Beauty In The Bowl

I have no words.  Really.  Patty Hallman, a South Carolina, award-winning photographer, had a photo session with this sweetheart cozied up in my crocheted baby bowl photo prop.  Must show in extra-large fashion!  more later ...
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Thank you, Patty!

Sunday: It's What's for Dinner

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Yesterday, doubling casseroles for a friend's family and ours was on my list.  I made two different recipes, one old and one new.  The new one I tried was Greek Lemon Chicken and Rice.  It is so wonderful -- and quick! -- that I wanted to share with you, just in case you haven't decided what's for dinner.  It's such a cozy dish; the rice is creamy without a "cream of" involved, and there is not much fat in it at all. 

Greek Chicken and Rice 

2-3 Tablespoons olive oil  

2 pounds of chicken breast cut into bite size pieces  

1 yellow onion diced  

1 green pepper diced  

2 cups long grain rice 

4 cups chicken stock  

Juice of 1 lemon  

1 can Progresso cannelloni beans (optional, my contribution to the recipe) 

1/2 cup of kalamata olives, pitted (optional)  

1 teaspoon dried oregano 

salt and pepper to taste (I added a good amount as I like things savory) 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large Dutch oven over medium heat, warm 1 tablespoon of olive oil.  Add half the chicken and brown, about 5 minutes stirring around every so often.  Remove to to a plate.  Add a little more oil and brown the rest of the chicken.  Remove to a plate. 

Add a little more olive oil, if needed, and saute onion and green pepper until tender, about 5 minutes.  Turn off heat.  Add in chicken broth, rice, and the rest of the ingrediants.  Add chicken back into the pot and stir to mix. 

Cover the pot and bake until rice is tender and the liquid is absorbed, about 50 minutes. 

Let me know if you try it!  Enjoy! 

Fresh From The Pumpkin Patch

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Hello!  Are you ready for something sweet?  A precious little one in a Pumpkin Patch Cocoon Set.  The lovely mama of this little man is friends with a local photographer, Leigh, and I totally lucked out in the baby model department. 

When planning what new scarf design to crochet this fall for my shop and holiday shows, I came across these cocoon sets and had to make them.  Look at his little toes poking through!  And the twirly stem on top! 
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The Pumpkin Patch Cocoon Set is just in time, not only for Fall and Thanksgiving photo sessions but just for new babies to have a sweet little stroller set and comfortable Pumpkin Halloween costume. 

Just need a Pumpkin Hat?  That's an option, too.  Custom orders are welcome.   
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And with The Holidays right around the corner....  This set not listed yet, but you know where to find me! 

Un Bonne Nuit For Me Please!

My boy is winging his way over to Germany right this minute for his junior year of college.  The online plane tracker tells me he has crossed over Nova Scotia and is over the open sea!  So, I'm settling in to blog work until I hear that his feet have landed on solid ground.  Then he has all sorts of details to take care of:  money exchange, train ticket, luggage, and a trip by train to his university's town.  

The university provides the students studio flats, and there are university cafes here and there where the they can eat at a discount.  Two girls at his US college just returned from the spring semester in the same program - which ends in July, actually, and one has sold him her bike she left in a locker there, so he will have some manual transportation anyway. 



We are very excited for him, but a bit sad to have him so far away!  We'll miss a 21st birthday and the Christmas holidays, but he will come home on his spring break for a bit and then go back to finish up the year.   
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So, I am hoping for a Bonne Nuit and good sleep tonight after I hear from him.  That's my segue into:  Look at the embroidered pillow cover I made after seeing a similar one in the Pottery Barn catalog.  This font is my favorite; it's so pretty and modernly classic.  I'm putting it the college-savings and Germany student spending account shop at "the handmade fair."   

My calicodaisy handmade design work is coming along very nicely with a lot of local and custom orders, and I'm getting ready for the fall/holiday bazaar time right now.  I don't love all the craziness leading up to shows, but it's the time of year I meet new customers and catch up with returning ones. 

pottery barn embroidered pillow cover

In With Prim

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The other day I received a lovely convo from Donna of Folk Art by Donna who let me know she included my Prim Pumpkin Pile Pillow in her Prim and Proper Halloween Treasury set.  I am so pleased!  You'll have to go by her place and the treasury to check out wonderful Prim Art. 

Right now, everything is about sending my son off to Germany for his junior year!  I haven't really faced it much until RIGHT NOW.  I am so happy for him, but this will be the first time he is away for a lllooonnnggg time, and so far away!  We'll miss his 21st birthday and Christmas, but he will come home on his February break and then go back again.  We hope to travel as a family to visit him in June, but that will be quite a savings project! 

To my Bee Friends:  If you're still checking in with me ... A bee sewing day is coming up.  After sending my son off to Germany this week and now that the summer is over, everything will settle back into place, including my sewing time.