It has always been our intention to sell "branded" merchandise in our new store. We've tossed around several ideas, and joked about just slapping our chicken outline on EVERYTHING. 

But in all seriousness I did want to develop a simple pin cushion in the shape of a chicken to sell. Pincushions are collectible! I could make this a series! But first I had to start.

I had the idea of making a shaped plush and shrinking it down, but after playing with paper and tape I realized that wasn't happening. I remembered some simple drawings of birds Kate had done years ago after being inspired by greeting card art. Kate's art is gone, and my attempt at sketching what I remembered did not produce a shape that would suit for a pincushion. 

Still, I was encouraged in  my own process to keep it simple. A search online for free patterns came close, but didn't produce exactly what I wanted. I was thinking of the pyramid shape that has been made into chickens, frogs, owls, and more. Through a blog post I finally found this pattern that I thought I could work with.

The changes I made were to round out the "thigh" area, change the eyes to french knots, glue on the beak, comb, wattle, and felt wings and also to sew one corner before stuffing to form a tail. The legs were just scrap string I had lying around. 

Okay. We'll admit it. We've been keeping something from you all. And, we actually didn't count our chickens before they hatched. We just found our little eggs a henhouse and then they hatched. So to speak. Let me back up a bit. Incoming wall of text to explain some history:

We had a dream that started in high school of operating a small cozy business together. We’ve always loved sewing - from Strawberry Shortcake yarn threading cards when we were 3 to creating a custom black silk cocktail gown for a friend a couple years ago. Even with professional lives we always make time to sew.

When Rachel moved to Beloit in 2011 Quillen’s sewing store was still open, but it has since closed. Alco removed their sewing department, and then closed. A few years ago Stuff n’ Such (a quilting store) in the nearby town of Downs closed, and finding physical, local sewing supplies became even harder. Rachel started to take on custom garment requests and in talking to locals realized a need.

We chose a name for the business and started this blog in 2017 and an Etsy store to maybe someday get a business going. Rachel even ordered business cards with a version of the hen logo in 2018. But, life got busy with other distractions and we left things pretty much dormant.

Meanwhile Kate was pursuing her profession in libraries until 2020 when a recent change in job didn’t turn out to be the environment she needed. The COVID-19 pandemic hit and Kate took the opportunity to evaluate long term goals, mainly moving to be closer to family here in Beloit and start that sewing business we'd been talking about for years.

We thought we’d start the business slowly, out of one of our houses. Kate was getting re-settled in a new job and looking for positions closer to her professional background. Finding retail spaces in small towns isn’t always easy so we weren't in a rush. But a store-front opened up in our budget range (thanks for the tip, Mom!) so here we are. Flying around with our tail feathers on fire, setting up a retail space!

Believe me - we're harried hens already, even if our doors aren't open to the public yet. Setting up a business is not for the faint of heart! We close the contract on the storefront on August 16th, but even before then we'll be hard at work setting up a limited liability company with us as members, contacting state and federal departments to collect taxes eventually, making Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram accounts, setting up bank accounts, talking to insurance people and wholesalers, plus researching point of sale systems and a million other details.

Still, we hope to open our doors mid September. We just need to decide exactly what to fill our space with.

It's not a secret recipe or anything, but even outside of our family, this recipe has always gotten positive reviews. I think I've had it as doughnuts maybe once or twice in my life. Usually it's made into crescent rolls or cinnamon rolls. I've grown up with it, and a Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Easter without it just doesn't feel the same. 

So when a friend asked for a good roll/bun recipe, this one was the first one I thought of. I had the ingredients and had been meaning to make a batch for about a week, so I decided to take pictures of the process and send them along with the recipe. 

The instructions are mostly as written, with a few exceptions, which I will highlight along the way. 

Some notes about the ingredients:

• It is best to use leftover mashed potatoes - the kind that have been loaded with butter, cream cheese, sour cream, and/or milk. Even a little salt and pepper left in them is okay.
• Also, while I've always used fresh whole milk, Mom sometimes used powdered (and reconstituted) milk.
• Lastly, our family pretty much exclusively uses Hudson Cream Flour. And yes, it does make a difference.

The slideshow above will take you through making the dough. This is a sweetened, enriched dough with a very light texture. 

I usually bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, for between 15-25 minutes, depending on how big the rolls are, and how closely they are placed together. This recipe is excellent for freezing and reheating in the oven, especially if you don't let the rolls brown beyond a light honey color.