Our father never told us how to live...
but rather…
he lived…
and let us watch him do it.”
~Clarence Budington Kelland
Happy Father’s Day, Daddy.
I love you.
Crocheted Wind Spinners
I’m going to start this by saying that my daddy was a pastry chef.
He passed away about 17 years ago and we’re still at this very moment, trying to figure out what to do with some of his things.
That’s always the case, right?
You want to keep a thing but there’s really no room for it.
Or you don’t want to get rid of a thing but have no idea what to do with it.
Well, that is exactly the dilemma I was faced with. So many of daddy’s cake things that were a billion years old and not really usable but still had so much of him in them. You know?
That’s when a lovely idea struck me.
My dad loved decorating cakes.
Not me.
I’d rather poke myself in the eye.
But give me a crochet hook any day and then we’ll talk.
What if there was a way to smush the best of both worlds into something clever and unique for my entire family?
Could I possibly doooo that?
Turns out, I can.
Everyone chose their favorite color and POOF!
A little bit of Grampa and a little bit…
of me.
See those pretty wind spinners? Me.
See those ancient piping tubes turned into sweet little bells?! Grampa.
April–our color expert–didn’t tell me what colors to use. She sent me a few swatches so it would be perfectly perfect.
Lyndi chose green and blue. Kind of Earth Day-ish colors.
Jillian has always loved pink and yellow. They were even her wedding colors.
Of course Dane, our very patriotic patriot chose red, white and blue.
And Rhen–the die hard Vikings fan picked purple and yellow. The green and black are a nod to Bob Marley, no doubt. Haha.
Merry Christmas my sweethearts.
With love from Mom…
and Grampa.
Note: The pattern I used for this is Anemos Wind Spinner by Brunaticality
{ Fathers }
“Fathers, yours is an eternal calling from which you are never released and its importance transcends time. It is a calling for both time and eternity”
~Ezra Taft Benson
Daddy’s Dollar Shirt
Growing up in L.A. I spent a ton of time watching kids make incredible things out a simple piece of paper…watching and envying that is. There was this one girl–Donna–who could fold a dollar bill into a man’s dress shirt. She’d do it too…if you gave her a quarter…and brought your own dollar, of course.
So now, my friends–we’re going to totally bypass old Donna, and figure out how to make these cute things by ourselves–for nothing. But you still have to bring your own dollar.
Just in time for Father’s Day.
1~ Fold dollar in half.
2~ Unfold and then fold side edges to the center crease. Crease as precisely as you can, and use a newer bill, if possible. It will hold the shape better than a worn one.
3~ Fold out the corners of the bottom.
4~ Now fold up the bottom so that the crease is just where the flaps end.
5~ Reach into the fold and grab the tip of the corner piece and pull it gently out–but don’t press it. See the crease lines where you folded up the tips in step 3 ?
6~ Tuck the corners down in along the crease line.
7~ Press down flat.
8~ Now do the same thing…
to the other side. These are going to be your “sleeves” in a few minutes.
9~ Flip your bill over…
10~ and fold down about 1/4 inch at the other end.
11~ Turn over again.
12~ Carefully fold in each side at an angle so that the little “collars” touch the center line.
13~ Fold the bottom half up to the “collar.” You’ll see that the shirt front is a bit too long to look normal so….
14~ make an accordion fold in the middle of the bill.
15~ Tuck the sleeve piece under the collar…like this.
Now make a zillion more with your millions and stand them up where ever you want to make a lasting impression on Dad.
Of course, you could always use $50’s…
that would do it too.
Heh, heh….
616
“That Cake Guy”
I remember some kid at school asking me one day, “Isn’t your dad that cake guy?” and I said, “Yep.” I didn’t really get how he knew it, though. Turns out, that his brother was in my sister’s class and she had brought her teacher a fancy birthday cake that dad had made.
Laurie and I were famous for about two days–as daughters of “that cake guy.” It was lovely while it lasted.
Many years later, when I was married, with a couple of kids, Daddy called me and said, “Marie Osmond wants me to make her wedding cake.” I positively–ok, ok, nearly fainted dead away.
What you may not know, is that I’d always been a Donny fan and was, in fact, certain that if he’d been in his right mind–which he wasn’t–he would have married me…instead of whoever he actually married. So this was indeed big news.
Dad fussed and messed around in the bake shop for weeks, figuring and calculating how to make the most enormous cake he’d ever made before–because it’s what Marie wanted. I remember the day he was working on that bottom tier–biggest thing I’d ever seen–when somebody said, “Well, it’s pretty, but how are you going to fit it out the door?”
Eee Gads.
Seriously.
There he was, nearly finished with the thing and in fact, it wouldn’t, couldn’t possibly fit out the door.
Do you suppose it’s blasphemous to pray your guts out for a cake? I hope not, because that’s exactly what we did. As Dad and the guys lifted the ridiculous thing and headed to the door, we all whispered, “Please-please-please-please…” Then, as they started to tip it to the side, we crossed our fingers that it wouldn’t slide off the cake board and smash to the ground. We all chanted, “don’t let it slip…don’t let it slip…don’t let it slip.”
Miracle of miracles–and lucky for US…our prayers were answered…
and it didn’t.
Happy Birthday Beckham!
Happy Birthday Lily!