64 Cupcakes and 3 double-yolked eggs

My granddaughter's birthday party today - she will be 5 years old on Monday.  Where have the last five years gone?  Her Mummy's birthday is today and her Daddy's is on Monday too.

I offered to make the decorated cupcakes so I spent quite a while yesterday in the kitchen making several batches.  There will be 40 children coming to the party, so I needed at least 40 cupcakes.
As it's been quite a while since I made any I couldn't remember the quantity of mixture for 24 cakes, so the first batch only made 16.  Hence two more 24 sized batches and an odd total of 64 cupcakes!
No doubt the grownups will help to eat them up!

I really enjoyed having a mini production line going, decorating the cakes in batches as soon as they were cool enough.

I haven't seen a double-yolked egg for years and years but yesterday I saw three!!!!!
Second batch of cakes needed me to open a new box of 6 eggs. First one I cracked was a double-yolker, the second one I cracked was a double-yolker so I decided that I probably didn't need the three eggs I originally planned to use for this lot of mixture.

Third batch of mixture:  First 2 eggs used were normal, the third was another double-yolker!  I have one egg left from the box which has not yet been used.  Perhaps I should get everyone to bet on whether it is another double-yolked egg?

Anyway, I had a lovely crafty time decorating with pink or blue icing, 100s & 1000s, silver balls, jelly diamonds and mini sugar coated chocolate balls.  I am pleased with the result and hope The Birthday Family is when I take them to the hall later this morning.

Always pays to check your cupboard before you start baking.  I knew I had two partly used boxes of paper cake cases in the cupboard.  What I had forgotten was that one were fairy-cake size (which was what I wanted) and the other were muffin cases, far bigger than the other set of cases. 
Hey ho, what to do? I didn't have time to run to the shop as I had a hair appointment at midday.  So, I thought 'Just use them!" I put a similar amount of mixture into all the paper cases so they would hopefully bake evenly.  Then when the cakes were cool I carefully trimmed round the muffin cases, getting rid of the excess paper case. It worked well - I honestly don't think anyone would guess.  And I have cakes that look all the same size, important with small children, I think.  We certainly don't want any arguments over the cupcakes and any child thinking they got a smaller one than their neighbour! 

The question is, will my eagle eyed daughter spot what I have done?  That will be the real test!

Off to get ready for a busy day.

Using it up, reducing my stash

Whilst I was tidying up my sewing room I took the opportunity to sort out my stash.  Mostly fabrics for quilting but there is a little yarn too.

I discovered some yarn I had bought at a Charity shop last summer.  There were 6 balls: 2 cream, 2 dusky pink and 2 hot pink. Nice soft cotton DK, with bobbles in it. I loved the colours and had imagined making a lovely striped crochet baby blanket.  Of course when I tried to crochet I discovered that the yarn wouldn't work - the bobbles made it hard to do and you couldn't see the stitches.  So away it all went in a bag in my stash cupboard.  Until about ten days ago when I found the bag and decided to make a baby jumper.  I had a pattern for a plain jumper but realised I would not have enough of any one colour so invented a striped jumper with ribbed welt, cuffs and neck edge knitted in dusky pink.  I eyeballed where to make the striped bands, keeping a note of the rows knitted so front and back would match up and then did my best to make the sleeve striped band come in line with the front and back striped band.  Amazingly it worked out!

 

There are 3 buttons on the back raglan sleeve which were also from my stash:

I am very pleased with the result, especially that my striped bands worked out so well.  I am gifting the jumper to Helen for new baby Etta, a jumper she can keep for when Etta is a little older.

I have 2 complete balls left over.

And remnants of the others:

They are all now in a Ziplock bag and will be donated to a Charity Shop tomorrow.  I know I won't use them and perhaps someone else can.  This is a good way to use up stash - use what you can and then pass the rest on.

During my Sewing Room Springclean I re-organised my sets of blocks, some from Bees I had participated in a few years ago. I hope to make these into tops before the end of the year.

I went through my scraps, reorganised how I stored the larger scraps, cut some into strips and squares and threw some small bits away. At least I am now more aware of where everything is and what I really should be finishing.


On a different note. One of my Patchwork Group will be 100 years old next month. She is celebrating by having three "At Home" days when she has invited lots of family and friends to "pop in" for a drink and nibbles.  Unfortunately three of the group (including me) won't be able to attend so we called round last week.  I made a simple sponge cake and another friend made some Danish shortbread. We lit the candle on the cake and sang Happy Birthday.

Win enjoyed our visit. As there were only the four of us we were able to have a good conversation and Win told us quite a few stories from different parts of her very long life.  An amazing lady, still sewing and doing the smallest of stitches, all very even!

First Quilt finish for 2015

I have just finished hand sewing the binding on a baby quilt.
My first Quilt finish for 2015.

My daughter asked me to make a quilt for a friend who is expecting a baby in about a month's time.  The parents know it is a boy and my daughter loves Overall Bills so they had to be part of the design. DD hand blanket stitched a few of the blocks but the design, fabric choices etc were my ideas.  The parents lived in Australia for some years so as I had a small piece of Koala bear fabric I included that as the centre block.  My intention was to have Overall Bills walking in different directions throughout the quilt as if they were seeking the koalas.

Finding Koalas

 

The quilt is vibrant, much brighter colours than in my photograph.

I pieced the backing, using some of the fabrics used in the quilt front.

The pieced backing:

  

 

The Overall Bills were hand blanket stitched and I echo quilted with Perle cotton around each appliqued figure.  Otherwise the quilt was machine quilted.

I used two of the Pearl bracelet fabrics I won last year in a Giveaway - almost nothing of those two pieces are left!  Lots of small scraps were used to make the Overall Bills.  Everything in this quilt came from my stash......... nothing extra was bought at all.  Just how I like it!

Passing it on to my DD this weekend, so she has it ready for when baby puts in an appearance.

 

Sorting out my sewing room

Well, suddenly we are halfway through January, so 2015 is already starting to slip away, and it's time to sort out my sewing room and have a good old tidy up.

I have a drawer with "Project Packs" which I did not touch today. I do more or less know what's in there.  Mostly packs of fabrics and scraps ready to make a quilt, not WIPs.

However, I did delve into the cupboard which has packs of blocks, including a couple of Sewing Bee groups I participated in a few years ago.  Time they saw the light of day!

 

Thirteen 12.5" blocks which really need to be made into a quilt - or donated. 

 

Another Bee Group, similar colours to the previous set but Stars this time. Perhaps I could combine both sets of blocks?  There does seem an awful lot of white in both sets ( although one block in this set definitely has  cream background).  Perhaps a bit of trimming and adding colourful strips? 

Then I have a few sets of blocks I make as "Leaders and Enders" - in the Bonnie Hunter style:

Top row are a set of 6" Crumb blocks and 2 sets of 4" Crumb blocks
Middle row: a set of Hour glass style blocks and rather anaemic pinwheels(should I undo them into HSTs?)
Bottom row: Wonky stars, Bonnie Hunter style. Boy colours.

And a quilt top made from 4" Crumb blocks made into 4 patch blocks, made into a Cornerstones top (Gwen Marston style).  Probably needs a border.  A good size as you can see from the photo - it is spread out on top of a single bed. Once this is finished I think I will donate it to Siblings Together.


I also sorted out my scraps.  Any reasonable sized pieces I put into a large zipped poly bag which originally  held sheets. I do find these bags so useful.  Smaller pieces I cut into 2.5"  or 3" squares, or strips. All tidily away in my stash.

Not quite finished sorting out as I ran out of time but hope to finish the job tomorrow.

Feeling pleased with my efforts so far.

 

Baby gifts ready to go

Well, baby Etta has arrived!  Born on 10th January, another granddaughter for my husband's cousin and his wife.

I was sure Mum Helen was having a boy and had a quilt set aside that I made quite recently.  However, I knew I had a couple of baby girl quilts in my cupboard so I didn't make another.

Surprise, surprise, along came baby Etta and out of my cupboard came this quilt:

When it was made, way back in March 2012 (I checked my Flickr quilts photos to check the date!)
I called it Emerging Butterflies.  However, I decided to re-name it now it has an owner, and it's now called "Patches in Pink". 

I made a really scrappy backing for this quilt which I was very pleased with at the time and I still love it now:

 

I am adding a crocheted stripey blanket that I recently made so that's going in the parcel with the quilt.

 

Helen is a great crafter herself so she will enjoy this gift, I am sure, and will appreciate the love and care that went into the making.

Can't wait to see them all and perhaps have a cuddle with a new baby!

 

And the Last will be First

My last finish of 2014 is becoming my first gift of 2015.

Another little needlecase made using the excellent tutorial from  Amy's nanacompany.typepad.com

I have altered Amy's design a little by adding two thin ribbon strings which tie in a bow, instead of the button and loop which Amy did.

As I like to try to keep my stash and projects organised I have a Needlecase Pack containing the instructions, suitable pieces of thin ribbon, the Strawberry template, fusible webbing and scraps of fabric for the strawberry and leaf, the fronts and inside of the needlecase and 1.5" squares already cut for the patchwork. Then it's easy to grab the pack and make another little needlecase!

And here it is, opened up to show the patchwork back.

This one is a little "Thank you" for Teresa Rawson (her blog is fabrictherapy.BlogSpot.com)

I entered Teresa's Giveaway in mid December and won!  The prize was a great magazine, one I have seen mentioned in lots of blogs: Quiltmakers 100 Blocks which looks a great resource to have on the bookshelves in my Sewing Room.  So, thank you, Teresa.  The Strawberry needlecase will be in the post to you tomorrow.

I love these little needlecases and have now made quite a few which have all been gifted. 
This gift takes to 20 my total of little gifts for 2014. Not all patchwork: there are a couple of crocheted blankets and some knitting but I did make three of these Strawberry needlecases. 

I like to keep a record of all the crafty things I make: mostly Patchwork (quilts, cushions, bags and needlecases) but also a bit of knitting and crochet.  I use Flickr as a vehicle for this record and organise my finishes into Albums.  A couple of years ago I had the bright idea of keeping a clearer record of things I have made by adding the year in the title of the album.
For instance Small Gifts 2014 where this little gift is number 20.

By looking at these Albums I can quickly see what I actually finished in 2014.

I made 8 quilts, 5 of which I have already gifted, 4 sets of blocks for various charity quilt drives and 2 crocheted blankets which have yet to be given away. 

Not as many finishes for 2014 as there were for 2013 but last year was extremely busy on the health front - for me and also for my daughter who had a slipped disc in September which took a lot of time to improve so I was helping out a lot there too. 

We are hoping 2015 brings better health for us.

So, as this is my first Blog post of 2015, may I wish everyone a Happy and Healthy and Creative 2015!