I think it’s probably fair to say that many people across the globe find our English obsession with the weather quite amusing. In turn, I do sometimes wonder what it must be like to live in a country where you can be fairly certain what the weather will bring, not only that day, but for the weeks (and sometimes months) ahead.
Last week was a definite illustration of the unpredictability of our weather, bringing a return to winter – and giving Ted one of his best days ever! On Thursday we woke to a world blanketed in white, 3 or 4″ deep. Ted was first out through the door and quickly set off to explore this wonderful new world, that he hoped would last for ever. But no – the following day the snow had vanished as though it had never been, heralding a somewhat wet and windy return to spring.
Whatever the weather outside, it’s felt like spring in my little blue shed as I’ve been working hard on projects for the April Magazine. Above you can see work in progress on my Gorgeous Geese cushion – another patchwork project, this time featuring three machine appliqued geese wearing little hand embroidered floral crowns. And I did think that if you didn’t want to hand embroider the floral crowns, then another way might be to cut and applique some dainty floral motifs instead.
Along with the three Gorgeous Geese, between the covers of the April issue you’ll discover my Spring Hare Tote Bag….
He is actually machine stitched – having dusted off my sewing machine to work on my Gorgeous Geese and Spring Blooms projects, I thought I would challenge myself to stitch my little hare by machine. In the end he wasn’t as hard as I thought he would be, though I did have to concentrate quite hard as accuracy was very important indeed. Again, there’s an alternative – if you don’t want to fit your embroidery foot, drop your feed dogs and machine stitch your hare, you could always hand embroider him in stem stitch using black embroidery floss.
I’ve also completed my final Spring Blooms embroidery, making a set of four….
From snowdrops to tulips .. the whole of spring! Now I need to start assembling my patchwork. I’m feeling a bit nervous about this as there are so many hours of work in these hoops – I can’t afford to make any mistakes! I am thinking possibly wall hanging now, rather than table centre, as the hoops are all directional.
The Spring Blooms supplement will be included as a free extra for all magazine subscribers in the April Bustle & Sew Magazine, and will also be available to purchase separately from April onwards.
And finally, we’re now on the countdown to Easter, so I thought now might be a good time to share my Easter MiniMag. I put this together last year, so you may already have it, but if not, then please just click on the link below to subscribe to our free newsletter and receive your free copy.
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