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Welcome to the December Issue

Hello,

And welcome to the last issue of 2015! I simply don’t know where the year has run away to. It’s been amost eventful 12 months here at Bustle & Sew HQ, full of good (moving house), bad (Daisy’s illness) andwonderful (new baby on the way) happenings! I’m hoping next year will be a lot more peaceful, with plentyof time to get to know our new family member, some slow stitching by the fire, walks in the woods - andperhaps even some trips back to the beaches for the Newfies.

This month’s issue is packed full of goodies too, and as you’d expect, there’s plenty of seasonal cheerbetween the covers, with everything from mince pie etiquette to a graceful Fairytale Swan softie to sew.

I hope that wherever you are and whatever you’ll be doing, you have a wonderful Christmas filled withfamily and friends, love, kisses and gifts - as well as plenty of time for stitching too! And finally, just a quickreminder that the January issue will be published, as always, on the last Thursday of the month - in thiscase Thursday 31 December. So if you’re a subscriber watch out for it arriving in your inbox then!

So until then,

Very best Christmas wishes

Helen xx

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If you have trouble threading your needle, hold it in front of a lightcoloured background, or against the light from a window, so you

can see the eye more easily.

Tips for Stitchers

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Between the Covers …Contributors

Rosie Studholme

Puts together all our lovelyideas and baking pages as wellas researching & editing ourfeatures and interviews.

Emillee Ferris

Our first “Meet the Maker”stitches wonderful whimsicalwoodland animals.

Josie of Fabric Godmother

Not a fairy godmother, but onewho brings us lots ofwonderful fabric for the festiveseason in her online shop.

Mollie Johanson

Brings us crafting joy and thecutest of cute stitchingthrough her website Wild Olive

Erin Barrett

Talks to us about colour, herfavourite designs and herbusiness, Sun Woven.

December Almanac Page 6

Fairytale Swan Page 8

Winter Wonderland - it’s all about snow Page 12

Stitchable Snowflakes Page 14

Snow Angel Bear Page 16

Meet the Maker: Emillee Ferris Page 19

Counting Down the Days Page 21

Lovely Idea: Crochet Christmas Tree Page 23

Taking Care of your Scissors Page 24

Applique Food Mixer Cover Page 26

Bake a Delicious Treat: Mince Pies Page 28

Dream It, Do It: Fabric Godmother Page 29

Winter Wreath Mug Mat Page 31

Rudolph & Friends Page 34

Dear Santa Tea Cosy Page 35

Mince Pie Do’s and Don’ts! Page 39

Working with Invisible Thread Page 40

Poetry Corner Page 42

Lovely Idea: Reindeer Tote Bag Page 43

December’s Favourite Blogs Page 44

Jolly Santa Cushion Cover Page 45

Meet the Maker: Erin Barrett of Sun Woven Page 49

Lovely Idea: Origami Christmas Tree Page 51

Four Seasons Hoop Page 52

And Finally Page

December Calendar Page 53

Conversion Tables Page 54

Templates Page 55

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December

It can surely be no coincidence that the festiveseason coincides with a time when the naturalworld around us here in the northernhemisphere is at its lowest ebb, waiting for theyear to turn and spring to arrive once more. Thebare trees and lack of birdsong show that natureis sleeping, marking time until that day arrives.With the old year nearly over and a new one justahead, now has traditionally been the time fortaking stock of the months past and beginningto plan for the future. It’s a time for goodold-fashioned nostalgia and for making brandnew resolutions.

The winter solstice, when the nights are at theirlongest and the sun is low above the horizon,appearing for the shortest time, usually falls on

the 22nd and is swiftly followed by ChristmasDay, just three days later. But things haven’talways been this way. When the change fromthe old “Julian” to the new “Gregorian” calendarwas eventually adopted in protestant Britain in1752 eleven days were lost from the year. Therewas a lot of resistance to this change, andpeople flocked to Glastonbury Hill that risesabove the Somerset Levels - not so very far fromwhere I now live - to see if the famous thorn tree

would endorse the change by advancing itsunique mid-winter flowering to the new date ofChristmas Day. It was believed to have takenroot from a staff thrust into the summit of the hillby Joseph of Arimathea, this legendarylandmark of early Christianity in Britain was quitepossibly imported at some long-forgotten timefrom the Middle East where it would indeedflower during their mild mid-winter. For manyyears after the national change of calendarcrowds gathered at Glastonbury waiting for thethorn tree to give them a sign. Butdisappointingly, it seldom produced blossom

before January 5th - exactly eleven days late.

If you have a garden pond, then it may oftenfreeze in December and, although it will lookvery pretty in the low sunlight, it’s good toremember that wildlife needs access to waterand in particular birds need to bathe, no matterhow cold it is. If you watch individual birds -particularly blackbirds - carefully then you mayeven discover that they have a particular time ofday when they like to take their bath, turning upwith remarkable regularity, as though they havean internal alarm clock. So please do be sureto break the ice each day, and perhaps more

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Walking in a winterwonderland …

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“I’d encourageanyone with a

hobby to open anEtsy shop”

talks to us about how she is inspiredby nature, her love of bumble bees and how she

started her Etsy shop,

Meet theMaker

Emillie Ferris is a 20 year oldstudent based in Suffolk. She hasalways been passionate about artand design but only discoveredembroidery a little over a yearago. Shortly after, she openedher Etsy shop where she sellsgorgeous one of a kind items.

I was just scrolling through Tumblrone day, and came across somebeautiful embroideredtypography! I was eager to try itmyself but never got round to it.My boyfriend surprised me on my19th birthday with an embroiderykit, and ever since then I haven'tbeen able to stop!

The Instagram community reallyhelped to encourage me ongetting started with an Etsy shop,it's so exciting to know that my

embroidery has been purchasedfrom people all over the world!

One of my favourite designs is the4 animals running in a circle, I'dlove to redo the hoop, or perhapsmake a series in the same style. Ifeel like it is one of my morecreative pieces though I do loveto embroider bees, they're myabsolute favourite!

I'd encourage anyone with ahobby to open an Etsy shop, it'sa great cheap and easy way toget your work out there, butbefore that it's a good idea to getyourself on as many socialnetworks as possible: Pinterest,Instagram, Flickr. Facebook etc.Open as many doors as you can!

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Look!a lovely idea

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We love this crochet Christmas Tree byPatricia from Pops De Milk. Measuring

just over 5 inches tall, this crochetedbeauty is the perfect table top tree! Pop

over to Patricia’s blog for the fulltutoral.

Image & Tutorial: www.popsdemilk.com

CrochetChristmas

Tree

www.popsdemilk.com

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TAKING CARE OF YOURSCISSORS

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> 9-inch squares of the front and back fabric> 2 9-inch squares of cotton batting> 40 inches of binding> Fabric scraps for the wreath> Perle cotton> 1 yard of tiny pompom trim> sewing machine (a walking foot is helpful!)> rotary cutter, ruler, cutting mat> scissors> needle and thread> iron

Make a mini quilt sandwich - layer the front and backfabrics with the two layers of batting in the middle. Pin orspray baste, then quilt the layers. You could do this byhand or by machine. Space the lines of quilting as close oras far as you'd like.

Even with spray basting, the linen wanted to shift a little, sothe lines of quilting aren't perfect. With quilting like this,when you go to put the binding on you will notice if the linesare off by a lot. Go for as straight as possible, or wobbly onpurpose.

Winter Wreath Mug Rug

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