Pig Cupcakes and Musings on What to Wear

My youngest son celebrated his third birthday this week and requested a farm animal-themed party.  I'm all for catering to my kids' wishes when practical but I am not one to spend long hours creating the perfect birthday party.  What I want is something quick that has some visual appeal.  These cupcakes were certainly attention grabbers (particularly amongst the three-year-olds who were delighted to eat the ears) and took only minutes to make.  Start out with regular cupcakes and a batch of pink icing.  The ears are pink wafer cookies cut into triangles, the snouts are pink mints and the eyes are mini chocolate chips.  Simply ice the cupcakes and press the facial features into the icing.  Done.  Big success at the school birthday party.

Since I didn't spend hours in the kitchen making elaborate birthday party fare, I had more time to spend on my real passion, sewing.  Thanks to the generosity of grandparents, I was able to escape for a couple of days this week to the Sewing Expo which is held in my area annually.  I had plenty of time for some classes and for browsing (and spending) in the vendor area.  I've taken some pictures from my classes which will become blog posts in the near future, so stay tuned.  And I'm always so filled with inspiration and the desire to sew after time at the Expo that I spent about 2 hours today cleaning my sewing room in anticipation of some serious garment sewing in the near future.  But during all of this excitement I had a bit of an epiphany which I think many of you will identify with.  I came home with some much-needed (not!) fabric and sat down to write out some ideas I had for the various pieces.  And what I thought about during that note-taking session was the frustrating time I had getting dressed that morning.  I always like to try and wear something that I have made to these Expos (it only seems right) and I must have tried on at least 8 different combinations of garments that morning.  Nothing worked.  With time running out and my hair still wet, I finally threw on my Anniversary Dress and a pair of knee-high black boots and called it quits.  When I thought back on why I had so much trouble I realized that it had to do with separates.  I have several great jackets that I love to wear and a number of skirts that I really like, but none of these seem to have something that coordinates with them.  I think this is one reason I like dresses so much:  you put them on and you're dressed.  So one of my new "resolutions" is to try and create coordinated pieces that work together so I don't have such a frustrating time in the future.  I'd love to hear your thoughts on this and ideas on how to solve or prevent this problem.  Please share.