frayed at the edge

A frustrating day

I cleared the work tables this morning of the accumulated clutter (I'm very tidy in the house, but not in the studio!) to make room to layer up the latest Linus quilt

 

Several dozen pins later it was ready to quilt

 

I changed the free motion foot, as the large plastic one is better for quilting when I use fleece on the back of a quilt (I had to get the instruction book out, as I couldn't remember how to change it .... the tiny screw on the underneath  releases the bottom bit of the foot)

 

I thought I would try this thread, which I have had in my stash for some years

 

Although it is a thicker thread, the label says it is great for machine quilting - but unfortunately it wasn't great when I tried a sample.  The thread has a lot of slubs, and just wouldn't run smoothly through the needle.    So I changed to my everyday quilting thread and ........the thread broke, the thread jammed, the thread just wouldn't behave!  There is a lot of debate among quilters as to whether it is the fault of the thread, the machine or the quilter when it all goes wrong.  After many, many years sewing, and having had several brands of machines and many brands of thread, I would say it is probably a mixture of all three.  After some tedious unpicking, I switched to the walking foot, quilting the centre panel with a sort of scallop-shaped stitch

 

and using straight line quilting to create a secondary pattern of squares in the middle of the triangles.  I haven't decided how to quilt the other borders yet!

 

Malcolm in the meantime was having a more successful afternoon, cutting both the back grass ......

 

........ and the front one

 

He also had a successful morning - finding this fleece reduced in Asda to a mere £2.50!!  It will provide backing for two small quilts for Linus

 

ps - it's not the photo that's fuzzy, it's the fleece!!

In a bind

I had been putting off adding the binding to our new comforter, as I knew it would be a very big job.  However on Saturday I though I really ought to get on with it!  Faced with the thought of sitting for hours handstitching the binding on the back of the comforter, I decided to try a method I haven't used before  .......  back-to-front binding.  As the name suggests, the binding is sewn on the back of the quilt instead of the front, then turned over to the front and machine stitched in place, saving all those hours of hand stitching!  The first step was to cut the strips for the binding from the same fabric as the comforter, but in a darker shade of green

 

I then joined them using a diagonal seam

 

When the binding is folded in half and pressed the seam is staggered, giving a neater finish

 

Having stitched it to the back of the quilt, I turned it to the right side and stitched it in place as close to the edge as possible

 

in no time at all the job was done and the comforter was on the bed

 

Oops - it looks lovely, but it doesn't go with the valance!  So it was back into the studio yesterday to make a valance with the same dark green fabric as the binding

 

But I wouldn't want you to think that I was chained to the sewing machine all weekend!  Malcolm took me out for breakfast yesterday to celebrate Mothers' Day - a delicious bacon roll

 

We then had a walk past the donkey sanctuary - unfortunately we had forgotten that it doesn't open until 2pm, so had to content ourselves with looking through gaps in the hedge to see just a few donkeys

 

 

We usually have a traditional Sunday dinner, but yesterday Malcolm made turkey fillet en croute with a mushroom and shallot duxelles

 

Served with a jus and green beans, it was a wonderful dinner (we were slobs and ate it in front of the tv, as Malcolm was watching Newcastle play football - fortunately they won, so his appetite wasn't spoiled!!)

 

To finish, I thought you might like to see another cute ewe and lamb photo .......

 

Shadow Shot Sunday

 

 

It's Mothers' Day here tomorrow, so what better shadow shot to post than this ewe and her lamb!  When you have finished going aaaah, how cute/sweet/delightful, pop on over to Shadow Shot Sunday 2, where Magical Mystery Teacher, Rose and Gemma enable shadow addicts from around the world to share their latest captures.

I can't think of a title!

I had just said to Malcolm "I can't think of a title" ....... when I thought, well that will do!  After cleaning the kitchen windowsill this morning, I was putting the orchids back, and thought that I hadn't shown you any photos of them recently

 

 

 

 

 

 

At patch'n'chat this afternoon, we had an extra treat ........ our newest member, Maureen, had brought in a box of chocolates for Sandra, who had given her a lot of help last week - and Sandra shared them with us

 

Sandra, of course, is our wonderful Linus lady, and here she is on the right, showing a Linus quilt to a customer

 

This one was made by Jen (and you can see two from Pam on the pile behind it)

 

This one was made by Tricia

 

Katy had finished all her tiny heart blocks for a miniature quilt, and sewed the first two together.  As you can see, each square is just over an inch

 

We had the wonderful apple and sultana cake with our afternoon cuppa - I really must make the effort to bake one for Malcolm, as I keeep telling him how good it is!!

 

A bit of fun to finish - this case of wine was delivered this morning .......... will I have to strip off to drink it!!??

 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, love Anne

Where was I?

I remember, we had finished our wonderful lunch and set off for home.  The road home from Duns took us to the village of Greenlaw ....... we have driven through it countless times, going back to 1983 - but we have never stopped there!  So yesterday we stopped to take photos of the old Town Hall and the church.  You can read about both of them here.  The town hall lay empty for many years, and even starred in a BBC programme about restoring old buildings.  It is now offices - but from what we could see, there wasn't anybody in the building.

 

 

 

I popped that last photo in, just in case you are looking for some unusual office accommodation!

 

Next, we walked round the church and the old graveyard

 

 

What would you have on the end of your grave ....... this somewhat odd carving

 

or this charming one

 

or an angel to watch over you

 

We paused to admire the carving on this Celtic cross

 

and to wonder what the meaning was of this skull and crossbones set into the church wall

 

The church tower was once used as a jail - I guess there weren't many escapes through this metal grill

 

 

The last stop on the way home was at Hume Castle   It was a steep walk up to the castle - we must have walked off quite a few calories!

 

Unfortunately, it was dull and misty, but if you click on the link, you will see lots of photos taken on sunny days.  The views from the castle are stunning, even with the mist

 

 

Only the outer walls survive

 

 

 

From the top of the walls, we had a good view of farmers getting on with spring planting ......

 

....... and ditch clearing

 

and we could see major landscaping works in this back garden!

 

To finish ....... I remembered today to take a photo of the fabric I bought yesterday - it cost £8 for three metres!

What we did today .....

....... or what we did up to and including lunch .... it was such a busy day I will have to save the afternoon's doings for tomorrow!  We went over to Duns, where our first stop of course was for our morning cuppa - you know that we normally share a scone, but when Malcolm went up to the counter to place the order, he couldn't make up his mind, and ordered the cheese one which you can see, and also a plum and orange one.  Both were delicious, but we preferred the cheese one

 

While Malcolm was getting some money from the hole-in-the-wall, my eye was drawn to this architectural detail above us

 

Of course I had to visit my favourite shop, Albany Vineyard .... I bought a super remnant, which I'll show you tomorrow (ok, I forgot to take a photo of it when we got home!)

 

I also bought a new British quilting magazine, which I had a browse through at lunchtime.  I'm not a great fan of Popular Patchwork and Patchwork and Quilting, so it's good to see a new magazine with a mixture of projects, articles and interviews

 

This cushion may have to go on the to-do list .....

 

...... but not the mug cosy, as I don't like my tea too hot!

 

Our lunch in Pearson's garden centre was delicious ....... I had a cheese and onion toastie

 

and Malcolm had leek, bacon and cheese quiche (I should say that after such a fabulous lunch, we had a very frugal dinner tonight!)

 

These last photos are out of sequence, as I took them on the way home ....... but I wouldn't make you wait an extra day for lambs ......

 

........ and three fat hens!

 

ps - I'm sorry about the wire mesh in the photos - but they were taken hurriedly from the car when Malcom made one of his emergency photo-taking stops!!

Please scrub my back!

These photos of the robin were taken hurriedly through the window as it was getting dark  yesterday  - so not ideal conditions!

 

I am rushing to get this post done, as this is my night for going to Abbey Quilters.  When I joined in the autumn, I signed up to do a quilt, with part of the instructions being given to us each month.  Despite my best intentions, I hadn't yet started mine, so I thought I had better make an effort.  I choose this bright fabric for the centre

 

then picked out this dark patterned fabric and calico to make the first border

 

having marked the diagonal lines on the calico, I sewed a seam on either side of the lines, then cut the squares apart, not only on the diagonal lines, but also on the centre lines

 

this gave me lots of units like this

 

which I then sewed in groups of four to make pinwheel blocks.  But then, when I went to trim the squares .... a little problem - they were much bigger than the pattern said

 

You can see from this photo the before and after sizes.  So what went wrong?  I had missed the bit in the instructions which said to trim the units before I sewed them together in fours.  However, they turned out ok in the end!

 

I stitched them into rows, then added them to the centre panel (I forgot to take a photo of this stage!)  Then I read the next part of the instructions - oh dear, cut strips, cut squares blah blah - so as you can see I simple added a plain black border ......

 

..... then a fun chicken border

 

...... and finally a red border

 

So ....... not quite what I had intended when I started, but I am pleased with how it turned out!

Soaking up the sun

As usual we went for a walk yesterday morning, choosing Melrose for a stroll along the river.  Last time we were there, there was snow on the ground, but yesterday was glorious!  Although I think perhaps these fishermen would have felt it a bit chilly round their nether regions, standing in the waters of the River Tweed

 

For a change, we crossed the footbridge and walked along the far bank

 

The air was full of the scent of wild garlic, which grows in profusion along the bank and under the trees

 

These shaggy ponies are usually in a field over beside the Abbey ...... they look quite content in their new surroundings

 

There were signs of spring everywhere

On our way to have a cuppa after the walk, of course I had to pause to take a photo of the Abbey

 

Having worked up an appetite after a longer-than-usual walk, we decided to have an early lunch ...... the bacon rolls were delicious!

 

Perhaps I should have saved a bit to give to this dog, which watched us with big sad eyes as we walked past, on our way back to the car

 

One last pause, to take a photo of this quirky chimney

 

As well as embroidering the stitcheries for Anne's quilt, I have also been busy in the studio doing the piecing.  This is as far as I can go until the stitcheries are finished

 

When I was looking for something to watch on tv, I found this programme

 

You might think they are somewhat mad, capturing large alligators, but there is a lot of money to be made!

 

I learned from the programme that alligators never stop growing - I wouldn't want to face a little one, never mind some of the huge ones the brothers deal with

 

It was so warm yesterday afternoon, we had our cuppa in the garden.  I fetched the camera and set the timer to take a photo of us, Malcolm with his coffee and me with my hot chocolate ......

not a very good photo, let's try again

 

now you can't see Malcolm's face and I've somehow acquired several chins!!

 

Shadow Shot Sunday

We have had mixed weather this week, so today's collection of shadow shots is a mix as well, taken whenever the sun shone!  To see how my fellow shadow addicts got on this week capturing shadows, pop over to Shadow Shot Sunday 2, hosted by Magical Mystery Teacher, Rose and Gemma

 

 

 

 

 

To finish, a bit of fun ....... is this a rabbit running through the garden?

 

No, it's the tap on the water butt!!

Gold!

I don't like it when I get letters in plain brown envelopes ..... usually they contain a demand from the taxman, or an invitation from the NHS to have intrusive and painful things done to my female bits.  But the brown envelope this morning contained something much better - a promise to give me lots of money in return for my gold jewellery!

 

So did I whip off my gold bangles and remove my lovely hoop earrings .......of course not!  But I did keep the bag and envelope to use (I will turn the envelope inside out).

 

Remember the bowl of hyacinths which our visitors gave us some weeks ago.  Now that the hyacinths have finished flowering and have been put away to keep for next year, I have put the bowl in my bathroom.   Despite not having visited the house before, the visitors managed to pick a colour which goes well with the newly redecorated bathroom!

 

I am enjoying embroidering the little stitcheries for the quilt I am making for Anne.  I have now completed three and started the fourth (they look a bit wrinkled, as they have still to be pressed)

love delights in the little things

 

a loving kiss is carried all day

 

love is a chance to deliver happiness

 

love and joy are united as one

 

At patch'n'chat this afternoon, I finished the prep for the Baltimore block

 

Our teatime treat was Annette's wonderful cupcakes

 

It was hard to choose, but in the end I decided to have one with pink sprinkles!!

 

 I hope you all have a good weekend, love Anne