West Coast Crafty

Happy (and lucky) New Year!

Happy 2008! I hope your New Year has been fabulous so far. Mine has involved a nice long walk, a holiday milkshake from Burgerville (Andrew and I used a 2-for-1 coupon in the Chinook Book, if you want to jump on that too) and a big pot of black-eyed peas for luck. Maybe you can take the girl out of the South, but you sure can’t take the South out of the girl — I wouldn’t think of missing them on New Year’s Day and I’m making collard greens to go along with them too.

I’ve heard that each black-eyed pea you eat on New Year’s Day is 1) an extra-lucky day in the upcoming year, 2) an extra dollar in the New Year, or 3) just general good luck all the way around. So regardless of your preferred superstition, I figure it’s well worth eating a bunch today. If you want to make some too, here is the way I like to cook them:

New Year’s Day Black-Eyed Peas

Soak a pound of dried black-eyed peas — I put them in a saucepan, cover them with water, and let them boil for five minutes, then take them off the heat, cover them tightly and let them sit for 2 hours. Drain and rinse them well and then cover them with about an inch of water again. Add one chopped onion and bring everything to a boil for 15 minutes, then simmer them for about an hour to an hour and a half, tasting them for done-ness along the way.

Now, when they’re just about done, is when you add the extras: salt, pepper, and olive oil to taste, and two cans of stewed tomatoes. Let them cook for another ten minutes and serve with greens and rice. Then get ready for your extra luck to kick in this year!

Speaking of the new year, inspired by Linda’s beautiful photo collage, I just put together a mosaic of my favorite things I made in 2007:

Last year I crafted my first two quilts (that was exciting — I was nervous about the first one especially), two sets of curtains, a jewelry box, lots of fund-raiser earrings, a monkey costume, some Gocco projects, a handful of refashions, and some baby presents. This mix doesn’t have much of my jewelry, or any of my Bead Simple projects, but you can see plenty of those in March when the book is out in the world. I can hardly believe that it’s so soon… yay!

After a grueling few days, we are happily moved into our new house, and I’m still trying to catch my breath a little bit… but we have unpacked three rooms (and counting!). Resurrecting my craft room is first thing on my list tomorrow, since it currently looks like this:

I’ll post after photos soon, I can’t wait to have it all set up. Andrew and I decided to make that beautiful wood room upstairs a guest bedroom instead of the craft room — I think things will work better that way. This room is longer, so two Expedit bookshelves fit into it side by side… luxury! Especially nice when you have as much fabric and jewelry supplies as I do.

Happy new year, and I’m wishing you a lucky, crafty 2008!