frayed at the edge

This one or that one?

When I arrived at Borderland Fabric this morning, Maria had lots of hexagons laid out on the table in a random fashion

 

she then rearranged them into an ordered pattern

 

she sent photographs of both arrangements to her daughter, for whom she is making the quilt.  Maria preferred the ordered arrangement ....... so of course her daughter wants the other one!!  Maureen finished this, her twelth applique block ....... she may do more to make the quilt bigger, but then again, maybe not!!

 

Katy has been working on a log cabin quilt, using the most gorgeous fabrics

 

Tricia's applique quilt is for her granddaughter Charlotte

 

and of course there was cake!  This week it was Annette's delicious spiced fruit cake - it is lovely and moist, similar to a clootie dumpling

 

during the week, I have been working on the revised version of my "Country Cottages".

 

I had a fair bit of fabric folding and putting away to do once the houses were done!

 

I made a start to the checkerboard borders

 

when you need to draw lots of circles, it helps to be married to an engineer!

 

it promises to be another hot and sunny weekend - yippee!!  Whether you are enjoying summer in the northern hemisphere, or winter in the southern hemisphere, I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne

On the beach

Although the weather forecast for today wasn't quite as good as the last few days, we decided to head to St Abbs.  It was a bit cloudy, but still reasonably warm.  We arrived in time for lunch, which we had in a delightful cafe down at the harbour

 

Malcolm had the sausage and red onion pannini

 

and I had the cheese and sweet chilli one

 

after lunch we went for a walk round the harbour

 

there were lots of seagulls about

 

Malcolm spotted this jelly fish swimming in the harbour

 

after exploring the harbour, we walked along the coastal path to Coldingham, where we encountered more jelly fish - but these were dead ones on the sand.  There was a little girl poking her fingers into one - yeuch!

 

it might have been a warm afternoon, but it must have been a bit chilly in the water!

 

I quite fancy having a beach hut

 

even bees go to the beach for the afternooon!

 

I think this rocky outcrop looks like a lobster ....

 

while Malcolm was hunting for driftwood, I found these two lumps, which unfortunately were just too big to take home

 

look what I found when I went round the other side ...... I have put my foot in the photo to give it scale

 

and of course as usual I found some "arty" shots

 

there was only one way to end our walk on the beach ...... ice cream!!

<

A wonderful weekend!

After patch'n'chat on Friday, I headed to Kelso, as it seemed silly to go home for dinner, only to retrace my steps to go to the talk by Gail Lawther.  It was a lovely evening, so I bought some fish and chips and sat in the sunshine to eat them

 

I still had some time to kill, so I took some photos of the Abbey

 

Gail's talk about her travels in New Zealand was very entertaining, and she had twenty five quilts to share with us.  She asked us not to take photos of the quilts, but when I asked if I could take a photo of her for the blog, she offered to pose with one

 

I enjoyed the talk as I have been to many of the places she mentioned, including the public toilets at Kawakawa, which were designed by Hundertwasser.  This is a postcard which I brought home with me

 

the New Zealand theme continued on Saturday, when I chose a pattern which featured a vineyard nestled in the hills.  I was so busy that I didn't take very many photos!  The stitching is done from the back .......

 

......... the piece of fabric for the sky stitched in place

 

the mountains added

 

lunch was supplied by a local pub - delicious leek and potato soup

 

and a wonderful selection of sandwiches (we had the same soup, but different sandwiches on Sunday)

 

the eager beavers back at work after lunch!

 

by the end of the afternoon, this is how far I got

 

yesterday the theme was Japanese - I chose Mount Fuji.  Again, I started with the sky

 

stitching the mountain

 

adding the shrine and the outer border

 

looking good by the end of the afternoon

 

Gail had lots of patterns for sale (you can find them on her website) and I bought two ....... but I can only show you one of them, as the other one is to make a Christmas present with

 

the weather has been glorious, and the peony has finally flowered - and isn't is beautiful!!

Shorn!

As Thursday is one of my two "fast" days, I haven't been able to enjoy a wonderful, delicious, yummy scone when we have our regular cuppa at The Pickled Orange in Hawick.  But as the diet is still going well (if a little bit slowly), I have decided that on the first Thursday of the month, we can as usual share a scone.  Well, could you resist this cheese scone - especially as it was just out of the oven?

 

back home, I headed out to the studio to take photos of the fabric I bought yesterday.  I was quite restrained, buying a total of two metres

 

for those of you who like to know these things, the details

 

I should have shown you my new glasses on Monday, but as I was desperately in need of a haircut, I decided to wait until today.  Having spent the afternoon having my colour done and then having my hair cut quite a bit shorter - my new look!

 

the next time I get highlights in my hair, I shall have to get purple to match my glasses!

 

I have done reasonably well resisting the temptation to buy magazines ........ but sometimes when it is a new one, I give in

 

the main carpark in Kelso was full when I went to the hairdressers this afternoon, so I parked at the Garden Centre.  I popped in for a browse after getting my hair done ........ and saw the most wonderful array of orchids.  Of course one came home with me

 

I've never seen one like this, with beautiful dark markings

 

could this be the inspiration for some applique?

 

to finish, some photos of a very cute, very young robin having a bath

 

Fun at breakfast!

Thank you for all your commiserations about our disappointment with Woolfest!  Both Gilly and Thimbleanna left comments saying that we weren't the only ones who didn't think it was as good as previous years.  Never mind, after having lunch in Cockermouth and dinner in Keswick, the next meal we had was breakfast at the excellent B&B.  It was the most wonderful breakfast, with sausage, bacon, eggs, mushrooms and toast.  But as well as enjoying the food, we were also entertained by a young Japanese couple ..... we think they were on their honeymoon.  They obviously didn't speak much English ...... and also obviously hadn't encountered a cafetiere of coffee before, as the boy (he looked much, much too young to call him a man) tried to pour it without having depressed the plunger.  Having been a Brownie and a Guide, I performed my good deed for the day, and showed him what to do.  They started breakfast with a bowl of porridge ..... judging by the face-pulling, I don't think they liked it very much.  Then they had smoked salmon and scrambled eggs, which was fine ..... but he had black pudding with his and she had vegetarian sausage ....... I think they had just ticked boxes on the breakfast menu without knowing what it was!

 

After breakfast, we headed to Lower Sizergh Barn.  There is a wonderful farm shop, crafts for sale, some beautiful (but expensive) clothing, and a lovely tearoom where we only had a cuppa, as we were still full from breakfast.  But the best bit was the farm trail ..... we didn't walk round all of it, but look what we found on the stretch we did walk

 

we then went to ........ but I'll tell you that tomorrow, as there are still lots of photos to share with you, and I haven't yet shown you what I bought in this shop in Keswick (well, I did have all that money that I didn't spend on wool!)

first was this wonderful tin

 

which was filled with mint cake

 

the nougat is for Malcolm, as is the bag of milk chocolate orange thins on the left, with dark chocolate mint thins on the right for me

 

you know that I love to get parcels from afar .........

 

....... and just look what was in this one!

 

you can find the shoes here

Somewhat disappointing!

Oh dear, what can I say?  I found this year's Woolfest to be a bit of a disappointment.  We got there early, so we had breakfast before it opened, and being among the first in the door, I was able to take photos without having someone getting in the way

 

some of the stalls which have been there in past years were absent, and some of the new ones just didn't have anything really exciting on offer!  One major improvement on previous years was that the gents toilet had been temporarily designated as a ladies so there wasn't the usual horrendous queue (there was a temporary toilet outside for the men).  But as always, for me, these were the highlight of the morning

 

yes, I did say of the morning, because we left just before lunchtime. We were going to go for a cuppa, but couldn't get a seat in the main restaurant, or out in the marquee, and when we went to the stall in the main hall, we were told we would have to wait ten minutes to get a cup of tea!  So what did I buy ....... I didn't buy any wool, as I kept thinking of all the wool that I have bought in previous years and haven't yet used (I can't believe I was so sensible!) ...... so all that came home with me was this set of exceedingly cute stitch markers

 

we headed off to Cockermouth for a bite of lunch and a stroll round the town, then took the scenic route to Keswick where we had booked a B&B for the night

 

we were delighted to find that the B&B matched up to the images on its website (if you click on bedrooms, then look at bedroom 1, that's ours)

 

we went out for dinner to a small Italian restaurant.  We were so hungry we had aready eaten some of the garlic pizza bread which we shared for a starter, before I thought to take a photo!

 

for his main course Malcolm had a very spicy pasta dish

 

and I had chicken and bacon risotto

 

both meals were delicious ....... and we were so full, we didn't have room for dessert.  We went for a stroll round the town, and I was able to take some photos which I couldn't in the afternoon because it was so busy!

 

we had a busy day on Sunday before heading back home ....... I'll tell you about it tomorrow.

But to finish ........ fanfare and roll of the drums ......... the winner of the little givaway.  Or, winners, because there are two!  They both forgot the same thing, and when you read what it was they forgot, you may think that they should be punished not given a prize!!  Sarah admitted that while under pressure sitting exams, she forgot her mother's birthday, and Meredithe admitted that when planning their first overseas trip, she didn't just forget her mother's birthday, but her 70th birthday!  I have decided to share the Herdie stitchmarkers with them, and there just might be a little something else in the parcels!

 

Bag Ladies!

On Wednesday Katy, Tricia, Maureen and Andrea went to a workshop at Borderland Fabrics to make a bag.  They all used the same pattern, but different fabrics.  Katy has been put in the over-achievers' corner, as she has finished hers

 

Tricia had picked much cooler colours

 

while Maureen chose a blue and gold palette

 

Andrea had used some of the same fabrics as Tricia, but with a very different result

 

Margaret was working on yet another wonderful applique quilt, this one featuring penguins at the beach

 

I love this detail with the bucket

 

Friday, of course, means cake ...... and today's offering was my favourite apple and sultana

 

tomorrow, we're off to Cumbria for Woolfest, so hopefully on Monday I will have lots of photos of cute animals and all things wooly!  I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne

 

ps - remember to leave a comment or send me an email about an important event that you forgot about, to have the chance to win a wonderful prize.  I'll pick the winner on Monday.

 

 

A missed milestone!*

Oh dear, I didn't notice when I did my 1300th post ....... this is post 1306!  So we'll just pretend that this is the landmark one, as we had a great day out today, so there are lots of photos to share with you.  We headed over the border to Berwick, a town steeped in history.  As we walked from the car into town, I stopped to admire the railway viaduct

 

first stop was for lunch.  If we had known how big the baguettes were, we would have ordered one between us!  Malcolm ordered Coronation chicken, and I ordered cheese savoury.  When the waitress brought them, we took a look at each other's and decided to have half each!

 

after lunch, we set off for a walk round the town walls.  There are a lot of gun emplacements ......

 

........ a reminder of the days when the town had to be protected from the pesky Scots!

 

the sun came out, and the views were wonderful

 

two gates in one photo!

 

I remembered that the last time we walked along the walls, we passed some allotments, which seemed to be home to a Hobbit

 

I spotted this man in a boat ....

 

....... then realised that he was working with these men, pulling in fishing nets

 

but I don't think they would want to use this boat, which was part of a garden design

 

we had a good view of the three bridges - the original narrow one (easily defended to keep the aforementioned Scots out), the "new" bridge, which was opened in 1928, and the railway viaduct

 

after our walk on the walls, we headed to the beach, to look for driftwood for Malcolm's creations.  While he gathered wood, I took photos of the old wooden groynes

 

I still have lots of photos to share with you ...... so I think you will have to come back tomorrow for the rest!

*Have you missed or forgotten a special event ...... tell me in a comment or an email, and there will be a prize for the best one!

 

A busy day!

First thing this morning I popped my knitting in to soak

 

it is knitted with the most wonderful soft alpaca yarn, which I bought here, when we were in Australia lst year

 

once I had rinsed it, I squeezed out the excess water ...... remember, NEVER wring your wet knitting!  Then I rolled it in a towel and squeezed it some more

 

I put an old pillowcase on the rug in the back lounge, and got out my blocking wires.  I had invested in them some time ago when I was knitting a lot of shawls (both baby and adults ones).  They make it much, much easier to block out knitting

 

so, finally, here it is!  I got the idea to knit a cowl from Meredithe, who knitted a very pretty one recently.  I started knitting it when we were driving up to Stuart and Alison's the other weekend ......

 

........ and that's when a slight problem arose!  Through not paying close attention, and also because I was using a circular needle that was slightly too long, so I was juggling the stitches ....... I somehow managed to twist the knitting, and have ended up with a somewhat different cowl to the one I intended to make.  However, once it is dry and I can take photos wearing it, you will see that it actually has turned out ok (just don't ask me to produce another one the same, as I don't know what I did!)

While the cowl was soaking, I cleaned this vase.  I don't know quite how old it is, but I remember it as already being old when I was a child

 

I think the vase probably belonged to my grandparents, and would have been given to my parents when Granny and Grandpa moved to Galway to live with my only aunt and uncle (I only had one set of grandparents, as my Mum was an orphan).  The top of the vase is silver, so I had to unearth the silver polish from the back of the cupboard

 

once it was clean, I grabbed the secateurs and had a quick snip to fill the vase

 

by then it was time for a cuppa.  I would love a teapot like the one on the box!

 

so, what was the other thing that Malcolm made at the weekend?  A miniature chair!

 

I saw a tiny chair in this post on Thimbleanna's blog, and asked Malcolm to make one for me.  The frame is made from bits that he recenty removed from the gate-leg table in the studio, and the seat is oak that he used when he made crackets (stools).  The plan is to paint the frame, then upholster the seat.  I think he is worried that I am going to steal the paint he used for his chair, which several of you enquired about (he needn't worry, I intend to use Annie Sloan chalk paint)

 

when Malcolm was out and about this morning, he popped into the garden centre to get some compost and plants for his new planter.  Considering that it only a few hours to make, and is made with scrap wood, it looks exceedingly good!

 

I spent the rest of the day quilting, and have just about finished the in the ditch quilting - this evening will be spent sewing in rather a lot of ends!

 

a bit of silliness to finish.  I heard that annoying "walks like Rihanna" song on the radio this morning, and I thought of another chorus

She can't serve

She can't volley

But who cares

She shrieks like Sharipova .........

 

Shrieking!

No, not me, but Maria Sharipova this afternoon at Wimbledon!  I think that if I were her opponent, I would leap the net and stuff a tennis ball in her mouth to keep her quiet ..........

On Saturday, I got ready to start the quilting on Leanne's House.  As always when starting something new, I cleaned the machine and put in a new needle

 

it's amazing how much fluff accumulates under the bobbin case

 

I taped the backing fabric to the table, followed  by the wadding, and then added the quilt top

 

the next job was to thoroughly pin all the layers together

 

I decided to quilt in the ditch, which means stitching along the seams.  Once I have done that, I will add some decorative quilting on the bigger blocks

 

as the stitching doesn't show on the front, this is the back, showing how far I had got by the end of this afternoon

 

we were going to go for a walk yesterday morning, but just as we parked the car, it started to rain heavily.  So we just had to make do with some sconnage for an early lunch

cheese

 

cherry

 

when I did the food shopping this morning, I popped a bunch of flowers in the trolley - pretty sweet williams

 

while I was busy sewing over the weekend, Malcolm was sawing and hammering in the garage.  He has only just put the chair he made last year out in the garden, and yesterday it was joined by his latest creation, a sturdy planter

 

he also made something else, but you will have to wait until tomorrow to see it ........ yes, I forgot to take a photo of it!!

<