Australia has some amazing marsupials and one of the cutest is the Bilby. I have never seen one in the wild, probably because they are nocturnal and tend to live in the desert! One brilliant fact I discovered is that their pouch opens backwards so as not to be filled with dirt when they are digging their burrows! How cool is that! There has been a push over the last decade or so in Oz to focus on the Bilby as an Easter icon rather than the Bunny.
I decided I would like to feature a Bilby in a stitchery so asked my clever grandson to draw me one having a birthday party ... so here is Belinda Bilby:
The pattern is in Patchwork & Stitching Magazine Vol 17 No 11.
Belinda even featured on the cover:
Sadly, Patchwork & Stitching Magazine will be closing down at the end of the year. Also the wonderful Country Threads Magazine will be coming to an end too. I guess it was inevitable with the availability of so much on the internet, but browsing the internet instead of lying in bed with a magazine in my hand enjoying a good read, just doesn't cut it for me.
Of course that limits the outlet for my work too, so I'm feeling a bit dejected at the moment. I was designing for seven magazines - four of them have met their demise, so there's only three left! Maybe I will have to do a search for international craft magazines that might take Australian Designers' projects ... or take up gardening ... or do lots more housework!
It's been quite cold where I live which always plunges me into a depressed state, so as I'm longing for summer, I thought I would make available the pattern for my Ice Cream Parlour Wall Hanging:
You can find it in my Craftsy Store here.
Keep an eye out next week for the next block in the
You are Blessed.
Happy Stitching,
Val
