"I like fluffy !"

Current Mood : Wondering...

Finally, the chicken legs defrosted ! Just in time for dinner. It’s been years since I made Bisquick oven-fried chicken, but it was so good – even with store-brand baking mix, and  Dearest Son liked them so much, he asked for them on Christmas Day. We’re hoping for a spiral-sliced ham, but I can make sure to have a pack of legs thawed out for Dec. 24^th !

Ironically, now that I’m getting more confident in ‘real cooking’, expanded somewhat from my usual ‘real heating up’ skills, we’ve decided to get a microwave for Christmas. While we’re not reverting to buying boxes of single-serve dinners, it’d be nice to have, to melt butter, heat soup without dirtying pots, and keep stuff warm. I’ve always made mine do double duty as a breadbox. Tiny kitchens bring out the creative solutions in me !

While I sometimes get to sew in the middle of the day, I really like sewing when I’m all alone, and the place is quiet and still. It just makes it easier to concentrate, although by now, I’m so used to sewing in brief bits, having a long stretch of it’s a real luxury ! I realized during Boyfiends Week that I’ve been timing m’self, trying to figure out how to cut the time I spend on each piece. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s a holdover from when I planned on selling things – I still hope to sell someday, but now, it’s more important that anything I make is sewn well, not sewn fast. And it’s funny, but each piece not only got a little better, but was more fun. I didn’t realize I was rushing until I stopped. How silly ! I hate it when I find crap sewing on commercial purchases, why should I do less than my best when I sew ?

I’d planned on making Cleo a slim skirt to go with her jacket, but ended up sewing a fluffy yoke skirt. You’d figure a mummy would appreciate a snug fit, but everyone likes a change every so often. And I’m sure a pencil-style skirt sewn from the same fabric would look great on anybody, so I’ll sew that tomorrow. I’d toyed with making pants out of it, but just can’t imagine that they’d look very good. And if I have any time, I can make a simple white blouse to go with it. I don’t have many of those for the ghouls.

One good thing about having a scrap fabric box – when it’s time to iron, ya don’t have to hunt for a press cloth ! Learned the hard way to use one when I scorched Cleo’s jacket sleeve the other day. Ironing as ya go is kind of a pain, but the finished item always looks better, and pressed hems are much easier to sew. No pins necessary !

Hard to believe Saturday’s December. Seems like just a few hours ago, I was whining that I was surprised it was November already !