Sewing and Quilt Themed Cakes - Part 2

Here are so more of those beautiful cakes.

Sewing and Quilt Themed Cakes - Part 1

I am in absolute awe of what cake decorators can do. I watch Ace of Cakes and the cake decorating challenges all the time. I never thought about sewing and quilt themed cakes, but when I saw these photos, I just had to share. I found about 30+ photos of these wonderful cakes, so I'm going to post them all, but in 3 parts. Here are the first photos. I hope you enjoy them. I know I did.

It's Snowing!

It started snowing today around 1 p.m. and it's still snowing. I just snapped this picture looking out toward the road from my front porch. This is the first time we've had any significant snowfall in several years. It's beautiful and it's always so quiet when it's snowing. Just like a winter wonderland.

Robert B. Parker Dies

I was so disappointed to hear that Robert B. Parker passed away on Monday. He was one of my favorite authors. I read all of his books and could hardly wait for the next one to come out. A coworker of mine feels the same way. When we found out, she said, "What are we going to do?" For reading, I mean. There are other authors that we like, but he was one of the best by far. I'm really going to miss him and his books. His webpage: Robert B. Parker.

Afghan and One More Hat

I wanted to share another hat that I made using my Knifty Knitter. This one is the blue with furry black brim.


I have some more of this yarn and I'll be making some more of these hats in adult and children's sizes. I'm going to put them in my Etsy shop at some point very soon.

I've also been working on an afghan to put across the back of my sofa. I finished it about a week ago.



I have to give my piano teacher credit for this pattern. When I was at her house taking my lesson one day, she showed me some squares that she was working on for a small afghan. I thought it was so pretty I decided to make one too. We used Hobby Lobby's I Love This Cotton yarn in Ivory. I can't remember the size of the crochet hook, but whatever size is on the yarn label is what I used. To make one square, you chain 25, then single crochet in the second chain from the hook, and in each chain across. At the end of the row, turn, ch 1 and repeat the first row. Just keep crocheting rows until you have a square. Then we decided to put some of our tatted medallions in the middle of each square. It was a fun project and to tell the truth, I'm surprised I actually finished this. I so often start a project and then, for whatever reason, lose interest and put it down for awhile.

Right now I'm working on knitting a child's sweater. I got the pattern from the inside label of the yarn I used to make the afghan. I'll try to take some pictures of it and post them soon.

Knifty Knitter Hats

We've had some snow here, and being snowed in I decided to make some hats using my Knifty Knitter round green loom. I decided to bling them up a little bit by putting some fun fur type yarn on the brim. I think they came out really cute.

The black hat was made with Lion Brand Wool Ease, and a Hobby Lobby brand of furry trim. I think it was Yarn Bee brand. For the brim I held one strand of the furry yarn and one strand of black Wool Ease together and knit for 5 inches. After making the brim, I dropped the furry yarn and held together one strand of black and one strand of a dark gray of the Wool Ease to make the remainder of the hat. I knitted for about 8 inches and then gathered the top. It couldn't be easier or faster and it made a warm, pretty, stylish hat.


For the blue hat, I used Lion Brand Homespun yarn in 368 Montana Sky color, and Fun Fur stripes in Deep Sea color. To make the blue hat, it was basically the same thing as with the black hat. For the brim, I held one strand of the homespun and one strand of the fun fur together for the brim. After making the brim, I held 2 strands together of the homespun for the remainder of the hat.


I couldn't believe how well these hats came out. They were both quick and really, really warm. I think I'll be making some more.

Julie & Julia

Ever since I saw the movie Julie & Julia I have been reading everything I can about Julia Child, Julie Powell and the movie. Am I obssessed? Maybe, but I just think it's interesting reading. I would love to read the entire blog that Julie wrote because I think it would be interesting too. If anyone is interested, here is the link to her blog. The Julie/Julia Project.

The movie was fantastic. Everyone I've talked to has loved it. I love it too and I don't really know why. Well, for one thing, the French countryside is beautiful. Also, the old cars and everything make this a charming movie. I've watched it twice already and will probably watch it again.

I also love those pearls that Julia Child always wore. I love pearls. I think they are so elegant and pretty. They make the dullest outfit look very refined and elegant. On some women. I'm not sure how that would look on me, but I've worn them with jeans and several other things.

Here is the movie trailer for Julia & Julia.

Julie & Julia Movie Trailer

Morning Visitor

We had a morning visitor this morning. He was so active and running around that I had to snap this fast. This would have been a really good picture except I had to snap it through the screen door and window, so it didn't come out as well as I hoped. But, I thought I would share it anyway.

Farmhouse Style

I don't have a farm, but I wish I did. I love all the different blogs that have pictures of farmhouse style. I thought I would share a few of my own.

Christmas Randomness

Today Eddie and I took some time to decorate for Christmas. I remembered that we had bought this nativity scene last year on sale at J.C. Penney's. It looks very nice on a little table in our dining room. I'm thinking about just keeping it out all year to remind me of my savior's birth and what He means to me.


I have to laugh when I see this next picture. This year I bought a little pink tree, much to Eddie's dismay. At his request, I put it in the living room so he "doesn't have to look at it." There is more to this story, though, and I'm thinking of writing a short story about it and posting it later.


After I got the tree on the table and set up, I started looking around the fireplace mantel and realized that I had this cute pink kitty cat doll that might look neat on the table next to the tree.


Then I saw this lighted cube that I made last year and decided it would look alright there.


After that, I saw this Victorian shoe that I decided to put there too.


After I got everything arranged I really liked it and I asked Eddie to come and look at it. To my complete surprise he liked it. I told him that I wasn't going to put any ornaments on the tree, because in this case I think less is more. He nodded agreement. But, if I have time, I might tat some white medallions to put on it here and there.

This year I found a cute stocking for the fireplace.


A couple of weeks ago we found this beautiful Celosia plant on sale at Bi-Lo. The information stick said that it would work indoor or outdoor. I hope it does. It's beautiful and this picture is not it's true color. It's actually a deep lavender and I don't know why the camera didn't pick that up.


And last, but certainly not least, this morning I took this picture of our Christmas cactus. This is actually a cutting that fell off a plant and Eddie put it in some water and it bloomed. I hope it sprouts roots so we can make another plant, but we'll just have to see how that goes.

Celosia Plant

Over the weekend Eddie and I were in the local Bi-Lo and saw some of these pretty plants in a markdown basket. I've been wanting one of these for a long time. It's called Celosia. I've never had one before, but the stick tag on the inside said it can be either a houseplant in a container or planted outside. I read something else online that said that it was a seasonal plant. I hope that it lives inside in a container. Eddie planted it yesterday and it's really pretty. I haven't had a chance to take a picture of it yet, but I found one online that is very similar.

Swan Gourd or Squash?

My friend and her husband went hiking this weekend and they found this gourd or squash (I'm not sure which) that looks just like a swan. I had to share it.

Piano Lessons Continued

I'm into my second month of piano lessons. I am really having alot of fun with it. I have to admit, though, that I've hit a speed bump with learning the 1/8th notes. It's a little confusing, but I'll get the hang of it.

About 3 weeks ago, I thought I was going to have a piano given to me. Our renters (and friends) were moving out of our rental house and had a piano that they needed to find a home for. They were wanting to either sell it or donate it. I didn't have the funds to buy a piano, so I just forgot about it. Our friend said that they had asked their church if they wanted the piano and the church said they didn't need it. He also said that if they couldn't sell it or donate it, that I could have it. Oh joy! I was sure I was getting a real live piano. Well, I should have known better than to count my chickens before they were hatched. The people at the church changed their minds and decided they wanted the piano for their youth group. I kept hoping they would never come and get it, but I knew deep down that they would. And they did. I decided that God had a plan for that piano, and it didn't include me, so I'm fine with that. He knows what's best anyway. Who knows? I may decide playing the piano isn't for me and then I would have been stuck with a piano to do something with. I don't feel that way right now, though, but you never know how things will turn out.

One good thing is that I do have a picture of me playing the piano. It was a beautiful piano.

Barbie Calendar

Today I was in Hobby Lobby and on my way out I saw a pretty Barbie calender for 2010. I love Barbie and especially vintage Barbie. I used to collect Barbie dolls awhile back, but I ran out of room to display them and I stopped. It all started with collecting Hallmark Barbie ornaments. I have several, but I haven't bought any in the last several years. I collected Hallmark ornaments for about 5 years until I ran out of room on my tree. Anyway, I digress. I thought I would share a few of the pictures from the Barbie calendar that I bought today. The best thing about it is that I had a 40% off coupon, so I was not going to pass this up.






One day this week I was going to sit down in my recliner and I saw this:


The little bugger had taken my chair. He was so cute, though, that I had to grab the camera and take a picture.

This week has been a hard one. Earlier in the week, my best friend had to go to the hospital with breathing and heart problems. She was released from the hospital, though, and is resting at home now. Then today I learned that my cousin's wife has kidney cancer, plus she's having to have surgery today to have her gall bladder removed and it's uncertain what they found. I haven't heard anything since the surgery. It just reminds me how we have no guarantees and how thankful we should be for our blessings. How we should enjoy every single day on this earth and especially with our families. It just reminds me how precious life is and how important all the people that we love are. It makes me want to give my husband an extra hug and kiss before he or I goes out the door. It makes me want to really listen to everything he has to say instead of sometimes half listening while I'm doing something else.

Piano Lessons

I just started taking piano lessons this last weekend. My first lesson was Saturday and it went really well. I'm so excited. I have been wanting to do this for a really long time. I don't have a piano (yet), but I do have a keyboard that I bought last year and it's just fine for now.

I can't remember if I told the story of my piano lesson nightmare when I was a child. My aunt (my mother's sister), made up her mind that I was going to learn to play the piano like my cousin Jane. Well, I was only about 7 years old and I had absolutely no desire to be like "Cousin Jane", but for some reason, my aunt had her mind set on it and when she had her mind set, there was no changing it. She even bought a piano for me. I was such an ungrateful child. To add insult to injury, she arranged for me to have my piano lessons on Saturday mornings. Now, what could be worse when you are a child than having piano lessons on Saturday mornings, when what you really want to do is stay home and watch cartoons? So, grudgingly, I went every Saturday morning for my lesson. I hated it. I didn't retain anything and didn't practice so naturally I wasn't going to make any progress. Finally, the piano teacher told my aunt that I was not interested and wasn't making any progress. She told her that she was just throwing her money away, so my aunt stopped taking me. Later on, she sold the piano to her brother, whose wife played. I'm sure my aunt was very disappointed in me. The real tragedy to all this is that later, the piano burned when my uncle's house burned down. Poor piano. Nobody wanted it and it came to a tragic end.

Now that I've grown up and become more mature I realize that I threw away an awesome opportunity to learn something wonderful. If I had just stuck with it I would have learned to play and might even still have that very piano today. But, I didn't stick with it and I don't have that piano. But, that was then and this is now. Now, I truly have a desire to learn to play. I wish my aunt could see the desire that I have and watch me actually taking an interest now, since I disappointed her so long ago. But, I'm not doing this for her, I'm doing it for me. And, who knows, maybe she's looking down from Heaven.

Tales of Beatrix Potter by The Royal Ballet

I love Beatrix Potter books and illustrations and I also love the movie Miss Potter. I found this cute video excerpt of the Tales of Beatrix Potter by the Royal Ballet DVD on Youtube today. I think I'm going to have to get myself a copy for my own mental health. I think if I were down in the dumps, this would cheer me right up.