Buy a Cherry Blossom Doe Pattern for Japan!

Remember this pattern? I have been meaning to make a new version of the Cherry Blossom Doe Pattern for a year now but haven't come round to it yet. I am now re introducing the pattern in the shop for the next couple of days to try and raise some money to help survivors of the Earthquake in Japan. If you fancy a copy of this pattern and want to help please visit the shop and buy the Cherry Blossom Doe pattern this weekend! Amy from Magpie patterns has started a fund raising page here, and I will donate the proceeds there. Thanks in advance!

Happy Mail & a sewing session with a five year old

There was much awesomeness in my mailbox yesterday. The very lovely Katy sent me two sewing books! See and Sew is a sewing book for children which is perfect because I have just started to teach Luna a few basic sewing skills (more about that later) It's a lovely book with lots of cute vintage illustrations,  basic (embroidery) stitches and clear instructions how to make simple projects. Most kids will probably need some help from their parents with most of the projects I think. As an extra Katy added Cath Kidston's Sew book with 40 cute and easy projects. Thank you so much Katy!

These are a few strips I made together with Luna on my Husqvarna. We are making a little doll quilt for her toy horse. First she chose some fabrics from my scrap stash. Luna actually requested Heather Ross Unicorn fabric but I only have one little square left and she quite happily settled for a purple and green extravaganza instead. ;)

I then cut the scraps in 3 inch squares and let Luna  'design' the lay out on the floor. The lay out got mixed up again when she brought the squares to the machine but that's o.k. Sitting on my lap,  I let her guide the fabric through the machine, back stitch at beginning and end and raise and lower the foot. I also let her use the pedal while I was sewing to give her a feeling of pressure on the pedal and speed of the machine.

Does that sound like a good first lesson for a 5 (nearly 6) year old in using a sewing machine? Next time we are putting the strips together to finish the quilt top. Do you sew together with your kids? I thought it was fun but I must admit that it definitely helps that she really wants to learn how to sew!

Vintage find: Le livre que j'aime

This illustration is from a French Reading Book from the fifties that I bought recently. It's called Le livre que j'aime and it's just about the level of French I can handle reading so I might even learn a thing or two from the book. For some reason everything sounds better in French doesn't it? I was especially charmed by the fact that French Wolfs apparently say 'Hou!Hou!' and French Ducks say 'Coin,coin,coin'.

And how about this illustration! I bet this snowman is très froid. Wouldn't this image make the cutest embroidery pattern? Au revoir for now, I hope you enjoyed taking a peek in Le livre que j'aime.

Sunday Stash #38 A Fabric I had to buy

There haven't been many Sunday Stash posts lately! Mainly because I joined the Stash Pact 2011 group on Flickr which has made me much more conscious of my fabric buys. But sometimes you need fabric, to finish something you are working on for example. So I needed to buy some fabric and because I already was paying for the shipping I could not resist to add the Tammis Keefe Cat Fabric(by Michael Miller) to the lot. I also bought some solids and the pink dot fabric, which I thought would coordinate nicely with the Cat Fabric. I think the Red and the Pink fabric are a pretty good choice but I'm not sure about the Charcoal. The other fabrics were already in my stash and I think especially the Newspaper print would be awesome to use with the Tammis Keefe fabric.

In my hoop: Wednesday's Vintage Busy Birds

I have such a soft spot for vintage embroidery patterns. The one in my hoop right now is the 'Wednesday' of a Vogart Days of the Week Birdie Pattern which traditionally has a sew, embroider or mend theme. The fabric came from my stash and I think it's soft tones are perfect as a background for these busy birdies! I bought the pattern some time ago on Ebay, it was most probably in a lot of several patterns. Many fun vintage embroidery patterns (but not the Vogart ones) can also be found in the Hoop Love Vintage Transfers Group on Flickr, where collectors very generously share their vintage pattern finds.

P.s. It may not be vintage but do check out the Feeling Stitchy March Stitch Along Pattern. It looks like a fun pattern to stitch!

Not quite what I expected

With a tiny business like mine even the smallest feature or media attention is welcome and appreciated. This month you can find a couple of my embroideries (with 2 patterns) in British sewing magazine Sew Hip. I think the set of embroideries on printed fabrics turned out pretty cute. Normally I would be thrilled about something like that but it's a pity that neither my full name or even the 'Follow the White Bunny' name is mentioned though. So it's not very likely anyone will ever be able to connect me to this feature. Except the peeps reading this post of course. ;)  I've contacted them about it and hopefully things can be straightened out. Anyway, if you are in the UK you can check out the magazine. There is also a pattern in the same issue for a cute 'Dials' bag for little boys by Joey Ramone which is one of the best 'boy' projects I have seen lately!

Later this week I will be reporting about my sewing 'adventures' with my youngest daughter. We are making a doll quilt together for her toy horse  (from the Toy Story 3 movie) Bullseye.

Out and about: about peaks and strange German Creatures

Little Train Station on our way to the top of Germany's highest mountain.

The whole Bunny family went away for a couple of days to the snowy Alps. Husband and kids went out skiing most of the time with the little bunnies in ski classes. They even did some bits of black runs and made so much progress! I mainly played the role of supporter. I did manage to do some embroidery too. A cute vintage DOW pattern which I will show later this week.

How much is that German Antlered Winged Giant Squirrel Thing in the window? I have no idea but I do know he never leaves home without his little jug of Schnapps strapped to his body. ;)

And this is me, in a not very flattering ski jacket with bulky sweater underneath. The view on the top of Germany's highest Mountain, the Zugspitse,  is amazing though and the weather was beautiful as you can see.
It was nice to be away but it's good to be back too. The only mountains I have to face today are those of the dirty laundry but hopefully in between the washing-drying-folding activities I can squeeze in a little sewing time too!