RICE FOR BREAKFAST INSTEAD OF OATMEAL

A few years ago I was reading about Healthy Eating in a magazine, there was an article about eating different foods for breakfast. One recipe that caught my attention was brown rice, with apple sauce and raisins or craisins. I tried it and I like it. I've also used "unsweetened apple sauce" and it still had a nice flavor because of the craisins.  I've used raisins instead of craisins too.  If I run out of oatmeal, I'll eat this. You eat it warm like oatmeal. I try to keep all of these ingredients on hand, it's quick and easy.

MY GARDEN

Every year I look forward to planting my garden and I try to plant at least one vegetable that I didn't plant the year before.  This year, the new veggie was a "sweet purple pepper", that's right a "purple pepper".  I did not go looking for it, it found me. As I was pursuing the nursery, I came across this lone purple pepper plant, so I decided to give it a home. 

I love eating fresh veggies and herbs especially when they come from my garden. It's nice to walk out onto my deck and pick something from my garden, take it back into the house and cook it. 

I'm going to do some research to see what I can plant during the fall/winter months.

When the purple pepper finally harvested and I could cut it off the plant, I couldn't wait to taste it.  

To my surprise it was "green" on the inside and I noticed the outside was beginning to turn green as well.  The sweet purple pepper taste like a green pepper with a little tartness to it.  It was nice and firm, I love firm peppers.

I love my harvest.

REMOVING LABEL FROM AFRICAN PRINT FABRIC

For those of you that are struggling with removing the label from your African fabric, wet a paper towel, or wash cloth or hand towel, put it over the label.

Use a steam iron

The label will peel right off. 

If you still have residue left, use a wash cloth or hand towel, NOT a paper towel because the paper towel will stick to the residue, then you will have a harder time getting all of the paper off, repeat the process. 

 I used the end of my seam gauge to remove the residue.

SCUBA KNIT PENCIL SKIRT

For a long time I didn't jump on the pencil skirt wagon, I always thought they were meant for smaller/slimmer bodies because of the close fit.

I decided to give the pencil a try when I started seeing the skirts being worn by larger size women and they looked beautiful.   Since I make my own clothes, if I made it and I didn't like it, I could easily move on to another style skirt.  Well, to my surprise the first 2 pencil skirts I made I feel in love with them.  One fit a little more snug than what I preferred, I was told that's how they are supposed to fit, LOL!!!  

PATTERN:
No pattern was used for this skirt, I traced a RTW pencil skirt that was in my closet.

FABRIC:
Scuba knit that was in my stash.

This is my third one, my first pencil skirt was made by tracing a Ready-to-wear (RTW) pencil skirt that was in closet, now I trace one of the skirts I've already made.  I think I will make one more and that will be it for me.  I don't like to see the same garment in different colors or fabrics in my closet, I like variety.

STEPPING OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE

Today I tried something new, (well, it's new for ME), I wore a peplum top I made with my leggins.  I know you all are wondering why is this new, it's new to ME because I ALWAYS wear a long tunic top with my leggins. I never felt comfortable wearing a shorter top.  I think the shorter tops with leggins look nice on other women but I would never wear them.

Some of my friends have told me I should stop wearing long tunic tops with my leggins because I'm short, they said the long tunic tops make me look stumpy and I'm also hiding my body.  

I had a sewing club meeting today so I decided to wear the peplum top with my leggins.  Boy-oh-boy was this a challenge for me.  As the day went on I started feeling a little more comfortable wearing the a shorter top.

The peplum top is Vogue 8815; I added 1 inch to the bodice of the pattern because it was short and I didn't want it to keep rising on my stomach.

The leggins were made from copying a pair of my workout leggins. I have made 3 pairs of leggins thus far.

FOODIE - Cornish Hen

Hello Everyone,

I love to cook just as much as I love to sew.

When I cook on Sundays, I cook enough food to the last the entire week, although I like cooking, I don't want to cook EVERYDAY.

I prepare a meal prep for the week, Saturday is a free day (no cooking), I normally eat out on Fridays and Saturdays.

This week, I made Cornish Hens, I used fresh herbs from my garden (yes, I also grow a garden).  I used basil, rosemary, oregano and thyme.  I love using herbs and veggies from my garden.

I washed and dried the herbs, then I used my chopper (Pampered Chef Chopper) to chop the herbs to make a rub.

I mixed the seasonings Adobe, lemon pepper and olive oil with the chopped herbs to make a paste.

I pat dried the Cornish Hens, and I lift the skin on the Cornish Hen to rub the herbs paste directly on the meat.  I placed two small celery pieces inside.

I baked the Cornish Hen on 350 degrees for 1 hour.

The local grocery store had all peppers (green, red, yellow and orange) on sale for $1.00/each.  Since my peppers are not ready to be picked yet, I bought 2 of each and sliced them and put them in the freezer for later use.

I steamed broccoli and added the frozen sliced peppers to the broccoli along with adobe and lemon pepper seasoning.

I made Sun Tea by sitting a class jar of water with 4 tea bags in the sun on a table on my deck.

This was my Sunday dinner along with Sun Tea

GRAFFITI MAXI DRESS

Hello Everyone,

When I go shopping with my clients, I focus on helping them pick their pattern and fabric, if I see some fabric I like, I make a "note" of it in my pad and I keep my focus on my client's project.  Well, when I saw this beautiful graffiti fabric, I feel in love with it and I knew I had to have it. This fabric feels absolutely wonderful, it's a knit fabric.

I kept my focus on my client "that day".  Two days later I went back to the fabric store to purchase this beautiful fabric. During my drive to the fabric store, I prayed they still had it, and they did.  I purchased the fabric from Vina's Fabric and Bridal in Langley Park, Md.

I knew I was going to make McCalls 6559, View D, I had to make a dress that was going to totally capture the beauty of this fabric.
  
The fabric is thin, so I made an underlining with tricot fabric, I don't like for people to see thru my clothes (I still wear a slip, I'm "ole skool").  

The lining gave the dress a very nice weight and it feels very soft against my body.

I'm using my new fabric care labels in my clothes now.

The first day I wore this dress was to see the "Born For This: The BeBe Winan Story".  After the play, I was standing outside the Arena waiting for the Valet to bring me my car, a young lady commented on my dress, I told her I made it the day before, all of sudden I was having a conversation about my dress with about 10 women who wanted my business card and what to feel the dress.  I was asked a lot of questions about my sewing skills.  

One lady said "it only took one person to say something, now you are passing out your business cards."