Mini Chocolate Donuts

My first attempt at mini donuts was less than encouraging.  I followed the recipe on the packaging for my Wilton mini donut pan.  It made lovely little donuts, which tasted like cardboard. Fail.



Sure, they're lovely, but they tasted like cardboard. 
Lucky for me kids will eat anything that has chocolate frosting on it.

Keira's Adventures in Sewing

Debbie is a genius.  A. Genius.
How else do you explain the phenomenon of her churning out two dresses and a shirt up-cycle without laying a finger on them?

Okay.  Well, maybe I sewed them but hands were held, people.

Upcycled men's shirt to girl's dress

It's pretty hard to see, but I put six pleats in the skirt front.

Oh What Do You in the Summertime?

We've been very busy at Casa Dominguez this week.  Here's a sampler of our deeds (I'm leaving out Keira's sewing adventures - she'll be doing a post on that soon):

Do you use an oil-based paint pen to turn black and PINK soccer cleats into black and BROWN soccer cleats?  

Do you clean out your sister's pantry? 

Do you make darling mini donuts? 

Did you paint a picture for Marcy's birthday?

Did you make and gather stuff for seminary?

Did you create a fairy village and name it "Pixie Hollow"? Laura did.

Did you make up-cycle a dress for a 5 year old from a woman's shirt?

Yup. We were busy.  What did you do this week?

Pattern Review - Simplicity 4206

I only made the top from this pattern (so far). It is a very easy top - and very easy to adjust.  I added a band to the end of the sleeves for a little interest and a band to the bottom of the bodice to make it a little more modest.

Upcycled skirt

Goodwill is SUCH a fun place to shop!  I'm wondering if I can talk Keira into one more trip this week (it's practically on the way back to her house after we drop off the teen cousins at EFY).

I forgot to take a before picture - the original skirt looked much like the one I made - only it was twice as long and twice as wide. 

Someone else went to the trouble to make all these horizontal pleats...all I did was sew one seam up the back, turn the top down (twice) and stitch an elastic casing.  I'm not quite done with the skirt - I'll have to take it back up to Washington and try it on Miriam so I can adjust the elastic length.

Upcycled dress

I found this humonguos little beauty at Goodwill.  It looked like it had  possibilities. I like the dip-dyed effect on the skirt.


I had Miriam try it on, then I pinned it about where I wanted the width of the bodice to be.



I then cut armholes and neckline (I think I used a pattern for a guide for the armholes.



I cut sleeves from the leftover fabric, using a puffy sleeve pattern piece.



The color is great on her, but I'm not thrilled with the neckline - it could have used a little something more (more than white bias tape).



For a bit of fanciness, I braided some leftover skirt material and then coiled it into a circle and stitched it together.