projects lately

I wanted to learn fondant cake decorating for an idea I've had for Kiersten's 2nd birthday cake. I know there are plenty of classes you can take, but I thought I'd just give it a shot to see how difficult it might be. Here is my first attempt. I normally wouldn't have done quite so much decoration, but I wanted to practice as much as possible. I didn't take a picture before Kara ate some of the flowers off, as you can see in the back. Here's what I came away with;
1-if I do this in the future, I will probably buy the colors individually, so I can pick the colors I want, and also, so I can have more of each color. The kit I bought had 4 colors, but not enough of any of them to cover the entire cake. So that's why the yellow top and orange sides.
2- I didn't need as much powdered sugar as I thought I would. It actually made it a little harder to work with, and was a pain to clean off.
3-I probably wouldn't layer as much fondant, or roll it thinner next time. I had to take most of it off before eating, it was too sweet, and too thick. Kara and Kiersten liked it though.
4- before putting anything on, be sure that's where I want it. I was surprised how quickly it glued on, and how much it stained when removed.
And after all my trouble, I decided the cake I want to make for Kiersten's birthday would work better with jsut frosting and no fondant. But I still might take a few classes for future caking fun.

I finally gave up on finding the throw pillows I wanted for our family room, and just covered some old ones. They turned out cute, but I wish I had made the covers a little smaller, to puff up the pillows a bit more. I also made a baby wipe case using this same fabric. It turned out pretty cute, but I definitely learned how to do it better the next time. I had made pillows similar to these, but with gold fabric for downstairs, a few months back, and I decided to make a few more out of that fabric when I did these. Ben was disappointed because the ugly pillows I covered were really soft, and that gold fabric is stiffer and a little scratchy. This red farbic is nice and silky though.

I made Kiersten this summer dress. It took half the time of the last dress I made for her, which I can attribute to having a new sewing machine I dont' have to fix every 10 minutes.

here she is wearing it. Of course she only wore it for a few minutes before a poopy diaper mishap, and It had to be taken off to be washed. I'll probably put her in it again soon. It's slightly too big, but that's better than too small. I'm sure it will fit right by the end of summer.

so that's a taste of what I've been up to lately. I had my 22 week dr. appointment this morning. It went pretty well, except my legs are more swollen that the dr. would like, so she prescribed me some support hose. I have an appt. later this week to go get fitted for them. I'm curious how much they'll cost, because I know you can buy them at the drug store for 10-15 dollars. I guess it will be good to have them fitted specifically for me though. but the blood pooling in my legs is what has been causing my dizzy spells. She said the blood just isn't getting circulated well enough, and it's not getting to my brain easily. I'm definitely looking forward to some relief from that. The only other issue was my protein level being too low. No big surprise, I had the same issue with Kara and Kiersten, so I know the drill. Only light exercise from now on, and I have to try to eat more protein. She wants me to try to have some at every meal, not easy for me, but I will definitely try. I gained 4 lbs since last month. I swear I've gained more than that, but I'm just glad to have my first appointment where I gained weight instead of having lost weight.