C is for Cupcake, it's good enough for me!

Last week, I spent a lovely Wednesday afternoon in my friend Tarika(of The Baker's Apprentice)'s kitchen, concocting deliciously adorable cookie monster cupcakes. I have been on a bit of a cupcake binge this summer, drooling over Ming's 33 incredible recipes and attempting the red velvets for Canada Day festivities. Boringly, I've stuck to star-tip swirls for décor - though Tarika sent me a picture of these cookie monster wonders and I've been trying to figure out how to make it work ever since.

So after an afternoon of birre, dog-wuvvin', panic-attacks on my behalf and effortless baking nonchalance on T's, these were our accomplishments. (Cupcakes were recipe #30).


(I really love this picture of us staring into the oven like impatient little kids.)

I think I'm going to try and bake my way through Ming's list. Watch this space.

first-ever* embroidery - herringbone handkerchief

I cut the fabric for this project ages ago, and then promptly forgot all about it in a haze of my first and largest love, knitting. But it's finally done. There is something so yesteryear about a herringbone handkerchief, though I'm not yet sure if I'm ever going to use it for it's intended function. And yes, this is a handkerchief, not a neckerchief, English-language KGB. It is tiny in size and would only fit the neck of a garden gnome or Duggar baby (or let's face it, both).


* This does not count my abortive eight-year-old attempt to cross-stitch a cat on a purple sweatshirt.

sweet, sweet freedom

I just recently left my job at a ceramics studio. Do I have a new one lined up? Absolutely not. However, I had painted these bowls and they were ready for pickup on my very last day. I'll pretend that they were a goodbye gift. From myself.


The outside was inspired by these totally gorgeous photos of an abandoned power plant. The inside is basically a rip of a liberty of london tana lawn fabric with the colours changed. Learning to sew, thus justifying the purchase of those incredible prints, is on the horizon. On the bottom are the closing lyrics of E. Sharpe's "Home," because who doesn't love that song.

welcome.benvenuto.willkommen

Here I will make things with my hands and then share them with you.