Making Cake...

I love pretty cakes. I don't really care to eat them. I just like to look at them. In fact, it makes me feel very happy to look at a beautiful cake.

When faced with Detail 6 of 100 Details in 200 days, I needed to stitch a motif...so I chose a cake design from Sublime Stitching to add to my Tea Therapy pillow.

I took step-by-step pictures thinking that there may be a few women in our group who have never stitched a motif onto a quilt block. There are many methods to do this but this is the method I use most frequently.

First, I traced my design onto tissue paper. I placed the tissue paper over my block and stitched over the design using a line of held thread (or you could use a running stitch). I then scored the tissue around the stitching and tore the paper away.


I was left with my design in white thread on my fabric which I can cover with my stitching. A good rule of thumb is to use a transfer thread color that either matches the background or matches the color of your embroidery.


Now, for the fun part...the decorating! I stitched the cake in brown long-and-short stitch.

I stitched the cake plate in a chain stitch...


and the icing in an outline stitch. I wanted the icing to "pop" so I added silk ribbon florettes and beads. Three cherries topped it off and...voila!

Cake with our tea.

I couldn't help but think of the movie, Calendar Girls, when I was stitching this cake. Especially the scene where they take this picture. It's a hoot! Oh, if you haven't watched it, it's a must!

If you like cakes as much as I do, then you absolutely have to check out these ribbons by Laura Foster-Nicholson. All her ribbons are fabulous. Many of them you can purchase at Farmhouse Fabrics or you can see them all at Renaissance Ribbons.



And almost every item in Jenny's Bake Shop on Etsy has some kind of beautiful cake.

So, there's lots of ways to have your cake and eat it too!