Never Give Up!

So the other night I hosted a cake decorating class at my house. I go to church with a professional cake decorator (below, on right- you can see her work here) who is about to move! So, we had talked for months about doing some classes, and it was now or never!
Only one other person came, my friend, Isabel (who is wonderful because she holds the baby and rocks her to sleep) I have decided that this is the perfect size class. If it was any bigger, I never would have been able to master making butter cream roses!

That's right! I finally mastered the butter cream rose! I have taken many classes before, been taught, and practiced till my hand hurt, but could not make a frosting rose. As usual, I tried, and tried, and all my roses got dumped back into the frosting bowl. I finally said, "See, I just can't do this!"
I realized as soon as the words were out of my mouth that I sounded just like my 9-year old daughter when she practices the piano... don't know where she gets it from.
That only brought out the Peruvian stubborn streak in my teacher (I actually don't know if people from Peru are stubborn since she is the only one I know) and she would not let me quit (thank- you Sara!) until I got it.
She taught me to do it backwards from the way I had always been taught before, and I finally got it! Backwards.... should have know that would work, since my brain is hardwired backwards.

Here's a close-up of these lovely roses.... I'm so proud of myself!

(#25) Another Diaper Cake!

I knew it wouldn't be long before I made another diaper cake. They're just too cute and fun to make. This one was for my sister-n-law, who should be having baby Sophie any day now!

I loved the pink, brown, and green color scheme (it went with the baby shower, and also will go with the baby's room). As much fun as I had with those bright colors (see previous post), these are just so pretty...
Here's my baby modeling how the satin flowers (which are hair clips) and head bands (which are circling the top tier of the "cake") are to be worn...
And here she is modeling them in blue and white:
(diaper cake is in background. I guess these flattering pictures of me are what I get for turning the camera over to my 9-year old daughter!)
Here's a close up of some of the details. I loved the ribbon. There was some pink crinkly stuff that I layered on the bottom tier over some green ribbon, and on the right you can see some pink-on-pink polka dot ribbon.
mmm.... I love me some pretty ribbon...

It's DONE!!! It's Finally Done!!! (#24) The Wedding Quilt

I really had moments when I thought this quilt would never get finished! I started this in about January or February of 2010. Not long after my brother-n-law became engaged. The bride to be wanted the quilt in her wedding colors. The little quilt shop in the little town where I lived didn't have anything that would work. We drove 3 1/2 hours away and by sending pictures from the phone's camera, I got the approval on these fabrics. Not the most ideal way to pick out fabrics...
But, I got off to a good start. My life is always a little crazy, but I became completely sidelined and the quilt came to an abrupt stop when I became pregnant.
You see, I have severe morning sickness. Those of you who have experienced that need no further explanations. The quilt was just not going to get finished in time for the wedding.
It was a miracle that I even showed up at the wedding.
Then my pregnancy progressed, we put our house up for sale (which is so much work, it is the equivalent of finishing 25 quilts!), moved into a hotel for a month, then into a new house. Then I had the baby...
Finally, when the baby was about 4 months old, I got the quilt out and finally finished it...
Just in time for the happy couple's 1st anniversary... and baby shower...
Yep, that's when I finally gave it to her.

It took a lot longer than I thought it would- pregnancy or no- I decided to do all the quilting myself, with a new pattern that I had never done on a quilt this big before. But I love the quilting on it, it's my favorite part.
It had some fun applique flowers on it, too, and some crazy patches.
Here is the happy couple with the quilt. (It is draped over my MIL's California King bed- the quilt is actually a generous Queen)
I also embroidered their names... I was going to put their wedding date, but that might imply that the quilt was done then, and I don't want to mislead anyone...


And one last shot from the balcony looking down. I love this quilt, but I'm super happy to have it out of my sight at last!