Hi there. Well it certainly seems that the heavens have opened with rain devastating flooding causing major damage and loss of life in Auckland, Northland and the Bay of Plenty. Our thoughts go out to those people who are dealing with what seems like yet another natural disaster, which does leave you wondering “what next?” Crazy when some parts of the country are in drought conditions.

On the home front, next week we will be back into our post holiday season routines with our regular classes kicking off again as well as our monthly Woolly Stitchers Day and Cross Stitch Night. https://www.anniesquilts.co.nz/cms/classes.html (More classes will be added in the coming weeks as the samples are completed.) It will be great to see everyone again and catch up.

Our Fibre Art Tour to the lower North Island last week was fantastic – we all saw lots, learned lots and were very inspired by all the quilt shops, demonstrations, workshops, art collectives, cafes, restaurants and boutique shopping places that we visited along the way. If you would like to join us for our next adventure to the Hawkes Bay region in 2024 please let me know. (No dates set yet, but planning is underway.)

As we all know, time flies and it is never too soon to start on those Christmas projects. With that in mind, we have 20% off all our Christmas fabrics, fat quarters and panels for the month of February. These are not on our website, so it is a case of coming in store and seeing what we have or of course you can give us a call or check out our post on Facebook. We are also making packs of 5 x FQ’s in Christmas colours – reds, greens and golds which are also discounted at $32.00 making them $5.33 each!

If you have some little people in your life who are mad keen on dinosaurs, we have some great new kits that have arrived in. These packs include the pre-cut applique fabrics all ready to assemble as well as the hard copy of the pattern so that you can make quilt blocks, wall hangings, cushions or library bags like these ones that Rosie made using her own fabrics. There are 9 different dinosaur designs and they are $34.00 each.

Also just unpacked are these gorgeous Kaffe Fassett designed plastic coated zip pouches. A handy gift or ideal for all those sewing room or hand bag essentials. These are $32.00 for each pair.

If you are a home gardener, about now you probably have an abundance of tomatoes and zuchinni about now, so here is a great recipe to use them up and fill the freezer.

Tomato Concentrate (ideal for soups, casseroles and pasta dishes)

• 5 kg tomatoes
• 2-3 onions
• Olive oil
• 2-3 stalks of celery
• 1-2 zuchinni
• 2-3 capsicum
• 1 chilli
• 1 tbsp each of celery and mustard seeds
• Fresh herbs such as basil, thyme and oregano
• Salt and pepper

Chop up the tomatoes and cook them slowly in their own juices in a large pot until tender. Pass them through a mouli or course sieve and set aside. Gently saute the vegetables in a pan with a splash of oil until softened and then combine with the tomatoes and herbs. Boil together until thickened, season to taste and then freeze the concentrate in 1 cup packs ready for use.

Take care and happy stitching from Rachel and the team at Annie’s

03 3076 277

www.anniesquilts.co.nz