frayed at the edge

6&6 in 2018 : August report

This had been a rather busy month, but I have managed to make some progress on my UFOs

 

this is my oldest UFO - I may have started this in the mid-90s!!  I loved these books by Angela Madden ……...

 

………. and wanted to make a quilt for our bed - but then we moved to Indonesia, and the blocks were left at home, and when we came back we bought a much bigger bed and the quilt wouldn't have been big enough.  So I made four of the blocks into a wallhanging

 

I still have all the patterns which Malcolm drafted for me, based on Angela Madden's books

 

so I selected one, and put it on my light pad

 

and put a square of fabric (these are the original blocks, which I had stored in a project box) over the pattern

 

and here is the pattern marked on to the fabric.  I have stitched some of the bias strips on - but I forgot to take a photo (oops!)

 

this is the second UFO I worked on this month

 

I decided to use a ruler to stitch straight lines from the centre of each circle towards each corner

 

I am pleased with the progress that I have made

 

next up was a knitting UFO - ok, we were in the middle of the hottest summer since 1976, so what better time to finish a shawl!  As you can see, it still needs to be blocked

 

I decided to include some beads at the edge, and I also finished it with a picot castoff, which will show up better once it has been blocked

 

I also finished a pair of socks, which also need to be blocked.  Those of you who follow me on Instagram (@annetaydon) will know that I have also been having fun with some simple sewing, so I have achieved a reasonable amount this month!

 

and to finish - I know that some of you have been missing my photos of delicious sconnage ……. so here is a wonderful cheese scone, served with onion chutney

 

to see what everyone else has been up to this month, do pop over to  Meredithe's blog, and once you have read her report, scroll down to the linky thing.

Nostalgia!

Oh my, I don't know where the weeks have gone!  I have been so busy enjoying the glorious summer, that blogging has been just about the last thing on my mind!  But I thought I would pop in and share these photos, which I took several weeks ago.  We were enjoying a cuppa in a coffee shop, when Malcolm spotted this Girl Guides diary in a pile of old books

 

the diary is from 1950, so it is (even) older than me!

 

by the time I was a Girl Guide, of course we promised to do our duty to God and the Queen, as the King died in 1952.  I still try to do a good turn every day, and of course I am always prepared!

 

the photo on the left brought back memories of learning how to drag an unconscious person from a burning building.  We took turns, dragging each other along the floor.  We also made a rope ladder, which could be dropped out of an upstairs window to escape from the aforementioned burning building.  As I was the smallest and lightest Guide, I had the honour of climbing up the ladder to test it!  We could do all sorts of things with our ties - give me my Guide tie and two wooden spoons, and I can put a splint on a broken leg ……..

 

who needs mobile phones …… I could still communicate by semaphore!!

Berwick and Warkworth

 Although we have had some rain today, it is still a bit hot for blogging, so just a very quick description of our visit to Berwick on Thursday, and Warkworth yesterday.

 

The swans were out in force on the river

 

I never tire of taking photos of the bridges

 

the heron's feathers were ruffled by the breeze

 

work on the major money pit continues

 

of course we have to have a photo of the lighthouse!

 

looking from the town walls over the roofs, with Bamburgh Castle on the horizon

 

in Warkworth, we parked by the river

 

and walked along the riverbank towards the old bridge

 

this young man paddled quietly past us

 

but then with a great deal of noise …...

 

dozens of scooters roared past (that's the Northumberland flag on the last scooter)

 

a glimpse of the castle, dominating the skyline

 

it must have been quite a feat to build it with just manpower, no great cranes or machinery to lift the stone

 

I imagined Rapunzel leaning out of the tiny window at the top of the tower, letting down her hair

 

we popped into Bertram's for a cuppa

 

we hadn't been there before, and loved its style, with scrubbed wooden table tops and mismatched chairs

 

Malcolm's coffee came in a plain white mug, but I was delighted with my teapot, cup and saucer.  What was that, you spotted the cake??!!  We shared this banana and fudge cake - delicious!