frayed at the edge

Warning : major boasting ahead!

Last Saturday was the Southdean Show, which meant a chance to show off some of my craft work, and hopefully win some prizes!  When I had a look round after the judging, I was amazed to discover I had three firsts, two seconds, two thirds and two highly commended.

 

 

First prize for my 'Celtic Wedding Rings' wallhanging, felt flower and a photo of a stunning window (which I took last year on holiday in Sydney)

 

 

Second prize for my felt picture and swallowtail shawl

 

Third prize for a photo of our huge snowman  and one of Malcolm's shed in our last garden

 

Highly commended for the chicken wallhanging and the octopus scarf.

 

I wasn't the only prizewinner in the family ....... Malcolm got a third prize for his cracket!  The best bit, though, is that the entry fees came to more than twice the prize money!!

 

Tomorrow, I'll tell you about the Needle Museum and show you more of those wonderful rhinos (and there may even be something about my new sewing machine!!)
  

The start of a new season!

Don't worry, I don't mean that autumn has come early, but that the new football season has started (yawn).  So now when I come in from the studio on Saturday afternoons, Malcolm will be watching a programme in which several retired footballers sit watching matches on monitors and getting over excited at missed chances and bad tackles.  Then on Sunday afternoons, there is usually a match on ...... it's all about as exciting as watching my fingernails grow!!  Having said it's not yet autumn, I could have been persuaded when out this morning that it is well on the way.  It was very misty - so misty that when I got to my turning point, the hills had disappeared!!

 

 

Last year when there were lots of berries in the hedgerows, I said to Malcolm that it was a sign of a hard winter to come ..... he pooh-poohed that as an old wives' tale ..... then we had the worst winter in 40 years!  Oh dear, there are lots of hawthorn berries

 

 

and far more rosehips than last year

 

 

The heavy mist meant that these spiderwebs were visible in the hawthorn hedge

 

 

You can see the droplets of moisture on this one (the photo should enlarge if you click on  it)

 

 

The swallows are starting to gather in the mornings and evenings - a sign that soon they will head off south

 

 

Yesterday morning we went for a walk, then headed to The Main Street Trading Company for a cuppa (and a cake!).  Of course I had to have a browse round the books ..... and yes, I bought one.  (Actually I bought two - the other is for Malcolm's birthday next month)

 

 

There are lots of fabulous projects .... including making your own knitting yarn!

 

 

Much as I am enjoying knitting Maia, it does need a lot of concentration, so I thought I would start a pair of socks to do as well.  I chose a pair from this book

 

 

unusually, the cuff is knitted first, then stitches are picked up along one edge and the socks then knitted traditionally on four needles

 

 

ps - I was at the dentist this afternoon.  There had been a hiatus in my treatment, as my lovely dentist a) fell off her bike and broke her arm and b) decided to go back home to Greece.  So this was my first appointment with my new dentist.  He was very thorough, poking and prodding and taking xrays.  The outcome is that I need to have a tooth out, a bit of reconstruction on a tooth which has broken and the usual thorough cleaning (followed of course by the pain of the bill).

 

 

 

A day of rest!

No slaving away today on DIY projects!!  Stuart went off this morning with his friends the (in)famous Yates brothers to a rock concert, and we have been indulging in a spot of shopping.  This is just a quick post, as we will be heading out soon to visit one of Malcolm's former colleagues for dinner .... I have to put on makeup (I don't wear it very often!) and change into my gladrags!

Last Saturday I bought this wonderful book in a charity shop for the absolute bargain price of £3.50 .......

 

 

There are just so many fabulous projects ..... some for me

 

 

some for Malcolm

 

 

and some for both of us

 

 

I hope you all have an enjoyable weekend ...... we will be heading home tomorrow, with a little side trip to Ikea on the way.  Could it be the famous Swedish meatballs for lunch?

Love, Anne

 

Many hands make.......

....... light work.   I don't know if six hands count as many, but we did get a lot done today!  No photo of what I was doing - washing down the walls with sugar soap, ready for wallpapering.  But Malcolm's work is definitely worth a photo ...... the cupboard in the bedroom has a sloping floor, as it is over the stairs, so he boxed in the slope to give a large shelf over it, then added a second shelf.  Once the cupboard is painted, it will give a lot of storage space

 

 

Stuart, meanwhile, was out in the garden stripping the paint off the cupboard door ........

 

 

....... he managed to get most of it off with his hot air gun, but will have to resort to a chemical stripper to get it completely clean

 

 

Malcolm also drew up his plan for the deck, which will go in this corner of the back garden

 

 

But I wouldn't want you think it was all work and no play ....... we did take some time off to go to the garden centre for a bowl of soup for lunch - and we were rewarded with seeing this peacock in the car park.  His tail is a bit threadbare, but he still looks splendid!

 

 

When Stuart joined us in Majorca, we took him to a wonderful antique shop that we had found.  He immediately bought this old coffee pot, which provided an excellent cuppa for him and Malcolm this afternoon (of course I had tea!)

 

 

By the time we had finished, nobody was in the mood to cook ....... so it was a quick phone call to order takeaway pizza ...... we are now sitting here too full to move, enjoying a glass of wine!

 

ps - did you spot my reflection in one of the photos?

 

 

 

Life in the slow lane

After all the years Malcolm spent working, especially the five years before he retired, when he was abroad more than he was home, he now enjoys the slower pace of life.  Although we have yet to decorate and furnish the summer  house, he has already claimed it as a place to sit and listen to cricket on the radio - definitely life in the (very) slow lane!!

 

 

Today was a Kist day, and we had a lovely time sitting round the table sewing and chatting (although perhaps sometimes there is more of the latter!)  I was working on Kylie's cushions.  I put them on the cutting board and used two rulers to make sure they were square

 

 

Then I cut the excess off (after checking several times that I was cutting on the correct line1)

 

 

I then forgot to take photos of the next stages (yes, too busy blethering!!).  I added binding round the edges, which now just has to be turned over and handstitched in place

 

 

I also trimmed the flap on the back with the binding fabric

 

Seonaid was unable to join us until after lunch, but when she arrived she had great fun playing experimenting with  exploring the capabilities of both my and Anne's sewing machines.  She also brought me the most wonderful present .... a scissor keeper, which I have put on my little embroidery scissors (can you see the points curve up, so that you don't accidently cut the fabric when snipping your thread)

 

 

The fob is only an inch and a half square - the work is fabulous!!

 

To end, I thought I would give you a little sneak peek at tomorrow's  subject!!

 
 

 

 

A bonus day out!

On the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays of the month, I go to knit'n'natter ........ but this month there is an extra Wednesday, so today we decided to have a fun day out!  We headed over the border to the town of Wooler - Malcolm had been there recently and had come back with tales of lovely shops and good food ...... and today we had the bonus of good weather!!

This shop looked so pretty, I immediately had to stop and take a photo ......

 

 

....... when we crossed the road and went in to the shop, the interior more than matched the exterior, with all sorts of goodies.  We bought each other a present

 

I think you know us well enough to suppose that the chicken was for Malcolm and the notebook for me ........ wrong!!  Malcolm bought the chicken to add to my collection of quirky plates and I bought the notebook for him to write down and draw plans for future projects.

The next shop to catch my eye was this one

We managed to resist going in - or I might have bought lots and lots of chocolate (I just keep saying 'a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips'!!) ........ but what I wanted most was this

 

Next was the antique shop - where not just the stock, but the dust covering a lot of it was extremely old!  Never mind, we had a good rake .......

 

......... and as always I ended up at the bookshelves

 

I've been neglecting my collection of pillar boxes recently, so I was pleased to see this lovely old one

 

By now it was lunchtime, and Malcolm recommended this place, as he had enjoyed an excellent scone and coffee on his previous visit

The food was wonderful!!  I had a coronation chicken baguette, which was beautifully presented with salad, coleslaw and root vegetable crisps

 

Malcolm had a ham and mustard baguette, similarly presented ....... the mustard was in a little dish, so he could decide how much he wanted to have.

After lunch, I noticed this shop - do you think the signwriter needs his eyes tested?

 

There is no football today, but Malcolm is rapidly developing a blister, as (typical man in charge of the remote) he has to keep changing channels between tennis (Andy Murray is playing) and cricket (England v Australia in the 4th ODI)!!
  

 

 
 
 
 
 

 

A good cause!

One of my stops on the way round all the wonderful stalls on Saturday was at one which was just a little bit different ... there was nothing for sale!!  Instead they had a wonderful collection of patterns, which had been donated to Medecins Sans Frontieres.  The idea is that you take a pattern, then make a donation to p/hop .... which stands for pennies per hour of pleasure  (ie, the hours of pleasure you have using the pattern).  There were some gorgeous patterns and I eventually decided on these

 

 

I wasn't sure about how much to donate, but the lady in charge of the donations bucket obviously thought that I gave enough, as she gave me this bag to put my acquisitions in!

 

 

There were so many wonderful stalls, selling so much gorgeousness, that we had to have a second look round before I finally decided what to buy ....

 

a selection of woolly fabrics to needlefelt/embellish

 

 

larger pieces for felting projects

 

 

Australian magazines with some wonderful ideas!

 

Jennifer did some shopping too - but as her purchases are supposed to be Christmas presents, I have been sworn to secrecy (although I wouldn't be surprised if they end up in her stash!!)

One idea I have tried out already is to make a small bowl.  I've never quite got to grips with wet felting, as it just always looks like hard work (although I guess it's good for toning the upper arms!!)  So I cheated ..... I took the flower that I made on the embellisher, wet it and molded it round a glass tealight holder.  It is a little bit fragile - next time I will make the felt much thicker, but I am pleased with this first attempt!

 

 

To finish - some wonderful news ....... I have won Rattling on's giveaway!!  If you click on the link you can read about what I've won!

 

 

 

A woolly good day!!

We had good weather on Saturday for our journey over to Cumbria for Woolfest.  The first thing we did when we got there was have breakfast, then suitably fortified, we started in one corner and worked our way up and down the aisles.  There was just so much to see, it was hard to take it all in, and Malcolm was surprised at how long it took me to make my first purchase!!  However, when I spotted this, I got my purse out!

 

It looks a bit strange in the photo, but it is a big offcut of double-sided felt - there is more than enough to make a bag.  I got it from this fabulous stall Heartfelt by Liz

 

 

 

A lot of the stalls don't allow photography, but I soon found something much better to take photos of - the stars of the show and providers of the raw materials for all the woolly goodies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The black lamb was tiny, but quite happy to be petted by its many admirers.

 

Of course, I did buy one or two other things, but I'll tell you about them tomorrow, as now we have something much more important to look at - the wonderful dinner we had sitting in the sun on Saturday evening.  We started with Malcolm's delicious lasagne - here he is dishing up the first portion

 

 

 

We had garlic bread to go with it - a very tasty stone-baked one

 

 

 

Then of course we had pudding!  This was the last of the treats that I bought at M&S.  Some time ago, M&S had a serious of tv adverts that were described as food pornography!!  This is the description of our pudding ...... little pots of heaven - ginger crumb layered with tangy lime cream and lime flavoured flood.

 

 

Yes, the lime flavoured flood was really just jelly!!  Never mind, it was absolutely delicious.
 

 

This afternoon, I picked the two patterns for Kylie's cushions (or maybe I should call them Kylie's Kushions?!)

 

 

 

This is the fabric, which has a small pattern printed on it, and I chose this thread (which looks darker in the photo) - as I know that Kylie likes purple!!

 

 

 

 

And to finish, one more photo from Woolfest, guaranteed to make you go aaah ........ I tried to smuggle out one of these alpacas in my handbag, but Malcolm made me put it back!!!

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 
 

Experimenting!

I had some fun yesterday, in the middle of all my domestic duties.  It started with these flowers that I picked on yesterday's walk - I arranged the flowers on a piece of fabric to take photos

 

 

 

 

Then I took a sheet of this .........

 

 

........ and printed the photos on to the fabric.  The printing is a little bit hazy - I was using Malcolm's printer and I think I will have to have a look to see if I can alter the settings to get a sharper image

 

 

After printing, I then ironed the fabric on the wrong side to set the colour

 

 

then swished it about for a minute in cold water

 

 

then put it on a towel to dry

 

 

then a final iron

 

 

So, what am I going to do with the pictures?  I plan to embroider them - both by hand and machine ........ but I won't be doing it anytime soon, as I have something very special to work on over the next few weeks.  Of course, I'm not going to tell you today what it is!!

To finish ...... you know I have shown you several photos of my favourite tree.  The last time I posted a photo, Cathy e-mailed me to ask if she could use the photo as a reference for a drawing.  Of course I said yes!  She e-mailed me yesterday to say that she had posted the drawing ........ please click on the link and have a look - it is FABULOUS!!!  Who would have thought that my little old tree would end up being drawn by someone in Sicily and seen all round the world - this is one of the reasons why I love the wonderful world of blogs!!

 

 

 

 

I'm shy ......

........ no, not me (although I was painfully shy as a child!), but this heron which we saw on the riverbank this morning - he (or she) just wouldn't turn round and look at the camera!

 

 

The lovely weather of the last two days has encouraged more poppies to flower - I love the colour, the markings on the petals, the centres - yes, I really like poppies

 

 

the iris are almost ready to open now - you can see the colours

 

 

I was in the studio for a little while this afternoon (the rest of the time I was sitting in the sun reading a book!).  I had another play with my embellisher.  I started with this ......

 

 

........ shaping it into petals

 

 

....... the flower needs some more work, but I am pleased with what I have done so far!

 

 

When I came back from my walk this morning, Malcolm was puzzled by the bits and bobs that I was carrying ....... but I thought they would make a nice 'still life' ........

 

 

The piece of wood at the back is all dried out - it hardly weighs anything.  I liked this end - it looks like a scary creature

 

 

The verges are full of beautiful grasses - I picked just a few.  At the moment it is grass pollen season, so we are both sneezing and sniffing!!

 

ps - I shouldn't have had that thought about Dr Doolittle ....... when I turn for home and start up the hill, I often start singing (just in my head - you wouldn't want to hear my singing, I make the crows sound tuneful!) to get my rhythm going for the long uphill stretch.  Usually I sing ..... I love to go a-wandering, along the mountain track ........ but now this is stuck in my head ....... if I could talk to the animals, grunt, sqeak and squawk with the animals ........