Having confidence in tweaking...

One of the things I've heard a lot over the years is a lament over the lack of confidence many people have in making changes to the colours or fabrics I use in an Elefantz pattern - and not just a lack of confidence in making my designs, but patterns by any designer whose style they love.

Now this 'feeling' is not new to me as I also felt that way back in the early years when I was teaching myself to embroider and quilt. I first began to teach myself (and Blossom) through craft magazines late in 2005, and for the next few years I made almost 'carbon copies' of the patterns which caught my eye. 

By 2008 things began to change and my 'brave' muscle was flexed as I began to tweak both fabric colours and thread colours. Early 2009 and I was brave enough to begin designing my own freebies to share here on the blog. 

You see, it's a process. Like learning to bake a muffin. You begin by following every measurement and ingredient in exact proportions to the original recipe, but as time goes by you ditch the recipe and set forth tweaking flavours and using a variety of ingredients you love to create new and delicious muffin combinations.

Another thing that comes in to play when you're nervous about making changes to an original design is that sometimes you miss or look past something which just may have caught your eye if it was made in fabrics that are close to your heart.

An example of this is a pattern of Allie's I made this week. 

Allie's style is more folksy than mine, and she uses solids as well as prints in many of her patterns. Now, I'm being honest when I tell you that I *love* her designs and the unique way she can make simplicity incredibly fetching to the eye (and the heart). Over the years I've taken time out from my own work to indulge in the pleasure of making a few of Allie's patterns and each one is quite different from her original...yet it's still obviously her design.

Just as Allie proof reads my patterns, I in turn get to proof read hers - the bonus being we both have all of each other's patterns before anyone else does! You may not know it, but Allie has just launched her own monthly club, the Applique Club (you can read about it HERE) and it was one of the patterns in her first month's issue that I got to play with this week.

Delving into my stash I chose fabrics very different from Allie's original. Colour is needed in my home and in my life so I think you'll agree my version of her Prim Flowers Wall Hanging ticks that 'colour box'...

I'm deliberately showing you my tweaked version first because I wanted you to 'see' what I saw in my mind's eye after a first glimpse at Allie's original (below).

That gorgeous jug, the elongated churn dash (which you KNOW is my favourite quilt block)...I swooned and declared to her, "I must make this!"

Now you may look at my colourful version and say "oh, no that's not me" but fall in love with Allie's prim folksy palette, OR you might not be sold on either version because you're a girl who plays with batiks or 30's repro or shabby chic or wool felt or something else completely different.

The thing is, almost any pattern can be made in fabrics *you* love.

So if you've held back from sewing or stitching particular designs, even though there's something about a certain pattern that has caught your eye and you can't stop thinking about it, flex that 'brave' muscle and give it a go, make it your own.

My version of the "Prim Flowers" wall hanging by Allie-Oops Designs now adds colour to the greenery which dominates one side of our front entrance and makes my heart happy as can be.

There was one other change I made to Allie's pattern. Her version has binding but I chose to finish the wall hanging envelope style instead.

Allie's pattern includes an optional Scripture verse which is a separate stitchery pinned to one side.

Just for fun, if you were to make your own version of Allie's "Prim Flowers" what style/colours/fabrics/tweaks would you use?

If you'd like to see all three applique patterns in Allie Hartom's new Club pop over here and have a peek.

I'll be back tomorrow with that long overdue tutorial I promised a couple of weeks ago, and yes, finally, that Cinnamon Scroll recipe!

May your blessings flow freely like a bubbling brook in spring and all the work of your hands prosper to the glory of God,

hugs

Goose egg cake and a quilt to make...

Last week I made a new acquaintance.

Sylvia lives not far from me and is a fellow crafter who reads my blog. We'd been planning a catch up since about November but my life got in the way so it was delayed until Mr E returned to work and Blossom was 'safe and sound' with her pregnancy. 

As Rosie was coming over for our regular morning tea/stitching get-together last Tuesday I invited Sylvia to join us, and what a nice visit that was.

When she arrived I was handed a large paper cup which held an enormous goose egg. Knowing that I loved to bake Sylvia thought I'd appreciate her 'home-laid' gift and she was right.

Initially I was going to use the egg to bake a sponge but when I popped my apron on this morning for a few hours of baking I decided to try a recipe Sylvia suggested, the Golden Cake for March. 

(She found the recipe on The Quince Tree blog which you'll find here)

What a clever recipe this is! I've since discovered it's an old recipe, and one which Mary Berry uses. I love Mary Berry and almost everything she bakes. 

The goose egg weighed the same as three chook eggs and had a deep orange-yellow yolk...

The recipe is actually known as the "weight of an egg" cake because you weigh the eggs and then add the same weight of butter, sugar and self-raising flour to give you one perfect cake!

The goose egg when cracked weight 147 gms so I creamed 147 gms of castor sugar with 147 gms of butter before adding the egg and 147 gms of self-raising flour.  I also added the grated zest of a lemon for flavour.

The cake mix was a lovely yellow...

I thought it might be nice baked in a ring pan (a bit quicker than a square or round tin) and 30 minutes later it slid out of the cake tin beautifully.

Once cooled I spread lime butter cream icing over the top before finishing with a scattering of coconut.

Reminded me of the frangipani flowers in my front garden...

Inside the cake is soft and golden, beautiful to eat...and the tangy lime icing is delicious too!

As I'm visiting Blossom tomorrow the cake was just the start of my baking day. She loves having mum arrive with home baked goodies!

Scrummy Slice is an old favourite, full of medjool dates and coconut with a lemon butter icing...

I'll keep half aside for us and give Bloss the other half along with some of the goose egg cake.

I had a reader ask recently "what is a slice" which made me think this is an Australian/NZ term and not used elsewhere? In the UK it would be called a traybake, but not sure what my American friends would call it.

A slice is baked in a long tray and usually has two, perhaps three layers. It's not very high and is cut into squares for storing and serving.

Scrummy Slice is baked in one complete layer with the iced topping added afterwards while it's still warm so that it 'just' begins to melt into the base.

The third recipe I baked was a Pineapple Upside Down Cake. 

Mr E had requested 'old fashioned' hamburgers for dinner tonight (the kind we grew up with from the corner fish'n'chip shop with fresh beef mince, beetroot and pineapple, pickles, sauce and loads of onions) and the only can of Australian pineapple slices I could find was a really large one so I needed to use up the extra, and what better way that an Pineapple Upside Down cake?

Now the odd thing here was that I didn't use my tried and trusted recipe, but used another from the Commonsense Baking book. 

Normally I make this in a large round tin with very high sides and that's the pan I prepared, so I greased the tin as usual, spreading the butter, brown sugar and pineapple across the base.

But then I made up the cake batter...and realised it was a much smaller amount than I normally make. 

Forging ahead I poured the batter over the caramel pineapple base and popped it in the oven for the suggested time.

It looked great when I pulled it from the oven and following my regular habit it was left on the bench to cool for 15 minutes before turning out.

And that's when it happened.

Small cake in very large tin.

Long way to fall from tin to plate. 

It was in pieces.

I flipped it right side up and the aroma was tantalising. That's when I remembered Mr E's words from another broken cake a few years back..."It still tastes the same when I eat it, so don't worry. It will be delicious anyhow!"

Bless his heart, I knew he'd say the same about this cake. 

I made a lime jelly, bought some custard (not everything has to be made from scratch in an already busy day), and decided we'd have this 'trifle' for dessert the rest of the week. When he came home from work an hour ago and I told him he just licked his lips. 

Love that man!

My dear and very talented friend Allie is hosting a Stitch-A-Long on her blog! 

Every week until early April there's a new block in her "A Garden of Contentment" quilt and this week she began with the 'Peace' block.

I'm sewing along (well I may have gotten the blocks early and be stitching ahead of time...LOL!)...

These are the pretty "Meadow" fabrics I'm using for the applique and block sashing...

There's a blue in this range as well and at first I wasn't going to use it but you'll see next week that I changed my mind because it features in block 2.

I've stem stitched the flower stem and added running stitch around the applique pieces and beside the stem. You'll see this a lot in my work...next to back stitch, running stitch is my favourite. 

Visit Allie HERE and you may find yourself sewing along too!

This is Allie's finished quilt top with all the blocks. I love it!

I have a lot on my mind I want to write about but it will have to wait for another day, and another day, and another day. This gentle domestic life keeps providing the most wonderful rabbit trails to follow and I find myself learning more and more as I follow them.

Hopefully I'll be back in a couple of days with the first of those thoughts. 

Until then, smile, laugh, be kind, give thanks and embrace even the smallest nugget of goodness because it may just keep you looking up when all else fails. 

Precious one, you are wonderful.

hugs

Block 10 "Postcards from Heaven"...

Healing can come in many ways, not just the physical sense as we initially assume.

Emotional healing, spiritual healing, relationship healing - these have all occurred in my life at one time or another since accepting Jesus as my Lord, King, Redeemer, Healer and Saviour in 1991.

I can indeed personally attest to the Lord healing my body and my life many times over.

Occasionally the healing was relatively painless, but mostly, just as with the body when it is injured, there was initial pain and discomfort. Yet still, the healing came in time.

This month's Postcard from Heaven block was designed by Allie and is my favourite of all twelve we're sharing this year. The promise of Exodus 15:26 goes far beyond the surface to the very depths of our human condition...it reminds us Who He Is, and What He Can Do in every area of our life.

I still have broken parts of me which need to mend, and I do not doubt that they will because He Who Made Me promises it will be so. 

Healing will not come on my agenda, but on His, and that's okay because His healing is perfect and His timing is 'just right'.

Of course some healing does requires a quicker move of God's hand, such as the nail on my wedding ring finger which I sliced off last night as I chopped onions with a newly sharpened blade. Fortunately He created my body to heal broken skin on it's own so in time the pain will subside, the nail bed will heal and a new nail will grow over the wound. Ah, if only all healing were that obvious.

The healing which we need from the inside, emotional wounds that are hidden deep, buried out of sight and inaccessible to the stranger, are often the hardest to heal and the longest pain we suffer.

My own life is a scattered rubbish heap of painful emotional mistakes, rejections, injuries and losses, yet one by one He removes or restores and I slowly become whole. 

He heals.

He wants to heal.

Sometimes we just need to let Him.

When I figured this out and accepted that some healing will be painful I was no longer looking back, but looking forward at what a healed life could become. 

Like me, you just need to TRUST Him, and believe me you can.

Allie's October postcard verse is quite fitting for her own life this month.

Her precious mum, a woman I've grown to love during the seven or eight years of 'across the ocean expanse' friendship with her daughter, undergoes open heart surgery on Tuesday.

I know Allie's holding fast to Jesus and all our prayers for her mum's operation are like incense before the throne of God, so please join us in praying for healing.

Allie's postcard uses the KJV text and is stitched beautifully as a redwork piece.

Visit her Allie Oops Designs blog HERE to download her free October 'Postcards from Heaven' BOM pattern and see more of her block. 

If you'd like the modern wording I have used you can download the text only here.

May you have a blessed and healing Sabbath,

Block 8 "Postcards from Heaven" BOM...

These months are really traveling quickly through 2016. It seems like only a couple of months ago Allie and I were making plans for this BOM, and now we're into our 8th block!

The August design is by my dear friend Allie, and I love how she has focused on the importance of following Jesus, the one true Light.

Allie stitches all her blocks in Redwork, such a homely style which truly resonates with the motivation we had for these postcards, God writing as a father to his daughters...

To download Allie's free pattern visit her blog HERE.

My blocks are all stitched in colour with the addition of either beads or buttons. You'll also notice that instead of the KJV text which Allie uses I write my words in conversation form, as one would write a message on a postcard.

 If you'd like to stitch my wording simply download the template to trace HERE.

Missed the first seven blocks?

You'll find them HERE.

May you be blessed as you stitch!

hugs

Postcards from Heaven, block 6...

Hi, I'm just dropping in from my 10 day 'holiday at home' to remind you that today is Allie's turn to share a block in our shared 2016 project, "Postcards from Heaven".

I really love the verse she chose for June as it's a wonderful reminder that every day is new, every day is a joyous greeting between me and Jesus which promises I'll never walk alone. His breath lives in me, His life revives my weary soul, His love surpasses everything my life can offer.

Here is Allie's original and pretty KJV Redwork version. Isn't that rooster adorable!? Head over here to her blog to download the pattern... 

This is my version of Allie's postcard.

I write my verse in conversation style, as a father might write a postcard to his child... 

 If you'd prefer to use my wording you can download the template to trace it here...

 All my blocks have either beads or buttons added within the stitchery. These tiny gold glass beads sparkle in the sunrise...

 I also omit sections of the stitching (the postmark, verse reference and the word 'postcard') leaving them 'raw' with my brown Pigma pen, much like a postmark appears faded on a letter.

 NEW to our Postcards From Heaven BOM?

If you've missed any of the previous blocks I have the links listed here on the Postcards from Heaven BOM page.

Every Postcards block is free this year so you can start any time by saving the patterns to your computer and stitching them when you have the time.

 

The next GENTLE DOMESTICITY block:

 Well, that's it from me today. I'm back to my 'holiday at home' but will return for a quick blog post on Sunday to share the June block in my "Gentle Domesticity" BOM. If you don't have block 5 (May) download it by the 4th while it's still free. All info on the BOM is here, or go directly to my Craftsy Shop (here) for the pattern today.

 Blessings to you all!

hugs

A well needed break...

It's my birthday on Sunday and when Mr E asked me last month what I'd like as a gift the only thing that came to mind was a weekend away. 

Away from the house, away from the office...away so I could catch my breath and sift through everything running through my mind and leave much of it behind by the time we return home.

Bless his heart, we're off to Cairns for two nights. How God thought I was worthy of having that man love me is a mystery! 

I've packed some newly designed and prepared blocks to stitch for my Gentle Domesticity BOM...

...my Cath Kidston yarn so I can make a start on these crochet  crotch-et granny squares...

...a new book which after the intro and first chapter has me excited to read the rest...

...and my own teacup with my favourite tea.

It's ghastly hot here in the tropics at the moment and we're holidaying in it (Cairns is 400 klms north of where we live) instead of heading south to cooler climes! Ah well, we weren't to know when we booked, but the nice thing is that we have an air-conditioned suite overlooking the ocean, a pool, night markets, excellent street stalls, restaurants, and each other.

We can walk after dark along the Marina, get up at dawn to go get coffee, veggie juice and breakfast, and spend the rest of my birthday relaxing in the suite with no 'work' to do (always a distraction when you work from home).

Reading, sewing, crochet, swimming, sleeping, and watching good movies.

Yep, my kind of break away from home.

And because this is out-of-holiday season we got our motel suite for a bargain. 

What will you be doing this weekend?

Are you looking for something new to stitch?

My friend Allie just released the cutest stitchery pattern "Whirly Twirly Garden" and I love it! Designs like this make me smile as I dream of lazy afternoons in a spring garden or if you live in the tropics like me this is definitely a winter scene. Hard to imagine if your winters involve snow, right?

Visit Allie HERE and see more of her pretty pattern!

 

I'm sorry I didn't share the recipe for my Pear & Cranberry gluten free loaf this week, but I'll definitely have it for you next week. With Blossom moving house, then unpacking into the new home these last seven days, I've not been home much and the blog was mostly ignored. 

But life's like that because family comes first. 

See you next week!

hugs

Block 2 "Postcards from Heaven"...

It's the 1st of February and that means it's my sweet friend Allie's turn to share a new postcard pattern with you!

Here is her "Postcard from Heaven", block 2...

Beautiful, huh!? And the fabrics she's chosen are gorgeous, too. 

Allie is stitching her blocks in redwork and using the KJV as her text, whilst mine are being stitched to compliment the fabric I've chosen for their final display, and the wording will be more conversational some months (my own design months) or written from a modern Bible text during Allie's design months.

I'm also adding little embellishments like buttons or beads, and leaving sections of my postcards unstitched (the Scripture reference, wavy lines on the stamp, and 'postcard')...

Head over HERE to Allie's blog to download her postcard pattern and you can be stitching within the hour!

Missed Block 1?

Don't fret, the first block is still available from my Craftsy shop as a free download if you've just heard about this free BOM recently (all the info is HERE). Over the course of this year Allie and I are tag teaming our blocks so in December we shall have designed and gifted you six postcards each.

 Here are Allie's first two blocks together...

We pray you are mightily blessed!

I've had a number of requests lately to re-issue the full pattern for The Lord's Prayer quilt.

This was a free BOM I shared through 2014 and includes 26 stitcheries and a quilt pattern to embroider and piece the prayer that Jesus taught His disciples.

You'll find it HERE on my shop again as a free download.

Have a wonderful week!

hugs