First Crafting Day Of The Year

Happy New Year!

My sister is in town visiting and so my mother, sister, and I decided to ring the New Year in with a little New Year crafting. We had a lot of fun! We started out with lunch. We had curry chicken salad sandwiches and fruit salad. It was yum-o (I have been watching Rachel Ray on the Food Network, so I had to throw that in).

The chicken salad is super easy to make. Here is the recipe:

About 3-4 chicken boobs grilled, chopped well (you can bake them or cook them in a skillet)
1 1/2 cups of fat free yogurt
1/2 small red onion, chopped
2 tablespoons curry powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
pepper, to taste
chopped walnuts, as much as you desire
dried cranberries, as much as you desire

Mix together all the ingredients and serve on whole wheat bread! Yum-O!

After lunch we spread out our sewing machines and surgers began Sewing Bee 2009! My mother mastered tote bag making and threading the surger. We had a near disaster with the surger when one of the needles decided to fall out of the machine but, we recovered! My sister worked on my Christmas gift, a lap quilt! It s coming together so well, I can't wait to use it and I worked on throw pillows for guest bedroom.

My sister and I went to the Cabbage Rose this morning where I picked up a bit of Michael Miller fabric to make my pillows. Oh, I also picked up a speeding ticket on the way there. I guess I was just too excited about going to get new fabric. I really don't think the officer would have understood my obsession and excitement over fabric. So, I resisted the urge to explain my speeding to him and took the ticket like a champ. I also wanted to mention to him that I have not had a speeding ticket in 11 years but I don't think that would have made any difference either. Maybe I should have taken my sister's suggestion and offered to sew him a cover for his motorcycle seat....but I am sure that would not have helped either. Geez, I even thanked him after he handed me the ticket and afterward found myself wondering why I just thanked the officer for giving me a ticket? I was bummed but was not going to let going "45 in a 30" keep me from having a bad day and for some reason it made leaving the Cabbage Rose with brown bag full of freshly cut fabric even sweeter.

Anywho, during my pillow making, my sister suggested that I add some yoyos and fabric covered buttons to my pillow. She had a great idea because so far, it is turning out very cute! I love making yoyos and buttons. Too fun! Every sewer must have a yoyo and button maker.

During our sewing bee my sister made a frozen coffee drink which was very yum-o (yeah, I had to do it again). My mom thought we should name the drink something that went along with our theme for the day. So, we decided to pay homage to Anna Maria and named the drink Frozen Chocolate Lollipop, after her line of fabric. Oh, have I mentioned before that I love her? :-). My sister and brother in law gave me her Seams to Me book. It is fabulous!

I am still working on my pillows but should be done this evening. Stay tuned for pictures of the final product!!

Cheers!