frayed at the edge

In between showers .....

........ I was able to take some photos in the garden.  The red poppies are doing well

 

the pale poppies have just started to flower

 

in the back garden we have a pale honeysuckle

 

and a dark one in the front garden

 

the pieris is looking stunning

and I love my little Robinia Lace Lady tree.  We had one in a large pot on our last garden, but when we went to lift the pot when we were moving, we discovered that it had put roots down through the drainage holes in the pot  and was firmly anchored to the ground ..... so we had to leave it behind!

 

I like the way that some of the ferns have spread into the cracks in the wall

 

hooray, the bottle brush looks set to flower again this year

 

another plant captured with a fly on it was this one in a planter in the front garden.  I don't know what this is - it looks a bit like garlic!

 

in the back garden a bee decided to pose as well - I can never remember what this flower is called

 

I also can't remember what this shrub in the front garden is called!

 

when I was taking photos in the front garden, I heard a clip-clop, clip-clop ....... and down the road came a horse and rider

 

ok, I have teased you enough with all these garden photos, when I know that all you want to know is whether or not I finished the Lovely Baby Quilt!!  I have to admit that I didn't finish it last night, and for that you can blame the England Cricket Team!!  I got engrossed in their exciting match with New Zealand (I know a lot of you will be saying that cricket isn't exciting!!).  But I did finish it this afternoon ....... so here is the big reveal

 

and one last photo from the garden to finish.  We didn't get round to planting anything in our "vegetable garden" this year, so when I saw a tray of "living salad" in Lidl, I bought it and planted it out.  After a rocky start, the plants are starting to flourish

 

 

A busy sewing day!

First up this morning was The Lovely Baby quilt (now its official name!).  Having finished the quilting, I trimmed the edges

 

and stitched on the binding

 

leaving a gap, so that I could join the ends

 

first, I unfolded the right hand tail, and pinned it in place

 

I overlapped it with the left hand tail, the end of which I had cut diagonally

 

placing a ruler against the edge, I drew a line on the right tail

 

I then lifted the left tail out of the way and marked another line, half an inch away from the first line - this was my cutting line

 

I put together the two edges

 

stitched the seam and pressed it open (oops, steamed up the camera lens!)

 

a nice, neat seam

 

all I have to do now is hand-stitch the binding to the back of the quilt.  I hope to finish it this evening, so we can have a big reveal tomorrow!

 

When I saw this beautiful bag marked down to half price last week, it just had to come home with me

 

I did hesitate slightly, as the bag only has a small pocket inside

 

and a small pocket with a zip on the end of a strap - handy to keep your keys in, if like mine they always end up somewhere at the bottom of my bag

 

I generally buy bags which have pockets or divided sections, as I like the (copious) contents of my handbag to be organised.  So I decided to make two containers to sit in the bag to keep my stuff sorted out.  I looked out some fabric and some stiff interfacing

 

and soon had two smart pockets to put in the bag

 

there was just one last little job.  The bag didn't have a fastener - no problem, a quick rake in the bits and bobs drawer produced this

 

a quick look in the tweed remnants produced this charity shop bargain

 

another drawer produced this tape, which I have had for years

 

a quick bit of pressing and the fabric squares were "hemmed" (oops, one turned out lightly more rectangular than square!)

 

I cut two small slits in each piece to put the legs through, then added the washers and bent the legs out to the sides

 

all I have to do now is hand-stitch them in place at the top edge of either side of the bag

 

the rest of the afternoon was spent doing more prep for the Aunts' Quilt, but you will have to wait until my next report to see what I did!

Ladies Race Day

Our special event today at patch'n'chat, at Borderland Fabrics, was a Jelly Roll Race (I'll explain in a minute what that is).  Annette, the owner and Cathy, her right hand woman, thought we ought to have a fun day, and asked us all to dress up as if going to a day at the races - hats were obligatory!

here we are at the start of the morning - Annette is front right, and Cathy front left

 

we had to pick a jelly roll each (without looking), and I was delighted with the one I picked

 

ok, so what is a jelly roll race.  First you join all the strips to make one very long strip

 

after doing that we had to have a short break for refreshments

 

before we resumed sewing, these three handsome chaps from Footeprint, the business next door, came in to judge the "best dressed filly".  They chose Margaret, who had decorated her hat with rosettes and a riding crop, and also had binoculars, so she really looked the part - she could have joined the Queen in the Royal Box at Ascot!

 

back to the sewing!  The next stage was to fold that very long strip in half and stitch along one side, cutting through the fold at the end

 

then the process is repeated

 

oh my, where had the morning gone, it was time to have lunch

 

 

having eaten two kinds of quiche, salad and one of Cathy's delicious puff pastry and potato rolls, I decided to forego the trifle and chocolate cheesecake ...... as I would have fallen asleep at the machine if I had eaten any more!

So, back to more sewing, continuing with the folding in half and stitching together continuing ......

 

until ta-da, I had produced a fabulous (because of the fabrics, not my sewing!) quilt top

 

later in the afternoon we had a break for some very silly fun .......  a hobby horse egg and spoon race!  I was in the first heat, so Maureen took charge of my camera ....... and good friend that she is, she captured the moment I dropped my egg!!

 

this is the second heat - Maureen is second from the left (not counting Pam and Annette in the background)

 

several more tops were finished by the end of the afternoon

 

just before I left, Maria finished her top

 

we were all given a medal for participating

 

and as it was a jelly roll race, that means there was a winner, the first to finish ......... and woohoo, it was me!!  I was absolutely delighted to be given a jelly roll for my prize - thank you very much Annette!!  And Annette also deserves a very big thank you for  laying on the day, providing the jelly rolls, the drink and the food.  Although we all paid a modest sum for joining in, Annette definitely subsidised our fun.  But it is all for a very good cause.  When the quilts are finished, they are being donated to the Margaret Kerr Unit, which is the Borders only Palliative Care Unit.  How much nicer to snuggle under a lovingly made quilt, rather than a hospital blanket, when spending time in the Unit.

To finish ....... Margaret didn't join in the race, as she prefers to hand sew, so she was working on her latest magnificent creation.  Not the best of photos, as I had to take it at a funny angle!

 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend ....... weather permitting we will be on the beach!  Love Anne 

Baby quilt progress

Although the Lovely* Baby isn't due for some time, I thought I would get on with making the quilt for the Lovely* Granny-to-be, Rachel.  I had already stitched the charm squares together to make the centre of the top, so yesterday I measured up the fabric which was to be used for borders, backing and binding.  First, I cut the four strips needed for the binding

 

having joined the strips on the diagonal, I trimmed off the corners

 

and pressed the seams open

 

I then folded the binding in half and pressed it, and set it aside for later

 

after double checking my calculations (measure twice, cut once!) I cut the strips for the border and stitched them on

 

amazingly, the first piece of cotton wadding that I pulled from my stash of off-cuts was just the right size, and it didn't take long to pin the layers together

 

as always, I did a bit of stitching on a sample piece, to check that the tension was ok

 

as the quilt top has so many bright patterned fabrics in it, there was no point in doing any fancy fmq, as it wouldn't show, so I used a large meander.  This is the back of the quilt, where the stitching shows more

 

by the end of yesterday afternoon, I had finished the fmq in the centre of the quilt

 

this afternoon, I switched to my other machine, and put the walking foot on, again checking the tension of the stitching was ok

 

this is the bit I find hard - I can happily fmq all day, but I struggle to sew straight lines!  However, by the end of the afternoon I had stitched parallel rows on the borders

 

all that remains now is to trim the quilt to size and stitch on the binding.

 

** Rachel, on her blog, has always referred to her son as the Lovely Son, then she added the Lovely Girlfriend, now Lovely Fiancee/Mum-to-be ....... so I have just carried on with her description of the important people in her life!!

 

ps - if you like donkeys, sheepies and orchids, don't miss tomorrow's post!

Some frantic sewing!

Oh my, it's the 15th of the month, which means that it is time for my next report on the Aunts' Quilt.  I missed last month's report altogether as I was on holiday, and as I was busy when I got back home getting ready for the craft fair last weekend, I am seriously lagging behind!  So this past week has seen me frantically trying to catch up.  I am now working on the setting triangles and the corner triangles, and the first few photos are a bit boring, but they do show that I have been stitching on all my bias stems

 

the last photo, of the corner triangles, is a bit more interesting!  I shall have to knuckle down over the next month to get back on schedule (Miss Anna has already cracked the whip over me!!)

 

we had a very busy weekend, so I will share some of it with you now and save the rest for tomorrow.  I am rushing to get this post done, as I have an appointment with my new dentist this evening.  Yes, I have parted company with Mr Highscoreatscrabble, as I really wasn't happy with his treatment ....... and the fact that I had to wait for weeks between appointments, as he was always fully booked.  So I have gone to another practice in Hawick, and so far I have been very pleased with my new dentist, who as been very thorough and very helpful - and this will be my 3rd appointment in 3 weeks!

On Friday my car had to go for a service in Kelso, so we dropped it off first thing, then went for a cuppa and pottered round the shops until it was ready.  We then headed to Berwick, stopping at The Hirsel for lunch.  Malcolm had the most delicious roll with hot roast beef and gravy - I took the photo when he had lifted the top off the roll so that he could spread horseradish over the beef

 

I had one of my favourites, cheese savoury sandwiches - and I very generously shared my salad with Malcolm

 

after lunch we had a potter round the craft shops.  We hadn't been to the Hirsel for some time, so we were delighted to see this new shop .....

 

........ as soon as we went in I wanted to buy most of the contents of the shop, but for some reason Malcolm stopped me!  I had to content myself with this tiny thing of beauty

 

the twinkly light inside is provided by a battery operated tealight

 

the little Gnome House is beautifully stitched

 

if, like me, you just have to have one of these little beauties to brighten your day, don't despair, simply click here!  It was while we were wandering round the craft shops that I had my chat with the tractor driver ....... then when we went back to the car park, there was more temptation, in the form of this old car.  The sun roof was open, and you could probably start it with a hairpin, but common sense prevailed, and I contented myself with taking a photo, not taking the car!!

 

to finish - you may have been worried that there hasn't been much in the way of sconnage recently ....... but that was rectified this morning, when we popped into the garden centre for a cuppa on or way home.  The cheese scone we shared was delicious!

 

 

ps ...... I will have to spend extra time on the implements of torture this week to work off the above food!!

 

Promoted from the rank and file ........

........ of Abbey Quilters, I am now a member of the committee!  I also have added duties as minute taker at committee meetings, and assistant to the Show Convener, for staging next year's exhibition!  And ...... I have been asked to provide a project for the first evening of our new session in September.  Of course I can't show you the project (not least because it is only half designed) but I can tell you that it is based on these thistle stitcheries, which I designed many years ago (ok, I told Malcolm what I wanted and he drew them for me!)

 

at the meeting last night, all the blocks that we made for the Margaret Fletcher Challenge were displayed

 

we were all given a piece of the background fabric, and had the choice of two blue fabrics, then it was up to us to make a block with a design of our own choosing, and we could add in any other fabrics.  Mary's Dresden Plate was chosen by an independent judge

 

there was a show and tell, and I made the effort to finish my cushion

 

I used rust-coloured thread to sew on the buttons, to pick up the same colour in the fabrics

 

 

after the show and tell, I asked Kathryn if I could take a photo of a piece she has been working on for some time (click on the photo to enlarge it to see the details of her stitching and beading)

 

as it was our end-of-term meeting, the committee laid on supper for us (you know we quilters love our food!)

 

now we have had supper, it's back to the sewing!  You may remember some weeks ago I knitted a matinee jacket and bootees for Rachel's first grandchild,  due in September.  Then Rachel and I had an exchange of emails and a long phone conversation about making a baby quilt.  To considerably shorten the story, Rachel and the Lovely Expectant Mum chose a Moda charm pack for the quilt top, and Rachel chose backing fabric. I arranged the squares on the design wall, and once I was happy with the layout, I stitched the squares together

 

the original plan was to then add a border using one of these fabrics, but I realised that there was enough of the backing fabric to use that for a border.  I pinned the squares to the backing fabric and emailed the photo to Rachel, who approved the layout (she also said I could blog about the quilt, as her Lovely Son and the Lovely Expectant Mum don't read her blog, never mind anyone else's!!)

 

because we were on holiday last month, I missed the May report for the Aunts' Quilt ....... and the next report is due on Monday (crivens, help ma boab and crikey jings!!!).  I have been chained to my work table, trying to catch up

 

would you like a little sneaky peek?!

to finish - if you like hostas, then you will like tomorrow's post!!

A fun day

On Saturday, I headed over to Kelso for Abbey Quilters' workshops, although I was only going to do the afternoon one, but I went along in the morning to make the tea and coffee.  Left to right we have Tricia, Edith and Moira having a quick cuppa before the morning workshop began

 

our teacher for the day was the delightful Katie (on Katie's left is Val, who will pop up later in the post)

 

I didn't take part in the morning workshop as they were making the "Hana" bag, which I made earlier in the year after buying a kit at the spring quilt show at Ingliston

 

first to finish was Margaret, who had chosen a pretty gold fabric

 

after a break for lunch, the afternoon session was a sashiko workshop.  The first thing we learned was that it is pronounced sashko, with a silent "i".  There were several patterns on offer, and we could each pick two - one to do at the workshop, and one to take to do at home.  We also got two pieces of fabric, sashiko needle and thread, all included in the price, then we were able to buy the handy pink tool

 

 

the pattern marked out ready to stitch.  We had the option of stitching on the single piece of fabric, or stitching both pieces, with all the working hidden on the inside

I had to concentrate on the stitching, as the stitch should be twice the length of the space, whereas I am used to hand quilting, where the stitch and space are the same length

 

at the end of the afternoon, there were lots of lovely things to ooh and aah over

 

but we weren't just sewing ........ we were also shopping, as Katie and her husband Simon had brought along lots of gorgeousness for us to buy!!

 

did I buy anything ...... of course!

a kit for a bag with the most wondrous fabrics

 

a kit for a smaller version of the bag with more lovely fabric

 

all things sashiko

 

if you too would like to own some of these wondrous things, then head over here ...... just don't blame me if you spend all your pocket money!  Of course, you know by now that when we quilters get together there is always cake involved ....... and we had rather a lot of it on Saturday!

 

I mentioned that Val would pop up again ....... she made the cheese scones, and knowing that Malcolm and I are fond of scones, she gave me two to take home.  When I unwrapped them on Sunday to have with our afternoon cuppa, I found that she had buttered them and put cheese on them - she is a real sweetie!

 

I finished my little rabbit on Saturday night .......

 

........ and I am looking forward to stitching my other pattern

 

to finish ........ cute animals!  First, amazing curly coated pigs which look as if they have been cross-bred with sheep, which we saw on Countryfile last night

 

then, this afternoon, a teeny, tiny mouse was running about, looking in the window.  It was so quick, I only managed to get one photo of it

 

 

Don't worry, there will be sewing ........

........ but I have some other photos that have been patiently waiting for inclusion.  First ..... sheepies!

 

and a horse, all of them in the field across the road

 

we had a beautiful sunset on Friday night

 

remember I bought the inexpensive bird bath as a temporary replacement?  Well, it's just as well it was inexpensive, as the birds wouldn't go near it!  And when we had heavy rain last week, we realised that the resulting increased water level was too deep.  So it has been demoted to looking pretty in the back garden, and I have bought a proper replacement.  The sparrows have already checked it out and approved!

 

so, now for the sewing.  I took the "Twas the night before Christmas" stitchery on holiday, and managed to get quite a lot of it done

 

and when we were over at the flat last week I finished another little stitchery (that's 12 of 32!)

 

but best of all, at patch'n'chat on Friday, I persuaded Margaret to let me take photos of some of her latest blocks.  Her work is beautiful ...... I am looking forward to seeing how this quilt progresses (click on the photos to enlarge them to see the detailed stitching)

 

I wouldn't want you worrying that we were deprived af tasty treats now that we are back home"  Yesterday we went to The Waterwheel Cafe on the outskirts of Selkirk, where we enjoyed one of our delicious two scone lunches

 

 

A little bit short!

Last Tuesday at Abbey Quilters, our Chairman Sandra (you also know her as our lovely Linus Lady) had a project for us to do, making a cushion cover.  She had prepared small packs of fabric for us to buy at a very reasonable cost, so all we had to take with us was our usual sewing kit (and of course our mugs for the cuppa).  As I was helping Sandra show the members how to construct their cushion covers, I didn't get started on mine until the weekend.  There were four choices of fabric packs, and I chose this one

 

the first job was to cut four squares from one of the background fabric strips, and five from the other

 

I popped the squares on to the design wall

 

it was a straightforward job to sew them together

 

also in the pack was a piece of fusible stuff to make petals with, and the template to trace

 

I knew from the other members cutting their petals out that there might not be quite enough fabric, so I stitched and cut mine two at a time .......

 

to make the most economical use of the fabric

 

but despite my best efforts, I was one petal short.  I could have waited to get another piece of fabric, but I decided to have five 3-petal flowers, instead of four 4-petal flowers

 

once the petals were stitched in place, the next job was to layer up the cushion front with wadding and a backing fabric, ready for quilting

 

I quilted the lighter coloured squares first

 

then this shows the first three darker squares quilted

 

the denser quilting on these squares make the flowers "pop"

 

I made up the cushion cover.......

 

....... using a lovely piece of silk curtain fabric for the back

 

I still have to add binding, then I will sew these cute buttons in the centre of the flowers

 

I am very pleased with how it turned out!

 

I mentioned that our usual routine has been disrupted this week - another change was that I had my hairdressing appointment today instead of tomorrow (I go every six weeks).  So we popped over to Pirn House for an early lunch.  When we arrived, we were the only customers, so I was able to take photos of the delightful coffee shop

 

Malcolm laughed at me when I ordered my "usual" ...... French toast with bacon and maple syrup

 

then it was my turn to laugh, when he ordered his "usual" of roast beef, tomato and horseradish sandwich

 

we managed (only just) to resist the wonderful display of cakes

 

although I may have had to be dragged away from these meringues!

 

Keeping it in the family

Yesterday we did a spot of charity shop browsing, and of course that means one or two things came home with us.  You may remember that I recently broke a wineglass ...... and then Malcolm broke one at the weekend (fortunately both glasses were empty, so no wine was spilled!).  So  we were happy to buy these six glasses at a very reasonable price

 

then there were paperbacks at 99p each - an excellent buy.   You can see from the titles that I like all sorts of fiction

 

it's hard to resist quilting magazines at 50p each

 

especially when they have some super patterns in them

 

you may have spotted that the magazines are French!  I used to be able to speak French, but I would struggle to now.  However, I can still read it, and if I get stuck, I can use my trusty French dictionary ........

 

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

 

and this is where the keeping it in the family comes in.  These books were won by my Dad

 

and as you can see from the label, we attended the same school - indeed the Rector when I was at the Academy was a teacher when my Dad was there!

 

I still have several of my school prizes ........ this was my first one.  Thee top right hand corner was chewed by the family dog!

 

my Dad went to this school too - I grew up in the house that he grew up in ..... he lived there for all but the first four years of his life!

 

I was only seven when I won the prize, but look at the questions posed at the back of the book!  (of course I answered them all......)

 

I have tidied the studio

 

and Malcolm has tidied the garage

 

tomorrow I will show you some more of what we have been making.