First I need to mention that my cat Spoo Kee is nestled in the front of my robe as if he were a kitten in a sling (and he most certainly is not, he’s so heavy), my hair is done up in curls (Thanks, in part, to Casey’s latest post) and I’m feeling like a cat lady sitting here in my dim craft room (gosh, the June Gloom really has taken hold this year).

Oops, there goes Spoo Kee, he got fed up with me not paying attention to him.  Oh well.

On Sunday I went over to my friend Amy’s place to make green tea cupcakes and felt.  Not the felting of knitted/crocheted things, but with roved wool (I think that’s what it’s called anyway).  I’ve never done that before so it was fun to relax and just learn (Amy was a great teacher, by the way).  Sheesh, felting is hard work!  I’ll have to show you my little (it’s so small!) project sometime.  Anyway, Amy served me some yummy homemade split pea soup and I had to take a photo because I was amused to be eating pea green soup while I looked at the pea green matcha cupcakes that just came out of the oven.

Which leads me to more pea green-like things:

This pretty, almost vintage-looking cotton voile print that I’m using for my latest vintage sewing project.  I love these colors together: turquoise and pea green and marigold and melon.  Sweet but not overly so.  Don’t you love the ruffles?  Here’s the pattern, from the Chicago Tribune, 1951, #2359:

(I love how I can post these wide photos on my new blog!) The whole neckline part has been funny to work with.  I’ve had to read the directions a few times just to understand what was going on (and because I started do it it “my own way” which was wrong).  I really love this dress, I hope it turns out okay!  I might use this vintage lucite buckle I have for the belt but I haven’t decided for sure.

Anyhow, I’m thinking of doing a series of posts about my sewing habits, mainly what tools I use and possibly walking through a simple pattern for those of you who don’t know how to sew from a pattern but want to learn.

QUESTION: Is a sew along-type of thing something you would be interested in?  What if I make another of my version of this Built by Wendy dress and document the process on this blog?

Besides sharing my projects with you (which, of course, is a lot of fun) I’d like to help some folks get started with some basic sewing.  That is, of course, if anyone is interested!

Happy Friday!  I must get back to work now.  Hope you have a lovely weekend. ♥

I think I’ve ruled out one thing: a gluten problem. I’m not 100% sure (more on that later), but I’ve been sneaking in some regular flour — though I definitely cannot eat whole wheat — into my diet to see what happens. So far I’m okay…

So, then what do I make? Cupcakes!

I had this craving, you know the kind where it’s late and you throw a coat over your pajamas and run to the market? (Ok, really, I didn’t wear my pajamas to the store! Just saying.) Anyway, I had a craving for something tart and sweet and raspberry. I got some organic frozen raspberries and white cake mix. Add egg whites, non-fat Greek yogurt (Thanks for the inspiration, Elizabeth!), a wee bit of walnut oil (for the omegas) and lots of rose water, pour into some darling (and slightly miniature) cupcake liners and there you go….something sweet, tart and raspberry. Oh, and delicious!

a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/faeriefurballs/1600875463/” title=”Photo Sharing”img src=”http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2058/1600875463_767aec0e45.jpg” alt=”Cute Cupcake Liners” height=”500″ width=”397″ //abr /br /My Craft To Do List (my new a href=”http://www.netvibes.com/” target=”_blank”netvibes/a To Do List is my latest love) continues to grow but remains unchecked. I hope to start finishing up some WIPs this week. I really really do!br /br /No updates on those, so I wanted to share some recent cupcake-related purchases. Those cute little cupcake liners above would be perfect for a tea party! I bought the yellow tulips ones just because, I mean they’re yellow after all, and the pink amp; brown floral printed ones are for future chocolate cupcakes with rose-flavored buttercream frosting.br /br /I’ve talked about Spice Barn’s floral flavoring on my a href=”http://flowerfood.blogspot.com/” target=”_blankquot;”Edible Flower blog/a but haven’t actually bought any until now. The package was the dreamiest-smelling I’ve ever gotten from the UPS man. The rose will be used in the cupcakes already mentioned (and perhaps some rose cream-filled macaroons!) and the violet for some white cake with raspberries cupcakes topped with violet-flavored buttercream frosting. (Haven’t bought the right liners for these just yet.)br /br /a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/faeriefurballs/1601765064/” title=”Photo Sharing”img src=”http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2037/1601765064_8537aa5515_o.jpg” alt=”Spice Barn Flavorings” height=”493″ width=”400″ //abr /br /And I’ll need so quality food coloring for the frosting as well:br /br /a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/faeriefurballs/1601764864/” title=”Photo Sharing”img src=”http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2143/1601764864_20c24df887_o.jpg” alt=”Food Coloring” height=”471″ width=”400″ //a