me + my boys: Flora the Cat pattern out now! 🐱

Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Flora the Cat pattern out now! 🐱

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Hey, it's Julie here,

I hope you are enjoying your week so far! Here's what's new this week at Clever Poppy.

In today's email:

NEW Flora the Cat pattern 🐱
Learn how to make woven roses
Realistic paper mushrooms
Healthy raw superfood salad with salmon
In our world: fearless growth + Easter patterns

New pattern: Flora the Cat!

I know you guys loved the sneak peeks I shared of this design, so drumroll please... say hello to our new Flora the Cat beginner kit! This feline design features starter embroidery techniques such as lazy daisy, woven roses, and French knots.

And the cool thing is – the kit includes access to an epic step-by-step video experience. So you can rest assured that even if you're totally new, I'll help you learn embroidery and make your own Flora the Cat.

I just know you'll love stitching this pattern and hanging it proudly on the wall for your furry friend to see! Or you could gift it to a cat-loving friend.

Shop this kit while we still have some in stock!

Flora the Cat Beginner Kit

Shop now

On the blog... learn how to make woven roses

Have you tried woven roses before? Well you should, because it is such a fun technique that adds wow factor to your work! The woven rose technique (also known as a woven wheel) involves weaving threads in a circular pattern to create a lovely, textured rose-like design in embroidery.

I know you'll love this technique once you get into the swing of it!

You'll learn this technique when you make Flora the Cat - or if you can't wait jump to my blog now.

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What have our Makers been up to?

Our talented member, Cindy, has turned one of our beginner patterns into a tea towel to gift to her friend with a new kitchen. 😮

She says: "I made the Home Sweet Home onto a tea towel for a friend. I did it monochrome to match the kitchen in her new home! Because it was on a towel, I changed the lazy daisy stitches on the leaves to leaf stitches."

Your friend won't be blue when they recieve this tea towel, Cindy. You've done a fabulous job! 💙

What's inspiring me on the creative front...

Wow, wow, wow! These vibrant paper mushrooms by @woodlucker are absolutely breathtaking. They would make wonderful decor or would look lovely strung together and hung up on the mantel. The artist, Ann Wood, is a paper botanical artist who loves to experiment with what paper can become. Her art is inspired by nature - including flowers, foraged food, feathers, and insects. Have a scroll through her magical work here.

Healthy raw superfood salad with salmon

This year, our team is taking a page out of Nadia Lim's cookbook with this delicious Raw Superfood Salad with Salmon Sashimi. Wouldn't this raw salad make the perfect lunch to take to work? It's healthy and also tasty! Nadia Lim is a chef who lives on a farm in rural New Zealand with her young family. She studied nutrition and dietetics at University before winning our version of Masterchef and writing her cookbook. We just love how her food focuses on cooking raw, unprocessed food from the ground, sea, and sky. Check out her other delicious creations here.

In our world...

We're back in Auckland and mixing up life between working at our Clever Poppy HQ and spending time with the kids (who are mid-way through their summer holidays). It's a juggle! I'm currently sitting at our dining room table with 'Let's get stitchy' boxes, threads, and half-finished patterns around me whilst supervising 4 kids making a fort in the lounge. And I feel blessed to be here doing just this!

On the work front, I've got my Easter hat on as I develop 2 super cute beginner level patterns. And we are feeling quite overwhelmed at how much everyone is loving our beginner kits, which are flying out the door of our fulfilment centre! It makes me SOOOO happy to think how many lovely makers are going to learn embroidery with our kits, and spend time with me as I teach with the step by step videos.

There's no doubt our business is going to grow lots this year as we help more makers all around the world learn embroidery. It's so exciting and also a bit daunting! So I've decided on my word of the year – fearless. Growth can be scary, but I'll be focusing on the positives and making sure fear is never the thing that holds me back.

Have a great week, everyone!