frayed at the edge

In a rush!

I've just popped in for a quick post, as it's the Abbey Quilters' monthly meeting tonight.  There was still snow in the garden this morning, but the sun was shining, casting a strong shadow of the pergola

 

the tiny daffodils are still flowering, despite the freezing weather

 

in the studio, I was doing some more work on the textured applique wallhanging - I will be handing out the requirements list tonight, for my evening of showing how to do it next month

the flowers all stitched in place

 

some embroidery added

 

a cluster of French knots

 

an edging of French knots

 

a tendril

 

and to finish - some more sunshine.  The sun shining in through the Velux highlighted some of the photos on the wall

Goodbye Mr Badger!

On Saturday, we were up bright and early to drive up to Larbert to stay with Stuart and Alison for the weekend.  After a welcome cuppa, we popped round to visit Fraser and Linsey, to deliver Mr Badger.  Fraser was delighted with him, and he was soon settled in on a very large cushion

 

then it was back to Stuart and Alison's to get on with making the Roman blinds.  While I was busy sewing, Malcolm and Stuart screwed battens to the walls above the windows, and cut the battens and the dowels for the blinds.  The sewing didn't take as long as I thought it would, and soon the blinds were ready

 

I was pleased with the way the pattern on the kitchen blind fitted in with the folds

 

I have to admit that I miscalculated guessed wrongly how much cord I needed for the blinds, so the one in the hall is temporarily held up with string!*

 

on our way home yesterday, we popped into the Mayshade garden centre for a cuppa.  We shared a taster plate of cakes, cutting them in half to have a taste of each one...... except for the one with white chocolate, which Malcolm got all to himself, as I really don't like the stuff!

 

the weather on the first part of the journey was awful, with driving wet snow making for poor visibility

 

however, as soon as we reached the Borders, the sky cleared and the sun came out!  The only snow was left over from last week

 

there was more sunshine today, so I went out for a walk after lunch.  The donkeys were as cute as ever

 

the sun was shining on the Mintos

 

this blackbird was enjoying a thorough bath

 

do you remember a few weeks ago I showed you photos of the new hat shop in Hawick?  This article was in The Scotsman on Saturday (click on the photo to enalrge it)

 

there may be peope in Hawick who are willing to pay £600 for a hat ...... but I'm not one of them!!

 

* while I was in the middle of writing this, Stuart phoned.  He bought more cord yesterday, so the hall blind is now finished!

 

Unhappy bunnies!

Our morning started ok - we exercised, had breakfast, read while enjoying a big cup of tea, showered, dressed ....... then phut!  The electricity went off.  We knew that some workman had just arrived at the farmhouse just along from us, so we thought perhaps they had severed a cable.  However Malcolm phoned the power company to ask why the power was off, and was told that it was planned work, and that we should have had notification.  Well, we were just a little bit cross (ok, we were hopping mad) given that we had no power all day last Tuesday.  But we couldn't go out for the day as we did last week, as we were having a load of logs delivered.  OK, we had heat and we could cook, but we have a rather serious drawback when the power is off ...... our little sewage plant stops working, so we can't flush the loo!!  The other great annoyance was that after so many grey days when the solar panels produced next to nothing, it was a lovely bright morning, so they would have been churning out lots of lovely power.

I retreated to the studio, and the warmth of the stove, to finish the hand stitching on the badger

 

we were just finishing lunch when Malcolm got a phone call from the driver of the delivery lorry to get directions to the house (I have a completely basic phone in the studio, which unlike the phones in the house, doesn't need electricity to work!)

 

as the lorry drove away, it had to stop at the traffic lights, which were there in case a driver couldn't see beyond the few yards that the workmen were occupying for oncoming traffic

 

hooray, the power came back on at 2.30 (Malcolm had been told it would be 4.30) and I was able to get on with making up the badger cushion.  I found a lovely fabric in my stash for the back and the binding ...... and I forgot to take photos of how far I progressed, because I kept nipping out to take photos of Malcolm and his logs

 

anyway, enough whingeing, on with the updates!  First, my fabulous new sewing table

 

it fits in under the edge of the extension table

 

and provides a large level area for machine quilting

 

which leads us on to the sewing update. On Saturday I layered the girlie quilt and chose this thread

 

the thread looks dark against the fabric, but the trick is to unspool a length and puddle it on the fabric, which gives a better idea of how the stitching will look

 

I decided to use an allover pattern, rather than try to quilt round the various elements of the design

 

on Sunday I made a start on the owl quilt, and finished it on Monday.  Again I used an allover pattern

 

when we came out of Ikea last Tuesday, I stood with the trolley in the loading bay, while Malcolm fetched the car.  I saw a member of staff putting assorted bits of wood into a container, and being nosy went over to have a look at the notice on the container.  It said that the bits of wood were free, if you could use them.  Of course some bits came home with us.  One bit was sawn up to make the supports for the sewing table

 

and another bit was used to making something which I had asked for some time ago - a stand for my various quilting rulers

Love is in the air!

We may have been together for 30 years, but we are still romantic ....... just look at these lovely presents we gave each other for Valentine's Day.   Malcolm gave me

 

and I gave him

 

yesterday it snowed all day, then in the evening it turned to rain, so that when we got up this morning almost all the snow had gone.  As it was also a bit milder, I decided to go out for a short walk at lunchtime.  The sun was shining on the hills

 

there were shadows from the clouds on the fields

 

these herdies were several fields away, so even with the big lens and the digital zoom, this was the best photo that I could get

 

I braved the muddy track again, but there was only one lamb at the top end of the field

 

back home, I spotted these tiny daffodils in the back garden

 

Malcolm was busy painting his log store

 

by the end of the afternoon, he just had the roof left to do

 

and now, a bit later in the week than usual, the sewing update!  At the weekend, I made the two quilt tops with the fabric that I got at Anne's

the first border on

 

the finished top

 

the first border on

 

the finished top

 

progress on Mr Badger

 

looking back through the photos looking for the sewing ones, I realised that I hadn't shown you these super buttons, which Katy got for me

 

I am the star turn at the Abbey Quilters' April meeting, and as I need to give out the requirements list at the March meeting, I thought I should make a start to designing the project and making the samples ...... here is a little sneak peek of what I will be showing you tomorrow!

 

to finish, this is the warning on the back of the magnets that I gave Malcolm ....... would you give them to a small child?

Leftovers!

I only took two photos today!  So I have had a quick look through the photos that were left over from this week's posts.  I looked out my Baltimore blocks and put them on the design wall.  I have run out of enthusiasm for them, so I have two ideas for what to do with them.  The first idea is to join them in a row to make a runner which could go across the bottom of the bed, the second idea is to make them up into a quilt with plain blocks, which would be handquilted, perhaps with a feathered wreath or heart

 

when Lucie suggested using up scraps in January, I thought I would make several small projects, and had looked out these books ..... but then got sidetracked with the scrappy strippy blocks

 

when I went to put another log on the fire the other day,  I was a bit puzzled by this one.  It looks as if a branch had grown, then another branch had formed round it

 

while I have been busy sewing, Malcolm has demolished the log store (except for the base) and has started building another one

 

now for today's photos.  First, the Friday cake.  Today's delight was Annette's delicious light-as-air chocolate sponge

 

my lovely friend Katy said that she had a special present for me ....... something which she had seen, and immediately thought of me.  What could it be ...... diamonds, a little sports car, a ticket to an exotic destination

 

I hope she meant that she remembered that I like Cadbury's chocolate, and not that she thought I look like the monstrous spider!  As usual, we hope to go for a walk on Sunday, but the forecast isn't good.  No doubt a scone will feature at some point over the weekend!  Whether or not you are eating scones, I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne

A strange crush!

So what did I buy yesterday?  First, these tiny squares of gorgeousness

 

then the most wonderful linen fabric with the cutest birds

 

I had already bought the black and grey fabrics for the badger, and yesterday I got the white fabric

 

but that's not all I came home with.  I have two more projects to do for Anne, both of them children's quilts.  A very pretty one for a girl - the two fabrics on the left are for the borders

 

this striking one could be for a boy or a girl, and again the fabrics on the left are for the borders

 

these two fabrics are for the backs of the quilts - I think you can work out which one is for which quilt!

 

this afternoon I gave the badger pattern a final tweak, widening the black strip on the left and changing the shape of the eyes

 

I used the card pieces to mark the pattern on freezer paper, then ironed the pieces on to the wrong side of the fabrics

 

the pieces cut out, ready to have the seam allowance turned to the wrong side and tacked in place

 

it's a while since I took an "action shot" ...... this is me tacking one of the black strips

 

to take the photo, I put the camera on this little tripod, which Stuart gave me several years ago for Christmas (by coincidence Malcolm gave me a large tripod that Christmas!) and used the timer on the camera to give me time to get my hands in the right place

 

the pieces all tacked and placed on beautiful black woollen fabric, which is another piece of Hinnigan's fabric from my stash

 

when I tacked the seam allowance on the white fabric, I pressed round the edge and then removed the freezer paper, as it would be unwieldy to work with such a big piece in place.  This is the fabric pinned in place ready to sew

 

I decided to use some of my stash of silk thread, and got out some of my favourite tiny applique needles

 

having finished watching Game of Thrones, I decided to indulge my slightly weird crush on Grissom in CSI

 

I first encountered Grissom when we were staying in South Shore Harbour in League City, Texas.  Malcolm was there on a business trip, and I had gone with him.  After he completed his business, he took a few days off and we went to San Antonio.  But while he was working, I had the days to myself.  I spent some time pottering around the shops (I still have the excellent pair of trainers that I got properly measured and fitted for), then one afternoon when it rained, I passed the time curled up on the bed in our hotel room, eating chips and dips and watching back to back episodes of CSI.  I have to say that I much prefer Grissom without the beard!

!"£$%^&

Please substitute your favourite rude word/swear word/expletive for today's title!  Why?  Because it has been snowing again!!

 

it might look pretty, but it's a pain when the road is like this

 

I am supposed to be going down to see Anne tomorrow, and Lucie is planning to be there too ...... but more snow is forecast, so the visit may be cancelled.

Ah well, on with the sewing update!  Over the weekend, I finished stitching the scrappy strippy blocks together

 

I added a narrow border

 

then a wide border

 

today I added another narrow border, and another wide border ....... by which time it was too big for the design wall!

 

I have also made a start to Lillyanny, tracing the pattern on to bondaweb

 

then arranging the pieces to fuse to the fabric

 

after cutting them out, I arranged them on the background fabric

 

all the pieces fused in place ......

 

....... and the birds added

 

As part of the project to finish things this month, I looked out two small projects ..... one almost finished, and one not yet started.  I'll tell you about them tomorrow!

A very special day!

I think you know by now that we will have a celebration for anything and everything ....... but yesterday was definitely a special event.  As well as celebrating our wedding anniversaries, we also celebrate the day we moved in together/became a couple ....... and yesterday was the 30th anniversary of that special day!  You also know that we don't need much of an excuse to have something tasty to eat, so the day got off to a good start with smoked salmon and toasted brioche for breakfast (sorry there is no lemon wedge, but as we were snowed in on Monday and couldn't get to the shops to buy a lemon, we had to do with a splash of lemon juice from the bottle in the fridge!)

 

lunch was comfort food - boiled eggs and toast soldiers (sorry, no photo of that) then for dinner, I chose a recipe from this book

 

we don't particularly like parsley, so I left that out, and I didn't have any gherkins to sprinkle on the top, but it was delicious - I'll definitely make this again

 

for pudding, I got the icecream out

 

and topped it with rhubarb which I had cooked in ginger and lemongrass syrup, and crushed up biscuits (the little ones that you get with a coffee)

 

and of course a celebration means something bubbly to drink (Stuart and Alison gave us the glasses for our Silver Wedding)

 

the snowy weather continues - I took these photos yesterday

a confusing ruler - there was 5" of snow on the garden table (better than the 20" of two years ago!)

 

the birdbox looks cute with its snowy hat!

 

the view over the back garden gate

 

icicles on the ivy

 

because of the weather, I have been doing much more sewing than usual.  Yesterday I finished piecing Notes of Love, although I still have a little bit of embroidery to finish. 

I'll be back tomorrow with lots more sewing, but to finish, photos I took of the scented candle on the kitchen table, which we light after dinner to dispel any cooking smells

That's enough, thank you!

The snow finally got serious on Friday night, and this was the view through the front door on Saturday morning

 

we went to St Boswells for a walk yesterday morning.  It was a bit on the chilly side, with flights of snow in the air, so in between photos I wrapped the camera in the ends of my woolly scarf!

I was tempted to dognap this little cutie!

 

this dovecote is on a modern garage roof

 

William's surname is pronounced Marshbanks!

 

an unusual window in an old house

 

a snazzy footprint

 

a very old postbox

 

sheep in the snow

 

our reward - Tunisian lemon cake ...... delicious!

 

it has been snowing all day - Malcolm has cleared the paths and drive three times, having learned that it is much easier to clear an inch or two several times, rather than six inches in one go!  The birds have been back and forward to the bird table - I think they have now eaten all the food!

 

by the end of the afternoon, the front garden looked like this

 

I won't be posting tomorrow, as it's a special occasion for us, but I'll be back on Wednesday to tell you all about it.  To finish today ...... when I was taking photos of the birds, I noticed this rider in the field across the road.  I'm surprised the horse wasn't galloping  to get back to the stable!!

Are ewe lost?

When we came home from lunch, there was a herdy ewe on the verge just along from the house.  Of course as soon as Malcolm parked, I jumped out with the camera, to find her posing very prettily for me!

 

I have to admit that today's lunch has added to the week's sconnage total!  We went to Border Meringues in Jedburgh, where we enjoyed the most wonderful cream of cauliflower soup and a fantastic savoury scone

 

the scone was so good, it deserves a photo of its own!

 

and you get a little meringue with your cuppa

 

we haven't had any more snow (although lots of the stuff is forecast for Friday), but everywhere was white with frost.  As we drove home I was busy snapping away, and Malcolm even stopped a couple of times (we were on a quiet road with no other cars in sight) so that I could get good photos, especially where there were bands of fog

 

I got sidetracked on my way out to the studio by the amazing shapes of the frost

this is the top of a garden lamp

 

this looks like a thorny plant, but it is just frost on a clematis

 

no sign of a spider on this frosty web

 

this web might inspire a knitting pattern for a shawl

 

a pretty string of webs on the railings beside the back door

 

after all the chilly photos, something bright and cheery to end with

a jug of sunny daffodils on the kitchen windowsill