On Saturday, I headed over to Kelso for Abbey Quilters' workshops, although I was only going to do the afternoon one, but I went along in the morning to make the tea and coffee. Left to right we have Tricia, Edith and Moira having a quick cuppa before the morning workshop began
our teacher for the day was the delightful Katie (on Katie's left is Val, who will pop up later in the post)
I didn't take part in the morning workshop as they were making the "Hana" bag, which I made earlier in the year after buying a kit at the spring quilt show at Ingliston
first to finish was Margaret, who had chosen a pretty gold fabric
after a break for lunch, the afternoon session was a sashiko workshop. The first thing we learned was that it is pronounced sashko, with a silent "i". There were several patterns on offer, and we could each pick two - one to do at the workshop, and one to take to do at home. We also got two pieces of fabric, sashiko needle and thread, all included in the price, then we were able to buy the handy pink tool
the pattern marked out ready to stitch. We had the option of stitching on the single piece of fabric, or stitching both pieces, with all the working hidden on the inside
I had to concentrate on the stitching, as the stitch should be twice the length of the space, whereas I am used to hand quilting, where the stitch and space are the same length
at the end of the afternoon, there were lots of lovely things to ooh and aah over
but we weren't just sewing ........ we were also shopping, as Katie and her husband Simon had brought along lots of gorgeousness for us to buy!!
did I buy anything ...... of course!
a kit for a bag with the most wondrous fabrics
a kit for a smaller version of the bag with more lovely fabric
all things sashiko
if you too would like to own some of these wondrous things, then head over here ...... just don't blame me if you spend all your pocket money! Of course, you know by now that when we quilters get together there is always cake involved ....... and we had rather a lot of it on Saturday!
I mentioned that Val would pop up again ....... she made the cheese scones, and knowing that Malcolm and I are fond of scones, she gave me two to take home. When I unwrapped them on Sunday to have with our afternoon cuppa, I found that she had buttered them and put cheese on them - she is a real sweetie!
I finished my little rabbit on Saturday night .......
........ and I am looking forward to stitching my other pattern
to finish ........ cute animals! First, amazing curly coated pigs which look as if they have been cross-bred with sheep, which we saw on Countryfile last night
then, this afternoon, a teeny, tiny mouse was running about, looking in the window. It was so quick, I only managed to get one photo of it