frayed at the edge

Neat and tidy!

Last night I gave my knitting basket a long overdue tidy, as I was sure that the contents were breeding and spilling over on to the floor!  It took some time, but eventually everything was replaced in a neat and tidy way (maybe I should have tidied my sewing as well!)

 

I chose this UFO to finish, as there isn't much left to do - a cover for a little hot water bottle, designed by the delightful Kate

 

the Friday cakes were delicious .......

 

....... so delicious that some people may have had two!!

 

the weather is still damp and dreary, so let's have some more colourful photos from our holiday - this time from the Rhododendron Gardens

 

 

we will be busy over the weekend with the last of the preparations for the Craft Fair - but no doubt we will fit in a scone!  I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne

 

Pickled!

We went for a cuppa in Cafe Crema in Berwick this morning.  Having ordered our drinks, I asked the waitress about the scones - she said they were just about to come out of the oven, and oh joy, one of today's flavours was the cheese and pickle one that we enjoyed so  much recently

 

as it was another grey day, I had just poppped my little point and shoot camera in my bag, not expecting to take any photos other than that of the scone.  Which of course meant that as we walked back over the old bridge, there was the seal posing prettily for us!!

 

on the way home we called in at the Garden Centre, and were delighted to find that they had two very special visitors

 

part of the Christmas display featured these bears, which were a bit scary, as they moved like real ones!

 

however the penguins were very cute

 

to finish, a very small sewing update.  After spending yesterday afternoon wrestling with large curtains, it was a pleasant change to work on a stitchery last night

Curtains!

When we went to Ikea to buy the bed for the guest bedroom in the flat, we also bought curtains for the lounge.  Because we needed to buy three pairs, we bought their plain cotton twill ones, which are very reasonably priced.   But there is one drawback - they only come in one length, which is extra, extra long!  So when we came over to the flat this morning, I brought the sewing machine with me

 

I always have to consult my instruction manual, to remind me how to do blind hemming

 

there was a lot of crawling about on the floor, measuring and cutting off the excess fabric, ready for the new hems

 

the first pair done

 

then the second pair

 

the third pair are split, with one on each of the side windows.  As you can see, by the time I finished it was dark!

 

I have a nice pile of leftover pieces, which will be used for cushion making

 

it has been a horrible wet day here, with the lighthouse barely visible through the gloom

 

no seal, no swans, just one soggy seagull, looking miserable on an old, sagging roof

 

so to finish, lets have some colour!  Here are just a few of the beautiful orchids in the Botanic Gardens in Singapore

 

and a colourful little lizard

 

 

 

A finish!

Because I haven't done much knitting recently, I kept forgetting to take progress photos of my scarf, so we go straight to the finish!!

 

what's that you're saying, you can't quite see what it says on my teeshirt?

 

this morning I got out my Cuttlebug and cut some butterflies

 

which I used to make pictures for next week's Craft Fair

 

I cut two of each butterfly, embossing the top ones

 

next I looked out these blank cards (is there no end to this stash!!??)

 

I made these two cards

 

but I decided they needed a little extra something, and added pretty heart-shaped buttons

 

by the end of the afternoon I had made ten cards

 

now that I have finished my scarf, I will have to investigate the UFOs in my knitting basket and finish them before starting something new!

Blue skies!

It was so good yesterday to see blue skies, after the dreary, grey, damp weather we have had recently.  We decided to go the Mayfield Garden Centre in Kelso, as Anne S had mentioned on Friday afternoon that the major revamp/expansion was complete.  

 

we were glad to see that "Julian's Veg" had survived the upheavals, as they sell exceedingly good stuff

 

the new coffee shop is much larger, and much, much smarter than the old one

 

with a large outdoor seating area, which will no doubt be well used in the summer

 

we had vouchers for a cuppa and a slice of Christmas cake for £1.49 (a bargain!), and we also shared a delicious cheese scone (I was delighted that there was no marzipan on the cake!)

 

we then went for a very enjoyable walk round Kelso

a bright splash of red berries

 

boats on the riverbank

 

more red berries, this time on a holly tree

 

stylish new seating in the square

 

the summer floral displays in the hotel windowboxes are all gone

 

a lovely etched window in the hotel

 

an old chimney ....... and beautiful blue sky!

 

we liked this sign (but we don't like tattoos!)

 

I want this tractor (it's a wine bottle holder!)

 

more blue sky!

 

the Abbey

 

a peaceful scene at the river

 

and to finish - there were one or two sparrows waiting for the bird feeders to be filled this morning!

A riot of colour

Much as I love our little population of sparrows (which has grown steadily since we moved here), they are just brown

 

and the male blackbirds are just black

 

so you can imagine my delight when I saw these wonderfully bright birds in Australia

 

some of this afternoon's cakes at patch'n'chat were rather brightly coloured - a selection of cupcakes, which Katy and Sheila brought

 

brown may be somewhat boring for birds, but, oh my, it is a wonderful colour for cakes!  First, a toffee and pecan cheesecake (that's what I chose)

 

and Cathy's chocolate cake - she asked us to guess the secret ingredient, which none of us did (it was Coke!)

 

we are staying at home again this weekend, so I will be busy in the studio, not only sewing, but also working on a few things for the Craft Fair in Jedburgh (help, it's in two weeks time!!).  We are hoping that the weather will be good enough on Sunday for us to go for a walk (and possibly for some sconnage!).  Whatever the weather, I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne

 

Winter garden

Although it is early winter, there is still a lot to see in the garden

cotoneaster berries

 

buds on a geranium

 

chrysanthemum

 

faded roses

 

and a faded hellebore

 

there are only a few leaves left on this climber

 

a tiny fuchsia

 

a last bud on the climbing rose

 

an intruder in the alpine planter!

 

the blackbirds love these pink berries on the rowan tree

 

we still have fresh herbs in pots on the deck

 

to finish ....... this used to called the shady border

 

but is now referred to as the jungle - although this looks more like an alien invader!

 

Frustration and desperation!

I have been working on the next border for Mrs Billings, piecing the strips on the machine as I really don't like hand piecing!

 

but I just couldn't get the corners to fit.  I found the diagrams on the pattern sheet confusing, and no matter how may times I unpicked and restitched , I just couldn't get it to go together

 

so I did what any sensible person would do ...... I gave up and cut strips of a patterned fabric to the correct size

  

then added the next border

 

I then skipped ahead and cut the background squares for border 9

 

I have still been stitching away on the pyramids for the outer border, and have done just over half of them (I need 100!).  But I have run out of hexagons, so I am going to applique the hexagon flowers for border 9 on to their background squares, so that I can retrieve the hexagons from them to reuse

 

I realised this morning that I haven't shown you the knitting that I did on holiday.  It has still to be blocked, but it looks rather fetching wrapped round my mannequin.  The yarn is a beautiful mix of alpaca and silk - I think it will be very cosy

 

I haven't done any knitting in the evenings for quite some time, so I have decided to divide my evening up and spend some time sewing, then some time knitting.  I know I should finish the UFOs in my knitting basket, but I thought I would ease myself back into the routine with something simple, so chose one of the scarf patterns I bought at Bendigo Mill, and dug out a nice blue yarn from my stash

 

I have started feeding the birds again, which of course also means that I am taking photos of them again

 

the weather has been somewhat dreich, and the sheep in the field across the road didn't look very happy this morning

 

to finish .......I may have mentioned once or twice before that I don't like cats ........ but even I couldn't resist taking a photo of these two!!

 

All sorts of loveliness

I had planned to take a photo of the quilt top I won in the auction spread out over the guest bed, but the light was so bad at the weekend, I ended up pinning it to the design wall.  As you can see it is rather large - and it is all hand-stitched!

 

the bigger squares are all made up of four smaller squares - I just couldn't contemplate sewing that much by hand!

 

of course I came home from Australia with lots of lovely things ........ some which I bought, and some which were presents from my lovely quilty friends.  First is this pattern in my favourite French General fabrics, which was given to me by Glenda

 

why did she pick this pattern?  The answer is on the back

 

you can't see from the photo, but Glenda embroidered the fabric - I saw a sample piece, and her work is beautiful.  This is going right up to the top of the to-do list

 

Karen gave me this wonderful fabric

 

to add to this collection, which I just couldn't resist

 

you know that I like owls, and both Meredithe and Glenda added to my collection of small owly things

 

while Helen had made this stunning wallhanging for me (thank you so much again, Helen).  I think I will quilt it with sashiko-style quilting

 

when we were on our way back from the retreat, we went via Bendigo, so that Meredithe could pop in to see her Mum and Dad.  We had a delightful visit with them, with her Mum and Dad staging a show and tell of all the quilts that Meredithe has made for them, and proudly showing off the cutest photos of Poppet, their beautiful baby granddaughter.  We then went on to Bendigo Woollen Mill, where I could quite happily have filled a suitcase with their beautiful yarns.  However I restricted myself to a ball of sock wool and some patterns

 

mindful of the weight of fabric, I mostly bought patterns in the many quilt shops that we visited .....

 

but I did succumb to this cute kit

 

I spent all of my holiday money in Australia, but I did manage to bring some back from Singapore!

 

Stuart and Alison stayed at the flat in Berwick while we were away, and when we went last weekend, I was puzzled to see their oven gloves sitting neatly folded on the dining table

 

 I couldn't think why they would have taken them to the flat ........ but then I had a closer look

 

when I spoke to Stuart on the phone, he said he thought that I might be able to repair them, but I think it will be easier to make new ones!

to finish ...... I have been busy in the kitchen both yesterday and today. Maureen had given me a bucket full of crab apples, so yesterday I made apple and vanilla curd, and started off some jelly.  Today I finished off the jelly, and using the leftover egg whites from making the curd made meringues (which look golden, as I used unrefined caster sugar, which was all I had in the cupboard)

 

My first Auntlet's report

I can almost see you all scratching your heads, saying what is she talking about!?  Thimbleanna, who is hosting the Aunts' Quilt Quiltalong, decided to call the participants Auntlets, so hence my first Auntlet's report!  I have to confess that I am lagging way behind on the schedule ...... I should have made two pieced blocks and one applique block by the 15th, but this is what I have achieved so far.  I still need to buy some fabric for the pieced blocks, but I got out the fabrics that I bought on holiday

 

and added more from my stash, including one for the background of the applique blocks

 

 

I can't decide whether to use the right side .....

 

or the wrong side of the background fabric - I quite like the softer look of the wrong side

 

the first job was to stick the two pieces of the pattern for block one together using this little gadget

 

it applies a thin mesh of adhesive, which is temporary - it just rubs off when you are finished

 

the pattern ready to use ........

 

....... all the pieces traced on to freezer paper

 

and cut out ready to use

 

while I was busy in the studio over the weekend, I was kept cosy by my log-burning stove

 

do pop over to Thimbleanna, where you can see her lovely blocks, and also check out the other Auntlets on her sidebar.