1 Sewing Class, 2 Quilting Classes, 3 Wilton Classes, Floor!

Howdy! Things are really ramping up here in Jaimeland. My Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays are now booked with classes. Tuesdays are still quilting (only until next week, boo, but then comes curling), Wednesdays are now sewing class until Decmeber, and Thursdays are still Wilton and will remain so until November.

Today was a big day. After returning my POS broken IKEA sewing machine this weekend, I knew I had to buy another sewing machine. The quilt shoppe where I'm doing my quilting class only sells Bernina, which is arguably the top-of-line brand for sewing machines. As you may know, I tend to have expensive taste and I tend to be a tad impulsive. After all, I am currently typing this on an impulse-bought 24" iMac with all the bells and whistles (at the time). However, after doing some research and asking myself what the best thing for me as a new quilter is, I decided I would go with a Bernina, albeit the lowest/cheapest model. "Bernina" and "cheap" are mutually exclusive words but I did get the machine on sale for a very good price.

There she is, in all her glory. Sigh. Isn't she gorgeous? I feel like a proud mom. Oh Bernina, the places we will go together. Bernina also sells custom skins for some of their machines, including this one, and I might ask Santa for one for Christmas. There are some nice floral ones and you can add your name to it. I'm a sucker for personalized crap.

Like any good quilter, there is an alarm that goes off in your brain when you see fabric you cannot live without. I saw two today at the quilt shoppe and I couldn't leave the store without them. I'd been lusting for the one on the right the last few times I was in there so I knew it was true love.

Anyway, this is where my quilt is at right now:

Almost all done, just have to finish quilting it and then next week we're learning binding (closing up the raw edges).

Because I'm an honest person, here are some of the mistakes I've made on the quilt. My classmates have been very perfectionistic about their quilts but I'm okay with imperfect because this quilt is just for me and I'll be able to look back on it in the future and say, wow, I've come so far!

For this quilt, I am "stitching in the ditch" which means you're quilting along the seams you already have. The picture on the left is an example of GOOD stitching in the ditch (or what I think is good, anyway). Nice straight line right along the ditch. The photo on the right is where I blinked or something, because you can see the line is not straight. I'm sure that'll get better with practice. Again, not too concerned.

Quilt blocks that don't match up. Kind of hard to see if you don't know what you're looking at, but in the centre of the photo, 4 seams line up and should be relatively perfect. These are not. The nice thing about the style of quilt I did (pinwheel) is that the same fabric matches up in many places so mistakes are very, very forgiving.

The worst mistake I made: not pressing the backing material before I basted and quilted my layers! Rookie mistake! It had been a long 5 hours of working on my quilt and by the time I basted my quilt (with spray adhesive), I realized I hadn't pressed the backing. I thought it'd be okay but it puckered in several places. Oh well. Lesson learned, what can you do (besides taking out the ol' stitch ripper)?

In other news, I started my beginner sewing class tonight. We have a small class of 5 people. The world truly fell off its axle for two hours because out of the 5 of us, I was the most knowledgeable about basics like threading a bobbin, feed dogs, reverse stitches, needles, etc. I was surprised at myself for how much I've learned in these last 4 weeks of quilting.

We were left with homework to start a little pin cushion but I finished mine in class because it was really easy.

My mom is taking the class with me and she was all, "How did you finish it so fast?!" I was like, "Mom, it was 4 straight lines. I've sewn miles of straight lines in the last 4 weeks."

I leave you with one last photo...my baking stuff taking over the living room. I need to tame the beast before it swallows up the whole living room!

The little dog is my dad's coin bank, haha.

Wilton Flowers and Cake Design, Class 1

Whoa I know, three updates in one day. I just figure I might as well hammer them out now because I don't know when I'll get another chance!

Today was my first Wilton Flowers and Cake Design class.

Here was today's agenda:

• Basic Principles of Cake Design
• Gum Paste and Fondant 101
• Button Flower
• Pansy
• Making Royal Icing
• Making a Parchment Bag

We didn't talk too much about the first point. The instructor basically just said your flowers should be proportional the size of your cake. No gigantic flowers on a small cake and no small flowers on a gigantic cake. Personally, I think it's all about the look you're going for.

I was excited to learn about gum paste and fondant since I've never worked with either. I didn't really understand too much about the difference between them, other than that gum paste can be rolled out thinner and dries harder, whereas fondant is more of a Play-Doh consistency and doesn't get too hard.

The dumb thing about this class is we had to buy both gum paste and fondant and this is the only class in course 2 we're using it! The instructor said it's a teaser for course 3 (gum paste and fondant) but I think it's more of a waste of money. I hope my gum paste doesn't harden up by November.

We made the button flower using a mixture of gum paste and fondant. The student kit came with a button flower press. It is dead simple to do and very cute. I will definitely make it again in the future.

The second flower we made was the pansy. I wasn't a big fan of it and I don't foresee myself putting it on a cake in the near future. That is kind of the downside of these classes, you can't pick and choose what you want to learn like you would on your own. You have to learn things you don't like and will never use again.

Next we talked about royal icing and the instructor made a batch to show us how it's done. If you're not sure what royal icing is, it's the rock-hard icing you see sometimes as flowers on a cake. You'll know if it's royal because you'll break your jaw trying to bite into a royal-made flower. It's also used on gingerbread houses which I'm thinking I might want to make this Christmas. I've had cakes with royal icing before and admittedly, I always just thought it was old and hardened up regular icing. Oh no no. Royal icing is a mixture of icing sugar, meringue powder, and a tiny bit of water. That's it. No wonder it's like cement!

It's very important that you do not let your royal icing come in contact with any grease or you'll completely wreck it. It's apparently a giant pain to work with during humid summer days. I'm glad I'm taking these classes as it's getting progressively colder out.

We didn't really talk about parchment bags because my instructor doesn't use them. We use the cling wrap method I talked about in course 1, class 1. 

Anyway, less talk, more photos, am I right? I just have one tonight, that's all I needed!

2 button flowers and a pansy. The white on the petals is a mixture of cornstarch and icing sugar, dusted over the working surface to keep fondant from sticking. I think it was more hassle than it was worth.

I must say, it was very weird not to bring a whole ton of stuff to class and even weirder not to bake anything. I actually feel antsy to bake right now. I debated all class whether to come home and make cupcakes so I could make more flowers. In the end I decided I really need to slow down and not smell the flowers (har har). So instead I'm heading off to bed at 9:30.

Catching Up

Cutting my fabric with my new rotary cutter, ruler, and cutting mat. I'm terrible at cutting fabric.

Taking some time to unwind during a busy week. This is my brand spankin' new bike I won in an auction. Got it for about half of the MSRP. I love it.

Being silly in the wedding photo booth in Cleveland. Yes, Anthony is wearing a turkey hat.

Brigden Fair was last weekend so that means one thing...alpacas! I love the death-defying stroller in the background, haha.

My quilt top. Just need to add the borders and the top is all done.

I learned a valuable lesson: $70 sewing machines from IKEA are junk. The top thread has been tangling in the bobbin and the plate you're SUPPOSED to be able to remove is totally stuck. Two of us tried to unscrew the screws and no go. I'm returning it and (probably) buying a Bernina. Sorry about my chipped manicure, there. No time to remove the polish!

Wilton Decorating Basics Class 4

Wow, my apologies. Time is flying by lately. When I say I'm busy, I really am. I've had very little downtime this month. Last weekend I was in Cleveland for a wedding, then it was Thanksgiving, then I had quilting class, then I decided to take some time and sleep!

This is going to be a quick entry as I have to get going shortly the second Wilton class, Flowers and Cake Design. It starts tonight and I'm excited!

This was the official agenda for the final class of Decorating Basics:

• Guidelines for Elementary Cake Design
• Printing, Writing, Rose Base
• Piping Gel Pattern Transfer
• Ribbon Rose
• Guidelines for Decorating Your Cake

We didn't really talk much about cake design or guidelines. We did learn to print, write, and do the ribbon rose.

I really struggled with the ribbon rose and didn't quite get the hang of it until about the 30th one I'd piped.

Most of the class time was designated decorating time but I decided I'd be happier decorating mine at home, away from the noise of the class.

I had made the base icing for cake with real butter. Our instructor always said it was a bad idea because butter melts but being October, I thought it'd be okay. Boy was I wrong. You'll see in the photos below that it got all warped and melty looking. On one spot, it had even bubbled away from the surface of the cake. WTF?

Anyway, overall I'm proud. I wish I had piped a few more roses but by the time I did the last colour (pink), I was getting tired and frustrated.

Stupid blue icing. If it wasn't for that, the cake would be nearly perfect. The cake top looks a little lopsided here for some reason, but it was not in person. Some day soon I will attempt this cake again and keep the icing cold while I pipe all the flowers. The rosettes at the bottom were little terrors because the icing was soft, even though they were straight out of the freezer after being in there for 24+ hours. I'll have to use stiffer consistency next time.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the class. The most useful parts were learning about icing consistency, the ribbon rose, the leaf, the rosette, and the drop flower. Writing on a cake is pretty easy and I'll never do the pompom or shaggy mum again.

Well, I'm off to course 2!

Wilton Decorating Basics, Class 3

It's Thursday again, so that means it's Wilton night!

This was tonight's agenda:

• Drop Flower, Rosette
• Dimensional Decorating
• Shell
• Pompom Flower, Leaves
• Filling and Icing a Cupcake

I made 18 cupcakes on Tuesday and followed our instructor's guidelines on how to improve upon boxed cake mix. She suggests adding an extra egg, using milk instead of water (when called for), and adding a pudding cup. Let me tell you, those were some damn good tips. My cupcakes turned out fluffy, light, and delicious. I will definitely keep that up.

I ended up forgetting my lesson book and between that, not having the practice board, and not owning 2 of the tips we needed, I found the class hectic and overwhelming. I also wish we had more workspace and garbage cans next to our chairs. That would make the class a million times easier.

First of all, I hate the drop flower. My icing was a little too thin this week so it was not cooperating.

The rosette was much easier and everyone in our class agreed they liked it much more than the drop flower.

The shell was also somewhat difficult, again due to my thinner icing consistency. I can see myself using this as a border so I guess I better practice!

The ugliest flower, the pompom flower, was not fun. I was too busy trying to fill my decorating bags and I kind of lost track of instruction. Mine looked nowhere this nice as you will see later in photos.

Leaves, my favourite of the night. These actually looked somewhat decent. They are incredibly easy to make, too.

What the heck is this, I mean really?! Okay, they call it a shaggy mum, but I call it ugly. I will probably never do this again.

After the flowers, we filled our cupcakes. I brought vanilla pudding to fill mine. I've never filled a cupcake with anything before but since it was so easy, I will probably fill them again in the future. Cream cheese filling anyone?

So, time to decorate our filled cupcakes. Mine did not turn out very good at all. Don't even look at my pompom flower, okay? Just don't. Not only did I suck with a capital TERRIBLE at them, they also got kind of pushed around and had things bump into them.

These were my 6 in-class decorated cupcakes. Two of the worst pompom flowers surrounded by pink uh, spaghetti? And 3 ugly shaggy mums. Just all around ugly. The used and abused muffin pan is not helping the ugliness, either.

When I got home, I was trying to balance my purse, my keys, my decorator kit, and my pan of cupcakes (I have a brownie pan that has a lid with a handle). I noticed the lid kept kind of sliding off the pan with the cupcakes, but I only had a few more feet to walk. Unfortunately the lid wouldn't hold on that long and bam, cupcakes on the carpet. The law of gravity says cupcakes will always land icing side down.

Truth be told, I was kind of relieved I didn't have to take those ugly-ass cupcakes to work.

Not one to be defeated by a cupcake, I redecorated the ones that fell as well as the other cupcakes I had at home. I like this swirl design. All you need to do is put 2 colours in your piping bag. It helps if you keep the colours on opposite sides of the bag but anything goes. Now I get to bring in these Barbie cupcakes to an office full of dudes tomorrow. They're going to love them.

P.S. Did you notice there aren't 18 cupcakes here? I'm never making extra again, all I do is eat them!

Beginner Quilting, Class 1

Last night was my first quilting class at The Quilt Shoppe. I wasn't nervous at all about it until I got there and realized I'm starting at square one with this whole sewing thing. My only prior sewing experience was in Home Ec. as a kid (though it had been rebranded to the more politically correct "Design and Tech"). I had asked before signing up how much sewing skill I would need and was told none. Works for me!

We have 2 instructors, Donna and Diana and I really like them both. The class is small, 8 people, which is great. I'm also not the only person in their 20s so that's nice, too. I love the fabric the other younger girl picked out, but I'm excited to see everybody's quilts when all is said and done.

Diana started off by talking about the tools needed to quilt. First and foremost, fabric. We talked about how you always cut across the width of the fabric, never the length. The fabric stays folded like it is on the bolt and you always cut with the fold next to your body. Next, you never use scissors to cut so we need to buy a rotary cutter. We also need to buy a ruler and a cutting mat. So much for my plans to cut back on spending, these classes are getting expensive. I've spent a few hundred dollars so far this month which is a lot in my world. Jo Ann is pretty much my new favourite store.

One thing they talked about which I found surprising was that fabric manufacturers do not sell their high-end fabric in chain stores (think Jo Ann and Fabricland). Apparently if you see the same bolt of fabric in Jo Ann and in an independent quilt store, the fabric in the quilt store will be of higher quality. They did say it's okay to use lesser quality fabric, it's just something to consider when buying fabric.

Thankfully we were not bombarded with too much too soon as all this new information was freaking out my brain. I want to write an entry later on about how learning skills as an adult is different than as a kid. I don't remember being this freaked out by new information as a kid! We took to some tables to cut scraps of fabric for practice. I was struggling a little bit as my ruler kept slipping and the store's rotary cutter I was using had gotten somewhat dull.

By the time we finished class, I'd cut some of my fabric and sewn some of it together with quarter-inch seams. I struggled a little bit with sewing the seam as my fabric kept feeding in on an angle. We have to finish cutting and sewing our fabric strips together this week and I am positively nervous about it. I'm so scared to make a mistake.

Diana kept saying to our class, "This is not supposed to be stressful! Quilting is supposed to be fun!" but as I looked around at my classmates, I could see some other stressed out faces. Hopefully things become easier as the class goes on. I have taken for granted how naturally the cake decorating comes to me. As I was cutting my scraps of fabric, I wished I was decorating a cake instead. At least I'm good at that!

In the Midst of Things

Whew, things are getting busy! Tonight I start my beginners quilt class but I also need to find time to prepare for my third cake decorating class. In the meantime, I finished my first knitting project. Wow does football ever afford a lot of time to knit! If you know my boyfriend Anthony at all, you can probably imagine all the things I'll have time to make!

This was supposed to be a blanket but I made it far too wide and didn't have enough yarn to compensate. I didn't make this how you would normally make a scarf, either. The entire length of the scarf was on my knitting needle! Rookie mistake. At least I'll know better for next time. I loved this ball of yarn but it wasn't very good quality. I'm surprised it didn't ever rip on me but it came pretty close on some stitches.

THIS!! is what I'm going to be making in quilting class, but with my own choice of fabric. They showed this to me yesterday and I immediately said, "I'm going to make that?!" Right now I'm not sure I believe it yet!

This the fabric I'll be using. I laid them out so you can see what part of the above quilt they'll be used for. The brown will be the wide border and one of the rail swatches, the green will be the small border, and the 3 remaining pieces will be the rail pieces. I apologize for the low quality of the photo, I do need to start taking photos with a real camera and in natural light.

Leah trying on the "blanket" that was supposed to be for her. She was none too impressed with me.

Leah says, "Here, use your new sewing machine and make me something else instead."

This is IKEA's sewing machine, Sy. I'm not a big fan of IKEA (gasp, sacrilege, I know) so the idea of buying a sewing machine made by them wasn't my first choice. But for $70, it's hard to beat the price tag. If I want something nicer later, at least I'll have better knowledge.

Leah has been working on several of her own projects, namely, destroying her brand new toys.

Taking a break after the "kill."

This is my next knitting project! I'm going to make a patchwork/checkerboard afghan. I haven't learned any new stitches yet so it's just going to be the regular knit stitch. I was told to do a few projects before attempting to learn more so that's what I intend to do. I couldn't decide on 2 colours so I went with the easy choice, University of Michigan colours.

I am starting to feel a little too busy now that I have 2 classes this week but I'm excited nonetheless. I'm not sure my sewing class in October is going to happen as I have the inside scoop that I'm still the only person signed up. My mom might take it with me but the store requires at least 4 participants.