Cake Decorating - Advanced Gumpaste Flowers

I just finished my final class of the Wilton Advanced Gumpaste Flowers class. The flowers that I came home look fantastic and were worth all the wrapping of wire (although I wasn't so sure when I was wrapping wire after wire).

The bouquet (above) turned out nice, even though I pretty much just randomly put the flowers together.

The stargazer lily is gorgeous (my classmate made a tiger lily in orange which was fantastic and I am going to have to try one day!).


The real winner if the class for me though was the briar rose. I want to cover a cake in these!


Thank you to Erin of Erin's Go To Cakes - I had a fantastic time in the class (and all the ones before it)!

St. Patty's Day Green Vodka

I know St. Patricks day is all about the beer, however I have never been a beer drinker. I wanted to get in the spirit this year, so I decided to do my own thing - in green.

I decided to make a green drink that I could actually drink - green skittles vodka and sprite. It was simple to make and tasted just like candy! I followed the directions for making skittles Vodka from Mix That Drink (I actually have all the colors of original skittles, but green seemed the most appropriate for the the holiday).

Ingredients:
Green skittles (you will need 6 skittles for every ounce of vodka)
Vodka
Sprite/Seven up

Directions:
1. In a bottle mix together the skittles and the vodka. Shake to dissolve the candy and leave sit overnight.
2. Run the vodka through a coffee filter to remove any undissolved candy.
3. Mix with sprite/ 7-up over ice and enjoy!

Review:
This tasted just like Skittles and I enjoyed it. It won't be my everyday drink, but it is fun once in a while. I love how bright the color is from the skittles.

Playing with Dr. Seuss

I have been wanting to do something for the last year with some of the Dr. Seuss fabric, but could never find a reason to make anything with them. Finally I just gave up and bought a fat quarter pack to play with. I am sure that they will find good homes (actually I already have recipients in mind for a couple of the projects). In my playing on the Internet I had come across a Dr. Seuss quilt that was strips and liked the looks, so I tried my own version with the stripes, but included some of the panels as well. I like the way it turned out - it is so bright and happy.


I quilted this with wavy lines that are randomly “drawn” across the quilt. This gave so much flexibility and softness to it compared to my last few projects that were stippled and I like the effect.


Then I played with some of the scraps from that quilt and a little bit more of the fat quarters to make a Peek-a-Boo Bunting quilt. I had eagerly awaited the tutorial for this, and then stalled as I couldn't decide what fabrics to use that I had on hand. Once the Dr. Seuss came in it was easy to use my scraps for it - as I love the bright colours and having the characters to place under the bunting.



I love how this turned out! The bright colors are fantastic and make a big impact even with using so little of it. I had been looking for a project to try some hand quilting and this seemed small enough and it needed something between the lines, so I quilted just like the original with the triple wavy lines. I would have to say that it turned out pretty good for my first time with hand quilting!



I still have some more Dr. Seuss Fabric left after these two projects and can’t wait to see what other fun things I can make with them!

Birdie Stitches Update

Last year I started the Birdie Stitches BOM by LittleMissShabby. I have finally finished the top!


I designed my own blocks for November (to make it a little more Canadian - thanksgiving is in October here) and the June block.




I liked the original June block, but wasn't sure about it with the other blocks. After finishing the top I have decided to make the original June block and put it into the back of the quilt as a signature block. Now I just have to decide what I want to use as a backing for my quilt so I can finish it!