Life Is Sweeter...

Ah, the weekend has arrived, and after an early morning coffee at the beach with my beloved Mr E I'm ready to do a quick tidy of the house before settling down to some menu planning, reading, and stitching.

What's on your agenda this weekend? Hopefully something relaxing and fun!

Yesterday I was at Blossom's all day playing nurse while her DB was at work. She's like me you know, not kept down easily and preferably 'doing' rather than 'resting', but with pneumonia rest is the best thing so that's what I made sure she had.

By the time I left she was a little bit pinker in the cheeks, but Blossom has a way to go before she's over this nasty illness. Today her daddy and DB will do some clearing away around her house and she can keep resting. It's hard with a baby due next month, but if she takes it easy and lets us help I'm sure all will be fine. Thank you for your prayers, you are blessing our family and our precious girl!

 As you know I've been a Flower Sugar World Ambassador for Lecien Fabrics over the past year, but recently I chose to step down from this role to devote more time to my family, The Stitchery Club, my blog, and a wonderful Australian venture.

I do find it hard to work with a company in the USA when I'm all the way Down Under and have no desire to leave my shores, but I have to say that Yoko at Lecien is a delight and has made things as easy as possible for both of us this past year given that we're working half a world apart. It's been a privilege to design with their beautiful fabrics and I'm sure I'll continue to do so just for my own pleasure.

This month I completed my last design as Flower Sugar World Ambassador, a pretty mini quilt to make you smile!

"Life Is Sweeter" is 14 1/2 inches square and the fabrics used for the applique and borders are Lecien's new Flower Sugar Carnival. 

I love the white lace doily detail behind the floral sprays...

...and the tiny spots and rose bouquets which were perfect for some fussy cut appliques in my centre stitchery block.

I added a simple border to the block in order to highlight the fabrics, but also to let the stitchery shine...

"Life is Sweeter" now hangs on my office door, a happy cheerful greeting when I walk in there each morning!

The pattern is my welcome gift for all new members of The Stitchery Club but if you're already a current member, or you would simply like to have the pattern, it's available HERE in my Craftsy Shop and also in my Etsy Shop over HERE.

If however you'd like the pattern as a gift simply head HERE to The Stitchery Club for details.

Well, I must away to give the house a bit of love before I settle in for a relaxing two day break. 

Have a good time too, okay?

hugs

 

Days of the Week project REVEAL!

Yesterday was spent in the sewing room bringing all eight "Days of the Week" patterns together as a set of pretty hanging pockets.

I've bordered the blocks in some gorgeous Tilda fabric and added lace and pearl buttons for that extra touch of sweetness...

I purchased this ribbon embroidered linen coat hanger last year and have waited for just the right project to display from it...

 Would you like to make this set of hanging pockets?

I'll have the step by step tutorial on my blog this coming Thursday (May 19th, 2016) so mark your calendar!

The embroidery patterns were emailed to all Stitchery Club members this morning, but if you're not a member and would still like to stitch the eight designs featured on my set of hanging pockets they are available for purchase today...

 The full May Stitchery Club issue can be found HERE in my Craftsy Shop (USD)

or HERE in my Etsy Shop (AUD)

Tomorrow I'll share the material requirements you will need to sew the hanging pockets, so until then have a wonderful day.

I'm off to visit Blossom and relax a little...yay!

hugs

Bread, answering questions & Etsy...

 TEA

Nana loved a cup of tea with her bread.

In fact it was her nightly ritual to serve Pop and I a slice of fresh bread, thickly buttered and covered in honey or jam, with a pot of steaming black tea for 'afters'. 

'Afters' was our supper, served in that final hour before switching off the lights and heading to bed. 

Nana also served bread, butter, jam and tea on Saturday afternoons, and that's what inspired the Saturday design for "Days of the Week".

To be honest, her tea pot was not a pretty one like the pot I've stitched above, but I do know she would have loved this one to have graced her kitchen table, so in my heart of hearts this is Nana's Pot - my gift to her memory, and the wonderful afternoons we spent together, simple afternoons with bread, tea, Pop and each other. 

 BREAD

A couple of weeks ago after I showed you a yummy loaf of light rye bread and some bread rolls I'd made when Blossom came to lunch, many people emailed asking for the recipe. 

 It was in one of my three favourite bread books...

 I didn't bake it in the breadmaker as I prefer bread to be baked in a normal bread tin or free form, but I do use the breadmaker for kneading and the first prove of the dough. 

After that I punch down the dough, divide into one loaf and four rolls, then leave to prove a second time before baking in the oven at 190C.

If you're going to bake the Light Rye Loaf in your breadmaker it will make one large loaf.

The recipe below is in metric Australian measures so just to clarify:

one teaspoon = 5 grams 

one tablespoon = 20 grams (or 4 teaspoons)

NOTE: a US tablespoon is only 15g or 3 teaspoons

ENGLISH PROGRAMMES

Another question asked this week was from Debra who wanted to know which Jane Austen movie I was watching as I stitched the other day.

Well I've been through a few lately but my favourite is always Persuasion. 

In fact I watched it again as I began stitching the Sunday design for May's Stitchery Club...

Once this block is completed I have more stitching ready and waiting.  

First I'll begin work on a stitchery to be published in next January's issue of Australia Homespun Magazine, and I'll stay with the English movie/tv theme by watching Poldark. 

I've just discovered this new version of the series (based on the Poldark books) and after watching the first two episodes I'm hooked!

Mr E and I couldn't work out where we'd seen the main character before yet he looked so familiar! Then the penny dropped and I remembered him as Kili the dwarf from The Hobbit. 

Even Mr E is enjoying this series too. Win win!

NEWS:

I've received a lot of correspondence from fellow Australians about the cost of patterns purchased through my Craftsy shop.

As Craftsy only allow sellers to list patterns in US dollars it means a $3 pattern becomes closer to $4 when converted to Australian currency. 

After reformatting a number of my favourite patterns I asked Blossom to update my long empty Etsy Shop and list them over there in Australian $. 

The patterns are still instant downloads, but they're not saved to a pattern library (as they are with Craftsy) so you need to download and save to your computer when you make the purchase.

Over coming weeks I'll make time to reformat more patterns and Blossom will then add them to my Etsy shelves.

So now you have two pattern shops to choose from!

HERE for Craftsy in US Dollars

and

HERE for Etsy in Australian Dollars.

I'm a small home business and can't do everything, but this is one change I could make which benefits those whose currency is taking a hit against the US dollar.

Have a blessed weekend!