frayed at the edge

I would just like to thank .......

Hooray, I have been given an award by Gilly - thank you very much Gilly for giving it to me!

 

of course, it comes with conditions!!  First, I have to tell you eleven random facts about myself. 

1.  At school I had the same Latin teacher as my Dad

 

2.  I learned to knit when I was seven

 

3.  My great-grandfather made violins

 

4.  I was Dux of primary school

 

5.  I saw Princess Anne arrive at Queen Street Station and the Queen arrive at Central Station (both in Glasgow) in the 70s, as I worked for British Rail, and we were allowed out of the office to go to see them

 

6.  I'm not a natural blonde

 

7.  I can't sing in tune

 

8.  I can't play a musical instrument (except for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star with one finger on the piano!)

 

9.  I called my first car Uriah, as it was a heap

 

10.  Malcolm once made a garden shed for me

 

11.  I passed my driving test first time

 

part two is to answer a list of questions set by Gilly

Q. What's your favourite animal ?

A. Oh dear - a hard one ..... but I think it might have to be lambs

Q. Sweet stuff or savoury ?

A. Definitely savoury, like this wonderful meal we had to celebrate Malcolm's birthday

Q. Where in the world is the best place you've been to ?

A. Again, this was hard, but in the end I chose Australia

Q. Do you still live in your country of birth ?

A. Yes, although I have also lived in England and Indonesia

Q. Which of your hobbies/crafts/talents is your favourite ?

A. Sewing

Q. Hot & sunny or cold & snowy ?

A.  Definitely hot and sunny!  This was where we stayed in Majorca last May

Q. Dogs or cats ?

A.  All together now .... DOGS

Q. What simple things make you happy ?

A. Family, friends ...... and scones

Q. Town, country or by the seaside ?

A. Country

Q. The book or the movie ?

A.  Definitely the book

Q. Are you an Adventurer or a Homebody ?

A.  Both!  I love my home, but I love travelling and doing new things, even if the terrify me, like walking across Sydney Harbour Bridge last year

 

I am now supposed the pass the award on to eleven other bloggers, but as I gave out awards last month, I'm going to skip that stage.  I should have thought of eleven questions to ask the recipients, so instead I will pose one question for all of you to answer, either in a commennt or an email, and I'll give a prize to the best answer

 

What is the worst thing you have ever eaten?

 

ps - I'm sorry about the change in font, and the misaligned photo! 

Being polite!

On our way out for lunch today, we passed a young woman on a horse.  She had a hi-viz waistcoat on, with writing on the back.  It said something like "polite request please slow down".  We did slow down (we always do), but unfortunately the woman wasn't polite in return, and didn't even look at us as we drove past, never mind giving us an acknowledgement

 

never mind, the sky was blue and the sun was shining, casting shadows  across the road

 

if we had turned in here, we would have been disappointed, as the coffee shop shuts for the winter!

 

however just a few yards further along the road, we turned into the left, and headed up the rather bumpy lane to the Woodside Garden Centre.  But having parked, we didn't go into the garden centre.  Instead we headed off down the footpath for a walk through the woods

snowdrops

 

wild garlic

 

daffodils

 

an escapee chicken from an adjacent farm

 

when we were walking through the garden centre to the coffee shop, I spotted these colourful crocus .....

 

..... and tiny tulips - although I wouldn't have known they were tulips if it hadn't been for a helpful label

 

we usually have soup for lunch at the Woodside, but cream of spring onion didn't appeal to me, and aas I had carrot and coriander soup yesterday for lunch, I didn't want the carrot and ginger.  There was then slight pause as I decided which of the delicious sandwiches to have.  I finally chose the tuna and sweet chilli relish - very tasty

 

Malcolm too decided on a sandwich, choosing beef and tomato

 

I was going to watch a DVD this afternoon in the studio, but I remembered that we still have a collection of VCDs (video compact discs) which we bought in Indonesia.  This system never reached the UK, but was popular over there.  As well as legitimate discs, pirated films were on open sale in shops.  Some of them were films of films ...... someone sitting in the cinema with a camcorder, so you were liable to get a shot of the back of someone's head as they got up to go to the loo!

 

the films have Indonesian subtitles, and I still recognise some words (but not these ones!)

I was busy in the studio all afternoon, then as I headed back into the house, a passing plane left a perfect contrail in the beautiful blue sky

Haggis!

Don't worry, I'm not about to show you our national delicacy, but rather my lovely mug, which I was drinking tea from today, when my friend Lorraine came to spend the day in the studio with me

not two ......

 

not four ......

 

not six ........

 

but eight varieties of the little beasties!

 

and watch out in case this wee one on the inside of the mug bites your nose as you drink your tea!

 

even the handle is beautifully decorated

 

and best of all ...... the mug was made in Scotland!

 

I have been beavering away on the blocks for Leanne's House, and have now completed five of them.  I was talking to Anne on the phone this afternoon, telling her that I have embroidered so many flowers I could do them in my sleep.  Well, she said, why aren't you doing them in your sleep, you're obviously not working hard enough.  To which I replied that when I see her next week, I shall box her ears for her cheek ....... but I shall have to stand on a chair to do that, as she is eight inches taller than me!!

 

having made a start to the textured applique wallhanging .......

 

....... but I decided that I wanted to have bigger flowers on the edges, so I would have to add borders.  I thought I would use a fabric from my stash of small prints.  Do you remember some time ago I bought a bundle of Lynette Anderson fabrics, only to find, when I unfolded the fabrics, that one of them had  ....... cats on it (yeugh!)

 

as this is a sample, I was quite happy to use the fabric to add borders

 

I pinned on the flowers that I have made so far 

 

I also cut out the templates for the bird garland, which I have decided to call Lovebirds

 

when I went out to close the storm doors on the back doors of the studio ......... sheep!  I hope they are there to have their lambs

 

then when I went into the kitchen, I heard rather a lot of noise coming from outside.  A quick look out of the window, and I rushed out of the front door with the camera.  I was so busy taking a photo of the tractor, I didn't notice the girl on the pony on the left!

 

the tractor was cutting the neighbours' rather overgrown hedge

 

sewing, sheep and a tractor ..... what a wonderful day!!

Goodbye Mr Badger!

On Saturday, we were up bright and early to drive up to Larbert to stay with Stuart and Alison for the weekend.  After a welcome cuppa, we popped round to visit Fraser and Linsey, to deliver Mr Badger.  Fraser was delighted with him, and he was soon settled in on a very large cushion

 

then it was back to Stuart and Alison's to get on with making the Roman blinds.  While I was busy sewing, Malcolm and Stuart screwed battens to the walls above the windows, and cut the battens and the dowels for the blinds.  The sewing didn't take as long as I thought it would, and soon the blinds were ready

 

I was pleased with the way the pattern on the kitchen blind fitted in with the folds

 

I have to admit that I miscalculated guessed wrongly how much cord I needed for the blinds, so the one in the hall is temporarily held up with string!*

 

on our way home yesterday, we popped into the Mayshade garden centre for a cuppa.  We shared a taster plate of cakes, cutting them in half to have a taste of each one...... except for the one with white chocolate, which Malcolm got all to himself, as I really don't like the stuff!

 

the weather on the first part of the journey was awful, with driving wet snow making for poor visibility

 

however, as soon as we reached the Borders, the sky cleared and the sun came out!  The only snow was left over from last week

 

there was more sunshine today, so I went out for a walk after lunch.  The donkeys were as cute as ever

 

the sun was shining on the Mintos

 

this blackbird was enjoying a thorough bath

 

do you remember a few weeks ago I showed you photos of the new hat shop in Hawick?  This article was in The Scotsman on Saturday (click on the photo to enalrge it)

 

there may be peope in Hawick who are willing to pay £600 for a hat ...... but I'm not one of them!!

 

* while I was in the middle of writing this, Stuart phoned.  He bought more cord yesterday, so the hall blind is now finished!

 

Friends, fun and ...... food

There were a few flurries of snow when I left home this morning, but fortunately they didn't come to anything, and I had a good journey up to Edinburgh.  As always on arrival at the show, the first stop was the Ladies, then the second stop was breakfast ..... a bacon roll and a mug of tea

 

On the way round the show, I had to keep stopping, as I met friends ..... some of them I now only see at the shows, so there is always a bit of news to catch up on.  Then there was one lady who said hello, and started chatting, while I was thinking "help, who are you?"  Fortunately I remembered who she was - I taught her to quilt years ago!   There is always the worry about posting photos of quilts,taken at shows, but I am sure Bonnie and Jan won't mind if I show you their small wall hangings.  The three of us were Quilters' Guild reps some years ago, and used to have lots of fun. 

 

 

I saw this one and went wow (perhaps a little higgledy piggledy fence might find its way on to Lillyanny?)

 

then I read the little story to go with the quilt - what a wonderful use of the picture

 

 

There was a large display of quilts by Sandie Lush .  Her handquilting is exquisite

 

one day I will make a quilt like this!!

 

by then it was lunchtime.  I don't even look at the menu - it has to be macaroni and chips (well, I only have it twice a year, at the spring and autumn quilt shows!)

 

I had another potter round the quilts - there was a large display of quilts by Sheena Norquay, but they all had "no photography" signs on them, and then I indulged in a little bit of shopping (remembering all the time that I am supposed to be using my stash, not adding to it!).  So, what did I buy?

 

the quilting hoop and the cotton perle thread came from here

 

the tiny bells ......

 

..... came from here

 

the magazine came from here and the fusible wadding (which isn't in the main photo, but is under the bells!) came from here.

 

Mr Badger will be going to his new home tomorrow - hopefully there will be photos on Monday!  I hope you all have a good weekend, love Anne

 

ps, I have just read over the post, and realised that I didn't mention the brochure for the quilting retreats.  I shall have to have a chat with some of my friends about a retreat .... although it it a long way to go from down here in the Borders!

The first cut ......

....... by a different hairdresser!  My usual hairdresser is off work, so today I had my hair cut by one of the junior stylists, who usually does my colour for me.  Melissa has been cutting my hair for the last five years, so it was a bit strange to have it done by Kerry, who was a bit nervous about getting it right, as Melissa is the boss of the salon!  She needn't have worried, as she has made a very good job of it (sorry, no photo!!)

Along with Lucie, I am supposed to be spending February finishing things, but yesterday I started something new (oops!).  Abbey Quilters celebrates its 25th birthday in March, so we are having a day of little projects, and of course lunch, on the 16th.  I somehow managed to volunteer to demonstrate a small project ...... oh dear, what to do?  Then I remembered a little project that I had made at a similar day some years ago.  It hangs in the studio, and is a little bit shabby (which is just as well, considering what happened to it yesterday)

 

I no longer have the pattern, so I deconstructed disassembled took it to bits to make templates

 

I picked out a fabric from my stash (hooray, another contribution to the year of using it up!) and decided to make the hearts with felt.  I added the tiny red buttons, which I will use to attach the wings

 

the tassel is rather tatty, but you can just make out the little beads along the bottom

 

I got out my bead box (more hoorays, for more using it up)

 

I chose these little gold beads to pick up the gold in the fabric, and found a suitable thread for the tassel, and a heavier gold thread for stringing it all together

 

I have to admit that I came home with some new beads today ....... let me explain.  I arrived in Kelso with time to spare before my hairdressing appontment, as I wanted to pop into the curtain fabric shop to get cord and little plastic rings for Stuart and Aliison's blinds.  And look what I passed on the way

 

I had been told that this shop had opened, but I hadn't got round to visiting it.  The owner is delightful (but, oops, I forgot to ask for her name), very welcoming and enthusiastic.  I can't show show you what I bought, because by the time I got home and made dinner, I forgot!  But there were lots and lots of lovely beads to choose from

 

I am off to Edinburgh tomorrow for the Spring Quilt Show, so I'll have lots to share with you in tomorrow's post! 

New look!

I decided it was time for a change, but being technically challenged, I simply picked another Typepad design.  But I did change the subtitle - I hope you like it!

We went to Jedburgh this morning, and stopped to look at the work going on where an unsafe building is being demolished.  The building had been propped up and boarded up for as long as we have lived here.  There were all sorts of battles waged about preserving/demolishing the building ..... and I think things were further held up because of bats!

 

on the way home, we spotted a bird of prey.  I just managed to snatch this shot before it flew off

 

on our way out along the back road, as we drove down the hill past Marian-the-Jacob-sheep-owner's field, I saw a large machine.  Just as I was wondering what it was doing in the field, we both said "Oh my goodness (or something similar), they have demolished the Wicked Witch's house! This was a funny, tall, skinny house which had lain empty for some time.  It just always made me think that there should be an old crone lurking, ready to pounce on unsuspecting children.   Malcolm stopped on the way back, so that I could take photos

 

we drove past the house a week past on Sunday, so it hasn't taken long to demolish it.  All that remains are these windows!

 

when we were almost home, Malcolm had to stop again, although this time he drove on home and left me to take photos of  ........ donkeys

 

and now, another cute creature ....... Mr Badger is finished!

 

with a lovely textured, silky fabric on the back (one of my 25p curtain samples!)

 

I recently had an exchange of emails with Meredithe about Liberty fabrics.  I confessed to having had some in my stash for quite some time - Malcolm gave it to me for my birthday (that was the year that my presents came from an airport duty free shop, as he was constantly travelling!)  I also confessed to having some beautiful Japanese silk thread, which I bought the first time I went to the Houston Quilt Show (in 2001!)  So perhaps, I suggested to Meredithe, I could combine the two

 

all I have to do is think of a project - any suggestions?

Unhappy bunnies!

Our morning started ok - we exercised, had breakfast, read while enjoying a big cup of tea, showered, dressed ....... then phut!  The electricity went off.  We knew that some workman had just arrived at the farmhouse just along from us, so we thought perhaps they had severed a cable.  However Malcolm phoned the power company to ask why the power was off, and was told that it was planned work, and that we should have had notification.  Well, we were just a little bit cross (ok, we were hopping mad) given that we had no power all day last Tuesday.  But we couldn't go out for the day as we did last week, as we were having a load of logs delivered.  OK, we had heat and we could cook, but we have a rather serious drawback when the power is off ...... our little sewage plant stops working, so we can't flush the loo!!  The other great annoyance was that after so many grey days when the solar panels produced next to nothing, it was a lovely bright morning, so they would have been churning out lots of lovely power.

I retreated to the studio, and the warmth of the stove, to finish the hand stitching on the badger

 

we were just finishing lunch when Malcolm got a phone call from the driver of the delivery lorry to get directions to the house (I have a completely basic phone in the studio, which unlike the phones in the house, doesn't need electricity to work!)

 

as the lorry drove away, it had to stop at the traffic lights, which were there in case a driver couldn't see beyond the few yards that the workmen were occupying for oncoming traffic

 

hooray, the power came back on at 2.30 (Malcolm had been told it would be 4.30) and I was able to get on with making up the badger cushion.  I found a lovely fabric in my stash for the back and the binding ...... and I forgot to take photos of how far I progressed, because I kept nipping out to take photos of Malcolm and his logs

 

anyway, enough whingeing, on with the updates!  First, my fabulous new sewing table

 

it fits in under the edge of the extension table

 

and provides a large level area for machine quilting

 

which leads us on to the sewing update. On Saturday I layered the girlie quilt and chose this thread

 

the thread looks dark against the fabric, but the trick is to unspool a length and puddle it on the fabric, which gives a better idea of how the stitching will look

 

I decided to use an allover pattern, rather than try to quilt round the various elements of the design

 

on Sunday I made a start on the owl quilt, and finished it on Monday.  Again I used an allover pattern

 

when we came out of Ikea last Tuesday, I stood with the trolley in the loading bay, while Malcolm fetched the car.  I saw a member of staff putting assorted bits of wood into a container, and being nosy went over to have a look at the notice on the container.  It said that the bits of wood were free, if you could use them.  Of course some bits came home with us.  One bit was sawn up to make the supports for the sewing table

 

and another bit was used to making something which I had asked for some time ago - a stand for my various quilting rulers

Sunshine!

Hooray, it was a lovely day yesterday, so we decided to head for Selkirk, to go for walk in the grounds of  The Haining.  The sun was shining brightly enough to cast shadows

 

I can never resist an arty photo of a dried plant

 

It's some time since we were last there, so we were surprised to find building work of some sort going on in the old stable block, which had been turned into housing

 

sadly, no work seems to have been done on the main house, which is looking decidedly delapidated

 

Malcolm provided the scale for this huge tree .....

 

...... after having a seat while he waited for me to catch up with him - as usual I was lagging behind taking photos!

 

a few random photos from our walk

 

we spotted this stump of a tree which had just been cut down. It looks as if two smaller trees had somehow been enclosed by a bigger tree

 

on the way back to the car, I spotted this post box.  It is an Edwardian one - Edward VII was Queen Victoria's son, so it is about 100 years old

 

all that walking in the sunshine gave us an appetite, so we headed to The Waterwheel Cafe for some sconnage!   A very tasty cheese scone

 

and a very, very delicious apple and cinammon one

 

I'll be back tomorrow with not only the sewing update, but also with the sewing table update.  To finish - the sun might have been shining yesterday, but not all the mud had dried out!

The new project

At the April meeting of Abbey Quilters, I will be showing the members how to do textured applique flowers.  I thought that I would design a little project, rather than just show them how to make the various flowers.  I started with a sheet of A4 paper, and drew a frame an inch and a quarter from the edges.  I folded it in half to make sure that the design was centred, then drew a line for the top of the bowl, and marked the points for the bottom, then drew in the curve for one side

 

the quickest way to make sure the other side matched was to fold the drawing in half and hold it against the French door, so that I coud see the line to draw in the other side

 

next, I drew two long leaves , to give me a framework for the design

 

then I sketched in a rough placement for the other elements

 

I went over the main parts with a black marker .......

 

..... so that the markings would show through on the other side, as I need a reverse image to make my templates.  I glued a copy of the pattern to a piece of card (ok, it's a breakfast cereal box)

 

while the glue was drying, I made a start to stitching some of the flowers.  I started with a strip of fabric, 18"x2".  I pressed the two long edges  to the centre

 

I marked one edge at intervals of 1"

 

then on the other edge, I started half an inch in, then marked at 1" intervals

 

I would normally use a matching thread, but I have used one that will show in the photo.  Starting at the corner and using a running stitch, I stitched across the end, and then to the first mark

 

there should have been another photo here, but it was somewhat out of focus (oops!).  When you get to the edge, you take the thread over the edge, before stitching to the next mark.  So moving on to the next photo, the first few zigzags stitched

 

I pulled on the thread to gather the section I had stitched

 

I continued stitching and gathering, until I reached the end of the strip

 

the final stage is to form the strip into a flower, stitching the layers together

 

I'll show you more next week, as I have some other things to share with you.  I love the stamp on this envelope, which arrived this morning

 

and the spotty tape round the address label

 

the label on the back of the envelope

 

so, what had I bought from Jen?  This wonderful print (I left the little thankyou note in the corner for you to see)

 

at patch'n'chat, Maureen brought in her Christmas wallhanging

 

and a wonderful dinosaur quilt that she is making for Linus

 

Katy is making a log cabin quilt - she finished the first block this afternoon, but I had trouble taking the photo, as behind my back, Anne S was making her roar with laughter, pulling funny faces!  Eventually, she calmed down to just a broad grin!

 

of course there was Friday cake.  Today we had cupcakes - so light they almost floated off the cakestand!!

 

I forgot one of the things that I bought at Ikea - this beautiful orchid!

 

the forecast is better for the weekend, so hopefully we will get out for a proper walk on Sunday.  I hope you have a wonderful weekend, love Anne