frayed at the edge

Would you like to fly ......

........ in my beautiful balloon?  This morning after I got dressed I went back into the bedroom to say bye to Malcolm - and suggest that he might like to get out of his lazy bed and come with me.  I think the grunts from under the duvet signified that he didn't want to come, which was a pity, because this was the amazing sight that greeted me

 

 

I don't think I've ever seen a hot-air balloon this close

 

 

Then, as I headed down towards the turning point - there was another one!!  I knew I would get a better view at the bottom of the hill, so I ran down before it vanished behind the hills (my legs haven't yet recovered!!)  There was still early morning mist over the hills, so this photo isn't very clear).

 

 

I spoke to one of our neighbours, who has a livery.  He said that the horses had been spooked by the noise of the balloon's burners (they were very loud!), but nothing was going to deter these two from munching on the lush verge

 

 

After lunch, I headed out to the studio to play with my new toy.  First I watched the dvd which came with the embellisher, which explained how to use it safely, and how to achieve the best results

 

 

I started with a piece of felt (from a bag of mixed bits I bought at a craft fair) and some wool roving. 

 

 

The dvd suggested that when you first use the embellisher to loosely needle the roving in place

 

 

Then it was the scary moment ...... I took a deep breath and off I went!!

 

 

It definitely helped that I am used to doing free motion quilting, as the movement is similar (except that I kept trying to pivot the felt, which you can't do with five needles in it!!)  So stage one was completed successfully

 

 

I then added an outer circle

 

 

The last stage was to add a stem and leaf.  I found this much trickier - I think it will take quite a bit of practice to get the shape of the leaf right

 

 

For my second project, I started with a flower cut from a piece of felted sweater and some purple and pink roving

 

 

I covered the flower shape .......

 

 

....... then added some pink beads (they were still sitting on the worktable after using them on the shawl!)  All I need to do now is add a brooch pin.

 

 

This detail shows the lovely colours and texture

 

 

I forgot earlier in the week to show you the finished applique runner (I need to organise my photos better!)

 

 

I stood on the bed to take this one, so it's a bit wobbly!!  I only realised when I saw the photos on the laptop that you can see the fine wire going from the radio alarm clock to the lamp - it's the aerial for the radio!!

 

 

Now that the runner is finished, it's back to those chickens!!

 

 

 

A very spoiled girl!

Earlier in the year, I had to go to the Court Offices in Newcastle to swear an oath that I would carry out my duties as Malcolm's Dad's executor.  Afterwards, we went for a wander round the shops, and I saw an embellisher (for those who don't know what that is, it looks like a sewing machine, but has a cluster of special needles for needle-felting).  I have wanted one for some time now, but couldn't really justify the expenditure .......... so I was delighted when Malcolm said that once he received his inheritance, he would buy one for me!!  So yesterday we set off for Newcastle, going via Morpeth to pick up Jennifer (who treated us to a lovely lunch!).  After another look at the embellisher, I said yes please, I really would like one - so I now have my lovely new toy

 

you couldn't mistake it for a sewing machine .........

 

 

......... when you see the cluster of five needles

 

The embellisher wasn't the only  machine we saw yesterday - we were amazed at this shop window, which was full of old sewing machines

 

I have never seen so many machines in one place!!

 

 

and I've never seen some of the makes before!!

 

When I went out the front door this morning for my walk, I could hear birds chirping away.  I realised that they were very young birds, but where was the nest!!  Following the sound, I eventually saw the nest - it is tucked between the top of the house wall and the wooden board under the the roof - but I didn't see the parents, so I don't know what kind of bird the nest belongs too.

 

 

I found this little bit of fir tree in the middle of the road!!  I guess it must have caught on a lorry and had dropped off later, as there are no trees like that where I found it.  I immediately thought ........ embroidery!!

 

 

I would have loved to finish with a beautiful piece of needlefelting that I made on my lovely new toy ....... but I've been out most of the day, so you will have to wait until tomorrow!!

 

Crafts old and new

Wherever we go on holiday, I always have a look for craft/sewing/knitting magazines.  There is an excellent Spanish one that I always buy, and this year my timing was perfect, as I was able to get two issues!  Added to them, I also got a French magazine.  I studied French for six years at school, and although I am decidedly rusty when it comes to speaking it, I can still cope with reading it (and I still have my French dictionary, which was a school prize!)  I also studied Spanish for a year, and although I did pass my 'O' Level, I promptly forgot most of it (on holiday I can say hello, please and thank you!).  However, when you know what the subject is, it's amazing how much you can understand!  (except for a Japanese quilting book which was given to me by a lovely Japanese girl whom I taught to quilt when I lived in Indonesia - fortunately it has excellent diagrams!!)

 

 

Today we went to Jedburgh for lunch, and as usual had a look in the charity shops.  This book caught my eye, and as soon as I flicked through it, I just had to buy it.

 

 

There is a fascinating collection of crafts, but the page that particularly caught my attention was this one about knitting, not only for the information, but also for the illustration of the woolwinder, which is similar to the one I bought recently at a car boot sale

 

 

When we recently visited Helen, she mentioned that her home was about to be featured in a magazine, so when she showed  photos of the magazine it on her last post, of course I had to immediately buy it

 

 

There are beautiful photos spread over seven pages, and amongst all the lovely treasures, there is evidence of Helen's cushion obsession!

 

 

One of the other things I acquired on holiday is this fun bracelet, made with dozens (if not hundreds!!) of beads.  I think I may have some fun trying to make something similar

 

 

To finish, I want to introduce you to Lucy, Lottie and Edward - come back tomorrow and I'll tell you all about them!

 

  

 

 

Backsliding!

I have been trying really hard to keep to my New Year's resolution to buy fewer books and magazines .... and adding to my stash.  But at the weekend - oh dear!  It started on Saturday, when I saw the first issue of a new sewing magazine, complete with a kit to make a spotty bag and a catalogue full of all sorts of crafty things

 

 

Then on Sunday, when we went to The Main Street Trading Company in St Boswells for a cuppa, of course I had to have a browse round the books.  Oh dear, oh dear ...... not one, but two books came home with me

 

 

If all that wasn't bad enough, on Sunday evening when I was reading my favourite blogs, I saw that Helen had details of a wonderful shawl kit .... yes dear readers, I ordered one as fast as my fingers could type my order!

 

 

I think that's my pocket money spent for the next several months!  At the weekend, I was carrying all the bits and pieces for the hexagon pincushions back and forward to the studio - when I dropped bits yet again, I thought it might make sense to use one of my (many) bags, so I used this one

 

 

The fabrics in the centre panel are from South Africa, as you can see from this stamp on the wrong side of the fabric

 

 

I still have these lovely pieces in my stash

 

 

On my way home this afternoon, I had to make another of those emergency stops, when I spotted these tiny calves

 

 

And to end, a bit of fun ....... on late Sunday afternoon, I was relaxing in my jammies, slathered with a 'fruit smoothie' face pack, when Malcolm crept into the room with the camera ........

 

 

You can stop laughing now!!!

 

Come fly with me

This month's challenge from Anne Gaal was to create something on the theme of birds.  This afternoon, I headed out to the studio and got out my card-making supplies.  I chose a pale green card, and a green ink pad

 

 

Having inked the edges of the card, I attached a square of paper printed with birds and flowers

 

 

Then I got out one of my applique design books, to find a template for a bird

 

 

I cut the bird from some lovely handmade deep pink paper, and rubbed it with a gold inkpad to highlight the texture of the paper.  I attached the bird using  foam pads

 

 

To finish the card, I tore a piece of patterned card, inked the edges, and printed 'come fly with me'

 

 

Here is the finished card, pictured with a wonderful bird that I gave Malcolm some time ago ...... but somehow it has ended up in my studio!!

 

 

  

An election-free zone!

Here in Britain we are gripped by election fever ...... or maybe not!  I want a category on the voting paper saying 'none of the above' - they seem to think that having a wife who dresses nicely is a good reason to be elected.  That is the last time that the 'e' word will be mentioned on this blog!

 

I still haven't had much success finding lambs to photograph - they all seem to be in fields miles from the road, but I did manage to take this photo as we drove up the A7 this morning on our way to Selkirk

 

still not the best of photos, but at least the sky is blue!

 

Of course, Wednesdays mean going out for lunch, but when we got to Selkirk we were a bit early (we're always early!!), so we went for a walk.  We've passed this statue of Mungo Park many times, but I had yet to take photos of it, so I rectified that today

 

 

Like so many Scotsmen of that time, he qualified as a doctor, then went off abroad on various wonderful adventures - you can read more of his life and times here.  Unfortunately, as you can see from this plaque, he met an early death in Africa

 

 

When I started taking photos for the blog, I paid much more attention to my surroundings and was amazed at all the things that I saw that I had walked past numerous times before without noticing them.  An example is this wonderful tiled picture in the doorway of an empty shop (it's sad to think that it may be removed when another business moves into the premises

 

 

When we got back after lunch, I just had time to run in the door, grab my knitting bag and hurry off to meet Lorraine to go to knit'n'natter.  After parking, we were somewhat distracted by the new window display in the shoe shop ...... oh,oh,oh - shoes in all sorts of styles and colours for the summer, with beads and bows and flowers and ....... but the price tags ensured that we only looked!  OK, I have to tell the truth, on the way back to the car, Lizzi joined us and this time we not only looked in the window, but went in and examined the shoes in detail ...... but we were strong and resisted temptation (although I thought I saw Lorraine wipe away a tear as we made her leave the shop, she loves shoes so much!!)

 

So what was I knitting today?  I was working on ......... well, you'll have to wait until next Tuesday's Tutorial to find out - but here's a sneak peek

 

 

And to finish, a little bit of fun!  For those of you who don't live in Britain, you may not know that a bogie is something you find up your nose .........

 

I hurried past in case there was one close by!!

  

 

Back to nature

Yesterday we decided to head off to Harestanes, one of out favourite places for a Sunday morning walk .... although we hadn't been for some time because of the weather!  As soon as we arrived, we could see that the weather hasn't stopped work being done on the hedge behind the carpark

 

the original hedge, tall and straggly

 

 

cut almost through at the foot of the stems and bent over

 

 

a framework and woven top has been added - the hedge is already growing strongly

 

Although it is now spring, it still looked like autumn under these trees

 

 

But these daffodils were a welcome splash of colour on a dull morning

 

 

Before we went out, we only had a glass of orange juice and a cup of tea, so when we finished our walk, we were more than ready to tuck into delicious bacon sandwiches

 

 

We saw posters saying that there was a demonstration of green woodworking, so of course we went to have a look.  Malcolm was delighted to be given a go at shaping a piece of wood ......

 

....... helped by plenty of advice from this lady, who was shaping a leg for a stool

 

 

I think I will have to get Malcolm some specialist woodworking tools for his birthday and Christmas this year - it's all very different to the sort of stuff he usually does.

There are also some craft shops at Harestanes, and I bought this little oil drizzler for Malcolm - it is only three inches high!

 

 

I also couldn't resist these beads - now I just need to design a project for them

 

 

It was a very pleasant way to spend the morning - and in the evening, some Easter egg may have been eaten!!

 

 

 

 

 

Plan B

The plan for today had been to go to Morpeth to visit Jennifer, but it started snowing yesterday afternoon, and by early evening, this was the view from the lounge window

 

 

We had hoped it might vanish overnight, but this morning the front garden looked like this

 

 

and this was the scene in the back garden

 

 

As the snow was falling steadily, we decided we would stay at home, which turned out to be the right decision, as the main road was closed later in the day!

However, there were certain little people in the house who were glad to see the snow ......

 

the Gnome brothers watching the snow

 

But, I hear you ask, what are they sitting on ...... we haven't seen that little stool in previous photos.  Well, that's because it's a new stool, which has just been made by Malcolm!  Here are the Gnome Sisters admiring it

 

 

It is a traditional stool called a cracket.  You can read more about crackets here and here.  Malcolm made this one for his other sister Judith, but I have put in an order for one and I rather think Jennifer would like one too!  When he makes the next one, I will have to make sure I get photos of the various stages involved, so that I can post a woodworking tutorial ...... but for now, here is another view of his first one!

 

 

Yesterday, I was delighted to find this book in a charity shop.  It was first published in 1977, with this edition coming from 1983

 

 

I almost wish I had open shelves in the kitchen so that I could make this edging for them

 

 

I think this knitted tablecloth is gorgeous ...... but I don't think you'll be seeing one on the blog any time soon!!

 

 

After such a horrible start to the day, the snow is now melting and the sun is shining .....

 

 

Gorgeous!

Yesterday we headed off over the Border to County Durham, on our way to visit Helen, as she had an open weekend at her wonderful studio

 

 

It was lovely to finally meet Helen, as we have been blog friends for quite some time ..... but every time she had one of her open weekends, I was unable to go!  We nearly didn't get there this time, as she lives at the end of a very bumpy farm road.   Malcolm blanched at the thought of driving his new car over all the lumps and bumps as it has a low clearance .... but he just took it easy and we got there unscathed!  We had a cuppa and a chat with Helen, then before I got down to some retail therapy, I took some photos ....... first of the gorgeous merchandise

 

lovely things for Easter

 

where else would you keep cushions!

 

 

more gorgeousness outside

 

 

Malcolm made a new friend

 

 

even I found this cute!!

 

some of my purchases - I can't show you all of them as they are presents!

 

After we has successfully negotiated the farm road again, we headed into Durham.  We hadn't been there before, so we were looking forward to doing some sightseeing.  As I took lots of photos, I will save them for another post, and will end today with .... food!  We went to La Tasca, a lively Spanish tapas restaurant, for dinner.  We ordered a selection of dishes, which looked like an awful lot of food when it arrived

 

but we managed to eat it all! 

 

After another walk round Durham this morning, we meandered home, with a stop on the way in a very intersting village - but I'll save that for another time as well ........
 

 

 
 

 

 

 

  

Thank you!

I had two things to do this week - make a 'thank you' card for the lovely Helen for her wonderful CD that she sent me,  and make something for Anne's March challenge.  What could be simpler than combining the two!!

I looked out these crafting supplies .....

 

 

along with a blank card and this old book of songs, as I wanted to give a musical theme to the card

 

 

I started by embossing the edge of the card

 

 

then added flowers cut from the pages from the music book, along with the letters 't' and 'y'  - I added the rest of the letters using a brown pen to match the colour scheme

 

 

I used the ink pad to add some highlights, and also decided to add centres to the flowers, using a punch

 

 

I was inspired to do a card like this by one that Anne had done which was actually a digital picture, but as that was beyond my computer skills, I enjoyed creating my version with paper and card!