In Stitches of Williamstown

Embroidery thread giveaway!

Hi everyone - time for another give away I think!  I don't have the cosmo threads to give away but I do have DMC. 

So tell me something about embroidery - the first thing you embroidered - your favourite project - a tip - your favourite embroidery blog site (mines Brenda Ryan) - your favourite embroidery thread - anything really...  To do this click on the light grey "comment" immediately below this post.

3 Winners - I'll send 10 DMC threads each (6 stranded cotton) of my choice

So the rest of you don't miss out - if you comment below and want to buy some DMC 6 stranded cotton thread for only 70c per skein please let me know in your comment and I'll email you to tell you how to order.  I have hundreds of DMC threads but not all of them so I will do my best but this offer does not apply to threads if I don't have them in stock.  Maximum of 50 skeins per person at this giveaway price!  Offer ends at the same time as this giveaway.

Please enter your comments by Monday 16 November 9pm!  Good luck!

One pot wonder

Chicken basque from Delia smiths summer cookbook is one of my all time favourite meals. It's all cooked in one pan. Yey!
Pre browned Chicken cooks on top of capsicum, red onion, chorizo and basmati rice in wine, paprika , tomato, stock liquid. Not risotto style stirring. Just soften in olive oil. In with the rice. Add liquid & sit chicken on top. Lid on and 45 mins later throw on olives and you're done. My style of cooking though is increasing house temp. Just what i need Lol! So prob better for English summer than Aussie one! Www.deliaonline.com has the recipe.

All one pot wonders are great

Parrots

Just reading Saffron Craigs blog and she mentioned the use of her parrots and dandelion fields range in this months Australian Patchwork and quilting.

This was designed by Ruth Buchanan.  Doesn't it look great.  Fabric kits to make this are available from me...as I stock this range and other similar fabric. So please get in touch if you are interested.  The feature parrots fabric is also available through me and this would really work well with any other pinks/greens/yellows/whites you have in your stash.  Looks a great one to finish quickly! 

Laura x

Panels back in stock

I have a few panels available of the Star of Wonder Christmas Panel which has only just arrived (and mostly flown off the shelves with pre-orders) so get in quick if you want one of these lovely nativity panels. 

I have just got back in stock the adorable Very Hungry Caterpillar which is just so cute!

Both of these would make excellent christmas gifts - so check them out.

Feedback

Had a lovely letter from a customer who used my binding instructions.
" your blog on binding is just great, at last mine came together just right, much neater corners and finish"
I love that the Internet can make sharing information much easier! And that the time spent putting it altogether, remembering to take photos (hard for me as I sew in a hurry), is worthwhile.
So I'm a happy bunny this morning and have renewed enthusiasm to share some more techniques so visit again soon.

So if you need help with binding check out the blog.

It's always great to get good feedback so pass it on. I've already Done this today and it feels great. To give and receive!
Lx

Australian Quilt Market

Very excited at the propect of the (wholesale only) market this weekend.  All my favourite designers will be there with lots of new patterns, and the fabric wholesalers with their exciting new ranges hot of the press from Houston.  Make sure you check back to find out about everything new as I'll be doing a lot of blog posts next week with all the exciting news!  And very interested in the talk that McKenna Ryan will be doing.... can't wait...

.. and whilst we are talking about thread

Don't forget the scrumptious variagated threads by cottage garden threads!  These are hand overdyed and are just gorgeous.  They have a short stitching length which means the colour changes frequently - perfect for hand embroidery.  These are available on my website at this link and are on special until 14 November 2009 too.  This won't show up in the order but if you type "Blog thread 10 percent" I will discount the thread by 10 percent and throw in free postage on thread only orders until 14 November 2009.  Enjoy

Cosmo threads

Very interested in the threads that Rosalie is talking about so have scoured the internet to show you what kind of a range we are talking about.  So here's what I uncovered - but as there is about 40 threads per coloumn this is a range of 400 threads which is way more than Rosie is talking about so it is their full range of threads and they might not have done them all as 2 stranded. 

So what's the fuss about?  it's 2 stranded on a roll which means you don't have to spearate 2 strands from the six you normally get and you can roll off just the amount you need.  And it doesn't get all knotted up whilst you're trying to unravel it.... sounds great...

I'll track down some information over the next couple of days so come back and find out what I discovered...

Comment below if you are interested!

Feeling clucky

Have you checked out Anna Maria horner's blog recently? See link below right. Got to feel clucky at the photos of her adorable baby ... I mean fabric! Her new range is awesome.
Pictured here is melly & me's version of clucky.

Time for a slumber party?

Two terrific new designs by Aussie designers = Make it Perfect and Natalie Ross in Stitches

 

Send the kids to bed in style with a pair of funky, cool, slumber party jammies! With a comfy elastic waistband and fun drawstring tie, they will be guaranteed a good nights sleep.

The matching drawstring bag makes a great gift bag which can later be used to hang on the end of the bed as a neat place to keep their jammies when they aren’t being worn!

And Natalie has a perfect Slumber Party Quilt pattern too...

So now they can be decked out in style.  Patterns of course available through my website www.institches.com.au

Enjoy!

Laura x

Who's a pretty girl again?

The parrot fabric from Saffron Craig is back in stock again after lots of requests.  Repeat is 50cm.  It's featured in the picture here...(in the centre).  Really bright and fresh and bursting full of Australian summer!  Enjoy.  I'll pop it on my website www.institches.com.au tomorrow.

I still have a couple of kits left for the quilt if you are interested let me know.  I'll pop these on the website too.  This is a really quick and easy quilt - good cot size and very fast to put together.
 

Techno savvy?

Having a bit of a moment this afternoon I listed to a detailed pod cast (thing) about making your blog work.  So you'll note a few changes.  I'm tweeting.  I've added it to my blog.  When I tweet you see it (on the right hand side of my blog)  When I blog it tweets.  So feeling fairly proud of putting some of what I learnt into action. 

You can also follow me on typepad by clicking the "follow me" link on the left.  This lets you see what other sites I'm interested in and comments I've made.

And I've learned how to add a poll to my website so you can let me know what type of projects you like to work on by clicking on the poll.  Thought it was a good way to start to get interactive.  I'll come up with more polls soon - but thought this was a good and safe introduction.  The poll is on the right hand side of my site half way down.

And don't forget you can leave a comment at any time by clicking on the comment button which is below every post.  you do have to enter your email address but it doesn't get published so don't worry about others getting to know your email address etc.  It's easy.

So come on, let me know you're reading my blog and what other things you'd like to find out about.  Would you like more tips and hints?  Would you like more giveaways?  Would you like to find out what I'm designing.  Let me know what you think by adding a comment.  I'd love to hear from you - and would love to blog about things YOU are interested in!  I miss the shop, I miss the contact with my customers - so please stay in touch.

Last of the flower sugar. Be quick!

Brown owl

Just arrived. I'm pondering what to do. Love the owls just peaking out.

What do you want to learn?

Since I closed the shop I've had lots and lots of requests to teach - but what do you want to learn?

• beginner quilt (nine patch? churn dash? modern?)
• bag (beginner? advanced?)
• quilt as you go?
• drunkards patch?
• blanket stitch applique?
• softies?
• hair accessories?
• borders?
• binding?

Please give me some feedback through the comment button below and I'll schedule some classes.

What about the concept of a patchwork party where you get a few friends together and I run a class for you?

Let me know what you think.

fabric covered boxes

Hey - take a trip over to the black bird designs blog - they've got these neat covered fabric boxes in a tutorial.  These would be perfect to gift wrap a special christmas pressie.

Last year I made some fabric bags for christmas presents.  Which were really well received.  why not have a go...

here's some instructions so you can have a go at your own bag....View this photo  View this photo

for some strange reason I've saved these as jpgs as I thought you would be able to view these rather than the publisher original.  If you zoom in you should be OK!  email me if you're struggling with the format....

Enjoy... Laura

turning 40 menu

Had a dozen people for dinner on Saturday to celebrate my lovely husbands 40th.  Menu was great and stress free so thought I'd share...

 Pre dinner: Union Square Cafe Bar Nuts from Nigella bites.  Sourced the nuts from the wholesaler in new Street altona which has just the freshest nuts.. very moorish - I used walnuts, macadamias, brazil nuts, cashews, almonds and hazlenuts.  All that nutty goodness with rosemary, cayenne, sugar, salt, butter.. what could be better?

Starter: asparagus tomato and knock out sauce salad (aka christmas salad from delicious magazine)

Asparagus is awesome at this time of year.  But the best bit of this is the dressing. You have to seek out the yellow soy bean sauce and the stem ginger but they give the most awesome kick!  If you can't get buffalo mozarella then baby bocconcini works just as well...

Main was fillet of beef bourguignon  - if you live in Melbourne and are near footscray market it's  a must for this as the meat is great - and affordable ($22 per kg! for eye fillet!). For 12 I doubled the recipe and ended up cooking all but the beef on the hob until the veges were cooked.  Then an hour before serving i popped the browned meat on the top of the saucy vegetables and roasted for an hour. I kept the beef whole (2 pieces each about 1.6kg) - I didn't slice it as per the recipe.  So it wasn't really casserole style which means it probably wasn't a beef bourguignon at all!  But what was really nice was the beef was rare and very tender rather than overcooked.  There was not a single piece of beef left - it was just devoured (a good sign i think!).

Next was a real Normandy treat - Le Trou Normande (otherwise known as apple sorbet with a splash of fiery calvados) - a real palate cleanser.  Apple sorbet was made well in advance and before the meal I served it up into pre cooled espresso glasses - so that all we had to do on the night was splash on the calva.  This pic is from the recipe (not mine!)

On to Cheese - which was from our local deli the Pickle Barrel

Then what could be more perfect for dessert than Nigella's Brownies I got the recipe from her feast book - or was it the domestic goddess one, anyway .  Made them heaps and they always taste fantastic.  Had thought about steaming them as recommended in Ben O'Donoghue's column in this months delicious -but they were so gooey as they were - they didn't need this treatment.  The recipe says it makes up to 48.  We could have got 24 our of the tin and they are disaappearing faster than my wasteline wishes...  Yum.

 
  
Then tea... how very british!  Only 1/12 wanted coffee!

This was really a stress free entertaining menu.  So enjoy!
 

New cinderberry stitches release

Cinderberry stitches has just released a new pattern - the very stylish paris collection.  Come on girls what are you waiting for.  This is a gorgeous bag, would make a fantastic christmas present and is achievable in time for Christmas.

Pop over to Natalies blog for more pictures, remember patterns are available from my website

How many pets can you have?

If this pic is anything to go by then you can have as many as your heart desires. Here we have a team huddle midway through an afl game. This was just one huddle. There were just as many on the other team. And that was b4 the party! My eldest turned nine on sat & the word had sure spread as to what her heart desired.. There are very many little pets in our house now. And the good thing... They're small!

Cool image

Amy butler launches her new range.

What makes me happy?

I'm definately happy when surrounded by some fabrics. A combination of colour and that surging feeling of creative inspiration. Wanting to do something. Make something. Kaffe Fassett fabrics amongst others really push me down this path. The strength of colour seems to increase the intensity of feeling. At first I was hesitant. Worrying probably more about what could go wrong than what could be right! Retrospetively I initially made too many safe choices. But i needed to go through this to get to where I am now... Ready to throw caution to the wind and revel in these fabrics that just make me happy. How can it fail!