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Monday, March 12, 2018

March week one

Grab Bag
Recipe
What's Stitching
Freebie


Stitching Friends invites you to a St. Patrick's Day Tea! 



We are serving homemade Irish Soda bread that we will teach you how to make!

Mary's Irish Soda Bread:

2 cups unbleached flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 heaping teaspoon caraway seeds
4 Tablespoons butter, worked into the flour mixture
1 cup raisins
1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 325

Mix dry ingredients excluding caraway seeds.  With pastry blender cut butter into flour mixture till crumbly. 
Butter blended into flour

You will now add the caraway seeds and raisins. Then pour in buttermilk all at once and gently stir to blend.

Next is the fun step of kneading the dough.


Place dough on floured surface and generously sprinkle with flour. You will knead the dough with floured hands and add additional flour until the texture is smooth and elastic. Don't overdo this step!


This is a double batter- recipe is for ONE loaf
Form bread into round and form shape of cross on top of loaf. Bake in a greased and floured 8 inch cake pan at 325 for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and rub a small amount of butter on top of warm loaf.

Serve with butter or plain, delicious either way!




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Our Irish Ornament

A sweet bunny delivering shamrocks to my Irish friend Mary

RJ stitched this adorable ornament for me.  She added the words "luck to you" under the stitch. Love the buttons, shamrock charm, shamrock ribbon and large rick rack she added to the finish.  It makes the perfect accessory for my St. Patrick's Day décor.    We wish you all good luck too!

Delivering Shamrocks
By Homespun Elegance
32 ct. linen
overdyed threads from stash

rick rack and charm from Joann's


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What's Stitching

Please mark the date for our upcoming one year Birthday Party at the end of the month.  We would love it if you would send us a photo of one of  your favorite stitches either fully finished or just stitched.   If you have another craft you would like to display, we would love to see it too.  We look forward to whatever you choose to share with us. You can send your photos to rjgator96@earthlink.net by March 20th.  Surprises are being planned and we can't wait to celebrate with all of you.


Mary and I have been so lucky winning many give aways this year.   I'm so excited because I just won a wonderful bunny piece that our friend Jutta made.  There are also pretty fabrics in this give away which I will share with my blogging partner Mary.   You can find Jutta's blog at   http://stoffundnadel.blogspot.com/  Aren't they precious???   I'm totally in love with these bunnies and see an adorable pillow in the making.  Thank you so much sweet Jutta.   

Such sweet bunnies!


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Irish Freebie

We have a cute Irish freebie for you from Threadwork Primitives.  Both these stitches were found on Pinterest.  They are both cute finishes using different colors.   You will find the free chart here  It's very sweet and may bring you a little good luck.






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Hope you are getting in lots of stitching time.  We love to come to your blogs and see what you are up to.  Thank you once again for visiting us.  We truly appreciate the time it takes to leave a comment.  Next post we will be sharing our Styling with Stitches project and our New Ornaments.   Hope to see you then.   
                                                                     RJ and Mary  

                
☘ May good Luck be with you wherever you go, 
and your blessings outnumber the Shamrocks that grow☘ 



36 comments:

  1. As always the stitching is perfect. Thanks for the recipe as well.
    I am planning to send my pic in real soon. I was trying to finish one I was working on currently. We will see..if not, I will choose one I have already done.

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  2. A very Happy St. Patrick's Day to you both. The ornaments are so cute and the soda bread looks delicious!!

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  3. Hello dear friends....

    Thank you for inviting us to tea! The table is beautiful and the Irish Soda Bread sounds delicious! I love baking bread so this will be one to try!

    The darling bunny pulling the shamrocks is just too adorable! Beautiful stitching and finishing!

    Thank you for sharing the free pattern. I love it !

    I hope you both have a good week...sending hugs and love your way!

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  4. Un post sublime,j'ai adoré du premier au dernier mot!
    Pour commencer et bien la recette je vais l'essayer,merci a vous pour les détails de cuisson.
    J'aime beaucoup ou plutôt j'admire ce merveilleux plateau a étage,il faudra que je m'en offre un,il est splendide,la décoration de la table un vrai bijoux come vos joli broderies.
    Bravo a vous et par Mary
    Je vais vous envoyé une photo dans peu de temps,je me ferais un plaisir de participer.
    Amicalement a vous

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  5. A beautiful post, The bread looks delicious, and the little embroidery is gorgeous.
    Thanks for the freebie - you did a great job.
    Congratulations on the win.
    Hugs to you both, Martina

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  6. St. Patrick's Day, what sweet theme for your first week in March. And thank you so much for the invitation to Irish Soda bread. The recipe just sounds wonderful and oh, the look of the finished bread is just fantastic. Thank you so much, Mary.

    And of course there must be some St. Patrick's Day stitching. Delivering Shamrocks is the perfect stitching for it. And great finishing, RJ. Lucky you that you won one of Jutta's give-aways. I'm sure you will have a lot of fun with the bunnies and the fabrics.

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  7. I feel so lucky , with this St Patricks Day post.
    What fab stitching and cooking a lovely freebi .
    How lucky we are to have both of you.
    Lovely post.

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  8. A wonderful post.
    I like your stitching finishes.
    Hugs to you both, Manuela

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  9. What a precious bunny pulling that cart! I love those bunnies Jutta made! OH MY!! I have a question now. Are either of you Irish? ;) I was just wondering? Makes no difference to me. I am only a little. ;)

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  10. I sent in my photo yesterday! Looking forward to the birthday party. I do not have any St Patrick's Day stitches. I am going to have to remedy that!! I am starting on my summer stitches now. I am stitching Lizzie Kate's Summer. I did Autumn, purchased Winter and I have Spring on order at the Peddler. It should be there this week.

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  11. Always a treat to see and read your new posts! The quilted bunny piece is adorable. Thanks for sharing your Irish ornament with us and the links to Nan's complimentary designs.

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  12. To this wonderful table I would like to take place! Thanks for the recipe.
    I'm so happy with RJ that she won the bunnies and fabrics, the letter is on the way since today.
    Happy stitching, Jutta

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  13. RJ & Mary: Irish Blessings to you both.
    Thank-you for this lovely post, I remember my Fathers Mother making Iris soda bread when I was small she was full Irish.
    Your St. Patricks Day displays are lovely, I am in love with the ornament RJ did it is adorable.
    How lucky to win the quilt kit, of Bunnies it is so sweet, I look forward to seeing it finished.
    Thank-you for inviting us to Tea.

    Blessings
    Catherine

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  14. Merci pour le thé et pour la recette.
    Que de jolis ouvrages pour la Saint Patrick !
    Quelle chance d'avoir gagner ces beaux lapins et les tissus.
    Biz
    Christel
    http://toilesetfils.blogspot.fr

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  15. Great stitching (as always!!!) Thanks for sharing the recipe too.

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  16. The tea table is very beautiful!
    How cute ornament!

    The patchwork bunnies are adorable! Congratulations!

    Not sure if you got my photo for the birthday party?

    Happy week!

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  17. Love the smalls and thanks for the freebie!

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  18. Just love the bunny stitch - so cute, and such a lovely finish! And (yum!) thanks for the Irish Soda Bread recipe. :) Always so much fun to see what you've been up to.

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  19. I've never had Irish soda bread! It looks so good!

    Thank you for the link to the St. Patricks Day freebie!

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  20. what a lovely table setting! I love soda bread! Will be in Ireland next week. Can't wait! Thanks for sharing !

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  21. Thank you for the invitation to tea! The Irish soda bread looks delicious. I love your ornament RJ, just beautifully finished with the little shamrock ribbon and charm.

    Happy St Patrick's Day to you both!

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  22. The ornament RJ stitched for Mary is so cute! I have a thing for bunnies and that one is super cute!! Great win RJ! Can't wait to see it made into a pillow. I am looking forward to your Birthday Party!!

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  23. A lovely tea party you are having, good food, pretty stitching and lots more to feast the eyes on ... Happy St Patricks Day to you both.

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  25. I made a silly mistake in my comment and had to rewrite it. Haha...

    RJ and Mary, I love that bunny pulling the shamrocks! And the little button wheels.... so cute! On St. Patty’s Day, I’m not sure what I look forward to more - the corned beef or the soda bread. The best Irish fare, hands down, for me comes from Nana’s Irish Pub in Newport, Oregon, right on the coast at Nye Beach. We will be there next week! My mouth is watering already. And up until this year when I did my ancestry.com DNA, I didn’t think I was Irish at all. Turns out I’m almost as Irish as my husband, Mr. O’Donoghue. Go figure!

    Have a wonderful week! Until next time... Meg

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  26. I try to write my comment in English. The last days I looked every day at your lovely post. So sweet your decoration at the table.
    I discovered your blog several weeks ago and I got so much inspiration.
    Waving greetings Larissa

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  27. Beautiful stitching - the bunny is very cute! Thank you for the bread recipe, it looks delicious x

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  28. What very pretty ornaments, the Luck to You and Lucky. Also I love the bunnies which will nicely complete a cushion or similar. The recipe looks great although I´ve never seen `buttermilk´ on sale here.

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  29. Looks like I picked the perfect day to visit you two! Happy St. Patrick's Day to you both :)

    Oh, I just may have to try making your Irish Soda Bread, Mary--I even have all the ingredients and you know how I love to bake. With my sons coming home, this would be a nice surprise for them. And I love the sweet Irish piece that RJ stitched along with the added wording.

    Thanks for the freebie links--I need to stitch more for St. Patrick's Day as I haven't done a thing since 2012! Hope you both have a relaxing weekend :)

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  30. Such a lovely post! My sister is married to an Irish man from County Cork, so Paddy's Day figures heavily in our lives! I am going to try your Soda Bread recipe. I'm sure it will be a hit at my brother-in-law's annual Paddy's Day extravaganza!

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  31. Another great post, Ladies. That soda bread looks absolutely delicious and such beautiful stitching and thanks for the link to the freebie.

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  32. Wonderful stitching, a great win too. Hope you had a fun St. Patrick's Day.

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  33. All sweet stitching and the soda bread does look tempting to try and make!

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  34. Your tea photo is so very pretty! I spent 5 months in Ireland in college in 1979 and have many, many fond memories including several recipes from my home stay family.

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  35. I very much like your pattern it's beautiful,thank for sharing good i dea !

    หนังตลก

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