Maxi Dress M6559

This was a quick little endeavor, or, at least it should have been had my machine not decided to take a half day long hiccup.  Anyway, it's a very fast dress to put together with only two pattern pieces. 

Changes I made:
Used strips of fabric to create binding for neckline and arm holes.
Cut off 6 inches in length (way to long for me, 5'5")
I cut a size 8, but tapered the upper to waist area to a size 6.
My hem was turned twice then sewed at the bottom.

Overall, I think the dress would be more functional for me if I had made it in the shorter version, but I've never owned a maxi dress, and this is a complete novelty for me!  It has nice flow, and I can eat a big meal in it without showing that I did (hahaha).  The only thing I need to remember is to take smaller, much smaller, steps than I ordinarily do, because there is a confining sense to the stride.

Pattern review for McCalls M6559

Honey Drenched Cake

I love honey!  Honey has been proclaimed beneficial in so many ways, it keeps for a very long time, and is a great substitute for sugar...they say.  I don't care what they say.  I love honey!  It tastes like nothing else, a kind of perfection all on it's own, and sometimes I get such a strong craving for it, you'll find me giving crackers a nice stripe of it and eating them over the counter. 

So, I have had this idea in my head, I want to make a honey-flavored cake.  Sounds simple, right?  Of course it is, but when it came to finding the right recipe out there...ugh, that is what took me so long.  But, I've found a good one now, that makes a fine honey drenched sponge cake in one decadent layer.  Oh...it's good!!!

The website that provided the recipe is:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/tea-scented-sponge-cake-with-a-honey-tea-glaze-recipe/index.html

Ingredients

• 3 tea bags
• 1/4 cup plus 2 teaspoons boiling water
• 3/4 cup flour
• 4 eggs, separated
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, in all
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• Pinch of salt
• 4 tablespoons (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup whipped cream
• 1 mint sprig
• Powdered sugar

Directions

"Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the boiling water with the 3 tea bags and let steep for 20 minutes.  Strain, reserve and let cool. Butter and flour a 9-inch cake pan. In a mixing bowl combine the egg yolks and 3/4 cup sugar and whisk until thick and pale in color. Stir in 1 1/2 teaspoon of the tea concentrate, and the vanilla. Beat the egg whites and salt with an electric mixer until they form soft peaks. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar and continue beating for 20- 30 seconds. Incorporate 1/3 of the egg whites into the egg mixture. Then add 1/4 of the flour mixture, fold it in. Repeat the process, folding in the whites and flour until the last batch of flour is incorporated. Then fold in the melted butter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for 30 minutes. Allow the cake to cool slightly before unmolding. Make the glaze: In a small sauce pan, combine the honey, cinnamon, and 1/4 cup of the tea concentrate. Slowly begin heating this mixture to completely mix, stirring frequently. Set aside Remove the cake from the oven and turn onto a platter. Using a pastry brush, baste the entire surface of the cake . Use all of the glaze. Allow to sit 20 minutes. Cut into 8 wedges. Garnish each wedge with a dollop of whipped cream, a mint sprig, and powdered sugar."

And I'm surprised with the results, I have to admit.  I don't usually look (seriously) at recipes on the food network, although I know they are popular and have a following.  I'm not a big fan of Emeril, just because I feel that his recipes tend to use more ingredients than are really needed for the flavor you are after, and they also seem to be more complicated than they should be or need to be. 

Overall this was a good recipe, the only changes I made were to leave out whipped cream and the mint sprig (it is definitely sweet enough w/o whipped cream, and a mint sprig?  Come on.  Guess I'll just run out to the herb garden and pinch a few-not).  I substituted regular margarine for the butter, and used chamomile tea bags.  I didn't find it was necessary to heat the glaze, it seems to dissipate evenly just by stirring with a whisk.  One other tip--don't bother trying to get some of the glaze on the bottom of the cake, it will just make it stick to the plate.  It is very good refrigerated, and even better the next day. 

Yes, I recommend it!  It's good eating!

My Settee, Adventures in Refinishing & Reupholstering-COMPLETED!

So, I have been lax about posting the progress of my new settee...it's done!  Let me show you--

If you ever take on such an endeavor, my advice to you is to have plenty of patients, lots of staples, and take pictures of everything as you do it (or undo it, so you can remember how to do it again).

The first step, was to understand how the current upholstery was secured, and then removing it.

Starting from the bottom, to remove the white cambric. 

Paying attention to the corners and folds of the fabric.

As I can see from the fabric, the bottom side pieces will be the next to come off.

Next, removing the front bottom

Note the encased chord in this section...

Now we are down to the seat and the arms, so I noted the underarm section for later reassembly.

On to the seat...which is attached in the section by my hand above.

Down to the arms.

I had no idea how to make arms look like these, until I took them apart, staple by staple!

But first, a look at the underside attachment-

Now the rolled arm-piece by piece

 All off!!  Cat approves!

 Here you can see the repair that need to me made to the supports, both the lengthwise and two crosswise pieces were blown out.  Those were no big deal to replace.

 A greater challenge and pain in the rear was repairing the the right side arm.  The padding had to be carefully peeled back, the cardboard covering as well, and the struts moved back into place and secured with nails, and of course, everything put back.  But, while I was replacing the cardboard, I thought, these arms could use additional padding...hatch a plan...so I took some foam padding, made angle cuts for less noticeable start and stop points (did not want it to extend into the seat area or around the sides of the arms, mostly on top) and sized to fit the arm tops.  This I encased inside the old foam which was already pre-shaped, and stapled into place.

With all the necessary repairs made, it was time to cut new pieces, using the old ones as patterns and adding allowances were needed (arms, seat).

Once all the pieces were cut, it was time to begin re-assembling in reverse order.
Starting with the arms...

 If I am to be perfectly honest here, I'll have to admit that I first put one side on backwards, and then realized I hadn't planned the direction of my fabric very well, and took them both off, recut them, and started over.
Yep.  I did that.

Also, I had no idea how it "should" be done, but I made buttons with a kit from walmart, popping the sew through tab off the backs and inserting a nail before assembling, and then pounding (gently!) into the center of the rolled arms.  It worked!

I used my sewing machine to encase a cord for the front bottom piece, using the old one as a how-to.  It was fairly obvious, I'm glad to say.

I'm not going to bore you with the re-assembly steps, you've toughed it out through the deconstruction, so here are some pics of the finished product.

I added some decorative brads instead of the bent-nail contraption that was originally holding the lower sides in place.  I like this way much better, although I took a picture of the not-as-good side...the other one looks better.

Additional advice I can offer: mark your screw holes for the feet, otherwise you will be in rough shape with your finished product, and be poking around for them with a pin, trying to enlarge the holes with nails and such, and really wishing you had done it differently!

Overall, I love this piece, it was worth all of the effort, and the long wait to find it.  And I'm very happy that it is finished, in a respectable looking manner, i.e. all of the design is facing the same way-hahaha!

Thanks for reading, hope this can be helpful in some way for you!

Night Blooming Cactus

 
A few years ago we received a cutting of a strange flat-leafed "cactus" plant from our friends David and Pablo, who had a fine specimen growing in their house, they, in turn, had received a cutting from our mutual friends Tom and Andrew, who had cultivated an even bigger plant over time.  For a good year or so, ours did not much of anything.  Then we decided to move it outside for the summer, in the shade of our front porch, and wow-it took off.  New shoots bearing leaves grew fast, and now we find ourselves in the entertaining position of watching a bud and wondering when it will bloom. 

We had both bet on last night, however, it doesn't appear to have happened.  There is only a 4-5 hour window between the time one of us goes to bed and the time that the other gets up in the morning--night owl, meat morning bird hahaha.  So, I guess that is the question...when will this bud open?  It is said to release a very strong scent upon doing so, and I can only imagine what the bloom will look like.  In the meantime, I think we are looking at the inspiration behind the "Little Shop of Horrors" frighteningly hungry plant!

Feed me Seymour!  Feed Me Now!