frayed at the edge

The tea table is set ......

..... and the stove is lit - so it must be time for the first meeting of Kist for the autumn/winter session!  (for new readers, Kist is my house group - it stands for k1 stitch two, and is also a Scottish word for a chest, particularly a hope chest)

 

of course I didn't bake the goodies - maybe one day .......

 

 

lots of magazines, books and patterns to look at!
 

 

We were a small group today, as Lizzi and Lorraine are both on holiday (although more members are going to join us soon!), so it was just Alison, Tricia and me.  We had a great day, knitting, sewing, blethering, drinking tea, eating cake .....  Alison was working on a wonderful piece of embroidery - she had first drawn and painted the picture on paper, using special paints and crayons.  She then put the paper on to the fabric and ironed it, transferring the picture.  The colours are wonderful ....

 

 

Tricia did a bit of quilting on a bag she is in the middle of making, and she also did a bit of knitting, but the star of the day was her beautiful quilted and embroidered cushion ......

 

The stitching is lovely, and the colour of the embroidery is echoed in the edging.  And ..... the back is so lovely, it is really a reversible cushion ..... 

 

 

So what was I doing?  Well ...... yes, it was those chickens!  I cut and stitched the rest of the strips I need for the sashing, then I embroidered the legs and beak on this little chook ...

 

 

 
 
 
 
 

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!!

   

Where does the time go?

It hardly seems two minutes since the last Kist meeting, but two weeks have gone by, so this morning saw me in my usual headless chicken state, rushing about getting the coffee machine on, laying the tea table, lighting the woodburning stove....

For most of the day, I was working on 'sunset over the bay', but as I am still doing the basic quilting, there was nothing new to take a photo of.  However, later on, I did a bit of knitting on my new project.  This is very definitely making-it-up-as-I-go!

 

I thought I would have a change from socks, so this is the beginnings of a fingerless mit.  I am using the two at a time method on the circular needle, so at least the two mits should turn out the same.  I started with 80 stitches and did ten rounds, so that the cuff would curl over.  I then k2tog to leave me with forty stitches and started the cable pattern (which is only on the back).

 

The first cable has caused a fold in the cuff (which you can just about see on the left of the photo), but I think I can solve that with a button!  I haven't yet decided how to do the thumb - vertically, by knitting back and forward for the required number of rows, then knitting in the round again, or horizontally, knitting the thumb stitches onto waste wool?  Oh, decision, decisions!

And now a bit of fun to end with.  I hope you read Helen's comment on the Show Report (if not, why not??) about when wool doesn't count as adding to your stash.  This reminded me of a t-shirt I bought some time ago in a quilting shop .....

A nice cup of tea

It hardly seems two minutes since they were last here, but it is two weeks, so this morning saw me getting organised for Kist.  Of course, you can't have a bunch of ladies without providing refreshments, so the first job is to get the coffee on and lay the tea-table.

 

I hope you like the tablecloth - I bought it when we were living in Indonesia (but like New Zealand, that's a story for another day).  I am well known for the amount of tea I drink, so when I had to part company with Greenpark Quilters in Polmont (which is near Falkirk ... and if that doesn't help it's in Stirlingshire) when we moved to Indonesia, they all made me a block with a mug on it.  I used them to make this wallhanging, which appropiately is called ' a nice cup of tea'.

 

In the first photo, you can see the painted cupboard that the kettle and coffee machine stand on.  I did that way back in the mid-90s, when paint effects and stencilling were all the rage.  It has moved house several times now (and even had a spell under a dust cover in the garage) and I wouldn't part with it.  On the wall above the cupboard are family memories ...

 

In the middle is the sampler that I did for my Mum and Dad's Ruby Wedding in 1986.  Sadly they never got to celebrate their Golden Wedding, as my Mum died in 1995.  The photo above it is my grandparents in their shop in Glasgow.  I don't know exactly when the photo was taken, but I think it was before the War.  I embroidered the 'R' for my Mum one Christmas - can you just see it has roses twined round it?  I also did one for my Mum-in-law - her name was Doreen, so was her picture perhaps a lovely dahlia?  No, it was a dandelion!  The drawn-thread picture is my first and last attempt (again it was a present for my Mum) - not a method of working I wanted to do again!

I couldn't finish without a wee mention of the giveaway ....

 

Another little thing has been added - this time a lavender bag.  Now, it's not filled with namby-pamby French lavender - this is the real stuff, grown right here in my garden, good Borders lavender!  So leave a comment and it could all be yours.

A busy day!

 

Yesterday got off to a good start, when I managed to take a photo of the woodpecker on the fat-ball feeder.  Most times, it flies away while I fetch the camera, or I scare it off when I try to get close to the window to take the photo.  However yesterday I got the camera in time and edged carefully into the lounge, then set the zoom to maximum and finally got a photo.

 

Then it was time to get ready for my house group, Kist.  The woodburning stove has to be lit, the coffee pot put on, space to be made on the worktables.  As you can see, fromleft to right  Tricia, Ali and Lorraine are all working hard (Lizzi is away skiing).  I was working on Sunset over the Bay, but haven't made enough progress to take another photo!  You may notice that the tables are different colours.  They were bought from Ikea at different times and I was sure I had bought the same colour ....  They are super tables, the legs simply unscrew if you need to move them to have more floor space, you don't need to worry about pins scratching them and best of all ... they were very cheap!  The quilt on the wall is called Crazy Lady Stars and Stripes - no, it's not a description of me, but the name of the shop - Crazy Ladies and Friends, where I bought the fabric some years ago when I was in Santa Monica, California.

 

And now, the grand finale of today's post (roll of drums, fanfare of trumpets please) .... yes, you see before you the start of my 2-at-a-time socks.  It took three attempts to get under way (and perhaps a naughty word or two!), but I think I've got the hang of it (at least until I reach the heel).  Before you think my colour sense really is defective - they are supposed to be different colours, as suggested by the author to make it easier.  They are just little child-size socks, so it will be no big deal to do another two!

Knit One Stitch Too

 

Yesterday was the first meeting this year of my house group Kist - yes, it's an acronym for k1 stitch too.  Kist is a Scottish word for a chest - particularly a hope chest, where in previous times, girls would store their beautifully embroidered linens ready for when they married.   Two members were absent (with permission!), but the other two came along armed with knitting and sewing - and that most important thing - lunch.  I started sewing up my aran cardi - it's on the front cover of the latest Simply Knitting.  The unusual edge is created by using the Channel Island cast on - I've been knitting for over forty years and I have never encountered it before!  The heavy rib also looks good - 1st row knit into front and back of each stitch, 2nd row k2tog, p2tog.  I think it would make a good cuff for a sock - I may try it on the next pair.

 

Since Malcolm took early retirement in August 2005, we have got into the habit of going out for lunch on Wednesdays.  Today we went to nearby Lilliesleaf, to visit Jammy Coo , a recently opened coffee shop/art gallery/gift shop.  We both had soup - cream of mushroom and celery, which may sound an odd combination, but was absolutely delicious.  There is a choice of home-baked bread or scone - we both chose the scone, but I suppose one of us should have had the bread, for reporting purposes!  I had a lovely pot of tea and Malcolm had a caffetiere of coffee.  The china has the Jammy Coo logo on it - and you can buy a mug to take home - maybe next time, as this time I bought one of their Jammy Coo shopping bags.

 

Today's last photo shows what I will be doing tomorrow afternoon - yes, the ironing basket is overflowing and I can't ignore it any longer.  ( I'm working on the theory here that if I tell you I will be doing the ironing, I had better do it in case you come round and check up on me!)