Sailor Bear Birthday Cake

I was asked to make a similar cake seen at  www.pinkcakebox.com for a 1yr old’s birthday, and this is my version.

It was fun, I made a mold for the shells and little fish and then used fondant in the molds. I painted the shells and used brown sugar for the sand. The 2 tiered cake is covered with fondant, but the smash cake for the baby is buttercream, cause we wanted him to get nice and messy, and that just would not happen with a fondant covered cake! 

 

Here is a close up of the boat and bear, both made from fondant with some tylose added.

Both cakes together:
 

I’m on a roll……

So today, I was reading at Fresh Lemons and she posted about a Scrappy Trip Along. This sounded intriguing to me, so I clicked the link that further explained this quilt tutorial  Scrappy Trips Around the World from Quiltville.  My first thought was, “I can do this!  It’s just straight stitching, it makes 12″ squares, and uses up scraps and fabric stash!!!”

Great!!! Soooo…… another quilting project, but this one will move quickly, and I am going to try to make 2 to 4 squares per day, at least 5 days during the week.  So far today, I have made 3, and cut strips for several more.  The squares really don’t take much time to put together, and since they are 12″ squares, it should only take 9 squares plus borders for a baby quilt.  I’m not sure what size I am making yet, but I will figure that out as I go along.   I am finding the most tedious part for me, is cutting the strips, and also deciding on which fabrics to use (this is probably my biggest time waster).  I will add photos as soon as my camera battery charges…   Why is it, it’s always dead when I NEED it??

Learning to Quilt

I am not a quilter. However, I have been sewing for many years now, mostly kids clothing. But this year, I have decided to try to learn some quilting techniques, and so I am going to be following this  Skill Builder Block of the Month from Pile O’Fabric.  This will be a year long process, and is broken down month by month. I have included a banner for the block of the month class, if you would like to find out more, or participate. The only quilts I have sewn are little doll quilts for swaps at Sewing Mamas. These are something that I know I can finish up, as they are only about 16×20″.

Cookie decorating for a Contest!

I decided to enter LilaLoa’s Cookie Contest.  I’m pretty new to decorating cookies, and I really loved her idea for thinking outside the “box”, or “present!  These were the contest rules:

Bake a cookie using the present cookie cutter or template provided and then decorate that cookie to look like anything except a present. So I got out my paper and pencil, and sketched (scribbled)  a few designs, then started baking and coloring icing.  Here is what I came up with.

Thanks for looking

Last Week before Christmas!!

I have a million things running through my head, as well as several “lists” that I have made. The main things on the list are baking related, with a side of sewing.  The kids are on winter break, so they will be here to help…..if that’s what you want to call it.  Hoping to accomplish several types of cookies, cake pops, and whatever else sounds good while in the kitchen!  I probably won’t have much time for writing, but will try to post photos of the weeks happenings

 

 

Garden Skirts

I was recently in Salt Lake City for The Sewing Summit, and I rented a car and was able to do some fun fabric shopping while I was there. I visited several quilt shops, which were very inspirational. I loved seeing all of the great displays, along with the bright, colorful fabrics.

I also went to Hobby Lobby, since we dont’ have them around here, and purchased a few fun cotton woven prints, that are destined to become little girls skirts. I finished one already and here it is. I LOVE the fabric combos and the way they look together.

Lovely fabrics from Hobby Lobby.

~~Just wanted to note, that we recently had a Hobby Lobby open in the next city over, and I visit often. I really have to hold back from just purchasing ton’s of yardage, as they do carry some wonderful prints, which are almost always 30% off!!

Dyeing Day!

Today is dyeing day.  Bamboo velour is what I am dyeing. It’s soft, cuddly, warm, soft, luxurious, soft…soft…soft… and takes the dye extremely well!!  I use it to make scarves, blankets, cloth wipes, hoodies, stuffed animals, pillow cases.. you get the picture.  Anyway, I really like dyeing outside in the summer  when the weather is nice.

In the process of dyeing....

 

Now sewn into a baby blanket.