Minion cupcakes

Ok, this is definitely out of the normal realm of my blog posts.  No fabric or other craft materials were used.  But it does meet my cuteness standards!!!

Sweetie made Minion Cupcakes. You know, modeled after the minions from the movie "Despicable Me".  Darn cute characters--they definitely stole the show in the 2nd movie.

Vague directions...

Make cupcakes, allow to cool, and frost with desired frosting. These are a vanilla cake, with lemon frosting.

For the minions, use half of a cream-filled snack cake (ok, we all know them as Twinkies), piped with black details (hair, mouth, and goggles). Eyes can be made from white candies (Smarties will work), but we cheated and bought candy eyeballs from the cake decorating aisle of the store.

Shared them at work. Lots of folks stopped by just to admire them, and they made people smile all day long.

Yay for unexpected cuteness in the midst of a work week!

Project Report for July

So many months have passed since my last Project Report, I can't hardly remember what has taken place.  I think, basically, not much got accomplished in the spring. Some idle sewing. Some mending. A little progress here and there on long-term projects.

It wasn't until June/July, and the flurry of activity for the County Fair, that I got some things done.

Started *and* finished: Oakie backpack; Oakie board shorts and visor.

Finally finished: Nancy Drew mystery cube.

And, in the discard pile: 5 UFO's. They are pictured here so I can remember--all were significant alterations or restyling of garments. Most were started so long ago that the garment is now hopelessly outdated. Yay for housecleaning in the UFO pile!

Completed projects this Month:  3
Completed projects Year to Date:  8
New projects this Month:  2
New projects Year to Date:  5
Discarded/donated projects (farewell!):  7
Net Project Count for 2012:  -10

For August, the month is already almost half done.  Where does the time go? My goals are to finish the backlog of buck-a-block BOTM, get another 10 blocks finished for Sweetie's t-shirt quilt, and make the next whatnot for the Barnyard.

Wishing myself good luck with all that.
 

Buck-a-block July pattern

Well, another month has come and gone, another Buck-a-block pattern graces my sewing room, and I am now officially behind.

July pattern is "Wild Goose Chase"  from Judy Hopkins' book 501 Rotary Cut Quilt Blocks (That Patchwork Place).  I have always loved flying geese, and this arrangement of them flying into the opposite corners is particularly pleasing to my geometry-teacher sensibilities. 

Again, this month's fabric doesn't have enough contrast between the medium and dark hues. I may have to be a rebel and substitute a fabric from my stash (ooh--fabric auditions! My favorite part!)

Also, I took a summer vacation to the east coast and was totally enamored of the dragonflies that were omnipresent. (Do we not have dragonflies in Oregon? How have I not noticed this?) So, to commemorate my summer travels, I was planning to make a paper-pieced dragonfly. Do you suppose it would look ok as the center of this block?  (Or would it be too much? I have a tendency to over-complicate things. Always.)

The shop sample shows this month's suggested border. Kinda cute.

I will be around for August's buck-a-block date, so I have incentive to complete this block in the next 2 weeks. (Note that I am not required to complete all my unfinished blocks by that date--just this one. Good thing: 4 unfinished/unstarted blocks in 2 weeks might be too much pressure for my lazy summer sensibilities.)

All right, time to go find subtle fabric and get going.

Ho Ho Ho... and mo'

Thank you for stopping by my blog on this most auspicious day: first day of the Ho Ho Ho blog hop sponsored by Sew We Quilt, and cheered on by Carol.

The Story

One year, at the after-Christmas sales, I bought several Santa figurines from Goodwill.  The idea was to give them each a new suit of clothes.
 

Basket o' Santas

This particular Santa (the rear left) is the last to get his Ho Ho Ho on, so to speak.

I used the clothes he was wearing as the beginning of a pattern for new clothes.  Made things prettier
with an embroidered and sequined velveteen in a deep maroon.  Reused the fur trim for Santa's robe.  Found several gold lame fabrics, and was determined to use as many of them as I could squeeze in (I just love mixing fabrics).

The banner he was originally holding was just silly: merely a piece of cloth.  No message.  No embellishment.  And barely hanging onto a dowel by cellophane tape.  Would that do for such a handsome, well-dressed fellow?  No way.

I took a lesson from my youngest daughter and embroidered on burlap (she is making a cross-stitch Christmas stocking in sort of a rustic theme this way).  Had to jazz it up a bit with trimming around the banner (who knew they made gold lame rick-rack?), a fancy metallic on the reverse side, and gold cording to hang it.

Had much fun considering what would be in Santa's sack.  The sack he came with was filled with greenery and holly berries.  Bah!  What about the toys?  Embroidered and added some beads to the top edge of the sack, then made a simple teddy bear. 

 Gold paper-wrapped gifts and toy-shaped plastic beads and buttons fill out the sack.  I still have the intention to make a tiny hobby horse, but we'll see if that really happens.  There is a definite tension here between having actual tiny toys that a child might explore, and having things arranged beautifully so they peek out of Santa's sack just so.  I considered hot gluing everything together because I was having such trouble arranging the items for the photos.

There you have it: the tale of a much-loved Santa who has been given new life.  And now looks fabulous.  (Thanks to my son for going up into the attic on such a hot day to bring down wrapping paper for the photo shoot.  The sacrifices our loved ones make to support our hobbies...)

Have you visited the other blogs who are hopping along today?  Such variety!  How can you pick a favorite?

July 31

Just Let Me Quilt

Grandmama’s Stories

Thimblemouse & Spouse

Pumpkin Patch Quilter

Bumbleberry Stitches

Baas Amazing Adventures

The House on the Side of the Hill

Geta’s Quilting Studio

Felt Free Pa Asly

CLF by Nailaa

How Art You?

Rainbows. Bunnies. Cupcakes.  (that's me!)

A lucrative County Fair

The County Fair was good to me!  I almost feel like an Olympic athlete: I have a medal count.  Those little ribbons that I covet have graced me multiple times this year.

The haul

Three blue ribbons (yay!!!)
Two second place red ribbons (still a big deal!)
Two lovely quilts that got lots of pairs of eyes on them (but no ribbons, alas)

Back in June, I set my aspirations to enter ten items into the fair.  Well, I managed to get seven things entered, and that seems darn good to me.  And, I was richly rewarded by the judges--just a bonus to all that hard work.

Ribbon-worthy

Oakie scored big-time for me, as three of my entries were about him.

Oakie's award-winning summer duds

1: Doll (or stuffed animal), outfit only
For this entry, I made a new visor (Oakie's old one got lost in a hurricane in Florida) and matching board shorts (swim trunks?)  I looked for a small-scale Hawaiian print, but settled on a tiny fishy print as being appropriate to the garments.

The board shorts were a bit challenging, especially since Oakie doesn't really have legs, just lower flippers.

I may revise the design a bit, if I make another pair, but these have enough design details to "ooh" and "aah" over: drawstring ties that emerge from grommet holes (embroidered); mock fly stitching; and seams that are top-stitched to resemble ready-to-wear styles.

2.  Doll accessory
I already blogged about Oakie's backpack, and it went on to win a blue ribbon.

Even without that pesky lining that I (wisely) decided not to add in.

3.  Doll clothes, woven
I think the "doll clothes, knit" category really means a garment you knit or crochet.  This category is for clothes that are sewn, but the doll (or stuffed penguin!) is not wearing the garment.

Oakie's dress attire (sailor suit) that I completed for last summer's Alaskan cruise won a red ribbon.

4.  Toy, book or game
I wonder how the judges manage this category, since it can be so broad.  In years past I have entered cloth books and a large "quiet cube" (like a quiet book, but in a big block shape).  I entered the Nancy Drew mystery block that I completed for a blog hop in March.

 My stitching was not the neatest in the world, but I won a red ribbon.

5.  Any holiday-themed item
My final blue ribbon was for a textile item featuring Santa's sack.

Can't show it to you yet, because it is my surprise for the HoHoHo blog hop.  Check back soon for more details!

Progress on t-shirt quilt

Sweetie was kind enough to give me control of making a t-shirt quilt from all her college adventures.  Since I can complicate anything, I took it as a challenge to go all out and incorporate the t-shirts into an intricate design.  Oh yeah, it will be a thing of beauty.  If I can ever get it finished.

To me, one of the fun things about quilting is how you can go along in fits and starts, working 15 or 30 minutes at a time, in between other things, and still be making progress.  Eventually, though, I want to see visible progress: proof that all those little scraps will come together to make something beautiful.

That happened last night.  Some de-stressing sewing (after the marathon clean sweep adventure) resulted in 10 (of the 30 blocks) getting sewn together.

t-shirt quilt on the design surface

So the 2 bottom rows of the quilt are complete.  Feels good.  All the other blocks are at least to 9" x 9" size (most need to be enlarged to 12" x 12" finished size).  Seemed like a great time to lay it all out and pat myself on the back for being so clever.

Two of my favorite blocks, because of the centers

Sweetie went to college on a bowling scholarship, and played both rugby and football in her younger days.  Yep, I pronounce them cute as a button!

Gonna link up to Judy Laquidara's Design Wall Monday over at Patchwork Times.  Check out the fabulous work of others for inspiration.  Always a lot of inspiration to be had.

Clean Sweep, volume 2

The paper recycling bin runneth over

Been working away in my classroom, bit by bit.  Made a lot of joint progress over 4th of July weekend--with the help of my oh-so-tidy-and-organized Sweetie.  Since then, I have been spending about an hour and a half each weekday SORTing and TOSSing.  Getting curriculum materials put into file drawers.  With labels.


I swear, sometimes even the most basic accomplishments (files with LABELS!) seem to me like discovering fire.  Or inventing the wheel.  Sheesh.


But today...

Today was the last big push.  Final weekend day of the month of July.  And the deadline for getting the classroom tidy is July 31st.  Starting in August, it's time to start thinking about new classes I will teach in the next year.  (No time to process the past while I am planning the future.)

This is the stuff that goes away (not including trash)

TEN hours.  On a sunny July Sunday.  When the pool, and the garden, and the hiking trails all beckoned.  Ten hours in my classroom!  God Bless Sweetie.  She stayed with me, worked her fingers to the bone labeling and sorting and tossing.  And, most of all, kept me on task and focused on the parts that only I could do.  (Like the giant tote with mixed materials and notes from every math conference I have attended since 2001.  Gad zooks!  Did NOT want to go thru that tote.  But I did.)

The results

 The above pictures show just a bit of the excess baggage I was hiding in my cupboards (and drawers, and file cabinets, and boxes-shoved-in-corners).  We estimated 200 pounds of office paper are in that blue recycle bin.  (Wonder who gets to dump that out...)

 Oh my goodness.  So much room in those cupboards!

 I can find things!!! The file cabinets are equally lovely (although nowhere near as photogenic).

In Summary

I chose this photo to describe the transformation.  At the beginning of the total CLEAN SWEEP this summer, my paperclip storage was empty.  I had even asked a colleague for more paperclips, because I was totally out.  I had no idea that my paperclips were all being used up holding together USELESS bits of paper.  Ditto for my file folders, hanging file holders, 3-ring binders, notebook dividers, etc.  I have an excess of basic office supplies now, because they are not needed to contain or corral JUNK.

Flylady quote that seems most appropriate to the occasion:
"You cannot organize clutter.  You can only get rid of it."

Thank you, Sweetie!  I am years younger and pounds slimmer because of this.