Bustle & Sew Magazine Issue 69 October 2016 Sampler

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A Bustle & Sew Publication Copyright Š Bustle & Sew Limited 2016 The right of Helen Dickson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form, or by any means, without the prior written permission of the author, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

Every effort has been made to ensure that all the information in this book is accurate. However, due to differing conditions, tools and individual skills, the publisher cannot be responsible for any injuries, losses and other damages that may result from the use of the information in this book.

First published 2016 by: Bustle & Sew The Cottage Oakhill Radstock BA3 5HT UK www.bustleandsew.com

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Welcome to the October Issue

By October all thoughts of summer are behind us and it’s time to settle down, snuggle in and enjoy the pleasures of autumn at a leisurely pace before the rush and hurry of Christmas is upon us. I love this changing season, when I heap knitted throws and vintage blankets on my sofas, light the wood burner in the early evening and enjoy slow-cooked, melt in the mouth casseroles for supper.

I do hope you’ll enjoy this issue. The November Magazine will be published on Thursday 27 October so please do look out for it then. Meanwhile I hope you have a very happy month with lots of time for stitching!

Best wishes

Helen xx

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Tips for Stitchers When cutting out applique shapes, think carefully about the order in which you’ll be applying them and allow a little extra at the edges where the shapes at the back will be overlapped by ones you place later, so avoiding any ugly gaps in your finished picture.

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Between the Covers …

Tips for Stitchers

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September Almanac

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Mistletoe Kisses Hoop

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Meet the Maker: Claire Read

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Successful selling on Etsy

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Halloween: The Witching Hour

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Lovely Idea: Toffee Apples

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Forest Friends Slippers

Page 19

Across the Downs

Page 22

Choosing the Right Fabric Part 2

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Rosie Studholme

Rosie’s Recipes: High Teas & Suppers

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Lovely Idea: Felt Fox Cosy

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Christmas Dachshund Cushion

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Puts together our recipe pages as well as researching & editing our features and interviews.

The Beaufort Scale

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Poetry Corner: Digging

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Colours of the Season

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Faux Taxidermy Deer Head

Page 39

Along the Silk Road

Page 43

Choosing your Needle

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Signs of the Season: Fungi

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Halloween Pumpkin

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Lovely Idea: Ghosts in the Glass

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Meet the Maker: Lisa Toppin

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Rosie’s Recipes: Preserving Autumn’s Bounty Page 54 Ending Summer Time

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Winter is Coming Hoop

Page 58

Rainy Day Dreaming

Page 61

Home Comforts

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In the Kitchen: Conversion Tables

Page 63

Templates

Page 64

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Contributors Claire Read Reusing the loveliest thrifted items to create uniquely beautiful displays

Lisa Toppin Lets old fabrics and buttons live again as unique accessories which will hopefully become new treasures.

October October, provided the weather has been fairly dry, is a wonderful time to enjoy woodland walks, kicking up the fallen leaves, beneath which may lie conkers, hazelnuts and other autumn bounty. If you’re lucky enough to have sweet chestnut trees growing nearby then it’s fun to gather your own chestnuts to take home and roast on the fire. Horse chestnuts, are probably more popular with children and the young at heart though as this is the season for games of conkers. This game probably evolved from a game called “conquerors” which was originally played with snail shells! A later version was played with hazelnuts on strings, but by the 20th century these earlier games had been replaced by the game we know today using pierced horse chestnuts threaded onto the ends of strings. The World Conker Championship is now held annually in Ashton in Northamptonshire on the second Sunday in October.

produced using methods and techniques that would prevent the foods from spoiling, allowing them to be stored for many months.

Strong winds are common in October, and often welcome “A good October and a good blast to blow the hog acorns and mast”, but sometimes you can have too much of a good thing - UK readers of a certain age will remember the infamous “not a hurricane” night of 15-16 October 1987. Across the Atlantic however, October brings the end of the hurricane season, celebrated in the Virgin Islands with a public holiday on the third Monday of October - Hurricane Thanksgiving Day. Rosh Hashanah, falling this year from October 2 - 4 is the Jewish festival of the New Year, marking the creation of the world and also considered to be a day of judgement. Rituals or ram’s horn 100 include the lowing of a times in the synagogue to remind the faithful to spend time in self-reflection and in homes a special meal is eaten. The Jewish holy time continues for ten days after Rosh Hashanah, culminating with the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur.

In days past much of the period after September’s harvest was taken up with the work involved in preserving food so that it would last through the colder months to come.

Many of the foods we enjoy today as spicy or savoury treats originated as methods of preserving the harvest bounty. Jams, pickles, smoked and salted meats and fish were all

October 18th brings the feast day of St Luke, a doctor by profession and also the author of

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Feeling a little bit festive?

Then check out our Bumper Book of Christmas Stitching!

A compendium of 20 carefully chosen patterns, as well as lots more besides, in true Bustle & Sew (slightly eccentric) style.

Available from the Bustle & Sew website Just CLICK HERE to learn more

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“Escape into a miniature world of stories�

Meet the Maker

Claire Read talks to us about her love of everything vintage and a life spent rescuing and reusing the loveliest vintage items for her business Little Burrow Designs Hello Claire, and thanks so much for joining us. I’d like to start by asking ..

How did you begin making your lovely designs?

Making my story box sculptures really started off as almost a therapy for myself. My father was diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia, which led to incredible stress for us as a family.

I took up making again to try to channel my emotions, to gain the peace of mind that seemed to come from sewing one stitch after another.

I just began to escape in to this miniature world of stories, of taking unwanted objects from different past lives, and combining them together to create something that contained a little piece of me.

Please tell us a little about your business journey To be honest, I used to look at friends who had started up their own business, and just wonder how on earth they got going. I seemed to think that there was just some secret formula to starting your own business. Then, I realized you just had to take a deep breath, start it, and try your best to grow it.

Surprisingly, starting my Facebook

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page early has been an enormous help to me. I could never have imagined that you could actually sell your artwork from there. From there I just seemed to grow really quickly, and in my first year I was accepted to exhibit at the prestigious Contemporary Craft Festival, which I have had the honour of doing every year since. That really helped me grow, and be noticed more.

Do you have a favourite design you have made, and if so what is it and why?

I think that is a very difficult decision, because my work is always evolving.

Usually my favourite design is a piece I have made most recently.

Generally, I would say that my two favourites are "Butterfly Days", because it reminds me so much of my own childhood, running around in fields on hot summers days, and Penguin Play is a favourite, because it was my first real automaton piece.

Why do you think there has been a resurgence in the popularity of homemade/handmade?

I think people are becoming more environmentally aware, and there is no contest that things made at home, or handmade items, have less of an environmental impact, than

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Halloween: The Witching Hour

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Look! a lovely idea -------------------

Sticky Toffee Apples

Nothing beats the crunch of a toffee apple on a crisp autumnal evening, whether you’re out and about trick and treating or gathered around a bonfire on Firework Night. These taste so much better than shop bought and are really easy to make. Add sprinkles or even gold sugar stars for an extra special treat.

Recipe available on the Good Food Website: Traditional Toffee Apples

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Choosing the Right Fabric Part Two

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Digging Today I think Only with scents, - scents dead leaves yield, And bracken, and wild carrot’s seed, And the square mustard field; Odours that rise When the spade wounds the root of tree, Rose, currant, raspberry, or goutweed, Rhubarb or celery; The smoke’s smell, too Flowing from where a bonfire urns The dead, the waste, the dangerous, And all to sweetness turns.

It is enough To smell, to crumble the dark earth, While the robin sings over again Sad songs of Autumn mirth.

Edward Thomas

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Colours of the Season

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Along the Silk Road ‌ the world’s oldest fabric Silk is one of the oldest known fibres and, according to Chinese legend, was accidentally discovered by Empress Hsi Ling Shi, wife of Emperor Huang Ti (also called the Yellow Emperor).

One day when the Empress was sipping her tea beneath a mulberry tree, a cocoon fell into her cup and began to unravel. The Empress

Colours of the Season

was so enamoured with the shimmering threads she took the trouble to find out more and learned that their creator was the silkworm Bombyx mori found in the white mulberry. She oversaw the earliest development of sericulture (the cultivation of silkworms and production of silk) and invented the reel and loom, so

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beginning the history of silk.

Whether this legend is true or not, the earliest surviving references to silk history and production place its origins in China, and for nearly three millennia the Chinese had a global monopoly on silk production.

Rosie’s Recipes: Preserving Autumn’s Bounty (or Mum’s lovely chutneys!)

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to the rear of the wolf, as though he was casting a shadow on the snow.

Notes on Stitching ● I used two strands of floss throughout.

● I filled the circles with French knots using 4030.

● The text is worked in split stitch

● I tried to vary my stitches as much as possible, and if time had permitted had planned to fill some of the larger open areas with seed stitch.

● I tried to treat the spirals and whorls in different ways, but for harmony you’ll see that all the stripy whorls are worked in blue and mint with the darker colours

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Rainy Day Dreaming ‌. extract from The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

Drowsy animals, snug in their holes while wind and rain were battering at their doors, recalled still keen mornings, an hour before sunrise, when the white mist, as yet undispersed, clung closely along the surface of the water, then the shock of the early plunge, the scamper along the bank, and the radiant transformation of earth, air and water, when suddenly the sun was with them again, and grey was gold and colour was born and sprang out of the earth once more. They recalled the languorous siesta of hot mid-day, deep in green undergrowth, the sun striking through in tiny golden shafts and spots; the boating and bathing of the afternoon, the rambles along dusty lanes and through yellow corn-fields; and the long, cool evening at last, when so many threads were gathered up, so many friendships rounded, and so many adventures planned for the morrow 19

Home Comforts I love planting bulbs in the autumn, tucking those little papery roots safely beneath the soil, then forgetting all about them until the days begin to grow longer once more and they reward me with an explosion of bright cheerful colour, one of the earliest signs of spring. You should always plant at three times the depth of the bulb with the tip pointing upwards in natural looking groups - odd numbers work best - toss your bulbs in handfuls gently onto the ground and plant them where they land. If you have a lot to plant then it’s worth investing in special long-handled planter to make life easier!

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