week of 2 tiered cakes!

on my 30 before 30 list, i had "make a proper 2 tiered cake" as one of my bucket list items to accomplish before my 30th bday.  i did make a 2 layer cake when my friends sonija and bernardo visited me in philly, however the presentation was really lacking.  for last thursday's math and science teacher social at my school, i made a 2 tier banana cake with a layer of bananas in between each tier and topped with cream cheese frosting and strawberries.  it was delicious and a beauty.  i wish i had snapped a picture of it after it was cut so you could see the inside.

then this saturday i went to a wine tasting event at my friend's apt and caught this fantastic view of manhattan from the subway station:

sunday, my football team had a reunion bbq and i baked a purple velvet cake with strawberries and cream cheese frosting in between each layer and on top as well.  think red velvet, but with a little blue food coloring!  my football team donned purple uniforms.

this cake was delicious, although i had a really hard time making the frosting stick to the cake because the cake was baked on the same day that i put on the frosting and thus it was a little too warm.  there were little purple cake bits all over the frosting.  to mask this, i sprinkled coconut flakes on top.  with the banana cake, i had baked the cake the day before and refrigerated it so that it was not as soft and crumbly.  oh well!  lessons for next time!

uygur top!!

a sweet student of mine from my 2 year stint in philly (lucky girl was stuck with me for 2 years in a row!) brought me back this beautiful print from xinjiang province in western china, land of the uygur people.  i'd love to go there one day.  anyhoo, determined to tweak butterick 5608 (view c) from mom's mother's day top to my size, i set off with a hell of a lot of pins and tape and revamped the pattern to fit my goofily proportioned build!

it took a while, but i did it.  it finally fits!  the print is bold... very bold.  i wish i had centered the inner facing of the back so that when it hangs on a hanger, the inside looks neat and symmetric.  oh well, it's just the inside...

on the side, i created a button and loop closure like i did on mom's.  the buttons are vintage, from carin, my coworker!  i swear i will have enough vintage buttons to last my lifetime!

around back:

i wanted to get someone to snap a pic of me in the top today while at work, but alas, the day was hectic and i forgot.  here's my best attempt at a self-pic.  a little sketchy, i know.

pretty cute, right?  

off to sew some pants for chaperoning a field trip to kenya.  i leave june 22!  ahh!!!  we're going to be doing lots of manual labor...  in equatorial heat...  yet we were told to wear long pants (cargo-pocket work slacks in particular, but come on, slacks in EQUATORIAL HEAT?)...  i'm going to make myself a couple pairs of thin cotton gauze beachy lounge pants!!!