Hello Springtime.

 Hello lovely friends and happy first day of April.

Ahh…how beautiful the world is at this time of year. 

I cannot help but think how magical it would be if we had springtime all year round…

Possibly my favourite thing about Spring are the delicate blush coloured blossoms that look like little pink marshmallows adorning the bare winter trees…

Their varied pink hues beautify the landscape, bleak and brown after an icy cold winter, and their sweet scent fills the air…

Lovely warm Spring weather means hours spent out of doors, breathing in fresh air and soaking up some delicious sunshine.

And what better time to do a spring inspired photo shoot of the five younger children…

Our Bethy girl, all grown up at almost fifteen…

The lovely Gabrielle at almost twelve years old…

Our Rebekah girl at nine years old…

Sweet Sofia at seven years old…

And the adorable little Caleb at almost three years old.

I can’t believe that Nancy and I have now been in China with our family for almost six weeks.

We had a whirlwind first month which is why you haven’t heard from me…

We have explored quite a bit too – we spent a whole day visiting an ancient town, we attended a paper making workshop held at a museum, walked around a beautiful garden…experienced a traditional Chinese meal and dressed up in traditional Chinese costume.

I am eagerly looking forward to sharing these experiences with you…

In the meantime, you can follow me on Instagram where I regularly post photographs of our daily experiences.

Blessings and love…

Kelly-Anne

Rebekah's Bake-Off Inspired Birthday Celebration

Hello lovely friends...

I just realised that I have yet to share pictures of sweet Rebekah's bake off inspired birthday celebration with you.

In the weeks leading up to Rebekah's birthday we had been watching the first three seasons of The Great British Bake-Off and decided that creating something of our own bake-off, on a much simpler and smaller scale, would be a lovely way for us to enjoy her ninth birthday.

We had a wonderful day creating beautiful celebration themed cakes and afterwards enjoyed a slice of cake and a cup of tea...

We divided ourselves into teams - Beth and Gabrielle baked a cake together, Sofia and I made up another team and Nancy and Rebekah were the third and final team.  

Caleb enjoyed helping here and there and sampling as we went along. {{smiles}}

Mom and I made Rebekah a gorgeous pink apron which we gifted to her on the morning of her birthday.  We made a matching apron for her doll too which I unfortunately didn't photograph.

This is the stunning cake Nancy and Rebekah made...I think the result was quite professional! 

Oh, I just have to share a picture of the sweet birthday girl and her mommy!  

This is the gorgeous cake Beth and Gabrielle made...I love how they chose to decorate it!
I think I may try this technique sometime too...

The happy bakers - Team Beth and Gabrielle

Sofia had a very definite picture in her head with regards to our cake.

She wanted it to be pink.

And we had to use plastic icing.

We ended up spending so much time baking our cake though (I will humbly confess that our cake did taste the best...) that the decorating was a little hurried towards the end.

All in all we had a delightful day in the kitchen - I think the bake-off was a wonderful success!  

Everyone was exhausted afterwards, though.

It is also over a month later and I still have no desire to eat cake.  

{{winks}}

Have a blessed Lord's day, sweet friends...

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Green Floral Print Outfit...

 How do you do, lovely readers...
A happy new week to you!

~ Beautiful things come together one stitch at a time...  Author Unknown ~

Let me show you the sweet green floral outfit I sewed for Rebekah last week...

This pretty summery shirt is so simple to make...I used narrow cream coloured bias binding for the sleeves, which I have seen used on many garments for little girls.

This shirt needed a little something to finish it off...nothing too big or bulky, and these lovely fabric flowers were just the thing!  

The simple instructions for making your own can be found on The Enchanting Rose here...

 

I made another fabric flower and securely sewed it to a hair-slide...

I covered the buttons for the centre of the flowers with green fabric too so as to give the overall appearance of the outfit a more professional finish...

...A frill on the bottom of the shirt and three-quarter pants gives feminine charm to a practical, comfortable outfit which would otherwise be very plain...

...I also added a sweet pocket on the back of the three-quarter pants for more detail.

Rebekah was simply delighted with her new outfit and is already awaiting an opportunity to wear it out!  {{smiles}}

Next up is a similar outfit for Gabrielle as well as a shirt dress which I plan to make for her birthday in April.  Beth has requested pyjama pants and a viscose jumpsuit whilst Mom is in need of a new peasant blouse and Caleb a tracksuit....  And Sofia is pleading with me to make her a new tiered skirt and short-sleeved peasant blouse!  Thankfully, I dearly love to sew and am only too happy to have so much opportunity to practice!  {{smiles}} 

Blessings to you, dear friends...  

Rebekah's Red & White Tiered Skirt...

I never thought, all those years ago when I first began to sew, that I would come to love it as passionately as I do now...

Paper craft was my first love then and I spent many pleasurable hours at my little table in the living area, crafting to my heart's content...

I still dearly love to make make cards and dream of someday picking up scrapbooking once again too...

Lately I have begun to enjoy sewing simple clothing items more... I have found that making clothes requires plenty of practice before it becomes something you do for pleasure...

Sometime last year I shared about the little tiered skirt I made for my sister, Sofia...

Shortly after completing this garment, I chose fabric for another skirt, this time for Rebekah.

But the material lay on my shelves for many months before I had a moment to put it together.

The other morning I made up my mind to work on it early in the day, even before breakfast.

By tea time that morning it was complete and Rebekah was all smiles as she tried on her sweet skirt for the first time!

 

 

I was so very pleased with the outcome...I had a delightful time creating it and realised how much I love to make clothes for my sisters...how I love it when little girls are dressed in a feminine way!  {{smiles}} 

And now for a few pictures of our little rosebud, Rebekah, wearing her pretty new skirt...❤

 

 

 

~❤~
 

Rebekah is seven years old and is our quiet, creative sister..
She has a kind, giving heart...❤

 

Her favourite colour is red and for a while we would call her "Red-Bekah!"

Rebekah plays beautifully with brother, Caleb and is a wonderful help in our home...
Just the other morning she learnt how to use the mop and washed the kitchen floor for us most cheerfully indeed!

Sometime ago I wrote a character sketch on Rebekah...if you would like to read it, you can view the post on my previous blog over here.

~
And thus ends a simply wonderful sewing project!
I cannot wait to start working on something else!❤

Blessings on your week, sweet friends!
Thank you so much for stopping by, your visits bring a smile to my face!

~
 Today I am sharing this sewing project with...

The Art of Homemaking Mondays

A Wise Woman Builds Her Home

Raising Homemakers

Modest Mom Blog