Thursday, July 31, 2008

What's For Dinner?


I love this recipe I found for Chicken Curry courtesy of Rachael Ray. I've changed the recipe a bit to suit our tastes and the picky eaters in my family. It's absolutely scrumptious and takes about 45 minutes from start to finish. Enjoy!

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium sweet potato, peeled, cut in half lengthwise, then thinly sliced into half moons
2 - 3 tablespoons curry powder (I like the Spice Island brand)
1 ½ lbs chicken tenders, bite size chunks
1 large yellow onion, grated with juices preserved (This makes it so yummy. The juice adds a lot of flavor and picky eaters won't know there are onions in it)
1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon flour
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup prepared mango chutney (I like Trader Joe’s mango/ginger chutney)
1 10 oz box frozen peas
¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Preheat a large, deep skillet over med-high heat with veg. oil. Add the sweet potatoes, season with salt, pepper and curry powder and cook, stirring for 3 to 4 minutes, or until lightly browned. Scoot the potatoes to one side of the pan and add the chunks of chicken, season with salt and pepper and more curry if you like a lot of curry flavor, and cook, browning slightly, for 3 minutes. Add the onions with onion juice and bell pepper and toss to combine. Add the flour and stir, then continue to cook for 1 minute. Add the chutney and combine. Then add the chicken stock and cream, bring to a simmer, and cook for 10 minutes, or until the chicken and potatoes are cooked through and the sauce has thickened. Add the peas and simmer for 1 minute to heat the peas through. Serve over jasmine rice and garnish with cilantro.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Retro Apron Sewing Class



Lana will be teaching a retro apron sewing class on September 9th, 10:30 - 3:30. The class is located in Vacaville, California and you can sign up here. I've already signed up and there are a couple of spots still available. Off to look for some fun fabrics to make my apron out of! I have a crush on Heather Bailey's "Pop Garden Fabric" line so I might use a couple of her beautiful fabrics. Hopefully I'll have an actual photo of the apron we'll be making soon to post. The one in the picture is by "Jesse Steele" and her line is available here -- too cute!

--Nellie

Monday, July 28, 2008

Keep Your Eye Out!





Tomorrow we will be listing two super cute retro style aprons for little girls. They will be a steal at only $8.50. Look for us in the "Kids' Handmade Showcase" tomorrow as well, Tuesday 7/29!

Saturday, July 26, 2008

Shopping For Fabric


We are asked a lot where we purchase our fabric. Luckily, we can buy most of it on-line but it's always fun to shop in person where we can actually feel the fabric and be inspired by something new. If you are ever in the San Francisco Bay Area you have to check out Stone Mountain and Daughters. It is like being in a candy store! Everywhere you turn your head there is something fantastic. Since I went to college in Berkeley it is a bit nostalgic as well =). Beverly Fabrics also carries some nice quality fabrics including designers such as Amy Butler and Michael Miller. We purchase our minky and chenille on-line because the minky at most commercial fabric stores is of lesser quality and very hard to sew with. Etsy is also a great place to purchase top quality fabric. Just remember to search for fabric under the "supplies" section. Hope this helps!

Friday, July 25, 2008

What do you think?

I finally added a couple of things to the site. I was always confident posting items to my old site but now that I'm a part of my mom's site I don't want to bring down the quality since she makes such beautiful items. The first item I added was a "surfer" blanket. I made this same blanket for Ben and I've received a lot of compliments on it but it hasn't had many hits on etsy. I also added a couple of my bow hangers. These things are so dang cute in person but my stinky photos don't serve them justice. I don't know how people take such nice photos of their items on etsy. They must have photoshop or an area of their house designated for photos. I would really appreciate any advice on taking photos and also any thoughts on items you'd like to see in our shop.


Lana (mom) told me she is working on some super cute retro style aprons for kids. Keep your eye out for them because she told me she will be selling them at a very fair price since she is using a lot of remnant pieces. They'll probably post Monday or Tuesday.

We are giving 20% off of our prices in our etsy shop through 7/31. Please mention "blog 20% off" in message to seller and we'll refund you via paypal or send us a message and we'll set a custom listing.

Happy Friday!
Nellie

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Our first post!

We thought it would be fun to share a little bit about ourselves and we'd love to hear from you as well! We are a mother and daughter team (emphasis on mother) aiming to create beautiful handmade items for today's mom and child. It all started after I (Nellie) was walking through a local upscale children's boutique and couldn't find the perfect baby blanket for my soon to be born baby boy. I knew that once again I would be enlisting my mother (Lana) to create what I was looking for: something of fine quality that is both up to date and timeless at the same time. After putting our brains together and searching for the right fabrics we had the perfect blankie for our little Benji. It was so much fun coming up with his perfect blanket that we decided to have a blast and sell my mom's blankets to some boutiques (with much appreciated help from my sister Angie) which has led us to where we are today. My mother has since inspired me to pull out my dusty sewing machine and begin creating myself. We are selling our items in a total of 7 shops in California and we also have our etsy shop.


A few tidbits about Lana:
-- Born in Duluth, MN
--Her Swedish grandmother taught her to sew at the ripe old age of 5 (yes, you're reading that right!)
--Has a weakness for anything sweet
--Loves all things sewing!!
--Is a great teacher and would LOVE it if someone would ask her something about sewing, sewing machines or fabric

Some facts about me:
-- I am a Registered Nurse
-- Have two kiddos: Anna 2 and Benjamin 4 months
-- Have been sewing since the age of 7 (mom taught me of course)
--I LOVE to cook and will try to post some of my favorite recipes in the future



Here is a photo of Benji's blanket.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions you have. Thanks for looking!

Nellie