Back in the Saddle Again...

It's been a busy week catching up from all the work which piled up while I was laid up with toothache.  The root canal turned out not to be too terrifying and by the following day, I was feeling like myself again--what a wonder modern dentistry is, praise God!  All the while the dentist and his assistant were prepping me for the procedure I kept repeating to myself, "It could be worse...  This could be a blacksmith..."  I got through!  Rah, rah!!

I've managed to complete a few projects over the last few days, not the least of which was giving Wickham a bath--this little dog has a huge, fluffy coat and it's a big operation getting him dried and combed out.  For that matter, it's a huge job getting him wet--his coat has such a woolly underlayer the bath water runs off rather than soaking in.  Still, he's my dear, dear boy and one of my chiefest blessings, so his care is well worth the effort.

Another dog I worked with this week has a rather different type of coat:

This is the Canine in Red.  Since I sold Pinky (featured in an earlier post), I've been wanting to make another TP poodle, something rather different.  This time I even got brave and painted little white highlights on her eyes. Pinky, by the way, was purchased by a fellow Etsian and she is living and touring in a restored vintage 1950's camper in Texas, attending craft shows. Nifty, huh? Most fitting.

I'm also stitching away on a bevy of little muslin bags, experimenting with various lace and organza layers. I'm thinking weddings... The pretty red vintage trim in this photo was a donation from my sister-in-law. I'm waiting for some inspiration on how best to use it. I'd welcome your ideas.

Speaking of weddings, my daughter often urges me to try selling gum paste flowers for wedding cakes.  I learned to make them two years ago for my middle son's wedding, and then I made more when my oldest son married.  They so fun and rewarding to make, but I think it'd be a whole different situation making them for paying customers.  After all, my daughters-in-law couldn't complain if they hated them because they got them free! (Not that they did, of course!) And I wouldn't have a clue how to ship them or how to price them.  But I have to show you the results--I was so thrilled with this cake in particular:

 Here's a close-up of one of layers before I put the whole thing together.  I did the cakes themselves, as well, but that is way more nerve-wracking than making the flowers, in my opinion. Downright scary. Hence my use of the "cornelli lace" design.  Those pretty (and very easy) squiggles cover a multitude of frosting flaws!

Here's the assembled cake.  I realized after I had it put together that I had draped the flowers on the top layer in the opposite direction from the others, but--oh, well!  I'm the only one who noticed or cared. (We had the reception at our house and it went wonderfully well.)

My older son's cake was quite different, square stacked layers and with a blue floral scheme to match the pattern of china my husband and I gave the happy couple for their wedding present; if I remember correctly it's called "Moonlight Roses" and it's by the same company (Royal Doulton?) that makes the popular "Old Country Roses" pattern.  I kept a spray of flowers from that cake, which I'll pass on to my granddaughter when she's old enough to appreciate them:

This is part of the fun of gum paste flowers--they last and last, just fade a bit with time.

Okay, enough of this meandering!  I've got packages to ship and a mound of laundry to attack.  Thanks for visiting

Oh, and MESSAGE TO DAUGHTER:  Help!!  I need to repair some design layout goof-ups I've managed to inflict on this blog.  Call me!