Even more roses, and a cake

I promised to post pics of what I did in the edible rose workshop that I got to go to as a birthday present, so here they (or their links!) are. It was a great workshop, really fun, and I learned quite a lot. I now need to get a couple of fragrant rose bushes for the garden though, to put into practise things like Rose syrup. Mmmm.

We started out by crystallising rose petals with castor sugar. At the end of the workshop we reassembled those petals into a mini-rose on a cupcake. This is quite a cool effect, and one I would never have considered on my own.

We also got to do fondant (plastic) icing roses. Mine wasn't great. I started out by making the centre much too big, and that kind of stuffed it up from the start. I'll need to practise.

My favourite edible rose decorations for the day were the little roses made from Jelly Tots. I liked these so much, you don't even have to go browse for the pic :).



Next up:my birthday cake. I wanted to do a chocolate log with little woodland creatures all around it. But it didn't happen. Maybe next time. The cake is a chocolate roulade (recipe and cake instructions from this book), filled with double cream and hazelnut spread. The ends are homemade almond paste, and the bark is chocolate buttercream, which is not light and fluffy, no matter what I do!

Done!

I finished the Wild Rose Blanket just in time. The teacher loved it. (I loved it too). It looked really good, and the colours worked really well. Since I don't consider myself to have a great eye for colour I was very pleased about that. Each time I added a new colour (the yellow border, the green extra interior border, the pink join) it just made the other colours brighter and more beautiful. I used Elle Gold DK (courtelle) for the main part of the blanket, and I was really surprised at the difference between the dusty rose and the yellow. The dusty rose colour is much harsher and feels thicker, although they are both double knit. The pale yellow feels really really silky. (Click pic for bigger version)


There are a couple of other pics of the work in progress on flickr.

Now I am using the left over yarn to make a hat for M. I was going to do a wild rose hat, using the same pattern for embellishment as the blanket, but when I asked her if she wanted a woolly hat to wear, she said "Yes, I'd love a duck hat!". So I am making a dusty rose hat with a yellow duck face inset.

My daughter's idea of what a project should look like and mine are often poles apart, so it's really really important to get her to clarify exactly what her mental picture of something is before making it. (This goes double for cakes!)

I've also finally finished my brother's wedding sampler. I am never ever again doing a "me to you" bear sampler. The backstitch fur was horrible, and the colours were so similar that I could only work in daylight. That's a severe limitation on a crafter with kids! Admire. It has taken 3 years! (I stitch really slowly, but I don't give up!) (Again, click pic for full version if you can't see the whole thing).

Rose-tinted glasses

I'm making a blanket for my daughter's teacher. The teacher goes on Maternity leave next week. I have to finish this thing by Friday. It is taking a lot longer than expected - mainly because I didn't work out how long I expected it to take. If I didn't think this teacher was actually absolutely fantastic with my daughter, I would be not be making the blanket. I'm guessing I won't be getting a lot of sleep tomorrow night....

Let them eat cake

It seems I have not posted any details of the cake decorating I've been doing on this blog. I meant to post a whole lotta detail about each cake, and I'd still like to get to it. This set on flickr shows a whole lot of making cake stuff. The order of the cakes, and what I learned from each one, is as follows:

1st: January 2008: Zeb's 3rd birthday cake. A bird cake.
I learn: That one can buy plastic icing (fondant) in the shop. That this is fun. That cake glitter exists. That gel colours are what one uses to colour fondant. That I need a better way of ensuring that the models don't gradually ooze downwards whilst drying.

2nd: July 2008: Aeroplane cake for two friends who are leaving.


I learn: That water icing runs, damn it! That Tylose is a marvelous, wonderful, model-stiffening powder of great goodness.

3rd: January 2009: Zeb's 4th birthday cake - Underwater themed

I learn: That I need to know a lot more about this craft. That water icing is not good for sticking together the layers of cake. That I need a better paint brush.
(You can check out the diver here - I'm pleased with the diver)

4th: January 2009. Zeb's school birthday - 46 Mr Men and Little Miss cupcakes.



I learn: That a fine paint brush is essential. That black gel colouring makes a good paint for fine details. That tweezers are good things to have. That when using the gel colours (at least, the ones I have), red and blue make black, not purple. (Pink and blue make purple - go figure!).That I may be ever so slightly prone to obsession :).

5th: March 2009: Baby shower cake, made from this book:

I learn: That one can emboss fondant icing with a pattern. That having the right tools makes the job easier. That I am prone to over-colouring :). That fondant must be stuck onto the cake with buttercream or jam.

6th: March 2009: Pooh cake for my brother:


I learn: That Baking911 is a truly marvelous website. That freezing your cakes before carving makes it much easier to do. That chocolate buttercream is not always light and fluffy :}. That thinning gel colours with vodka makes a fantastic paint! That model bits can be stuck together with water. That my standard chocolate cake is a little too light to be shaped easily.

And that's it for now. Hopefully it won't be another year before I post again :).

Paid it forward!

Finally finished the first installment of my pay it forward stuff. Here they are:

A pair of fingerless gloves for starmadeshadow, about oooh, 16 months after the request. (And actually modelled on the hands they were made for.)

I might not be speedy, but I get there eventually :). These were super fun to knit, and I used Elle Elite, a wool / cotton blend. More details, including a link to the pattern on Ravelry. I really like the designer's stuff. I have done tons of other crafty stuff in the meantime, like the little cardigan I knitted for my daughter's teacher last April.


This was from an old magazine pattern, and one of the first things I've knitted using a wool, not an acrylic. I'm particularly proud of the strawberries cross-stitched on to the jersey. It's the first time I've done cross-stitch on knitting, and I think it worked really really well. I tried to make the strawberries match the so-cute buttons that I used. I really like the way the bright colours of the buttons and the decorations redeem the jersey from creamy blandness. I liked the texture of the block pattern too.


I used Jaegar baby merino that I bought on sale, and it feels sooo nice once it's knitted up. I have two more balls of a blue / cream mix to use which I may just use for own brand new baby. He needs a new hat.