One of my favorite Christmas gifts this year was cake decorating classes from my grandparents. After long admiring the work of Duff and his team on Ace of Cakes, I decided I was ready to take on the challenge of frosting. It can't be that hard, right?
Well, I started the first Wilton course at Michael's last week. Don't get me wrong: I absolutely love it. Decorating is just a lot more prep and work than Food Network makes it seem. Tonight we had to bring to class a cake, at least three different consistencies of icing (stiff, medium and thin), and a bag full of supplies including an assortment of icing tips, parchment triangles, spatulas, powdered sugar, piping gel, etc. etc.... it was crazy! I could hardly carry it all inside in one trip.
In our class tonight we learned how to work with the star-shaped tip. I got to practice the star hundreds, if not thousands, of times on my sunflower cake (yes I'm a Kansas girl, through and through). This took me three hours to finish. And it won't even be around tomorrow - I'm making Brian take it to the office so I won't eat it all.
Even though I am just now getting feeling back into my right forearm, it was totally worth it. I already can't wait for next week. We're doing clowns. Bet you're looking forward to those pictures!
Oh, and while we're talking crafty, I really want to make a t-shirt quilt with some of my old college shirts. My cousin is going to attempt this with me, but neither of us has ever quilted anything before. Don't even own a sewing machine. Has anyone else ever tried a quilt? If so, do you have any tips? Is it possible to do it by hand, or are we crazy?
3 comments:
Em - I am so impressed! That will come in very handy when you start having children's birthdays! Way to go! Miss you sweetie!
Emily:
I made a t-shirt "quilt" with all my college shirts. It was actually sort of a duvet cover. I bought a really really cheap down comforter at Wal-mart and stuffed that inside.
Couple of tips...Measure the lettering or logo on your shirts first. You'll want to cut all the shirts the same and you don't want to cut off any letters, so measure them all out and cut them all the same size as the biggest one. My shirts ended up being 13"x14" I think. After you decide how big your squares will be, I cut a piece of cardboard to match the dimensions. Then I would just lay it under the shirt and cut around, made it SO much easier.
Also, it's best to do a 3 or 4 inch border of non stretchy material (I chose fleece) to keep the shape of the quilt. Otherwise, because t-shirts are stretchy, it will get all out of shape.
And, yes I think you're crazy to try it by hand. :) Good luck!
Anna - thank you for the awesome tips. MUCH appreciated. Yes, I think we will probably bite the bullet and try to find a cheap sewing machine. It's probably not worth the frustration and all of the pricked fingers. :)
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