Cake & Photography = a good distraction!

Who can resist a slice of birthday cake with their morning coffee?  Not me!

Melissa's cake turned out so pretty and so good I wanted to share with you.  It was fun to pull out my icing piping tools that haven't been used since the girls were little.  Kept it simple with stars and swirls.  She liked the colors.  It was a surprise.  That's the way she wanted it.  She's such a sweet, happy, good-natured young woman, these colors seem to represent 'her'.  Pastel green with soft yellows and writing in white.  Got a new iPhone and photo below taken with that.  I'm on such a learning curve in so many different areas of my life lately, it seems.  Had my new phone less than 4 hours and had already called the sales rep 3 times with questions!  *sigh* 

Back to the cake.... kept it simple by using Betty Crocker SuperMoist White store-bought cake mix.  See there on the box front, below, "there's pudding in the mix".... that must be the secret ingredient to a melt-in-your-mouth, oh-so-delicious flavor.  Follow the instructions on the back to add water, oil and egg whites..... bake as directed.  Then I make my own buttercream frosting following the Wilton's Buttercream Icing recipe of 1/2 cup unsalted softened butter (not margarine), 1/2 cup shortening (only use Crisco), 4 cups sifted powder sugar (I always re-sift), 1 teaspoon vanilla (I use real, not artificial and not the clear one) and @2 Tablespoons of milk.   A quick 'n easy homemade cake that tastes like a million bucks!

Since it looks like I am procrastinating working on the quilt, lingering over a late 'breakfast' (ha!), I practiced a little photography while I was at it.  The photo below was snapped with my Canon Rebel set on 'auto'....

...compared to the first one where I changed the aperture and ISO settings, shown again in the photo below for comparison.  I like this one better.  Finally starting to feel like I am getting to 'know' my camera a little better.

Doesn't everyone have a broken weedeater part sitting on top of their agenda book?!   I literally wore out the bottom of my weedeater weedeating so much.  Have to order a new part and this is my 'reminder'.  Resourcefulness of aging.  :)

Better get back on the Road to Oklahoma.  I've got 23 more lines of quilting to do - but hey!, who's counting?!  Then there's the wavy lines in the border and of course the binding.....

.... "just keep quilting.... just keep quilting..."!