frayed at the edge

Still knitting!

You might have noticed that there hasn't been much knitting mentioned recently ....... because I haven't been doing very much!  One reason is all the sewing I have been doing for Anne, but the other reason is that I just lost my enthusiasm for a few weeks.  I also haven't been at knit'n'natter this year - again there are two reasons - first, my friend Lorraine that I car shared with was away for several weeks (she went away a granny and came back a great granny!!) and second with the ever-increasing cost of fuel, I have been using the car a bit less.  However Lorrainre and I decided to meet somewhere nearer, so today we had our first get together ....... and of course cake was involved!  A very delicious orange cream sponge

 

When I was sorting out some knitting yesterday to take with me today, I realised that I hadn't shown you this book, which Jennifer gave me recently

 

There are so many lovely dolls, it was hard to decide what to knit first.  I finally narrowed it down to these two - they have the same basic body, so once I have done that I can choose which one ...... but of course the Johnny Depp lookalike is very appealing!!

 

 

I have to admit that there was much more nattering than knitting, and I am too embarrassed to show you the little bit that I did!!  When I got home, the front garden was full of birds, so while Malcolm made the dinner (sausages and mash with onion and mushroom gravy - delicious) I took these photos

 

 

 

 

 

 

The robin isn't always so good at posing ...... this is just one of the many photos in which it hopped off just as I snapped!

 

Young and old

I have made many baby quilts over the years, which have been given to friends, neighbours, relatives and charities.  I rarely see the quilts again, but Stuart sent me this photo this morning of Mia, the daughter of his friend Emma.  Poor Mia was a bit unwell yesterday ........ there is nothing better than cuddling up under a quilt when you're not well!  (photo used with Emma's permission)

 

At patch'n'chat this afternoon, Charlie brought in a quilt top which has been made by her mother Peggy, who will be eighty in June!  Charlie had acquired the top from her Mum's house and had brought it in to ask Kay to longarm quilt it, as a surprise present for her Mum.  The blue and white quilt is one of Kay's which she had brought along to give Charlie an idea of how it might be quilted

 

Jen was working on a beautiful sewing box, which she had started at a recent workshop

 

The pegs are holding the edge of the  lid in place while the fabric glue dries!

 

I got quite a lot more prep done on my Baltimore block

 

We were spoiled for choice when we went through for our cuppa, as Sheena had been to Border Meringues for some extra goodies!!

 

Delicious as they all looked, I instead chose to have a piece of my favourite apple and sultana cake

 

I hope you all have a good weekend - no doubt I will be busy sewing!!  Love, Anne

 

Hi ho, hi ho .........

...... off to work I went!!  We headed off down the road to Longframlington this morning, so that I could deliver my samples to Anne.  She was very pleased with them, and produced the pile of stitcheries that she has done to be added to the quilt top.  While I was busy choosing fabrics for my next sample quilt top, Malcolm made his debut as assistant blog photographer, and took photos of a few of them

 

 

 

 

When Anne was stretched out her length cutting some wadding for me, she made the mistake of saying to Malcolm that it would make a good photo for the blog ....... so of course he snapped her (and me ....... oh dear, I must stand up straighter!!)

 

Laden down with all the fabrics, wadding and embroidery threads for the new project,* we went on down the road to Morpeth, and picked up Jennifer to go for lunch.  There was a slight delay on the way, as we had to stop at a level crossing ........

 

....... although I was expecting the train to hurtle past (this is the East Coast Main Line from Edinburgh to London) I still jumped when it appeared, and before I could take a sharper photo, it was gone!!

 

We went to one of our favourite places for lunch

 

While Malcolm was up at the counter placing our order, the people at the next table got their food.  Jennifer and I took one look at their chips, and decided we wanted some too!  I went to ask Malcolm to add a portion of chips to our order, but he was walking away from the counter ........ but, hooray, he had ordered chips (can you tell that a) I like chips, and b) very rarely eat them!) 

delicious chips with salt and vinegar

 

my lunch - poached egg and black pudding salad

 

Jennifer's - a wholemeal roll with coronation chicken

 

Malcolm's - a roll with roast beef and horseradish

 

Malcolm was under strict instructions to slow down/stop if we saw any lambs.  (Only, of course, if it was safe to do so!)

 

*By the time we got home, the light wasn't good enough to take photos of the new project, so I shall do that tomorrow!

Making a splash

Fortunately on Friday I had the camera handy when this male blackbird decided to have a bath.  He had a very good splash, before flying off

 

 

 

More at home in the water is this heron, which we saw yesterday morning when we went for a walk along the river in Jedburgh

 

As always after our walk we went for a cuppa.  We thought we would try Border Meringues, as it is now open on a Sunday

 

They are famous for all sorts of cakes, not just meringues.  I have tasted some of them before, when Annette has served them at patch'n'chat, when she has been too busy to bake.  The coffee shop is lovely, light and airy, and the cakes are fabuous.  I succumbed to a slice of lemon meringue pie

 

and Malcolm had a slice of Border Tart (needless to say after all that cake, we didn't have any lunch!)

 

We also had a tiny meringue each, which came with our drinks - crisp on the outside, chewy in the middle - perfect!!

 

Back home, I had a busy afternoon, quilting the frog quilt and putting the binding on

 

 

As you can see from the first photo, I had still to stitch down the binding on the back, so I pinned a corner to let you see what it looks like  - it also shows you the pretty variegated thread

 

I had another piece of the frog fabric, but I didn't have another fleece, so I had a look in my stash and found this brushed cotton sheet, one of several that I bought half-price in a sale some years ago, knowing that I would use them eventually for quilt backs!!

 

I made a start to the quilting yesterday, then finished it this afternoon. I used quite a thick polyester wadding, so you can see that the quilting is much more defined

 

 

To finish - I was tempted to indulge in a spot of dognapping yesterday - it was hard to resist the sad expression of this dog patiently waiting for its owners at Border Meringues!!

 

 

 

A day for staying indoors!

Unfortunately it has been a miserable day, with steady drizzle and wind, as I left home just after nine this morning to drive up to Falkirk, to visit Stuart and Alison.  I haven't taken a single photo outside, as I knew that I wouldn't be able to keep the camera dry.  However, I did find some things to take photos of indoors, starting with my lunch

tuna mayo and cheese - delicious

 

We no longer have a branch of Thortons in Hawick, so I popped in to the Falkirk branch to stock up on a little sweet treat for each of us ...... you can probably guess that the Turkish Delight is for me

 

When I'm in Falkirk, there is a newsagents that I always visit, as they have a wide range of American magazines.  They haven't had cloth paper scissors recently,  so I was delighted to find this one today

 

I opened it at this page - definitley an idea for the to-do list

 

I was very naughty and also bought this one

 

Well, could you have resisited a magazine that had this cutie in it!!

 

Tomorrow I'm going to the Spring Quilt Show at Ingliston, so hopefully I will have lots of photos to share!!

A hint of spring?

When I was out in the back garden on Saturday afternoon, a little flash ofcolour caught my eye.  Could this tiny narcissus be the herald of an early spring?

 

Then yesterday when we were out for our usual Sunday morning walk, we saw shoots of wild garlic .....

 

....... seedlings

 

...... and a tiny winter aconite

 

Before our walk, we stopped at Scott's View ...... to admire the view!

 

 

On our walk to the William Wallace statue, we were entertained by a beautiful chocolate labrador, which ran tirelessly back and forward along the path.  You can just see him in the middle of the photo, as he careered round the bend in the path

 

I had the long lens on the camera so that I could photograph some of the detail on the statue - I hadn't noticed this dragon-like creature on his helmet before

 

From the path, we could see another monument, away in the distance.  This is the Waterloo Monument on Peneil Heugh

 

Of course you know what the next photo is ...... yes, after our exertions we had to go for a cuppa!  As it was nearly lunchtime, as well as sharing a piece of lemon drizzle cake, we also shared a bacon and mushroom muffin

 

For the last couple of weeks, we have been using the main road rather than the back road to the house, as part of the back road was covered in muck* after the farmer cleaned out his cow byres.  However, we came round that way yesterday so that we could check on the Jacob's lambs

 

 

I was busy in the studio on both Saturday and Sunday afternoons working on the circles for the quilt top.  I discovered that I had miscalculated how many squares to cut to make the circles, and didn't have enough, however I have now made the rest and hope to get them sewn on tomorrow, and the final outer border added

 

I'll keep the rest of the postcards for tomorrow, and end with one of my 'arty' photos!

 

* that's muck as in manure, not mud!!

A lack of support

I turned my back for two minutes ....... and look what happened to my hyacinths!!

 

At patch'n'chat this afternoon, Katy was showing off her miniature quilt.  The squares are just an inch, embellished with beads ......

 

....... and I love this tiny fussy cut bird

 

For our afternoon tea, we had Annette's delicious cupcakes, with a choice of toppings

 

Another batch of postcards (I think there will be one more after this)

Rattling On

Rattling On

 

Sarah

Sarah

 

Shandy

 

Caroline

 

Carol

 

Dee

 

Is it just me, or are you having trouble with the new word verification on Blogger blogs?  I have great trouble making out the obscured word ...... last night I made numerous attempts to leave comments and in the end I gave up!  I gather too that ocasionally word verification pops up when you are commenting here.  It shouldn't, as I have my preferences set for no word verification, so I'm sorry if you are annoyed by it (I have also encountered it occasionally on other Typepad blogs, so perhaps the blog owners don't know that it happens)  So if you don't get a comment from me, it's simply that I can't get past the dreaded word verification!

 

The weather forecast isn't very good for the weekend, so I think I will be spending a lot of time sewing.  I hope you all have a good weekend, love  Anne

 

Going down in a blaze of glory!

We were treated to the most amazing sunset last night, with the sky blazing with colour.  The photos don't really show the true depth of red, as the camera kept trying to add light!

 

 

 

At Abbey Quilters last night, we had the choice of three small proects to work on.  As a new member, I chose the name badge.  I was pleased with how the embroidery turned out, as I didn't mark it, I just did it freehand

 

Next to me, Mary and Katy were prepping pentagons to make balls for babies

 

This morning we headed up to Lauder for a walk before lunch.  I got sidetracked by the way these plants were growing in the cracks in an old wall

 

 

When I caught up with Malcolm, he pointed out these stones stuffed in to the cat flap in this garden door - I guess that's one way of keeping cats out of the garden!

 

We had intended to have lunch in the Flat Cat Gallery, but it was very busy and we couldn't get a table.  So we headed off for Stow (pronounced to rhyme with now).  The scenery was stunning (sorry, there are funny marks on some of the photos .... courtesy of the dirty windscreen!)

 

 

 

 We had lunch in The Cloudhouse.  Bacon, poached eggs and toast ...... sometimes simple food is the best!!

 

To end, the first of the photos of the post cards from the swap

Anairam

Anairam

 

Lynne

 

Linda

 

Aren't they all fabulous!!  More tomorrow.

We quilted until we wilted!

As usual on Friday morning, I headed over to Borderland Fabrics for patch'n'chat ........ but this was no ordinary one - this was a "quilt till you wilt"!  We had our usual afternoon session, including the wonderful apple and sultana cake with our cuppa

 

We also had sweets to eat .......

 

........ brought by Ruth, who doesn't get to join us very often.  Here she is showing off the progress of her Grandmother's Flower Garden

 

At the end of the afternoon, most of us stayed on, and some others arrived to join us.  We settled down for some serious sewing, pausing only to enjoy a Chinese takeaway.  I had duck in black bean sauce with boiled rice - delicious!

 

Everyone enjoyed their meals - and the plastic containers were washed out and kept to be re-used!

 

As the evening wore on, people started to head for home ...... I lasted until eleven o'clock, but there were still several going strong when I left!!  I finished the little house

 

and did quite a bit more work on my hexagons - as you can see I have still to add in some on the left hand side

 

Yesterday morning I set off down the road to Chesters, to one of the regular Woolgatherings, organised by Lindsay, who is not only a talented crafter, but also a very good baker ......... the cake was absolutely delicious

 

Having finished the little house on Friday, I started on the next Blankit.    This one is a large heart, which will be stuffed and have a hanging loop attached to it

 

As I will be out tomorrow evening, we had our Valentine's dinner last night.  I wish I had remembered to take photos, as Malcolm excelled himself!  To start, we had coquilles st jacques, then pork tenderloin stuffed with haggis, wrapped in pancetta.  Later we enjoyed an excellent bottle of cava - it was a lovely romantic evening!!

 

A cold and frosty morning

We wrapped up warmly and headed to Selkirk to go for a walk at The Haining.  The paths tend to get very muddy, so it is best to go there when it is either frozen or dry!  The views are stunning ......

 

 

...... with the Sheriff Court standing out against the hills

 

There are several paths to follow, and today we headed for the one through the woods

 

The snowdrops were peeping through the dead leaves

 

I often mentioning looking up ....... which Malcolm did today, spotting first this

 

then this, which we decided is a large nest

 

The wind came up as we walked back to the car, making it very chilly indeed, so we were glad to go for some lunch to warm up.  We both had the corn beef stovies  (delicious!) ..... the photo looks a bit blurred, as the camera kept steaming up, coming in to the warm!

 

Back home, I got on with the quilt top.  When I mentioned yesterday that I had stitched the wrong two rows together, it didn't occur to me to say why!  The first row has circles on blocks 2, 4 and 6, so on the second row, they should be on blocks 1 ,3, 4 and 7. 

Having stitched sashing to the lower edge of each strip, I put them back on the wall to make sure that they were all correct

 

I then sewed strips one and two together, then strips three and four, and then sewed the first two to the second two (did you follow that?)  It is much more accurate to do it this way, rather than adding strip after strip, as the piece can become distorted

 

This stage is much slower to do, as I have to make sure that the blocks are aligned

 

To finish, two quite different, but equally appealing photos.  First, I just love how the little window is squeezed in next to the chimney

 

and second ....... all together now --aaaaah, isn't that the cutest little dog!