Improvisational Curry

When I'm extra hungry, I always come up with the best recipes. I had a hankering for some curry in a bad way, so I cooked up a little piece of heaven this afternoon.

This is what you will need:

1.5 lbs or so of boneless, skinless chicken thighs
4 medium sweet potatoes (CUT INTO 1 INCH CUBES)
1 medium red onion (DICED)
2 14 oz cans of chickpeas
1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes
5 cups of chicken broth
Curry powder
Turmeric powder
Garlic powder
Cilantro

First, heat up some vegetable oil in a HUGE skillet on Medium/High heat. Take some boneless skinless chicken thighs and season them with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Cook until browned on all sides.

Start working on the broth while the chicken is doing it's thing. I make my broth with Knorr Chicken Bullion powder, but you can also use the boxed kind. Whatever you decide to do, just get 5 cups of it into a pot and heat it up.

Once the broth is nice and hot, add 4 tbsp of curry powder and 1 tbsp of turmeric. Stir to mix well and set aside. 

By now, the chicken is looking nice and crispy on the outside. Remove from the heat and cut the chicken up into bite sized pieces. Set aside for now.

Next, cook up your diced red onion in the drippings and oil until they are almost clear.

Then, you'll want to add the sweet potatoes, chickpeas, tomatoes, broth and chicken into the pan and bring to a boil.

Once it comes to a boil, reduce the heat to med-low. Just cook until the potatoes are fork tender.

I top it with a TON of Cilantro once it's done cooking. Serve with rice. DELISH!

Cigarettes are bad, MMMKAY?!

Cigarettes have long been one of the greatest loves of my life. I've smoked consistently since I was about 15 years old and only been able to quit for VERY short stints. The longest time that I went without was while pregnant with Jack and a year after he was born. 2 years without tobacco seemed easy. Then one day, the stress got to me. I broke down. Again...

I hate the control that smoking has had over me for all of my adult life.

So, I quit 3 days ago. I found out that I'm going to have another baby, so obviously I have to. I also made a promise to myself that this would be the last time that I did this little dance with my beloved Camel Lights. No more games. I have to just cut the cord and send them on their way... for good!

Now, I'm chewing gum like a maniac.

Crying randomly... which could possibly be hormone induced and not caused by lack of smoke inhalation. We'll go with Nicotine Withdrawal for the purpose of this rant.

 (God, I'm pathetic.)

And what is the thing doing the best job keeping me sane, you ask? Why, SEWING of course!

Gotta keep the hands and the mind busy to really kick a habit. Thank you hexagons! How, I love thee...

 (Obviously making these guys for a Christmas project.)

I think I'm gonna make it this time. It's always soooo hard to quit. It seems even harder this time around than ever before. I don't want to go through this again.

HAIKU TIME:

I really loved you.

But, you didn't love me back.

You made my breath stink.

Goodbye, my love. Goodbye.

I can't WAIT!

I made this a week or so ago on a whim. It's the beginning of a wicked awesome quilt if you ask me.

I will first have to get through my mountain of a "To Do" list this month, but once I do... IT'S ON!!

For now, she will have to reside on my inspiration board. Collecting dust. :(

Donuts = Happiness

"Donuts. Is there anything they can't do?"
~Matt Groening

I hate sitting and doing NOTHING. It makes for a very unhappy Erin. 


So, when I find myself with idle hands... I break out some fabric and thread! Nothing like a little hand sewn goodness to pass the time away. 


I found myself bored and with nothing to do one day and decided to make a felt donut for a friend of mine. He's dieting, so I thought it would be funny to torture him a bit with a donut that he couldn't eat. I know, I'm evil. *mwahahahaha*


I ended up making it so he could hang it from his rear view mirror... even funnier!


BEHOLD... DONUT!!!

I even added extra sprinkles. Unlike the real deal, this one is fat free!

Bestest Friends FOREVER!!

"A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked."
~ Bernard Meltzer

I love my best friend, Katie. She's been my partner in crime for over 13 years now, and I'm pretty sure we'll end up being little old ladies hanging out somewhere bitching about young whipper snappers and their shenanigans. And, yes... I will be the one wearing the Hawaiian print "moo-moo". 

She just moved back to where we went to high school, which is about an hour and a half away... Needless to say, I have a MAJOR case of the "sads".

I'm happy that she has started a new job and a new chapter in her life and I wanted to help her make her new house a home.

I made her some dishtowels. (Mind you, she doesn't use them. She apparently just dotes on them and yells at her boyfriend when he dries his hands on them.) *heehee*

  

 

It feels good to give to those that you truly love. I appreciate you, Katie!

Now, everyone go out and do something nice for the people that you call friends!

Color Inspiration, Courtesy of Alaska

We went to Alaska to hang out with the fam this summer. Lot's of good food, beer, laughs and GREAT memories. 14 days just wasn't enough, and we left with an urge to pack up all of our stuff, sell the house and make our way back. It was THAT good.

Breathtaking is the only word that can really describe the landscape. The colors are phenomenal. The air is clean.  It's just... totally kick ass!!

Ahhh... how I love poppies. Be still my heart.

I need to have a house built right on this spot.  Can you imagine waking up to THAT every day?!

Boy, howdy! SIGN ME UP!

I can't wait to make something with this pallet. I might just have to make my way to the fabric store today... ANY excuse is a good excuse for that!

Pincushions!!

I went to Goodwill the other day to putz around and found some cool little stoneware containers. I figured they would make the coolest pincushions ever... so I bought ALL of them. About 10 or so.

I'll be giving some to my sewing friends and selling the rest in my Etsy store.

This is the one I made for me...

I love the pumpkin patch!

It's my second favorite time of the year... FALL is here!

Awww, yeah! Breaking out the hoodies!

We decided to take our offspring to the pumpkin patch last Saturday and had a blast :). The little man was a handful to say the least. It was the PERFECT afternoon to let him run around like a maniac and burn off all of that energy.

Yes... he really IS trying to pick up a pumpkin almost as big as him. Needless to say, there was lots of grunting and gasps for air. But, if he is anything... he is a muscle man. He picked it up and promptly threw it down to break it.

Needless to say, we ran the other way. Shameful, I know.

This cow is trying to EAT a little pumpkin... Did you know that cows even LIKED pumpkin. Maybe he's just a freak of a cow, I dunno. It was weird.

Jack, The Chicken Whisperer.

 Me. Being happy and loving the outdoors, albeit a little bit grungy looking with my bandanna on.

Jack likes to climb things. Totally fearless. I was freaking out the whole time...

Can you say "overprotective"?

There were lots of pretty colors to inspire me. I especially loved this planter...

All in all, a GREAT day. Got some pumpkins. Had some family bonding time. Definitely left with an urge to create something as beautiful as the nature that inspired me.

And then I fell asleep on the couch. So much for that.

My "To Do" list for October

I've decided that I need to have a checklist this month. I'm mostly doing it because my procrastination has reached ridiculous levels. I can't take the insanity anymore. Structure is a good thing... especially if you have to balance sewing, work and a two year old little boy. Oh, and there's a husband, housework... you get the point. I'm a busy lady!

I have three quilts that I MUST finish. No exceptions, dangit!

First off is a quilt that was commissioned from me. I'm having a hard time with it because it's not my style. I tend to go for the funkier prints, and this one is quite neutral. I think I'm going to bind it with teal fabric to match the flowers... That has me kind of excited about the end product. This one has a deadline, so I can't slack off on it.

The next one is inspired by Amanda Jean over at Crazy Mom Quilts. Her blog is a BIG inspiration for me. In fact, she's pretty much taught me how to quilt and she doesn't even know it!

I used her ragged squares quilt tutorial as a guide to make my Jack Jack a "QUICK" blankie for school. I used some vintage sheets and some modern scraps I had left over to funk it up a little bit. I just have the quilting and binding left to do on this one. (Note that nothing is sewn together in this shot. I just liked the colors in the picture. I swear that it looks more put together now!)

The last one is my FAVE! It's an improvisational quilt that I pieced together using scraps. The solid blue fabric is the only expense that I had and I got 5 yards of it on sale. When I say "SALE", I mean super duper cheap. I think I spent $10. Woo-Hoo!
The quilt top is the ONLY part that I have completed. This will consume most of my month, but I'm cannot wait to have it finished. 

So... That's all I have to do?! (Dripping with sarcasm)

Not too bad. It's good to have goals. People like me NEED goals. Otherwise, I would have a million projects going on at once.

Oh, wait.... I do have a million projects going on at once. Oh, well. This will get rid of three of them at least!
Oh, man... Wish me luck :)

Awww, Hoot....

A few months back, I went to a rummage sale at one of the local churches here. Mostly a bunch of stuff I don't need, but I came across an enormous bag of fleece scraps that I couldn't pass up. When I say enormous, I mean like 20 lbs of fleece or something crazy like that. Freaking AWESOME! I paid 50 cents for it... I know, I robbed the church blind.

I had no idea what I was going to do with it at the time, but I knew I would find the use for it... I'm crafty like that!  Well, my dear friend just welcomed a little bundle of joy to the world recently. I decided to make him a soft little something for his new baby girl. Enter, HOOT!

Now, I normally don't like synthetic fabric... but this fleece is sooo soft. Plus, it's pretty darn durable.
I hand stitched him together and did some embroidery to give him a little bit of character.

Look at that cute little face!

Here he is sunning himself by the window.

Complete with a butt tattoo. Not only is he cute, but he's a little bit tough too.

Sewing my day away

I woke up late today and had some breakfast with my sweet little baby boy. I almost kept him home today, but a girl's gotta get some crafting in somehow.

Came home and I made my sister-in-law a scarf! I absolutely LOVE it... in fact, I'm considering keeping it for myself. That is something that always seems to happen to me. I'm kind of a selfish bitch. ANYHOO... here she is in all her glory. Lovely, no?