How to Sew Cake Bunting

I sewed bunting for my nephew's knight-themed birthday party to give the cake a more tournament-like festive flair. Since the knight figurines were blue and red, those were the two obvious colors. I chose a white fabric with red and pink strawberries and turquoise with white daisies. Then I settled on a gray calico fabric to complement the gray armor.

Not much to it. I cut out a test size on a piece of paper, then cut out a dozen flags, sewed them onto cheery red thread, and tied the bunting to skewers.

The bunting was a hit! Such a simple thing to add a little special touch.

How to Make a Homemade 3-Tiered Cupcake Stand

Remember back when I made the 2-tiered cupcake stand for cousin A's bridal shower, I said that cousin D perked up at the mention of cake stands too?

Gosh, before I knew it, nearly a year has flown by and it was time to make another set of cake and cupcake stands for yet another cousin's bridal shower. This time, because I've had several homemade cake and cupcake stands under my belt, I've gotten kinda good at this. That and the longer lead time gave me plenty of chances for more trips to the thrift store, and plates and candlesticks to stockpile.

Do you know how hard it is to find a salad dish-sized glass plate at the thrift store?

Virtually impossible for some reason.

So this is the first time I've been able to make a 3-tiered cupcake stand. And I have to say, this may be my best one yet.

How to Bind a Quilt Tutorial

I've blogged how to bind a quilt before, but this is a slightly different method so I figured it deserved a separate post. The binding, that strip of dark blue fabric all along the edges of the quilt, help keep the ends from fraying and gives it a nice finished look.

Or so thought lil' sis who marveled at how nice it made her Favorite Things quilt look.

Lil' Sis's Favorite Things Quilt

Last month, lil' sis helped clear a large space in my library/office/spare room. I tossed out mounds of receipts and credit card bills that dated to the late 1990s. On June 13th, I woke up and marveled at the bare space leading to the bathroom. Boxes had blocked part of the entrance for way too long.

So that night, I decided to get started on a quilt for lil' sis, a combo thank you and birthday present. Disney princesses! Hello Kitty! Penguins! Polar bears! Oh my!

It's a quilt of all her favorite things.

How to Make a Homemade Tiered Cupcake Stand

I noticed that cousin A, sometimes referred to as the oldest '87's middle sister, registered for a bunch of cake stands for her bridal shower.

Would she mind terribly if I made her some homemade ones instead?

Remembering my post about "How to Make a Homemade Cake Stand," cousin A immediately said, "Yes!"

How to Make a Homemade Cake Stand

It's been several months since I promised a tutorial on how to make a homemade cake stand. I finally got around to doing it when I made a cake stand as a bridal shower gift for my friend E(L).

(Look away E(L) if you don't want to see how little I spent! Actually, we've been friends for so long I know she doesn't care about things like that. Besides, the cooking lesson is worth waaay more. :P)

Anyway, the plates were finally washed and the photos are somewhat styled so you should get a better idea of the possibilities. Think of how pretty afternoon tea can be!

This was the cake stand I made for E(L). I figured simplicity was best so I chose a plate with silver trim and silver leaves on the inside rim. Glued onto a glass candlestick.

The Middle '87's Ninja Quilt

With all this quilt talk, I thought I should show you the Ninja quilt that the middle '87 made. Isn't it so cute?

My cousin said she found a picture of the ninja online and traced it. It took her 10 days to do the appliques, sewing one per day. Then several weeks of machine sewing the pieces together.

Here's a close-up of the ninjas.

How to Decorate a Onesie with an Appliqued Patch

Finally finished sewing the dim sum patch onto the onesie that I started at the baby shower for my little niece. Since I've been getting hits for decorating onesie ideas, I figured I'd show you how I went about this.

Don't Fence Me In Quilt

Dissatisfied with my Frowsy Flowery Quilt, I brainstormed for another design. Since my first log cabin quilt was a little uneven at spots, I wanted to do another log cabin, but more orderly. Or maybe my libra brain wanted something more structured?

So on January 6, 2008, I started again. I dubbed this one my "Don't Fence Me In" quilt.

Frowsy Flowery Quilt

Right after I finished my Sushi/Dim Sum Quilt on December 16, 2007, I started combing through my stash of floral fabrics to start another quilt. I know! It has been a while. I just wasn't feeling this one.

Finishing Your Quilt: Basting, Quilting, and Binding

When the older '88 was finishing up her "Happy Sailing" quilt, she said she couldn't find my info on how to finish it. That's because I never blogged it. :P

And gosh, it's been more than two years since I've quilted anything! I took a little more care to baste, quilt, and bind my sushi/dim sum quilt than I did with my previous ones so I think it looks much better.

The Older '88's "Happy Sailing" Quilt

It only took three years, but the older '88 finally finished the quilt she started long ago. She dubbed it "Happy Sailing."

So cute, yeah?

Grey Scarf for Lil' Sis's Other Friend

Lil' sis started this scarf years ago. She crocheted about a foot and left it to languish in my yarn pile. I recently picked it up again with no plan in mind.



Her other friend said once that he wanted a scarf that he could wrap around and around and around his neck. So when he came over recently for tea and sympathy, I offered up the scarf.

On Baby Showers and Onesies

The day before I headed up north for my college friend's wedding, lil' sis and I hosted a baby shower for our brother. We had no plans in mind except eating, opening presents, and decorating onesies (You'll see! Way better than baby shower games!).

I bought a 9-lb ham on sale at Fresh & Easy for only $3.47! I normally don't eat ham, but couldn't resist such a bargain. I figured the easiest thing to do was to buy baguettes and let everyone make sandwiches.

Before and After: Wooden Arm Chair

I've been in a fit of house cleaning and reorganizing in the past week. The problem with living in an 85-year-old house is that there is very little storage. My bedroom closet is literally the size of a hallway closet. I don't have a hallway closet for any spillover either. After more than two years of shifting my clothes from one pile on the floor to another, I finally moved my vanity table and storage bench into the shed and bought a cheap wardrobe.

With my clothes pile taken care of, I decided to repaint a bookcase I had been using on my porch as a plant stand so I would have more storage space in my kitchen. While I was at it, I decided to finally finish revamping this wooden arm chair.

Look at the before and after photos.

How to Make Homemade Play Dough

"Pretty soon, all your friends will be married with kids and the only friend you'll have left is your cousin's baby," said my mom, who was giving me one of her many old maid lectures.


And literally right then and there, in strolled baby M, cousin t's daughter. (Cousin t, lower case, is not to be confused with Oregon cousin T, upper case.) The oldest '87 had a lunch date and figured baby M would want to play with me, or maybe she just didn't feel like babysitting?

Baby M immediately headed into my kitchen, where I kept my mini pots and pans set. Yes, it's mine! I only let baby M play with it when she comes over. ;)

Instead of pretending to eat tasty "air," I decided to make her some play dough. I halved the recipe and divided it into two for two colors. I also didn't have any Kool-Aid on hand so just ordinary food coloring was fine. Boiling water wasn't needed either.

"Meet Cute" Stockholm - Sweden

Drottingholm Palace, built in 1662, where the Swedish royal family has resided since 1981.
That's screenplay speak for the point in the movie when two characters "meet cute." An infinitely shorter title than "How I ran off to Sweden because a fortune teller said I was supposed to meet my future husband." For the record, the plane ticket to Stockholm was purchased before I even heard the fortune teller's prediction. But yes, there was a man involved and we had met twice before (He's my friend's friend's friend.) so I guess technically it wouldn't have been the first time we saw each other for the real "meet cute," but who wants to be technical? You want to hear a good story right?

According to Wikipedia, movie critic Roger Ebert explains the "meet cute" as a scene "in which somebody runs into somebody else, and then something falls, and the two people began to talk, and their eyes meet and they realize that they are attracted to one another."

So do I start my story at the "meet cute"? Or do I give you the background story that led to the "meet cute" in the first place? Well, since I don't want to get too personal, I will tell you quickly that the fortune teller was accurate about his age and height, but I've told you that before. She said I would meet him in mid-August, which was the date on my plane ticket. I can't remember what else she said about him, although I do have it written down somewhere. She was also right about several other things that weren't related to him, but that would require too much background story.

And because a girl can't spill all her secrets online, that's all the personal details I tell you. ;)

Recently, when I told my friend I was going to blog about Sweden and asked if he wanted a nickname, he chose "HH." For "handsome hero," he said. Ha! "Hapless hero" more like, I replied. But very well, henceforth, he's HH.

Of course, as you know, I went.

And fell immediately in love at first sight with...

Figs With Bri Fundraiser Winner

As you know, I'm technologically challenged. Ordinarily I just write names on slips of paper and toss them into a bowl. But since my Figs with Bri Fundraiser involved people buying virtual raffle tickets, I wanted to be fair and impartial about selecting the winner.

I assigned each person a "raffle number" based on the order they contributed to the fundraiser.

#1 Hong P. of Secret Garden Studios
#2 Priya of Live to Cook
#3 Canine Cologne of Pink Candles at Ridgemont High

I used Random.org's random sequence generator.




And here's the order Random.org selected of who won 1st, 2nd, 3rd place.

I Only Knit Scarves

Last winter after completing my Sushi and Dim Sum Quilt and my Granny Square Blanket, I reverted back to a familiar craft favorite - knitting scarves. Luckily after-Christmas sales were on my side so I could indulge in this lovely wool yarn with twists of color that thickens and thins as it meanders along.

Click! Yellow for Bri and Win 5 Food Items of Your Choice or a Handmade Scarf

The vivid yellow in my mango chicken recipe from four days ago makes it eligible for this month's Click! theme of Yellow for Bri. I normally don't submit to photo contests because I don't take pictures with anything fancy, just a Canon SD 1000. I have terrible lighting in my home. I shoot pictures on my dining table, in a tiny kitchen with one small window. But I really liked the colors, the brilliant yellow of the mango, the jewel-like tones of the red and green bell peppers. But mainly, I'm writing about this so you'll know about Bri of Figs with Bri. I've never met Bri. We've only commented a few times on each other's blogs. What you should know is that she is battling Stage IV breast cancer. Two-and-a-half years ago, at the age of 28, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy and chemotherapy. After two years of relatively good health, the cancer is back. It has metastasized to other parts of her body -- lungs, lymph nodes, and bones. At the age of 15, Bri lost her 41-year old mother to the disease. You can read more of her story on her blog. I also include more info below about the fundraiser set up by Bee and Jai of Jugalbandi for Click! June 2008 Yellow for Bri. October 27, 2008: Briana Brownlow passed away in her sleep at 3:20 a.m. Rest in peace dearest Bri. Bee of Jugalbandi has written a lovely tribute to her memory. First, I want to discuss my fundraiser for Bri. Remember the Malaysian and "backlist" goodies I mentioned in my Terrible Twos post? Here's your chance to get double entries. You can double your chances for $10 vouchers so you can select anything from this array of Malaysian and Indonesian mixes or one item of your choice from my backlist of recipes. AND you're also eligible to win 5 food items to fill this box. Food item choices must be within reason and I reserve the right to reject anything, but I pulled a few things from my pantry to show you. For example, you can request my favorite American cookies of Pepperidge Farm Mint Brussels, a jar of my preferred brand of curry paste to make Vietnamese chicken curry, rice vermicelli noodles, rice paper, and coconut cream powder. Or of course, any other pantry items of your choice. And if none of the food options tempt you, perhaps you'd like a handmade scarf, knit by me? I thought pink for breast cancer seemed appropriate. You may choose this wool handknit pink and grey scarf. The scarf is approximately 5 feet long and about 6 inches wide. The yarn is thick and thin as it meanders for a wonderfully textural effect. I used two balls of yarn. Knit with 13-gauge bamboo needles. Handknit by yours truly over the course of several weeks. Here's a close-up so you can see better. Or if you live in a warm climate and a wool scarf is just too much for you, I'm currently crocheting this scarf. It's made from a thin acrylic yarn intended for babies so it's lightweight. This is so you get a general idea of what it'll look like. If you choose this as your prize, you'll have to wait until I finish it. No idea of when though. So here's how my fundraiser for Bri is going to work: For each $10 donation you make to Bri, you get an extra name added to my current Terrible Twos random drawings for $10 vouchers from Asia Supermarket 365 and one item from my backlist of recipes. If you didn't fill out the survey, I am making an exception if you make a donation. You may only win once from each drawing, but your chances are greater with each $10 donation. So if you donate $20, you get three chances to win for each drawing. Your comment gets you one chance, and $20 gets your name added two more times. You may donate more if you wish. I will be selecting the winners for these drawings on Saturday, June 14. In addition, each $10 donation gives you a virtual raffle ticket to win my fundraiser for Bri in which you may choose among any 5 items of your choice to fill that box, or either one of those pink scarves. Deadline for this drawing is June 30. I will pick a winner after that date and announce it on the blog. You can then tell me whether you would like the box of food or a scarf. Please go to either the Jugalbandi or Figs with Bri websites, scroll down to the Chip In box and click through to make your donation. Then forward a copy of your receipt to me at wanderingchopsticks (at) gmail (dot) com so that I can put your name down for the drawings. You must tell me whether you live in the US, Canada, or Bermuda and would like to be entered into the Asia Supermarket 365 $10 vouchers drawings. And whether you would like to be entered into the one item of your choice drawing. Otherwise, I will assume that you only want to be entered into the drawing for this fundraiser with a choice of 5 items of food or a scarf. I will ship worldwide. The raffle prize code for this is "Wandering Chopsticks." Read my San Gabriel Superstore post so you can get an idea of where I will be buying those 5 food items. And if that still doesn't tempt you, there's a whole bunch of other raffle prizes that other bloggers are donating. Below, I've included info from Bee and Jai of Jugalbandi, who are organizing the event.

*****

This is an appeal on behalf of a group of food bloggers who are friends of Briana Brownlow @ Figs With Bri. Bri was diagnosed with breast cancer two and half years ago. A mastectomy, chemotherapy and two years of relatively good health later, the cancer is back. It has metastasized to other parts of her body. At the age of 15, Bri lost her 41-year old mother to the disease. Now, she’s waging her own war against breast cancer. More about it here. She is going through intensive chemo and other treatments and needs to focus single-mindedly on healing and finding what treatment works best for her. Her health insurance, unfortunately, does not cover holistic alternatives which she would like to try. Bri and her husband Marc have enough on their plates right now in addition to worrying about her medical bills. The team organising the JUNE edition of CLICK at Jugalbandi has organised a fundraiser to help Bri and her family meet her out-of-pocket medical costs for ONE YEAR. CLICK is a monthly theme-based photography contest hosted by Jugalbandi. This month’s theme is: YELLOW for Bri Yellow is the color of hope. Through the work of the LiveStrong Foundation, it has also come to signify the fight against cancer. The entries can be viewed HERE. The deadline for entries is June 30, 2008. The fundraiser will extend until July 15, 2008. The target amount is 12,000 U.S. dollars. We appeal to our fellow bloggers and readers to help us achieve this. Bri deserves a chance to explore all options, even if her insurance company thinks otherwise. There’s a raffle with exciting prizes on offer. After viewing the list, you may make your donation HERE or at the Chip-In button on any participating site. Your donation can be made securely through credit card or Pay Pal and goes directly to Bri’s account. This month’s photo contest also has some prizes. Details HERE. You can support this campaign by donating to the fundraiser, by participating in CLICK: the photo event, and by publicizing this campaign. ***** 1 year ago today, the queen of fruits - mangosteen.