Best Oven Fried Chicken (no, really!)

Fried Chicken. Sigh. I direct you to my first(and only) slightly sad attempt at frying chicken. I almost got it right, and probably could have eventually gotten a handle on it if I'd kept at it, but I gave up.  I know.  I should be ashamed. I'm Southern after all, and from Kentucky...the Fried Chicken Capitol of the World! But me and fried chicken, we just don't jive. 

So here I am, four and half years after starting what I thought would be a cooking blog and I still can't fry up a chicken and I'm still not much of a cook either. This may explain why my cooking blog has morphed into a random craft/sewing/apron/quilting/ blog where I occasionally share a recipe. 

Which leads me back to the chicken...

I found a recipe for oven "fried" chicken that was a snap to make and tasted great! This recipe comes from the book Eat What You Love by Marlene Koch.

Best Oven Fried Chicken

What you'll need

• 2 large egg whites
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground sage
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 1/4 cups corn flakes
• 1/4 cup plain breadcrumbs
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 lbs skinless chicken

***My changes due to lack of ingrediets: 1/2 cup egg beaters subbed for egg whites; paprika subbed for cayenne; Italian seasoning subbed for sage & thyme; I used precut chicken breast tenders.

What You'll Do

1. Preheat oven to 400. Place a wire rack on top of a baking sheet and spray with cooking spray.
2. In a shallow bowl, whisk together egg whites with  garlic powder, onion powder, caynne pepper, sage and thyme.
3. Place the cereal in a plastic bag and crush thoroughly with a rolling pin. Place in a shallow bowl and mix with  breadcrumbs, pepper, and salt.
4. Place flour in a third shallow bowl.
5. To bread the chicken pieces, first dredge the chicken in th flour to coat. Next, dip each piece of chicken into the egg white mixture, followed by the crumb mixture, making sure to cover all surfaces. repeat until all the chicken is coated.
6. Place the chicken pieces on the prepared rack and bake for 45 minutes, or until the chicken is  golden brown and reaches 180 degrees.

I'll admit to being a bit skeptical of any recipe titled "BEST" anything, but this was good stuff, y'all!  The chicken was juicy inside and crispy outside--just the way I like it! It was truly the best oven fried chicken I've tried....and I'd bet that cooking it on the wire racks is what made the difference. Give it a try and tell me what you think!  And I'd recommend you pick up a copy of this cookbook, especially if you're a cooking novice like I am. It has lots of familiar recipes(without exotic, hard to find ingrediets), made healthier.

Oh, Sheet!

So, perhaps it was a good idea that I covered my design wall in UFOs. In just two nights I've managed to make some progress on one of those projects!

This is going to be a picnic quilt, which means picnics will be had this summer. It will also be the quilt I leave in the car for random things need covering and Mark is freezing me to death type emergencies.

Made from vintage sheets, it started out as plain four patches but has evolved into a more liberated style.  I love the movement that comes from recutting the original four patch blocks!

Once I get all these four patches sewn together my plan is to do a thin border of a solid(if I can find something in my stash) and a wider outer border using the yellow daisy sheet.

Hooray for progress!

UFO Sightings

Now that Summer has finally arrived and I get a few weeks off work, I have big sewing plans! To keep myself motivated and inspired to finish at least one of them, I've filled my design wall with bits and pieces of my current UFOs.

UFO's pictured:

• Picnic Quilt made from vintage sheets.
• A 30's Sampler
• Grey zig zag quilt.
• Moda Sweet  Quilt---pictured above the yellow pinwheel star block. It came in a kit and is WAY over my skill level.
• Pinwheel Sampler(this is a BOTM quilt, so no hurry, I just love looking at these bright blocks).
• Wonky log cabin quilt(yes, another one).

Other UFOs and crafty endeavors I'd like to tackle this summer:

• Decide how to finish off my Wonky House quilt top.
• Piece a backing for this quilt, and this one, and this one too.
• Finish a baby quilt I started three years ago. I couldn't bring myself to finish a simple patchwork baby quilt, Y'all! Sheesh.
• Make a wall hanging for my mom...we bought the fabric last summer.
• Update my etsy shop with aprons, bags, and monsters.
• Enter a quilt in the county fair, hopefully one of the three mentioned above.
• Make a toy or doll to entier in the county fair.
• Learn (or begin to learn) to paint with watercolors.

And although it's not crafty, I'd like to get my cooking mojo going and try out some new dishes.

Would love to hear your crafty goals for the summer!

I should be sewing...

No, really! I have no less than five projects going, all needing to be completed in the next couple of weeks (if not days). However, as a lifetime resident of the Procrastination Nation, I've decided to do a quick update after months of non-blogging instead of work on the things that need doing! Wouldn't want to disappoint the brothers and sisters of my Nation, now would I?

So, what kind of post would possibly warrant stalling on all those projects I'm behind on? A couple of finishes of course!

I finally finished the Cabin Fever Quilt top! In my last post, I mentioned how I'd totally screwed the thing up and had to cut it apart and start over. Here is the finished top. I dig it. Big Time. I made this one for myself and plan that someday it will be my flake-out-on-the-couch quilt.

I used Tonya Riccuci's Word Play Quilts to guide me through the letters. If you study wonky letters on various examples, they're pretty easy to pick up on your own, but I'd highly recommend the book. Those wonky letters go together much faster when you have Tonya guiding you along! 

My most recent project was a baby quilt for my soon-to-arrive nephew! I was planning to have an I-Spy quilt ready to give my sis at the shower, but, as y'all might have guessed, I didn't start soon enough. Luckily I had a Max & Whiskers charm pack and a white Moda Bella Charm pack in my stash. I played on my design wall until I had a layout that I liked, and went for it. I waiting so long that I was even forced to do my own free motion quilting! Despite the machine applied binding, I love how this quilt turned out. Even more, I love that my  sis loved it and she fully intends to let the baby drag it around, chew, and 'waller' on it!

Note to you receivers-of-quilts-as-gifts... your quilt gifting friend would LOVE it if you would put your quilt to good use(whatever that might be) instead of  storing or putting  it away because it's "too pretty to use".  Just sayin'!

Next time, perhaps I'll show off the projects I slacked on tonight!

Cabin Fever in (un)Progress

Last week or so, I posted my latest in-progress quilt.  It's a wonky log cabin made from scraps of other sewing projects. I spent many of our snow days putting this together and therefore dubbed it, "Cabin Fever". When I got the sashing finished, I was pretty happy with it despite the fact that it got considerably thinner from top to bottom.  "It's wonky!" I told myself. "I love wonky!"  However, the more I looked at that impossibly askew quilt, the less wonky it became and the more I realized it was just bad.

Now I suppose if I were truly the liberated quilter I aspire to be, I'd have added an even wonkier and wilder border to balance out the rest. But I haven't gotten to that point just yet. The perfectionist in me just couldn't take that what I had wasn't really a wonky quilt top, but a poorly executed one. And every time I'd walk into the sewing room, I'd stop, look at it, and get aggravated with myself for making such a mess of it. The photo really doesn't show just how off it was, but trust me, there were several inches difference in the top and bottom and no amount of trimming was going to square it up without cutting into the log cabins.

I took it too my BOTM meeting last Saturday and the ladies there agreed that something needed to be done. I got several suggestions, but the one that I thought would work out best was just to cut the thing apart and start all over.

So that's what I did. Rather than lose all the white sashing I decided to trim the blocks leaving one half to an inch of the white surrounding the block. Would've liked to leave more, but there just wasn't enough. I've surrounded half the blocks in Kona medium gray and have started framing the rest in Kona ash.  So I don't know that I've made progress on this quilt since my last post, so much as I've made unprogress. Still, it has taught me to slow down and be more mindful of what I'm doing...at least when adding sashing.

I think I'm going to be much happier with it now.

Cabin Fever

I've been snowed in for four days!  And I've done relatively little in those four days. It's been a Jabba the Hut kinda week for me, actually.  In the midst of all that Jabbaness, there were a few moments when I managed to drag myself away from the couch(or let's be real, the computer) and be at least a little productive.

I started making these scrappy/wonky log cabin blocks waaaay back in October  of 2008. It was around the time I started quilting. They were fun and easy, and I'd make them up when I wanted to sew but didn't really want to work on a project. I'd pull them out every once in a while and make  2-3 at a time. Since these were wild log cabin blocks, I decided to fussy cut something for the centers, rather than use a traditional red or yellow center square. I realized a couple weeks ago that I'd finished enough for a lap  quilt.

The first blocks are here.  A few more are posted here. And here are some made more recently.

So despite the bajillion other UFOs in my closet, I began arranging these on my tablecloth stuck to the wall design wall. 

A few days ago I started adding the sashing strips to each block and last night I managed to get all the rows joined. I don't know how it happened, but none of these wanted to match up, despite the fact that I cut all the blocks 6.5" and all the sashing strips 2.5".  I still ended up with rows that didn't match at all.  I tried to take rows in(not my best idea ever), which resulted in my quilt shrinking at the bottom. Weird--or not since taking them up screwed w/what little bit of math reasoning I used. Why do they have to ruin quilting by making me use Math, btw?  Hopefully, I can just trim the sides to even it up a bit more.

So now, I'm left with how to finish the top. This one is going to be mine---for lounging on the couch. It's plenty long enough but not quite wide enough for proper snuggling under. Trying to decide if I want to border the whole thing or just add strips to the side to get it to a width I like.

That will be a project for another day. As a good friend of mine likes to joke, "If the health department were to come to my house, they'd shut us down!" so, I have got to stop quilting/facebooking/blogging and do some cleaning! Hopefully my next post will include a finished quilt top.

Hoppy Baby Quilt

Finished up my second quilt project of 2011!  I didn't blog it as process posts since it was a gift, but I started this baby quilt in October or November. I thought it might take me a couple weekends to finish even though Fons and Porters said "you can make this quilt in an afternoon" in the pattern description. Liars.  I finished it mid January!

Here's a pre quilting and pre washing look at the blocks and the back:

Loved doing my own thing and piecing the letters for the back!

This one had more small pieces and required much more seam alignment than anything I've tried before. The thing that really made this quilt difficult? Me. I tend to get in a hurry, am easily flustered,  get ahead of myself, and as a result I often spend more time unsewing than sewing.  I learn something new everytime I finish a quilt, so I think if I were to try this pattern again, it'd go much faster. But I'm not...it'll be the only one of it's kind(made by me, anyway). 

It was a gift for our niece, her husband, and their sweet brand new baby girl. The time spent was completely worthwhile! 

Warm and crinkly, right out of the dryer.

Despite some mismatched seams and wonky quilting, I'm pleased overall with the way it turned out and I hope the precious Miss Abagail will enjoy snuggling up with it.

Pattern is Phoebe from the Fall 2009 issue of Easy Quilts. There is a free download here for members of the Fons & Porters website(also free to join).

Fabric Postcards, Finished Project, and a Decision Made!

Thanks to a couple snow days, I've been able to get several projects done and/or started! Hooray for snow days! I don't like long winded posts any more than the next person, so I'll try and make these updates quick.

First off...Fabric Postcards. These are going to be mailed to my Valentines in the Flickr Fabric Postcard Swap group. I'll say it again...these are so much fun (and addicting) to make! 

"Puppy Love"

"WHOOOO Loves You?"

"Young Love"

Next up, the BBP mini quilt is finished. Thank. The. Lord. I never did figure out the problem with the chicken feet(for lack of a better description) on the back of this. I gave up after the sixth or seventh time un-quilting it and decided it would be a practice piece for getting in the groove of free motion. And as long as no one studies the back of it, it's fine!  On a side note, I did free motion work on two of the postcards pictured above and there were NO problems at all...the back looks fine on those. Weird.

And finally, I made a decision on the fabrics to use in my Independent BOTM group! Thanks to everyone who gave input! I was all set to go with the Hello Betty fabrics. I took them to JoAnn's to get a coordinating solid. I picked out a lovely soft white...

...and then I saw a bolt of butter yellow. I like yellow, but it's not something I'd normally choose as the main fabric for a quilt. However, it just so happened that I had the Spirit fabrics with me too--you know, just in case. I figured it couldn't hurt to try them out together. That yellow sang next to the Spirit fabrics!  My lighting is not the best so the fabrics are merely humming in these photos. Trust me, it's a lovely combination even though it is not at all what I had in mind for this quilt!  

The colors are a bit off here. Thanks, Crappy Lighting!

This is closer to the actual shade of yellow. 

If you missed the original post, these blocks are part of a pinwheel sampler that I'll be working on in my BOTM group. I'll make one set of blocks at a time, one month at a time, until December. It's going to be really hard not to make these up in advance. I might have already made the March blocks, just sayin'.

What projects have you been working on this weekend?

A Quick Process Post on the BBP Mini Quilt

This is a mini quilt/fan art piece that I've been working on for months now. It's funny that this was inspired by a company that produces horror flicks because it has turned into a nightmare.

I will say, however, that I'm happy with the way it looks right now. I love the wonky stars and the scrappy border. 

As for the nightmare part, I have had to un-quilt it three times! [insert horror film type scream here] I just spent the last 30min. unquilting as a matter of fact. The free motion quilting on top looks decent enough but I get "chicken feet" on the back. SO frustrating. My tension settings are OK, I think it is my lack of free motion experience that is causing the problem. I'm either too slow or too fast.

I suppose I could hand quilt it, but I haven't mastered that yet either. Besides, I really want to learn and improve free motion, so I'm gonna give it another go.

If, in the final reveal, it's straight line quilted, y'all will know it got the best of me.

But in the meantime, here I go again.

Alert the Media! I cooked and ENJOYED a vegan dish!

This afternoon I did something I rarely do, and cooked a vegan dish for my husband. I know, I'm a bad wife, blah, blah blah. As I've mentioned, he is a die hard vegan and I am sooo not. Although I did try it once, and I lasted about a week!

I recently picked up a copy of Eat What You Love and this recipe looked interesting, so I thought I'd give it a try. Despite the fact that I used soy crumbles in place of ground beef, this dish was fantastic and very flavorful! I really liked it and my husband devoured two huge helpings in no time flat.

Of course I never have the exact ingredients a recipe calls for, so I made a few substitutions. My version is what's listed below.

And yeah, I know that's a canned crescent on the plate. I was so wrapped up in the noodle dish, bread was an afterthought and sides weren't even a thought. A fresh salad and crusty homemade bread would have been great with this!  Although I do loves me some Pillsbury Crescent Rolls...I'm not gonna lie.

Why is food so hard to photograph? 

Nutty (not really)Beefy Noodles

Here's What You Need:
8 oz whole wheat spaghetti
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 carrot, peeled and shredded

1/4 c. peanut butter
2 Tbs soy sauce
2 Tbs white wine vinegar
2 Tbs ketchup
1 Tbs brown sugar
1/4-1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 c. warm water
3/4 tsp. cornstartch

12 oz pack of Yves Meatless Ground (or 1lb. lean ground beef)
2 Tbs. minced garlic
2-4 green onions, chopped

Here's What You Do:
1.  Cook pasta, drain and return to pot. Add peppers and carrots, cover.

2. Whisk together peanut butter, soy sauce, vinegar, ketchup, brown sugar,ginger, and red pepper flakes until smooth. Wish in warm water and cornstarch.

3. Heat soy crumbles and garlic in a (very) large saute pan. About 5 min.

4. Pour sauce into pan with the soy crumbles and let simmer until sauce thickens. Stir in pasta & veggies and cook 5-7min. until the veggies are crisp tender. Top w/green onions.

 For the unmodified by yours truly version of this recipe, check out the book.  There is a recipe for a 175 calorie vanilla cake batter milkshake that is worth the price of admission all on it's own!

An All Day Apron

 I figured the long weekend would be the perfect time to re-stock my etsy shop and do some sewing. I dug through my fabric stash and decided to use this lovely cabbage rose print with a 1950's feel (Swoon!) for my first project of the day.

I settled on a smock style apron. They're practical, cute, and quick to make. I figured I could finish this and whip up at least two half aprons before the day was done! Ha!

I went happily on my way cutting fabrics, excited to be starting new projects...things were going just swell. And then I decided to line the apron despite the fact that I never line this style smock. This is when what should have been a two hour project turned into an all day affair.  Holy Lord! I have not been so aggravated and dimwitted with a sewing project since I started sewing.

I eventually finished it...many hours and much cussin' later. After all that trouble, I'm not even going to list it for sale. For the time that I put into this apron, and the headache it caused me, I'd have to sell it for at least $1256.00 to make up for my time and effort.

So, for the time being, I've decided to keep it. I really don't think I could part with that fabric anyway.

Those two half aprons I was going to whip up? Not happening. I'd rather stab myself in the eyes with my Gingher stork embroidery scissors than look at my sewing machine right now.

And She Can't Make a Decision Either!

I need help!

I've signed up for an Independent Block of the Month class/group coming up at the local quilt shop. Rather than follow a set pattern, we're getting to choose our own project and set our own goals for finishing it, but we will be sharing our projects monthly in a group setting. Brilliant idea!

For my project, I've decided to do a pinwheel sampler quilt and I'll be using the Pinwheel Sampler Quilt-a-Long posted over on P.S. I Quilt. Lots of examples of this quilt/blocks here. There are a few blocks I may change up and I'd like to add cornerstones(maybe) but the finished product will most definitely be a pinwheel sampler. They're my favorite, along with log cabins.

And now for the decision that I'd like your help with. I have three stacks of fabrics and I cannot make a choice. So maybe you can offer some opinions? Please excuse my crappy lighting situation and know these are all much nicer in person. SO, do I go with...

Hello Betty for a fun retro look? I love these fabrics. Seriously.

Spirit by Lila Tueller for a modern version?

Or my new stash of Jay McCarrol's Garden Friends for a kooky-mod quilt? 

Note to self: There's enough of this for a Turning Twenty quilt.

And then there's the sashing. I love love love a quilt with lots of white, so I'm thinking white or a soft creamy white would work for each.

What to do? What to do?

I'd love your input.

Fabric Postcards!

Back in December, I took a class on how to make fabric postcards at my local quilt shop. It was something I'd been wanting to do for a while. I had a good time and enjoyed the chance to learn something new.

Now that nearly a month has passed, I'm finally starting to use some of what I learned. I've joined two fabric postcard swap groups! The first was Trading Fabric Postcards on Yahoo groups, and  I've also recently joined Fabric Postcard Swap on Flickr.  I'm really looking forward to swapping and learning some techniques and getting inspiration for making these mini fabric art cards.

I got my first swap card in the mail this week from Katina in the Yahoo group. The theme was middle initials. She made this card representing my middle initial.  So stinkin' adorable!

"An Anteater Ate Ants All August"

This is the card that I made to represent my partner's middle initial. This is only my third attempt at making one of these cards, but I think it turned out OK for someone w/o much experience at it. Note to self...square up the card before sewing the edges next time. sheesh.

"Mystic Mermaid"

These are my first two attempts. I made the snow couple card in class and started the second one in class as well. The instructor was nice enough to give us extra fabric, backing pieces so we could finish the cards we started and make a couple more. The snow couple is simply a fussy cut piece of fabric that I embelished w/some glitter paint and an extra fussy cut bird/holly. I love the print, but I prefer the pieced & appliqued snowman card. For whatever reason, I didn't mail these out w/my Christmas cards, I should have, huh?

"Snow in Love"

"Good Tidings to You"

I smell yet another addiction!

She Cooks! OK, it was just Campbell's Macaroni and Cheese, but She Cooks!

I  don't know when I last posted a recipe. In fact I had been thinking of changing the name of this blog to something along the lines of And She Can't Even Step Foot Into The Kitchen! due to my lack of cooking related posts. After all, this blog started out as my adventures learning to cook.  OK, so I still can't cook, not really, but since I decided to stop hating my body, I've also decided it's time to fill it with real food...things other than cereal, cookies and fast food.

Now, y'all try not to scoff too much at my choice of recipe here, but I made Mac & Cheese, from a can of soup. I know, I know, it's not exactly health food. But you know what, it's not cereal, it's not cookies, and it's not fast food...so it's OK! And besides, I did use whole wheat blend pasta and 1%milk.  Anyway it's not like I'm not gonna eat the entire casserole dish full in one sitting! Maybe. I figure if I take the time to cook it, it has actual ingredients like milk, cheese, and pasta, it's not that bad.

So here's the recipe:

I clearly used waaay more breadcrumb mixture than the recipe called for.

Ingredients

• 1 (10.75 ounce) can Campbell's Condensed Cheddar Cheese Soup
• 1/2 (10.75 ounce) can milk
• 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 cups hot cooked corkscrew-shaped pasta or shell-shaped pasta
• 1 tablespoon dry bread crumbs
• 2 teaspoons butter or margarine

Directions

1. Mix soup, milk, black pepper and pasta in 1-qt. baking dish.
2. Mix bread crumbs and butter and sprinkle over pasta mixture.
3. Bake at 400 degrees F. for 20 min. or until hot.

I liked it. Nice and creamy--good texture. The flavor was a bit bland, however. Maybe adding some additional sharp cheddar cheese or some garlic powder or some other seasoning would liven it up. Still, it's pretty good, not to mention super-duper quick and easy to throw together.

What I Won't for 2011

A new year is fast approaching and it's a time when, instead of looking back at the missed opportunities and misfires of the past year, I(like a lot of folks) prefer to look ahead to the possibilities that a new year brings.

A few years ago, instead of making resolutions I made a Not-To-Do list. I was inspired by this article and liked the idea of thinking about what I didn't want to do rather than coming up with a list of resolutions that I may or may not make happen. For 2011, I think another list of un-resolutions is in order. 

My 2011 Not To Do List

I will not continue to hate my body. I've been doing it since I was in the fifth grade and the family doctor asked me if I was going  out for the football team.  I've done a lot of damage to my body since then by going on unhealthy diets...gaining and losing weight over and over. I've crammed my body full of junk food and neglected to take care of it. And have landed again at 30 40 50 too many pounds overweight. But, I refuse to go on another diet! Diets are motivated by self loathing and I'm done with that. Instead, I plan to love this body by:

• moving it with regular exercise that makes me feel good(not something I dread doing that makes me feel like I've been trampled by a herd of elephants).
• feeding it healthier foods and water.
• taking in less junk.
• taking time to unwind and de-stress.
• surrounding myself with positive people and a support system via SparkPeople to help me as I learn to love my body once and for all.

I will not put myself down in front of other people or worry about what other people think of me.  Not only am I guilty of calling myself names and putting myself down, but I worry constantly about what other people think about me. Constantly. I think this probably stems from the whole body image thing...never good enough, pretty enough, smart enough, cool enough, blah blah blah.  Of course I realize this way of thinking is ridiculous, which is why:

• Phrases like "I'm so fat" and scores of other lies I've uttered about myself are banished from my vocabulary. Anyone who hears/reads these phrases from me has my permission to give me a smack upside the head.
• I will no longer get bent out of shape when someone calls me "Little Susie Homemaker" or makes a crack because I like to sew, cook, and hang out at home. I've taken offense to it in the past and regarded it as a put-down. I simply refuse to see it that way anymore.
• I am not going to seek approval from everyone I know(and don't know).
• I am proud of who I am, quirks and all.

I will not be the nagging wife.  I'm flawed, y'all.  I admit it, I pick and I nag at my husband sometimes. He'd probably argue that  I do it a lot. I hope not, but I fear that I am hard to live with. So when the situation arises that I want and/or need him to do something around the house, I'll ask. Once. If he doesn't get to it in my time, I'll let it go. I know men and women live in two completely different time zones and I'm going to try to be more attune to that.  If he does something in a way that is different from my way I'll be appreciative instead of pointing out why my way is better...because it is(wink wink, nod nod).

I will not give in to negativity.  God bless them, there are just some people who are unable to be positive. If you gave them a hundred bucks they'd say "Dang. Now I have to get out my wallet to put this away." I have to be honest with myself here and admit that I tend to sway to the negative side. Which means I am easily influenced and brought down by these Negative Nellies. It's gonna be hard but I'm going to try to deflect that negativity as often as I can. While I can't avoid all the negative that comes my way, I can make a conscious effort to surround myself with more positives.

I will not spend money frivolously. Unless it involves fabric or books.

I will not be bored.  There is absolutely no excuse for me to be bored. I'm OK with lazy every once in a while, because a day of  wearing pajamas, stretching out on the couch and reading or watching TV is relaxing. Boredom, on the other hand, is ridiculous and uncalled for. There's alway something to do...even if it is to simply meditate on how incredibly blessed I am. There are so many things I want to do creatively in the coming year that I refuse to let boredom ever rear it's ugly head. 

I will not forget to be thankful. I serve a wonderful God. A God who has blessed me with the most incredible family a girl could ask for and the most undeserved gifts of everlasting Love and Grace. I have so much and have done so little to deserve any of it. I am thankful for this past year(and all the years of my life) for the overflowing of love from my family and friends, for health, for a home, for all the things I take for granted on a daily basis.

Free Fabric Giveaway

Hoping that you had a wonderful Christmas filled with family and fun! I certainly did!

I'll get back to regular blogging soon but today has been dubbed Kitchen Cabinet Cleanup Day. I have to have a place to put those new small appliances and the gorgeous polka dot ovenware set I got for Christmas, right?! And I'm really tired of being beat to near death by plastic storage containers that fall from my kitchen cabinets every time I open a door.

Still...I couldn't pass up the opportunity to share this fabulous fabric giveaway that's going on over at Dawn's Quilt Corner. She's generously giving away 7 yards of Robert Kaufman's Cat in the Hat & Celebrate Seuss fabric!

Photo from Dawn's Quilt Corner Giveaway

I just discovered Dawn's blog through a friend, and I'm so glad I did. I love finding others who inspire me. Go check it out & enter the giveaway....and of course if you don't have a need for 7 yards of Dr. Seuss fabric, you can always send it my way!

Now, I'm off to tackle some Tupperware.

A Winner and a Rag Doll

Grey Cat Quilts was the winner of my Merry Mushroom smock. It's on it's way and I hope she will enjoy wearing it!

Thanks so much to all of the 280+ folks who dropped by during the Sew Mama Sew giveaway event!

Not much craftiness(or cookery) going on around here lately. It seems like every day of my Christmas break thus far has been spent running around. But I'm not complaining...I've had the chance to hang out with family and friends and that has been awesome and most excellent!

Last week(about this time), I was cutting and wrapping caramels and sewing like a mad woman trying to finish everything up by the last day of school.  This year at the school where I work, each staff member has been assigned a child to mentor. I wanted to do something for the little girl who is my partner for Christmas, so I decided to make her a rag doll, something near and dear to my heart. I didn't really play with "baby" dolls much as a kid, but I had two handmade rag dolls and a Holly Hobbie doll that I adored.

I have been wanting to try and complete a rag doll since I started this one (using a vintage Polly Pal pattern) a couple years ago.

Sadly, she's been tossed into the closet, naked and bald for far too long because I didn't think I could tackle the clothes or hair with any degree of success.

I knew finishing Polly Pal wasn't an option, so this time around I followed the instructions in Wee Wonderfuls and made this little doll called Patchwork Penny. She was surprisingly easy to make!

I am happy with the way she turned out for my first completed attempt and I think my little friend liked her as well. After she opened her and asked if I made it, she said "She's pretty" and "I like her boots". Sweet!

Now that I've had some success, I think I may return to Polly Pal before too long!

Giveaway! Merry Mushrooms Apron

Welcome to those of you who have cruised in from the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day!

I hope you'll take a minute to check out my blog.  I frequently rattle on about sewing, quilting, cooking, my love of aprons, my inept attempts at domesticity, affinity for all thing vintage, and Harry Connick Jr.

But enough about me,  I know why you're really here....

Giveaway Day!

I would love for you to have this fun, funky, retro smock style apron made from Windham's Merry Mushroom line! While I adore a flouncy, girly apon, I love a good smock apron too. They're great for doing household chores and allow you to get down and dirty without a lot of flounce and froof to get in the way!

All you need to do is leave a comment on this post to be eligible to win!  Please leave your email address or make sure that you have an email addy attached to your profile so I can contact you if you win. That's it! Easy-Cheesy, right?

If you would like extra entries you can:

• become a follower of my blog(let me know via a comment).

AND/OR

• visit my etsy shop, come back here and tell me which of the six or so aprons currently listed is your favorite.  www.laughingotter.etsy.com

Giveaway will run through December 17th.

Thanks for stopping by!  That's it for me---I'm off to try and snag some goodies myself!

Coming Soon! A Giveaway!

Sew Mama Sew is hosing Giveaway Day beginning on Monday. I missed out on the last Giveaway Day, but I'm excited that I'll be able to get in on it this time around. I have yet to decide exactly what to make(or pull).

Come back Monday to find out what handcrafted item I will be giving away! 

A Process Post (BBP mini quilt)

This little quilt has been mocking me from my design wall since I hung it there last week. I started on it a while back and stopped. I got frustrated after spending what seemed like hours trying to freehand with fabric something that might pass for an angry pig. And as frustrating as it was, now that time has passed, I really like the way he turned out. Especially his angry eyes. 

Tired of the mockery,  I decided to get back to it and have been sewing scraps together in a somewhat wonky fashion for the border. Almost finished....

My thoughts right now:

• I love the letters. Love. love. love. them! 
• Not entirely happy with where I placed the pig, but I ran out of the black fabric and had to make do.
• All those border colors might need some containing w/an outer border or black binding at the least. 
• It might not need a border at all.
• Did I mention I love the letters?

This is the third quilt that I've made that I'd consider arty but others might consider modern(the other two are pictured in this post). I haven't  followed any design and just went with the process. I love doing it this way and am beginning to lose the "it must be perfect" attitude---which feels nice.

I'm hoping to have this guy done this week. 

Interested in taking The Process Pledge yourself? Go here.