We’re Almost Ready for the Spectacular Extravaganza!

Our sponsors for the Pennsylvania Extravaganza March 17-20 are almost ready to greet you! Stony Brook Sew and Vac and Husqvarna/Viking are planning a wonderful time for you at the Sheraton Bucks County Hotel, including furnishing top-of-the-line Viking machines for you to play with for four days! It’s going to be spectacular, and I want you to be there to join us for the fun! In addition to four days and several nights of classes, all of your fabulous kits will be furnished, as will four lunches and one evening banquet meal. We will also have a few extras in store for you. Wednesday night will be devoted to wonderful table top clinics, where you will see all sorts of techniques and sewing ideas demonstrated, table-by-table. On Thursday night, I will present “You Can Make Money from Your Hobby” for those of you interested in beginning a business or in growing a business that you already have. Friday night will be our banquet, I will share my 28 years of funny sewing stories and anecdotes. We have six brand new projects for you, and Martha Pullen licensed teachers can add these projects to their course curriculum! There still is time for you to register, but call right away, so everything will be ready for your arrival! Click here for more details and call now to reserve your place at the Extravaganza in Langhorne, Pennsylvania March 17-20!

Call now to register!
1-800-547-4176 ext. 4

Renowned needle-felting artist Margo Duke grew up in Scotland, where generations of her family were leaders in the wool industry. When she discovered the Baby Lock Embellisher, her passion for needle-felt art took flight – and oh, what flight! See the gorgeous work on her website at www.hermajestymargo.com. Now, you can learn from the master herself! Margo will be a celebrity guest at Martha Pullen’s Sewing Market May 20-22 in Arlington, Texas! Needle-felting techniques are fast becoming the latest fashion craze, because the incredible one-of-a-kind designs can be created with low investment. Yet, as with any sewing technique, the tips and tricks offered by an artist in the field transform your work from basic to beautiful. Margo’s presentation is FREE to Sewing Market ticket holders! Tickets are just $17! Click here for more information and get ready to be inspired!

Snakes and Rails and Monkey’s Tails – Boy, Oh Boy!

What fun you will have with this week’s newsletter sale offering! That special little boy on your sewing list (or tomboy!) will appreciate the 28 brightly colored embroidery designs from Martha Pullen’s Boy, Oh Boy! CD. Add them to his shirts, pants, blankets, bags and bath towels and watch him proudly display his collection of bugs, trucks, dinosaurs and other assorted creepy-crawlies. Click here to see all of the designs. Formatted for all embroidery machines, these delightful designs will fit your 4” x 4” hoop. Best of all, you save $15 this week – even more when you join the Internet Embroidery Club! Regularly priced at $90, you can get this just-for-fun CD for $75 for a limited time! IEC members save $30 and pay only $60 for the CD. Click here to order Boy, Oh Boy! now! Click here to join the IEC!

Pick-a-Pocket – Pick Them All!

Pocket toppers add a touch of merriment to shirts and pants, and this delightful Sew Beautiful collection of 18 designs for your 4” x 4” hoops will provide merriment for every occasion. Teachers and students alike will love the Pocket Art design; cooks will enjoy stirring things up with a Pocket Cookin’ apron; and cat lovers will simply purr over a Pocket Kitty peering over the pocket edge of a shirt. There’s a pocket topper for Bunko, one for birthdays and one for bear lovers. Click here to see all of the designs. Get $5 off the regular price of $40, and click here to purchase the Pick-a-Pocket CD for just $35! IEC members pay only $30! Save $10 and click here to join the IEC!

NOTE ABOUT MARTHA’S SEWING ROOM (PBS) FROM BARB
Thanks for all that you do to make sewing such fun! Love watching your shows.  I especially love the segments about your Vintage Collection.  I was given my grandmother's wedding dress from 1935 and had to run upstairs to the closet and check the stitching.

Note from Martha: Thanks Barb for loving our television series. This summer will begin our 17th year of taping. We have just been informed that Martha’s Sewing Room is currently airing in 85% of all PBS markets around the country. Of course we are thrilled. One of the joys of seeing beautiful vintage clothing for us who love to sew is indeed examining carefully the sewing techniques. Since most of these things were made at home we can wrap our minds around, at least in a little way, what kind of sewing this lady from long ago loved to do and how she designed and stitched. My love of vintage clothing, especially heirlooms for women and children, has so much depth of interest for me and I am glad for others also. I have loved the vintage clothing collection segments on every television show. I have loved sharing collections, in our books, from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the DAR Museum in Washington, DC, the Kent State Museum in Kent, Ohio and of course my personal collections. For those who love vintage linens we have the book, Glorious Linens. 

GORGEOUS CLOTHES FROM ANNETTE POOLE, A MARTHA PULLEN LICENSED HEIRLOOM I TEACHER
Here are some pictures of my granddaughter.  She turned three on January 7th and asked me for a sewing machine for her birthday. Of course I wanted to do that! She likes to come over and sew together. When I ask her, "What shall we do today for fun?" She says, "Gramma, let's zigzag!" She has a tiny Elna machine and a Horn cabinet trimmed in pink.

The dressy picture is of the same granddaughter in a wedding. She is wearing the dress that Connie (Palmer) taught us at Heirloom I as a christening gown, but I worked it into a flower girl dress. It turned out stunning. It is ivory silk organza over ivory silk dupioni. Thanks for all the encouragement I have received at your schools. I can't wait to come again. (Yes, I made the green corduroy dress she is wearing and a doll dress to match it.)

Dear Sewing Family,

This beginning licensing is beyond fabulous!! Ladies (and a few husbands) are here from all over the United States as well as Canada. We have laughed until we cried, told life stories, sewed and sewed and sewed. We are having just too much fun as we have all agreed. They love the easy-to-sew projects and many are already teaching both beginning and children’s sewing lessons. They are thrilled over the new projects—absolutely thrilled. Tonight we go to Jennifer’s Studio for a professional photo of each student and me and then on to the warehouse for a pizza party and shopping. I have a few pictures of the group today and will have some more next week. They are absolutely delighted with the 36 beginning sewing projects that they will take home to teach to adults and kids. I’ll have lots more pictures next week of our fabulous group.

Click here for more pictures

It is very important to me and to our company that you take time to fill out the on-line Sew Beautiful survey. This information is needed NOT ONLY for Sew Beautiful content planning but for planning new products for YOU from Martha Pullen Company as well as giving us hints and ideas for the upcoming television series of Martha’s Sewing Room. We truly take your ideas into consideration - big time - when you let us know what your favorite types of sewing are and what you like best and least.  I think you will find it fun to take the survey. Please click here to take the survey. Would you please take just a very few minutes and do this now? Thank you in advance for taking this survey.

I can’t wait to see many of you NEXT WEEK in Langhorne, PA, March 17-20. Husqvarna/Viking and Stony Brook Sew and Vac are underwriting this event, and everyone will have a brand new Viking machine and serger to use for the class!  I personally cannot wait to get back to the Pennsylvania area to meet new friends and see other friends of many years. We will have great discounts in our retail store, which will be open in the hotel. We also invite everyone in the area to come shop even if you are not taking the class. You will get great discounts too. The store will be in the Sheraton Bucks County Hotel and the shopping hours are listed here:

The store will be closed for lunch Wednesday through Saturday

This is a note to all of our Martha Pullen Licensed Teachers: You are going to be able to hold the copyright, along with MPC, of the classes we are teaching in Pennsylvania. This means that you have SIX new classes to teach along with your Martha Pullen licensed teacher classes. This will be the event of a lifetime I promise. Please call 1-800-547-4176 ext. 4 to register for this fabulous event. Please click here to download a complete brochure.

On a personal side Camp sent me Campbell’s senior picture. Sherry Ann gave me Morgan’s senior picture. Can it be possible that they are graduating from high school? Both have received scholarship offers and Campbell is waiting on more information from other schools before he makes his final decision. Morgan has plans to become a dentist and Campbell has always said he will be a physician. Both have excellent grades and I am so very proud of them.

Don’t you love the March 2010 machine embroidery designs for the IEC! These two little bunny designs would be perfect on a spring sweater or little jumper or on a baby’s layette pieces. Although they are perfect for Easter they are also perfect for the whole year.

I can see these designs quickly embroidered on white or pastel napkins to use for your Easter Sunday meal. I always set the table with the best of everything I have including Mama’s Rhodora china by Lenox with a pink rose in the middle. These bunny napkins would be perfect. They would also be the perfect bridal shower napkins to use year after year for a bridal luncheon. For that matter wouldn’t napkins embroidered with the two bunnies and two little birds make a perfect wedding gift? Embroidered napkins are gifts that always last. I am still using red gingham napkins that I cross stitched about 40 years ago. Speaking of gingham these IEC embroidery designs would be perfect on very quick and simple to make gingham napkins using our gorgeous 100% cotton gingham!

60" wide - $12.00 / yd - Click here to order

Please click here to join the IEC for 2010. You are truly missing the best value of the machine embroidery industry if you are not a member. I PROMISE!!! Click here to see the designs you would receive right now if you join. The cost is only $59 per year and I guess that you will receive over $400 worth of machine embroidery designs PLUS BIG discounts on Martha Pullen machine embroidery CDs as well as a SALE on other Martha Pullen items monthly.

Please send me sewing tips and pictures of your projects to martha.pullen@yahoo.com. Our newsletter readers absolutely love seeing your projects and reading your tips.

I pray for our men and women serving in harm’s way and for their families. I pray for you and your family. Thank you for letting me come see you every week. Thank you for loving our products and for your loyalty in purchasing MPC products. You are totally appreciated and we will NEVER take you for granted. I send you my love as always.

God Bless You,
Martha

Sew Beautiful

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	Romantic Tucked Blouse	Sassafras Coat	Easter for the Older Girl
	By Carolyn Sheron and Kathy Barnard	By Kari Mecca	By Maja Clayton

MARTHA PULLEN LICENSED TEACHER WEEKS

Licensing dates are scheduled as listed below:

Martha Pullen/Heirloom Sewing I - April 13-20, 2010
Martha Pullen/Serger II  - July 28-August 4, 2010
Baby Lock II  - September 14-21, 2010

Roman numeral designations indicate a collection of curriculum and not the order in which the
licensings need to be taken. All licensing curriculums are stand-alone and have no prerequisites other than a love of sewing and a desire to learn.

For more info, call 800-547-4176, ext. 5 or visit our licensing info page: Licensing Link

Psalm 77:4
4 ...I was too troubled to speak.

Psalm 142:2-3
2 I pour out my complaint before him; before him I tell my trouble.
3 When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who know my way…
 
During difficult times in my life I know that constant prayer—all day—and reading my Bible are the two best ways to handle worries. My Aunt Ruth (born around 1890) lost her oldest son, Billy, in WWII. She told me that two things helped her get through the days of grief after receiving this horrid news. She scrubbed all of her floors on her knees with a brush every day. Then she would rock in her chair and open her Bible. Sometimes she was only able to open her Bible and put her hand on a page not even able to read at that time. Other times she said she would open the Bible and read any page that came up - sometimes out loud and sometimes silently.

I feel these are total words of wisdom in dealing with hurts of any type.  Prayer and reading my Bible are critical. Although I don’t scrub my floors on my knees, good physical housework is indeed helpful. I also find that exercise helps. I have friends that I can talk with. I have found that writing down everything that is bothering me helps me greatly. If I keep this list for a week or so I find that none of these things I wrote “last week” are quite as serious as they seemed to be. For me writing down worries helps me prioritize what needs to be done. Please go back and re-read Psalm 142:2-3 written above. Know that I care about what is happening in your life today and that I care about you. Hang on. And remember that God can make good out of anything.

Romans 8:28
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

RECIPE FOR THE WEEK from the editors of Taste of the South, a magazine about the rich food heritage of the South. Each issue of Taste of the South features more than 60 easy recipes, which we know you will adore. It’s published by Hoffman Media of which Martha Pullen Company is a subsidiary. Thanks to their editors for sharing these recipes with us. If you have questions concerning these recipes, please visit TasteoftheSouthMagazine.com, or call, (888) 411-8995. Click here to subscribe to Taste of the South.

You’ll be the hit of the bake sale with our Melt-My-Heart-Away Cookies. For more recipes like this, see the February/March 2010 issue of Taste of the South.

Melt-My-Heart-Away Cookies

Yield: approximately 7 dozen
Preparation: 10 minutes
Refrigerate: 6 hours
Bake: 10 minutes
Cool: 20 minutes
 
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup brown butter*, softened
3/4 cup cornstarch
1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 recipe Raspberry Buttercream (Recipe follows.)
Garnish: jumbo heart sprinkles†

In a large bowl, combine flour, butter, brown butter, cornstarch, confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, and salt. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy, approximately 3 minutes.
   
Separate dough into 4 equal portions, and roll each into a smooth log. Wrap each log in flour-dusted waxed paper. Refrigerate dough for at least 6 hours. After 6 hours, let dough sit at room temperature for 15 minutes to soften.
   
Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly spray 2 baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.

Slice dough into 1/4-inch-thick slices, and place on prepared baking sheets.
 
Bake for 10 minutes. Remove to wire racks, and let cool completely.
   
Place Raspberry Buttercream in a pastry bag fitted with a small star tip. Pipe onto each cookie. Garnish with jumbo heart sprinkles, if desired.

*To make brown butter, melt butter in a stainless-steel skillet over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until butter becomes honey colored and gives off a nutty aroma. Remove from heat to avoid burning. Pour through a fine-mesh strainer. Refrigerate until slightly set.

†For testing purposes, we used Wilton Jumbo Heart Sprinkles, wilton.com.

Raspberry Buttercream

Yield: approximately 5 cups
Preparation: 25 minutes
Cook: 5 minutes
 
5 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons and softened to room temperature
2 teaspoons raspberry extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

In a heatproof bowl, combine egg whites and sugar, whisking to blend. Set bowl over a pan of simmering water. Whisk until sugar has dissolved and mixture registers 140° on a candy thermometer, approximately 5 minutes.

Beat at high speed with an electric mixer until tripled in volume and cooled, approximately 10 minutes. Reduce mixer speed to low, and add butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until all butter is incorporated. Add raspberry extract, vanilla, and salt, beating until combined.
 
Cover buttercream, and store at room temperature, if using the same day.*

*Buttercream can be refrigerated for up to 1 week and frozen for up to 6 weeks. If frozen, let thaw in refrigerator for 24 hours before using. Let sit at room temperature for 2 hours. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until mixture comes together and is smooth.