I guess I haven't told you that we've been making soup all winter long. Every week, Beeper asks what the new soup will be--eagerly looking forward to it even when it is something like tomato basil that he will taste but never really eat. The point is, its been a different variety every week--lentil, corn chowder, butternut squash and wild rice...so of course, I wanted to make a soup I knew Beeper would love for our final winter soup--just because he has been such a swell soup sport all season. So, chicken noodle, of course. But with homemade noodles--like my mama always made.
Of course, I have never made homemade noodles, but on a day when winter is making its last stand--well, why not? And, I have to admit, I was shocked by how good the results were--first of all, my mom sent me her recipe, but I deicded to make some changes and once I was into measuring out the ingredients, I realized I was short on all purpose flour, so I flippantly substituted whole wheat for about 1/3 of the flour...but once I mixed it all together the dough was far too dry and crumbly and would not really come together to make a dough like it should...so, I added another egg...and then the dough was too gloopy and wet...so I added some more of the whole wheat flour...and after all this noodle-making improv, well, the noodles were still brilliant. Everything you could want a noodle to be--silky and a little chewy both, a little thicker than you ever get from dried, and just the taste of pure wholesomeness. 
So, here is my chicken noodle recipe, more or less (there is always a lot of improv in my soup making and I would encourage you to flex your improv skills as required--this is how the best soups are born):Prepare the soup base and veggies and chicken
- about 8-10 cups of chicken broth (I always make my own--I obsessively save up leftover chicken bones and unused parts and toss these in a baggie in the freezer until the bag is full and then I put it in a big pot of water, and boil it with an onion, celery, thyme, garlic, a few peppercorns, parsley, and a carrot or two for about 2 hours--salt it generously--and lo, behold the superior homemade broth--but you will need to refrigerate it over night and skim the fat from the broth before using the next day)
- 5-6 pieces of chicken (you can cook these before hand by tossing them in your pot while you are making broth--I boil them for about 30 minutes then pull them out, discard the skin, and pull the meat from the bones--and put the bones back into the stock pot)
- a little bunch of parsley, finely chopped (maybe 1/4 cup once chopped)
- 4 sprigs of thyme, leaves removed from stems
- 4 carrots, peeled and diced
- 2 stalks of celery, diced
- 1 medium onion, diced
Bring the broth to a boil (if your chicken is uncooked, toss in whole pieces now--this will enliven store bought broth if that is what you are using--boil for about 30 minutes, then pull out, remove skin, pull meat from bones and set the chicken aside). Add the onion, celery, and carrots--reduce to a simmer.
Meanwhile, get busy making the noodles...
- 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
- 2 eggs + 2 yolks
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon of unsalted butter
- 1/4 tsp of salt
Beat the eggs and yolks lightly, then make a well in the center of the flour and dump the eggs in there and mix it all together lightly with a fork (try not to over mix or you will get the gluten all excited and the dough will be a bitch to roll out--although this is one way to get a good upper body workout). 
If your dough consistency seems wrong, just do as I did and improvise with the eggs and flour until it seems like a nice soft and reasonably moist dough. Divide the dough into 4 portions. Now, flour your counter top and your rolling pin well--don't skimp here and do not fear redusting with flour as needed--and roll out your first ball of dough until it is about as thin as you can roll it out. If the dough seems to be fighting you and recoiling from the pin a lot, give it a rest for a minute or two and let that gluten chill out--then resume rolling. 
Once it seems thinner than you normally ever roll anything else out like, hang the dough over some sort of rack, or open back chair, or a broom handle (as I did) suspended between chairs. Repeat with the remaining balls of dough. Let the rolled out dough rest and hang out for about 20 minutes. Add your chicken back to the soup and turn up the heat to bring the soup back to a boil.
Now, roll your noodle dough up into a roll and cut it into slices--so when you unroll the pieces, they will be noodle width (cut them in half if you want shorter noodles--I did). 
Once the noodles are all cut and unrolled, toss them into the soup and cook for about 5-10 minutes--and dang! if you do not have your own homemade chicken and noodles just like my mama used to make. Pure loveliness. Don't forget to share because this makes a big ol' pot of soup.
You may recognize this from the booty I brought back from the 
...and now it is on the wall in our little TV room upstairs, looking perfect above Beeper's ever swelling collection of books he keeps stacked on the radiator in there. It is by 
I
And if I have it my way, I would buy them all, but the only problem is that I am short on wall space...but if I think long and hard enough I may be able to come up with a place to hang just another couple pieces of her work in my house (I already have the 
And, just a little mention that one of my Mr Cottontails was included in an Etsy Finds write up today on the 
This is what I spent my weekend doing. Made this sickeningly adorable baby bunny and its even sicker patchwork binky. It was for Mimi. 
This is Mimi. Also adorable--about as adorable as the bunny and its sick binky. It was her 2nd birthday so I fixed her up (along with a little linen sack of wooden carrots, cukes, bell peppers and other assorted veggies from Haba--a bunny has to eat, you know). 
The pattern is from 
The patchwork binky is really what put me over the edge--even though it is all in the hands of wee Mimi now, I still cannot stop thinking about the patchwork binky and how I want to design some of my own for use with some of my own plush designs. It was so freakin simple to make and it makes me feel all giddy just to look at it--weird, I know, but still. 
And, I plan to make one more of these Baby Binky Bunnies because this will be my next Toy Society drop--for April. But before that, I do have some original Beeper Bebe plushies I plan to make and get into the shop--a new doll design is in the works, as well as a wee chicken....
Just completed my pair of Monster Ninnis (made from Revoluzzza's lovely and FREE pattern found 
So, no official Toy Society drop for March since these will be packed up and shipped off, but I have some BIG plans, baby, for my April drop--an all new plushie design from 
Bunnies on a stick--what could be more fun than that? You know the story--inspired by the Minnesota State Fair where all manner of foods are served on a stick, blahblahblah.
And furthermore, these are rattles. Something a baby can shake around crazily and rock out with--as babies are want to do. 
Which is also why I tripled sewed the ears in place--because babies are also inclined to gnaw on anything they can shove into their drooly little mouths. Which also led me to make sure this design could be washed--because after a while, a toy soaked in baby drool multiple times over needs to be cleaned up a bit. I mean, we all have standards.
All of my new bunnies on a stick rattles are for sale in 
Maybe it is the sudden surge of warmer weather, sunshine, and mud puddles--but I have fallen in love with these sweet little bunnies--and bunnies in other forms are still lurking round the corners of my brain. And chicks. And ducks. Maybe I should just eat a Cadbury's Creme Egg or something and that will provide the antidote to all this spring time animal obsessing. Or maybe not.
Whatever the case, I sewed up this little litter of Mr Cotton Tails this week. They are all made from recycled wool suiting, and their handmade little pompom tails perched atop their derriers are also made from recycled yarn. 
It had been ages since I had last made a pompom--like maybe last time I did it was when I was 10 and I made some for my ice skates (although I do recall making a slew of pompom animals around that time too)--but I quite enjoyed it. There really are too few ways to incorporate pompoms into your life...
So, this little litter of bunnies are all up for sale in 
...although my child did say he would like the Easter bunny to bring him a snake this year...I am still trying to figure out if I will make him one and accomodate that request or if it is just too creepy to put a plush snake in your son's easter basket...
I have to admit--all modesty chucked aside--I am really, really happy with how they turned out. There is just something about working with vintage buttons that makes me feel all happy and shiny inside. 
And I managed to incorporate one of my brand new stamps from 
And furthermore, on a whim, I picked up this paper punch at Target that rounds the corners of documents--it was total impulse purchase because it was on sale (of course, half of what I buy at Target is total impulse...they should make a pill to cure that)--and now I feel justified having bought it because I used it on the corners of the cards for the barrettes (and I LOVE the look--and am already wondering how else I can put it to use...recipe cards, calling cards, postcards...). 
I have packaged the barrettes three to set--all will come pinned to their own little card that reads Cute as a Button. 
I think they would make a sweet little gift in an Easter basket--or just a nice little gift to give as a token inspired by the shift in seasons. I will be putting these up for sale in 
Indeed--today I have been happier than a bird with a french fry--because FINALLY I have completed the cleaning, reorganization, and decorating of my plushie-making and crafting work space. I was going to share some "before" photos with you here--but really, who cares about that? It was embarassingly messy, in desperate need of cleaning (I caught a whole litter of dust bunnies), and clausterphobically cluttered (that said, I did upload some photos on my Flickr page and you can view the full effort 
These are the shelves Mr Beeper bought, assembled and stained for me--from Ikea. The baskets keep my jumble of felted wool sweaters in check.
This magnet board was also purchased from Ikea--as well as the little black square pockets and hooks the scissors are hanging from, AND the round tins into which I have sorted my buttons by color. This enabled me to lift a whole buttload of clutter from my desk and relocate it to the back of the door--and no doubt will cut back on a lot of cussing everytime I go to use my desk now.
My workshop has a door that goes out to the teeniest one-person size second-floor balcony--which you see here. Also, more of those same Ikea shelves that allow me to store crap almost to the ceiling. 
And this is my little walk-up dollhouse flat I have set up on the bookself. It reminds me of the teeny people who used to live behind the books on the shelves on Captain Kangaroo--which was always my favorite part of the program. 
The folksy cloth dolls are from 
My melancholic sheep from 
Some baskets that contain some more wool sweater scraps, an assortment of wool felt and a slew of ribbons that used to be unraveling from their spools and hanging willy-nilly around my craft closet.
And here is a little party of plushies just waiting to happen, sitting atop a woven box that contains a pile of cashmere sweaters.
And after 2 years, I have finally hung up this poster from the 
And this is my desk and worktable. Mr Beeper also built that for me--but from scratch, not from Ikea. It is nice and long and strudy and lets me really spread my crap out everywhere.
And then I also wanted to have a space I could hang up Beeper's latest artwork and easily swap out the pictures from week to week.
So, I found these vinyl wall stickers that look like frames from 
And finally, my craft closet. Mr Beeper built all the shelves and cubbies for me shortly after we bought our house and we painted it a lovely sunny yellow inside the closet, to contrast with with green walls. Mostly what changed in here is that it no longer looks like an area that requires safety gear to enter for fear of falling craft detritus.
BUT the one thing we did add were these cafe curtain brackets and wooden dowels from which I have hung all my large papers. 
We actually had the hardware laying around in the basement from when we removed the dingy old cafe curtains in our livingroom when we moved in. This is, perhaps, my favorite part of the whole workshop reorganization effort--I love the look of all those papers hanging so neatly inside the closet door.
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