Hi there, 

Just a quick note to let you know that I am still here and haven’t been lost in cyber space!  I am busy working on lots of new projects at the moment, and so I have a line-up of the ‘unfinished’.  Never fear, it will all come together at some point very soon!

New stock keeps arriving in with lots more beautiful hand dyed wools, cottons fabrics and magazines.  We are also ramping up our stocks of haberdashery, threads and general sewing supplies to meet the demand.

As always, if there is something that you need and having trouble tracking it down, we are happy to source things for you using the contacts we have made all over the world in the past 14 years.

Leisure Arts is a large company that produces a huge amount of very good quilting and craft books on just about every subject that you can think of, including this one called ‘Sweet Nothings for Christmas’ featuring gorgeous little cross stitch designs that would make great hand made gifts for Christmas.  The book is just $20 and includes 9 different designs.  Now is the time to start!

Now, on to the recipe….Because this is truly the weather for comfort food, I thought I would share a good old favourite slow cooker recipe.  This also makes an excellent pie filling.

Beef and Beer Hot Pot

• 6-700 g stewing steak
• 2 clove garlic
• 2 medium size onions
• 2 rashers of bacon
• A dash of oil
• Cut the meat into cubes and brown in a large fry pan before adding putting into the slow cooker with the following ingredients
• 1 -1/2 cups beer
• 1 tnsp golden syrup
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp Worchester sauce
• ½ salt and plenty of freshly ground pepper

Slow cook on low for 6-8 hours and then thicken with a little cornflour if necessary.

Happy stitching

Rachel