New embroidery pattern - Buzzzzz

I'm taking part in another tutorial linkup organized by Laura of Bugs and Fishes, this time the theme was "Flowers" and here is mine:


It was really fun to design and make, I used water colour crayons again but this time I used calico rather than cotton, after the trouble I had with my "Monsters Deserve Love Too" pattern where the water colour ran outside the lines. Here it mostly stayed where I intended it to, but gave a rougher effect due to the texture of the fabric. I also used clear seed beads for patterns on the flowers, but I think they also look like raindrops. I have been drawing this bee since I was a teenager (although normally he has a few legs the other way around) so I love the fact I can now share him!

You can download the pattern for free here. If you have any trouble, contact me (unexpectedkitty [at] gmail [dot] com) and I'll email you a copy of the PDF. Please note that when you first view it in Google Drive, the main picture will look really horrible (due to something weird to do with Google) but when you download it everything should be fine.

If you make this pattern, I'd love to see it! Email me and I'll put your version on my blog if you want.

I'll post details of all the other tutorials in the linkup when I have them, I'm really looking forward to seeing what everyone else has come up with.

Update: here are the other tutorials.

Wicker Man Festival

A couple of weeks ago, I went to Butser Ancient Farm for the Wicker Man festival to celebrate Beltane.

The walk up there from the car park field was gorgeous, through miles of rapeseed fields.


While waiting to pick up our tickets, we talked to some baby goats that came bounding over. They looked like tiny fluffy sheep with little horns and creepy goat eyes. They were adorable, but sadly I just got pictures of their butts.

Last year the wicker man sported a fetching parasol. This year he was more violent - stabbing a boar. I'm sure there was a meaning to it that I didn't find out.


A closer, more forboding look at him...


I put wishes in his legs so they would go up to the sky in smoke when he burned.

The drummers from the Olympics were there, along with a few bands and some belly dancers that danced below the wicker man with antlers just before the fire started. There were also some Anglo-Saxon re-enactors and a falconry company.


It's hard to take pictures in the dark with a phone, but here is the wicker man on fire. Surprisingly emotional.


He took ages to go up as the wood was damp. Last year he burnt really quickly and was rumoured to have landed on a tent.