frayed at the edge

An excellent weekend!

The fun got under way on Friday night, when I went to Sheena Norquay's talk.  I already knew quite a bit about Sheena being inspired by Orkney, where she grew up, as there was a large feature about her some years ago in this magazine

 

The wonderful colours of the scenery round her childhood home have heavily influenced her colour palette .....

 

...... and she stitches symbols from Norse legends into her quilts

 

So after an enjoyable evening on Friday, I was looking forward to the workshop on Saturday ........ and it turned out to be fabulous!!  First, we drew a fantasy bird on paper - I based mine on a heron

 

After transferring the drawing to fabric ......  the fun really began, as we used fabric paints to print all sorts of circles on the birds

 

I cheated a little bit and used a brush to fill in some of the body!  I decided to stick to the two colours of paint that I had, pearlescent red (which looks pink!) and silver

 

We finished the printing in time for lunch, which was supplied by a local pub ....... delicious lentil soup (sorry, I had eaten half of it before I remembered to take a photo!) .......

 

...... and trays of very tasty sandwiches

 

Then it was back to work! 

 

 I trimmed the fabric round my bird, added borders, then tacked it to a piece of wadding, ready to stitch.  This was the first time I had stitched using an embroidery ring - and I loved it - it just made it so much easier!!

 

This is a detail of the tail

 

All too soon, it was time to go home, but not before everyone posed with their birds, with Sheena sitting on the bottom right hand side of the photo ..... and I should say at this point a very big thank you to Sandra and Lorraine, who spent the day keeping us supplied with drinks and served the lunch, and then Sandra took the photo for me

 

Sheena had given us excellent instructions on how to finish our wallhangings, so yesterday afternoon, I started on the next stage, which was just a little bit scary - trimming away the excess wadding from around the bird - I was worried that I would accidently cut through the fabric as well

 

The next stage was to layer and baste the wallhanging, then to stitch in the ditch between the centre fabric and the border (I actually find sewing in a straight line difficult, and took three attempts before I was happy with it!)

 

Having successfully used the embroidery ring on Saturday, yesterday I got out a bigger quilting hoop and set it up. 

 

I stitched round the bird, then checked the back ...... disaster!!  The tension had obviously gone haywire, and a lot of the stitches on the back were big loose loops! 

 

After unpicking all the wonky stitching, I decided to leave it there for the day ...... and that's where I'm going to stop today ...... I will tell you more tomorrow, but now it's time for the knitting update.  I didn't do any knitting on Saturday evening, as I was somewhat tired after the workshop, but last night I finished the second sock, except for the Kitchener stitch

 

I have one more ball of sock yarn to use ........ someone recently told me about a method of knitting a sock with an 'afterthought' heel.  I'm sorry, I haven't got a link for it, but I just did a search on Ravelry and found it (if you're looking for me on Ravelry I'm Carenza!)  I forgot to print out the pattern earlier, so I'll just read the first stage from the laptop when I start knitting later!

 

ps - why do I still have that magazine?  Because of this page, which shows the Callender House wallhanging which I helped to make, and the church banners, a wonderful project which was organised by my friend Grace Graham

 

Shadow Shot Sunday

Just a very quick post today, as I have been out all day at a workshop (pop back on Monday to see what I was doing).  But tired as I am, I still have to have my fix of shadow fun, along with all the addicts that gather at Hey Harriet every weekend!!  So here are two randowm shadows from the archives ......

 

a field gatepost, taken in the summer

 

this isn't upside down ...... the sky is reflected in the glass on the kitchen windowsill!!

Just popped in .......

...... to say a quick hello before I head out for the evening - and of course to bring you the Friday cake!

Something diferent today - iced chocolate sponge squares, with chocolate sprinkles - yummy!!

 

 

I hope you all have a great weekend, love Anne

A fantasy bird ......

..... and real ones too!  The fantasy bird will (hopefully) appear on Saturday, during the workshop with Sheena Norquay, which I am really looking forward too.  We will be printing on plain fabric with fabric paints, then machine embroidering/quilting a fantasy bird with our printed fabric.  Before that, Sheena is giving a talk tomorrow evening about her work and the influence that Orkney, where she is originally from, has had on her quilts.  Do click on the link and look at the various sections on the left-hand sidebar - I have been a great fan of her work for many years, ever since I saw her stunning quilt 'The Three Norns'.  Fingers crossed that I will be able to take photos to share with you.

The real birds are,of course, the ones that frequent our feeders in the front garden ....... starting with the irresistible robin

 

 

 

Just one of the (at least) two dozen sparrows, which rule the garden and bully all the other birds!

 

This great tit's head is slightly blurred, as it moved its head, but you can see the detail of its feathers and feet

 

Look at the size of it on the fatball feeder ........

 

..... and compare it to the tiny coal tit  (sorry, it's a little bit blurred).......

 

If those two are little and large (or should that be large and little) then the blue tit is medium!

 

I have mentioned that I was inspired to do the Farmer's Wife blocks after seeing Krystine's  beautiful blocks.   I love the fabrics she has been using, and have finally managed to track some down - these eight delicious fat quarters arrived in the post on Tuesday

 

I have continued to do mine using up the left overs from the row quilt - I have now finished all the main outline quilting ...... can you see the many ends I have still to sew in? (click on the phpoto to enlarge it)

 

When I cut out the pieces of the first block, I laid them out ready to stitch, but something wasn't right.....

 

...... having turned round the two triangles on the right , I was ready to stitch ....

 

....... but I was concentrating so hard on matching up my seams, I forgot to insert the edges of the basket handle!

 

Having finally got that one right, it was on to the second block. 

 

As I was putting the blocks on the design wall, I remembered that they are actually set on point in the quilt (the handle of the basket is pinned - I ran of of time to stitch it!)

 

In a tangle!

Unlike Rachel, who showed off gleaming locks in this post, my hair was looking less than happy this morning!

 

The problem?  My hairdryer had been a bit poorly recently, refusing to blow at its usual rate.  I asked Malcolm to have a look at it - he took it apart, couldn't find what the problem was ...... then simply couldn't get it to fit back together!  So until I can buy a new one, I'll have to make do with my travel one ...... which is just a little bit small and underpowered

 

However, some time later my hair was finally dry and straight again (it only curls when it gets longer!)

 

As the sun was shining, we popped over to Jedburgh, and had a walk round the town before lunch.  This acer was a blaze of colour against the blue sky

 

Can you just picure the two of us rattling around our country roads on these two fabulous machines - perhaps we could hire ourselves out to move sheep to other filelds, or bring the cows in for milking

 

I had to drag Malcolm away from this pile of logs, before he tried to stuff them in his pockets to take home!

 

Malcolm spotted this carving above the library door

 

The restoration work on the fountain has finally finished

 

Back home, Malcolm was pottering about the garden while I was in the studio.  He stuck his head in the door and shouted for me to come quickly and bring the camera.  There was a wonderful rainbow .... this is it as seen from the back garden

 

and this from the front

 

I am going to a workshop on Saturday, so I thought I ought to organise the rather long list of requirements

 

I looked out my workshop bag .......

 

it has a pocket at the back for the cutting mat and ruler

 

and two zipped plastic pockets which are held in place with velcro

 

I also cleaned the sewing machine and stowed it away in its case, so everything is ready for Saturday morning ....... I'll be out on Friday evening, which is why I'm getting organised early (I'll tell you all about the evening out and the workshop is tomorrow). 

 

I have started the prep for the next Baltimore block - ok, I have to admit that I have put the Hawaiian block aside, as it will have to be needleturned, which is my least favourite method of applique!

 

ps - I have done my Farmer's Wife blocks for this week, I'll show them to you tomorrow!

Practice makes perfect!

Anne and Tricia came over this morning, so that we could have a fun day free motion quilting (sewing with the feed dogs down, so you control the stitch length by moving the fabric)........ although Anne and Tricia weren't entirely convinced about the fun bit!!  I haven't done much fmq recently, so it was a chance for me to keep my hand in too.

My first efforts were a bit rusty - you can see there are some large stitches in the flowers ........

 

........ but after some more stitching, I was brave enough to switch to a variegated thread, which would show up more

a messy centre, but getting better

 

swags of flowers and bows

 

another flower, filled in with scribbles

 

I also did some fmq on patterned fabric - this little bit shows the different effect achieved by changing from matching to contrasting thread

 

I stitched round this bird - but I have given it a funny bump on its head!!

 

I had fun stitching the outline of  hearts, then wonky squares round them, and filling in round the hearts

 

This is perhaps free motion embroidery, rather than quilting ....... a little clump of long grass with seed heads

Anne and Tricia soon got the hang of things and by the end of the afternoon were much more confident - I'm sure in no time at all they will be producing quilts with wonderful free motion quilting!!

Sugar, sugar

We use very little sugar (apart from jam and chutney making), but at the weekend I used very large amounts for the sloe gin and rosehip syrup.  Malcolm volunteered to prick the sloes, then I put them into three small jars ( I didn't have a big one!) and added the sugar and gin.  The jars have to be shaken once a day for a week, then once a week for eight to ten weeks - this is one of them after its shake this morning

 

The recipes for both the sloe gin and the rosehip syrup are from this book, which Stuart and Alison gave me for my birthday

 

The rosehip syrup was very easy to make - but I was disappointed with the colour it turned out - yellow, rather than lovely red.  However, we had some on our porridge this morning, and it was delicious.

I have no idea why this photo is so big!!
 

As promised,  all the lovely things which Alyson sent me ....

scented candles and calming music

 

beautiful soft yarn

 

a lovely scarf and necklace

 

photos, shells from the beach and a felt heart

 

the bookmark which Alyson's son drew for me, a little bag containing sunflower seeds from her garden and a handmade card

Thanks again to Alyson for such lovely gifts.  I think I will use the yarn to knit fingerless mitts ...... and that leads us on to the knitting update.  I have finished these socks, except for sewing in the ends .......

 

........ and started on another pair

 

I have to admit that I have frogged the shawl - I just couldn't get on with the pattern at all, and decided it wasn't worth spending so much time trying to get it right, when there are lots of other shawl patterns that I could knit.  

Shadow Shot Sunday

After all the comments last week on my shots of Kelso Abbey, I thought I would share some more with you.  I took these on Wednesday, when we were in Kelso for lunch (scroll on down if you would like to see what we had!!)  To enjoy more shadows, pop over to Hey Harriet and see who is joining in this weekend.

This first shot shows the new information board - you can click on the photo to enlarge it.  It shows how big the Abbey once was, before it was destroyed by the English

 

 

 

 

 

Gorgeous gifts!

I was sitting having a well-deserved cuppa in the middle of doing the housework this morning and reading a 'book', when the postman arrived

 

I got quite excited, as I knew it was the parcel from my swap partner Alyson.  I opened the envelope to find all these wonderful goodies

 

But you will have to wait until Monday to see everything ..... because a) the light was very bad for taking photos, and b) I just didn't have time before I went to patch'n'chat.  But I can tell you that they are wonderful thoughtful gifts - including a fabulous bookmark which Alyson's little boy drew pictures on for me!

Of course Friday afternoons mean cakes - today we had Annette's superb cupcakes, topped with cream and strawberries

 

Could you have resisted this delicious little cake?  And could you have further resisted when a second one was offered?

 

Earlier in the week, I was going to show you photos of the back garden, now that Malcolm has tidied it for the winter.  But Typepad had different ideas and refused to insert the photos ....... hopefully this time there won't be any problems!

 

Yesterday I showed you photos of the heron on the River Slitrig - but also falling victim to the non-appearance of photos on Monday was this heron on the River Teviot.  It was very windy ..... I had trouble keeping the camera steady, and he had trouble keeping a grip on his rock!

 

We have a busy day tomorrow, starting off the sloe gin and making the rosehip syrup - I'll report on Monday how we get on!  I hope you have a wonderful weekend, love Anne

I'm not saying it was cold .......

....... but there was ice on the birdbath this morning!!

 

I went out, broke it up and took it off - and some time later it was still lying there, unmelted!!

 

This little sparrow looked thoroughly miserable!

 

But as soon as I filled the feeders, things looked a lot livelier

 

When we went into Hawick for our usual Thursday morning cuppa, we were a little bit early, so we walked round to where we sometimes see a heron on the River Slitrig.  I was disappointed not to see him (I know, I always think that herons are male!) ....... but then Malcolm spotted him sitting on a garden wall above the river - maybe the water was just too cold!!

 

Although it was starting to cloud over a bit, we went out for a walk after lunch.  We decided to walk the route that we have only walked once, but this time we would do it the other way round, so that we didn't have to walk up the very steep hill!  Usually when I show you photos of the Minto Hills, you only see one - but here are both of them!

 

We have had quite a lot of rain recently, which meant there were some tricky stretches to negotiate

 

We were distracted for a while ...... but I'll tell you why later!  This calf was keeping a careful eye on us, although it was a good distance away

 

This horse obviously believes that the grass is greener on the other side

 

When we got back home, I lurked just outside the garden gate, hoping to take some photos of the birds on the feeders - but the sparrows just sat in the hedge and laughed at me!

 

So what caused the hold-up in our walk?

picking lots of rosehips  ........

 

...... and even more sloes!

 

As we hadn't picked sloes before, we brought a little bit of a branch home to check that they were indeed sloes - a quick google search confirmed we were right (thank you Wikipedia!)

 

Now we will make sloe gin and rosehip syrup!  To finish, two photos of the birdbath ....

a brave sparrow takes the plunge in the cold water .......

 

..... while the other birds stay firmly on the rim!