Birthday cakes

My son's 7th Birthday is coming up in October, so last week we asked him what he wanted to do for his birthday.  We've always given him the option of doing something special with us, or a birthday party with his daycare/school friends.  So far he has chosen to do something special with us.  This year he has made the same choice.  Although before he answered that question, he answered a question that wasn't even asked yet.  He piped up and emphatically stated he wanted a Batman cake this year.  Today we asked him about it to make sure he wasn't going to change his mind.  Still Batman.  He has said he wants the Batman image on the cake, and not just the Batman symbol.  Darn it.  The Batman symbol would've been easy and sure to turn out awesome.  So after doing research, I've found there are not really any designs that lend themselves to my skill set (I don't do fondant, not yet anyway, and this is not the time to start).  I've decided to use a Wilton cake pan, the kind you decorate by piping hundreds of little stars onto it.  I've avoided it as long as I could.  Now is the time to try it.  The cake pan was discontinued in 1989, so I had to buy one off eBay.  This is what it looks like:

 Hopefully it turns out well.  We'll have to see.  Admittedly, I may have set the standard a bit high with last year's cake.  He asked for Spiderman.  I found some great tutorials online for a simple Spiderman face design.  My only real challenge was getting the Red color icing deep enough for my liking.  Once I solved that problem, the rest was fairly easy.  Here is how it turned out:


Alex's 6th B-day Spiderman cake

For next year I may need to figure out what is doable for me and start planting the idea in his head a little earlier.

Who knows, I may find I really like the Wilton shaped cake with all the piped stars on it.  Maybe I'll find an occasion to finally try out fondant.


Getting back to it...

Question is... where to start when you've taken some time off from your blog posts?  I guess just start in somewhere....

Well, went to Stampin' Up Convention and had an awesome time!  This year I drove up to SLC.  It is about a 14-hour drive, and only 10% of it is Interstate highways, so it was mostly state highways which slows me down.  If it was mostly interstate highways, I could make it in 9 hours.  It was awesome having my vehicle there, so we could just hop in it whenever we wanted and drive to Target or Michaels, or out to eat someplace farther than walking distance from the hotel.  And it allowed me to bring as much stuff with me as I could stuff into my RAV4, which is a lot.  No worrying about my luggage weighing more the 50 lbs this year.  My little RAV took quite a beating though, as there are a lot of hills between here and SLC and its little 14 year old 4 cylinder engine wasn't very happy about that.  I really hope by next year I have a decent enough job that I feel comfortable taking on a car payment and I can upgrade to something with a 6 cylinder engine.  More on the trip later.  I have pictures and so much to talk about.

I am officially retired from the Air Force now, my first day as a civilian was 1 Aug.  I am now looking for the perfect anti-Obama bumper sticker for my vehicle, since now I am allowed to speak my mind on the matter. 

Alex started 1st grade on 12 Aug.  He is doing well.  Having a few issues with learning proper behavior, and just having a lot of energy, but we are making progress.  We took him to the public library today, and he was so excited to check out 4 Fly Guy books.

Stitching has slowed down, but not stopped.  Tree Frog is making progress, but still working on the same shade of green as stated in the last update.  I've also gotten a couple other project's grid work done. 

Well, that's a start...  and no more just not posting anything because I feel overwhelmed that I have too much to catch up on.  I hope to just pick something to blog about every few days, allowing myself to be as random as I need to be.

My SU up-line posted something on FB recently that I thought was great, it is a little e-poster that says "When people ask me 'How did you get to be so creative?' I tell them it's because I ate paste as a child." 8)

Sunday Status + pool update

Tree Frog:

 

I am done with the first green!  It is called yellow-green.  You can't really see it in this picture, but it is a really pretty color of green.  I figure I'll start referring to the plethora of greens in this project by their actual name.  Just so I don't lose track and can't remember if I'm on the 5th or the 6th green.  The next color will be Dark Yellow Green.  I've highlighted it all on my working pattern, and there is a lot of it, so I will be working on this color for quite some time.

Sunny Thought:

 

I've completed all the backstitching and the french knots, so the top portion is pretty much complete.  I just have to cut it out.  I decided on the sentiment to put in the "frame" area.  Since the area is quite small I am having to keep it simple.  I am working on designing the pattern for the area.  It is going to read: "Shiny!"  Firefly/Serenity fans will know just what it means. 

 

Pool update:

 

We got the pool assembled on Friday and started filling it.  Saturday we finished filling the pool, got the adapter for the Saltwater system, and hooked everything up.  2 bags of salt went in.  The Saltwater system is busy converting some of the salt to natural chlorine.  We were all in it for awhile today.  The water hasn't quite had a chance to warm up yet, but it was still comfortable enough.  Alex, who has zero body fat on him could only stay in for about 10 minutes before his lips started turning a bit blue.  I, on the other hand, with a fair more body fat lasted about 1 hour.  Yesterday we went to Wal-Mart to find swimsuits.  That was a bit of an ordeal.  Took me a over an hour but I managed to find 2 suits, one is a simple black one-piece in which I don't feel too unattractive that is good for everyday.  The other is a cute floral halter top with attached bottom with skirt overlay. It is not all that practical for daily swimming, but I look pretty darn good in it, so it will be perfect for when we have company over to use the pool. Today we put together the new ladder.  The one that comes with the pool is very unstable, so I bought a replacement ladder. Not cheap, but so worth the money. It is much more stable, has a large top deck that makes turning around so much easier, and it has a rolling panel that covers the outside treads when you're not using the pool.  It even has a spot for a padlock.  That way Alex can't decide to climb up it when we're not in the backyard.  Or anyone else for that matter.  I was thinking about putting the original ladder up for sale, but as it turns out, it is a great spot to keep towels handy for when you get out of the pool.  So, we'll hang onto it.  Besides, I really wouldn't feel right for anyone using it as a ladder.

 

Tomorrow, we plan on trimming the tarp under the pool to fit the border we'd set up to mark the circle, and use small paving stones to hold it down and create a nice somewhat finished appearance.  And the grill area is getting moved to the other end of the backyard. 

 

Well, I'm off to bed... hubby promised me a massage tonight.  8)

 

Sunday Status + life stuff

Another week gone...

I got some done on Tree Frog, not much though, still working on the first green:

Sunny Thought is coming along... got all the x-stitching done, so now onto the backstitching and a few French Knots. 

I've been thinking about changing up the design a little bit.  The sentiment block is supposed to be cut out like a picture frame and a slip of paper with "Smile" printed on it to be placed in the frame.  I'm considering filling in the section that is supposed to be cut out of the "frame" with a lighter color and stitching a sentiment in.  I'm thinking something like "Live in the Sunshine" or "You are my sunshine".  I will have to see if I can make that come out good.  If not, I can always remove the changes and go with the original design.

I also gridded out a project that I've had stuffed away for quite awhile.  It is the free pattern from Golden Kite designs:

 

I downloaded this some time ago, got it started and then put it away.  It was still in the hoop, so that is an indicator of how long ago that was.  I had only gotten one length of the first color done, so I pulled out those few stitches, removed the hoop and spent about an hour ironing it to get the hoop marks out.  Then I gridded it, and tried out one of my q-snap configurations; that is the creases you see in it now.  I am having a little trouble deciding on whether to use q-snap, stretcher bar or scroll bars on this one.

While I was on the Golden Kite website to obtain a fresh copy of the Rose pattern, as I had lost some of the pages, I came across a pattern that really spoke to me, and it was on sale, so I ordered it.  It is called Garden of Delights:

I so love that it is a repro of an actual tapestry.  It is gorgeous!  This one will certainly be a long-term project.  Adding another one to list.

The other craft thing I did this week was to buy some more DMC floss.  Now that I have my floss organized, I have an accurate inventory of what I have and what I need, including needs for future projects, all on a spreadsheet.  I love Excel.  So when I saw Joanns was having floss on sale 3 for 99 cents, and I also get an extra 20% off for being military, I bought floss to fill in any gaps in my stash and prep for future projects.  So, Friday I was at Joanns buying the floss, and the next 2 days incorporating the new floss into my system.  Which reminds me, I haven't explained my system yet.  I should start drafting that post tomorrow.

My major non-craft activity was prepping for the swimming pool.  We decided to install an above ground swimming pool this year.  It will give something for Alex to do during summer break.  Our backyard is landscaped in river rock, which it quite popular in this region.  That means we had to clear the rocks out of the area we plan to put the pool.  It was a bit of work but we managed to get it done in 2 days.  Here is what it looks like:

 

Tomorrow we are going to pick up the pool and the filter system from Walmart.  We picked up 20 (50lb) bags of sand from Lowes yesterday.   We'll need to get 20-30 more bags.  Once we get a good sand base put down and leveled, then a pad on top, we can start setting up the pool.  Jason has to call about getting a tanker to come by to fill up the pool.  City ordinance forbids filling pool from the house water system.  Besides our water pressure sucks, so filling with the hose would take a week. 

Hopefully, everything goes well, and we're swimming in our pool by the end of the week.  Keeping fingers crossed.  Now I just have to find a swimming suit I feel comfortable in.  ugh.