BLOG :: Out with the Grey–In with the Autumn-y

Isn’t it funny how you sometimes love something and then grow to hate it? Well, maybe I didn’t ever love my grey with red flowers background but ugh I certainly don’t like it anymore.

And once I had changed the background, the header looked so empty, so I changed that too…

There are lots of online tutorials explaining how to change or add a “tiled” background in Blogger, so I won’t explain it all here again.

But some great websites I used along the way are listed below:

I made the yellow background image at bgpatterns.com

If I want to have stripes next time, I’ll go to stripegenerator.com

And I could even create a plaid using my very own color choices at tartanmaker.com

(I think these would also be a fun place for digital scrapbookers to make their own backgrounds…)

Once I made the image and downloaded it to my computer, I still had to get it onto the Web somewhere so that I could add the link to my Blogger template. Enter the tinypic.com website.

You upload a photo, tinypic stores is online and gives you a short address right to it, for example: http://i54.tinypic.com/zwepzs.jpg

So then under the Blogger Dashboard – Design – Edit HTML, I just had to find the body { section and add the link address to the background url.

Enjoy making your very own backgrounds. I sure do!

SEWING : : Nursing Cover Thank-You Gift

Another gift for my friend who loves brown and orange…

Recently I went camping---in a tent!---for the first time in about 25 years, and this friend hooked me up with all the “essentials” I was missing: tent, tarp, camping pad, sleeping bag, nice Columbia jacket with “pit vents,” socks, headlamp, and more!

So when she mentioned she’d love to have a nursing cover, I knew just what to do!

I found these fun fabrics in the remnant bins, one yard each. Hooray – more than enough for this project with some leftover for another…

As before, I used quadruple-folded felt instead of boning; but this time, I made it 14” instead of 16” long. I also changed the strap configuration, attaching the D-rings to a strap I cut to be 16” (so it’s about 13.5” after being sewn). So now, to tighten, a mom can pull the other strap down, instead of having to pull it upwards behind her head. Only thing I’m worried about: after a certain point, you can’t pull it any tighter. (See in the photo below how the D-rings are pulled down right next to the edge of the cover?) Perhaps after using it a few weeks, my friend can tell me if it’s working well or not…

And when she’s done with nursing, she could drop it off, let me make a few cuts here, a few new seams there, and she could have a cute apron!

P.S. I really don’t purposely match my outfits to my finished projects but I like that it keeps happening…

How does she do it all?

I ask that a lot, about many of the women I encounter – both online and in real life. Sometimes, I am happy for them and their accomplishments. Other times, I can get a bit down. Envious. Sad. Even resentful. Bitter.

(Note: photo has nothing to do with post content; just pretty filler.)

And then people ask it of me. Especially after they’ve read this blog  or seen something else I’ve made or done.

“How do you do it all?”

Short answer: I don’t.

Beauty of a blog is I get to pick what’s in it. So I talk about the good stuff and don’t openly share the bad. But it’s there. Oh, it certainly is! My weaknesses. Failures. Mistakes. Shortcomings.

You don’t believe me?

Well, I could start listing stuff, but it’s a depressing list... Just imagine your worst day and think about how you felt. I feel that same exact way on a regular basis.

Recently, I’ve been changing the question.

“She seems to be doing what is most important to her and what she is good at. How can I do the same?”

And that’s one reason I haven’t posted since August. Other things have pushed blogging, and even “making stuff,” way down on the list. But I do miss it. So will try something new:

• Make stuff when I can, but not if it requires:
• overusing a mindless activity that keeps my children out of my hair,
• conveniently forgetting that we need to eat every day,
• wading through household debris on the way to my sewing machine,
• in general, abdicating my various responsibilities.
• Limit blogging (writing, uploading photos, fiddling with blog design, etc) to 15-minutes a day. 

I’m way over that time limit for today. Oops. So to end, how about another random photo?

Al and Mary’s Wedding Cake

Encountered some troubles along the way,
don’t think I’ll be making a wedding cake again any time soon,
but in the end, it turned out just like I wanted it to.
A rustically elegant cake…

…for an elegantly rustic couple.

Details:
Five two-layer square tiers: 6”, 8”, 10”, 10”, 12”, two yellow cakes, three chocolate (Devil’s Food, to be exact). All were covered with high-humidity buttercream frosting, then piped with green buttercream. Flowers and leaves made of gumpaste, painted with green petal dust in certain spots, then outlined with chocolate buttercream.

 

My brother, Al, and his buddies made the cake base and pillar section, using plans I gave them. Well, sort of using plans I gave them, but that’s a whole other story that includes drilling a cake… By the way, Al also made the trellis and sign shown in the ceremony photos above. Cool, huh? He’s a neat guy. And Mary’s a neat gal.

Congratulations, Mary and Al.
May your life together be as sweet
as all the frosting I slathered on your cake! 

Table Runners are Done!

Dear Mary--

The good news is the table runners for your wedding are done.

The bad news is you can’t use ‘em on the tables, because fashionista Sophie  is convinced I should wear them to the wedding as my dress. She is currently searching my closet for matching shoes…

On a related front, I’ve also finished my “practice” cake – yummy – and promise to still make the real one, to be eaten by your guests.

Unless I decide to wear it as a hat, that is.*

See you soon!!!

Love from your soon-to-be-sister-in-law,

Karin

 

* * *

 

*Confirmation that it is very hard to come up with a truly original idea, here’s what a subsequent Google images search turned up: