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A Bustle & Sew Publication Copyright Š Bustle & Sew Limited 2018 The right of Helen Dickson to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form, or by any means, without the prior written permission of the author, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Every effort has been made to ensure that all the information in this book is accurate. However, due to differing conditions, tools and individual skills, the publisher cannot be responsible for any injuries, losses and other damages that may result from the use of the information in this book.
First published 2018 by: Bustle & Sew The Cottage Oakhill Radstock BA3 5HT UK www.bustleandsew.com
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Welcome to the March Magazine This month’s magazine is full of spring delights - and is even the cover is the colour of early spring. a vibrant daffodil yellow! Easter is early this year, so I’ve included some bunny patterns perfect for the festivities - and a couple that will be just perfect for Mother’s Day too, which here in the UK falls on Sunday 11 March this year. And as a special treat we are featuring not two but three small business run by incredibly talented individuals - I was delighted to be sent a beautiful hoop from one of them, Auburn Hoops, to review and you can discover what I thought on page 33. They’re also offering a special discount for Bustle & Sew readers - you can find the code at the end of their feature. Elsewhere in the magazine Rosie has cooked up some delicious Easter treats - they’re not all chocolate, though she took some persuading to include other recipes, and we look at the almost unbearably cute English Angora Rabbit. With all this going on there wasn’t room for our series on starting your own business, but that will return next month. I do hope you’ll enjoy this month’s edition, and just a quick reminder that the April issue will be published, as always, on the last Thursday of the month - in this case Thursday 29 March. So if you’re a subscriber watch out for it arriving in your inbox then! Until then, I hope you have a wonderful month!
Helen xx
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Between this month’s covers … Tips for Stitchers
Page 4
Sloth Love Cushion Cover
Page 35
March Almanac
Page 6
Taste of the Season: Sweet Potatoes
Page 38
Simply Bunnies Hoop
Page 8
Rosie’s Recipes: Easter Treats
Page 39
A Little Guide to Transferring your Design
Page 11
Taste of the Season: Leeks
Page 45
March Quote from Dickens
Page 13
Monstera deliciosa Hoop
Page 46
Meet the Maker: Mariah Behrens
Page 14
Tips for Successful Satin Stitch
Page 49
Lovely Idea: Orange Bath Bombs
Page 17
A Childhood Favourite: Growing Cress
Page 51
Here Comes the Sun Pennant
Page 18
Instagram Inspiration
Page 52
The English Angora Rabbit
Page 21
Meet the Maker: Rebekah Wright
Page 53
Tips for Craft Show Success
Page 24
Bunny Cache Pot
Page 56
Poetry Corner
Page 26
Country Diary
Page 58
Baby Bunny Softie
Page 27
Home Comforts
Page 59
The Countryside in March
Page 29
In the Kitchen: Conversion Tables
Page 60
Meet the Maker Special: Auburn Hoops
Page 31
Templates
Page 61
Auburn Hoops Product Review
Page 33
Lovely Idea: Easy Felt Bunny
Page 34
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A (very) Little Guide to Transferring your Design Let’s consider the situation for a moment … here you are – you have a box full of wonderful rainbow-coloured flosses, the right needles, sharp pointy scissors and a book or containing a wonderful design that you can’t wait to transfer to your carefully chosen fabric. Then …. You hit a barrier. How do you get the design from the paper to your fabric? There
are a variety of different ways of doing this. You can discover which suits you through trial and error, and of course different methods will suit different background fabrics and complexities of design. But whatever you do, don’t be tempted by the availability of iron on transfer paper – the sort you run through your printer and then iron onto your fabric. They seem so easy … all you need is an ink-jet printer and
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some special paper and you can transfer just about any design to fabric. But these are not suitable for transferring embroidery designs. If you have a line drawing on your computer and you print it onto this transfer paper, then transfer it to fabric to embroider, you will end up with the film from the paper on your fabric as well as the lines of the design. This gives an odd, stiff finish to the fabric and which is
“Occasionally I work in my pyjamas!”
Meet the Maker
Mariah Behrens talks to us about her business, Afternoon Faun, her creative journey and her plans for the future of her adorable crochet creations Can you tell us a little about your always enjoyed making things with my hands, and giving handmade home and where you live? I live in a tiny apartment in Seattle (upper northwest of the USA) with my partner. We daydream about becoming financially comfortable in our given creative fields while we currently hustle away. He is a musician and I'm a stuffed animal maker and aspiring graphic designer.
Do you have background?
a
creative
I've always been creative, which I assume is the obvious answer. More specifically, I think I've always been drawn to the idea of owning my own creative business because my parents are both self-employed as well. I think their work adds to why they are incredibly happy and that's contagious to me.
How did your business begin? In high school I tried multiple times to start my own Etsy shop with either knit hats and scarves or sewn skirts with funky fabrics. I
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gifts was always a requirement for me.
Somewhat naturally (although throughout many, many years) I found myself attempting to crochet animals. I don't remember exactly how this idea popped into my head, but my initial dreams of becoming a teacher had faded and I thought the next best thing to impacting children in some way was making toys. Luckily, at that point in time I had surrounded myself with really supportive friends and family and they pushed and encouraged me to give this animal making business a try. Truly, without those people in my life at that time, I don't know if this business actually would have started. These things take a village — that's the truth. This leap happened nearly 3 years ago (wow) and every year it keeps getting bigger and bigger.
If you love Mariah’s quirky crochet creations and would like to find out more you can find her online at “Afternoon Faun” ….
https://www.instagram.com/afternoon_faun/ http://www.afternoonfaun.com/
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Soft, silky and cute : The English Angora Rabbit
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Tastes of the Season: Sweet Potatoes Sweet potatoes are in season from October to March - so now is your last chance to enjoy them at their peak! These colourful tubers have a naturally sweet and spicy flavour and are delicious when baked, roasted or mashed - or even made into sweet potato chips with sea salt and perhaps tossed in a little rosemary too. There are two types, one with bright orange flesh, the other with pale cream flesh. Try to choose small to medium-sized sweet potatoes with unblemished skins, as they will be more tender when cooked and unless they are particularly small and smooth, remove the skins with a peeler as they are often well-travelled and can be tough . Sweet potatoes are native to the tropical Americas and are sometimes referred to as 'yams' in the USA. Sweet potatoes are rich in fibre, vitamins A, C and B6, and an excellent source of carbohydrates. The orange-fleshed variety are also rich in betacarotene. 38
Rosie’s Recipes: Easter Treats!
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A Country Diary The smell of the earth? Yes, we’ve got it now, and the tang of wet leaves and bracken under a thin diaphanous mist that enhances the colours close at hand, and drops a light veil over the distance. Larches rise from a floor of glowing orange fern and soft brown needles and stand ghostlike and shadowy and grey, just dimmed by mist, each drooping branch and twig encrusted with grey lichen. The sloping field beyond the wood has a bloom on it like dew. In the brown and purple hedges catkins have shaken loose and changed to gold. Low clouds hem us in, with just a line of light on the horizon. Looking back you see the sloping field now has pale sunlight breaking over it. A magpie crosses the path. The tail feathers of a jay make a pied streak as it disappears among the bushes. In the shallow pool among the furze bushes, where the frog spawn lay is now a congested mass of small black tadpoles.
Janet Case 23 March 1931, The New Forest, Hampshire, England 58
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