Naughty Birthday Cake - Warning: Off-Color Humor

My son, Adam, texted me yesterday morning around 8:15. He realized it was short notice, but could I please make a "naked fat lady cake" for a coworker's birthday, and have it ready by 4:30? Of course I said yep. A few hours later, here's what I had come up with. I think it's my best naked fat lady cake yet, although I do realize she looks a bit crazy (I don't do faces very well).

I used the Wilton Storybook Doll cake pan (discontinued), and I'm sure those folks at Wilton weren't really envisioning THIS when they created that pan, LOL! She sports a studded dog collar, "shelf" corset, black fishnets, and a Brazilian (yes, she's a natural redhead!).

The boobs are Hostess Snowballs, and the only ones I could find at my Safeway were green ones - they were hard to cover with the frosting...ugh. And yes, those are Dots...I suppose I should be ashamed to use abuse such innocent movie-theater candy in such a naughty application... 

The bows on her shoes and in her hair are Rips Whips (who knew?). My husband pointed out the little "snag" in her stockings...I told him that was because she'd worn those stockings a LOT, and just added to her naughty appeal. Adam presented the cake to his buddy at work and he said it was the best cake he'd ever gotten. I'm sure his coworkers think Adam's mom is off her rocker :-) but I'll take that as a compliment.

Oh, and a friend JUST NOW suggested she needs a name and said she looked like a "Stella" so Stella she is! Er...WAS...sorry Stella, I guess you've been named...posthumously.....

I'm SEW Coordinated

My current raggy-baggy bag was so raggy-baggy I didn't even bother to take a picture of it, so I set out to make a new purse a few days ago.

First off...I have something I feel compelled to admit: I just NEED to let fabric "simmer" awhile before I can bring myself to USE it. I'm sure none of you can possibly  understand or identify with this (wink, wink). I haven't yet unraveled the formula by which "new" fabric has simmered long enough so it can be used without angst. Actually angst may not ever go away...but after a certain period of simmering, at least I don't break into a cold sweat at the very thought of cutting into that Sunkissed fat quarter bundle. Although...I STILL haven't whacked into it, nor my Hometown, and now Reunion has come down the pike...and I'm not quite sure how long it will be before I can even THINK about snipping into Outfoxed or Good Fortune, but I did manage to use some of my Ruby.  However - and I have to believe some of you had the same experience - I'm so OVER Sherbet Pips, probably due to the mass quantities of hype prior to any of it actually being released to us regular sewers. No angst there. Whack, whack, whack.

Just a VERY teeny-tiny sampling of my pre-cut stash - think HUNDREDS more...

So, after deciding a new purse was needed, the next question was: "What of my precious fabric stash shall I use?" It took hours. Of angst. "But if I use this...then I won't have (as much) of it anymore!" More "Aaack!" than "Whack!"

But I finally settled on Kate Spain's Terrain. I had a nice, fat Jelly Roll and a selection of quarter- and half-yards of 8 prints. I was careful to NOT use all of any one print, although a few of the individual Jelly Roll strips are now pretty short. At some point when I was making the purse, I decided I should just go for it and make all new accessories to match. I wasn't sure I could stand to be this coordinated, but decided it was worth a shot :-)

So here's the new purse, complete with floofy-and-beaded flower. No pattern here, just made it up as I went along after decided it needed to be a smidge bigger than my old raggy-baggy. You know...we rise to the size of the bag - no matter how large or small, we manage to fill it to the brim, and while there's a bit of room left right now, I'm sure it will fill up soon.

New key chain, checkbook cover, card wallet, and Shoop-Shoop Bag.

 Bag interior. Already filled up with the new, coordinated stuff!

All together now!

And YET....I still had plenty o' Terrain left...

Now I'm SURE that Sunkissed Jelly Roll has probably simmered long enough, so I need to drag it out and get WHACKING!

Happy Valentine's Day

Sweet Times! :-)

Valentine Swap - Mug Rug / Postcard Hybrid

Aunt Pitty Pat had a small Valentine Swap. We were supposed to make a kind of Mug Rug/Postcard "hybrid." She wanted us to make a little quilty work of art about 8x10 that could be used as a Mug Rug, but had the look of a fabric/quilted postcard, and include a little something sweet. This was a blind swap, and here is what I got from my partner, Mary. I made a little mistake in that I immediately put the mailing envelope in the garbage and of course it was the day the garbage went out. I *assumed* Mary's email or blog addy was somewhere in the contents OR that APP had supplied that information in the assignment email. WRONG! So I tossed the only thing that had Mary's one piece of contact info, which was her return address! I've asked APP for her email addy, but APP has been busy and not feeling well...or maybe she's holding out on me because she wants me to come to Kansas and get that info from her in person, LOL! Anyways, here's what Mary sent me:

The "Mug Rug" side - Mary did a wonderful job of quilting! And see the cute little saying in the center? I love it!

And the sweet little note she wrote on the back:

Mary also sent me a cute little tin of Barkley's Tastefully Intense Cinnamon Mints, and the metal container will be PERFECT for storing pins or needles in! Thank you sooooo much, Mary! I love them both!

For my partner, Sandra, I thought long and hard about what I wanted to create. I decided on a pieced heart for the front. I used mostly Ruby by Bonnie & Camille for Moda Fabrics. I added a smidge of red ric-rac just for kicks.

For the back, I decided to use a vintage postcard theme. I used a full sheet of ink  jet printer fabric and created a *real* postcard - complete with a vintage-looking stamp, postmark, graphic, dividing line, and I used a script font for the sending info as well as the sweet note I wrote her. I think it turned out pretty nice!

I added one of my Shoop-Shoop bags, filled with some sweet treats, including Dove Milk Chocolate Hearts and some of those new Raspberry-Dark-Chocolate M&Ms!

Thanks, APP for holding this sweet swap :-)

Super Spanish Rice

I've made this recipe for Spanish Rice twice now, and it is just soooooo good! I even ate some for breakfast this morning!

The only change I made to the recipe is that I used a red pepper because I didn't have a green one. I paired it with beef chimichangas (which I just kinda sorta made up), and my friend Aunt Pitty Pat's refried beans (more on this below). I heartily recommend this Spanish Rice recipe that can be found on Our Best Bites, which is a WONderful recipe site! I've also made their Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos which are incredibly good, made with Taco Chicken, and served with Creamy Lime-Cilantro Dressing.

Spanish Rice is a dish that can be incredibly flavorful OR incredibly flavorless when eaten in a restaurant. This recipe is definitely full of flavor and it's now my go-to recipe to pair with other hispanic foods in the dinnertime rotation.

Oh yes, about the beans...apparently I have been just dumping beans out of the can and heating them up...and not particularly loving it...for years...until one night some months ago when I was talking to Aunt Pitty Pat and she casually mentioned how SHE prepares canned refries. So simple, but I never would have come up with this myself, duh! Put some oil in a pan and let it get hot. Dump the beans in, along with about 1/4 cup water (for the large-size can), and 1/2 cup salsa. Stir it up and cook until heated through and the consistency you want. Ummm, I guess this would be the "refried" part of "refried beans" hello????? Sometimes, I am just so dense....thank goodness I have friends who can put me back on the right path :-)

No Juice for You!

It's been a challenge here in the PNW, first with a cold front dumping 20" of the white, fluffy stuff on us - we were without power for 129 hours before it was restored. Just as I got the fridge emptied into the garbage can, and SOME of our clothes washed, a rain-and-windstorm came along and plunged us into darkness again.

So today, I was hap-hap-happy when I saw a power truck heading down our driveway. Crews were out checking poles and lines before turning the power back on...AGAIN. I ran out to greet the guys and find out whatever I could. I also told them how VERY much we appreciated all the hard work they had been doing to get the power on to tens of thousands of us. One guy asked me "So what time yesterday did you lose your power again?" I told him around 3:00 p.m. He said "Yes well we noticed that you were not using your power wisely after we turned it back on yesterday, so we took it away from you and gave it to others who really needed it."  I said "Ahhhh...it was the Facebook, wasn't it?"  He nodded and said "Yep, and we are going to turn it back on real soon but we'll be watching, and if you don't do better, we'll just have to turn it off again."

Of course, I was standing on the porch, giggling...and amazed that they could possibly still have a sense of humor after the freezing cold, wind, rain, and lack of sleep they have been enduring to make sure we got power back as quickly as possible. A smile and a wave and they were off...sure enough, 20 minutes later, There Was Light! I have to admit, I was back on Facebook in only 10 minutes, tempting fate...

Weather and Other Stuff

Phew! We have been hit with an epic snowstorm! Some places near me have two feet of the fluffy white stuff...I went out a few hours ago and measured 15" but it's snowed heavily since then so I have no idea what's out there now. Here's a shot from the front porch. The Jeep in the background made it into town at 6:30 this morning, but didn't manage to lose all the snow on the roof during the drive. My car in the foreground hasn't moved for days and is almost completely buried.

The puppies still wanna go jump around in it, although Ben had to shovel a path for Diesel because he's short and old. Watch out for the "yellow snow" not only because of the dogs, but because Ben has been fixated on writing words in the snow...like "Ben," "Jeep," and I don't know what else. Men! Boys! They got that equipment and they just wanna use it!

UPDATE: It's now at 20" - took the good ole' Omnigrid out on the deck...

Wow! That's 20 inches now! Yikes!

The angle makes it look only 19 1/2" but it really IS a full 20"!

Meanwhile, Adam had to get the back-blade on the tractor last night to plow the LLH (last long hill) on Apron Valley Road so he could get Katie's car towed home. And the snow snapped some poles on the Hippie Chicks enclosure, but they are safe and warm inside the van.

Adam came down to the house this morning and dug his knee-high rubber boots out of the closet. He hadn't worn them for YEARS, and he found rice in one boot, and gold foil-wrapped chocolate coins in the other boot!  Adam said "Maybe they went to a mouse wedding..." WTF? So, like, I provided all the food...and they didn't even invite me to the wedding, LOL! I can see the rice, but where did those  mice get the coins? I usually keep some in the freezer...maybe they swiped them when they were in there getting ice for their Mousetinis? ;-)

Miss Piggy was quite interested in the "booty"

And here's what One Eye, the cat, thinks about the whole mess...


Pffftttttt! Just give me some more catnip...

In the  meantime, I made YET ANOTHER of those Scrappy Daisies table runners! I really need to start some other projects!

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I really AM working on some other things and will post those soon. Hopefully, we won't lose power (crossing fingers and toes here!).