Cupcake Marathon

Ed’s sister Kate and I baked over 500 mini-cupcakes yesterday for the upcoming Green Awakening Fashion Show at my school on Earth Day, organized by one of my students.  We used recipes from the book: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.  Yes the cupcakes are vegan, meaning that they contain no animal products (milk, eggs, butter, etc.)  Although I personally would never consider becoming vegan, as I see nothing wrong with milking a cow or collecting eggs (or a big juicy steak for that matter), I have to say that the recipes are quite good.  And it’s nice to know that all people at the fashion show, no matter what their food preferences, will be able to enjoy the beautiful confections.  We used unbleached cupcake wrappers to be especially green.  We looked for recycled ones but couldn’t find them.  We made 8 types of cupcakes:

• banana cupcakes with chocolate glaze and banana chips on top
• vanilla bean cupcakes with vanilla bean frosting and sprinkles
• chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting
• mint-chocolate cupcakes with mint frosting
• blueberry cupcakes with vanilla frostin and a blueberry on top
• carrot cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting
• coconut cupcakes with toasted coconut frosting
• chocolate cupcakes with vanilla frosting and an oreo on top

We didn’t finish decorating all of the cupcakes yesterday, but we did get them all baked.  We worked straight through from noon til almost 8 pm.  Here are some pictures of the cupcakes we did finish:

Note that I broke in my homemade apron.

Do-It-Yourself

This weekend was very productive for Ed and me.  Ed worked on our stair railing, making and installing three out of the four handrails on our front staircase.  The rails are made out of black walnut, and Ed has designed them to have easements and goose-necks, which help to make the rail look very formal.  We haven’t gotten the ballusters yet.  We’re looking for something twised, but not too fancy.  The ballusters we used on our back staircase were salvaged from a job he worked on, which means they were free and environmentally responsible!  Can it get any better than that?  Well, it could if we could find ballusters for the front stairs, too.  But no luck yet.

  

This week marks the one-year anniversary of when I first started painting in our house.  How to celebrate?  Well, I spent Saturday morning putting the finishing coat of blue paint in our master bathroom.  Ed and I decided to put up beadboard, which I put three coats of white paint on, then I finished the wall above it.  There’s no end in sight to painting, but I’d realistically like to be done by the end of the summer.  I still need to put a second coat on the two downstairs bathrooms, mudroom, upstairs hall, upstairs spare bedrooms, bonus room… not to mention that Ed wants to paint the inside of the garage at some point.  I also need to fill nail holes and paint the baseboard in all the rooms.  By the time I’ve finished painting, it will be time to start again.  I may be slow and not that great at painting, but at least I’m free.

             

I also spent some of Sunday afternoon making an apron.  I found this cute pattern from Montessori by Hand and ordered it about a month ago, then bought fabric a few weeks ago and finally got around to making it this weekend.  It’s such a cute, modern take on the apron.  Like I do with everything I make (sew, knit, cook, bake, crochet… even teach), I make it my own by not following the directions and changing something to make it better.  In this case, I didn’t like the tie halter strap, so I designed and made my own strap that didn’t tie.  Either way, I really like this apron and I’m already thinking about the next one I’m going to make and how it would make a great gift.

    

Why I Love Quilts

I have always loved quilts.   Growing up, a quilt was symbolic of not only warmth and protection, but also love.  Women make quilts for the ones they love, and they are often a gift of celebration.  For example, tradition in my family dictates that a quilt is a gift for a new bride or the birth of a child.  The quilt is a way of taking all of the love that the maker has and showing it through the difficult task of putting it together.  Throughout my life, I have been given many quilts, including some of the ones I’ll feature here.  I just went around and snapped pictures of the quilts and other blankets that I had in my living room, but if I went into storage I’d have many more pictures to take.  When I started thinking about it today, I realized that quilts are a very early form of recycling.  Taking fabric scraps or worn out clothing and turning them into a warm, beautiful quilt is truly an expression of being eco-friendly.

The quilt above is my favorite.  It was made by Grandma Rose (my great-grandmother on my Dad’s Dad’s side), and I’m pretty sure it was a gift for my brother Jonathan, but I have it now!  It held a place of honor on the couch in our appartment, and now it lives on the back of our couch here.  It’s mostly on display, be we still use it on cold winter nights.

This quilt was the baby quilt that Grandma Rose made for me.  It’s mostly yellow with hints of blue and pink, since my gender was a surprise for my parents.  It is the perfect little size to fit on the back of our love seat.  I love the Bambi print on the back side of the quilt, because it makes me think of my own pet deer Bambi that we had when i was young.  (Maybe I’ll write more about Bambi in a future post).

Here’s the afghan that Mema (my Mom’s Mom) made for Ed the Christmas after we got engaged.  As Mema stated, she has made an afghan for all of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and Ed was no exception.  Mema has also made me quite a few hand-made gifts, and taught me to sew, knit and crochet, in addition to making an enormous wardrobe for my Barbies.  I can still vividly picture the Holly Hobbie quilt she made for me, the Chicken and Egg quilt she made for Jonathan, and the Farm quilt she made for Nathaniel.  (Maybe someday I’ll steal those two quilts, too).

And here’s the most recent addition to our handmade blanket collection: a beautifully woven blanket from Grammy (Ed’s grandmother).  This blanket was given to me at my bridal shower, and I couldn’t help but feel like this officially made me part of Ed’s family.  Once a grandmother hand-makes a gift for you, you’re in.  She made a similar blanket for Ed’s brother Chris and his wife Melissa when they got married, to carry on tradition.

Although I have yet to actually finish any quilt that I have started, I know that someday I will.  But I have to say that I love the fact that women would traditionally use scraps or worn-out clothes, and I know that I will probably buy fabric specifically for a quilt project.  I’m adding finishing a quilt to the list of things that I’ll try to accomplish over summer vacation.