The first is a Spicy Spiral which I have made before, but this time I just wasn't concentrating and ended with 2 halves exactly the same. Fortunately I had enough fabric to make a correction and all is well. The picture is a little fuzzy, but perhaps you can see that the fabric is all fruits. Previously I made one with all vegetables. They should look good together (eventually)!I really love the Moda Bake Shop blog with all their cutsy ideas of projects using their bakeshop products. Of course you can adapt any fabric to their patterns and I did so with this little bag from leftover strips of Kaffe Fassett. It was fun making it until it came towards the end. As with the Spiral, I managed to work my way through it. I figure the little granddaughters may like it. If you decide to make one, don't expect (or want) it to look exactly like mine. Yours will have a rounded flap.
We had a memorable event on Saturday when my granddaughter Jenna was baptized by her father. She is such a sweetheart and we are so proud of her. She is a loving child and keeps us laughing all the time. She showed me her new birthstone necklace her "other" Grandmother gave her. I asked her what the stone was and she said it was an Avril Lavigne! Oh these kids! It was an aquamarine. Like I said, she keeps us laughing! After the baptism we visited the St. George Temple grounds for pictures and then went to Jenna's favorite Restaurant "The Golden Trough" as Grandpa refers to it!!
A great ending to the weekend came when I attended a Court of Honor to witness my grandson Zachary receive merit badges as well as his First Class. On his way to Eagle! Way to go Zach!
We got some exciting news about a long time friend from our Ward in Connecticut. I have known him since he was 8 years old and have remained in touch with him and his parents since we left Connecticut. His name is Ryan Murphy and he was appointed last Friday as the new Associate Director of the Tabernacle Choir!!!! He has always been a wonderful musician - even at 8 years old when he couldn't even touch the pedals. I was in charge of a large children's choir for a conference when he was about 9 years old and he was the accompanist. The congregation was flabergasted that such a small child could play the way he did. Not only did he play, he actually changed the music to adapt to childrens' voices. He has worked so hard during these years on his education as well as having a darling family and serving in the Church in Boston. He will be completing his doctorate in May and will be moving his cute family to Utah to take on his new position. We are anxious to find out when he will make his "debut". We will all be there on the front row! For the past few summers he has come to St. George to be the musical director at Tuacahn Ampitheater and we have enjoyed his company - and free tickets!! We will miss seeing him in the summers in St. George. Congratulations Ryan - you are the best!!
Last night I attended the David Archuleta concert with my daughter and granddaughter Ashley (in the above picture). It was such a pleasure to see a young performer singing good clean music, keeping the standards he has been taught and also causing lots of girls to scream!! My ears were ringing for hours after - but it was fun and also fun to see kids having a good clean time. The only violation I saw was people using cameras when they were asked not to. No announcement was ever made about the use of cameras, but just rent-a-cops strong arming people with cameras and then only people on the ends of rows (which is where we sat) . How can anyone go to a concert and not take pictures?? That is unreasonable! I don't think the security people got their marching orders correct. Normally cameras are allowed but not video recording. It was rather entertaining watching security people trying to enforce the "rules". It was an impossible mission! Anyway, fun was had for all.
I recently had the chance to consume a "professionally" made cupcake at a restaurant and it was so good - and $$$ I might add. I decided I could do this myself. Many years ago when my children were young I got into cake decorating and turned out some really cute birthday cakes. I did the doll cakes, the race cars, etc. For many years until this past year I made and decorated award winning gingerbread houses. This provided a really nice Christmas gift fund for our family when the kids were little. We made a couple hundred each year and had them all finished and ready for sale by the first of December. I know that cupcakes are all the rage in different parts of the country and there are volumes on the internet with recipes, decorating styles, etc. The one site that I decided to use is 
Ta da!! They are beautiful and they taste even better! I guess using the real unsalted butter and whole milk (which I never buy) paid off.
I was asked to provide a table decoration for our church's women group at tonights fancy dinner. I decided to incorporate the cupcakes into the birthday theme and add a few balloons and confetti. Since it was a quasi birthday party, I made a little gift for everyone sitting at my table. Each person received a cute potholder! We were also asked to participate in an activity that resulted in a service of our choice to be auctioned to the highest bidder based on a point system. I was in a quandry as to what I could donate and at the same time be realistic about being able to complete it. I decided on providing a dozen gourmet (ha) cupcakes for the occasion of their choice. The goodies actually received a very high bid. I later found out that the person who did the final bid is a master cake decorator and since becoming confined to a wheelchair hasn't been able to bake and decorate any longer for her children. She thought the cupcakes were really cute and pretty. I'm glad she is getting them and hope she likes them.
All sliced and ready to make more! This is fun!
Washed, dried - its a miracle! They look so cool. Hard to believe they are all made with the same fabrics. Its a surprise to see them after the wash and dry process. Its just a matter of how they are stacked before sewing. I did all 4 bindings differently and decided the one on the left (below) worked the best.
