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Changes…

Things have changed for me this year in so many ways. All are positive (I hope) but not necessarily easier. I feel God has answered many of my prayers but in His way – not mine. He is leading me in a different direction to what my wordly self had envisioned. So, there has to be a letting go. Of dreams, perceived wants, hopes. And an embracing of His dreams, wants and hopes for me. It is not all about me. It can’t be all about me. And if I think it is all about me then I am trapped in a vicious cycle that never ends and leads nowhere.

Thank you Heavenly Father for all you have shown me this year. For all your grace, love and constant attention. Thank you for giving me the strength to let go of useless things and to focus on the reality and purpose of my life.
Amen.

First soap batch :)

by Kelly 6 Comments

Woohoo, I finally did it! Something I’ve wanted to do but put off for years (too expensive an outlay for equipment, too scary!) Those were my excuses anyway.

After chatting with Julie I realise this was something I could do on a really tight budget. I got a cheap stockpot that was missing a lid, inexpensive silicon mould and stick blender, husband fashioned a curing rack for me out of bamboo from our backyard and probably the most expensive ingredient was the coconut oil, which I had to order online.

I used this basic recipe and found the whole process very easy (how cool to watch that beautiful saponification process!) Using lye is not fun but entirely manageable when you follow the safety precautions really carefully.

Now for the really hard part – waiting 4 weeks for the soap to cure!

Embroidered screen printed butterfly bag

by Kelly 1 Comment

During the year I was invited to partake in a collaboration – my first collaborative effort in fact!

Something I love about the handmade community is how skills and talents can be pooled to create something really awesome!

Margo from The Climbing Tree sent me a gorgeous linen piece with a screen printed butterfly from Thea & Sami with the idea that I could embroider it for a bag flap.

Margo used a Nicole Mallileu pattern to sew a gorgeous bag featuring the butterfly. I think the contrast is just beautiful!

Here is the completed piece before becoming a bag flap. I hand painted some segments and used a variety of embroidery stitches with silk, cotton, and swarovski crystals and beads.

The bag was snapped up by a very happy customer 🙂

Margo makes all sorts of things including gorgeous children’s clothing, hats and bags. You can find her in the following places:

The Climbing Tree

Facebook page

For beautiful screen printed fabrics and homewares:

Thea & Sami

Facebook page

And for bag and clothing patterns:

Nicole Mallalieu

Facebook page

Adnil press re-opening and giveaway!

by Kelly 1 Comment

I’m so glad to see Adnil Press has re-opened for business after being a long term customer of theirs. To celebrate, Linda has 2 marvellous prize packs to giveaway on the new blog. Pop over to enter, I have!

How the Grinch stole Christmas

by Kelly 1 Comment

Image source

Most of us know the famous Dr Seuss story where the Grinch is able to infiltrate Whoville and steal “Christmas” from right under the little Who’s noses.

If you are a Christian in these modern and secular times this may be an all too familiar feeling – that Christmas is being stolen from under us and transformed into something that could be called worship, but certainly not that of Christ Our Saviour!

It is the worship of gifts, money, decorations, food and festivities and all under the popular term of “happy holidays” – a very non Christ like term.

So what can we do? How can we keep Christ in Christ-mas?

Of course it starts with our spiritual lives and our personal worship of Jesus. He must be born in the stable of our heart. If we have this part right then we are on the right track as we will be a beacon for others as the light of Christ shines forth from us. But there are practical things we can do too.

Do not adopt any of the popular secular terms associated with Christmas. “Happy holidays” does not represent Christ in any way.

Do not buy anti-Christmas propaganda! This means only sending holy and appropriate Christmas cards, even to non believing friends (this has the added bonus of a holy image being displayed in a non- Christian home, even if it’s only for a short time).

Ask your post office specifically for religious Christmas stamps. If we don’t create the demand they will not supply them.

If you are celebrating Christmas with some non Christians do not adopt their accepted methods of celebrating. Keep your interior recollection and keep the day holy! Set a positive example.

Make Christ centered family traditions. Mass, advent wreaths, special prayers are just a few holy devotions. One of our traditions is to set an extra place at our Christmas dining table for The Unseen Guest.

It is an absurd thing to throw a great big party on someone’s birthday, sate ourselves and make merry, all the while ignoring He whose birthday it is, especially when it is the birthday of the King of the universe!

Merry Christmas and abundant blessings to you all!

This post was co-authored by my husband Patrick.

“Mum, there’s nothing to eat!”

by Kelly Leave a Comment

Do you ever hear this? I bet you do! You need to do the shopping but haven’t had time, you open the pantry and can’t see the food that is there from lack of motivation to cook, plus all those other reasons for the dreaded “no food syndrome”.

However, when we have a good look around we realise we are usually far from destitute and starving.

Lunchtime today I’m met with the dreaded words so I decided to go for a fossick and see what I could use up. I found:
2 sheets of puff pastry
3 slices of ham
A small portion of cheddar cheese
Butter
Strawberry jam

And here is the result:

Ham and cheese scrolls

Jam scrolls

And some satisfied children 🙂

Winners announced!

by Kelly 1 Comment

Given the number of entries to my giveaway I decided you could each receive a pattern 🙂
Bern, Anne, Melissa and Sue will soon receive their PDF patterns – thank you all for entering.
Bern – I can’t seem to find an email address for you on your profile so if you could let me know what it is that would be great.

I hope everyone has a blessed and peaceful weekend. We will be celebrating the beginning of Advent, that beautiful time in the church as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Our Saviour.

Stuff in progress…

by Kelly Leave a Comment

Thanks to Hilary’s help in finding me a suitable pattern – a lovely log cabin cot quilt. This for my sister’s first baby, due in January, very exciting!

She has painted the room a lovely green and the baby furniture is white, so the fabric colours I chose to compliment the existing colour scheme. I think it’s going to look gorgeous.

I’ve taken up my courage and am trying another knit. It’s so enjoyable to be knitting again and so far, so good – no mistakes! The pattern is “Little Annie” by Tikki. I’ll keep you updated on it’s progress, but don’t hold your breath, it’s pretty slow going for me.

I’m also waiting on a painfully slow supplier for some fabric to dye and sew into dresses for a custom order.

What are you working on this week?

Quick reminder – the giveaway will be drawn tomorrow so if you haven’t entered yet you still have time!

White & dark choc chip cookies

by Kelly 1 Comment

125g butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup caster sugar
1 egg
1 cup plain flour
1 cup SR flour
1/4 teaspoon bicarb soda
1/4 cup white chocolate dots (add more if you like)
1/4 cup chopped milk cooking chocolate (add more if you like)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream the butter and 2 sugars together. Add egg and continue to beat. Slowly add flours and bicarb. If mixture is a little dry you can add a splash of milk and mix in.
With a wooden spoon mix in the 2 chocolate types.
Spoon very generous teaspoonfuls onto a greased tray and press lightly with a fork.
Bake for around 10 minutes at 180 degrees (C)
Cool on a wire baking rack.