Year of the Dragon

My daughter, Grace, and I made these cupcakes to raise money for China Care, a non-profit that supports medically disabled orphaned children in China. Every year, the mandarin department has a Chinese New Year celebration at her school. The China Care club at school is hoping to raise enough money to fund a cleft palette surgery for a particular child. The first cupcake sale raised $250.

Wilbur turns 1

"New home" cake

I made this cake for a friend who just moved into a new home. Though it's called the "Yellow Birthday cake" from Joanne Chang's Flour cookbook and famous Boston-based Flour Bakery, I thought it was perfect for this special occasion. It's very easy to make and the frosting is terrific to work with. Plus, it tastes delicious.

Knitted bulldogs

For Christmas, I knitted bulldogs for my three girls. The pattern came from Knit Your Own Dog by Sally Muir and Joanna Osborne. The book has some great-looking "pedigree pooches" that you can make. The toughest part of the project was putting the dogs together, especially I think, because of their funny faces (check out the authors' blog for some extra help in sewing up the bulldogs). I like the way they came out—each one a little different from the other even though I followed the same pattern.

Merry Christmas

A bird in my studio

I recently found this birdcage in a shop in Concord, MA, called Nesting on Main. It was made by a local artist.

Holiday baking

Every year a good friend has a cookie swap for the December holidays. I made tiny shortbread cookies from an old Christmas Cookie book by Rose Levy Beranbaum. The dough is easy to work with and they taste great.