Changes are coming...

Kneedleworks By Deb, new blog name, new look.  What do you think? Life is always changing and with this in mind I have decided to make some changes in my life and with my blog.  These changes and this blog are works in progress and I am excited to be doing some new and challenging things with my life and this blog.  I hope you all will stay tuned to see what changes are coming in 2013. 

Finally Finished!

 

I finally finished knitting the slippers that I started last year!  You can read about them here. I didn't get them finished for last Christmas but I plan on giving them to my Mom for this Christmas. 

More Baking

Last Saturday my family got together to celebrate my oldest sister's 65th birthday. It just happens that her granddaughter's 5th birthday was on Friday so I made this cake for them. I think it turned out rather cute.

Final Cake Class

Friday, June 22 was the last class for the Wilton Basic Cake decorating class that I have been taking. Our assignment was to bake and ice a cake at home and come up with a theme to decorate it. My youngest boy graduated high school this week so I thought a graduation cake was in order.

Cake Class

Last night was the third class of the Wilton Cake Decorating Course One class. There are four classes altogether. Next week we get to design our own cake. Last night we learned how to fill, ice and decorate cupcakes. I decided to make gluten-free cupcakes because I wanted to share them with my co-workers and two of them have gluten issues. We also learned how to make a pom-pom flower, a shaggy mum, shell borders, bead borders and leaves. I didn't get any photos in class because I wasn't sure if the teacher would mind but I did get a picture of some of the cupcakes I took into work this morning.

What I have been doing lately.

I have not been blogging much but I have been busy. My priority has been looking for and hiring a new home support worker for my adult autistic son. This has been a challenge and after six months of looking we have finally hired someone. That is one thing I can check off my to do list. My best friend's daughter is getting married this July and I have been working on her gift. I started making a lap quilt, sorry no photos. It was suppose to be a shower gift but now is going in with the wedding gift if I can finish it on time. I was able to sew two sets of pillow cases to include with her shower gift one pair will match the quilt. Again didn't get any photos of those either.

And as if I needed one more distraction, I started taking a basics cake decorating class. It is only 4 sessions of 2 hours each. First class we took plain sugar cookies to decorate. I found a wonderful recipe for cream cheese sugar cookies at Lisa's Kitchen. Lisa is a wonderful cook and has a great collection of recipes on her blog. Click on the link in my sidebar to have a look. The second cake decorating class we brought an uniced cake to class to torte, iced and decorate. The first picture is the one I started in class and finished at home. I took it to a family gathering for my mom's 83rd birthday. The second one I made Saturday morning to also take for my niece and nephew-in-law and their two girls who are moving to the Ottawa area at the end of the month.

I am still around...

It has been quite awhile since I have posted anything and when I signed in this morning the whole blogger experience has changed! It is going to take me a little while to get used to this new layout.  Anyway, my sewing room has been idle for awhile now. I am the type of person who has trouble giving my attention to too many things at one time.  The past couple of months we have been looking to hire a new home support worker for our adult autistic son. Also I have been organizing teaching materials, and setting up a quiet area in our home for this new worker to use with him.  I won't go into the details of this but it has been a lot of work and has occupied my time.  We have now hired someone who will so now I will be able to get back to my sewing. 

New Project

A co-worker asked me if I would finish a quilt top that she inherited from a family member. All that needed to be done is to add the outer borders. I said I would if she picked out the border and binding fabrics she wanted. We agreed that I would measure the quilt top and let her know how much fabrics to purchase. Below are the fabrics she purchased in the layout that she thought would be good.



I suggested this alternative which she liked better.




This is the finished flimsy ready to make into a quilt sandwich. It turned out to be queen-size with enough length to cover pillows.

Oh Dear,

Friday night came and went and unfortunately I didn't get to participate in the Friday Nite Sew-In. Too many distractions and not enough time! Maybe next month??

Just hanging around...

Here it is the middle of February already and I haven't accomplished much at all! I was able to redo the curtain panels that my sister asked me to do last December. She had two very wide curtain panels (which I forgot to take pictures of) that she wanted cut in half to made four curtain panels. I had never made more than pocket panel curtains before so I procrastinated until I couldn't leave it any longer. The job was easier that I thought and I got both pair done in a couple of days. I finished sewing the binding on the mug rug I made for the last FNSI but I haven't decided what I am going to send with it. (More procrastination.) This coming Friday is the next FNSI! Already! So what shall I work on???? I am sure I will come up with something, I have lots of WIPS (works in progress) in waiting. Which one will see the light of my sewing area. Hmmmmm.

FNSI Results

A couple of weeks ago a friend put this post as her status on Facebook:

From a friend - not my idea, but I'm game anyway. Pay It Forward 2012...I promise to make something homemade/handmade for the first 5 people who comment on my post. You must then re post this on your status & make something for the first 5 people who comment on your status. *The rules are it HAS to be handmade by YOU & they must receive it before 2012 ends. It can be as simple as baking cookies for a friend! :)

Well I commented and re posted. She commented back on my profile. I made this little mug rug as part of what I would like to send to her. All that is left to finish it is to hand stitch the binding. Now to decide what to include with it.

Friday Nite Sew-In--January Edition

It is the middle of January already and I have yet to get any sewing done since Christmas. The days just seem to fly by and I have not had any time to sit and sew. Here's hoping Friday night will change that with January's edition of the Friday Nite Sew-In. I am looking forward to getting something accomplished!

Camtica 4.3.67091 Review

Over the Christmas and New Year's holiday I received an e-mail asking me to review this video recording software. Camtica enables you to create professional screen recordings, presentations, tutorials and more. You can record any desktop activity with voice, webcam and animated mouse clicks. The resulting video can be saved in various formats including AVI and WMV. To download this software click here. I have just started experimenting with this software and it seems easy to use and I am looking forward to exploring it more.