A naughty little terrier, and a Christmas Sale

Published: Sun, 11/03/24

Updated: Wed, 11/06/24

Hi ,

As I mentioned last week, I was rather poorly last month with a nasty dose of Covid which meant I wasn't able to keep an eye on the canine members of the family. On the whole they were fairly well-behaved during this time, moderating their demands for meals, treats, belly-rubs and walks, seeming to sense that I wasn't able to give them much attention. I say "on the whole" as there is always one that takes advantage.... one that decides to take advantage of the human's absence to get up to all kinds of mischief.... one that - well - take a look for yourself.....!

Yes, it's Alfie. You may have thought it was a new addition to the family - a little black and white terrier, but no, this is Alfie after a lovely afternoon spent digging a VERY LARGE hole at the end of the Engineer's best raised bed. And that was not all ... there was a lovely trail of small black pawprints across the rug, up onto the sofa and along the windowsill where he likes to look out at the trains steaming up and down the line. It's hard to be cross with him for any length of time though - he is such a joyous little soul who lives (and loves) his life to the full in spite of his deafness.

This weekend however, as I was feeling much better, and a bit fed up of being confined to the house, we decided to head off out to do a little National Trusting. Lytes Cary Manor was our destination of choice...

A beautiful manor house with its roots in the fourteenth century, built on a human scale and a family home until the mid-nineteenth century. I was particularly fascinated by a raised-work (or stumpwork) mirror frame originally stitched in the sixteenth century but added to in the early early 1900s, when a relative of the then owner learned the technique and added some panels, including the view of the house in the upper left-hand panel. The lighting levels were incredibly low however (for conservation purposes) and I struggled to take a photo...

The above was the best I could manage. The stitching in both the old and new parts of the frame was absolutely exquisite, but I my favourite part was the little reclining deer towards the top righthand corner. I think he has the friendliest face and I just love the outsized caterpillar who seems to have migrated downwards to say "Hello!" to the little monkey in the panel below. I can imagine him smoking a hookah in "Alice in Wonderland!" Absolute madness, but wonderful too!

And finally, as we're now in November, and Christmas stitching reaches its peak, I'm holding a quick sale over in my Etsy shop where all CHRISTMAS patterns are reduced by 25%. There's no minimum purchase, and you don't need a discount code as the sale prices are already applied for you, just head on over and take a look!

Until next time, very best wishes from us all here at Bustle & Sew HQ,

Helen x

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Station House
West Cranmore
Shepton Mallet Somerset BA4 4QP
UNITED KINGDOM

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