Free Spring Embroidery Pattern

Last year I posted a freebie pattern on my blog around the time of my birthday so I thought it would be a good idea to repeat that this year. With another pattern obviously ;)  Hope you will enjoy this little Bunny embroidery pattern! It's got a spring-like feel to it, at least I think it has. I'm looking forward to see it stitched (who will be the first?). You are welcome to put a link on your blog but please link back to the post not just to the download. Thanks! Oh and don't forget to post your Spring Bunnies on my Flickr group or on Facebook.

You can download the pattern here: Free Spring Embroidery Pattern.  Enjoy!

Fishbone Stitch

Sorry for the lack of embroidery posts lately! I have been busy doing a fun but secret-for-now project which I obviously can't share and I just didn't have time (or energy) to work on the embroidery projects I had been working on before.

There was a tiny bit of progress though. Here's a little detail of the Wolpentinger embroidery. I thought the Fishbone Stitch would be perfect for Wolpentinger's feathers. I got the idea when I saw this embroidery by Annet. I did a little try out using only one thread but that looked too delicate on this chubby Bavarian rodent, so I settled for two threads in a nice 'golden' shade. I had to look up the Fishbone Stitch in my Embroidery Stitch Dictionaries and found it in three of the books. My Fishbone stitch  is clearly not perfect but it will do for the moment.

I'm also working on a second pattern by the way and for a change I won't show or tell before it's completely done. Something which I find extremely difficult to do!

Attack of the Giant Jelly Pudding & winners of Alphabet Glue!

How about these cute little houses?  This is only one of the many awesome projects from the Alphabet Glue magazine  and the girls really enjoyed making these houses. The one on the left is inspired by 'Bear in the Big Blue House' and the one on the right is based on the story cards that can also be found in the magazine. Hope Mr. Giant Jelly Pudding won't ruin the houses, he seems like a gentle character though!

So..without further ado I will now announce the winners of the Alphabet Glue giveaway as chosen by the oh so boring Random Generator. Congratulations to: Elsa, Saricchiella & Pameladawn! Each one of you will receive this wonderful e-zine per email later today!

Thank you Annie from Bird and Little Bird for letting me host this giveaway!

Update: Saricchiela please send me an email at followthewhitebunny [at] e-tropolis [dot] nl , I don't have your email address!

London adventures

Carrot Orange Juice at Leon's

I'm totally exhausted after my three day visit to London with my best friend Caroline, but I had so much fun!  We arrived really early Friday morning and after eating some breakfast in Covent Garden we spent most of the day shopping. In our case that meant mainly looking at things and not exactly buying a lot of stuff. On the second day we planned to go to one of Europe's largest bookstores (Waterstones on Picadilly Circus) and we were quite surprised to find Picadilly Circus and the surrounding streets very much deserted except for lots of police officers.

Being the curious little bunny that I am, I asked a police officer what was happening. Apparently there was a large protest March planned later that morning. As we were more in a book buying than a protesting mood we moved along to have a look around in the bookstore. Lots of choice but I finally settled on this little stack of books:

After a stop at Leon's (a sort of healthy eco-everything-friendly fastfood chain which I can recommend to anyone visiting London, a good tip from my fellow Feeling Stitchy blogger Jo) we visited the Tate Gallery. A visit I thought was a little disappointing. Tate Gallery was located quite far away from the nearest Tube Station and due to all kinds of construction and building activities the entrance was hard to find. I had hoped to see some iconic pieces in the museum too but that didn't really happen either.

Me at Holborn Tube Station hanging out with some Egyptian Peeps of approx. my age

Our visit to the Victoria and Albert museum the next day however was great. The part of the museum I wanted to visit the most, the textiles, was closed but there was much other awesome stuff to see. And we also had a wonderful lunch there. At the museum shop I picked up some pretty reproduction fabric and a cute tea towel.

Repro Sea weed fabric from the V & A

Cute Arts & Crafts Tea towel

I would have loved to visit the Natural History Museum too but sadly we didn't have the time. We were pleasantly surprised that entry to all these museums was free as well.

I will be back again later today, to announce the winners of the Alphabet Glue E-zine!

Post-it Quilt

I never think a lot about a quilt before I start one. Don't want to do calculations of how much yards or fat quarters I need. So I just start and reckon that if I need more fabrics I can always order more, right? Wrong!

I started on this Fat Quarterly Quilt Along Quilt last year intending to make it larger than the 36 by 36 inch it is now. Because I wanted to use a lot of different fabrics (from my stash) I thought the blocks at least needed to have the same center to add a little consistency to the 'design' (beside the colour pink). So I chose a cute yellow with white dot fabric of which I had a quarter yard. That clearly was not enough to cater for a larger quilt.  And I couldn't find any more of this particular fabric either! Also, on second thought (after I already had made several blocks) I thought that the little yellow squares looked a lot like little post-it notes. So I'm calling this the Post-it Quilt. It's also a bit wonky (seams of the blocks don't match in the rows) and I definitely have to re-sew the bottom row to the one above that too. I'm  not really 'Quilter of the Year' material am I? But all in all I think it still looks kind of cute (for a wonky quilt)

Now I also have a question for all of  you that are more experienced quilters.

In quilting 1/4 of an inch is the usual seam allowance when you make blocks etc. This is the foot on my machine. On the front it has these three red marks. Instead of aligning my fabric to the red mark on the right I use the inside of the foot. It works for me but I was wondering if that is the normal thing to do?

Now don't forget to enter my little giveaway of the fabulous e-zine Alphabet Glue. Not many entries yet so please take a look!

Alphabet Glue Giveaway (for book loving families)

These are two books from my youth, in Dutch of course.I loved reading (and still do!) and I think I literally read every book in the Primary School library. I particularly loved books by Roald Dahl and Enid Blyton's Famous Five. I was also very impressed by the Heidi trilogy I read, probably because of the dramatic story it tells.  With very little other diversions, such as tv (hardly any shows for kids) or computer games (not invented yet, except maybe Pong) I guess reading was an obvious way to pass the time when I was younger.

So you will understand that I, as a parent and as a book lover, was thrilled to learn that Annie (of Bird and Little Bird fame) was working on an e-zine for 'kids and their grown-ups' about books and reading.  The first issue of Alphabet Glue was launched this week and it's absolutely wonderful! It's packed with fun activities for kids to deepen the wonderful experience of reading and story making. There's a list of Spring reads, a lovely set of story cards to inspire unique tales or even drawings, a library scavenger hunt, some fun craft activities too and much, much more. Perhaps the most special thing of all is that the love for books and reading shines through every page of Alphabet Glue!

a project from Alphabet Glue: tiny box accordion books

Now I have three copies of Alphabet Glue to give away!  So if you'd like the chance to win a copy please leave a comment on this post before noon (Central European Time) the 28th of March and tell me what your favourite children's book is and why!

Be sure to leave your email for me to find, either in your comment or in your profile. If you can't wait to get hold of a copy of Alphabet Glue (which is totally understandable) go here to buy one. Can't wait to find out about your favourite books!

Old tricks

I'm up to my old tricks again and created another furry creature with a kerchief. No more kerchiefs after this little Wolpentinger is done, I promise! Well not for a while anyway... I have no idea how this pattern will end up looking (if it will become a pattern at all). Somehow I'm not able to come up with a finished pattern drawing so I just started stitching and the pattern develops as I go. Or not, in which case this will be the last of this Wolpentinger you see.

Many, many thanks to all my embroidery friends who have purchased the Cherry Blossom Doe pattern to help me raise some money for the survivors of the earthquake in Japan. I'm really touched by your generosity. If you haven't purchased the pattern yet but would like to please do so quickly. It's available until tomorrow.

Oh and don't forget to check out this giveaway. You can win my Princess and the Pea pattern and lots of other fab goodies!