joined the pile of other stitcheries that live in hope of being framed one day.

Happy, sunshiney, creative day to you all!

Few or many?

by Kelly 11 Comments

I’m so grateful for my children, all 4 of them. I would be grateful for more too – there is simply nothing more important, challenging, joyful and priveleged as raising children.

You know there’s a but coming. Sometimes when I see what other parents of smaller families are able to provide for their children it leaves me wondering. Would my children be happier with their own playroom? Their own bedrooms? Brand new clothes instead of second hand or op shopped? Fancier foods? The list could go on.

But then I remember what my children have taught me about life and about them. That they need love. Lots of it. Attention, lots of that too. Positive interaction. And God takes care of the rest, so that we always have what we need but not always what we want.

The fact that the children are constantly asking me when their next sibling might appear and that they are all each other’s best friends confirms that a large family is a good thing for us and that our children do not want for anything.

Thanks be to God.

My Creative Space

by Kelly 9 Comments

Almost finished embroidering this table cloth, just can’t decide on the border colour.

Re – hemming this dress I made for my sister when I was 14 – she was 5. It has been worn by my sister and 2 of my daughters (and will be worn by the 3rd) and has only ever needed the hem fixed.

I’m enjoying these books that Nell sent to me along with some soap and chocolates. Thanks so much Nell.

Speaking of my sister… she gave me this tapestry approximately 10 years ago! I have pulled out my original stitching that was done when I was clueless and am having another go at it. I’ll update you in another year (it’s very large!) and hopefully not in another 10.

Check out other creative spaces at Kootoyoo and have a very crafty day!