Cake Challenges

The wings were harder than I thought... but I persevered.
The cake baking part went well and I had much assistance from the birthday girl herself.





Since this cake is the skirt of the doll, I baked it in two mixing bowls...



Then the wing project began...

Wings Version 1: melting straight sugar in the pot... which took almost an hour of me standing at the stove stirring and waiting...



and resulted in these strange blobs that sort of look like phelgm...


not very winglike. So onto...
Wings Version 2 which was a different recipe using corn syrup and water along with the sugar. Unfortunately I over did it, and it turned this nasty brown...



Note to self- the hardcrack stage is not necessary. It did make beautiful fiberous glossy strands, so Mom and I spent an hour making hair-like bits all over the kitchen. They tasted terrible!!! Really burnt, and where it dripped on the table it took the paint off! I was going to make do with these and left them on the counter overnight only to find CAT HAIR stuck to them this morning!!!!... so mad!... so onto...
Wings Version 3...
This time I used less corn syrup...



However, I ran out of parchment paper and tried to use wax paper which the wings stuck to and wouldn't come off...



I was just about ready to freak out completely at this point. I tried everything to get them off the paper and no luck. I even tried again buttering the wax paper and they still stuck. So the spouse was dispatched to the store for more parchment paper... and it worked!



The wings are a little soft, so I have to reset them every hour or so.



I even made little things that attach to the skirt to tie in the wing design. If I did this again, I would use less corn syrup... just barely enough to make the long ribbons.
Miss E is thrilled to pieces... so it's a success.... and I'm exhausted.

Are those crickets chirping?

Yes... this blog has been waaaay too quiet. I have tons of flea market scores to photograph and post and a knitting project that is finished. Time seems to get filled with other things. This week is Miss E's 5th birthday so Nana and Papa are here for a few days visiting. It's a VERY exciting time for her.
Now I have to figure out how to make a fairy princess cake with a barbie doll stuck in it with fairy wings. Has anybody done any work with melted sugar? I'm going to need to do some research.

Mister Judy

My sister and I have a childrens' wear business called Mister Judy. We have been burning the midnight oil getting our website built and running. We have turned it on as of this morning: Mister Judy. We are so pleased with the results. We designed and built everything ourselves.

More work in the basement

After a four week break, we are back trying to finish up the studio. We have installed various shelving that is still in the process of being filled. Today we are finishing the trim and trim painting. Our stairwell finally has all its coats of paint with lots (and I mean lots) of touching up.



You can see the spouse's collection of paint-by-numbers at the landing. So good to have one area finished.

A little Cinderella for my little niece

My niece turned 3 on Sunday. I had purchased her a board game among her gifts. However, when I consulted with my sister, that very same board game was already owned by her brother. So onto Last Minute Plan B... I asked my sister if there was anything else she wanted. The little niece needed some dress up clothes, but not tutus and sparkly things. She really needed a Cinderella outfit.
I rummaged through my extensive stash of fabric and managed to locate a piece of blue satin about 3 yards long and only 20" wide. After a morning of elaborate cutting, seaming and "I'll make it work", I produced this 24 hours later....



There was no piece of satin left that was over 6" wide. The skirt is extremely full, so if she wears one of her tutus under it, the effect should be most Cinderella-like.
During the entire construction process, Miss E kept asking if it was for her. (Miss E announced last year that she will be Cinderella for this Halloween.) And when she found out that it wasn't, she requested one "exactly like this one". "It needs to be the exact same fabric", and then "when are you going to make mine? today too?". Thankfully Halloween is a few months off, but I need to start shopping for some blue satin soon.

Pottering About

Yes... I am a huge Harry Potter fan. As is my sister. We have spent many hours theorizing and re-reading the books to try and figure out the ending. So last Friday night, I was there at the midnight release of Book 7.
I did not wear a costume myself (as I had just flown back from LA that evening and drove straight from the airport to Barnes and Noble).
There were witches...



... a Dumbledore...



... and a Rita Skeeter...


... what was quite hilarious and usually in character as she moved around and directed us into our lines. She was an employee as well.

It was so wonderful to see an entire room of excited, smiling people when they announced at midnight that it was time to start selling. The age range of people was amazing- from the very young to the very old and from all walks of life! Now I just have to make sure I get some sleep at night rather than staying up the entire night reading....

A Yard Sale and the Antique Expo

We had a yard sale two weeks ago with the neighbors. We sold some things but not enough of the bulky, awkward to store items. BUT I scored this AWESOME fabric from our neighbor...



$3.00 for the whole 25 yard bolt!!! I'm going to make some pillows for the wicker set and some chair pads for the table chairs.

Then we took all the money we made and went to the giant Antique Expo at the expo center. You see the most interesting stuff there. Who doesn't need a giant rooster?



... or an oversize camera?



This horse brings back memories. We had a similar one when I was a kid.



I love these beaded bags. They were so hot a few years ago and the price went through the ceiling. Now the prices are coming down and they are relatively easy to find.



And this lovely hand made yet overprice horse...



We spent all the money from the yard sale at the expo. I'll have to post those goodies soon.

Garden Visitor

Yesterday, I was mass pruning my cutting garden and trying to bring it back under control when I discovered this little guy...



I have never seen this type of snail in my garden before. His shell was about 2" across.



He moved fast for a snail. His stalk eyes were moving all around taking everything in. And then he was gone...

Has it been two weeks!?!?

Where has the time gone?!?!? Some of it has been taken up with house projects and freelancing, and I was gone last week teaching the last week of my summer class at the University of Idaho. We stayed at my parents farm and enjoyed a wonderful 4th of July with my family. I did manage to take a few pictures...



It was hot, hot, hot while we were there, so we tried to do any walking in the early morning. But some mornings it was just too hot, so I stayed near the house and took pictures of the hummers...



Mom and Dad feed an army of about twenty hummingbirds. After the eggs hatch there will be closer to forty. They eat out of two feeders and consume a quart of sugar water a day. If it is really hot, Mom has to fill the feeders in the morning and again in the evening. You do have to be a little careful when standing under the feeders as you might get speared by a fiesty hummingbird zipping by.

Since our farm is close to a Reservation, there are many wonderful and illegal fireworks to choose from. The spouse loves this availability, so he and my sister drove down and bought $50 worth of exploding activities while I was working. We started off with the sparklers...



... and then had to move to an area away from the house and any fuel tanks for the big stuff. All the kids enjoyed it, but Mister Ewan was asleep after a few fountains so missed the aerial display... ah well... there's always next year. I posted the rest of my pictures on Flickr.

Pie

There is nothing better than pie. It is the one dessert item that announces summer's arrival and makes me happy, happy, happy.
This is rhubarb....



... and this is some lovely pastry made with lots of butter... which is the only way to make a really good pie crust.







In the oven for a little baking....



Ta Da!



There are only two pieces left today. Strawberry-Rhubarb is an excellent combination and disappears quickly. Will have to make more pie soon.

Sweater Project

I've finally picked up my needles again and and trying to finish a sweater for Mister e before he outgrows it. Nothing like a growing child to force you to finish a project!



I finally found a great knitting magazine: Knit 1. Vogue Knitting magazine publishes it, and apparently this is where they put all their good patterns.



I improved upon their black and white combination by changing it to brown and green... a little more unexpected.

More photos

Here are few photos from the farm. Mom's gorgeous peonies...



They really are luscious with their color and curving petals. And they smell amazing. I had four of them in a vase on my desk at the university and it scented the entire second floor hallway of the building.

I spent a lot of time on the hill tops in the evenings taking pictures of the setting sun.



I'm still not sure if I like sunset pictures or not. I think I like the clouds better. But I could get cel phone reception up there and could talk to a friend while I was waiting for the sun to set.

I posted the rest out on Flickr.

Last week...

I have been at the University of Idaho the last week teaching an Illustrator class. You know you have arrived when you get an office with your name on the door..



I am required to keep office hours, so I'm in an available space. It's pretty sparse.

Note the red painted toes... that always makes me happy.

Miss E's Room

I have come to the realization that Miss E's room will not be done soon, nor will it stay clean. So I'm posting pictures of it now. It is on the north side of the house, so the light is not really good.



The carpet is mohair and belonged to the spouse's grandparents.
This is the Hidey Hole. We had an extra full size mattress set and didn't know where to put it. Fortunately the eave closets are really deep. Sometimes Miss E sleeps in here.





Mirror, mirror on the wall...



The princess alcove...



How cool are these lights from Ikea? They have the most clever solutions to things. Look at the green cord that is the stem.



This dresser was built by my Great Great Uncle. We still need to put up a shelf above it for Miss E's assorted things.



And here Mr e enjoying some time with his sister's things. You can see the cradle and crib that have the blanket and quilt in them.



There are still a few things to do... shorten the green drapes and add some eyelet to the bottom. Hang pictures, a corner shelf, and a shadow box for all these little tiny toys that she is starting to aquire. It will get done this summer.

New cabinets

Yay! I finally have some cabinets...



We went to Ikea on Saturday and bought these three beauties. Let me tell you, going to Ikea with a spouse that doesn't really like shopping there and a 4 year old wanting to touch everything and pose as a mannequin was a lot of work. I like to putter along and look at everything and remark "How clever is that!" and "What a great solution to that problem!". Which, needless to say, did not happen this trip. Fortunately this is the last time we have to make the drive to Seattle... and the last time we have to hear 2 hours of Miss E's song stylings. It was funny for the first 20 minutes.

I am now in the process of sorting and folding all my fabric...



which will be a lengthy project, I'm afraid. Once it is done, I will be able to see exactly what I have and hopefully do more sewing.