* Lazylol *

Swap Love

I am really bad at getting in here to blog lately.  Same old story...too much work not enough 'me' time. I've been tagged too by Wendy, which I am excited about but I need to find time to do it.

The postman brought me two swap packages this week, from Flibbertygibbet's January strip swap.  I am delighted with them!

This one from sarah

what a lovely parcel!  lots of gorgeous goodies including 3 wonderful fabric strips, G&B's CHOCOLATE (yum) a lovely little bookmark which I am using now, a card and postcard - thanks sarah!

and this one from Amy

These lovely red strips where in the second parcel along with some matching thread and a red thimble, all wrapped in  delightful red heart tissue paper - thank you Amy. I adore it! (how did you know a thimble was just what I needed? ;) )

Oh, which to use first and what to make?? decisions decisions.....

Thank you so much to Flibbertygibbet for organising this swap - I loved it!  Are we having another soon?

The school where I work and my sons go had it's roof blown off during the freak storms last week.  It was very scarey!

I found a clip on the local news about it

Roast Chicken in Balsamic Dressing

I decided to make this for supper tonight, I have made it time and time again, but not recently.  I highly recommend this recipe.  It's simple and delicious.  Great for entertaining too, you can easily increase/decrease the portions.  I serve it with baked potatoes and green beans.

(sorry, no picture, I couldn't get one that looked right - I think food is so difficult to photograph)

Chicken in Balsamic Dressing

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 (4-pound) whole chicken, cut into pieces (I use thigh and drumstick portions)
1/2 cup low-salt chicken broth (I use oxo)

Whisk the vinegar, mustard, lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper in small bowl to blend. Combine the vinaigrette and chicken pieces in a large resealable plastic bag; seal the bag and toss to coat. Refrigerate, turning the chicken pieces occasionally, for at least 2 hours and up to 1 day.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Remove chicken from the bag and arrange the chicken pieces on a large greased baking dish. Roast until the chicken is just cooked through, about 1 hour. If your chicken browns too quickly, cover it with foil for the remaining cooking time. Transfer the chicken to a serving platter. Place the baking dish on a burner over medium-low heat. Whisk the chicken broth into the pan drippings, scraping up any browned bits on the bottom of the baking sheet with a wooden spoon and mixing them into the broth and pan drippings. Drizzle the pan drippings over the chicken. Serve.

Weekend Wishing........

Phew, what a busy week I've had.  I haven't had time to sew or blog.  I hate that!  Nonnie is also having the same problem. (Check out her gorgeous blog) Working full time, keeping the home in order, feeding everyone and doing laundry etc doesn't leave much blogging or sewing time.  I am seriously going to have to set aside an evening during the week just for me to get something done.  The only sewing I ever seem to do is during the school holidays when I am off work.  It still doesn't stop me planning and buying fabric though! I wish I had more time.

My tumble dryer is not working - just what you need when you have a mountain sized pile of washing and no other way of drying it!

I did manage to make my monthly trip to the fabric store.  I was quite good and didn't go overboard for once! They actually had a really good selection of fabrics.  Sometimes I go and there is nothing new or interesting, but this week was a good week.  I only bought three pieces though.

I bought these fabrics

Top Fabric - Red Gingham.  Gingham is my all time favourite fabric.  I want to use it all the time and in every project I do.  I have been using a lot of red recently so I thought I better re-stock. It is only £2.20 a yard and is fairly good quality so I was happy with that.

Middle fabric - jersey t-shirt type fabric.  £3.99 a yard.  I got 3 yards to stash.  Pjs maybe?, who knows what this will end up being used for.

Bottom fabric - Brown tweedy stuff £3.99 - new skirt for the office.

and these patterns

from the New Look new 2007 catalogue.  I can start planning my summer sewing soon.

After a lovely Sunday Lunch at my mum's, I did actually manage to squeeze a little bit of sewing in.  Here is a preview, more about this later in the week (she said hopefully).

Say hello to my little bunny

Presenting my first ever stuffie - Funnybunny.

I made this little fella this morning after tidying and re-organising my sewing area (the kitchen table).  I was in the middle of doing laundry but I decided to abandon it and be creative instead. Well I tried (blush) but the thing is I really enjoyed making him.  I had forgotten how i love blanket stitch.  I want to do more of it.  I am determined to have some fun with my projects this year, not to over think them and just get stuck in.  It's ok to be a bit daft.  Who cares if my family think I've lost the plot. I got the idea for him a while back from Mollychicken's Anna Panda and Noodles and Doodle's Wonkybunny.  I made him out of scraps from my scrapbag too which makes it even better!

I looked out of the window and down the street and realised that it is all back to normal now, not a christmas light in sight.  I am sad. I love Christmas but hey, roll on the next one.  Maybe I will even begin planning it earlier this year. Maybe we should have a mid year christmas swap/sewalong!

We have had a birthday in the lazylol house today.  A 16th Birthday.  Happy Birthday Greg.

Someone was a little too protective of the cake (maybe trying to keep in all to himself).  Greedy funnybunny.  Bad funnybunny.

OMG the cake looks really bad in the picture, doesn't it.  It looks black and wonky.  It wasn't black but it was wonky (blush).  Delicious and birthday-like but wonky.

January Strip

Hello to everyone who is taking part in Flibbertygibbet's January strip.  What a great idea.  I am only just beginning to learn to quilt and am desperate to build a quilting stash.  This is the perfect excuse to buy some lovely fabrics to swap and also receive others.  I have been browsing fabrics all day and as soon as I know who my partners are, I will be buying!

Auction

Don't forget that the Kim Family Auction starts today!  There are some fantastic lots up for sale and it is such a good cause. (BTW - by 'today' I mean the 3rd Jan which it is already here in England!)

Chickens & Resolutions

I wonder how Carolyn's chickens are doing?

I spent the day taking down all the Christmas decorations and gave the house a really good clean today.  I am sad it is all over for another year but in another way it is nice to be tidy again.

I haven’t really make any proper resolutions this year, but I have just thought I will try to

• Eat well
• Take more exercise
• Do more crafting/sewing
• De-clutter, mainly by selling things we no longer need on ebay (and I will have more money for fabric!)

One New Year’s Resolution I didn’t need to make this year was my ‘be more organised’ one.  I made that last year and for countless years before but somehow, without actually noticing, I have become more organised this year!  I think the change came about when I stopped working part-time two years ago and switched to fulltime work.  I suppose you think that the opposite should have happened but no, I am more organised than ever.  I can’t take all the credit though, J has helped so much more around the house than ever, making things a lot easier for me!  Another thing that has helped me out tremendously is that I have stopped doing things I don’t want to go.  Like going out socialising when I don’t really want to.  I am getting older and much prefer to be at home, blogging and crafting than being out on the town, wishing myself back home.  I’ve spent too many nights in the pub looking at my watch and wishing in was time to leave that I suddenly thought, why am I doing this?  I am just trying to keep everyone happy and really this is the last place I want to be.  So I stopped doing it and haven’t missed it one bit.  Now I enjoy the occasional night out, when I feel like it and not when I feel I should!  I feel free! Hurrah!