sampler

Monogram Mondays from Jenny of Elefantz

by Helen on February 4, 2013

Looking for inspiration on a grey Monday morning?  I know just the place to find it!  Just pop along to my friend Jenny’s lovely Elefantz blog where she has just started a lovely series of  monograms – and is generously sharing them for free!

You’ll find the letter “A”, together with Jenny’s suggestion for combining them all into a sampler over on the Elefantz blog – just CLICK HERE to visit.  Jenny is the guest designer in the March issue of the Bustle & Sew Magazine too – and has a beautiful pattern all ready for readers to enjoy.

{ 1 comment }

Rosie & Bear Sampler and the May Magazine

by Helen on April 20, 2012

Still no sign of the frame I have ordered for my Rosie & Bear “First Stitches” Alphabet Sampler, so as magazine publication time draws ever closer, I thought I’d better photograph it un-mounted…. 

Alphabet Sampler

… I’m very pleased with the way it turned out, and am looking forward to being able to frame it.  I don’t often sign my work, but added a little postage-stamp sized patch with stitching details on here – as a sampler I felt it needed this, though I had to squint very hard through my old lady specs to stitch that bit!  But the rest is really easy, though you can’t see the colours very well in this photo – I don’t think my camera likes white backgrounds, I think it’s over-compensating for glare.  If anyone has any tips for photographing white then I’d love to hear them please!! 

Meanwhile, I’m hoping that there’s something for everyone in this month’s magazine.  There’s the Rosie & Bear Alphabet Sampler (above), the Floral Fabric Birdhouse…

Birdhouse Clock (3)

 There’s machine applique in the “One Sunny Day Pictures – By the Harbour and My Home”

 Two applique pictures

 And even some quilting in the Springtime Quilted Cushion project ….

Springtime Quilted Cushion

Plus “Blog of the Month”, more vintage designs, and very excitingly a new regular feature on Free Motion Quilting from the lovely Leah Day (having tried stippling as part of the project above I am hooked on this surprisingly easy technique and felt sure you’d like to learn more about it too). 

As well as magazine publication day, next week also includes a very special occasion – Ben’s birthday … he’ll be FIVE!!  So of course this month’s magazine will contain ”Ben’s Birthday Gift“, some downloadable birthday bunting flags to add a festive air to any birthday party….

Vintage Style Birthday Party Bunting

Plus the next two blocks in the Rosie & Bear Jubilee Quilt series - Great Britain and New Zealand.  I haven’t quite finished New Zealand yet, but here’s Great Britain for you to see … 

Great Britain block

 All this for just $5.50 for subscribers!!  You can learn more about the magazine as well as subscribe on the magazine page of this website.  And, as always, now is a very good time to subscribe as you’ll receive the current issue, and your free copy of “The Stitcher’s Companion” straight away, followed by the May issue containing all the goodies above on Thursday 26th. 

Phew .. I’m exhausted now .. I have been sooo busy this month.  I think it’s time for a nice cup of tea!! xx

{ 6 comments }

Rosie & Bear First Stitches Sampler Pattern

by Helen on March 27, 2012

It’s funny how sometimes inspiration can come from nowhere, when suddenly you have an idea your fingers are itching to stitch. I’ve been stitching a lot of Rosie & Bear lately for my Diamond Jubilee quilt project (the one that’s going out as a free partwork for magazine subscribers).  Below is a detail from the Canada block…. 

Diamond Jubilee Quilt

Doesn’t Bear make a wonderful Mountie!!  He’s waving so hard that I think his hat’s about to fall off – but he doesn’t care one little bit!  Anyway, I haven’t done any non-quilt blocks for Rosie & Bear for a long time and so I was sort of vaguely considering what I might do when suddenly .. inspiration came to me.  I was very lucky to learn to sew from a very early age, and as a child Rosie loved sewing too – I still have some of her earliest projects tucked away safely in one of my drawers. (just like mothers everywhere!) So I thought ……

Rosie & Bear "First Stitches"What about a sampler, the traditional first project for young stitchers in days gone by?   I was smitten.  Couldn’t wait.  Dropped everything else and sketched it all out in a single session.  I’ve used a nice cursive font  for the alphabet and included some tiny woodland animals and birds – I think you can just make out a rabbit and mouse in this picture. 

Rosie is concentrating very hard on her stitching – she’s going to have a little silver needle in her hand and Bear is down at the bottom right of the sampler.  There will be a border of flowers too, and a space for personalisation.  I don’t usually like to post my work so early in a project, but I am very pleased with how this is taking shape.  Sometimes a design takes ages and has to be unpicked and re-worked several times, but this one’s coming together really easily.  It’s hard to put it down – but Ben can be relied upon to remind me when it’s time for his walk!

{ 7 comments }