FaceBook fading...

Facebook is finally fading...because I found a new toy that has been there all along! My oven, who hardly recognizes me... is making my aquaintance recently. It started with my granddaughter, Alexis,considering her future in culinary school versus hairdressing, versus community college.

Paying to learn to bake is pretty expensive, as it turns out. Community college is seeming to be a better deal.....so..... dear GD, how would you like to learn to bake with me???

Well she thought that would be great fun, so I re-arranged my kitchen and brought out all my baking tools that I could find, and then bought some more and then a super video-packed on-line baking book that really focused on the cake decorating I wanted to get into.

And off we go!

Lexie is more into cupcakes and all the cute things you can do with them. So we started simple, with a list of goodies in my kitchen for baking. She had to find all of them, so she would know where to get all her ingredients and tools as she baked. She was surprised at how long the list was!

BTW, she is 18 and is VERY limited in what she has baked in the past. So we had a fun time cooking from scratch. She made a simple chocolate cupcake with peppermint creme frosting. She decided to make half of them green and half of them white. The emerald toppers had chocolate curls to decorate, and the creamy white had bits of hard candy broken up with a hammer (she got out a bit of frustration with that!)

We were so excited to share them with the family at our Tuesday night get-together that we FORGOT TO TAKE A PICTURE

I made out a little opinion paper for each family member to give their opinion of the cupcake. It worked out very nicely, as we asked them to please be honest and not give her a 10 just because we are all family. It averaged out to about a 7, which I thought was a fair evaluation for her first try.


THESE WERE HER NEXT ATTEMPT




She is going to start her own blog and explain more about her adventures with me, so it is enough said that these cupcakes were not as pretty but soooooo much better tasting than the first. She got 8's and 9's on these. I'll let her tell you the secret ingredient...

On to my own trek into cakery...
I was going to be meeting my two sisters at our "Sisters Sewing Sircle" in a couple days, so it was the perfect motivation for making a desert. I chose to use a box cake for my first try, because I wanted to focus on the frosting more than the cake. I followed a couple extra pointers from that on-line book and the cake came out nice and smooth and even, and for the first time came out of the pans perfectly!!!

I got brave and tried cutting the two layers into four, so there could be a filling. I made a little frosting 'dam' around the edge and put in blueberry preserves for the filling in a lemon cake. Then I did the rough frost to keep the crumbs under control. Which WORKED!

The white underlay came out pretty good, and I loved the paper-towel lace effect. But the frosting for the yellow flowers was softened by the fact I had put it in the fridge overnight. I don't know what the cold does, but the petals wouldn't stiffen. I won't refrigerate the left-over frostings again.

The mail brought my first order for new fun tools, and I ripped it open and used the drop flower tip for the blue flowers. And because I didn't have enough pastry bags or know-how, I didn't change the drop flower tip for a star tip and the edging is not all that it should be. NOW I have the merngue powder to stiffen up the iceing and have figured out what to do about changing tips.

My sisters were amazed that I had made it and loved the taste as much as the look!!
Sucess!!

I know I have a lot to improve on, but I felt pretty good about my first foray into baking with a purpose.

well hello there, blog...

Haven't been by in months, as I discovered Facebook and all the fun games it had to offer. And then there is the chatting going on. And messages coming in. And gifts to be received from fellow players.
It just goes on and on, and I am HOOKED right along with so many others.
My daughter Teri got me started with FarmTown and it merrily went on from there. I have since deleted FarmTown, for the cuter Farmville and am even more intrigued with Fishville.
And then my granddaughter got me going on Petville and is my stiffest competetion!!! lol

That same daughter, Teri, just started her own blog today, so I may stop in here more often after visiting hers. She wants to push her writing ability and see if anything really solid comes of it.

Yes...I've been busy

It's been months, I know. I completely re-did my craft/sewing room to another part of the house. We had the floor re-finished and of course the room had to be totally empty to accomplish this. Which gave me a chance to design the spacing for my stuff, and that meant cabinets for the stuff, and a new sewing table.



So here is the beginnings of that table


Lots of little parts...


And of course Maggie my dog decided the parts were tasty!!!


And then after muuuuuch difficulty getting these two movable panels put together I turned the table over thinking I was done. See those white lines on the hinged pieces of the flaps??? THEY ARE UPSIDE DOWN!!



At last----- It's done




And now for the three tall cabinets and two small ones.

Here is the beginning of that project, the first small cabinet. It took me a week of slowly doing a bit at a time to put them all together...



Here is the space I have to fill with those wonderful storage cabinets to hide all my material and trims and part projects and anything else I can stuff in there.


Enough for now. I'll show more progress tomorrow.

I'm back...just for a minute

Here are three little mini-purses I made for a shop here in town. That is what has kept me non-stop busy and finding it hard to blog. I also set up and printed dozens of note cards from screensaver photos. The owner wanted local color for them- and postcards for tourists, as well as townfolk who wanted to show off their town.

Then there were the journals, which I just realized are gone without my taking their pics. Bummer. She wanted simple styles that wouldn't have to be too pricey, so I had to back off lots of extras and she loved the results. She even gave me ideas to make them slightly different styles.

And I also did quite a bit for another shop down closer to the ocean. Higher end tickets were possible as the area is a bit more affluent.






I did these with my embellisher and kept the hand-sewed additions to a minimum. They are big enough for the cell phone and keys and charge cards, license and have longer straps to go shopping with.


This last one is smaller and will hold the cell, and not much more, therefore just a little strap was needed.


Off to more projects...

Latest doings

Finished my crazy quilt wall hanging and hung it in the kitchen over the phone to give me something to look at while I am talking. LOL


Here is a bit further back for a better understanding of the setting.

Autumn birds

Finally finished the little autumn birds.


It doesn't show the details well in the close-up but I tried.



I'm asuming it is because it is felt, but this one doesn't seem to want to sit really flat. Something I will have to figure out. Also the colors are super bright like trees on a sunny day, but the pic looks a bit cloudy.

happenings lately...

You name it.. it's been happening.

Haven't been blogging because I was really busy getting as much ready as possible for an offer to sell my stuff at the Nail Salon I go to. She knew I sold on ETSY and said she would like to offer her ladies some of the handcrafts in the area. I think some of the other clients may be adding to what I brought over yesterday, but I am not sure.

This wild and crazy felt job below turned into the little cell phone purse you see below it


It is beaded as well as felted and I learned how to make the handle with some advice over at Fibreand Stitch.


Here is a closer look.


Then I went on to a bigger piece of felting with the browns and oranges of autumn to make this earthy purse that is peach satin lined and beaded all over. Holds the cell phone and a bit more.


That big glass bead was $2.75, which is a lot for me to spend for just one bead, but it was perfect to finish off the look, I think. Here is the back, and I wish the pic had shown all the beading more clearly.


I just love this satin lining. It really gave the felt an elegant feel to it.


Made five quick bookmarks to have something less expensive to offer.


I added a bunch of my small wall hangings that were just coming off ETSY and five lap quilts that were in waiting.
Now I am felting some more - gotta earn the cost of that new embellisher!!
This is similar to a post card and the ATC's I did earlier. I liked the effect so much I decided to enlarge a bit more and add a tree trunk and more birds. You can see white squares where I intend to put the birds, and needed to leave a bit of background exposed to not make the birds 'lumpy' and easier to fuse and sew.


Here, hopefully, you can see the wind blowing in quilting, and the birds are accented and held down with free-motion embroidery.


Now to get some housework caught up and enjoy the outdoors a bit longer. It is getting cooler every day and I'll be inside for months really soon.

Trying something old- that is new to me...

Crazy quilting originaly didn't appeal to me. Too many colors and textures and all that handwork!!!
But I recently saw CQ swaps going on and the blocks had color themes and were using cottons, rather than silks and velvets in some cases. Ah...Hah!!- break the rules and do what you feel like works for you (ME).
So I put together three black and white squares and started looking through all my trims and buttons and threads to find pink embellishments. Reason---That is my kitchen color scheme! On my first try I wanted to keep the results, and that meant hanging it somewhere in my own house. So I have to pick a color scheme that fits some part of the house. I have a skinny piece of wall that could use a bit of color and be see-able by others to appreciate my work...heh,heh.


Here are some of the pinks I could scrape together...

...and a closer look of my first block try.

When I finish, I will add sashes and make it a long skinny piece, maybe even make it look somewhat like a bell-pull. Haven't decided yet.

Did Couple postcards and an ATC

Been ignoring ETSY in order to get a few ATC;s done for swap, but took time out to get this postcard done for the inventory.

Then finished this one up for the "something old/new/borrowed/blue challenge. This one is different in that the challenger wants us all to mail our goody to her and then she mails them out to the exchange partner she has chosen.
The felt base was the 'old' as I have inherited it from my husband's aunt and it had a 15 cent price tag on it for the 8" square.
New is the embelisher I just got to put the card together.
Borrowed is the lite purple strips cut from a piece removed from the bottom of a dress I hemmed.
Blue is the hearts, flowers in the hearts, and blue lace ribbon.

And last was another ATC with kinda fall colors. Fun to work with foil and a new glue I got to attach the enamel doodad in the middle that was formerly an earring.

ATC's fun

These cards were so much fun to make on my new felter. Lots of yarns on top of a gold piece of felt made the background. Then I took the dog for a walk to think about how to make each one a bit different. It worked out so well you can see only three of the five, as two have already gone out in the mail awaiting a trade.




Then there is THIS card...

Pure torture, when I decided to use the red mohair I had felted on the pink half circle as a great frame done in the buttonhole stitch around the edge. Well, I get stubborn when I decide something. So I spent very frustrated minutes trying to get that fuzzy end through a regular needle, then a cross stitch needle. Finally did and found I had to pull the needle through with pliers on every stitch.

Then HORRORS, I ran out of yarn before I got all the way around!!!!! And I had such a long one to start!!!

OH NO, I have to thread another needle, as that last stitch broke the first needle. After a small struggle I had a brainstorm, I had once used some kind of glue to firm up yarn on another project, so I thought it might help again. Took a dot of glue to the end of that fuzz and waited.

It worked! Now just a few more tugs and pulls and it was finished.

Note to self----NEVER use mohair to hand stitch again!!!

ALQS is finished!!!

Amazingly, this started as another challenge piece, "Something borrowed/something blue. I made the blue petals from some strips I had already sewn together from a past project. They were BLUE. Good start, hmmm
But after I cut the petals, I took a good look at my instructions and realized it was not supposed to be more than 6" square!! Well one petal was longer than that!

So lets see what can be done. Oh, Yes, ALQS can be bigger, and I haven't had any ideas for it yet. So off and running I got a whole bunch of bits and pieces and embellished them onto a previously dyed piece that had been sitting around.

What great fun my new embellisher machine is. I like the effect better than fusing. Keeps the three dimensional look. Then I did fuse the petals on and added the fuzzy yar frame for the way to hold them all in place.

Added a yellow circle with more curly yarn and copper ribbon, and quilted windy swirls up towards the top. I meant for bits of the flower to look like they were blown up into the sky.

And that is how "Windy day" was born. Hope my secret partner likes it!

Connecticut River

Took my dog for a ride/walk the other day and got some pretty shots of the water and wildlife.




So I thoght I would share them while I am working on my new "EMBELLISHER-NEEDLE FELTER-PUSHER" I love it!!! It seems so strange not to have to do the fancy threading and cutting off and even just deciding on a color.

It's a Pfaff, and so simple to use. Been thinking about getting one since I started reading FiberNStitch. ANY MORE FELTERS OUT THERE---PLEASE COMMENT AND LET ME KNOW HOW TO FIND YOU. I would love more information, and ideas, and seeing what you do.

Two more ATC's arrived

These were both purchased at ETSY as I wanted to have some examples of what they look like and how they are put together, etc. actually in my hand. I know it seems basic, but I always have this need to know more, to be sure I do it right and equally put in the effort others have done.

I have four put up at my ATC blog and am about to work on a postcard requested from a customer at ETSY She liked my kitty cat called urban hunter and wanted as close a repeat as possible for a gift. Imagine, she liked it enough to keep it and order another for a gift!! Real upper on a downer rainy day, eh???

Also have three more ATC's in the make, gotta add some pretty beads, and then bind them and take their pics. It never ends!

Visiting sisters...no quilting time

Here we are...at least three of us. The other two were joining us the next day. As I mentioned to one of my fellow bloggers, we talk and play cards and sun on the beach and ride around visiting each house and we EAT. It shows!!! I'm the one in lavendar and shades, the next youngest is in pink at my side, and the sitting sis is the one from Georgia. She is also a twin to one of the sisters still not here. The twins were the fourth birth after a brother snuck in. The 'baby' is another sis, who as the youngest is 59. I hit 66 next week, so I get the old lady jokes constantly as they are all younger.

This is a pic of one of my first ATC cards. I loved the idea of artistic cards either bought or traded that were tiny examples of so many artists I admire.


I love the details on this little fish named George. He is a 'pretty' fish, yes he is.


Love this one as it is my first TRADE. Which means I must get to work and make some to trade back with. This has a neat little face on it that caught my eye on Kate's blog And then when I received it I was able to appreciate the detail that went into it. Great colors, too.