Jacket for the cutest little girl

I know this girl...she's the most adorable little thing ever. She is the kind that makes you wish you had small kids again. When I learned she was going to turn 3 in April, my first thought was that I wanted to make her a special birthday cake.  But of course, I wanted to give her some other present apart from the cake and when I found this pattern on Etsy, I knew this was going to be what I would be making for her.

My first try was supposed to be some sort of practice jacket, using only remnants and other materials that I already had in my stash but it turned out beautifully that I would say, it's more than good enough to be a gift.

Pink polar fleece lined with a floral Japanese cotton fabric.  Perfect for the coming winter!

Heart applique with fabric matching the lining

I ditched the ribbons (as with the original design) and instead, added a couple of heart appliques to match the lining.  The jacket is no longer reversible but that's perfectly ok.  It all came together very easily.  The only tricky part was sewing the outer sleeve to its lining along its small opening.  It took me a while to figure out how to correctly do it.  Overall, I would highly recommend the pattern to anyone wanting to make something like this.

Now, I'm thinking of making another one.  Or should I do one with a hood this time?

Baking burnout

I baked and decorated 4 cakes and 48 cupcakes in a span of four days and I am feeling absolutely exhausted.  I love what I do but it does take its toll on me when it's this hectic.   I only took pictures of two of the cakes cause the others weren't anything out of the ordinary.

For a 37th wedding anniversary.  It's mocha chiffon filled with caramel custard and frosted with Swiss Meringue Buttercream.

Close-up gumpaste roses.  I love using embossing sticks to make designs on my topper.

A beyblade-themed 7th birthday cake.  Again, it's mocha chiffon (as requested by the celebrant's dad), filled and frosted with Swiss Meringue buttercream.



My kids don't own any beyblades so I just kinda invented my own.  They're not that great though.

I am earning a fair bit with this homebaking thing but honestly, I am not really after the money.  Every cent actually goes to loved ones back home who need the money more.  I am not saying this to brag or to give credit to myself.  All these cake orders are but blessings for which I am really grateful.  To have an unselfish purpose simply gives more meaning to all the hard work.  At the end of the day, after all the measuring, mixing, baking, washing, and decorating, I rest knowing that I am doing a good thing and this truly gives me great joy in my heart.  What better reward is there?

So...inspite of the burnout....I am more than welcoming new baking opportunities.  Keep them coming!

My First "Wedding" Cake

The reason for the " " is because the cake is not actually for a wedding. It is for a marriage enrichment program culminating in a renewal of vows. It is, in fact, not just for one couple but for 40.

I was given just a week to think about how to go about doing this cake. I've never done a wedding cake before so the apprehension was definitely there. When I was given a rather small budget, my first thought was it was enough to make a decent two-tiered cake. Clearly, I was so clueless as to how much wedding cakes cost! When I saw this and this, I knew my cake was going to be a huge bargain.

But as my son aptly put it, even if I wasn't going to get paid for this, I'd still give it my all. True. So here it is...just finished it early this morning...my first ever two-tiered wedding cake!

The top tier is an 8" chocolate chiffon and the bottom tier is an 11" mocha chiffon. The cakes are filled and frosted with Magnolia Bakery's creamy vanilla frosting. All the decorations were made from gumpaste.

I got the idea of the bride and groom topper from a Carol Deacon book. I borrowed the book from the library months ago and photocopied some of the pages that I thought might come in handy for me in the future. I really had a blast making this topper!

So that's it for another new thing for me. Would I want to do this again? Certainly! The experience caused me a bit of anxiety but it was all worth it in the end.

You all know that I am just a self-taught homebaker, right? I've never attended any baking class whatsoever. So...if I can create something like this from scratch, all of you out there with dreams of making and selling beautiful cakes from your own home kitchen, can do so too. Go ahead and chase your dream!

Prince Charming Suit

I generally like being challenged into making things I've never made before...but sometimes, I get myself into these difficult situations just because I find it so hard to say 'no' to people.

I recently met this young mom in the baby shower I attended a few weeks ago.  One day, I got a very unexpected phone call from her.  She said she was so impressed with the handmade baby presents I brought to the shower that she thought I could help her with something.  Her son is turning one year old in April and she was wondering if I could make a Prince Charming costume for him to wear on his birthday party.

I've sewn just a few clothes for my youngest when he was a toddler.  They weren't very good at all.  But then again, that was years ago and my sewing skills weren't that good either.  So I thought, why not?  I'd give it a shot.  If it doesn't work out, at least, I tried.  The timing was in a way perfect cause I just got myself a second-hand overlocker/serger from eBay.  This was a great opportunity to try the machine out.

She sent me a link to this awesome tutorial and provided me with Size 1 top and pants to base my patterns from.  I got to work right away.  Three days into the project and not without much frustration, I managed to finish it.

The royal blue colour was the mom's choice as she had already purchased a hat/crown to match.  I used satin for both the coat and the pants. It wasn't the easiest of fabrics to work with but I reckoned it was the most appropriate and the most comfortable for a baby.  The trims on the pants, collar and belt, as well as the frill on the shoulder (the epaulettes) are all gold (but look yellow on the photos). The tutorial was a huge help though I changed some things to make the whole process easier.  Having the overlocker was great!  The seams were all nice and neat.

Would you have asked to be paid for making this suit?  I didn't, inspite of everyone around me telling me to do so.  I asked payment for the materials alone.  I am not a professional seamstress and I don't want people to expect me to do a flawless job just because I am being paid for it.  I did my best and that's enough satisfaction for me. 

Would I do this again?  Maybe not.  I sew my own shorts because they're pretty easy to do but baby clothes???  My son was joking me that soon, people will be asking me to make wedding gowns.  Oh please!!!!

Speaking of weddings, here's a sneak peek into another challenge I got myself into...

  
Will keep you posted on how that went!  Wish me luck...

Alone again

I never would have thought that watching re-runs of Dragonball Z and That's So Raven with my four kids nearly every single night for the past two months would make me miss them as they all went back to school.  While in the past, I would look forward to being alone again after the lengthy vacation, this time around, it's like a big part of me had gone missing.

We didn't do anything much out of the ordinary during the school holidays.  It's summer and we didn't even go to the beach, not even once!  Personally though, I feel my family bonded a lot more by staying home .  We played boardgames and ping pong, watched our favourite TV shows and laughed together, stayed up late every single night.  Considering three of my kids are teenagers, I think doing these things with them was priceless and worth much more than any trip to the beach.

So now, I should get back to normality, to my old routine and to faithfully doing my chores (which I slightly neglected when my kids were around).  I surely am looking forward to more sewing, baking and more computer time too!

Before I end, here's a simple laptop sleeve I recently sewed up for my daughter.  I made her a laptop bag at the beginning of the school year last year but after using it for sometime, she found it difficult for her to be carrying that plus her heavy backpack.  This one, she can just chuck in her backpack along with her other stuff.

I used the leftover denim from the laptop bag and appliqued a couple of flowers which are actually cutouts from a curtain material I found at the Op Shop a long time ago.  I lined the denim with fusible fleece and used pre-quilted material for the inside (again, a leftover from the laptop bag).

The laptop fit rather snugly because of the thickness of the bag layers but I think the snug fit is actually a good thing.

Close-up of applique.  I think the blanket stitch really adds a nice look to it!

That's about it for now.  It seems I'm getting distracted again.  There's so much to do around the house.  I better get moving.

Have a good week!


P.S.

My patchwork pillow tutorial has been featured in Sew, Mama, Sew!'s Pillow Tutorial Round-up along with a bunch of other cool tutorials!  Stop on by and check out all the links!

More baby gifts

Baby changing pad, nappy/wipes clutch, and bath mitt (I hope you're not getting tired of seeing this bird fabric yet!)

 

I used the tutorials here and here to make the baby changing pad and the bath mitt.  For the changing pad,  I used two layers of fusible fleece and quilted the flannel myself instead of buying a pre-quilted one.   For someone who nearly hated bias binding just a while back, I can even say I thoroughly enjoyed making these!  Seriously...I think I'm even beginning to love bias binding.  It makes everything look so neat.

The baby shower was yesterday.  I brought along these baby items plus the baby bibs I made earlier.  Can you believe it, the two moms-to-be aren't even my close friends?  They're my sister in-law's.  I haven't even met one of them till yesterday.  But it really didn't matter.  I had a great time making presents!

And this cake,too...

Purple yam cake (Ube macapuno) as requested

Chocolate Chunk Pizza Cookie

Been avoiding baking calorie-laden snacks lately for fear of tempting myself...but with four kids still on vacation, a mom's got to give in sometime, right?

Enjoy this chocolate chip cookie with a twist...it's like pizza!

CHOCOLATE CHUNK PIZZA COOKIE (recipe adapted from Good Housekeeping)

Ingredients:
1 cup plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter, melted
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks (I used a combination of dark and white chocolate chips)
1/2 cup cashew nuts or walnuts, coarsely chopped

Procedure:
1.  Preheat oven to 190 deg C / 375 deg F.  Grease or line a baking sheet.
2.  In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt.
3.  In a separate bowl, combine melted butter, sugars, vanilla and egg. Mix in the flour mixture, chocolate chunks and nuts.
4.  Place the mixture at the center of the baking sheet.  Flatten and spread into an 8-inch circle using a spatula.
5.  Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until cooke is golden brown along the edges.  Cool for 5 minutes then slice.



Crunchy edges, chewy center!