Cuteness

Here are a few cute shopping finds and things I've recently made that I'd like to share with you!

Have you seen this around?

They're not ordinary nesting dolls....they're called M-cups, you know why?

Because...they are matryoshkas made to measure!  

Each Russian doll half represents a different measure...starting from a quarter cup up to one whole cup.  I found it at a bookstore (of all places) while I was browsing through baking books.  I ended up buying it instead of a book.  I don't think I would actually use it though...it just seems too pretty to make dirty. 

You can find out more about M-cups and other similar products here.

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If you follow Pink Penguin, then surely you've already seen and drooled over her pincushions.  It's so inspiring to see what great things one can do with little fabric scraps which will otherwise just be thrown out. 

I'm not a quilter and I've never done a log cabin patchwork block before.  I needed to research on how to do that first and then I had to make up my own measurements for the strips.  It was quite easy and I ended up sewing two pincushions yesterday!

The fabrics aren't very much coordinated on my first pincushion but I think it turned out lovely just the same.  Just for information,  I started out with a 1.5" square in the center and ended up with a 5.5" square block.

The second one I made turned out more adorable.  As much as I would like to keep it, I can't, because it's for my niece who is turning 13 very soon.  She has recently taken a keen interest in sewing and is in fact asking her parents for a sewing machine this coming Christmas.

The ribbon on the side says "SEWING Original Handmade".  It's from Japan (where else?) and I found it on Etsy.

I'm planning to give my niece more bits and pieces for her sewing...maybe some pins and thread, and this thing which I had bought a while back...

Can you guess what this little guy is?

It's a retractable tape measure!  How cute is that???? 

It's one of those things I bought on a whim and not because I needed it. I actually have three more retractable tape measures.

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Lastly, here's a pirate-themed cake I recently made for a gorgeous little boy's 4th birthday party.  It's a four-layered chocolate cake and as per the mom's request, it's eggless.  My decorations were kinda messy but thankfully, it was still a hit! 

One of these days, I will share with you the recipe for this eggless cake. My husband and kids actually like it better than the one with eggs.

I've always had difficulty with piping out letters but I think I did a pretty decent job with this one...

Ok, that's about it for now.  I'm off to put my washing up on the clothesline.  It's a nice, sunny day today here in Melbourne!