My Dolphin Tale

Well, I may not have made it to St. Augustine, but I did get to meet a couple of celebrities while I was in Florida.  Sean has lived in Tampa for ten years, and tells me he never heard of the Clearwater Marine Aquarium until I asked him about it after seeing the movie.

Monday afternoon we packed up the Michelle and my camera and headed over the bridge to Clearwater.  We found it easily, it was behind a fancy seafood restaurant where Sean took Shannon and me to dinner on our first trip to Florida in 2002.

If you've seen the movie, the aquarium is easily recognizable.  There's now a ticket tent in the parking lot, and there has been some remodeling inside, but it felt familiar.

Photographic proof of my presence there!  What I wouldn't give to be in 85 degree weather again. . . 

We wandered around the pools, wondering what we were looking at.  This is a rescue and rehab operation, not a place where the dolphins put on shows.  I finally asked  one of the staff where Winter was, and she pointed to a dolphin in the tank I was looking at.  

I learned that they would have a session with her later on, so we wandered around.  I watched a training session with a young rescue dolphin, saw some river otters, and stood entranced by a tank of sting rays.  I had no idea those creatures were so graceful when they swam.  Finally, we decided to snag our seats for Winter.

I thought she wore the prosthetic tail most of the time, but that is not the case.  Staff put it on her 3-4 times a day for about fifteen minutes, and run her through a series of exercises to strengthen the muscles that don't get used with her side-to-side swim motion.  It was fascinating to watch.

 

This is one of the exercises they did with her after the tail was attached.

It was so interesting watching the staff interact with the dolphins.

 

For those with deeper pockets than we had, you could meet Winter up close and personal.  I don't think this little boy knew quite what to think or do!!

I bought some tee shirts to help support the aquarium programs, and took tons of pictures.  It was a fascinating afternoon, one I'd gladly do again.

Orlando

We did make it to Orlando on Sunday- Michelle was feeling much better.  We met my sister at her timeshare, then decided to head out to some outlet malls.  I won't bore you with the details, other than I scored some shoes and a few clothing items at Coldwater Creek.  I now know that Orlando is a place I don't need to visit again- it is definitely for the tourists.

After eating a late lunch, we took Carol back to her digs.  The rest of us decided to hit Disney Main Street before heading home to Tampa.  That's about the only time I took photos during the day!!

I saw amazing creations with Legos--

 

We walked and enjoyed the music and the lights--

We posed in front of the Irish pub--

Sean tried to get Michelle to sit on top of the pumpkin, but she would have no part of that.

Marly and Michelle had fun with this mime artist- he moved around depending on what the people in front of him did.

And that was our day ih Orlando.  Fun, but don't know that I have any great yen to return there.

Jet Lag

That pretty much described me yesterday.  I got back Friday night from a week in Florida with my son and his family.  After spending all day in airports and planes, I got to Salt Lake to be greeted by a horrendous Friday night traffic jam.  A trip home that normally takes about an hour took over three.  The joys of freeway reconstruction!!

Our original plan had been to drive to Orlando on Saturday to connect with my sister, then drive Sunday with her to St. Augustine.  Michelle got sick Friday, however, so all plans were off. We spent Saturday at home, pumping her full of medication in the hopes she'd be well enough for a trip to Orlando on Sunday.

Saturday was also my son's birthday.  So, stuck at home, what else is there to do but cook?  (Especially true when a couple of foodies get together!!)  First I made Sean's birthday cupcakes-

 

Yum- pound cake chocolate chunk cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.  That isn't just chocolate drizzle decorating them.  At Sean's request, I made this to go on the cupcakes-- dark chocolate covered bacon!!

I was not sure about that one, but tried it- and liked it!  Why not, I think bacon and peanut butter are perfect together.  So what's not to like about luscious dark chocolate??

Before we got to the cupcakes, however, was dinner.  Sean made some special burgers- on a ciabatta roll, with garlic aioli, grilled pears, and brie cheese.  They were yummy!

It's accompanied by a Latin slaw, one of the few ways Marly will eat cabbage.

After dinner, Michelle helped her daddy blow out his birthday candle.  Clearly the medications were helping!!

 A luscious end to Sean's birthday!

My Tools of the Trade

Yesterday was the reveal day for the Tangled Textiles latest challenge, Tools.  Here's my interpretation of the theme:

 

This was my first ever attempt at doing mixed media work.  I used my rusted fabric, other hand dyed fabric, pieces of paper torn out of a dictionary, gel medium, paint, and Shiva paintstiks.

I thought long and hard about how I wanted to interpret the theme.  When I thought about my work, the tools always came in secondary.  The two elements that I would be helpless without are my hands and my eyes- so that is the direction I took.  The choice was also probably influenced by my increasing awareness of the value of my hands!  Youth takes for granted their abilities and capacities; most youthful hands perform their appointed tasks with minimal awareness on the part of the actor.  But aged hands show the signs of their long use- creaks, pains, and flat-out inability to do tasks easily done before.  Mine are no exception.  So I have come to value my hands much more in recent years than I did as a youth!

My desire to try this was sparked by an article in the August/September Quilting Arts by Jennifer Solon.  I wanted to try the way of working without creating a piece that looked like it was inspired by the article.  I think I succeeded!  Another goal was to find a way to use my rust dyed fabrics without driving me or my sewing machine crazy.  My hope was that coating it with gel medium before I did any stitching would lock those tiny metallic particles into the fabric, preventing them from breaking my thread and making my machine go CLUNK.  That theory seemed to be valid, also- I did lots of stitching, and no thread or other issues.

I layers torn strips of fabric on black felt.  When I was happy with the design, I gave it a couple of coats of gel medium.  I think I mixed matte and gloss.  I layered on the torn pieces of paper, and stitched.  Then I applied Setacolor transparent paints, stamps, more paper- I just kept going until I was happy with the result.  The last element was the large hand, done with a freezer paper stencil and Shiva paintstiks.  And yes, it is my hand.  After I let the painstik color cure for a few days, I gave it a couple more coats of gel medium.  Here's some detail shots--

I had to think long and hard about how to finish the edges.  I didn't want the hard line created by a binding or satin stitched edge.  I finally chose to stitch a piece of blue-green tulle around the edge, and cut it so the edge was choppy rather than straight.  It gave the shadowed effect I wanted- finished, but subtly.

It was a strange experience creating this piece.  At times it literally felt like a out of body experience.  At times I wondered, "Where is this coming from?"  As I have spent more time with it in the studio, however, it has grown on me and I'm happy to claim it as my creation.  It has also sparked a desire to play more with the mixed media.

It was fascinating seeing the myriad of interpretations of the 'Tools' theme.  Jump on over to the Tangled Textiles blog and take a look!

Perfect Fall Weekend

Perfect as in perfect weather- not cold, not hot, just perfect walking weather.  I walked by the river with the dog a couple of times- it sure felt good!

The trees in the valley are finally starting to show some color.  I loved the look on this part of the walk, they form a canopy over the trail.

This thistle doesn't seem to have figured out that the growing season is fast coming to an end!!  The colors really stood out among the dead and dying grasses and plants.

 

I also got in some studio time.  I started  new piece with  hand dye I did over the summer.  I've had it up on my wall, looking at it for quite awhile.  I had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted to emphasize with the quilting, but I wanted to try drawing it over the fabric first.

I used my Quilter's Preview Paper (plastic, really!) to try what I had in mind.  It came together so easily it scared me- exactly the effect I wanted, long flowing lines juxtaposed against a structured, geometric motif.  I'm not sure just what the geometric part will end up as, but I started with the flowing lines.  I quilted for about two hours, then realized that I was having puckering issues that were getting worse.  I ended up ripping out ALL the stitching I'd done, and fusing the hand dye to a light-weight stabilizer, which was then fused to the black background.  I'm using black felt instead of batting, so the piece should hang straight with all that.  It will be more of a pain to get through the machine for the flowing part, but worth it in the long run.  I got two lines quilted after I re-did it, then called it a day.  I've learned that I need to quilt in the morning, not late in the day- I'm too prone to accidents then.

The Tangled Textiles reveal is Friday, which is also the day I am winging my way to Florida to spend a week with my granddaughter (and her parents!).  I am so looking forward to it, she is growing up so fast and really developing her own personality.  We're going to visit St. Augustine, I'm hoping to get some good architectural photos.  So visit the Tangled Textile blog on Friday, and take a look at all the ways you can interpret the word 'Tools!'

Long Weekend (in the Dyepots!!)

I have a long weekend, and so far have spent at least one solid day in the studio.  I got my next Tangled Textiles piece totally done- but no looking at that until the reveal day on the 18th.  

I bought a circular rayon scarf from Dharma a few months ago, and finally got around to dyeing it.  Yeah, the red and gray that I've already posted.  Something about the scarf bugged me- not the dye job, but the size.  I decided it was too wide, so I cut it in half- and now I had two almost identical red and gray scarves.  I like the colors and patterning, but I don't need two!

So I cooked one half in a Thiox bath.  All the gray turned to white, and the red areas turned yellow.  At least that's what color it was when I took it out of the Thiox bath.  After I took it out of the washer, it looked like this.  Yuck.

If it had stayed the yellow, I would have had lots of options for overdyeing.  This not-so-lovely color (straight out of  a baby's diaper, I think!) left me with limited choices.  I did manage to find something I thought would work out of the Dye Book, though.

Three hours later I had this.  Better, but still not enought zing for me.

So I went through my stencils and picked out a couple of Paintstik colors I thought would blend, and went to work.  By this afternoon, I had this!

I ended up using three colors instead of two- I highlighted the copper squares with gold on two edges.  I'm happy now, it feels done.

One interesting side note- if you look closely, you can see the thread I used to finish the edge- it's on the left in the photo.  I used cotton thread, figuring it would dye with the fabric.  Apparently it has enough polyester that it won't dye, or at least not much.  It's not obvious, though, so I'll still wear the scarf- with a great deal of pleasure!

I also started another quilt, but Blogger is being a pain and taking forever to download photos.  So I am calling it a night, maybe it will be more cooperative tomorrow.

Colorado

Shannon and I spent the better part of this weekend in Grand Junction, Colorado.  She is investigating Colorado Christian College's nursing program, and wanted to see what kind of place Grand Junction is.  We stayed with my AQuA friend Susan, who is a wonderful hostess.  It was a lovely relaxing weekend.

We got there early enough on Friday to meet with someone from the college, who answered a lot of our questions and gave both of us a better feel for their program.  That meant we had all of Saturday to go play and see the town!

We visited one of the wineries in Palisade, a picturesque little town just east of Grand Junction.  We both fell in love with the old homes in the town.  I haven't been around so many old hippies since I don't know when.

 

We also found a peach grower that had some left from the late harvest, and treated ourselves to a small box of Palisade peaches.  We walked around their charming little downtown, and had coffee and a sweet treat.  I found inspiration looking down--

Cool sidewalk, no??

Then we drove back to Grand Junction and walked through the old downtown.  I remembered it as being a nice place to walk, and we had lots of company.  There was a gourd festival going on, and some of the streets were blocked to traffic.  I liked how they have art all along the downtown corridor-

 

When the weather got a little threatening, we found a brew pub and split an order of fish and chips- yum! I found a lovely skirt in a toney thrift shop, some citric acid to use in my silk dyeing, and a couple of small rollers- one set for the kitchen, the other set for roller stamps.  I also found a bunch more cool cookie cutters to use in batik.

Late in the afternoon, we joined Susan and some of her friends that I'd met on a previous trip for a movie and dinner evening.  We all thoroughly enjoyed 'A Dolphin Tale', and talked and laughed over a Smash Burger and sweet potato fries.  Shannon and I couldn't resist washing ours down with some good beer.  All in all, a lovely trip!  We got home about 2 pm today, just in time to finish up some laundry and get ready for the work week.

I asked Susan for a crit of my Tangled Textiles piece, and was very happy with her feedback.  I should have that one done by the end of the week.  All that's left is to fuse the backing and add the binding.

Now I'm off to do some ironing before relaxing with a book.  Hope your week is a good one!!

Ahead of the Game. . .

I had a lovely week working in sunny southern Utah- as far as I'm concerned, summer can hang on as long as it likes. I actually have some things from the studio to share!!

I bought one of those light rayon circular scarces from Dharma, and just got around to dyeing it.  I have some colors in the frig, but not the gray I wanted to go with the red I already had.  So I mixed up a .5% solution (so, so easy!!), and here is what I have marinating-

It's wet, so I should have some white left on it- fine by me.  Love that gray color.

I also got a gift quilt done and ready to mail.  My SIL bought these blocks on a trip to Oregon years ago, and asked if I would put them together.  I got it quilted before I left for St. George, thanks to a friend with a longarm who showed me how to use a wave ruler to get the quilting I wanted.

I hope she is happy with it!  I wanted a simple design that referenced the nautical or ocean feel of the quilt, and think that this succeeds.

 

She's also getting a pillow ready for a pillow form with another lighthouse block on it.  

And as for the title of this post, my next Tangled Textiles challenge piece is almost done, three weeks ahead of schedule.  I have mixed feelings about it.  I tried some processes totally new to me, and had fun doing them.  But I am just not sure if the quilt is 'me.' I do like, however, the way I chose to interpret the theme of 'tools.'

I can't post the entire piece until after the reveal on Oct. 18- but here is a corner preview--

I have one last thing to do to it, using this.  Something else I have never done in a like manner!!

 

I agonized over what color to use, after deciding that my first idea wouldn't work or give the look I wanted.  That idea involved metal, not fabric, and I still think it's an idea I could use in the future.  As for the color- I wouldn't have believed it until I auditioned it. 

With the challenge piece out of the way, I'm moving on to another hand dye I did that I want to use as a wholecloth.  I love the effects possible just with thread  But that is for later.  Off to ready for another work weeks, hope your week is a creative one!

Next Challenge

I started working on the next challenge with the Tangled Textiles group.  I am loving using words to spark ideas rather than pictures- it just seems to flow better for me.  And the words we have used thus far have lent themselves to multiple interpretations.

This time the word is 'tool'.  Lots and lots of directions to take that one!  And I have wanted to use my rusted fabric, without creating issues for my sewing machine.  I hope I have found a way to do that.

So here is your sneak peek at the very beginning of  the process.  Lots more to be done, so it is a good thing I'm starting way before our mid-October deadsline!

I'm really looking forward to finishing this one, I'll be doing processes and using materials fairly new to me.  I won't be doing anymore this week, I am leaving tonight on a work-related trip and won't be home until very late Thursday.  But I'm learning that I do a lot of my 'work' in my head, so I'll have lots of time for that!

A Lost Art

Or maybe it would be a lost skill?  I am continually amazed at how the ability to express oneself in writing, with good grammar and spelling, is eroding.  They sure don't seem to be teaching it in school!

The state of Utah recently painted off a section for motorcycles in the parking lot at the regional center in Provo.  Obviously those who did the work don't have access to spellcheck, a dictionary, or any other means of ensuring spelling accuracy.

Geez.

I haven't had a lot to blog about lately, but I am off to Salt Lake to meet with my WAQ group, and also get a small gift quilt quilted.  If I can manage it this weekend, I might even have some quilty content! 

Winding Down

from a long weekend, and definitely not ready to go back to work.  Oh well.  

The cotton knit I had in the dyepot Saturday is now a tee.  Having cut the fabric on the fold limited the choice of patterns I had, so this is what I ended up with.  

 

It has a bit more white than I'd intended, but I decided against overdyeing the fabric.  I just didn't want to mess with the nice twisted pattern I got.  And, I really like the color.

I have another tee cut out from commercial fabric- I want to test the pattern before I use any hand dyed.  And, I have no more cotton knit to dye- I'll have to wait until I can get some more sent from Reno.

The weather here is cooling off, and the days are shorter.  I'm an early riser whether it's a workday or not, and it's dark now when I get up. I've been looking at the trees on the mountains to check for any color changes, but none yet.  It won't be long, though.

Overdyeing- Leaving the Crapshoot!!

I haven't posted for two weeks, and you would think I have been busy in the studio, putting all my newly learned wisdom and knowledge to good use with fabric and dyes.  You would be wrong, unfortunately.

We've cleaned carpets, moved furniture, switched bedroom occupants.  I did get my dye bible completely put together in the midst of all that, and read through Carol's instructions multiple times.  I even did some formulas.  But not one bit of fabric, at least not until this weekend.

I dyed this piece of rayon/linen a few weeks ago.  

 You probably can't tell in the picture, but the pale color is not white but peachy.  I knew I wanted to change it, without drastically changing the red spirals.  And, I could not remember exactly what dyes I used to do this.

I used my dye bible to determine what color was closest to the background color I wanted to change, then picked the color I wanted it to be- a medium pale shade of grayed blue-lavender.  I did the math, and did two dye baths last night.  Since I was using fuschia and turquoise, I decided to do this in two separate dye baths, to avoid the dreaded color split that is so common with those two dyes.  After the first bath in red, the fabric looked like this:

 

I can see the very pale yellow under the pink, so I obviously mixed fuschia or light red dye with yellow to tone down the blue cast in both those dyes.  Next I overdyed it again, in a slightly darker value of turquoise.  This is how it came out of the dryer this morning:

It is hard to tell, but the fabric is definitely a grayed blue lavender- and the red spirals still look red.  In some places the orange is still easily visible.

The color in the pictures is not quite right, and I couldn't get it right in PSE.  But it is very close to the color in my book, and I am happy with it.  I am also ecstatic that I now have a tool to give me more control and predictability when I overdye!

I finally got around to doing something with the last piece of cotton spandex knit that I got in Reno.  I cut it in half lenghwise, and twisted the fabric tightly after soda soaking it.  I'm hoping to keep some of the white in this piece, so I added the dye while it was wet.  I'll pull this one out tomorrow- I've already chosen the pattern I'll use- another simple design that highlights the fabric and can be sewn in a couple of hours.

I'm really developing a preference for colors that teeter between two.  This one- is it green?  Blue?  I like the way a paler value of the color is wicking out.  More tomorrow after the washout!

After the Workshop

I have been working on getting my Dye Bible completely put together.  I only have three envelopes to finish, and then I will need to go through the book carefully and identify those swatches that need to be redyed.  Here's where I finished last night.

I apparently left my double-stick tape up in Heber, so I had to go buy another couple of rolls.  The stuff is expensive!!

We had some fabric issues when we dyed the swatches- some of them were heavier than the rest, and came out paler than they should have as a result.  It also meant our stacks of swatches were short!  Fortunately the print cloth I brought was the same weight as the rest, so we used some of that to make up for the shortage.  The swatches that dyed paler, however, I will want to re-dye.  Good practice!

I've also decided what I will be overdyeing first.  I did this piece of rayon/linen a couple of months ago, intending to make a jacket.  I wasn't very happy with how it turned out.

 

The pale background has a sort of peachy cast, and that was the color I compared to my dye swatches to determine how I want to overdye it.  Yes, it will affect the swirls- change the color somewhat and darken the valued- but mostly, I want to get rid of the peachy background.  I think I know my color, but probably won't decide for sure until this weekend when I dye it.

In the meantime, it's time to tape down some more fabric swatches!

Oh- and in the midst of all that, the second reveal for Tangled Textiles was last week while I was in Heber.  Take a look at all the wonderfully varied interpretations of 'Celebrate!'

Keys to the Kingdom

After spending five days learning from Carol Soderlund, I think I can now say I've been granted a set of keys to the Kingdom Where the Colors are Made.  My brain is spinning, there was so much to take it and so many ideas!!  I will be purging the dye studio of all my measuring cups and spoons; my dye colors will only be measured with my nifty little digital scale.  And as my dye colors are used up, I won't have to replace all of them; I'm betting I'll have ten to twelve colors at most.  Think of the space I'll be gaining!!

One of my classmates was another member of the MX Dyers Yahoo Group.  It was so much fun getting to know Cherie!  I got to see some fabric she did as a part of the Ugly Cloth challenge, and it was gorgeous.  Here we are on the last day of class with Carol, who's holding the Color Bible that we all now have.  Mine is on-third put together, and I hope to finish it by the end of next week.

Carol is a fantastic teacher- generous with her time and knowledge, and just plain nice.  We've already asked her to come back next year to teach Color Mixing 2.

I only dyed a couple of half-yard pieces as part of an exercise, but learned a lot from that and from watching what others were doing.  On the last afternoon, we looked at everyone's fabric and talked about the variables that contributed to the differences.  Here I am with Carol, holding my two pieces.  (Ignore the fact that my eyes are shut in the picture, please!)

Would you believe that both pieces were dyed with the exact same color?  True!  The one on the left was done with a pale value, flag folded.  I poured the dye on dry fabric, and added the soda ash after the dye color.  It is a lovely shade of lavender, with marks where the fabric was folded.

The second was done with a medium dark value of that color, but it was soda soaked first, and the color added to wet fabric.  What a difference!  The red struck quickly, but the blue poked along, and finally bonded in the white areas of the fabric.  You can also see green where the blue and yellow mixed.

What does this mean?  I can now control the effects I get on my hand dyes, by understanding what process produces what result.  This was only one of the many pieces of dye wisdom I acquired this week.  Some of the others, I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the possibilities.

So now I'm off to finish the grocery shopping for the week, so I can get down to the studio and do some organizing and cleaning.  Hopefully by this afternoon I'll be back to putting my Dye Bible together!!

Dyeing Up a Storm

Two days with Carol Soderlund, and that is what we have done- dyed more than 1000 colors.  I cannot believe the color book I will leave this class owning.

Carol is a wonderful teacher, generous and giving.  We worked until 7 pm on Monday, and 6:30 yesterday.  And she calls Wednesday the 'late' day!!  I'm staying up in Park City the next two nights so I don't have to drive home til class is over.

Needless to say, I am having a blast and learning a ton.  Pictures when I get back!!

Happy Birthday,Bentlee

Today we celebrated Bentlee's eleventh birthday with family and friends.  We enjoyed burgers, corn, and potato salad- quinessential American summer food.  And I delivered on the cupcakes!

 

I think I've made progress from the first sorry batch I made a couple of weeks ago!  A little more practice with the pastry bag and tips--

The chocolate ones were my first experience with ganache- the best frosting I've ever had.  But then, what could be wrong with cream and bittersweet chocolate?  I also piped some raspberry cream into the middle of the chocolate cakes.  All I can say is they were YUMMY!!  Bentlee got the kinds of presents an almost teen would appreciate- earrings, bath essentials, and gift cards, so she seemed happy with her celebration.

No sewing this weekend, I have spent my time collecting everything I need for five days with Carol Soderlund.  I can't wait- I'm expecting to be exhausted and exilarated at the same time.  I have three composition books ready for my notes, and a 'new' set of dyeing clothes from Saver's.  If I'm not too tired, I'll try to post during the week.

And, Thursday is the reveal for the second Tangled Textiles challenge, 'Celebrate.'  Be sure to visit the blog and see all the wonderful creations!

Injured on the Job

Sewing, that is.  Yes, today I joined that select group of sewists who have sewn completely through their finger with the sewing machine!

Doesn't look that bad, does it?  And amazingly enough, I've had more painful injuries.  I wasn't even sure what I'd done until I saw that I was attached to my machine.  DJ had to pull out the part of the needle that was still embedded in my finger.  I suspect it will be very sore for awhile, and my funky nail will look even funkier after this- but hey, at least I didn't hit the bone.

And I still managed to get this tee done, using the blue dyed and printed knit I did a couple of weeks ago.

I now have no projects on the horizon, which is just as well since all next week will be an intense dye workshop  I hope I have enough brain cells and energy left with warm weather to get some fabric dyed using my exponentially expanded dye knowledge!

Perfection

Sometimes I do achieve perfection when obsessed.  I made my third batch of strawberry cupcakes in a week, and this is the one- perfection!!  The strawberry taste is strong without being overwhelming or fake-tasting, and the frosting is fantastic.  So, I know what I will be making next weekend for Bentlee's birthday party.  The batch I made today will go to work for a staff member farewell.  And if you want to try them yourself, the recipe is here.  The only thing I did differently was to omit the jam- didn't think we needed it.  And I got the shape cupcake I wanted!!

And, I have discovered a new grain, healthy, high in protein, and quick cooking- quinoa.  I used it in a salad last weekend, and to my amazement EVERYONE- even the picky eaters- liked it.  This weekend I decided to try something a little different.  I mixed white and black quinoa, then after cooking it, mixed in blanched cauliflower and asparagus, grape tomatoes, and some sweet onion.  I dressed it with olive oil and white wine vinegar and minced parsely.  Yummy, and heakthy!!

Lest you think I haven't been in the studio- my piece for Tangled Textiles is done.  I'm considering mounting it on a canvas or stretcher frames, but that is still in the thinking stage.  I've got another tee cut out and ready to sew.  And I'm starting to gather all my equipment for the one workshop I'm doing this year, a week with Carol Soderlund in Heber.  I can't wait- one more week of work, then a week in the dyepots.  I am planning to have my dye knowledge expanded exponentially!

Obsession

That's what my daughter says I have, a new obsession.  All because of this.

Is that not a pathetic excuse for a cupcake?  No nice rounded top, and those extensions on the side- ugh.  They stick like glue to my ancient muffin tins- which makes getting them out in one piece a bit of a challenge.  And I have a lot to learn in the cupcake decorating department.

I must admit to a new guilty, time-wasting pleasure- the show Cupcake Wars on the Food Network.  They come up with creations that make my mouth water!  So when the granddaughter said she wanted strawberry cupcakes for her birthday in August, I said I would be happy to make them.  And, not wanting to have a disaster the day of the birthday, I decided we needed to do some test runs well ahead of time.

I surfed the net, and found all kinds of cupcake recipes.  The first go was an unmitigaged disaster- thin batter that did not rise properly, and made cupcakes that looked more like flat pancakes.  I didn't even frost them.

The second run tasted much better, but was misshapen, like the one in the picture.  But I am now determined to figure out why my cupcakes refuse to look like the ones on the show!  I have been baking from scratch for years- this shouldn't be rocket science!  I think my lousy, ancient pans are a large part of the problem.  I also think I may have put a tad too much batter in them.  DH says that my batter was too thick- I don't think that makes sense, since the first batter was very thin and the shapes weren't that different.

Today Shannon brought me a present- a silicone mini muffin tin.  Hah!  So I can test my theory, and try the third recipe I've found for strawberry cupcakes.

No, I have not fallen off the wagon when it comes to food.  I am learning that I can enjoy guilty pleasures in moderation, and cupcakes are the perfect, portion controlled sweet.  I indulge on the weekends, and eat healthy the rest of the week.  It seems to be working great, because I am maintaining my weight loss without counting every single calorie that I eat.  

And if you think I'm not doing anything in the studio, you'd be wrong.  My next TT challenge is almost done, I just have some hand sewing.  But I can't show that until the reveal on August 15.  So until then, you'll just have to bear with me on my quest to bake a perfectly shaped cupcake!!