Covering a Mousepad and Some Other Stuff

 "Where have you been?" my bloggy followers ask.  Oh, here and there.  I've been doing stuff, I promise.  I just haven't been blogging about it.

I did plan a post on covering a mousepad, since it is quite simple and fun.  So, here it is:
Start with a mousepad.  (Genius post, huh?)  And some fabric, and some fusible web trimmed to about 1/2 inch larger than the mousepad on all sides.

Iron the fabric nicely.  Using a hot iron (no steam), iron the fusible web onto the fabric.  Then, iron it some more.  You want to get a nice bond going here.  Then, when it is cool, pull the paper backing away from the fusible and center your fabric onto the mousepad, on the smoothest side.  Iron.  Iron again.  Iron once more, paying particular attention to the edges to make sure they are really stuck to the pad.

 Here is what you get:

 When it is nice and cool, trim all around.  And there you go!

 Wasn't that easy?  I like the feel of Japanese fabrics; they are a little rougher than American-made cottons, so they are perfect for the mouse.  And aren't those little sheep just adorable?

 I also made this wreath.  OK, I bought the wreath at Claire Marie and tied on a bunch of my dried lavender with some ribbon, but I thought it came out lovely.  And easy.  Which are two of my favorite words. (Lavender is my favorite herb/flower -- I have been making lots of hand scrubs lately with  my very own dried lavender, but I give them away before taking a picture.  You're just going to have to trust me on this one.)

If you like Key Lime, this is the cake for you.  And for Richard, our boss, who does indeed like Key Lime.  The recipe is on this beautiful blog.

Wow.  That's not even close to centered on the cake plate, is it?

 I seem to always forget to take a picture of the inside until all the extra has been wrapped up to send home. Please excuse the plastic.

 Father's Day fare, prepared by Will -- jalapeno poppers.  They were delicious, and he was very careful about removing seeds.  Love that kid.

 This was a delicious find from pinterest -- Curried Vegetable Stew with couscous.  Thanks, Cecily!

No promises about future posts -- know that there will be some, and think of the "when" as a big surprise.  I have several quilts in the works, some embroidery, some knitting.  And I've been reading. So watch out.

Peace.

Cakey

That's how I felt after last weekend.

That's how my kitchen counters and floors felt, too.

First off, on Friday, I made this cake for Madge's surprise birthday party/pitch-in at the  office:

Neopolitan chocolate, raspberry and white cake, 

with chocolate ganache and raspberry preserves in between the layers.

I had a teensey little problem with the icing for this cake -- when you are making an icing with white chocolate, be sure to scrape the bowl well.  I didn't, and ended up with little bits of hardened white chocolate all through the icing; the icing just didn't want to pipe out, as the chocolate bits plugged up the tip.  I knew I had to strain the icing somehow, but couldn't find the package of cheesecloth I know I have stashed somewhere.  I tried a little strainer, but the icing wouldn't pass through the mesh.  So, I squeezed the  icing through an improvised bag I made out of a clean knitted dishcloth. Success!  (What?  Too much information?)

Nina and I can't figure out how food stylists and bloggers make their cut cakes look so good -- the cake plate was such a mess, but even so, by the time I thought to take a picture of the inside, this is all that was left:

 I made 70 cupcakes for a graduation party Friday evening, but forgot to take a picture.  Chocolate, peanut butter/chocolate, strawberry, lemon and white.

Then, on Saturday, 40 cupcakes for sweet Ali.  I even forced myself to make cute little IU chocolate discs for the top of the red velvets:

Rosie-swirled white cupcakes, especially for Rob (Ali's dad), who is a very white/vanilla sort of guy:

Sunday, we delivered these cakes for Amber's grandparents' 50th Anniversary:

Chocolate and white sheet cake

Obviously, a strawberry cake

A small cake for the couple

From the side -- ribbons and gold sugar pearls

I'm baking cookies this morning, but no cakes for awhile!

Peace.

I almost forgot to blog about my sweet friend Laverne's 50th birthday.  She didn't want a party, so our friend Jennifer had the genius idea to get Laverne's friends to shower her with "50" gifts throughout the day.  She received 50 pencils, 50 flowers, 50 Hershey kisses, 50 straws, 50 tea bags, candles, drink umbrellas, etc., etc., etc!  Great fun, and I know she was surprised.