Of special occasions and wonderful things

The past few days have been pretty full that I've had no time to write something new here.  Last Friday (the 13th) was both my husband and niece's birthdays.  My niece loved the red velvet cupcakes I made for my mom's birthday that she requested if I could bake some (40 pieces in fact!) to share with her classmates and teachers.

I had enough leftover cream cheese frosting to use for another batch of cupcakes (this time, chocolate buttermilk) for my husband.

The following day, my husband and I reupholstered our dining chairs. The original fabric upholstery was so difficult to keep clean, what with four kids, that I had decided to change it to vinyl. This was supposed to be a task for my husband alone but after he did two chairs, Quality Control just had to step in (that would be me!). He gladly let me do it my way.  I am very pleased with the outcome...boring but more manageable anyhow. 

(Sorry...I forgot to take 'before' photos...)

The vinyl cost $14.95 AUD a meter.  We used up less than two meters for the six chairs. Not bad at all, don't you think?

On Sunday, we had 4 different families over to watch the Manny Pacquiao-Miguel Cotto boxing match on cable TV.  This is a really huge thing among Filipinos, you know.  I am not so used to having visitors around so it was kind of tiring but fun, nevertheless.  The win by the 'Pacman' was a great bonus to the fun indeed!

Yesterday, I accompanied my sister in law for a 2-hour drive to Robert Gordon Pottery. She had wanted some serving dishes custom-made.  What beautiful ceramics and dinnerware they had in there!  The long travel was well worth it.  I happily came home with a few items...factory seconds at great, low prices.

I had actually purchased a few more things (something to do with cupcakes...) but I will reserve showing those off for a future post.

Anyway, in between all these, I still managed to squeeze in some sewing.  We are experiencing an early summer here in Australia (seems like we skipped Spring altogether!) that I had promised my son I would make him his own water bottle carrier.  That way we could freeze his water and it would keep cold for school.

The long strap on this was salvaged from a worn-out mini messenger bag I had and the camo fabric is a remnant from a previous project.  Very manly, isn't it?

I have more projects (suitable for the hot weather) in my head but I really don't know when I would have the time to sit down and work on them. I don't even know if I would be able to achieve a handmade Christmas this year, just like in 2008.  Seems as though I am already running out of time.  Well, anyway, speaking of handmade Christmas, Handmade Holidays 2009 is already on at Sew, Mama, Sew! (in case you haven't heard by now). Just click on the button on the sidebar to view a range of awesome crafting. And also watch out for their Giveaway Day. I will definitely be joining in again! That will be on the 2nd of December.  Head on to the SMS blog for details.