Duck Cake Cup Cakes

Early this morning I went over to my friend Leslie's house to help make the Duck Cakes for her daughter's first birthday party tomorrow afternoon. It was a lot of fun!

Leslie had already made all the cake and cupcakes.

I sculpted a rubber duckie out of one cake

while Leslie sculpted icing waves on the other.

We used a plastic drinking straw to hold the head on.

Halfway through, the birthday girl woke up. We think she likes it so far!

Then we went to town with yellow frosting and blue sprinkes.

Isn't he a cutie?

I wrote Catherine's name on the cake.

Leslie meticulously sprinkled yellow "sanding" to make the duckies on the cupcakes!

Hooray! All finished at 10 am!

AND THEN.....

...disaster struck
the sun beat down
before we could respond
Ducks' head came unstuck
With a giggle and a frown
it fell into the pond!

but have no fear, despite ill luck
we did not let him drown
he was rescued in haste with a chopstick wand
and after a lobotomy to remove the muck
we set about to right his crown
with a stronger, sturdier bond!

WHEW!

Catherine gave Duck a good inspection
And even a little hug!

All worth it for the look on her face!

pouch plane projects

I always think I am going to accomplish so many things when I get on an airplane. I figure I will be so bored that I will be willing to do anything.
This little project was one that I took with me to Florida two weekends ago. Jonathan wanted a pouch for his wireless mouse. I cut it all out ahead of time then put the fleece with thread and needle into a ziplock bag to take with me. I carried it though all the security checks. Once on the plane, I read my novel until I finished it. Then I sat around feeling bored for the rest of my flight....didn't ever pick up the needle. That's how it goes. Sometimes you are not even bored enough to sew on a 6 hour plane flight. Since it was for a good cause, I did end up sewing it in Florida, even though I was not bored. Here's how it went.

projects by the wayside

My favorite white shirt got a hole in it. Three holes, acturally. It kicked around my closet while I tried to find one to replace it. This failed. Meanwhile a plan started to grow in the back of my mind. Maybe I could cover up the holes with a design, a flower? Then I started thinking about the ribbon embroidery I had seen in my craft book.. and I remembered a few swatches of material that I like .... hmmmm.
Last wednesday morning I woke up and it felt imperative that I wear my shirt. So out came the scissors, and my embroidery book, some colored floss, and my old friend stitch whichery, the iron-on adhesive. Here's what happened.
I think I like it! But I still lost my favorite plain white shirt. Darn!

Navy Dufflel to Backpack Plan

My grandpa (pictured in the middle) was a radio and radar operator in the Navy. In WWII, the Navy and Marines all had their own air support groups. Grandpa's squadron was flying high photography reconnaissance missions over the pacific in B-24 bombers.

When he and my grandma downsized out of their house last month, he asked my brothers if they would like his duffel bag and parachute bag. And of course they did. When Jon wasn't sure what he would do with a duffel bag, I offered to convert the fabric and straps into a backpack for him. Here's what we decided it should look like:
I'm guessing I will need to borrow someone else's machine for this project since my little vigorous Vigorelli couldn't handle more than two layers of vinyl! Don't worry though, I'll update you with the blow-by-blow soon!

In the meantime, here is a little family history. These are my great-grandparents (my grandpa's parents).

This is a picture of my Grandpa from 1961 with his Navy duffle bag in the background.

The address on the bag was my great-grandma Suderman's address in Phoenix where my grandparents had gotten married.

Jacobson Reunion In Vermont

Here are some long over-due pictures from our vacation in Vermont three weekends ago.

We took a red-eye flight from Seattle to Boston, rented a car and drove two and a half hours to Hanover. In Hanover, we had breakfast with Jon and my parents at Jon's apartment. Then Erik joined us a little later and we all drove up to Liberty Hill Farm.

Liberty Hill Farm is a working dairy farm and bed and breakfast run by Beth and Bob Kennet

'Aunt' Beth was my mom's roommate from college, and is the kind of hospitable cook I aspire to be. We had lavish breakfasts and good hearty farm dinners around their old wood table. Here you see us almost comatose from ingesting too much food!

Between eating we took varied naps, read good books and had great conversations. (The kitchen is always where everyone wants to be)

The highlight of our trip was the walk we took Saturday afternoon. We opened the door and waded out into about 10 inches of freshly fallen snow. It was beautiful!

Erik's girlfriend Jessica came up to join us, it was great to meet her. Here are Jess and Erik after an"accidental" tumble in the snow.

I didn't know snow could be as fun as the beach...

...but Jonathan showed me how!

Mom and Dad came out looking much less like the abominable snow man

As you can see, fun was had by all!

The Spring Bathrobe Vote

I have decided to write about some of the projects I want to do because they have really meaningful backgrounds. My grandparents recently moved out of their home. In the process of downsizing they found some pictures and other things to give to different members of the family. My Grandma Ruth passed on this lovely piece of embroidery on to me. I thought it would be really fun to line it so that I can use it as a summer bathrobe. I went to the fabric store and couldn't make up my mind what color to line it with.
Normally I would ask my friends and family...wait that's YOU!
So please help me decide which color should I line it with (green, yellow or white) by voting in the comments. Here's the robe with the swatches of color.