frayed at the edge

Giving a hand

Almost all the members turned up last night at Abbey Quilters, so as it was a very busy I offered to help Tricia with her folded Japanese workshop.  So that meant I didn't make a sample last night, but in true Blue Peter tradition, here is one I prepared earlier, when I had a trial run last week in the studio!

the three fabrics chosen from my stash

 

the block assembled ready to stitch

 

the reverse side of the block

 

one of Tricia's samples, showing how the blocks can be put together

 

when I was rootling through my scrap basket recently, I unearthed these strips, left over from a project from several years ago

 

I stitched the sets of three strips to the sets of four strips

 

and having cross cut the strips into squares, I got out some red fabrics

 

and cut out an equal number of squares

 

after marking a diagonal line on the red squares

 

I put a strip square and a red square together and stitched either side of the marked line

 

I cut along the marked line

 

and pressed the squares

 

I trimmed the squares to size

 

then had a play arranging them on the design wall

 

I know that I have more black fabrics in my stash, as well as more red fabrics, so I can make more blocks

 

this morning we headed out to Pirn House for a spot of lunch, passing this fabulous house, which is now almost finished

 

it was so good to see the blue sky

 

although these horses in a rather muddy field didn't look overly happy!

 

you know that I usually get no further on the menu at Pirn House than the French toast, bacon and maple syrup, but having had scrambled eggs for breakfast, I thought I should have something different!  So I had a most delicious coronation chicken sandwich

 

while Malcolm had roast beef, tomato and horseradish

 

after lunch we headed to Kelso, as I was going to the hairdressers and Malcolm was going to the barbers (he was in the barbers for about five minutes, I was in the hairdressers for about ninety!!).  As we were a bit early for my appointment, we went for a walk by the river

 

and to finish ...... when you are taking photos from the car, they don't always turned out as planned, when a road sign jumps out and gets in the way!!

 

 

 

It's a hoot!

First up today is the animal quilt - I chose this cute owl fleece for the back

 

after pinning the layers together, I quilted the centre with a lazy loopy meander

 

woohoo - I have done more work on Mrs Billings.  I prepped all the big hexies

 

after stitching the first set together, I pinned them in place

 

I got out my Mrs B project tin, with the beautiful Japanese silk threads that I have been using

 

and handstitched the hexies in place.  I am really pleased with how it looks, after all the agonising over what to do instead of the horrid diamonds

 

work has been progressing on the stitchery hexies

 

for each small bite, I select the next set of fabrics from the stack of fat quarters.  There were four colourways for this next pattern - for some of them there are six

 

I've had to take the ones you saw above off the design wall as there is a new project on it (more about that tomorrow), but I squeezed these ones on at the bottom for the photo

 

not a lot more to do - although I have another five over at the flat

 

on a mission to use up some of my stash making Linus quilts, I looked out these brushed cottons, which I had bought as a scrap bag

 

and added in these checked fabrics, which are also brushed cotton

 

after a bit of slicing, dicing and stitching, I had these two centres made

 

I then bought these two exceedingly cute fabrics to use as borders and backing

 

I just have to pin the layers together and they will be ready to quilt, and I will use the false binding technique to finish them

 

I must dash, as tonight is the monthly Abbey Quilters' meeting.  We will be doing a folded Japanese block - hopefully I will have it finished to show you tomorrow.

A box of delights

Just for fun, today's post is in reverse order!  As there was no patch'n'chat today (the shop hasn't yet reopened after being flooded), we came over to the flat this afternoon, and we have just had dinner ........ Malcolm popped out to the local chip shop, and came back with this box

 

which contained the most wonderful fish supper.  As you can see, it was a rather large helping, so we shared it

 

when we arrived, there was a rather large ship in the dock

 

it was being loaded, so hopefully we will see it leave tomorrow

 

when we arrived in Berwick, we parked in the town before going to the flat, as I had a parcel to post.  I treated us to a cuppa ...... and cake.  I had toffee crunch - a little bit sweet, but delicious

 

and Malcolm had toffee cabana, which had a layer of coconut under the chocolate - yummy

 

I met Maureen in Hawick for lunch - but we were blethering so much I forgot to take photos!  However I did take these two photos, to compare with the ones I took when the rivers were flooded.  First, the rocks can be seen again, but the heron hasn't returned

 

the white house on the left was flooded, with the river right up to the walls.  The two men in hi-viz give the scale to how many feet the river rose in the floods

 

and last, a bit of sewing from yesterday.  I found this fat quarter of animals in my stash (when I was looking for something else!)

 

and added the chicken fabric, and the orange fabric which was left over from a recent Linus quilt

 

after squaring the fat quarter, I added a chicken border

 

then an orange border - a quick make which will become another quilt for Linus

 

and I also made the binding

 

how long did that take ....... as long as it took me to listen to SuBo and several country tracks

 

with a pause to drink my mug of hot chocolate, which Malcolm brought out to the studio for me (he's a keeper!!)

 

the forecast isn't too good, so I don't think we'll be walking on the beach.  Whatever your weather, have a good weekend, love Anne

 

 

Nibbling away

I have been continuing with my "small bites" way of working, and am enjoying seeing progress on several projects.  But I won't show you the work in chronogical order, but rather the progress on each project.  First, is the panda cushion.  The first photo was taken in natural light, the second photo with the light on, then the other two photos were taken with a different camera.  So although it looks like different pandas, it is just the one!

the back of the cushion pinned in place

 

the binding stitched to the sides

the top and bottom binding added

 

and the finished cushion

 

the baby quilt for Linus

 

I love the backing fabric .......

 

........ it reminds me of my teenage years

 

I did say that I was making two the same!

 

I started doing some more work on Mrs Billings, but despite my last plan to applique the diamonds in place, I just didn't like them, so it was over to plan C (or is it D?!).  I like hexies, so I am going to put hexies in the border.  I got out these papers, which were free with a magazine - a good fit

 

then I thought I would also put hexies in the narrow border

 

I soon had the hexies cut out, even fussy cutting the ones on the bottom left ......

 

....... except I forgot which way round they would sit in the border - oops!

 

next, another batch of hexie stitcheries (I told you I like hexies!).  I cut out the next six, and just pinned the fabrics to the hexies in the order they came off the pile, so it wasn't planned that the pink fabric would go with the pink elephant!

 

so that's ten done, and looking good

 

and to finish - I took these photos just after half past eight this morning.  It was just by chance that I looked out the window in the guest bedroom and saw the amazing colours in the sky

 

 

A rather different Friday

You know I have my Friday routine ....... after breakfast I do the housework, have a shower, then head off to patch'n'chat.  But today that was changed for two reasons, both of them unpleasant.  First, I had an appointment at the dentist this morning, so no housework, then second, Borderland Fabrics, where we go for patch'n'chat, was flooded on Wednesday, so of course the shop is shut.  Having survived the dentist (an impression, unpleasant, but not painful), I decided to treat myself to lunch.  You might wonder what sort of premises there could be up this close

 

and the doorway isn't particularly inviting

 

but what does the exterior matter, when they serve food like this!  Creamy scrambled eggs, served on toasted bloomer, with smoked salmon, creme fraiche and chives, with a rocket garnish ..... and even an arty balsamic drizzle (we won't mention the tomatoes, which were left on the side of the plate)

 

after lunch I walked down to the river, to see how it looked after Wednesday's floods. You can see a tree suspended between the wall and the bridge, with cables dangling down

 

in this photo you can see the residue from where the path was under water

 

there was much less water going through the bridge, and there wasn't the frightening roar that there was on Wednesday

 

the water wasn't pounding the wall today

 

and the level was much lower here

 

although there was no patch'n'chat, I wasn't deprived of cake this afternoon, as Malcolm and I shared this last wedge of our Christmas cake

 

this morning we were battered by Storm Gertrude, and the forecast for the weekend is atrocious, so we have decided to stay at home for the weekend.  No doubt I shall spend some time in the studio, with my wonderful stove to keep me warm

 

we have our fingers, toes, eyes and anything else that can be, firmly crossed for, first, the Murray brothers ....... Andy in the final of the singles and Jamie in the final of the doubles, then second, Gordon Reid who is in both the singles and doubles wheelchair finals.  Three Scottish players in the finals - pretty good going for a small country!!

Do remember to leave a comment to be included in the draw for the giveaway for my 7th blogiversary.  I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne

 

Charity

This is a page from the Scotsman (newspaper) magazine, from last Saturday .......

 

....... showing a very cute "Hamish" Shaun the Sheep, which is being sold to raise money for charity.  You can buy him for £35.  It doesn't say how much of that goes to charity, but I just thought that if I was spending that sort of money, I would want it all to go to charity, no matter how cute Hamish is .......

 

....... so I cut out the picture and put it on my notice board, and instead will, over the weeks and months to come, spend money on fabric for Linus quilts

 

this quilt cost me very little to make, as I got the centre panel and border fabric from Sandra, our wonderful Linus lady.  I just added some bright orange fleece for the back

 

Stuart liked his Star Wars quilt so much, I thought I would make one for Linus too.  The camouflage fabric came from Sandra - someone had donated a large piece

 

there was enough camouflage fabric for a wide border and backing fabric, and I used an 80/20 wadding.  This is the quilt layered up ready to quilt

 

you can't really see the quilting, but the whole centre has been quilted

 

then I set up the walking foot, to stitch in the ditch between the centre and the border

 

normally I would then quilt the border, but I wanted to bring the backing fabric over to the front, to make a false binding, so the next stage was to put the cutting mat under the wadding

 

and trim the extra wadding away

 

after that I trimmed the excess backing fabric away, leaving an inch

 

then it was over to the ironing board, where I pressed the inch of backing fabric in half

 

at the corner, I folded it in to meet the corner of the quilt

 

then folded it over again

 

after pressing the first fold of the sides

 

I folded the sides over again and pressed them

 

pinned ready to machine stitch

 

the false binding complete.  I had used the false binding method so that there was no hand sewing to do, as there is in the usual way I do the binding.  The camouflage fabric is very tightly woven, and would have been difficult to hand stitch

 

the last job was to quilt the border with a random zigzag

 

and here is the finished quilt - at fifty four inches square, it is the biggest quilt I have made for Linus.  I am sure a teenage boy will love it!

 

when I was sorting out the photos for the post, I came across this one ...... poor little sparrows in the recent snow

 

and another reminder - leave a comment between now and Sunday to go into the draw for my 7th blogiversary giveaway.

 

A tale of two scones ........

....... but before we get to the scones, we'll start with Abbey Quilters' sewing day on Saturday.  I had layered up two identical small quilts for Linus, and soon had the machine set up ready to do some fmq

 

as the quilts are small, it didn't take too long to quilt the centres

 

using a little loopy flower stitch, instead of my usual lazy meander

 

Sheila was working on her little wallhanging ........ as you can see, her leaf blocks, unlike mine, are the correct size!

 

Sandra H had made this cute quilt top for Linus (it is actually deeper and brighter than this photo shows - my camera just doesn't like blue!)

 

Margaret had her first go at foundation piecing, and soon got the hang of it, producing this tree block

 

Val, as always, made sure we had plenty of fuel to keep us sewing, with her wonderful cheese scones

 

and delicious carrot cake - there was a slight oops with the icing, as it has stuck to the clingfilm covering the plate, but of course that didn't stop us from tucking in

 

after lunch, I changed to the walking foot and stitched in-the-ditch between the centre and the border

 

by the end of the afternoon, all I had left to do was finish the binding

 

so, why are we called Abbey Quilters?  Is it because we meet in the Abbey Row Community Centre

 

a magnificent building ......

 

........ which was a school

 

or is it because of the Abbey?  (actually, I don't know!!)

 

and now to the scones!  We didn't have a scone yesterday, after our walk on the beach (I'll tell you about that tomorrow), but when we popped over to town this morning, pausing on the old bridge to take a photo of the seal and a heron .....

 

........ we went to the delightful Mielle Patisserie

 

where we shared one of their delicious Provencal scones

 

but then this afternoon, we popped over to Wooler for a potter round the shops, and went for a cuppa (I forgot to take a photo of the coffee shop).  We were only going to have a drink, but then we saw scone with jam and clotted cream on the menu!!

 

and to finish - I realised yesterday that I had, yet again, forgotten about my blogiversary!  I have now been writing this nonsense rubbish informative blog for seven years!!  I am sure when I started it, Malcolm thought it would last for a few weeks, or months at most, but here I am, still rabbiting on.  Through blogging I have made many friends ...... mostly online, but some are now firm friends in the real world.  So, to celebrate, I think I'll have a little giveaway, as I haven't had one for some time.  What the giveaway will be, I don't yet know - I will have to wait until I have a hunt round the studio!  So all you have to do to enter is leave a comment between now and next Monday, when I will employ my random number generator (aka Malcolm) to pick a winner.  I'm quite happy to post the parcel anywhere in the world, so everyone can enter ........ and if you leave a comment everyday, then you have more chances!!

 

Return of the mojo!

I don't know what happened to my knitting mojo.  I think it went on holiday and has been sunbathing on an exotic beach, being brought bright pink cocktails, full of fresh fruit, by handsome young men!  But eventually it dragged itself back home and I finally finished the socks I have been knitting for rather a long time.  Here they are soaking, before being put on the blockers 

 

why are you shouting at me?  Oh, that's why, the not quite matching socks.  I have to admit that I just couldn't face working the rest of the pattern, so finished the second sock in one colour ......

 

........ but you won't see that when I wear them with my snazzy new boots, which Malcolm gave me for Christmas

 

and as I waited until after Christmas to get the boots in the sales, I was thoroughly spoiled and got these ones too.  I love the way they look as if I have already worn them for months

 

 having finished the two colour socks, I had a look in my stash and came up with a ball of sock wool which I bought on our last holiday in Australia

 

although the pattern says child's first sock, it has been sized up to fit an adult

 

I am really enjoying knitting this pair

 

and it won't be long until they are finished

 

I have even bought another ball of sock yarn, to knit another pair!

 

I may have been slightly influenced by the smart packaging when I bought these needles 

 

and look what I found when I opened them - tiny test tubes!

 

and so to the Friday cake - Annette's deliciously spicy fruit loaf

 

I am looking forward to our sewing day tomorrow - I hope to get the two little quilts finished that I layered up yesterday.  Then we will head over to the flat on Sunday.  I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne

Fingers firmly crossed!

Well, after spending a great deal of time on the phone to both our broadband provider (me) and our landline provider (Malcolm) ........ and getting nowhere .......... Malcolm did some research online, and we hope we have now solved the problem (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday's posts were composed when we were over at the flat, where the broadband speed is much better, and scheduled to appear).  I will be delighted if all is well, as I want to get back to my Monday-to-Friday posts, now that all the busy-ness of the festive season is over.

So, what better thing to start with, than this morning's breakfast.  I know I have shown you my tractor egg cup before, but I love it so much I thought it deserved another appearance!

 

over the past few weeks, I have layered several quilts, using safety pins

 

I use the edge of my nail on my first finger of my left hand, which isn't very good for it ...... and last week my poor abused nail broke (I can't recall when I last had a broken nail)

 

so I decided to invest in a gadget which closes the pins

 

which will save my poor nail from further damage

 

across blogland, people have been choosing their word for the year, but I have chosen a phrase ....... small bites.  Let me explain.  I have mentioned before that I work most efficiently when I spend a set amount of time working on each of several projects in the course of the day.  If I plough doggedly on, trying to finish something, I get bogged down and my work gets slower, and I get fed up and put that project away.  So I have decided to give my method the title of small bites.  The idea came from the answer to "how do you eat an elephant?" ....... "one bite at a time".  So this afternoon, I layered two small quilts for Linus, as we are having an Abbey Quilters sewing day on Saturday.  The photos above with the pins give you a glimpse of one of the fabrics, but you will have to wait until next week to see the quilts.  I also looked out these leftover strips from a jelly roll to make the two lots of binding

 

next I got out my panda block.  I had asked Alison if she would like it, as she loves pandas.  She had said yes please, and we decided that I would make it into a cushion

 

I ran a line of stitching round the edge to keep it stable.  I just used the blue thread which was in the machine, as it won't show when the cushion is finished

 

having trimmed the edges, I looked out this lovely dark green fabric from my stash, for the back of the cushion and the binding

 

then I looked out my somewhat neglected Mrs Billings

 

and pinned the first row of diamonds in place, ready to applique them

 

and finally ........ I just couldn't resist it any longer!  I looked out these wonderful fabrics which I bought when I spent the wonderful five days with my crazy mad adorable Australian quilty friends in October 2014, and one of them, Mrs Mac, gave me some extra fat quarters to go with them

 

so, what was I going to do with them?  Well, I chose this fabric and this stitchery

 

I drew round a template to give me a bigger hexie than the stitchery to cut out

 

on the ironing board, I centred the stitchery on the wrong side of the fabric, pinned it in place, folded the first side of the larger hexie in half, and pressed it

 

I then folded it over on to the stitchery, and again pressed it

 

I continued folding and pressing until all the sides were done, and pinned in place

 

as always at this time of year, I am determined to only use fabric and thread from my various stashes, so I looked out this beautiful blue thread.  I will stitch the border in place with big quilting stitches, then work a line of smaller quilting stitches about a quarter of an inch in from the border

 

so, it was altogether a very productive afternoon!  Do pop in again tomorrow, as I have some knitting to share with you!!

 

All sorts of sewing

 

Shortly before Christmas, I saw this post by Jenny of Two Crafty Brownies, and decided that I had to make an angel for the tree.  I pulled out these bits and bobs from my various stashes 

 

and started by cutting out my circles

 

and making my yoyos - but now you will have to pop over to see how Jenny makes the whole angel!

 

here is my little cutie on the tree

 

I got this cute panel and spotty fleece from the lovely Sandra, our Linus lady

 

the spots from the fleece showed through the panel, so I got a piece of thin wadding from my basket of wadding offcuts

 

it didn't take long to have the quilt layered .......

 

ready to quilt with my favourite big lazy meander

 

Sandra was delighted with the finished quilt!

 

I looked out my revolving mat to start trimming the stitcheries to size ...... I had cut them out too big, to allow for the embroidery pulling the fabric out of shape

 

when I started cutting I changed my mind about which ruler to use.  It makes it so much easier (and safer) to be able to turn the mat on its base as I cut each side of the hexies.  I stuck little sandpaper spots on the template, to help keep it in place

 

they are looking good on the design wall

 

with all the problems last week, I didn't get to show you photos from the Abbey Quilters' meeting.  These are three of the members waiting for the meeting to start, and looking at all the things I had brought to demonstrate

 

and committee member Val demonstrated what she does best ....... baking!  A delicious cake

 

and even more delicious scones!