frayed at the edge

17 UFOs in 2017 : October report

Yes, I know that it is almost the middle of November, but Meredithe had technical issues with her internet connection that went on for two weeks, so I am only now doing my October report.  To start, I have a finish!!  The owl wallhanging is finished - now I need to find somewhere to hang it

 

lurking behind the owl on the design wall, is the William Morris hexie wallhanging.  I have finished sewing on the hexies round the border - now I have to decide how to quilt it

 

and despite my best efforts to use them all up, I still have a pile of hexies left over!

 

and now for the Goodbye Quilt.  I was given these blocks by the members of Greenpark Quilters, when I left the group in 2006 when we moved to Hawick

 

I had made the blocks into a quilt top some years ago, but had never got round to quilting it

 

so I have finally made a start to the quilting

 

wouldn't it be nice if this was finished for the November report!

 

I have also been working on the Aunts' Quilts, but I don't have a photo!  To see what everyone else has been doing, pop over to Meredithe's blog, and scroll down to her report, where you will find the linky thing.  I'll be back on Wednesday with some photos from the Christmas Whimsy workshop with Lucie on Saturday.

Out and about

On Monday, the sun was shining and the sky was blue, so after lunch we abandoned our domestic chores and went out for a walk.  I thought the heavy chain and padlock were pointless on this gate, when even I could climb over it!

 

this bit of metal fencing has seen better days

 

I do like a bit of higgledy piggledy fence

 

I wonder why they just didn't nail some struts between the two fence posts, instead of making a separate piece to fill the gap

 

a little bit of nature in the verges

 

some things are still flowering although it is November

 

although others have gone to seed

 

it's a while since I posted photos ......

 

of gubbins!

 

we saw all sorts of trees - small

 

old

 

perhaps struck by lightning?

 

a very large stump

 

stark against the skyline

 

twisted

 

and very, very tall - Malcolm provides the scale

 

and at the end of our walk ........

 

....... sheepies!

 

and not just any sheepies, but Jacob's sheepies, my favourites!

 

I won't be here on Friday, as Malcolm's brother-in-law's funeral is on Friday morning, so I will wish you a good weekend, love Anne

A very happy day!!

First, dear peeps, I just want to thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers for the family following the death of Malcolm's brother-in-law.

 

But now we move on to something wonderful!  I have been keeping a very big secret from you for the last six weeks .......... having got engaged in February, Stuart and Alison suddenly got themselves organised, and on Saturday they got married!!  Here is the handsome groom (I may be slightly biased!) on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh before the wedding

 

and here he is with his very proud and excited Mum, enjoying a small refreshment

 

the wedding was in the City Chambers - a somewhat nervous groom and his best man Fraser waiting for the arrival of the bride and her bridesmaid Lynsey (who is Fraser's wife)

 

once they were married, the photographer took lots and lots of photos - here we have the happy couple looking slightly pensive as they wait for the next photo tom be taken

 

these are family photos -  obviously when we see the official ones we will be looking at the camera!

 

it was a very small wedding, with just immediate family (they are having a big reception in January for other relatives and friends).  Here we have, from left to right, Alison's brother Derek, her Dad Jim, Stuart, Fraser, Stuart's Dad Sandy, Malcolm and Stuart's stepsister's husband Ian

 

then we have the ladies, again from left to right, Stuart's stepsister Claire, Alison's Mum Linda, Lynsey, Alison, Alison's sister-in-law Emily, Stuart's stepmother Morven, and me

 

aren't the girls gorgeous!!

 

while Stuart and Alison went off with the photographer for more photos, the rest of us had another small refreshment, then walked along Princes Street, with the Castle dominating the skyline

 

to this fabulous hotel for the reception

 

and to finish, another shot of the happy couple!

 

Sad news

Hello, my dearest peeps.  We received some sad news this morning ........Malcolm's brother-in-law, the husband of his older sister Jennifer, died suddenly last night.  So I won't be here for a while.

Love, Anne

Just for you .......

 There were some of you (you know who you are!) who thought that they were going to see handsome young men with rippling muscles when they saw the word Chippendale in Wednesday's title.  So to make up for your disappointment, here is such a young man - but I won't make you envious by also showing you the photo of the two of us with our arms round each other!

 

there was great excitement this afternoon when Malcolm's new shed arrived

 

the sun decorated it with a super shadow shot

 

the three windows will give him plenty of light.  The first job will be to build a large workbench across the back wall, where he can set up his big saws and his lathe

 

I have been doing a lot of sewing, but I can't show you until next week, when I do the next report on my progress on my  17UFOs.  But I can show you this - remember I put the top heart the wrong way up on the right hand block?  Well, I made another one with the heart the right way up, but I can't decide which one I prefer

 

when I was at the class with Lucie, I invested in this gadget to make yo-yos (or if you are old-fashioned like me, you will call them Suffolk puffs)

 

and this afternoon I made my first yo-yo with it,  It is a lot easier making yo-yos with it, so I may even invest in some other sizes 

 

I had looked and looked for this Sue Spargo book on my shelves, and in the end thought maybe I hadn't bought it after all.  But of course, as soon as I stopped looking for it, I found it when I was looking for something else!

 

I had already sorted out fabric and threads (and worked a sample)

 

and more threads and needles

 

and I bought these gorgeous pieces of woollen fabric when we were in Wales.  I gave them a hot wash to lightly felt them.  But I will have to wait until next year to make a start, as I have a lot of sewing to do over the last two months of this year!

 

when I was taking the photos of the shed this afternoon, a microlight flew over ..........

 

at the same time as a jet, far above it, but I couldn't get them in the one photo

 

and now, the Friday food!  Today we have a cheese and bacon scone, which was served with some onion chutney - delicious!!

 

we will be heading up to the flat tomorrow, so hopefully we will be out and about, walking on the beach!  Have a great weekend, love Anne

 

 

Chippendale it ain't*

I promised you a report on Malcolm's project to customise the kitchen wine rack

 

auditioning some pieces of wood from his stash

 

plenty more to choose from

 

including this lovely shelf, which was mine!

 

using his trusty Workmate

 

as you can see it has been well used since I gave it to him for his birthday in 1984!

 

the first stage completed

 

then my lovely shelf cut to fit

 

a trial fit in the kitchen - don't worry about the doors on the left opening, they are just for show as that is the back of the cupboards on the other side of the worktop

 

and the finished article, which has been given a coat of Danish oil

 

all we need now is the wine fairy to visit with some bottles of wine!

*that was Malcolm's suggestion for the title, I wasn't being cheeky!

Worth getting up for!

I know some of my friends think I am mad getting up early, but if I had stayed in my bed this morning ........

 

....... I would have missed this wonderful sunrise

 

in the end, Storm Brian didn't reach us, so yesterday morning we headed over to Amble for a walk

 

we have never been there when the tide is out - it was strange seeing an waterless harbour

 

I think this was once a pier

 

I felt slightly seasick taking this photo - as I looked through the viewfinder, focussing on the gull, the water was  rushing past in the background

 

one of the cormorants obligingly assumed the classic pose with outstretched wings for the photo

 

not quite as impressive as the Berwick lighthouse!

 

we were concerned to see all these men in hi-viz scrambling over the rocks, but fortunately it turned out to be a Coastguard training exercise

 

you can rent these little beach huts

 

a quick pause for a couple of arty photos ....... first some rust

 

then a large, strange piece of machinery

 

this piece of landscaping has recently been weeded and tidied

 

but this stretch is still neglected

 

heading for a cuppa after our walk, we were a bit bemused by all these pigeons on the roof.  We came to the conclusion that there can't be any loft insulation in the building, so the roof is warm for them to sit on

 

we had to avoid men with long ladders, who were stringing Christmas lights across the street

 

I remembered my own advice to look up, to find unusual things for photos

 

inconsiderate motorists, parking right in front of the tea rooms and spoiling my photo!

 

just for a change, we shared a toasted teacake - delicious!

 

I think I mentioned before that Stuart and Alison gave us walking shoes for our birthdays.  Manly ones for Malcolm ......

 

and girly pink soles for me.  It must be getting colder ........ note the hand knitted socks!

 

I'll be back on Wednesday with a report on Malcolm's wine rack!

I thought it was an oops!

When I was putting clean sheets on the bed this morning, I noticed these strange marks

 

what had happened?  Had I perhaps splashed the sheet with bleach?  No, it was the sun shining through the net curtain and casting the opposite of a shadow!

 

I have been meaning to show you these tray cloths and table cloths for some time, and today I finally remembered.  The tray cloths were embroidered by my Granny (I only had one Granny, as my Mum was an orphan)

 

it is hard to believe, but the tray and table cloths are older than me!

 

when I was about five, Granny showed me the basics of embroidery

 

and I have been sewing ever since!

 

I had thought that Granny embroidered these white-on-white table cloths as well, but some years ago my Dad's cousin Margaret told me that they had been embroidered by Granny's sister, Great-aunt Jemima

 

a detail of the flowers

 

and a butterfly

 

this one is kept safely in a cupboard now

 

as it is very thin, and has a small hole

 

this one is different to the other two, with a straight hemmed edge

 

and a different style of embroidery

 

somewhere on my to-do list is a white-on-white embroidery!

 

this last cloth was made for my Mum by our next-door neighbour Mrs Quinn.  It is a simple square of muslin

 

with circles of chain stitch in the corners.  It was used to cover the table when it had food on it, ready for visitors arriving

 

of course, at the end of Friday posts, our thoughts turn to food.  On Monday morning, we popped into the new deli/coffee shop in Berwick.  I am sorry I didn't take a photo of the outside, but it was raining!

 

there are just a few tables downstairs, but a much bigger space upstairs.

 

 

hopefully the views from the windows

 

will be sunlit next time we are there!

 

as always, coffee for Malcolm and tea for me ....... and an excellent cheese scone

 

sadly, we had missed the filming, but this is a report in the local paper (click on the photo to enlarge it)

 

as bad weather is forecast for the weekend, we are staying at home.  Malcolm is planning to turn a wine rack in the kitchen into a piece of bespoke furniture (I must remember to give him a camera to record the process!) and no doubt I will be sewing!  Have a great weekend, love Anne

On the road again!

I have been down the A1 to The Quilt Shop so often recently, I think my car could drive there on its own!  Today I took in the finished Funky Chickens wallhanging (which is even brighter than it looks in the photo!)

 

I kept the quilting simple, stitching in the ditch round the blocks, and a quick fmq round the chickens

 

and here it is, hanging up in the shop.  Several people have already signed up for the class, so hopefully now that the sample is on show, more people be interested

 

this snowman cushion is a hybrid.  Sonia made the background at the original class, but then decided she didn't like it (she subsequently made another one), so she gave it to Ros, who added the appliqué.  They are now going to give it to charity

 

Ros was working on this little baby quilt, which will also be going to charity

 

Christine did the first snowman workshop, but unfortunately missed the second one, so today was the first chance that we had to get together for her to do the appliqué.  Don't you just love the fabric she picked for his trousers, and his funky purple boots!

 

Moira was making blocks with the tiniest of scraps - I think they will eventually become a bag

 

we had a newcomer to our Wednesday Ladies group ....... I asked her if her name was spelt Lyn or Lynne (I do try to get names right, having spent a lifetime having my name misspelt).  No, she said, it is Lynn.  She had brought a bag of scraps to use up, prepping some pieces ready to hand stitch together

 

Sue has been taking part in a giveaway of Aurifil threads.  Having filled in a coupon in a magazine, I gave it to Sue, having made the required spend of £15 (not difficult to do in a quilt shop).  Sue sent off the coupon, and this pack of delicious threads arrived yesterday in the post

 

it is a rather wet and unpleasant evening, so Malcolm lit the fire ........ sitting by a roaring fire brings back memories of childhood for both of us.

 

A fun weekend!

 On Saturday, I headed off down the A1 to The Quilt Shop, ready for a day of fun!  The wonderful Lucie had designed this wonderful whimsical wallhanging for us to sew (the photos are used with Lucie's permission)

 

every block is just so cute

 

and I will have lots of fun  ........

 

........ adding all sorts of embellishments

 

I started by tracing the shapes on to fusible web

 

then having cut out the pieces, I checked that they were centred in the block

 

unfortunately I wasn't paying attention, and put the top heart the opposite way up to the pattern - oops!  The other ladies thought it would look ok with the addition of a star on the top, but I have plenty of fabric, so I might make another one

 

of course there was cake to keep up our energy levels

 

working a zigzag stitch round the edges.  There is another class next month, so we have to finish our blocks, ready to add the sashing and borders

 

yesterday morning we went up to the flat, and as the weather was reasonable, we went for a walk on the beach.  The sand has moved again, so that this wooden post now only comes up to my hip, whereas last year it was above head height!

 

fortunately the interesting rusty bolts are still visible

 

there were several large stumps

 

all much too heavy to bring home

 

this wooden beam is about 15 feet long, and probably came from an old barn

 

I tried to pull out the bolt, but although I could turn it, I couldn't free it from the beam ....... I am sure Malcolm could have used it to create a feature in the garden

 

there was a lot of sea glass, so I have come home with a nice pile to add to my collection

 

dark clouds were appearing beyond the lighthouse

 

and there were no customers for the ice cream van

 

but it was mild enough to sit outside the café on the promenade for a cuppa

 

I went back to the car while Malcolm fetched a smaller piece of tree trunk that he had spotted

 

and here it is in a temporary place in the front garden.  The photo looks a bit fuzzy, but that's because it is very misty.  Storm Ophelia is due to reach us about midnight, so fingers crossed that she has run out of steam by then!