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Welcome to the January Issue
Hello, January is traditionally the time to hunker down and sit out the winter months. Although the days are growing longer again at last, spring is still a long way off, though if you look carefully, especially during a mild winter, there are already the first signs appearing in the hedgerows. This month brings the 60th issue of the Bustle & Sew Magazine - I can hardly believe that it was FIVE YEARS ago that I sat down at my (then brand new) laptop and began to put the first issue together. Things have come a long way since then and I do hope you’ll enjoy all that this sixtieth issue contains. As always there are six Bustle & Sew designs, including the first two in a new series of dog trophy heads (there’s a special pattern for cat-lovers coming next month), lots of hand embroidery and a cute little Suffolk Puff (or yoyo) bunny. Then we have interviews with three very talented designer-makers, articles, features and the first contribution from our new team member Debbie, who shows us how to make some lovely fragranced bath bombs - perfect for relaxing after the Christmas rush! I think that’s enough from me - just a quick reminder that the February issue will be published, as always, on the last Thursday of the month - in this case Thursday 28 January. So if you’re a subscriber watch out for it arriving in your inbox then! Until then, Best wishes for a very happy New Year 2016
Helen xx
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Between the Covers … January Almanac
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Keep Cozy Cushion Cover
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Fragrant Flowering Hyacinths
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Meet the Maker: Enhar Koc
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Lovely Idea: Thimble Necklace
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Naughty Pups Trophy Heads
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Nice and Easy: Freestyle Machine Applique
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Poetry Corner
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Fragranced Bath Bombs
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Signs of Spring Hoops
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Dream It, Do It: Lady Belle Fabrics
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A Little Look at Linen
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Baking: Champagne Cake
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Magazine Pocket
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Meet the Maker: Breezy Guerra
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Drifts of Snowdrops
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January’s Favourite Blogs
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New Year - Time to Blog?
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Puff Bunny
Page 48
Matchbook Needle Keeper
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Fabric Collecting
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Cup of Tea Hoop
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And Finally …
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January Calendar
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Templates
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Contributors Rosie Studholme Puts together all our lovely ideas and baking pages as well as researching & editing our features and interviews.
Enhar Koc Talks about crafting, creating and her online business, Love, Joy Create
Brooke Becker Describes how her dreams became reality, her hopes for the future and the inspiration behind Lady Belle Fabric
Breezy Guerra Doesn’t believe in following rules - just inspired creativity and having fun!
Debbie Thomson Joined Bustle & Sew in November and is keeping us very well organised, as well as coming up with some lovely crafting ideas.
January For many folk, especially in Scotland, the celebrations of New Year’s Eve, or Hogmanay continue into New Year’s Day without a break. According to tradition, to guarantee good luck the whole year round, the first person to enter your house on 1 January should be a darkhaired male bringing gifts of coal and whisky. Such visitors are welcomed with appropriate refreshments and in Scotland people go from house to house first-footing. In the past overenthusiastic partying and lack of sleep on New Year’s Eve led to widespread absenteeism in the workplace on 1 January and in 1974 it was finally declared a public holiday throughout the UK.
The winter months are also a good time to see owls in daylight as the shortage of food forces them to hunt for many more hours than in the summer months. January 6 brings the festival of Epiphany, commemorating the arrival of the Magi - the three wise men who travelled from the East to worship the baby Jesus, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. In the Orthodox Church it marks the baptism of Christ by John the Baptist around thirty years later. Also known as Twelfth Day or Twelfth Night, this is the last of the Twelve Days of Christmas and is the date by which you should take down your Christmas decorations to avoid bad luck. On Twelfth Night at London’s Drury Lane Theatre, the cast of the current show are served with a glass of wine and a piece of cake by staff in powdered wigs and 18th century livery, courtesy of the actor and former chef Robert Baddeley, who died in 1794 and left money in his will to fund this annual treat.
Rather than stay indoors all day in January, tempting though this may seem, going for a long winter’s walk can be very enjoyable. Remember the old saying “there’s no such thing as bad weather just the wrong clothing!” I love to head out into the woods with the Newfies in January as there’s so much to see now the trees are bare. There are generally four layers of habitat in our English woods - a ground layer of small plants such as mosses; a field layer of flowers and ferns; the undergrowth of hazel, hawthorn (and brambles and nettles in the summer months!) and finally the tree layer or canopy. Many insects will be hiding or hibernating in the leaf mould or tree bark and you may be lucky and spot various species of birds hunting for them, including woodpeckers, wrens, robins and blackbirds.
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On 18 January 1882, Alan Alexander Milne was born in London. After graduating from Cambridge University he worked as assistant editor of Punch Magazine and wrote a number of successful light comedies. He is remembered, however, for the poems and stories he wrote for his young son, Christopher Robin in the 1920’s, creating characters based on the youngster’s soft toys that would go on to win the hearts of generations of children across the world. Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends Eeyore the donkey, Piglet, Kanga, Roo, Rabbit, Owl and Tigger went on to star in a number of Disney films but for many people the “real” characters are those drawn by EH Shephard for AA Milne’s four original books.
potatose and swedes). The meal begins with the “Selkirk Grace” “Some hae meat and canna eat, And some wad eat that want it; But we hae meat and we can eat, And sae the Lord be thankit.” The company then stand to receive the haggis as it’s ceremoniously piped into the room and set down in front of the chief guest. Away from the haggis, by this time of the month, catkins will already be appearing on hazel bushes, turning from green to yellow as they mature. Shoots of wild garlic will be sprouting up through the leaf mould, recognisable by their pungent smell if you crush them between your fingers. As our winters seem to be growing milder, if you’re in the south of the country you may even discover celandines and primroses in flower. In the garden, the first spring bulbs will be emerging and the Christmas rose will be in flower.
On this day each year, many fans celebrate AA Milne’s birthday with appropriate songs and games and in particular Poohsticks, which involves dropping sticks from the upstream side of a bridge, then running to the upstream side to see whose stick emerges first:
Of course on the opposite side of the world it’s high summer and in Australia they will be celebrating Australia Day on the 26th , commemorating the foundation of the first colony of European settlers at Port Jackson (now Sydney, capital of New South Wales) on 26 January 1788. The immigrants had travelled from England in a fleet of eleven ships under the command of Captain Arthur Philip who subsequently became the founder and first governor of New South Wales.
“So the next time he dropped one big one and one little one, and the big one came out first, which was what he had said it would do, and the little one came out last, which was what he had said it would do, so he had won twice…. And that was the beginning of the game called Poohsticks, which Pooh invented, and which he and his friends used to play on the edge of the Forest.”
Here in chilly England, before spring arrives, it’s a good time to wrap up warm and visit one of our Wildfowl and Wetland Trust sites to see vast swans, geese and ducks feeding and over wintering before they begin their long journey back to the Arctic to breed.
January 25th brings another famous birthday that of Robert Burns (1759-96) - celebrated by people of Scottish descent all over the world. The main attraction of Burns Night is a traditional Burns Supper of haggis (made from the heart, lungs and liver of a sheep chopped p with suet, onions and oatmeal traditionally boiled in a sheep’s stomach-bag), tatties and neeps (boiled
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Cozy Fox Cushion This flower-shaped cushion is a combination of a number of techniques - applique, hand embroidery and English paper piecing - albeit on a giant scale! For the best results you can make your own cushion pad, too. I’m not sure if that counts as another technique but this certainly isn’t a boring project. I used a variety of Tilda and vintage fabrics in spring colours to give a hint of the warmer months to come, though the little fox doesn’t look as if he’s planning to get up and go places anytime soon - he’s far too snuggly for that! Finished cushion is 20” diameter at its widest point. ● Scraps of white felt
Materials ● 1 ½ yards x 48” wide white cotton/polycotton fabric (to back your front panel and make your cushion pad)
● Stranded cotton floss in 2 shades of pink (light and dark), 2 shades of green light and dark), black, dark brown, fox red and white
● 12” square cotton fabric for background to fox embroidery (I used a Tilda tiny star fabric)
● Two rectangles of cotton fabric each measuring 22” x 16” for the back of the cushion.
● Six 6” x 8” pieces of cotton fabric for the petals surrounding the centre circle
● Stuffing for cushion pad ● Bondaweb
● 9” square fox red felt/woollen fabric
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In January we’re loving fragrant winter flowering Hyacinths
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“Do not look at what others do, do not listen to what others say, just listen to your heart & work hard!”
Meet the Maker
talks to us about where she finds creative inspiration, how she got into crafting and how she started her business, Enhar started her business from her home near Istanbul, Turkey back in 2012. When she became a mum she became a crafter and now designs and makes gorgeous homewares and quirky gifts. I was working as a Senior HR Specialist but when I had my child I left full time work. I became a stay at home mother but within a few months I got bored! I didn’t want to go back to working long hours so I decided to take sewing classes which is something I had always wanted to do.
Once I started sewing I ended with thousands of meters of fabric in my living room! It was a hobby for me until a friend of mine told me about Etsy. I started adding any bits I made, I had no idea about promoting my shop, I was moving
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with baby steps. Almost after a year I decided to concentrate more on my shop, I totally changed what I made, designed new collections and that’s how my shop has evolved into what it is today.
First of all I always collect memories; souvenirs, photos, tickets, maps, stones, flowers, drawings etc. All of these memories will be an inspiration someday! When I start to design a new collection or product, concept comes first. I start draft drawing by hand. Then comes the colours & I make the digital designs. And last I decide on the fabrics I'll use & get the demo prints to see the shape & colours on fabric.
Yes, I have a home studio. Although sometimes I dream of having a fancy artistic
studio, the truth is I love my "handmade" home studio. Every corner has a touch of me. I feel completed & inspired in my home studio!
sports; running or cycling. Once the kids are back from school I put my mum hat back on and I’m looking after them.
Modern, colourful & fun!
I wake up 6:45 a.m & for the next hour I have to take care of my kids. They leave for school at 7:45. After having my breakfast I start working. My typical day includes going to post office, shop for materials I need, going to the print shop, replying to emails, promoting my shop & working on designs. Also I try to make time for
My mint Hello pillow cover is my favourite because it changed everything. With this design my shop became what it is at the moment.
My kids! Kids always have a very colourful & fun world, their imagination is limitless.
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Find what works best for you and find your own way. Do not look at what others do, do not listen to what others say, just listen to your heart & work hard!
Enhar creates all of her hand made items from her home near Istanbul. Be sure to pop over to her shop and have a look at all of her gorgeous makes! www.etsy.com/uk/shop/LoveJoyCreate
This is such a wonderful idea – why not make one for yourself and another for the favourite stitcher in your life? You’re sure to receive compliments wherever you wear it! Pop over to Laura’s website for the full tutorial.
Look! a lovely idea -------------------
Thimble Necklace
Image & Tutorial: www.thewindandthesail.com 11