(cup)cake boss

After watching an episode of Cake Boss, my kid was excited to try her hand at cake decorating. So I got together with my sister and set up a mini workshop for all our kids.

At my husband’s suggestion, we ditched the store bought fondant (up to $17 bucks for way more than we needed) and spent about $4 to make Marshmallow Fondant! Not only did it taste good, but we did ourselves.

Sis mixed up some buttercream, adding color to half, so we had two choices for piping. A nice spring green for “grass” and an off-white as a simple background.

Using the Wilton’s icing dye, we got some good colors on our fondant.

And the kids really took to the notion of edible modelling clay. Making some fantastic creations.

And lest you think “Man, she’s good at everything,” my modelling skills leave a lot of room for improvement. That is one wonky elephant.

The sewing continues

More sewing with free stuff (or semi-free, re-used stuff). The top is some cream jersey I got in a free bag from a NextDoor neighbor. The bottom is a sheet that I loved but that never fit even though it was “fitted.” This adorable pattern was on pinterest and I’m really loving the LBG website. I need to add it to my Feedly so I can see the updates.

I used the serger for everything but the pockets, I just don’t have the same control on it as I do on the sewing machine. So I sewed the pocket pieces together a little neater. Of course, neither of my children wants it. Thank goodness my sister has a girl about the same age.

Macy Cowl

Sinclair Patterns put out a call for testers for a new cowl neck tank. I’m a recent Instagram follower of the brand and was all over the chance to try a new pattern on my serger. Plus, tank means no sleeves, woot.

I thought I had enough black to make a cool evening tank. Unfortunately, it turns out I overestimated the amount of jersey in large pieces. But! I had grey & black in similar weights. And ta-da! A color blocked tank was born.

I love the neckline, and it has its own lining, which is pretty sharp. There’s binding on the back of the sleeves and neck but not the front, because of said lining. And despite instructions, I wanted to use my serger for EVERYTHING. And I managed it for all but the bottom hem. I also lengthened the pattern, though I probably didn’t need the 5″, closer to 2″; the pattern was designed for someone 5’6″ or under.

I’m definitely thinking about making this in a brighter color. My wardrobe is getting a little “Queen Victoria”-esque, post Albert.

Oh! And I realized that being able to read my own knitting makes it way easier to tell the “wrong” side of jersey from the “right”. I can also tell that I sewed the black sideways. Oops.

Serge On

Pulled out my serger and decided to just go for it. After all, the fabric was free from a friend. I found the slouchy tee from It’s Always Autumn and decided not to waffle. The fabric is…not me. But the cut of the shirt is pretty cute and comfy. My plan is to use some bird fabric from Fabric.com that I bought for the final product. I just need to edit the collar a bit, it flops around a little.

Mending

In the on-going trend towards mending things instead of tossing them, I decided to put some new, spiffier! buttons on to some crop pants I wear quite often (despite the un-flatteringness of the larger pair).

Since only one button was missing, I started with that button. There are 6 buttons on these pants.

For now, though, I’m sticking with the back two in green.

As wrinkly as they are, these are the better looking of the pair when on 😉 They’re full length and then the bottoms roll up into capri-ish length. I also repaired the grey pair with pink buttons.

It’s over?

When I started this blanket, I had a couple of ideas “sketched” out. I think it’s pretty obvious which I went with. Though now that I’m done…

I kept re-counting what I needed as I neared the end of my Purple Flower blanket. 3 years. More than 200 hexis. Several different G hooks dug from the depths. Countless project bags, some stashed in the car for emergency fiber.

And thankfully I mostly stitched them on as I went. I only had the final 20 to do as the last go. On the floor.

It’s not quite the size of a full size bed. But it’ll fit nicely in the dinette/bed of the trailer.

I did debate a border. I swam through similar projects on Rav. It does add a finishing touch. But it’s not THAT much better. so I decided to forgo it.

And of course, as soon as I clipped the last tail on the last hex? “I wonder if I should start another that goes better with the interior of the trailer?” Three years and that’s what I thought?!

La Purisima

We headed up over the hill in to the Santa Ynez Valley the other weekend. Sadly, no wine tasting (though I prefer Paso Robles for that anyway). Our destination was the La Purisima Mission for some mild re-enactment of the “days of yore.”

They were supposed to have sheep shearing! Unfortunately, according to the docent at the Visitor Center, they couldn’t find the sheep. Uh…

At any rate, we did get a chance to feel some un-treated wool and even to try some carding. That was hard work!

And then we went inside the cool adobe buildings to see a giant loom and spinning wheel.

Definitely worth a trip to the past!

On the way out, of course I had to stop in La Tienda. I may not be much of a shopper, but it’s like “pouring one out” for my mother.