frayed at the edge

Busy,busy, busy!

I have been in denial about Christmas, but I now have to admit that it is getting close, and I had better get on with my sewing!  I finished the hand stitching on the Santa wallhanging

 

added the borders

 

then layered it up, ready for quilting

 

and I have been working on this little wallhanging, which I started last year! 

 

I had a slight oops when I was quilting it, as I didn't notice that the backing fabric had become folded over

 

fortunately I was able to snip the caught bit off

 

as it was at the edge, where it would be trimmed off

 

the next job was to put the binding on

 

I finished the hand stitching of the binding on Saturday, when I was at Abbey Row with some of the members of Abbey Quilters, but I haven't taken a photo yet.  There was lots of sewing being done.  Lorraine has stitched another stunning hexie quilt

 

we have a new member, Margaret, who was working on her very first quilt!

 

Rineke put together this quilt top for Linus

 

Sandra, who of course as well as being our Chairman is also our lovely Linus lady, had all sorts of fabric for us to choose from to make Linus quilts.  I loved this panel with elephants, and the spotty fleece is perfect for the back

 

and of course I had to have this panel with big machines! 

 

of course you know that we quilters love our food, and we were delighted when Val popped in with some of her wonderful baking, despite the fact that she couldn't join us, as she had to work.  First, her fabulous cheese scones

 

then a deliciously sticky carrot cake

 

Elaine brought in this sweet confection ...... she said that if we liked it, she had made it, and if we didn't like it, she bought it on Friday evening at a Christmas Fair!

 

I have kept the best sewing for last ........ recently at patch'n'chat, Margaret asked me if I would quilt a wallhanging for her, as she wants to give it to a friend for Christmas.  She brought it in on Friday ....... isn't it FABULOUS!!!!!

I'll never hear the end of it .......

....... at the moment, Malcolm is (slightly) in the lead with votes for his wreath!!

 

I am in the middle of an enormous update on my laptop, and everything is as slow as treacle, so there is no point in trying to do a normal post.  So I will just wish you all a very good weekend, and I'll be back on Monday with lots of sewing!  Love Anne 

Two very different lunches

Yesterday, after arriving at the flat, we walked over to town for a bite of lunch.  I ordered a tuna, cheese and gherkin ciabatta (unfortunately they didn't have any gherkins!), and Malcolm ordered cheese and ham.  Then as we often do, we swapped half (and I gave Malcolm the tomato from my salad)

 

back at the flat, there was activity on the dockside, as a lorry was unloaded

 

with not one, but two, machines whizzing about

 

this seagull was keeping an eye on proceedings

 

but these seagulls were too busy gossiping to be bothered with what the humans were doing

 

this ship was far too large to come into the dock, and sailed on down the coast

 

I was somewhat worried by this little boat on the far side of the river, as it had a definite list!

 

they say the camera never lies, but these photos contradict that.  This is the scene as the moon came up at teatime yesterday

 

but when I zoomed in on the moon, the camera saw things somewhat differently

 

a little bit later, some cloud appeared

 

but again, when I zoomed in, the camera saw the scene differently

 

today, we had an invitation to a very posh lunch at Eshott Hall Hotel ...... it was so posh I couldn't take photos of the food, but I can assure you that it was delicious!  Then after lunch, we thought we were just having a demonstration on how to make a Christmas wreath, by Christine, a florist from Lavenders Blue in Morpeth.  But after her demonstration, we were all given a wreath to decorate!!  The hotel gardeners had gathered lots of greenery from the grounds, and we were each given a goodie bag of decorations.  So, who produced the better wreath, Malcolm or me?!  I'm not going to tell you which wreath is which, I will just ask you to leave a comment  saying which one you prefer.  Bragging rights for months to come are at stake here ......

Stuck up!

I have been gluing a lot of things together over the weekend (including, at one point, two of my fingers!).  Some things had to be re-glued, as the first glue used wasn't strong enough, but eventually I had produced ........

sea glass boats

 

beach combing paperweights

 

a beach combing scene on slate

 

sea-washed brick paperweights

 

stone stack paperweights

 

slate and sea glass hearts

 

a cute stone dog

 

another cute stone dog

 

these have now had hanging loops of ribbon added

 

after I took this photo of the copper Christmas trees, I thought they looked a bit plain

 

so I added these little presents (they are actually buttons!)

 

the studio was somewhat messy by the time I finished!

 

Malcolm made the driftwood stars, raiding my string and ribbon stashes, and using some of the little boxes - I have been making more of them

 

when we got up on Saturday, there was a sprinkling of snow

 

and the bird bath was frozen for the first time this winter

 

so I was very glad to have my stove to keep me warm ....... I took the photo at the end of the afternoon when it was dark, and turned the light off to highlight the flames

 

then, when I went out to shut the back storm doors, I saw these sheep on the skyline, with the sunset behind them

 

yesterday morning we popped out to get the Sunday papers, and to have a cuppa ....... and a wonderful cheese scone!

 

to finish ...... on Saturday, Malcolm was doing a bit of tidying in the garden, and found these grapes  Sadly, still not enough to make wine!

Hands up .......

....... if you want one of these!!  Maria brought her puppy, Lily, to patch'n'chat this afternoon, and she is so cute there was not a lot of sewing done as we played with her

 

Maria told us that Lily is almost blind, but as dogs rely more on smell and hearing, it is not as great a handicap as it would be in a human.  This is Maureen trying to get her to turn towards the camera

 

a lot of photos turned out like this!

 

when we went through for our afternoon cuppa, I was allowed to look after Lily.  Maureen promptly took the camera and started snapping

 

after we had finished our cuppa, Maria took this photo of me with her baby

 

but I did get some work done!  I made a start to a Santa wallhanging, which is to be a Christmas present

 

I gradually assembled the pieces

 

I did get all the pieces in place and started stitching ....... but I forgot to take another photo (I wonder why?!).  But I do have another piece of sewing to share with you - I forgot to take my knitting with me last weekend, so I finished another stitchery - that's 23 done!

 

and of course we mustn't forget the Friday cake, a lovely rich gingerbread

 

we're staying home this weekend, as we want to get everything organised for the Christmas Fair (it's in two weeks time!!).  Snow has been mentioned in the weather forecast, but hopefully we won't have any.  Whether you are freezing in the Northern Hemisphere, or enjoying the sun in the Southern one, I hope you have a great weekend, love Anne 

Reading the small print

It all started with an email when we were in Portugal.  Jenny Fox-Proverbs, the editor of the new quilting magazine, Today's Quilter, got in touch to ask permission to use one of my photos.  She explained that they urgently needed a photo of Susan Briscoe for issue 3 of the magazine

 

 

they hadn't been able to find one of a good enough quality to use in the supplement to the magazine which was to feature Susan.  They had done an internet search, and had found a photo of Susan which I had posted on the blog way back in 2009.  Would I give them permission to use it?  They would say that I had taken the photo, mention the blog address, and send me a copy of the magazine, so I was happy to say yes.  There was then a slight problem, as my copy of the magazine didn't arrive, so I bought one at the weekend.  And there was my photo!

 

that led to another problem - I couldn't see any mention of my name as photographer, despite the photo appearing twice in the supplement and once in the main magazine.  So of course I emailed Jenny the editor.  I received a prompt reply to tell me that the credit line is on the left hand side of the photo - but the type is so small and so pale it is barely visible, so I doubt anyone has noticed it.  Even after I told Malcolm to look carefully at the left hand side of the photo, he didn't see it!  (and the blog address is wrong, it doesn't start www).  Ah well, never mind, it was good to see the photo!

 

so, on to the crafting.  Malcolm has clocks sitting all over the place, the latest two in the kitchen

 

he is quite happy with the verdigris on his copper dials, but I found when I tried a sample for my Christmas trees that it didn't stand up to being handled.  So I had a think, and decided to try using some Annie Sloan chalk paint, starting with a trial on an off cut of copper

 

after the paint had dried, I rubbed it with some wax

 

the trial went well, so I painted and waxed my angel with the blue paint that I already had, and today I bought some green paint for the trees, which I will use tomorrow

 

I looked out this book of papers, to use for the background for the little stone pictures

 

I used double-sided sticky sheets to stick the paper to the card mounts

 

I prepped these other little frames in the same way - all the frames came from a charity shop, which is why they needed a bit of tlc

 

I started looking out bits of sea glass, to make little boats - Malcolm will add the little artistic details

 

I had a play with a piece of slate, a candle jar and bits of driftwood ....... but I forgot to take a photo of the finished article, so you will have to wait until Friday to see it!  Next I had a rake through one of Malcolm's many boxes of driftwood, and, using slate (found on the beach) as a base, I produced these two little driftwood sculptures, which I rather like

 

last night I sat and tied ribbon round half of the little boxes that I made recently ...... so of course I demanded another reward!!  We went out for lunch today and I had my favourite coronation chicken sandwich, which was a fitting reward!

 

Malcolm enjoyed a bowl of French onion soup with a savoury scone

 

I loved my mismatched vintage cup and saucer ....... and yes, that is a little meringue!

Oh the joys of technology!

I'm sorry that I am a day late, but we had no internet yesterday ....... and it has been misbehaving today!

 

My blog is usually my sunny little world, where bad things aren't allowed to intrude, but of course I have to start today by saying that, like all of you, we have been shocked by the dreadful happenings in Paris on Friday.  I heard someone on the radio on Saturday say that the best response is to go on with our normal lives, so that is what we will do here, starting with walking over the old bridge on Saturday morning, braving the cold wind.   The swans were clustered on the mudbanks ....... probably because the water was so cold!

 

can you see the seal on the left of the photo, sneaking up on the cygnet?!

 

between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning, we had a great deal of rain. as you can see from the puddles

 

the wind had dropped overnight, so it was reasonably pleasant when we went for a walk on Sunday morning.  We parked the car and headed for a section of the river front which Malcolm had explored before, but which I hadn't seen.  These little boats were marooned, as the tide was out

 

this building would make a lovely studio (just saying, Malcolm!)

 

the tiny figures show how enormous the old walls are

 

I don't think this boat will be going far

 

although the owners could try launching it down these remains of a boat slip

 

a view of the three bridges, from across the river

 

as we walked on, Malcolm reminded me of my own advice, to remember to look up ...... otherwise I would have missed this cupola 

 

a lovely piece of old weathered wall

 

this tree is hanging on to its leaves

I do like old garden gates and doors

 

a welcome splash of colour on a grey day!

 

two of our favourite shops have moved over the river into the town centre.  First, Miss Polly's Paint Pot

 

and behind the scaffold is The Furniture Barn

 

as I took the photo, Malcolm pointed out that one of the scaffolders was posing for me!

 

by this time we were more than ready for a cuppa, and headed to Lowry's at the Chandlery

 

we had one of our famous two-scone-lunches, sharing a very tasty cheese scone, and a delicious fruit one with jam and cream

 

I'll be back tomorrow with lots of crafting, and an exciting piece of news about a photograph and a magazine!

 

Some serious crafting!

Before we get into the crafting, here is the finished jelly roll quilt (which a certain bear perched on the pillows didn't want to part with!)

 

my first crafting effort yesterday was a straightforward one.  I had bought some lovely organic scented soaps from the Green Shop in Berwick and looked out these scallop shells to put them in

 

I tied some raffia round the shells

 

and added little bits of driftwood

 

my next project was slightly more taxing, as it involved copper foil and cookie cutters

 

it took a bit of effort, but in the end I was pleased with my little tree, which is the first of four that I cut out

 

once I have given them the verdigris treatment and embellished them, I will mount them on pieces of driftwood

 

you will probably have seen pictures like these - they are in lots of craft shops and are all over Pinterest.  This was just a trial run, but when I do them properly, I will stick the stones in place and get Malcolm to do the arty additions, given my lack of drawing skills!

 

I also started building some little stone stacks, which I will glues together

 

meanwhile, Malcolm has been making more boats

 

he has also been making clocks

 

and there is a pile of half done clocks sitting by the stove, to make sure the driftwood is fully dry (not content with having the garage to work in, I think he is making a take-over move on my studio!)

 

after all that crafting, my thoughts turned to a sweet treat, and I decided to make some chocolate fudge

 

I started by melting 250g of butter with 500g of dark chocolate and two teaspoons of vanilla

 

then added the tin of condensed milk

 

after mixing in the tasty bits, I put the fudge in a tray, then put it in the fridge to set

 

this morning I cut it into squares, and set aside some to take with me to patch'n'chat

 

at teatime this afternoon, as well as the fudge and Annette's fruit dumpling .......

 

....... Betty had made apple cake.  Maureen joined me in the arduous task of tasting everything, purely so that I could use such words as delicious and scrumptious!!

 

the apple cake was so good it deserves a close-up

 

the weather forecast for the weekend isn't that good, so if you fancy a new blog to read, do pop over and read Jenny and Lucy's blog here.  They have got off to a very good start, and I am sure you will enjoy it!  I hope to make some progress with my brioche knitting!  Have a good weekend, love Anne

 

 

In a bind

Yesterday morning, I got organised to put the binding on the jelly roll quilt

 

this is a detail of the quilting

 

the first job was to trim the edges

 

the next job was to cut the strips for the binding

 

then stitch all the strips together, using a diagonal seam - I used to draw a pencil line to follow, but I have now done this so often I just do it by eye

 

I trimmed off the triangles, lining up the seam on the quarter-inch line on the ruler

 

and pressed the seams open

 

I folded the binding in half and pressed it

 

after stitching the binding on, the last job was to join the ends

 

I left the dog ears, so that you can see how the diagonal seam staggers the bulk when the binding is folded over

 

all that remains is to hand stitch the binding on the back of the quilt, which I plan to do this evening.  On Sunday I finished the twenty-second stitchery

 

today we went to The Mainstreet Trading Co for lunch

 

I was rather taken with my diminutive teacup and saucer .......

 

........ and the tiny teaspoon, seen here with Malcolm's normal sized coffee spoon

 

we had the most delicious sandwiches ....... I ordered wild boar sausage and ale chutney,while Malcolm ordered pastrami and leek jam(!), then as we often do, we swapped so that we had one of each

 

after lunch we had a look round the books ....... I was surprised to see Alex Salmond's tome in the biography section, when of course it should have been filed under fantasy! (it was a rare UNSIGNED copy!!)  We then headed out to the deli and home building (I love the colour of the paint) where two very small bars of chocolate may have been purchased

 

to finish ....... the birds are back in the garden for the winter, and enjoying the food in the feeders

 

but this tiny wren wasn't too sure about having a bath!

A scone is not enough!

On Saturday afternoon, Malcolm headed over to town, to have a potter round the shops. As the weather wasn't very good, I elected to stay in the flat.  When he came back, he handed me this box of Christmas cards

 

we have been invited to have a table at this year's Christmas Fair in Jedburgh, so Malcolm has been busy making more of his driftwood trees.  I offered to make some of my little folded gift boxes to hang on them, for which I needed inexpensive Christmas cards.  I made a start to the first box, then realised I couldn't remember where the second fold went ........ but all was well, as my first ever Tuesday Tutorial, way back in 2010, shows how to make the boxes.  You can find it here.  After a great deal of measuring, marking, cutting and folding, I had a pile of forty boxes

 

Malcolm declared that he would reward me with a scone when we went out for a cuppa on Sunday morning, but I declared that a scone was not enough for all the work!  So after Malcolm had ordered his fruit scone .......

 

........ I consulted with the waitress.  What did she have in the way of chocolate cake, because only chocolate would suffice.  She had tiffin, but it had a white chocolate topping, and you know that I don't like white chocolate.  She also had rocky road, which I was going to have, when she suggested a little something from the dessert menu ........ chocolate brownie baked cheesecake, with fresh raspberries.  By the time I had eaten this, my sore fingers from all that folding were feeling a lot better!!

 

and I washed it down with an excellent pot of Assam tea

 

we were in the lovely restaurant where we went for Malcolm's birthday dinner in September.  I do like this section of one of the walls

 

I popped to the loo before we left, and I took the camera, as I remembered from a previous visit that it was rather splendid

as we left the restaurant, I paused to take this photo.  I wonder if in times past shoes were made here?

 

we thought we should go for a walk on the beach, to use up some of the excess calories, but on the way I spotted some more things to take photos of

an ornamental air brick

 

a stylish detail on an old lamp post

 

I love these old stairs

 

a memorial plaque

 

it was rather windy over on the beach, and these little boats were flying along

 

we tried not to laugh when this boat tipped over

 

but he soon recovered

 

this chap preferred to supply his own power

 

the waves were crashing in

 

after being almost blown off the beach by the chilly wind, another cuppa was needed ........ and somehow we managed to eat a mince pie as well!

 

back at the flat, I was going to do some more practice on my sample of two-colour brioche knitting, but when I read the instructions, I realised that I needed stitch markers ....... which of course were all at home in my knitting basket.  Still, I am making progress with this rather complicated stitch

 

I don't know if we saw three different herons over the weekend, or the same heron three times!

 

and of course we have to have swans

 

 

and a cygnet

 

and to finish ........ I thought I might buy this little boat (complete with lobster pots) for Malcolm's Christmas ...... but for some reason he wasn't too keen!!