frayed at the edge

Miles and miles

It was knit'n'natter this afternoon, so as usual I met up with Lorraine in Jedburgh, from where we take it in turns to drive to Kelso.  Unusually, Malcolm and I weren't out for lunch today (we're going tomorrow instead), but I can still show you a photo of lovely food, as Lorraine had a (very) light lunch when we arrived at Under the Sun (extreme measures to fit into the swimsuit when she goes on holiday next month.  I should be doing the same, as we too are going away next month!!)

 

I spent the afternoon knitting I-cord for my cushion cover - miles and miles of it!

 

Of course, I am making this up as I go along, but I thought I might have corners like this....

 

and some sort of button fastening like this ....

 

What do you think - perhaps you can suggest something different!

Baa'd sheep!

More early morning excitement - yesterday it was a crane - today it was runaway sheep!  We saw them heading up the road - but there was no evidence of anyone with them.  Malcolm went out to investigate, while I did something much more sensible - I fetched the camera.  He discovered that one of the neighbours had already phoned the farmer and was in the process of turning the sheep round.  Being sensible, I stayed in the garden, which is several feet higher than the road, giving me a good view of the sheep as they trotted back down the road and into the field ....

 

What a spoilsport making us go back - it's a lovely morning for a stroll!

 

Smile girls, there's someone taking photos up there - do you think this is my best side!

 

Who dropped all those raisins on the road?  What do you mean, they're not raisins?

 

After all that excitement, we set off for Northumberland, to visit Malcolm's Dad.  As it was such a lovely morning we stopped at the Border view point to take photos, however, as you can see, it was still a little bit hazy ...

 

But the hills still looked lovely ...

 

 

On the knitting front, the main part of the cushion cover is finished - now I just need to knit several miles of I-cord.  I frogged the fingerless mitts, as they just weren't right - I have started them again, but haven't done enough for a photo.  Of course the reason for not getting on with my knitting is that I am working flat out on my swap piece.  I can't show you yet what it is, so instead I thought I would finish tonight with this pair of cuties ...

 

Stray thoughts

I know that Jane Brocket talks of the gentle art of domesticity, but today's domestic tasks were more of the boring sort.  Monday means the weekly food shop - I don't mind the shopping, it's putting it all away!  Then there was the washing to be done - it has either been raining or threatening to rain, so it's now hanging up in the utility room to dry.  I should have done some ironing, but didn't quite get round to it!

However, there was something interesting going on today.  The last part of the steading where we live is finally being converted (and a big bit built on to it).  We had scarcely finished breakfast when we saw the crane on site, and by the time I came back from shopping they had already lifted a lot of the roof trusses into place.

 We spent quite a lot of time popping out the back to see how things were progressing - by the end of the day, the rest of the trusses were on.  We'll be glad when the work is finished - as you can see we have some scaffolding in the garden.

This afternoon I was in the studio taking photos of some of my work, but I also took some random photos as well.

   

This lovely sign was made for me by my friend Jean for my birthday some years ago.

 

I couldn't resist this silly sign - it's stuck to my notice board!

 

This is a page I kept from an old calendar.

 

I printed this out from an e-mail some years ago, so it's a bit faded, so I hope you can read it.  This is definitely the way I want to go!!

 

Malcolm put up this 'new' shelf unit for me today - I salvaged it from his Dad's garden shed!

 

Did you spot this gorgeous little hedgehog?  Isn't she a cutie - I got her from BusyBee.

While typing this, I'm watching Reporting Scotland.  They are showing a story about my home town of Airdrie - it was raining, grey and miserable - I wonder why I left!!

Now, I'm a bit slow sometimes, but I get there in the end .... I hope you noticed that the photos are finally centred - I had a 'lightbulb' moment - it has only taken me two months to realize how to do it! 

 

Easy peasy tutorial

I recently promised Helen of Drop One a tutorial on a very simple way to get started with patchwork.  I've been beavering away in the studio for the last two days, so may I now present my Easy Peasy Tutorial.  The instructions show me using a rotary cutter, ruler and mat, but if you don't have these, don't worry - I'll give you separate instructions at the end.

So, lets get started.  First you will need two fat quarters (that's the size of the material, not my bottom!).  It works best with contrasting colours

 

Iron the fabrics well - your cutting will be much more accurate without creases.  Put the fabrics right sides together, square on the board.  Cut a straight edge along the side that measures approx 21", then cut a strip 5" wide

 

Then cut this strip into 5" squares - I've turned two over so that you can see the wrong side of both fabrics

 

We are now going to start sewing, using a quarter inch seam.  I have a quarter inch foot on my machine - if you don't have one, you can either mark the seam line using a ruler and pencil, or measure a quarter inch away from your needle and put a line of masking tape on the throat plate to act as a guide.  We are going to chain-piece, which makes things quick and easy.  First, fold a piece of scrap fabric in half to use as a thread catcher - put this under the needle and sew almost to the edge.  Have your first squares ready to sew onto as you sew off the thread catcher - this stops the machine chewing up the edge with the first few stitches

 

When you are almost at the end, have your next squares ready to feed in, and repeat with the others.  You will have a string of bunting!

 

Cut off the thread catcher, but don't cut the squares apart - turn them round and sew the opposite side in the same way.  Now you can cut them apart, turn them found and do the other two sides .  You should now have for squares like this

 

Now, I know that at this point you are shouting two things at your computer - first, why didn't I just sew round each square?  It's much more accurate to do it this way.  Second - you stupid woman, you've sewn those squares together, that's not much use.  Don't panic - all will now be revealed!  Decide which of your two fabrics you want to be your centre, then on the other fabric, take your ruler and pencil (use a white pencil for dark fabrics) and mark both diagonals

 

Now comes the tricky bit - you have to pinch the two squares apart, folding the marked square on one line

 

That was tricky, the next bit is scary - you have to take your scissors and snip on the other line

 

It gets easier now - carefully cut along your two lines

 

Open out the triangles and hey presto, abracadabra - you have made your first block!!

 

Next, you have to press the block.  Unlike dressmaking, patchwork seams are pressed on the right side, and are pressed to one side, not open.  In this case, flip the triangles over, so that the seams lie outwards.

 

That was easy really, wasn't it!  So, do it all again with the other three squares.  Now, you have to trim the blocks to make them nice and square (this is part of the easy peasy bit - you can correct minor discrepancies in your stitching!)

 

Can you see that I have centred the block on the thicker yellow lines - this is so I can trim an equal amount off each edge - trim the blocks to measure 6".  They will now look like this

 

Looking good -but, hey, now you can do patchwork, let's keep going!  So, go back to the fabric that you used for the centre square, and cut four 6"squares, and do it all again - sew the two squares together, mark diagonals, pinch, cut, press -and, wow, look what we have now!

 

We've done the scary bits, we're on the home run now.  Flip block two to the left, on top of block one, and block four on top on block three.  Put a pin in the right hand edge, to remind you that's the edge to sew.  Sew the two edges and press the seams - remember to press them to one side - and this time press one to the left and one to the right

 

Now we are going to sew our last seam - butt the two seams up, so that your stitching lines are matched up

 

Pop a pin in to hold the seams in place (put the pin in at right angles, to make it easy to remove just before you sew over it).  Press your last seam .... and step back and admire your first piece of patchwork!!!

 

So what will we do now with our block - I'll tell you that another time!

As promised, what to do if you don't have a rotary cutter etc.    You will have to make cardboard templates (I use cereal boxes).  Mark and cut out five, six, and seven and a half inch squares.  Use the five inch template to cut out your first squares, lining the template up with the straight grain of the fabric and drawing round it with a pencil.  Then use the six inch square to do the first trim - centre the square to cut an equal amount off the four sides, then the seven and a half inch sqaure for the final trim.

I hope you have enjoyed this little tutorial - I had great fun doing it - especially when I had to take photos with my left hand, as I am very much right-handed!  (and the photo of pressing the seams - on the first attempt the lens steamed up!)  Please leave a comment telling me if this has inspired you to try patchwork - but be warned - it's addictive!!

Friday fun

As always, having been a good girl and vacuumed and dusted this morning, it was off to Jedburgh for chat and patch at Borderland Fabrics.  As I mentioned yesterday, I took my quilt top of farewell blocks, to start marking it ready to quilt.  There are lots of ways to mark quilts, but if it's a light coloured fabric, I just use an ordinary pencil (I have a stock of pencils from various hotels in Jakarta!).

 

As there is so much detail in the blocks, I am going to quilt the sashings with a simple cable.  You can see my template, which I drew out on a piece of paper then glued to a piece of cardboard.  On the back of the template, I glued two little pieces of sandpaper, so that the template grips the fabric.

However, there was an interruption to the marking, when we were each given a piece of floral fabric and a piece of a mystery fabric.  We were told to stitch the two together, using any kind of pattern we wanted.  I didn't think to take a photo of mine at that stage, so Pam let me take a photo of hers (she deserves a medal, as last week she read my entire blog!) 

Once we had stitched the two pieces together, all was revealed - the mystery fabric is called 'shrink' and when you blast it with steam from the iron it .... shrinks!!

 

This is the wrong side of mine - it's only a bit shrunk, but I think you can see that it has come in somewhat.

 

This photo doesn't clearly show how it has shrunk, but can you see the left-hand flower has some texture?

Of course, as usual, we had to stop mid-afternoon for a cuppa, and this time I remembered to take a photo before all the cake was all eaten ...

  

Doesn't that sponge look delicious ... would you like a closer look ...

 

It had apricot jam in the centre and was so light!!  Although I love cooking, I'm not much of a baker, so I am in awe of anyone who can produce a lovely light sponge like this - well done Annette!!

ps, I haven't heard from the owner of Fantoosh, so I still can't show you the photos, but no doubt we'll be there again sometime soon, so I'll ask again!!

Hope you all have a good weekend!

Confessions of a non-finisher

Having (almost) finished the Jennie Rayment cushion cover, I thought I should confess that I have another unfinished Jennie item - this one is a small quilt which I made at a workshop with Jennie a year ago.

 

The photo doesn't do justice to the lovely colours of the Batik fabrics (perhaps I shouldn't have put it on the dark brown studio carpet to take the photo!)  The flower trumpets in the centre have still to be twiddled and fiddled and the corner blocks will have textured flowers on them (once I've made them).  I would have taken it with me tomorrow to chat and patch to work on, but instead I decided to take this .....

 

Please ignore the fact that I pinned the quilt top to a quilt already hanging up to take the photo!  I was given these blocks when I left Greenpark Quilters when we moved here.  It was very kind of them, as they had already made the blocks for the teacup quilt when I left them when we went to Indonesia!  I put the blocks together using calico (muslin) as there is so much colour in the blocks, it would have looked too busy with a patterned fabric.  All the blocks are special, but I want to show you three close up.  First is this applique block by Frances ..

 

Her applique stitching is superb and the embroidery is gorgeous.

Next is another applique block, this one by Moira (ok I admit it, applique is my favourite!)

 

Again, the applique stitching is wonderful and I love the tiny embroidered strawberry that the bird is holding.

As for the third block - it was a bit spooky when I saw this one, as it is the view from my kitchen window!

   

The fields across the road from us are full of sheep - and any day now the lambs should start arriving!

I will finish with a photo that shows that I do finish things ...

 

This wallhanging is called Autumn, and these are definitley my favourite colours to work with.  I made this for an exhibition in Edinburgh some years ago.  Malcolm and I went with our next-door neighbours to the first night of the exhibition.  Things were going well, they were saying nice things about my work .... then Malcolm told them that the textured leaves in the top left-hand corner were added to hide a wrinkle in the quilting!!

Satisfied customers!

This morning we headed east again, this time to the Berwickshire town of Duns.  It's Wednesday, so of course that means we had lunch out.  Today, we went to Pearsons Garden Centre in Duns.  The coffee shop isn't overly pretty - but the food .....

 

As you can see, we thoroughly enjoyed our soup.  I had carrot and courgette, which was lightly spiced, and Malcolm had tomato and basil, and we both had a crusty brown roll, hot from the oven - delicious!

Before lunch, we had a walk round Duns, where we spotted this quirky house ...

 

I wonder if the people who live in it are tall and narrow too?

I can't go to Duns without visiting  a wonderful shop called Albany Courtyard, which sells all sorts of gorgeous things .....

 

As well as all these goodies, they also make curtains, upholster furniture etc ... and this means ... remnants!

 

I couldn't possibly have come home without this beautiful fabric, which is reversible - I think it will make wonderful cushion covers - or maybe a bag (or both!)

When we arrived in Duns, we popped into another favouite place for a quick cuppa - a gift shop/coffee shop with the wonderful name of Fantoosh.  The owner wasn't there, so the two lovely ladies who were serving let me take photos, which I promised not to post until the owner says I can.  I hope she does say it's ok, because it's another shop full of beautifully crafted goodies!

Last night was a wonderful moonlit night - or as we Scots might say - a braw, bricht, moonlicht nicht (or something like that!)  This is the best of my many attempts to take a photo of the moon shining above the back garden wall ...

 

I have knitted a bit more of my cushion cover - which just wouldn't co-operate when I tried to arrange it artistically over the back of a kitchen chair!  Although I didn't use flash to take the photo, I think the colours look a bit washed out ...

 

I haven't quite decided how to make the cushion cover, but I think big buttons and I-cord could be involved ......

Fiddled and twiddled

It was Kist day again, so that meant a whole day of sewing, sewing, sewing (with a short pause for lunch!).  I was determined to finish my Jennie Rayment cushion, so I started with the remaining bits to be twiddled and fiddled ...

   

Once they were done, the next step was to trim the block to size, making sure it was square ...

 

As this is going to be a cushion, the next job was to cut the fabric for the back ...

 

This was cut the same width as the block, but long enough to allow the two pieces to overlap.  I used the quick method to prepare the hems for stitching - I ironed them ...

 

Then stitched them ..

 

I made the cushion cover using the simple method you can use to bind a quilt.  First I cut strips an inch and a half wider than the block, by three inches.  I then folded them in half and ironed them ..

 

Next, I placed the block right side down, with the bottom towards me, and laid the first piece of the back on right side up ..

 

I added the second piece (again right side up) then pinned round the edges - note that the pins are at right angles to the edges... this is so that you can pull them out as you sew

 

I then turned the whole thing over and aligned the binding strips with a side edge - the strips for the side are too long, they are trimmed once they have been sewn on. Once I had stitched on both side bindings, I then turned them over to the wrong side and pinned the corners in place ..

    

Then I stitched on the top and bottom binding, leaving an overlap at either end.  We're almost there now!!  The last job is to stitch the binding down on the back, so that it just covers the line of machine stitching.  I didn't have time to do that, so I have pinned it in place, so that you can see the (almost) finished cushion cover.

 

I hope you like it!!

   

Be careful what you wish for!

Picture the scene.  It's September 1996, and Malcolm, Stuart and I are lying by the pool, enjoying some wonderful sunshine.  We have gone on holiday a bit later than usual, as Stuart has left school and is about to go to university at the start of October.  Knowing that we will be going back to decidedly autumnal weather, I ask Malcolm why he can't work somewhere warm and sunny ....

...... some weeks later, Malcolm came home from work and said 'remember you wanted me to work somewhere warm?' ... why did I know I probably wouldn't like what he said next!  BP had asked him to go and work in Indonesia - cue look in atlas to find out exactly where Indonesia is!

Malcolm spent the early part of 1997 going back and forward on business trips, then in August I went with him for a 'recce'.  Now I have to say, this bit was very enjoyable, as we stayed in a 5-star hotel for four weeks, and when Malcolm was working I was forced to spend time at the pool - this is the view of the pool from our room (on the 29th floor!)

 

and this is the lounger where I spent quite a few enjoyable afternoons ...

   

often sipping on an iced lemon tea. (a little historical footnote - I was in the Shuttle Lounge in Heathrow Airport, on my way home, when it was announced that Princess Diana was dead!)

Back home, the house was sold, a flat bought for Stuart to live in, and I flew back to Indonesia to start a new and very different life.  At first, we lived in a very smart apartment complex - this is part of the landscaped gardens and one of the swimming pools ..

 

... but in Indonesia, poverty is never far away, and this was the view from our 18th floor apartment ...

 

and although we were living in comparative luxury, we still had to have bottled water, as the tap water wasn't fit to drink ..

 

Malcolm's Indonesian colleagues were friendly and welcoming, and this was our first company event ...

 

My Indonesian never got past the basics, but I do remember that selamat datang means welcome.  This was a family day out, with fun and games, and I got roped in to one of the teams ...

 

It's a pity you can't see what we were doing - we were wearing what could best be described at multi-person skis!  We had to 'ski' across the room, turn and come back - of course we ended up in a heap on the floor, and I had some lovely bruises!!

Stuart came out to visit for Christmas and New Year, and we went to Bali for a few days ..

 

Late afternoons, these food stalls would appear in front of the hotel, ready to feed people on their way home from work.  Amongst ex-pats, these food stalls were known as 'cholera carts'!!  Of course, when we were celebrating New Year, we weren't to know that 1998 would bring massive political and economic changes to Indonesia, and change our life there as well ... but I'll save that for another day.

ps I have been doing a lot of sewing over the last few days, but I can't tell you about it, because it's for a swap - this is my first ever swap - I always seem to read about them on blogs when it's too late to join.  But I will give you just a little look at what I started with ...

A wooly good day (part two)

We were sitting watching tv last night when I said to Malcolm that I hadn't put in the link when I wrote about Woolfish - I'm very sorry and it won't happen again!

So, to continue with yesterday's day out.  I think you know us well enought by now to know that if we were out for the day, lunch would be involved ...

   

We walked down to the harbour to this delightful cafe.  Unfortunately it was too cold and windy to sit outside, so we sat upstairs, with a view out to the harbour.  We had excellent cheese and ham toasties and somehow a bowl of chips with chilli dip got ordered as well .... Malcolm had a very large cup of coffee and as usual I had a pot of tea.  I do sometimes drink coffee, but I want another drink afterwards - it just isn't thirst-quenching!

 

In this photo of the harbour, you can see the cafe on the right.  Unfortunately it was a bit dull, so the photos of the scenery don't do justice to St Abbs.

 

I don't think they will suffer from coastal erosion here!

 

The white specks are birds - but as the binoculars were in the car, I can't tell you what kind of birds (probably boring seagulls!)

 

As we walked back up the hill from the harbour, we stopped to look at this memorial - although the biggest figures are only about six inches high, you can feel the anguish ....

 

I was too busy (sewing) today to find out more about the fishing disaster, but I will try to find out for a future post.

 

On the way back to the car, we saw this stone head.  Fortunately, Malcolm spotted a leaflet at the National Trust information centre, so I can tell you about it.  It is a carving of Aebbe, daughter of Aethelfrith, the first King of Northumbria  She was sainted for helping to spread Christianity, and her name was given to the headland and village.

Well, I must end now, as Malcolm has almost finished cooking dinner (I did tell you I was very sensible and married a man who is a good cook!).  I hope you have had a good weekend - come back tomorrow for more of this nonsense .....