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A Bustle & Sew Publication Copyright Š Bustle & Sew Limited 2017 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 2017 by: Bustle & Sew The Cottage Oakhill Radstock BA3 5HT UK www.bustleandsew.com
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Welcome to the October Issue October seems to have arrived super-fast this year, with all its joys and pleasures - longer walks with the Newfies now there’s no more danger of them overheating in the summer sun, crisp colourful leaves for scrunching through in wellies, and lovely shiny conkers to collect with Freddie and bring home to help protect his Mummy from the annual autumn invasion of spiders! And of course, the chance to sit inside by the log burner and enjoy some slow stitching. With this in mind I’ve included three hand embroidery designs this month, two of which include embroidering fur - surprisingly easy to do once you’ve mastered just two basic principles. Then we have a couple of Halloween patterns as well as the first part of my new Nativity set. We also feature two very talented makers, Emma who produces the loveliest candles, and Adrienne, who offers her hand embroideries in her Etsy shop. I hope you have a lovely month, and do look out for the November Magazine which will be published on Thursday 26 October. Have a lovely month!
Helen xx
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Tips for Stitchers Don't try to hurry when you’re stitching text. It’s worth taking your time to make your text as smooth and flowing as it can be and as letters are such precise shapes it really shows if your stitching isn’t too neat and tidy. If you’re at all unsure whether to make one large or two smaller stitches then I would always make the two smaller ones. It can be tempting to try to get away with larger and larger stitches if you’re rushing to start your next design - but if you want your work to look beautiful then you need to take your time over it. And finally, if it isn’t looking great - then you may need to take the plunge and unpick it. It’s a horrid thing to have to do I know, but otherwise that work will always be spoiled for you when you look at it. Other people may not notice, but you most certainly will!
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60 Between this month’s covers …
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Tips for Stitchers
Page 4
Taste of the Season: Pumpkins
Page 42
October Almanac
Page 6
Instagram Favourites
Page 43
Autumn Smile Hoop
Page 8
Spooky Spiders Placemat
Page 44
Meet the Maker: Wilton St Craft Co
Page 11
Tis Near Halloween
Page 46
A (very) little guide to Cotton Floss
Page 15
A (very) little guide to Embroidery Hoops
Page 49
Lovely Idea: Bandanna Pumpkins
Page 16
Bert the Bat Softie
Page 50
Embroidering Fur Tutorial
Page 17
The Countryside in October
Page 52
Two Sleepy Foxes Hoop
Page 22
Meet the Maker: Ellis & Ivy
Page 53
A Country Diary
Page 27
The Village Pub in Autumn
Page 55
Poetry Corner: October
Page 28
Nativity Set Part One
Page 56
Summer’s Last Blooms
Page 29
Home Comforts
Page 58
Lovely Idea: Autumn Printable
Page 30
In the Kitchen: Conversion Tables
Page 59
Merry Little Penguins Decoration
Page 31
Templates
Page 60
Taste of the Season: Plums
Page 34
Rosie’s Recipes: Autumn High Tea
Page 35
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October Celebrate autumn’s bounty with a walk through the woods as the season gently fades towards winter in a blaze of colourful glory. You may find sloes and damsons to gather - wonderful for Christmas cordials and liquors; clusters of hazelnuts you can pull down with a stout stick and even the last handfuls of blackberries. Eat these at your own risk though after 29 September, Michaelmas Day as this is when the Devil is said to have spat on them). For cheerful colour around the house bring back sprays of rosehips and haws, and skeins of old man’s beard (the soft fluffy seedheads of wild clematis). As gardeners across the country well know, October is the time for clearing up. Lawns and grassy areas need their last cut before the frosts and dwindling daylight hours bring their growth to a halt. The spent heads and stalks of Michaelmas Daisies and sunflowers are sinking back into their beds and the last leaves are falling from the apple trees. On sunnier days a few butterflies still flutter, sipping at the sweetness from fallen fruit and searching for a place to hibernate, whilst in the woodlands it is fungus time. October is the peak moth for the appearance of often bizarre and colourful mushrooms and toadstools that erupt from the ground or emerge from the damp bark and rotting timber that now litters the woodland floor. October 4th brings the feast day of St Francis of Assisi, founder of the Franciscan order of mendicant friars. Francis was born in Assisi, probably in 1181, the son of a wealthy merchant, and led a carefree, extravagant life until his mid-twenties. His sudden decision to embrace a life of poverty and religious devotion has been variously attributed to severe illness, military experiences and a visionary dream. Today he is perhaps best remembered for his sympathy towards the natural world - he is often shown preaching to birds or surrounded by other animals. In 1980 he was proclaimed patron saint of ecologists and ecology Strong winds are sometimes welcome in October hence the old saying “A good October and a good blast to blow the hog acorns and mast” though here in Britain most Octobers are not as windy as 1987. Those who managed to sleep through the exceptionally stormy night experienced by southern England on October 15/16 woke to a scene of devastation - garden fences and greenhouses smashed, power lines down, uprooted trees blocking roads and railways, roofs blown off and boats driven
aground. The storms swept through the southern counties in the early hours of the morning, with winds reaching hurricane force in places: gusts of 94 mph were recorded in London and over 100 mph elsewhere. Eighteen people lost their lives, hundreds more were injured and an estimated 15 million trees
“The woods never look more beautiful than from the close of last month to the middle of October, for by that time it seems as if nature had exhausted all her choicest colours on the foliage. We see the rich, burnished bronze of the oak; red of many hues, up to the gaudiest scarlet; every shade of yellow, from the wan gold of the primrose to the deep orange of the tiger-lily … and all so blended and softened together in parts, that like the colours on a dove’s neck, we cannot tell where one begins and the other ends.”
destroyed. The eighteenth brings the feast day of St Luke, a doctor by profession and the writer of the third gospel of the New Testament. He is the patron saint of doctors, artists and butchers and his symbol is a horned ox. St Luke’s Day is supposed to be a good time to choose a spouse, and there are various rituals that young women who wish to dream of their future
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husbands can follow. This was also the day that the old Charlton Horn Fair was held in London until 1872. On sale at the fair were horns of all kinds, objects made form horn and figures bearing horns. All the visitors to the fair wore or carried horns and all the stalls were decorated with horns This custom may have originated in a legend of King John and a miller’s wife (the horns of a cuckold) or the horns may possibly have been in honour of St Luke’s ox. The gunfight at the OK Corral, the most infamous shoot-out in the history of the Wild West, took place in Tombstone, Arizona on 26 October 1881. The site of this gunfight is now a tourist attraction, with life-size replicas of the combatants and re-enactments of the 30 second exchange of bullets that has resonated through history and captured the imagination of cowboy enthusiasts across the world. On the last Sunday of October here in the UK the clocks go back, an extra hour in bed to be sure but still a reminder that summer is now well and truly behind us. The end of the month traditionally brings witches and goblins. In pagan times it was a brief season when the divide between the worlds of the living and the dead became less secure and the dead returned from their graves to haunt the living. Ritual fires were lit at dusk on hilltops and in open spaces to purify the land and defeat the powers of evil. Boisterous games were played and loud noises made to frighten away the evil spirits. In AD 835, in an attempt to distract their congregations from these pagan practices, the Church moved Hallowmas, the feast of All Hallows or All Saints, from mid-May to the first day of November. Undeterred people focused their ghost-hunting rituals on the night before All Hallows and the celebration of Halloween on 31 October came into existence. Today Halloween is mainly celebrated by children who dress up as witches, ghosts, devils or other ghoulish creatures, and make pumpkin lanterns by scooping out the flesh, cutting shapes in the shell to represent a face and placing a light inside. As well as the introduction from the US of “trick or treat”, recent years have also seen the revival of traditional British Halloween games such as “bobbing” or “ducking” for apples; trying to eat or catch with the teeth an apple suspended on a string or floating in a bowl of water.
We have limited numbers of this design available as kits including a nice quality pure cotton panel pre-printed with the design and all the floss you need. Our kits do not include the hoop as it’s difficult to source good quality hoops at an economic price and they also add to the cost of postage. 7� hoops are readily available online. To see our selection of kits please CLICK HERE
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If you love Emma’s candles and would like to see more of the Wilton St Craft Co, then please do visit her online ….
http://www.wiltonstreetcraft.co.uk/ https://www.instagram.com/thewiltonstreetcraftco/ https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/WiltonStreetCraftCo https://www.pinterest.co.uk/thewiltonstreet/ PS you can commission your own bespoke candles too!
A (very) Little Guide to Cotton Embroidery Threads You can use all kinds of threads for hand embroidery, offering almost limitless possibilities for variety of colour and texture, especially if your work is intended for display only. If it’s likely to be used and possibly washed then you will need to bear more practical considerations in mind! The most common types of fibres used for surface embroidery today are cotton, silk and wool. The most common cotton thread used for hand embroidery today is 6-strand cotton floss. This comes in skeins, and the whole thread that comes off the skein can be split into six separate, fine threads. Each of these threads is made up of two smaller plies that are softly twisted together.
It’s really important to pull the “right” end of the skein when you’re using your floss - this will mean you can pull out the length you require really easily. Pulling from the “wrong” end will leave you with a nasty tangled mess! And of course the right end is always the hardest to find! When embroidering with stranded cotton, you can choose to use any number of strands. When using one strand your embroidery will be quite fine. As you add strands, the resulting embroidery becomes heavier. If you stitch with all six strands, the stitches become chunky. Pearl (or perle) cotton, unlike 6-strand cotton floss, cannot be divided. Pearl cotton is a twoply tightly twisted thread that gives quite a textured effect to
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your stitches. Because it is normally heavier than floss, line stitches like stem stitch and chain stitch usually sit higher up on the fabric, compared to the same stitches worked with floss. Perle cotton comes in four sizes normally used in needlework: #3, #5, #8 and #12, with #3 being the heaviest and #12 being the finest. In addition to floss and perle cotton, there are other cottons created specifically for hand embroidery, including floche and coton a broder, both of which are excellent hand embroidery threads. DMC and Anchor are the most widely available quality brands today. Never be tempted to buy be cheap thread - you disappointed!
How to Embroider Fur: Bear in a Hat Hand Embroidery Project 10
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October I’ve brought you nuts and hops; And when the leaf drops, why the walnut drops. Crack your first nut and light your first fire, Roast your first chestnut crisp on the bar; Make the logs sparkle, stir the blaze higher, Logs are as cheery as sun or star, Logs we can find wherever we are. Spring one soft day will open the leaves, Spring one bright day will lure back the flowers; Never fancy my whistling wind grieves, Never fancy I’ve tears in my showers: Dance, night and days! and dance on, my hours!
Christina Rossetti 12
Rosie’s Recipes: Autumn High Tea
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Taste of the Season: Pumpkins Later this month supermarket and greengrocers’ shelves will be piled high with orange globes ready for Halloween carving. But too often the pumpkin flesh is simply thrown away when it can be used to make a variety of different, and equally delicious, dishes. Whether you eat the insides of your pumpkin or not, they are amazing to grow if you have the space with their dramatic foliage, large yellow trumpet-shaped flowers as well as their wonderful fruits. If growing to eat, then choose your variety carefully - whether your choice is the classic American pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup like the mildly curried version my Dad used to make, or even simply roasted in the oven. When you harvest your pumpkins leave the stalks on as long as possible as this is where the first signs of rot will appear. If , like me, you love to display before carving and/or eating them, keep them on your windowsill, or another cool dry place.
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Inspiration
inspiration
A closer look at some of the accounts we love…
@brynnandcoshop
@penandpaperpatterns
Based in Queensland on the Sunshine Coast, Amanda creates modern handmade hoopart. She describes herself as a ‘wife, mama & maker and lover of beautiful things’.
Lindsey is a pattern designer and mama of 3 based in Arizona. Her feed is full of the beautiful quilts she makes and you can find her patterns on Craftsy.
@fuzzyandflora
@crochetroad
Becky creates one of a kind needle felted wool animals and embroidery hoop art. We absolutely adore her little llamas - they’re just so sweet!
Joy is a crochet designer based on the Gold Coast, Australia. She makes wonderful crochet flowers, colourful granny squares and runs fab workshops too!
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When witches go riding and black cats are seen, the moon laughs and whispers,
“tis near Halloween�
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Home Comforts Fruit is available in abundance at this time of year - so why not consider using apples, pumpkins or other varieties to make attractive seasonal candleholders? These look (almost) good enough to eat and are really easy to make. Push your candle a little way into the top of your apple (or draw around the base onto the skin if using a pumpkin or other squash with a tough outer layer). This will give you a guide for cutting out. Use a small sharp knife to remove enough fruit so that the base sits far enough down inside to be secure. If your fruit doesn’t sit firmly on its base, then trim the bottom flat with a sharp knife. You can decorate the top of your fruit with moss, leaves and berries as shown in the photo above.
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