Another Sweet Peek

Silver Bella approaches. It is this coming weekend in Omaha and I've been packing for it. My swaps are long since completed and mailed, now bound by the hands of Shea and ready for presentation on swap night. Here is a sneaky peek of the second page I did for the Sweetest Thing Recipe Swap.

I made a few scarves for vendor night. The neck cover at the top of this post is Ice Castles. Remember that movie? Loved it. The perennial scarf below is Silvery Moon.

This Silver Bella neck cover features a vintage rhinestone button.

The theme for the Silver Bella vendor night is 100 Aprons. In honor of that we will be doing a special give-away on our 2 Birds in a Pod blog. Check in November 12 for that. Here is a little peek at what I will be sporting for Apron night...Eeeeeek!

Oh Sheet

So, it was my birthday a couple of weeks ago. It was the first day of a three day show which was really the second day as we set up our booth all the day the first day. SO I come in from a day of schlepping my dolls, working the booth, doing my routine with the costumers. All very energizing until you sit down in the car to drive home and realize you still feel like you're skating only exhausted and dizzy...

And, I had and hour to get home, eat, dress in layers and make it to the high school football game in the cold.

It was, as you remember, my birthday. My husband had remembered too...

My husband and I are spoiled brats whose cups runneth over. And by spoiled I mean we keep our heads down and work real hard, clean all the time and buy ourselves what we want after careful pricing research. But, we have more than we need and most of what we want. We decided many years ago not to give each other gifts. Our dog, Spencer will give his parents something useful at Christmas. Spencer typically gives a crock pot or shirts for example. All very practical. We will do something for our anniversary, like, well I can't think of anything but it does seem like I have a few Brighton purses.

In an aside, my husband gave me my first Brighton purse for no reason whatsoever, writing on the card "hope to brighton your day." We were dating then. That should explain a lot.

When I was a little girl and birthdays were anticipated greatly. We would go to The Cinderella Bake Shop and order my cake. They were classic sheet cakes, vanilla cake with white royal cream icing. Soft pink roses. The rose icing always tastes different than the cake icing. So good. All good. The roses were abundant and frothy. A spray across the coveted corner. The leaves were green and curled just so about the blossom. It really is the same confection I try to recreate with my knitted blooms...

My cakes always had the little ballerina on pointe stuck in the icing as well. I secretly want to be know as Queen Frostine. Well, not so secretly. I love cake. I love frosting and it is the only reason to go to a wedding as far as I am concerned. I do not trust people that scrap the icing off and leave it on their plate to be thrown away by someone else, because icing scrappers do not ever scrap that crap off their own plate and wash it. Someone who loves icing has to do it. Therefore, I do not trust them.

The only thing I want for my birthday, have ever wanted and will ever want is a cake, a quarter sheet cake with royal buttercream icing, roses and in soft colors. No spray paint, no images, no plastic balloons, no sprinkles, confetti or glitter, not real ribbon. And no whipped cream masquerading as icing. The cake I want costs $14 dollars and comes from a national chain grocery because they understand lard. You don't even have to call ahead. Just go by and get someone to squirt "Robin" on the darn thing.

My husband. He tried so hard a few years ago. He ended up bring home 3 cakes before he got it right. Since I only want a $14 cake, I am a complete bitch about it. It is all I want so I have the right to stomp my feet and act 5, right? I know, right?

This year I walk in, wired and tired, and there, on the island of the kitchen is the biggest box I have ever seen. It is a cake box. It is a sheet cake. A full sheet.

"Oh my God, we are having a huge party." This is not what I want, we will not even get home until after 10. I am too tired to be nice about it, because ordinarily I am so nice.

Wow, that's a full sheet. How many are coming?

Just us. Three.

It's a full sheet.

Well, the lady asked me what I wanted. I told her a sheet cake. She offered sizes like a half sheet or a full sheet. I told her I don't want half a cake.

Not for my wife.

Oh that makes perfect sense.

The whole cake had been sprayed orange. So it was a large volume of orange. Imagine the Ghost Busters, in uniforms with spray wands and tanks.

Orange, husband?

Well, I told her a little bit of orange.

Right, because everyone knows how much I love orange. Also purple.

The flowers were completely purple. There was an icing ribbon in the same purple. And some kind of gold acetate fleck sprinkled, uhm, dumped in places across the surface, at least what could be reached.

The must have thought it was for Mardi Gras theme party. For 100 revelers.

Oh sheet.

The three of us cut into it. We ate a piece. It tasted like it was supposed to.

Then we all smiled, with big orange grins, like Jack O' Lanterns...

Hey Weenie

Okay, I mean Happy Halloween. Look, my first sewing project, a Halloween quilt. Scary, huh?

Noting the Presents

So, my birthday was last week and I wanted to share three fabulous gifts I received. I don't want to talk about the cake my husband ordered for me. Not yet. I haven't sewn nor knitted enough to be able to talk about it. I will throw one word out there...orange. Okay, that is enough.

My dear friend Penny sent a bouquet of flowers. She sent it early in the week which is so wise, so I could enjoy them all week.

Jemellia's gift is so pretty I have to start with the exterior and reveal in layers.

It is delicious when someone knows you so well.

Earrings from Elizabeth Williams. I had just finished complimenting Jemellia on her earrings which were EliWill of course.

And a coveted tote from One Hundred Wishes.

Without a doubt one of the best gifts I have ever received was this tribute in Angela's blog. I do not know what to say about it. I love it and am overwhelmed by it and it rendered me speechless regarding it for a whole day. That speaks volumes.

I feel the love.

Sweetest Peek

I will be attending the workshops and estro-glitter-fest that is Silver Bella in November. My "friend" that talked me into going also encouraged me to do a swap. There were many swaps to choose from from making charms, aprons, mittens, collage, ornaments and so on. Also they fill up like in minutes. All new to me.

I did join a swap called The Sweetest Thing Recipe Swap hosted by Shea. I did 2 sets of recipe pages. I don't scrapbook. I do, however, sew. So I did this and here is a peek.

Don't tell my "friend" but I actually enjoyed it.

Also, I named this beaded leaf neck cover "speckled leaf" which was influenced by comments to the last post. I couldn't see the nest for the leaf. Anyway, thanks for helping with that!

Whatsits Name?

This never happens. My dolls and knits name themselves as I am making or at least photographing them. But this one eludes me. What do you think?

Strange Brew

What a witch. I designed this doll a few years ago for a Wizard of Oz school auction. Lord, she is so hard to make and so time consuming. She is, however, quite beloved by myself and others. I have a lot of time to think about her whilst sewing, painting, stitching and such. Prior to paint, she is so naked and unintimidating, like a wet dog.

Gotta get that green right. So key to her intrigue...

It could not be easy being green. Glenda was caucasion. And we don't really know about the decreased sister as she had striped leggings on, and those shoes of course. I mean she had good taste in footwear, but can we assign a race to that? Admiration, sure, race, no.

I never had home economics or learned to sew really. I can't read patterns and have no idea how to make a hat. However, I can channel the wicked enough to create a pointy witchy hat.

There to the right of the hats you see a red and white heart fabric. Those are her bloomers. I like to think the witch had a little some-something under her skirts...

What is it about the wicked witch? I mean, I like Dorothy. But that witch was fascinating. She was powerful. In fact, the most powerful woman in the land. She had her minions, and who doesn't want minions? Can't we forgive her wretched personality? She had that perfect sister, an impossible act to follow. And we cannot forget she is grieving over her sister's death which is, at best, manslaughter. A case certainly could be made for murder since there was a clear robbery associated with the event. Even though those shoes were to die for, were they worth killing for?

The Wicked Witch was surely menopausal. So moody and bitter. She had a little osteoporosis and was working on a dowager's hump. I mean, really, her bones just disintegrated. While she was dressed a bit on the warm side, she did have a bitter resentment to that pretty, fresh, young Dorothy, a thief and alleged murderer. Was the witch leaping to judgement or did she have a real cause for revenge?

All very interesting. We love a wicked woman don't we? She embodies who I truly am while trying to project something a little more Auntie Em, right?

Embrace the inner witch, girls, embrace her... who else will?