frayed at the edge

Having fun with another man!

I was very excited yesterday evening, as I headed over to Kelso for Abbey Quilters' monthly meeting.  Why?  Because we had a VERY special guest speaker ....... the wonderful, fabulous Ricky Tims.  I had been at three of Ricky's big shows in the past, but this would be quite different - a small peformance in front of an audience of about eighty.  For those of you who don't know who Ricky is, he is a talented musician, composer ...... and quilter.   He entertained us with stories of his life and his beloved Granny, he played the piano for us ..... and of course he had quilts to share.  When we were able to take photos at the end, I only took some details of the quilts, as I knew I wouldn't be able to get good photos of them, but you can see his work, and read more about him here and here. 

But first here is the man himself ....... when I asked if I could take his photo, he not only said yes, but he put his trademark hat on

 

Then he asked if I would like to have my photo taken with him ........ I promptly handed the camera over to Katy, who told Ricky he was very honoured to have his photo taken for my blog, as it would meaning joining the august group (which includes her), who have appeared there!!

 

Charlie asked me to take a photo of her and her delightful Mum with her smartphone - oh dear, total failure, I couldn't make the thing work, so used my camera and emailed the photo to Charlie!

 

Ricky chatted, posed for photos, signed books, talked about his work ...... and all this while being decidedly under the weather with a chest infection.   I took lotso f notes during his performance, and had meant to write a much longer post, but I have been out all day* and am simply too tired, so I'll tell you more tomorrow, and for now leave you with the little details from his quilts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is Ricky's latest quilt - it is just amazing that we were allowed to handle it and take photos!

 

*I left home before 9am, to drive down to Longframlington (a 90 minute drive) to Anne's shop, to deliver the quilt top.  I'll tell you all about the day tomorrow, after the rest of the Ricky story!

122 photos!

We have had a marvellous day out - and yes, I did take 122 photos!  But don't worry, I'm not going to share all of them with you today!

Our first stop was at Flodden, scene of a great battle between the Scots and the English, which you can read about here, here and here.  In the bright sunshine, there was no sense of the dreadful happenings of that day, when so many Scots died

 

From the monument, there are wonderful views, including the small village of Branxton, round which the battle was fought

 

This isn't a very good photo, as the car was bouncing about on the bumpy road, but if you look carefully at the curved roof on the porch of the house on the left, you will see that it is covered in grass!

 

Our next stop was the village of Ford, where we had a browse round the Horseshoe Gallery

 

I wonder if anyone will build a house to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, as this was built to celebrate Queen Victoria's

 

The church looked lovely in the spring sunshine, surrounded by a carpet of daffodils

 

This gargoyle was keeping an eye on me!

 

Having taken some photos, I used these stone steps to climb over the wall .......

 

........ rather than open the rather grand gate (I had entered the churchyard by a small gate)

 

I had to wait until this rather large tractor went past before I could cross the road to rejoin Malcolm, who had gone to investigate a possible place for lunch

 

We had hoped to have our lunch here , but unfortunately the couple who own the coffee shop were unable to be there today. However a man who was working in the antiques building let us have a peek

 

The coffee shop looked lovely, and we will certainly go back.   We headed off to Heatherslaw Mill

 

where we enjoyed a delicious lunch.  We both decided to have a stottie (a large roll) ...... I had Coronation chicken

 

and Malcolm had corn beef and onion

 

The visitor centre was proudly flying the Northumberland flag

 

After a busy morning, we had an even busier afternoon - I'll tell you about it tomorrow!

 

 

I can't think of a title!

I had just said to Malcolm "I can't think of a title" ....... when I thought, well that will do!  After cleaning the kitchen windowsill this morning, I was putting the orchids back, and thought that I hadn't shown you any photos of them recently

 

 

 

 

 

 

At patch'n'chat this afternoon, we had an extra treat ........ our newest member, Maureen, had brought in a box of chocolates for Sandra, who had given her a lot of help last week - and Sandra shared them with us

 

Sandra, of course, is our wonderful Linus lady, and here she is on the right, showing a Linus quilt to a customer

 

This one was made by Jen (and you can see two from Pam on the pile behind it)

 

This one was made by Tricia

 

Katy had finished all her tiny heart blocks for a miniature quilt, and sewed the first two together.  As you can see, each square is just over an inch

 

We had the wonderful apple and sultana cake with our afternoon cuppa - I really must make the effort to bake one for Malcolm, as I keeep telling him how good it is!!

 

A bit of fun to finish - this case of wine was delivered this morning .......... will I have to strip off to drink it!!??

 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, love Anne

Winter's last gasp?

When we got up yesterday morning, it was snowing!

 

Then this morning it was frosty - I had to scrape the car when I went out for the usual Monday morning food shopping.  However, it was also bright and sunny, so, as we didn't get our usual Sunday walk, we went out after lunch.  We walked up to the church, then took the footpath through the field.  As soon as this horse in the next field saw us, it got a bit agitated

 

It kept running at the fence and thrusting its head towards us - I don't know if it was trying to bite, but we kept well out of its way

 

In contrast, this little one was a real sweetie!

 

Many years ago, there used to be a railway here, but unfortunately it fell to Dr. Beeching's axe.  However, there are still signs of where the line ran.  This tunnel under the line was probably to allow the farmers to move their stock

 

Usually I see this view from the other direction, this is heading back up the field to the road

 

When we got back to the road, Malcolm headed off home as he wanted to do some work in the garden, while I went to check on the Jacob's lambs

 

 

 

 

 

To finish, a little taster of tomorrow's sewing report

A lovely sunny morning .......

....... so of course I spent it indoors!  After a wait of a few minutes when I got to Ingliston, the doors opened and I went straight upstairs  ..... to have breakfast!  Suitably refreshed and revived by a bacon roll (with brown sauce) and a mug of tea, I headed for the quilts.  Most people start by browsing round the stalls, so I had plenty of room to take photos.  Of course, every time I go to a quilt show, I have a debate with myself about posting photos, and usually only show general photos and photos of friends' quilts.  But then I read other blogs and see lots of photos, so I'm going to show you more than usual!!

This first quilt is by Anja Townrow, a Dutch woman who has lived in England for years.  The quilt is based on the very traditional double wedding ring block, but it looks quite different with the addition of the fun applique

 

I love this blue and white quilt .......

 

....... and shall let the maker tell you about it

 

a detail of the beautiful hand quilting

 

There are a lot of pieces in this quilt .....

 

....... again, the maker's description

 

and to give you an idea of the scale, this is my (small) hand

 

Of course I had to take a photo of this wallhanging

 

made by ........

 

a detail of the feathers

 

This tiger is amazing

 

but unfortunately I didn't check this photo of the label when I took it, and it is blurred - I hope you can read it

 

the detail on the face is amazing - look at the beading in the eyes!

 

The show was very busy - the busiest that it has been for some time.  By lunchtime it was getting very, very crowded, and the queue for food was very, very long.  So having looked at all the quilts several times, chatted to lots of friends, and bought one or two things, I decided to head for home, stopping on the way at a garden centre for lunch.  Further down the road I stopped briefly in a layby to have a drink, and quickly took some photos of the scenery

 

 

 

So what did I buy?  Some back issues of my favourite Australian magazines

 

More Anni Downs fabric (Meredithe, I checked this time that there were no cats!)

 

beautiful teeny tiny beads

 

And last, a fun pattern for a felt toadstool.  As soon as I saw it, I knew it was just the thing for Cobweb the fairy to sit on.  The photos are shown with permission

 

 

After seeing so many lovely quilts, I am looking forward to having a busy time in the studio this weekend!!  I hope you all have a good weekend, love Anne

 

 

 

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!!

Girls with attitude

Recently, my friend Ruth, knowing that I like country music, recommended this cd (yes, it was one of those one-click purchases!)

 

It's brilliant ...... some of the lyrics are funny, some feisty, some just a little bit naughty - but most of all these are girls who won't stand any nonsense from men!!

 

 

On Sunday, Stuart sent me this link .  Yes, another one-click purchase (I actually ordered two, as I didn't want Malcom to sulk if I didn't get one for him!).

 

What is it?  A waterproof cover for the Kindle for when we go on holiday

 

I have almost finished the third Blankit, with just a little bit stitching to do on the narrow borders, then the finishing blanket stitch round the edge

 

Although I have only been using some basic embroidery stitches - French knots, couching and fern stitch - it has reminded me how much I used to enjoy embroidery, before I went over to the dark side (otherwise known as patchwork and quilting!)

 

Although I already have a large collection of reusable shopping bags, I couldn't resist this one by fashion designer Matthew Williamson, which is being sold to raise money for Sport Relief ....... who needs a bag costing hundreds of pounds, when you can buy this for £5, and know that you are helping a very good cause!!

 

 

And now, as promised, the last of the postcards.  I have been amazed at the variety of the cards, and the beautiful work put into them.  Thank you to to everyone who joined in, and made it such a successful swap!

Judi

 

Lee 

 

Liz

 

Yvonne



 

 

 

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!!

 

900 posts .......

....... and I still haven't run out of things to say!!  When I started the blog, I never thought I would still be writing it three years later and that so many people all round the world would read it.  Thank you to everyone for reading and commenting - there wouldn't be much point in doing it if it wasn't for you!

As always for a Monday, I have lots of photos, all clamouring 'use me, use me, I want to be in the blog'.  So here goes.......

after the chocolate bunnies, mint chocolate lambs - yum, yum

 

the new curtains, looking good

 

I could see this from the back door of the studio - I want one!

 

the frosty start to yesterday's walk

 

sorry Malcolm, I couldn't squeeze this wood pile into the camera bag!

 

Malcolm provides the scale for this very old tree

 

not snow, but heavy frost in the garden this morning

 

icicles dripping from the sill of my (very dirty) car

 

the tit has its feather fluffed up to keep warm

 

this horse doesn't look very happy

 

and this one looks pretty miserable too

 

I'll keep the knitting update for tomorrow, as there are several photos to show you. 

It will be Burns' Night on the 25th, so one of the local butchers has an eye-catching sign in front of the shop, to remind folk to buy their haggis

 

Life in miniature

This afternoon we had two miniature creations to admire at patch'n'chat.  The first was Katy's miniature quilt.  The little pieces are one inch square, and this is half of the quilt (as usual, the lighting makes everything look a bit yellow)

 

Then Cathy showed us this miniature sewing machine, which she has just been given.  It is about four inches high, and as you can see needs  a bit of a clean.  First the front

 

then the back

 

a detail of the decoration

 

and the tiny original spool

 

I hadn't done any more work on my hexagons since last Friday, but I got quite a bit more stitched this afternoon

 

Then of course there was cake - or more accurately cakes, as Annette had made a batch of her delicious cupcakes .....

 

..... topped with chocolate sprinkles

 

The forecast for the weekend is for bright frosty weather, so we are looking forward to getting out for a long walk on Sunday morning.  I hope you all have a good weekend - I shall be working on my postcard!  Love Anne