Ahead of schedule

Yesterday I finished nearly all the chocolate items I had slated for this weekend!  I dipped all the dried apricots, candied ginger, and coconut almond fudge.  I also cast four sets of chocolate molds,  three of which came out fine and the fourth of which came out streaky and stuck to the sides of the mold.  Chocolate molds can be quite temperamental, which is one of the reasons I prefer not to use them.  (The other big one is that they are a royal PITA to clean after chocolate season is over.)  However, I make a few flavors that are simply not suitable for dipping – the fig-cognac is too soft and the prune-honey is too sticky – so I’m stuck with molding at least a few flavors.

Regardless, the geodesic domes, leaves, and fluted round molds came out great, so I think I’m going to declare victory and stop there.  That leaves me with just the peanut butter gianduja (a chocolate + peanut butter mix) to make today, although I may go a little further and add the sesame gianduja to the list.  Which still leaves me with some free time!

So, I have printed out my patterns for the latest Autumn Splendor muslin (creating a small sea of paper!) and will try dyeing the fabric for it today.  I’m using cotton flannel, I think, though I’ve also prepared sections of muslin that I may dye as well for future muslins.  There are 11 panels to dye: eight for the  fronts, side fronts, backs, and sleeves, plus two for the facings and one for the undercollars.  I’ve already picked out colors, so it’s just a question of mixing up and applying the dyes.  I might even be able to cut and sew the muslin before Chocopalooza starts, but that is a bit of a stretch.

And, just to give you a little eye candy, here is this year’s holiday card:

These are based on the photos my friend Lorah took during last year’s frenzy.

Off to cut up some transfer sheets!  I can’t wait to see what my little Chinese paper-cut animals look like, on actual chocolates.