Hi there...well what a political week and a half it has been. Are we all excited about the elections...and we have how many weeks to go????

Isn’t it good that we have other things to distract us, such as beautiful fabrics, stunning threads, new projects, and fantastic new sewing machines? Actually the prospect of listening to endless weeks of political broadcasts and electioneering makes housework look pretty good!!!

I am really excited to have just received the complete new range of reproduction fabrics by amazing Australian designer Di Ford which we are cutting now. The range produced by Andover and is called Ballie Hall, and I am pretty confident in saying that we are the only shop in New Zealand to stock this. We also have Di’s books in stock – Primarily Quilts, and Primarily Quilts II, along with some of her previous ranges. All great inspiration!

If you would like us to send you a collection of FQ’s or metreage, check out the Andover website, simply email us the codes and we will be happy to send them out. It is also worth having a look at Di’s Facebook page to see how she is using the fabric.

https://www.andoverfabrics.com/Grid.php?groupId=26068&GroupName=Bally%20Hall

Also new in this week are these amazing patterns from Laura Heine which have just been added to our website. These feature fabric collage with combinations of fussy cut floral prints – think Kaffe Fassett, Phillip Jacobs, Brandon Mably, Anna Maria Horner and Amy Butler and let your imagination go wild!

To celebrate the brief glimpse we had of spring the other day, we are also running a promotion in association with Port FM so that each time you make a purchase you go into win a whole basket of spring cleaning goodies. (I know, not as exciting as wine and chocolates, but hey....we are supposed to working towards feeling good about short skirts and swimming togs right?)

If you have a few minutes to spare, don’t miss the Ashburton Embroiderer’s Guild exhibition at local Art Gallery on West Street. This continues until 3 September.

Now, on to the recipe...this a good lunch or Sunday night tea dish, you can substitute the ingredients and basically clean out the fridge. You can also prepare it ahead of time and throw it in the oven just before you are ready to eat.

Cheesy Mushroom Slice

• 60 g butter
• 3 rashers bacon
• 450 g mushrooms
• 4 spring onions
• 1 green and 1 red capsicum
• 6 thick slices bread
• 125 g grated cheese
• 6 eggs
• 2 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon French mustard
• 1 tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tbsp parsley

Melt the butter in a large frying pan and add the chopped bacon, then stir in the chopped mushrooms and vegetables and cook until soft.

Remove the crusts from the bread and cut into rectangles and line the base of a lightly greased oven-proof dish. Spoon the vegetable mixture over the top and top with another layer of bread. Sprinkle with cheese.

Place the eggs, milk, mayonnaise, mustard and Worchester sauce in a bowl and whisk together and then pour this over the whole dish. Sprinkle with parsley and bake for about 50-60 mins at 180C or until firm.