Sneak peek of some Castle Peeps stitching

Some details of Castle Peeps in Stitches! Could not wait to share some of this, I'm so proud of my Peeps! Well technically they are Lizzy's Peeps and I have lovingly adopted them in a way. ;)  On Lizzy's blog you can find some cute and funny printable Castle Peeps Book plates now.

Sunday Stash #32 Echino

I love this Echino fabric from the Fall collection, it' s gorgeous! I love the colours and the cute silhouette animals. I'm planning to make a cushion for the couch with it

In other news: I'm close to my 250th blog post! So I think a little celebration is in order! Crafty Blog land is swamped with amazing giveaways these days (not that I win any that I enter...) so maybe I should do something else? Any creative ideas are more than welcome.

Princess and the Quilt

The Princess and the Pea pattern is probably my most popular pattern. I often wonder what happens to all those Princesses I sell. Well yesterday one of the Princesses turned up! Not on my doorstep but in my mailbox. Mary Ann sent me an email to show me want she had done with hers. Isn't this quilt gorgeous?  I love the colourful ( 30's reproduction?) fabrics and the quilting looks awesome too! Oh and here is Mary Ann's Princess up close:

If you have made something with one of my patterns let me know. You can post your photo in the Flickr group or on Facebook or you can send me an email: followthewhitebunny[at]e-tropolis.nl. I love to see what happens to all my bears, foxes, owls and pussycats too!

Danish Delight for your Stitchy Library

My Feeling Stitchy colleague Carina released an awesome embroidery e-book last week called Stitching Borders and Beyond (also available in a left handed version!).  I took one look at the cover and I knew I had to purchase it right away. I was even more delighted when I got the PDF and saw the pretty border patterns (with fun names like Pompeiian Villa and Fabulous Fiesta) and the extensive stitch guide. The stitch on the photo, the Maiden hair,  was a stitch I did not know before and an immediate favourite. Of course I will have to try the Danish knot as well! Until July 15th Stitching Borders and Beyond is available in Carina's shop for only $10.

Sunday Stash #31 Far Far Away 2 & a sewing machine question

Last week a lovely bundle of fat quarters with some of the latest Heather Ross fabrics arrived. I think these three are my favourites: The Owl and Pussycat, Thumbelina and fabric featuring a Moon and Stars. I wonder why these Heather Ross fabrics are not made available in 'normal' quilters cotton instead of linen (this line) or double-gauze (Far Far Away one) but maybe that is just me.

Moving on to the Sewing Machine Question. In the near future I would like to 'upgrade' my sewing machine. Currently I have an electronic Husqvarna  Huskystar E20. A beginners machine which did a fabulous job thus far but I think I want something a bit fancier now. I want to use it to make (simple) clothing, cushions and quilts and such. I would love it have a little more space between machine and needle to push those bulky quilts through.
Please let me know what machine you use and/or prefer! Also I'm slightly afraid of computerised sewing machines but maybe you can talk me out of that (or not). :)

Random things I like right now...

All bunnies like their greens of course, so lately I have been eating this simple Chicory salad a lot for lunch (3 times this week actually). I'm not sure if chicory is widely available (or as cheap) as it is over here. It's a nice crispy alternative to lettuce and you can keep it fresh in the fridge for quite a long time. I add tuna (ecological dolphin friendly of course), a hard boiled egg (or 2, it has vitamine D of which I need a bit more of), cherry tomatoes and a mayonais/mustard/vinegar/honey dressing.

Happy Mail! If the little birdie on the envelope says so, it must be true. The very talented and sweet Cathy stitched this for me for the swap I'm participating in. I also thought the stamps were pretty awesome and would make great little embroidery patterns!

Wishing you all some tasty lunches this weekend and maybe there will be some happy mail for you too! x

Bento Box Block Fail

Because I have been embroidering A LOT lately, I really needed a break from all that and I pulled these lovely So St. Croix fabrics by Jennifer Paganelli from my stash. Also I really needed a third QIP (quilt in progress)...not. Anyway, I thought a Bento Box Style Quilt would be great with these fabrics. I remembered receiving an example of such a block from Katy last year and I just went ahead and cut into these lovely fabrics. Of course I didn't check the measurements on the example and it didn't mention seam allowances either. I just assumed things would work out fine...and ended up with a very wonky bento box block. Look at the center of the block *shudders*!

Luckily I didn't cut all of the fabrics and I searched the internet for other Bento Block patterns or tutorials. I found this tutorial for making Bento Box Blocks in a relatively quick and easy way. Basically it's just a big block cut up in 4, mixed up with other cut up blocks and sewn together again. Easy, right? Hopefully with this tutorial I will be able to show you a proper Bento Block next time!

Politics, Peeps and things

It has been quiet on the blog this week. Partly because I am still not all that well and this week my laptop decided it didn't feel too well either and refused to start up. I'm now using our 'old' computer which is incredibly slow. So all that is slowing me down a bit. The good thing about my broken laptop is that in the evening (when it's too dark to stitch) I read quite a bit. I am now reading Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book and it's actually a fun, very well written book to read (even if the title doesn't sound like much fun). I have also been watching some debates on television because today there are elections in the Netherlands. Unlike other countries we have many political parties over here: about 20 or something! A great deal of them are very small though and there is even a Pirate Party. Not sure if it's a good thing if for the next 4 years our country is being led by a guy with a parrot on his shoulder shouting 'har har' all the time. ;)

Still busy working on the Castle Peeps patterns! I love how new and bright colours have made their way into my floss box due to this project. I do tend to use the same colours over and over again and this will absolutely influence colour choices for future embroidery projects.

Tools

Just a few of my embroidery tools are pictured here. Because, like most of you, I have got heaps of embroidery needles, another pair of scissors, more stuff to transfer etc etc. The little blue box is Thread Heaven (not my words that's the brand name) for 'conditioning' thread. Georgia sent it to me for my birthday and I have to remind myself to use it instead of putting the floss in my mouth before I thread the needle. Because deep down I'm a floss licking girl. ;)  (Please tell me I'm not the only one!)
Of course there is always room for more stuff so let me know what your favourite embroidery tool is!