Eat This: Greek Lemon Chicken Soup

If I was going to marry a soup--it would be this one.  That's how much I love it.  It so luscious without being overbearing, hearty without being heavy, healthy without hitting you over the head with how wholesome it tastes.  It was actually inspired by a soup I once had at the now defunct Figlio restaurant here (oh, how I miss Figlio)--it was this silky, lemony soup with a touch of basil.  Then I found a recipe for a lemon chicken soup and worked from there to try to recreate what I once had at Figlio--and this is pretty close.  I did go for the traditional greek addition of dill rather than basil (but it is just as good with basil if you would rather, so feel free to use it if you have it).

Of course, you can make other substitutions, like white rice instead of brown (you will just need less cooking time for the rice), more veggies, or even more chicken and rice if you want this to become almost stew-like.  I do recommend making your own chicken broth--I have a recipe for how to do that with old chicken bones here.

This soup is mostly easy to make.  The trickiest part is just whisking the 2 cups of hot broth into the lemon-egg mixture so the eggs will not curdle--but even this isn't all that tricky.  You just need to get a good brisk whisking action going before you pour in the broth.  And the best part is when you add the eggs mixture to the soup--it is like magic how it suddenly takes on this lovely muted color and the texture becomes just a little thicker and a whole lot creamier...

If there is one soup I recommend you try yet while it is still winter around this part of the world--it is this one.  Really.  You won't regret it.  

DOWNLOAD GREEK LEMON CHICKEN SOUP RECIPE

In My Shop: Plush Alphabet Magnet Set

It only took a couple of years, but I have finally made some more of my plush alphabet magnet sets.  All the letters of the alphabet done up in a lovely rainbow array of colors, just waiting to be stuck to the door of your fridge, lined up into simple but popular pre-school words, like "cat", "dog" or "superman."  

If you have a hankering for some colorful but soft A-Z, you can find them in my Etsy shop, right here.

And if you have the motivation, inspiration and a sewing machine, you can always make your own with my plush alphabet tutorial, right here (just in case you never noticed it there before).

Sharing: A Handful of Projects with Some Color

This winter is so gray around here--dreary skies, damp chill air, yellowed grass peeking through the meager patches of dirty snow.  Blah.  All I want is some brightness, something to bring a little zing of happy color.  This is where I am at this winter.  So, these are the projects I have to offer up and share--every single one with pops of color or just outright color.  A little something I could make that would give me a little smile when I reach for it--like those stripey-handled thrifted wooden spoons, or those thumbtacks spray-painted to look like Italian tacks, or the bright patch of color on those otherwise gray tights.  Nice.  Happy.  Enjoy.

Projects links (clockwise from top-left): Painted Wooden Spoons  from By Elke; Playful Storage from House to Home; Knee-Patch Tights from 3191 Miles Apart; Rainbow Cookies from Munchkin Munchies; Felted Sweater Blanket from Recover Girl; Faux-talian Thumbtacks from Scissor Variations; Handmade Leather Shoes from BluDor Magazine; DIY Mending from Martha Stewart.

Best Made Badges

I love these sew-on badges from Best Made.  Imagine all the embellishment possibilities: on a tote, a backpack, a shirt pocket, along the trim of a handmade blanket or quilt, on the cuff of a shirt as a bolstering reminder...you can find them all (and more) here.

A Pair of [wrinkled] Doll Dresses

I made these two little dresses as Christmas gifts for my nieces--that is, for my nieces' dolls.   A dress and a set of button barrettes for each (1 barrette for them, 2 smaller ones for their dolls).   The doll's dress pattern is from Oliver + S Little Things to Sew by Liesel Gibson (love this book--but more about that later).  Liesel designed this little doll dress after one of her other dress patterns for a child--and sewing it made me realize I really could set about making some actual clothes for real life people.  Except for all that ironing involved with making clothing.  There is way more ironing, even when making a simplified doll's dress, than when you make a plushie.  And I hate ironing.  Mostly because I do not do it well--I always inadvertently iron in creases (see above photo for further evidence), or never seem to really get out all the other wrinkles I am there to get out in the first place.  Maybe I just need a better iron or to learn how to iron better or somewhere other than the basement in which to do my ironing--or maybe I just need to keep focusing my efforts on making toys?  

Two Penguins and a Hop Skip Jump Book

This is Arnold--and his friend, Arnold.  I made them both for Christmas gifts--one for Beeper (this ended up usurping my plans to make him that Chewbacca), and the other for a certain little girl I know who has a particular fondness for penguins.   I know.  They are pretty adorable.  That ridiculously long beak, the stocking cap--perfect.   They were mostly made from recycled materials--the black and white wool fabrics were from old suit jackets I thrifted, washed and cut up into useable pieces years ago, the hats are from cuffs of old sweaters I keep in a basket in my workshop for just this sort of thing.

Arnold the Penguin is a design from Fiona Dalton's new book of plushie designs, Hop Skip Jump: 20 Eco-Friendly Toys to Sew published by Penguin.  It is only being sold in Australia today, but I ordered mine and just had it shipped all the way here.  For me, it was completely worth every shipping cent, every red mark against my carbon footprint because I cannot stop looking at this book and thinking about which plushie I want to make and all the reasons I can find to make them. There are so many ways this book  is inspiring me...

I love how all the plushies feel modern and vintage at the same time.  

I love the photos of the plushies and the fabrics Fiona chose for each--as well as the overall styling of the book (inspiring photo styling can sell a book to me--that eye-candy-effect that makes me want to keep looking at it again and again...)

I love the fact that the book focuses on making the toys from recycled or eco-friendly fabrics.  

I love the little accessories so many of the animals have a (the fox with a handkerchief, the cat in a tie, the hippo with a party hat...)--simple additions that make me smile. 

 I love the array of designs, varying in complexity and time commitment.  It also contains designs geared for boys (a robot, a rocket), as well as girls (2 doll designs)--and even babies. 

And I just love the sewing-friendly design of the book (lays flat when open, nice large pocket contains the templates for handy keeping, lots of good illustrated instructions).

You can get a good look at the book here (including the complete list of projects), and order it here or here.  You can also visit Fiona's blog, aptly named Hop Skip Jump, if you have never been and see what sorts of goodness she is up to over there.  Fiona also has a lovely array of individual patterns available for purchase in her little shop, here.  

As always, so much to make, so little time--but this is a good book with which to start your year of hand-making.   

Happy 2012

I suppose I should have done this before 2012 actually was upon us, but things have gotten a little lackadaisical over here with the holidays and all of this nothing we have scheduled.  Regardless, I like to have a little look back at the year and what  I managed to create and make and accomplish in my little crafty corner of the world--just because I perpetually feel like I did not manage to accomplish half of what I intended, given the way life has a way of interfering in all your best laid crafting plans (and also, the need for sleep). However, I did manage 6 or so tutorials (favorite among them was the Nature Explorer Bag), saw the publication of 4 books that contained some of my designs, put out my own little crafty project set (Spring Variations), and did some serious re-stocking my Etsy shop in time for the holidays.  

Of course, I already have some big plans for the next year, including a new project set (Autumn Variations), 1 or 2 other plushie patterns I have had lurking in the recesses of my brain for some time now, and, of course, a few more tutorials for all of you.    No doubt I will find plenty of distraction along the way to keep me from doing all I set out to do, but that is part of the crafting game.  You make some, but you can never make it all...there's a little fortune-cookie-style wisdom for you.

How about all of you?  What are your crafting plans and goals for the new year?  Got a little crafting glimmer in your eye just waiting to come to fruition?