frayed at the edge

A woolly good day!!

We had good weather on Saturday for our journey over to Cumbria for Woolfest.  The first thing we did when we got there was have breakfast, then suitably fortified, we started in one corner and worked our way up and down the aisles.  There was just so much to see, it was hard to take it all in, and Malcolm was surprised at how long it took me to make my first purchase!!  However, when I spotted this, I got my purse out!

 

It looks a bit strange in the photo, but it is a big offcut of double-sided felt - there is more than enough to make a bag.  I got it from this fabulous stall Heartfelt by Liz

 

 

 

A lot of the stalls don't allow photography, but I soon found something much better to take photos of - the stars of the show and providers of the raw materials for all the woolly goodies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The black lamb was tiny, but quite happy to be petted by its many admirers.

 

Of course, I did buy one or two other things, but I'll tell you about them tomorrow, as now we have something much more important to look at - the wonderful dinner we had sitting in the sun on Saturday evening.  We started with Malcolm's delicious lasagne - here he is dishing up the first portion

 

 

 

We had garlic bread to go with it - a very tasty stone-baked one

 

 

 

Then of course we had pudding!  This was the last of the treats that I bought at M&S.  Some time ago, M&S had a serious of tv adverts that were described as food pornography!!  This is the description of our pudding ...... little pots of heaven - ginger crumb layered with tangy lime cream and lime flavoured flood.

 

 

Yes, the lime flavoured flood was really just jelly!!  Never mind, it was absolutely delicious.
 

 

This afternoon, I picked the two patterns for Kylie's cushions (or maybe I should call them Kylie's Kushions?!)

 

 

 

This is the fabric, which has a small pattern printed on it, and I chose this thread (which looks darker in the photo) - as I know that Kylie likes purple!!

 

 

 

 

And to finish, one more photo from Woolfest, guaranteed to make you go aaah ........ I tried to smuggle out one of these alpacas in my handbag, but Malcolm made me put it back!!!

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 
 

A special visitor for a special weekend

So who is our special visitor?  Is it the Queen, fresh from her visit to Wimbledon yesterday?  We know it's not David Cameron, as he is in Canada, saving the world's economy!  No, it is someone really special ..... Malcolm's sister Jennifer!!  She has come to spend the weekend with us, as tomorrow we are going to .......Woolfest, where we will indulge in all things woolly!!

This afternoon Jennifer and I headed to patch'n'chat (after a very nice lunch) to indulge in an afternoon of sewing.  I was showing Jennifer how to make a folded Japanese patchwork box.  I was fussy cutting the fabric for her centre pieces .... I made this easier by cutting the centre out of the template

 

 

Seonaid was yet again working on a tiny project - this time a little log cabin fob for her key ring

 

 

Fortunately the weather has co-operated, and we were able to have dinner outside .... Malcolm lit the BBQ to do the steaks, while I dished up the goodies that I bought in M&S on Wednesday

 

 

Charlotte baby potato salad, edamame soya bean salad, couscous and roasted vegetable sald .... and in the smallest bowl, chilli and coriander dressing.  Perfect side dishes for our steak and chips!!

 

 

And now for the big reveal - I mentioned that I have a very special project to work on ..... I recently saw some paintings that I coveted ...... and to cut a long story short - I am doing a swap with Kylie, the artist.  I am going to send her two handquilted cushion covers.... all the way to Australia ...... in return for two paintings.  There is just one problem - she has done two sets of paintings, and I can't decide which set I prefer (well, I am a Libran!!)  So .... please visit Kylie and leave a comment saying which set you prefer!!

Please remember too, to pop over to see my tree, as drawn by the very talented Cathy.  We are relaxing now with a very nice glass of white wine, watching the tennis (but Malcolm will shortly change channel to watch that funny game with men kicking a ball).

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend - I will tell you about our woolly one on Monday, as of course tomorrow will be Shadow Shot Sunday (yes, I know it's Saturday here when I do my post, but it's already Sunday in Brisbane, home of the wonderful Tracy, who works so hard to host the meme!)  Love, Anne

 

Hooray - it's the weekend!!

It had been another busy week, and although we are 'retired' .... it's still good when the weekend arrives!

I came home with a little handful of something this morning - but unfortunately today it was something sad - feathers from a woodpecker

 

 

In amongst the black feathers with white spots, there was this rebellious one, with the colours reversed!

 

 

This afternoon at patch'n'chat, there was such a lot to admire ......... Seonaid has made a lovely lap quilt for a friend who is a reflexologist, so using her embroidery machine, she added this wonderful detail

 

 

Cathy has been making a fantastic quilt for her daughter's wedding.  We have been following its progress since she started the blocks .... it is almost finished now

 

 

Anne was working hard at putting the final borders on her Thimbleberries quilt

 

 

This is Cathy's 'row' quilt - as you can see I have a few more rows to do!!

 

 

Of course we can't have a Friday post without cake - another of Annette's light-as-air sponges, topped with cream and strawberries!!

 

 

After two glorious days, it was a bit grey and chilly this morning, but it is a lovely evening - if only we could have several weeks of unbroken sunshine!  Whatever the weather, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend - I will be spoiling Malcolm on Sunday for Fathers' Day!!  Love, Anne

 

And then the heavens opened!!!!!

I spent lots of time in the studio over the weekend.  Some of the time was spent on the chickens

 

 

 

and some on the 'row' quilt.  I satin-stitched the hearts onto their background fabrics

 

 

then I made my log cabin blocks

 

 

so I now have two rows completed

 

 

The garden is now just about recovered from the severe winter ........ but this iris should have flowered about eight weeks ago!

 

 

I love poppies - this one in the front garden is stunning (it would make a lovely applique block!)

 

 

I have loved lupins since I was little - this one is a gorgeous colour

 

 

Malcolm's vines are flourishing - you can see the tiny grapes on this one

 

 

so, to return to today's heading ....... we had just finished dinner last night, when we had a torrential downpour .......

 

the rain was so heavy, there was a waterfall from the gutters!

 

 

you can see the rain bouncing back up!!

 

Much as I enjoy my morning walks, there is one unpleasant aspect ....... sometimes I encounter dead animals!  The past few days have been particularly bad - in order of size, there have been : several newts, a mole, a crow, a badger and a lamb.  I had an idea this morning for a film, where I float along the country lanes, talking to dead animals (Dr Doolittle meets Sixth Sense?).  Obviously, Julia Roberts would star as me - but I would stand in for her when it came to the romantic scenes with Bruce Willis (as long as he promises not to wear his vest!!).  Of course George Clooney would have a cameo role as Malcolm .......

 

 

 
 

Change of venue!

This afternoon, we were unable to have our patch'n'chat at Borderland Fabrics, as twenty eight quilters were visiting the shop, and there was no room for us!!  So ........ of course they came to spend the afternoon in my studio instead.  Anne D is for the moment living in a tiny cottage, while her new house is being made habitable, so she has nowhere to set up her sewing machine.  She had two things with her to do by machine and asked if I could help her out by putting the binding on this stunning quilt (she originally intended to make it for her friend's 60th birthday ....... her friend is now 63!!)

 

 

This details shows Anne beautiful applique - I love the tiny buttons in the centre of the pansy

 

 

Anne was adding borders to her stunning Thimbleberries quilt - the blocks are all hand stitched, but she decided to machine stitch the borders because of their size

 

 

Agnes was working on something just a little bit smaller - her log cabin blocks are only four inches square

 

 

Anne S (yes, it's confusing with three Annes in the room!) was also working on tiny log cabin blocks - she had her sewing things in this cute litlle bag

 

 

Once Anne finished using her sewing machine, Seonaid asked if she could play with it and had fun trying out some of the embroidery stitches

 

 

and she had even more fun when she discovered the elephants

 

 

I was working on the chickens .... I'm determined to get them finished.  I bought some sequins and beads for the eyes ...

 

 

Of course, Friday afternoon means cake, and you have seen over the weeks the wonderful cakes that Annette makes for us.  I had a look through this little book ....

 

 

and decided on a ginger cake, which has finely chopped stem ginger in it 

 

 

The recipe actually has the cake topped with a very rich ginger flavoured butter icing, but as there was already a lot of butter and sugar in the cake, I decided to simply dust the top with some icing sugar

 

 

As I very rarely bake, I was worried about how the cake would turn out, so Malcolm and I bravely had a slice to check it out!

 

 

Fortunately, it turned out well, and everyone enjoyed their slice with our afternoon cuppa!!

At the moment, we can't watch tv, llisten to the radio, or read the papers without being bombarded with the World Cup - but don't worry, that is the only reference to it that there will be on the blog - this is definitely a football-free zone!!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend .... mine no doubt will include more work on those pesky chickens!!  Love, Anne

 

 

 

Please do not adjust your set ........

......... normal service will be resumed soon!  I'm sorry if you were expecting a Tuesday tutorial, but I've just got so much on the go at the moment that I thought I would take a few weeks to catch up with things, and to work on some new projects for future tutorials.  But don't worry, there will still be plenty of crafty goings on included in my daily ramblings!!

Of course I have been playing with my embellisher - this is the piece I produced at the weekend

 

 

I started with two layers of roving, with the fibres in the top layer at right angles to the bottom layer

 

 

After needling it into a rectangle, I added stripes in two colours, weaving them over and under each other.  The piece is about the size of a post card and is very firm - it would make a nice little mat to stand an ornament on.

 

Some time ago, I needled (by hand) this pink heart on to a piece of blue felt, intending to turn it into a little bag.  It was the work of minutes to use the embellisher to 'seam' the sides .......

 

 

It's the perfect size for my little i-pod shuffle - and one day it might even acquire a button!

 

 

I haven't mentioned my housegroup for some time.  We meet on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month.  The group is called Kist, which stands for knit 1 stitch too ......... but kist is also a Scottish word for a chest, in particular the sort of chest that a girl would have stored her hand stitched household linens in, ready for when she married.  It is an informal affair, with everyone working on their own projects.  Today I was making a start to a quilt we are doing on Friday afternoons at Borderland Fabrics.  The quilt is made up of rows of different patterns.  The row I have started with has crazy patchworh hearts (I've got them in two rows to make it easier to take a photo!)

 

 

In the course of the day, copious amounts of tea, coffee and hot chocolate are consumed!  Today I was using this fun mug, which I bought some years ago in Houston

 

 

I have a matching t-shirt ...... but I don't think you will see me wearing it !!

 

I want a new garden .......

........ and I want it now!!  Why?  Well, yesterday, we had a trip up to Edinburgh to visit Gardening Scotland  It wasn't quite on the same scale as the world-famous Chelsea Flower Show, but we saw some wonderful gardens

 

we liked this low maintenance garden

 

 

 a place to relax, surrounded by water

 

 

an eco-friendly garden

 

 

this little water feature looked as if it had been there for years, not days!

 

 

planting to attract bees

 

There were also tiny gardens, which were entries in a schools competition

 

I hope they dried the sewing machine afterwards!

 

 

time for tea?

 

There were other things to admire

 

this was a rather scary bird .......

 

 

..... unlike this fluffy chick!!

 

But the best bit of the day for me didn't involve gardens or cute baby birds ......... it was seeing my lovely friend Helen, who had a stall selling her beautiful yarns, as I hadn't seen her for almost a year!

 

 

If you look at two wraps hanging behind us, you may recognise the one on the right as the kit I bought recently ....... and yes, I succumbed to the kit for the other one, the gorgeous Alina, which can be knitted as a wrap or a triangular shawl (I think I'll do the wrap)

 

the kit comes in a lovely little bag

 

 

Helen's colours reflect her surroundings in beautiful Sutherland

 

I have been busy knitting, as I hope to have a stall at a Christmas fair

 

lots of baby gift sets

 

 

I could knit these washcloths in my sleep!!

 

This afternoon, I had a break from knitting and did some sewing ...... on the chickens!!

 

 

I still haven't finished embroidering the legs and beaks, but I thought I would be encouraged to get on if I started assembling the blocks!!

 

Pure gold!

After the excitement of the hot air balloon yesterday, I was delighted to have something else special to take a photo of today!  It isn't the clearest photo, but it is of a goldfinch sitting on top of the birch tree in the front garden - the first time we have seen one in the garden!! (click on the photo to enlarge it)

 

 

Continuing with the nature theme, I didn't spend all of yesterday's walk looking upwards, which is just as well or I would have missed this gorgeous foal ......

 

 

..... and these two horses, who look as if they may have foals on the way

 

 

But for the last animal pictue, something very special, which I know will make you go aaaaah!  My friend Seonaid has just e-mailed this photo to me .... a little hedghog which has been coming into her garden to be fed.  In the last day or two, she has noticed the poor little thing has ticks - does anyone have any advice as to what she could do to help it - if you do, please leave a comment!

 

 

The garden continues to recover from the harsh winter, with splashes of colour finally appearing

 

this delicate flower would make a lovely embroidery

 

 

the clematis has just started to flower

 

 

the poppy is ready to open

 

Over the winter, most of my 'five-a-day' comes from vegetables, but in the summer I eat far more fruit, as you can see in this colourful selection

 

 

And fruit featured in our Friday afternoon cake at patch'n'chat ......

 

 

It has been another lovely day, and the forecast is good for the weekend - I hope you all have a good one, love Anne

 

 

 

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!!