A Story to Tell

I created this image a while back and it was supposed to be a gift for my son. It is part of a series of illustrations I did that I was hoping to make into a book. It was taking me far too long to finish and I was growing impatient with myself for not getting it done so I decided to take this one image and make it into something a bit different than a book. I used the fine services at spoonflower.com to created a piece of custom fabric in which I made yet another blanket for him to snuggle in. The difference with this blanket is that it tells part of a story. You see, the house in the bottom used to be our house and the neighborhood use to be our neighborhood. Since I knew he would be too small to remember where he came from I would create a sort of pictoral summary including our old grocery store, church, neighbors and even the hospital where he was born. I think that deep down I really need to hang to those memories. It was a great place to live and because Grant was born and lived out his early days there it holds a very special place in my heart.

Once the blanket is done I will post a pic or two

First Attempt at Fabric

I wasn't sure how this would turn out but I wanted to make a blanket for my mom for Christmas. Well, With a little photoshop work and some of my favorite pics of my son Grant (yes, here he is in fabric form) I created a simple repeat and then sent the file off to the fabulous folks at Spoonflower. When the fabric came to my door I was so excited and so pleased with the job they had done. Way to go Spoonflower!!! Here are some pics of the fabric repeat and the finished piece. The color was "bang" on and the fabric is very soft and smooth and well, nice.

I have to send many, MANY kudos out to my sis Carrie at weavergirlguz for walking me through the steps to creating such a blanket as I have never sewn one before. I am starting to think of cool fabric ideas for my second! Thanks Carrie and Luv ya Mom.

L.

Back to Baking

I was going through some old pictures on my computer when I came across these. Funny How life changes as well as people places and Careers too. I used to have this small little side business baking these mini cupcakes for a few people back in Pittsburgh. It was so much fun and I do miss it however my kitchen her in NJ is both too small and too, well, old to really bake for anyone other than my family. This little business of mine was called pretty cute cakes. I even had a quick little site (I think it is "off the air" now) at www.prettycutecakes.com. I saw these photos and thought it would be fun to post them and see what you thought. The Cakes above were for a kids halloween party and turned out pretty neat. They realy liked the frosted eyeballs the best. Anyway, I really need to bake more often I miss it.


Gluten Free Key Lime Cakes with Marshmallow Frosting.




Angel Food With Sprinkles (turned out pretty).




Chocolate Chili Cakes with Marzipan Peppers.




A Fall Assortment of Chocolate and Vanilla Buttercream.

They were all pretty tasty but The flavor that sold the most was always vanilla with vanilla buttercream.

L.

Celebrating Christmas in WNY

Happy New Year to everyone and sorry for such a long pause in the blog world. After shopping and working and wrapping and celebrating I just ran right out of time to sit and type and review good pics for a post. We were also planning our trip up to Buffalo, NY this Christmas to celebrate with family and wait for Santa's sleigh. After Christmas was over we did our usual long overdue visits with friends, our favorite Buffalo eateries and (if we had time) swing by a couple of stores for some gift swapping. We were out and about one day and I was sitting in the parking lot of one of the local Targoneit's when I looked out the car window and saw something that made me laugh. I grabbed my camera and took a few shots. Ahhh, December in Western, NY, there is nothing else quite like it. The next day we paid a visit to the Our Lady of Victory Basilica in South Buffalo which took my breath away. They had decorated for Christmas and all I could say was "WOW, there really IS nothing like Western, NY in December."

Having the Blues

No, don't worry this is not another "downer" post. I am actually really excited that I had some time to grab a few pics of one one my favorite little parts of our home. I have been given and I guess you could say collecting various pieces of blue glass. I just love them all. When we moved in I placed them in our front window and they seem to really sparkle there. I am just glad that I had pretty good light today and was able to grab my camera for a little photo shoot. "Work it, work it" blue glass. Oh yeah, and congratulations to our new President Elect Barack Obama. This blue's for you! Blue is such a fabulous and functional color don't you think?

It's Getting Chilly Out.

Last week after work when I went to go pick my son Grant up from daycare I noticed that all of the kids were outside on the playground enjoy themselves. It was quite chilly out and I could see that most of the kids including Grant had pink noses and cheeks from the brisk air. That is when I decided to knit him a cap for school. Something colorful and warm but not heavy. Something that could get tucked into his classroom cubby and pulled out on a cold fall day.
Can you believe I found this yarn at "Wal-you know what"? It is totally un-natural acrylic but it will wash well and is easy to knit with. I have been looking for a good knit/craft/creative shop around Piscataway, NJ where I work. It would be fun to do a little shopping during lunch but I have not seen or heard of anything so... off to "Wal-what don't they sell". It's not much to blog about and there's not much to knitting in the round but it should come in handy for a cold head on the playground.