Can it really be so long?

I’ve been busy today working on some articles for the January edition of the Bustle & Sew Magazine as well as deciding on the new cover and colour theme for the interior.  And it was while I was playing around with working on the cover image I realised that we were now up to issue 84 – yes that’s SEVEN whole years of the magazine – I can hardly believe it!!

How quickly those years have passed, and how much has changed in that time!  Seven years ago I was living in Devon and Ben was an energetic, lithe young chap – whilst Daisy wasn’t even thought of. Instead I had Amy and Ben – Amy was his surrogate mother – strict but loving – that’s the original furry pair below …

Amy was quite a bossy sort of dog who used to love to bustle importantly around the house making sure everything was exactly to her liking, taking great pleasure in plonking her large round bottom (and enormous weight) on my feet as I was stitching.  This gave me the “Bustle” part of Bustle & Sew.  Ben was young and flexible and slinky – but I couldn’t very well have Bustle & Slink for my new business name haha! so I substituted “sew” for “slink” (definitely more appropriate!) which is how Bustle & Sew got its name!

Another person who wasn’t around for that very first issue of the Bustle & Sew Magazine was my little grandson, Freddie, who celebrates his second (how can that be?!) birthday later this month.  His arrival started a new family tradition – still very new – of my presenting him and his family with a keepsake Christmas decoration each year.  Here are the first two …..

I haven’t published the pattern for the first one, but you can find the free pattern for the cactus here.  It doesn’t include the pot, but that’s very simple to add if you’d like to create your own keepsake decoration.

And finally, I’m pleased to report that Daisy is beginning to feel a little more cheerful.  It has helped that we have had a visitor for the last few days – Rosie and Dan’s little dog Tilly has been sleeping over ….

She is young and playful and  Daisy’s very best canine friend.  They have been getting up to all kinds of mischief, and whilst they haven’t quite dared to bounce on the furniture (strictly forbidden!) Daisy clearly listened to Ben when he was instructing her on the importance of obstructing your human at every possible opportunity!  Here she is demonstrating how to block access to the sofa ….

Though perhaps a little more practice is needed Miss Daisy as I was able to clamber onto the far end of the sofa, though not without some effort!