frayed at the edge

It's just the day for ......

.......rib-sticking, heart-warming comfort food!  The frost has gone and now we have raw, damp weather, with the possibility of rain later (I'm not complaining though, because it's heaps better then what it was like this time last year!).  I decided to make steak and kidney with dumplings for dinner, so I started by sweating onions and mushrooms in my new cast iron casserole, which was a Christmas present from Malcolm

 

I put the meat in a bag with well-seasoned flour and gave it a good shake

 

After browning the meat ......

 

I stirred in boiling water and my secret ingredient

 

Ready to go into a low oven to gently cook for a couple of hours

 

While the dinner was cooking, I popped out to the studio to make the next two farmer's Wife blocks.  It is so much easier to cut out the pieces on my new revolving board

 

With the blocks turning out the correct size

 

 

 

After adding thhese two blocks to the design wall, I have decided that once I have made the next two, I will make them up into a small lap quilt, then do the next batch of blocks in different fabrics

 

Now, a day late, the knitting update.  By the weekend I had finished all the body parts for the fairy  (and her skirt) .....

 

....... and had even knitted a second one!

 

I was unable to get a suitable sparkly yarn for the wings, so I decided to buy this plain (but slightly fluffy) one and add beads.  The usual way to include beads in knitting is to thread all on to the yarn before you start knitting - but this is a much simpler way.  All you need is a very fine crochet hook, which will go through the hole in the bead.

 

you then slip the stitch where you want the bead on to the crochet hook

 

pull the stitch through the bead

 

slip the stitch back on the needle and knit normally

 

The beads sit neatly in place at the base of the stitches

 

The wings are knitted in two parts

 

However I won't be sewing the fairy up tonight, as I am off out to the monthly meeting of Abbey Quilters.  We have to hand in our embroidered blocks tonight

 

As it's for a challenge, I made sure the back was neat too!

 

You will have to wait until tomorrow to see how the dinner turned out - because I am going out, I am posting this before dinner, rather than after as I usually do!!

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

 

Stretching our legs

We haven't been for as many walks as usual. because of the weather, so we were glad yesterday to get out and have a good walk at the Leaderfoot viaduct .......

 

....... crossing the river by the old bridge - you can see the ugly modern replacement behind it

 

As we started to cross the bridge, we could here someone using a chainsaw.  Looking across the river, we saw a man cutting up the smaller branches of an enormous tree, which probably blew down in last week's storms - compare the size of the man with the size of the tree trunk!!

 

When we last saw this bridge, there was major repair work being done.  The workmen have made an excellent job of the stone walls - they just need to weather for a year or two to blend in with the old stonework

 

As we walked back through the woods, we wondered what this black blob was

 

but then we saw this, and realised that it was some sort of fungi.  I poked it with the toe of my boot, and it felt quite hard and woody

 

On Saturday, I added the borders to the Hawiian block.  I was going to make it up as a small quilt for Project Linus, but I like it so much, it is going to be a wallhanging for me!!

 

However, I will give this one to Linus.  The photo doesn't really show it at its best - the dark fabric stands out in the photo, but doesn't when you see the quilt

 

Yesterday afternoon I finally sorted out my scrap basket.  I am much too embarassed to show you a photo of what it looked like, spilling bits of fabric out on to the floor, but here are the scraps all sorted out and put into labelled bags

 

Later this evening I will start knitting my first fairy - I am looking forward to having something on the needles after my short break

 

And now to the swap ...... I put the names in my best velvet hat (I had to turn the pieces of paper over, as they also had the addresses on them!)

 

So here is the list of swapees

http://cathyholtomdustylane.blogspot.com/     and me

http://mytategallery.blogspot.com/   and Caroline

http://www.lovethosecupcakes.typepad.com/   and Lisa

Yvonne (sorry Yvonne, I've lost the link to your blog!)   and Linda

http://sweetmarynz.blogspot.com/   and Karen

http://www.mousybrownshouse.typepad.com/   and http://www.bunmountain.blogspot.com/

http://www.lloydsgirl.blogspot.com/   and http://www.cheviots.blogspot.com/

Dee and Carol

http://www.leemills.typepad.com/   and http://circles-of-rain.blogspot.com/

http://www.fraiing.blogspot.com/   and http://www.rattlingon.typepad.com/

Emma and Judi

 

If you asked to join in and I've left you out, please let me know ....... and it's not too late to join in ..... just email me (link above right) before the end of the week and I'll do another draw.  I've sent out emails with your swap partners, so if you haven't received your email, again, please let me know.I didn't include email adresses in the email, as they aren't really needed, and I would still be there typing if I had!  However, you will have seen that I have shown the blog addresses for those who have one  in the above list.  One last thing - instead of setting up a flickr group, I thought it would be easier if you could just email  me a photo of the postcards you send, then once they have all arrived at their destinations, I will do collages to share them with you.

 

To finish, I haven't shown you one of my quirky photos of a falling down fence for a while ......

Refreshed, revived.......

....... and raring to go!!  I amazed myself at managing to go without blogging for so many days - but now I am looking forward to another year of writing drivel entertaining and informative posts!  (perhaps I should make a New Year's resolution to use fewer exclamation marks!!)  As well as not blogging, I have also not done any knitting ...... over the next few days I will have a browse through all the patterns I have on my to-do list, and decide what to do next.  Perhaps it will be something from this wonderful book that Stuart and Alison gave me

 

Both Alison and I fancy these flip-top mitts

 

But sneaking to the front of the queue could be Cobweb, the Dark Fairy .......

 

....... from this wonderful book, which Malcolm gave me

 

While I am making up my mind, I can enjoy a cuppa in my pretty new mug, which was also one of Malcolm's presents

 

While having a break from my normal round of sewing and knitting, I haven't been completely idle!  I finished this cross-stitch set of needlecase, pin cushion and scissor fob, which I think I started this time last year, then lost interest in

 

I found some blocks that I had made quite a long time ago ...... the fabric that I had was enough to make 48 blocks, but I like square quilts (don't know why, I just do) so I put the blocks aside, intending to make an applique block to put in the centre.  However, having found them in the UFO pile, I decided to be sensible and just make them up into a rectangular quilt

 

Oh dear - did you spot the mistake ...... the blocks in the top left corner are wrong - not only are there two similar blocks together, but there are two blocks turned the wrong way.  A quick unpick and restitch, and all was well.  Now I just need to add an outer border and it will be ready to quilt

 

Next Sunday is my third blogging anniversary (and amazingly this is post number 888!!).  Instead of a giveaway, I have decided to organise a swap to celebrate.  I know that at this time of year we are all a bit skint and a bit weary of crafting after the last minute rush to finish Christmas gifts, so it is going to be a very inexpensive and simple swap, so I hope lots of you will sign up for it ..... come back tomorrow to find out more.

 

To finish, I have some bird photos that I took at the garden centre this morning - we had popped in for a cuppa to get warm after a very chilly, but nonetheless enjoyable, walk

 

 

 

 

Deprived!

One of the casualties of last Thursday's stormy weather was the pole the holds up our satellite dish.  Malcolm had a very frustrating time on Friday, trying to get through to Sky to arrange for it to be repaired (it's somewhat annoying to have to speak to a call centre in India to arrange for a man to come from two miles away!!).  After enduring menus and queues, finally he was told that it would be fixed on Sunday morning.  So that meant  he was deprived of his weekly fix of football on Sky Soccer Saturday.  He was very glad when the engineer turned up early in Sunday morning

 

While Malcolm was chatting to the engineer, I had a wander round the garden and was surprised at how much I found to take photos of

the clematis is still flowering

 

a tiny primrose

 

snowdrops just peeeping through

 

a single yellow daisy

 

honeysuckle!

 

the climbing rose is still flowering

 

As Malcolm wasn't ensconced in front of the tv on Saturday afternoon, I was able to put up the Christmas tree without getting in his way, turning the contents of the boxes ......

 

........ into this

 

The gnomes are delighted to have their Christmas cushions  on their chairs

 

 

After all the bother with jamming thread and breaking needles, I had a rethink yesterday about how I was working.  First, I changed the type of needle I was using, abandonning the metallic needle in favour of my favourite jeans needle.  Then I fitted the extra spool holder, which is really meant for filling bobbins if you don't want to unthread the machine, or for when you are using the twin needle

 

Hooray - no more jammed thread.   It ran smoothly from the upright spool, and the jeans needle coped fine with the metallic thread ....... there was just one minor irritant - the bobbin thread ran out when all that was left to quilt was the small area at the top where the two pins are!

 

By the time I had stitched so many spirals, I felt like a cartoon character when their eyes spin round!

 

The scarf continues to grow

 

..... I have actually knitted the number of repeats given in the pattern, but I will just keep knitting until I have used up the rest of the yarn

 

When I decorate the house for Christmas, I put the wallhangings on the hall doors - rather than fill up today's post with all the photos, I thought I would show you one each day

 

I went for a walk after lunch today and took lots of animal and bird photos, to add to others that I took yesterday and this morning.  Here is a little taste - do come back tomorrow to see the rest!

 

Snow!

Yes, the white stuff has arrived!  Yesterday there was just a little bit on the hills ......

 

 

........ but when we got up this morning, a couple of inches had fallen in the night

 

 

I decided that there was nothing urgent on the shopping list, and instead of heading into Hawick for the weekly shop, I baked the Christmas cake, turning this ......

 

...... into this

 

I've been busy working on the snippets wreath - but had a mishap on Saturday

 

That's the first needle I have broken in quite a while - in fact it is the first one i have broken on my new machine.  This is the back of the wallhanging, showing the first stage of the quilting

 

Having stitched the ivy leaves in green, I added some more in red, and quilted the centre

 

I added some baubles

 

then made a start to quilting silver spirals round the outside

 

I also stitched another Farmer's Wife block - I am going to have a break from this project until after Christmas, as I have rather a lot to do at the moment

 

I cut out the pieces according to the book, and you can see that the block is stitched properly ....... so why do I have two pieces left over?!

 

I have been getting on well with the scarf - I have finished the first side and have picked up the stitches from the provisional cast-on and started to knit the second half

 

To finish, some snowy scenes and several cute birds!

All the fun of the fair!

On Saturday morning, Malcolm headed off into Hawick as usual and I packed all my goodies in the car and headed down the road the Southdean Village Hall.  There was a moment or two of panic when I saw the size of my table - how would I ever fit everything on it!  I wasn't the only one with that concern, but the idea of the organisers was to have lots of small tables to provide a wide variety, rather than just a few large tables.  Eventually most things were squeezed on

 

with the bargain basket on a chair in front of the table

 

Then I realised that the bunches of dried lavender were still in a poly bag - oops ...... so that meant another photo!

 

My friend Lorraine had the table next to me  - and she sensibly had brought an extra little table to add to the front to give her more display space for her wonderful, cakes, jam, chutneys, liqueuers ...

 

..... and her fabulous marzipan fruits

 

So how did it go?  Quite well ...... of course I would have liked to have sold more, but I did sell a reasonable amount (and then spent a large part of what I had made buying something for Malcolm's Christmas!)  There is still rather a lot in the bargain basket, but the rest of the stuff is now packed into one box (except for the painted pine cones - I only sold one packet of them!)

 

And I may just have bought something for myself ....... well, could you have resisted this!  It's only about two inches tall - I think I will put it in a little box frame

 

Yesterday we went to Melrose, as we had a voucher for free entry to Melrose Abbey.  You can read about the Abbey here and here.  Although there was a chilly wind, the sun was shining and the sky was a brilliant blue.  Most of the photos will be appearing in future Shadow Shot Sundays, but here is a little taste

 

 

Back home, by the time I had tidied away the leftovers from the fair, I just had time to do a little bit of sewing.  You might have noticed that I didn't do my Farmer's Wife blocks last week, so I thought I had better get one done!

 

Then a quick fmq ....... a little bit of background filler

 

...... and back to basics with a little bit of stippling - I love this variegated thread

 

Now to the knitting update.  I have finished one sock .....

 

..... but haven't done the heel on the other one, as I knitted (yet) another pair of Cranford mitts.  I finished them on Friday morning, just in time to take them to patch'n'chat to give to my friend Jane - sorry, i forgot to take a photo!  I have also finally made a start to the Glimpse scarf.  Although it looks complicated, it is fairly simple to knit.  The blue edge at the top is the provisional cast-on.  This will be the centre of the scarf.  After knitting the first half, I'll pick up the stitches from the cast-on edge and knit the second half

 

To finish, two photos which I took on the way home yesterday.  The first one isn't too clear, as I was pointing the camera towards the sun .......

 

....... but in this second one you can see that it is a shepherdess, complete with crook and two sheepdogs!

 

A good yarn

I picked up a bag of assorted balls of wool for a mere £2 in an antiques shop this morning.  There were several part balls, but there were also these full balls, still with their labels

I've never seen 'mothproofed' wool before!

 

I could use this pale yellow along with this .......

 

...... cream - it says on the side the wool is 'patonised' - I wonder what that means?

 

this one was produced just up the road in Galashiels

 

I wonder if this Disney wool is still available?

 

I've never heard of this brand!

 

I made some more things for the sales table this afternoon, which I will show you tomorrow.  I just had time at the end of the afternoon to have a very quick fmq practice ...... round spirals and square spirals

I have so much to tell you ......

....... that I don't know where to start!  So I guess it makes sense just to work through the weekend in chronological order.

On Saturday, Malcolm discovered that he had been given a 'foreign' coin, although at first glance it looks like one of ours - if you read the wording round the edge of the right-hand coin, you will see it is from New Zealand ........ perhaps we could go there on holiday to spend it!

 

 

Having finally received my slider, I lost no time in fitting it to my sewing machine.  It really does make a difference - the quilt sandwich moves much more easily under the needle

 

I also unearthed a different embroidery hoop to use.  As the hoop is used upside down, the screw for tightening the outer ring was on the bottom under the quilt sandwich, and would occasionally catch on the edge of the extension table.  Although the slider now covers the edge, I thought using this smooth plastic hoop would help too.

 

When browsing through the fmq patterns, this one caught my eye - mussels - which I thought went well with my sea anenome

 

I looked out the things I had made for previous fairs, and marked them down to half price - well, we all like a bargain, and I really don't want to have to bring it all home again!

 

The collection of new stuff is growing

 

Yesterday morning, we went to a craft and design fair in Kelso.  There were lots and lots of wonderful stalls, but as it was a much more formal sort of event than next week's fair, I didn't like to take photos.  However, when I was talking to one of the stallholders whom I know, she mentioned that she had forgotten to bring her camera to take photos of her stall.  I offered to take photos for her, and she was happy for me to share one with you (you can see more of Linda's work here)

 

We had a pleasant walk along the river - but the rest of the photos have been filed for a future Shadow Shot Sunday!

 

Back home, I stitched some more mussels, and tried a little filling of pebbles

 

Looking round the studio, I thought that perhaps it was time for a tidy-up!

 

I was threading string through holes with a large needle when this happened - oops!

 

After the delay in receiving the slider, I was pleased today when this parcel arrived within the one hour time-slot given on the delivery firm's tracking page

 

a little clue to the contents .......

 

...... no, not jam jars, but super bottles to put the sloe gin in (but I will be buying jars and labels and more bottles - there are all sorts of goodies on the website!)

 

The knitting update ...... another pair of Cranford mitts -I only started these on Friday night, and finished the second one at 10pm last night!  This pair is for my friend Cath

 

another pair of afterthought heel socks ...... just the heels to do.  You can see where I have picked up the stitches on one side, and started picking them up on the other

 

To finish, another silly photo!  Malcolm spotted this yesterday ....... but was the car really on top of the fishermen's hut?!

 

Slipping and sliding!

I had ordered something online at the start of the month, and waited and waited for it to arrive.  When it didn't, I emailed the company.  When they didn't teply I emailed again, and when there was no response, yesterday I phoned.  Profuse apologies were offered, somehow my order just hadn't been dealt with.  So I was delighted this morning when the postman came to the door with an envelope to be signed for  .......

 

.... followed by an email apologising again and saying that the item in question had been sent out recorded delivery, and that hopefully by the time I read the email, the parcel would have been delivered.  So what was it that I was so anxious to receive?  A Supreme Slider, which I am confident will magically transform my efforts at free motion quilting into works of art

 

The pictures on the back of the package make it all look so simple ........ I will let you know on Monday how I get on with my first attempts!

 

Last night I knitted my little swatch for the Glimpse scarf.  It proved to be quite straightforward!

 

The hole was really quite easy to make - I haven't done a pattern like this before, so I'm looking forward to knitting the scarf, as it is very pretty

 

The front garden was alive with sparrows this morning, but one little blue tit was brave enough to use the peanut feeder

 

I love the bold markings on the male sparrows - they would make a good quilting design ....

 

It's Friday, so of course that means it is time for cake!!  Today we had Annette's lovely light cupcakes ....

 

...... topped with chocolate sprinkles - delicious

 

Over the weekend, as well as playing with using my new Slider, I will also be making some more things for my sales table for next Saturday (oops, starting to panic slightly!!)  I hope you all have a good weekend, love Anne