Suburban Dreams 2010 D. JonesI must admit I'm equally fascinated and horrified by suburbia. I grew up on a couple of acres with goats, chooks, ducks, dogs, cats, horses and lots of siblings. We had room to move, but it was quite isolated in terms of things to do when you became a teenager. Hence, as soon as you turned 13, you called it a 'hole'. The 'hole' was hard to get out of as there was limited transport and limited community facilities which included; a petrol station, tennis court and a chip shop. Only recently 'the hole' acquired their first public toilet. My parents rang me to inform me of the 'hole's' progress and reminded me to drop in when I visited next. Hmmm, pretty sure 'Getaway' (Travel Show) won't be visiting anytime soon. They also got their first supermarket recently and it truly is a sight to be seen. Lit up in the middle of the night by fluorescent lighting, it looks like a ufo landing as it is completely surrounded by bush. Naturally the supermarket/landmark/attraction is the main topic of conversation in the town. The prices of 'the ufo supermarket products' compared to the mainland supermarket products are scrutinised in an uneasy obsessive fashion for bargains and ripoffs. My dad can spin a tale regarding the price differences of beans per 100grams for at least half an hour. See both fascinating and horrifying.
The Baker's birthday is coming up. My other sister, 'The mogul' told us about 'The Birthdee Bitch' day she plays out with her mate each year on their birthdays. The rules for the 'Birthdee Bitch' are as follows. Friend/Slave for the day must fulfill all requests of the 'Birthdee Bitch' all day. God help 'The mogul's' little mate. I'm very suspect 'The mogul' turns very bridezilla when it comes to her 'Birthdee Bitch' day. The 'Birthdee Bitch' can drag you around town doing all sorts of activities and you must participate in all activities displaying a sunny disposition all day. All bad behaviour from 'Birthdee Bitch' is tolerated all day. The Baker and I think it is quite hysterical and might start implementing this practice on our spesh day. So far the Baker hasn't displayed any 'Birthdee Bitch' signs, although she did request (or maybe that was a demand) a flamenco dancer holding tacos for her invite. Her birthday bash is going to be fabulous. She is throwing a Spanish/Mexican Fiesta. The invite I'm knocking up for her will be a mini bunting that you can hang on your fridge. The little flowers will be made out of crepe paper.
The wedding preps for my younger sister have been going for a few weeks now. The baker -my other sister - knocked out this most spectacular cake this weekend. A trial for the upcoming wedding. It is her first wedding cake ever and also her first go at that tricky fondant. It took her two days and much coffee to bake and mix and roll all required ingredients. I think she used about 3 kilos of white chocolate to 'dirty ice' the cakes to give them structure to prepare them for the fondant. She also used 2 litres of cream, 1.5kg fondant, 26 eggs, 300grams of butter (I know basically low-fat) and almost a kilo of almond meal, 1.5kg of sugar and about 500grams of flour. And a couple of other bits and bobs. The bottom tier of the cake is a two layer pink coconut cake with layers of white chocolate ganache. The second tier is a five layer super moist whole orange, almond cake with white chocolate ganache and the top layer is a three layer butter cake with a dark chocolate ganache. My contribution were the frilly layers surrounding the cakes. After many disastrous attempts at creating a frill with sculpting icing, what does any modern gal do, I hit youtube and found a step by step using a cookie cutter and a toothpick. Et voila!!! My sister found the cutest wedding topper, but that hasn't arrived yet at wedding central, so stay tuned.
I went for a quick bike ride today and smelt the lovely Spring blossoms in the air. Check out my latest Spring creations -a veritable colour explosion. The top pic is one fabric flower I folded and sewed together and then photoshopped. My obsession with pattern made me repeat it. I don't know what I'm going to do with the flower, my mind is ticking over and I'll come back to that one later. I think the colourful pirate lads could enter a bit of a cabaret show. My new scoop bags have a little zippered pocket at the back which is handy for your mobile and keys. Each bag has a chunky zipper under the front flap.
I'm officially over winter and today was the most beautiful Spring day. Even though I was in the sweatshop all day getting ready for the market. Here is another lovely Spring inspired lamp.