Wow

Things have been kind of crazy in the past month. Kit is training for Lake Placid so Porter and I are on our own. We did have to take time out to visit the parents in Minnesota. (My first time) Kit's grand Elenore was holding on on to him walking down the street.
I love this photo because he has to lean over for her to take his arm.

Before we left to go on the trip I was bitten by a tick. (another first) When we got back my blood work came back positive for Lyme. What are the odds on that.
The cakes below are what I was up to this weekend.
Its funny because no one was sure last week if they needed cake or not. Of course they all became certain the same week that my Grand goes in the hospital due to a mini stroke. She is back at home now. Thank god. And the three trips out of town this week to visit her did not slow down my baking......

Strawberry Shortcake

Dads gone fishing

High school is so over

Autobot
I have refinished a credenza and made roman shades. I plan to post but I have to add hinges to the credenza and the shades have to be hung but since they are going in the foyer over the door. I will have to wait and tackle kit in between his training because it is a two person job. Wish me luck!

Inspiration in odd places

I was looking in a monthly publication one day and I saw this flower in an advertisement.
I don't remember what they were selling but I liked that it was a simple illustration. I felt like it could say a lot of different things depending on how you looked at it. I cut it out because to me it said quilt. I dropped the words and the loose petals because that didn't say baby.

I wanted to keep it simple so I put it in front of a brick wall. (Click on photo for better detail) I made this one for Sophia's little Bella. Her original colors were Aqua and lavender but the nursery theme she planned was discontinued at the Big box baby store so...... She switched to pink and brown.

That is the reason for the color change on the back. I nixed the aqua and left in the lavender because I had already purchased the fabrics. ( I can use them on some other project,there's always something else to work on) This is the first time that I have tried to embroider a name by hand. Hope she likes it.

I wonder how often people look at a thing and see something completely different.

Sorry for the sucky photos but I had to use my cell camera because the PC has yet to be replaced and the software is not working......

Signs of Summer

I received a text from a friend that works in a big box store (like Linens and things use to be) She said she had a customer in the store that was looking for replacement cushions for her patio but was having no luck because of the unique size. A few weeks earlier helped her by adding some black out to her curtains. (her hours had changed and the daylight savings time was intruding on sleep) I told her to have Sandy(customer) give me a buzz. Sandy dropped by the next day to show me these.....

They look like they have seen better days. Going on advice from the Fabric store employee Sandy went with duck cloth because she couldn't find what she wanted in the regular outdoor fabric. I like the new color. I used Velcro in place of zippers to close the covers. Velcro is less expensive and it is easier to install & replace. There were a set of 3 but only one ottoman.

I used duck cloth on a slip covered chair in by bedroom. It works great but I would suggest that if you hate ironing then I would send the covers to the cleaners because it is the worst for pressing out wrinkles. If you use duck cloth for a project I would also use scotch guard to save yourself some cleaning headache.

White Lake and Stuff

First: White lake can look so lovely.... but you never know what you are going to get when you get there. One year when Kit went to race thre it was hot and muggy, about 95 out. And another year it was so cold and windy the water has white caps.

Today it was so foggy that you could not see past the docks. So the swim got nixed.

Overall it was a good day for # 2.

As for me I feel like I'm running behind. I had a bit of cake this week. Here is one. Click on the cake album for the rest.

Stuff: I have been working to replace a quilt that sold.( almost done) I would post a pic but its another Owl.
I managed another baby quilt for a friend that had her little one a few weeks early. (here's a peek, cant show the entire thing because I haven't given it to her yet)

I have also been giving a face lift to a dresser to re-purpose it into a credenza for my foyer. ( Will Post as soon as I am done.) We are being over run by bags/back packs & my large carry all.

And a complete stranger just asked me to slip cover her cushions to her patio set because they are odd shaped and she cannot find replacements.
Sure lady I have time.........

Cakes

We have had some interesting weather lately from the ridiculous heat to last week’s deadly spring tornadoes. Luckily we came out without any personal damage. The only thing that went haywire is the PC. The power kept knocking it on and off and now it’s on its last leg. I have had a few pics that I wanted to post but we seem to have lost the photo software and It won’t let us install it so I can’t do anything with the pics I took. So I decided to provide some helpful information.
People love cake and I’m one of them. Here are a few tips on ordering cake no matter where you order it from. If you want to know how many people the cake will feed there are cakes serving size charts that will give you a standard serving size based on the pan size.

Cake Sizes and Serving Charts
A serving size is a 1" x 2" x 4" slice. The serving chart and sizes below are industry standard. I use the Wilton Serving Guide to determine the amount of servings per cake size. If you want bigger slices, you need to account for that and choose a larger size cake to accommodate the serving size you want.
SQUARE CAKES
6" square = 18 servings (cut 3x6)
8" square = 32 servings (cut 4x8)
10" square = 50 servings (cut 5 x 10)
12" square = 72 servings (cut 6 x 12)
14" square = 98 servings (cut 7 x 14)

ROUND CAKES
6" round = 12 servings
8" round = 24 servings
10" round = 35 servings
12" round = 56 servings
14" round = 78 servings

SHEET CAKES
Single Layer, no filling (serving size is 2x2x2)
9x13 = 24 servings (cut 4x6)
11x15 = 35 servings (cut 5x7)
12x18 = 54 servings (cut 6x9)

9x13 = 52 servings (cut 4x13)
11x15 = 75 servings (cut 5x15)
12x18 = 108 servings (cut 9x12)
There are a few more that are similar such as Heavenly Divine Cake Chart and Wilton's Cake Chart also Dream Cakes by Pam that are good places for size and cost reference so that you wont feel like you are getting ripped off.
There are a few things that can cause the cost to rise. One is if the cake is covered in fondant. In most cases a baker will use butter cream under the fondant and you get charged for the use of 2 icings. Another up charge is for handmade décor such as figures, flowers and freehand art work. Those items can be time consuming and the materials like fondant, gumpaste and pulled sugar can be costly. Hope this ends up being a helpful reference.

Success!

This week has been a little busy. And I am so glad. My quilt sold! Yea! Ok,I know that it is only one item but you have no idea how worried I was. It took 11 days and then it was gone. I hope the person that purchased it liked it. I haven't had any feedback yet. Hopefully I will soon and that it's good. I asked a friend if they liked it before I put it online and the response was less than gratifying. I guess we all have different taste.
I gave myself a deadline this week to put out a girl version be for my birthday tomorrow and I've done it.
See below.

The only problem is that now everything I have on Etsy is pink. As soon as I finish a gift for a friend whose baby decided to arrive a few weeks early I will try and balance the gender colors in my Etsy shop. Wish me luck! Oh and if you know someone that needs a gift send them to SarenaVictoria.Etsy.com I'm thinking about adding special orders.

Etsy

I made this boys quilt from a pattern that was featured in BH&G Quilts and more publication. I placed it on Etsy.com last week for sale. A few people have viewed it but no hits yet.
I'm not the best at taking photos. I need to think of ways to put myself out there more. Let me know what you think and if you have any ideas.....