Cross Stitch Christmas Stocking

I started this shortly after Christmas last year and finished it a week or so before Christmas.  I pulled together a bunch of things from other patterns.  The goats at the bottom don't really fit the theme, but they are a nod to our goats, Billy and Aberforth.

Black Dress

Frabjous made this Burda pattern last Christmas, and I liked it enough that I decided to make something similar but in black. Black is not the best color on me, but I wanted to have a black dres for occasions that demand something more somber.

  I found Frabjous' tips really helpful and learned how to balance darts and how to reinforce the corners in the sleeves.  I also interlined with with silk organza.

One thing I did differently was to add an invisible zipper in the back and baste the front shut.  It's easier, and I won't have to worry about gaping.  I also changed the sleeves to elbow length so I can wear it year round.  Additionally I raised the neckline.  I prefer my necklines much higher than Burda tends to design for.  I can see from the picture that I need to figure out a better way to raise the neckline.

I started it almost a year ago, and when I tried it on, I discovered that it was way too big in the waist, so I had to take it in. Hence the pins on the side.  I can also see from the pictures that I should have done a better job pressing it.

Dress Form

I just finished fitting my dress form based on what I learned at a class at the Novi Sewing Expo from Joe Vecchiarelli who does the fitting for "Dancing with the Stars" as well as a tip from the Craftsy class on "Patternmaking Basics" by Suzy Furrer.  I have a fairly small budget, so I bought the dress form from JoAnn's when it was on sale before Christmas last year.  I bought it in a smaller size so that I could pad it up. Joe Vecchiarelli starts with a smaller size, the one that fits the largest measurement, or even smaller if the person wants to lose weight.  He uses 3 inch batting (regular polyester) for the waist and 7 inch batting for the hips.  He uses a bra for the top and pads it.  I started with my list of measurements from Suzy Furrer's class and padded the waist and hips to match.  Then I had my husband help me do front and back measurements and side to side measurements to figure out how to distribute the measurement accurately. I used Suzy Furrer's suggestion to cover the whole thing with ace wrap to make it smooth, using one of the ace wrap clips to represent the naval.   I plan to look more closely at the shoulders, but I think I'm fairly close to my dress form there except that the shoulders are wider than mine which I don't see that I can change.  When I work with it, I dress her in whatever bra I plan to wear, and that so far has worked fine.

Healthy Birthday Cake

My daughter-in-law made this cake for my birthday. The frosting was coconut cream whipped with lime juice, honey, and vanilla with toasted almond slices, blackberries, kiwi, and strawberries.

The inside was watermelon which had already been sliced into the appropriate number of pieces.

A great choice for me!  I loved it.

Also note the tablecloth. I picked it up at an estate sale. It appears to be handmade with the blue done in stem stitch and cross stitch and the white done in a satin stitch.  I've never seen anything like it before.

Eiffel Tower Cake

My friend Robin was the artist behind this with technical help from me and significant assistance from her kids.  It was based on this website and was for her son's wedding.

Bishop Smocked Dress

The 3 rows of pintucks are growth tucks--I put them in with a fairly loose stitch so they can easily be taken out when extra length is needed.

Cow Cake

This is the cake I made for my brother's birthday:

It's the leftover icing from the Ella cake--a bad choice to begin with. I need to find a buttercream that holds up better in the heat.

Ella Cake

This was the birthday cake for my great niece's first birthday. 

Hedgehog Food

Hedgehog cheese spread. I used a purchased cheese  ball smoosh
ed to resemble this shape, covered it with cream cheese, then stuck smoked almond spines, grape nose, and olive eyes.

We also made a hedgehog carved watermelon last summer. I didn't get a final picture, but here is the initial cut and a link to a finished one.  Ours would have looked better with a smaller nose and no whiskers. What's missing is the top layer of melon balls, each with a toothpick in it to represent a spine.