Cooking day and Quilting day

Last week Monday, we had no school due to conferences, so I arranged to have all the girl scouts (minus one) come over for a cooking day.  Based on the "new" girl scout badge requirements, we made a healthy breakfast, a healthy lunch, and a dessert.  Cammie and Jessica squeezed their own oranges for juice!  I was the "expert" that gave them lots of helpful hints.  I wouldn't consider myself an expert in the kitchen, but I do cook almost every day, so I guess I have enough experience to qualify.  

Breakfast was fresh fruit, eggs, and toast.  Two girls worked together to make omelettes using pre-cooked bacon bits and cheese.  I had to help with the folding and flipping, but otherwise, the girls did a great job.  The cooking part went really well, except for one major thing--the clean up.  Cammie was the only one who did a good job washing up dishes--the rest of them, it seemed like they'd never picked up a sponge before.  We'll have to give them some homework assignments--learn how to hand wash dishes!!

I was also amazed how many of the girls had virtually no cooking experience--they'd never cracked an egg, never worked with a stove, and didn't know their way around a kitchen.  I guess that says a lot about today's society and eating habits.  In many places around the world, these girls would not only be cooking full meals, but they'd also be sewing their own clothes and caring for younger siblings.  Or maybe working in factories in hazardous conditions for 2 cents an hour.  

They made their own pizzas for lunch, and then made their own cakes (the 1972 edition of Girl Scouts Handbook recommend cooking from an instant mix--they still had to crack eggs and measure water and oil for the mix).  They had to frost them at home since they were still too warm when it was time to go home.  Hmmm...nice picture with Ben's medical basket featured in the center...lovely.

Before Thanksgiving, I had gotten several quilts from Tara.  I thought it would be perfect to get a couple of them done before we went up for the holiday, particularly two which are going to be finished up for Christmas gifts.  For the biggest little Packer fan...

And the little sister...

Then we went to Tara's for Thanksgiving.  Emma and Hollie had a great time playing games and entertaining each other.  Unfortunately, I hadn't yet figured out how to use the camera, so the picture was dark--the flash wouldn't go off and I couldn't figure out how to change the settings.  I got it now....

Then Tara handed me a quilt to finish up for her friend that she's known since Kindergarten.  Linda is the weirdest person I know, and she was diagnosed several years ago with a brain tumor.  She's undergone treatment over the years and the tumor shrank and grew and shrank and grew...now she's very ill.  Tara suggested that we make her a comfort quilt.  Since she LOVES cats--creatures she calls "heat-seeking prinks" (whatever that means) or "twibbin kerbers" (no idea)--she needed to have cats on them.  She has three cats--Fat Stuff, Twibby, and Clover (although she calls her something else).  We tossed around a few ideas (see previous post), but Tara was really struck with this design, so she made the top in just a few days, handed it to me at Thanksgiving, and I brought it home and quilted it yesterday.  

I bound it this afternoon by machine.  I used 2 1/2" strips, folded in half, and sewn to the back.  I folded it to the front and tacked it down with a hem stitch.  I would have rather had done it with a blanket stitch, but my machine doesn't have one.  

I finished the card weaving project I started last week.  It went pretty fast, and I tied the ends off in a different way than I have done before.  I much prefer this to the other ways I had been doing it; this is cleaner, fun, and more like fringe.  I don't know what I'll be doing with this one, but I may turn it into a belt or a strap for a satchel.  I have a new piece on the loom in red, black and white, but I'm not thrilled about the way it's coming out.  It'll be serviceable, and I may just donate it to Kingdom or for a prize for a tourney or something.

Stay warm and well, my friends!