frayed at the edge

Stash busting!

After all the hand sewing that I have been doing, on Sunday I decided to pull some fabrics from my stash to make a couple of quilts for Project Linus.  First up on the design wall was this panel, which I bought at a "bring-and-buy".  As you can see, it is a bit wonky

 

I also thought it was a bit out of proportion, so I cut some off and tried to square it up as best I could.  I was limited by the fact that there was only a small seam allowance on the sides.  I then added borders 

 

as you can see, the bottom still looked decidedly squint, so I added two fleece flowers to try to hide the worst bit

 

I put it aside to be quilted at a later date, and got out the leftovers from Hanna's baby quilt

 

I cut squares, and after a few different arrangements on the design wall, I decided on this arrangement.  As you can see, there is an odd square in the centre, as I was one square short!

 

another search through my stash turned up this pretty floral for borders

 

I thought it still needed something, and cut a trial flower, using the template that I used for the baby quilt

 

I added another three flowers, and I will make a smaller flower to go in the centre square

 

this morning I stitched the second pieced block that I have to make this month for the Aunts' Quilt.  The first job was to make the flying geese.  I marked a diagonal line on all the small squares

 

then chain pieced half of them  to one side of the rectangles

 

I trimmed the corners off

 

and pressed the seams

 

I stitched the remaining squares on the other side, to end up with flying geese - but you will have to wait until my next report to see the finished block!

 

on Sunday I watched The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, this morning I watched The Girl who played with Fire, and this afternoon, when I was stitching the fourth applique Aunts' block, I watched The Girl who Kicked the Hornets' Nest.  These are the original Swedish films, and I had the option of watching them in Swedish with English subtitles, or dubbed into English.  I chose the dubbed versions!

 

I almost forgot to include the stitching I did on Saturday when we were over at the flat.  I finished block five

 

and started block six

 

to finish ........ I had my special cup of tea, made with my special infuser, in another of my special mugs

Who ate all the pies?!

I hadn't weighed myself recently, as the scales needed a new battery, but Malcolm bought a battery yesterday, so this morning I stepped on the scales .......... and turned round to see if the Wicked Weight Witch was standing behind me with a foot on the scales!  Oh dear, recently there has been too much of this

 

and not enough of this

 

so I will have to up my fitness regime on the instruments of torture

 

when we were in Berwick last Saturday, I saw this piece of beautiful blue woollen fabric in a shop window.  As it was very reasonably priced, I popped into the shop and bought it .....

 

.......as I knew it would be perfect for this pattern, which I bought in Australia, along with the book and assorted woolly bits

 

Margaret has started to put her latest quilt together - every time she makes a new quilt I ask if I can have it!!

 

I may have had a shock when I stood on the scales this morning, but that didn't prevent me tucking into my Friday cake!  Annette had tried out a new recipe - raspberry and yogurt muffins ...... delicious!!

we're off to Berwick in the morning, and hopefully will be able to have a walk on the beach in the afternoon, no doubt collecting more driftwood!  I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne

 

More stripes than a zebra!

As usual on a Thurday morning, we headed into Hawick for a cuppa in the Pickled Orange coffee shop.  Malcolm then headed off home, while I headed for the dreaded dentist.  As I was a bit early. I walked along to the cauld, hoping to see a heron.  No herons, only a few ducks and a couple of seagulls!

 

these stems of dogwood(?) provided a bright splash of colour

 

this beautiful building has been lying empty since we moved here, slowly rotting away

 

then I could put it off no longer and had to head to the torture chamber dentist.It was every bit as bad as I feared it would be - I could feel a tear trickle down my cheek ....... and that was when he was administering the painkilling injection!  After 45 minutes I staggered out of the chair to face further pain, as I paid another instalment of the bill!  However, that is all the prep done for the crown, and I go back in two weeks time to have it fitted

 

back home I headed out to the studio for a relaxing afternoon cutting out the rest of the hexies for the outer border of Mrs Billings.  I cut them out in batches, and filled each little bag with the hexies needed to make a pyramid.  By the end of the afternoon, I had them all organised, ready for the next sewing session

 

to finish ....... we have stripes, lots of stripes!!  Poor Malcolm was made to stand in the garden, draped in the front of the ball end sweater, and an almost finished sleeve.  I love it - I just hope Fraser's Dad does too!!

More snow!

We got up this morning to another light covering of snow, then more fell after breakfast.  After lighting the stove, I went out to take some photos in the back garden while the studio warmed up

the bell outside the studio

 

frozen water butt

 

fern leaves in the shady corner

 

the rusty bird looks unimpressed by the snow!

 

the ladybirds were a souvenir from our holiday in Portugal

 

just as well I didn't need to tell the time from the sundial!

 

 a solar lamp on the deck

 

delicate snow crystals on a shrub

 

after taking the photos, I was ready for a warming cuppa.  Stuart and Alison gave me this posh tea for Christmas

 

and I treated myself to this fun infuser

 

special tea deserves a special mug, so I got out this one (I have to admit that I have a matching teeshirt, but I think that might have been taking things too far!!)

 

 

I have now finished the first four blocks of "Best Friends Forever", which I have been working on when we are over at Berwick

 

at the weekend I made a start to block five

 

and this morning I prepped the remaining blocks (there are thirty two altogether!)

 

I did quite a lot of sewing today, but I'll save the rest to show you tomorow!

My 3rd Auntlet's report

I have been stitching and stitching to get my blocks finished, to catch up with the schedule, as set by the wonderful Thimbleanna, who is co-ordinating our quiltalong.  Of course I would have had more done if I hadn't got sidetracked on a related project.  My block keeper wasn't big enough for the blocks, so I decided to make a new one, using the two orphan blocks that I showed you recently

the front

 

the back

 

the inside

 

the first blocks

 

so, on to the blocks.  By today, I should have completed six pieced blocks and three applique blocks.  So how have I done?

first and second pieced blocks

 

third and fourth

 

fifth and sixth

 

having completed all the pieced blocks, how have I done with the applique blocks?

block one - finished

 

block two - almost finshed

 

block three - about two thirds done

 

so not quite finished, but not too bad!  Here are all the blocks on the design wall - I am looking forward to adding the next three blocks next month, another two pieced blocks and one more applique block

 

do pop over to Thimbleanna, where all the participants are listed on her sidebar.  I'm off to have a look, to see how everyone has done this month!

 

Spooks-athon!

You would think with all those channels on Freeview, I would have plety of choice for something to watch while sewing in the studio

 

so I got out my collection of Spooks DVDs ............

 

......... and settled down to get on with my stitching on the Aunts' Quilt blocks ......... when I could tear my eyes away from the delectable Richard Armitage

 

if you haven't seen him on tv, you may have seen him in the Hobbit films - he played Thorin Oakenshield.  As Johhny Depp doesn't look so good these days, I may have to replace him with Richard (although perhaps George Clooney should get the boot from my most desirable list, as he didn't wait for me, but went off and married someone else!!)  But I would have to put my foot down and demand that Richard shaves - I don't like stubble!!

 

there was a heavy shower this afternoon of hail/snow ....... I couldn't quite decide which it was

 

after the usual Christmas overindulgence, we're back pn the dreaded Fast/5:2 diet.  Yesterday I had made a pot of chilli to have for dinner today.  Rice has far too many calories for a fast day, so I made a batch of cauliflower and carrot "rice", with a tasty extra ingredient

 

I made the chilli with pork mince (simply because I has some in the freezer) and added lots of mushrooms and celery to give a good sized portion, without adding very much to the calorie count.  I was a little bit generous wiht the chilli powder, but it was just the sort of chilly day to tuck into a big bowl of hot chilli!!

 

I'll be off shortly to pick up Maureen, to go to Abbey Quilters for the monthly meeting.  We are going earlier than usual, as we are on "setting up" duty - putting out the tables and chairs. This evening one of the members will be demonstrating how to make a small cushion which resembles a strawberry, for resting your mobile phone on when it is charging.  As I have no need for such an item, I will be doing some more stitching on the Aunts' Quilt!

 

Team work

On Friday afternoon at patch'n'chat, Maureen ordered commanded asked me to turn on my Hudl, and head for this website.  Once there, she directed me to patterns which were in the sale.  Having found the patterns, Margaret was then summoned to look at them, as Maureen was certain that she would like them.  It turned out that she already had some of them, but she didn't have this one, and as she doesn't do the internet, I was tasked with ordering the pattern for her.  I ordered it on Friday evening, and it arrived this morning ..... excellent service!

 

I should have been showing you photos of the snow on Saturday afternoon, but I had a slight oops when I was transferring my photos to my laptop this evening, and accidently deleted some of them (I also deleted photos that Malcolm had taken of a rainbow this morning - sorry dear!!).  Because of Saturday's bad weather, we didn't go for a walk yesterday morning, but we did go for a delicious cheese scone at the woolen mill in Jedburgh

 

after all the snow and rain over the weekend, the rivers were very full in Hawick this morning.  The small island where the trees are was completely submerged

 

the water in the Teviot, in the foreground, was flowing so hard that it was holding back the water from the Slitrig, coming in from the top right of the photo

 

the noise as the water crashed into the bridge was amazing - drowning out the traffic

 

although the rivers were running hard, they were nowhere near flooding, much to the relief of the local residents

 

I have been knitting away on the ball end sweater and finished the back last night.  So to finish, here is Malcolm patiently modelling it for me, after I poked and pulled to get it to sit properly

 

The first of the year

It was good to be back at patch'n'chat today, to catch up with what everyone had been doing during our break.  Margaret has been busy working on yet another of her stunning applique quilts - here are three of the amazing blocks

 

Margaret had also made this fun Christmas wallhanging (the background fabric is a much darker blue - my camera just doesn't like blue!)

 

Maria was working on a crochet blanket for Linus

 

Sheila was busy cutting fabrics for the next jumbo block for a sampler quilt

 

in contrast, Katy was working on tiny hexie flowers - as you can see, this one is sitting on an inch square

 

for our first Friday cake of the year, Annette had made out favourite apple and sultana - delicious!!

 

while we were having lunch, we were visited by Sew - ot was it Sew?  Sew (or Sew) preferred the Ladies toilet to our company.  I am amazed that the two butterflies have survived so long in the shop!

 

We were going to go to Berwick for the weekend, but as snow is forecast, I think we shall just stay at home.  Whatever the weather, I hope you have a great weekend, love Anne 

 

An amazing bargain!

When we were in the local DIY store recently, we noticed two solid wood bath panels lying on a trolley, with stickers on them saying that they had been reduced from£65 to £5 each!  I immediately claimed the oak one, which is now a very stylish shelf in my studio

 

Malcolm claimed the other one, which is beautiful tongue and groove pine ....... no doubt some marvellous construction will appear from the garage - perhaps a piece of garden furniture?  I have pinched stolen acquired one of Malcolm's driftwood trees, to display little bits and bobs on (it's on the much less stylish shelf, made from the top of an ancient old computer desk)

 

at the weekend I reorganised my quilts and wallhangings that are stored in the lower level of the studio, using two portable clothes rails

 

When Stuart and Alison visited at Christmas, Stuart said that he had a bit of an odd request for me from his friend Fraser.  Fraser's Dad has taken up archeology in his retirement, so Fraser thought it would be fun to give his Dad a "ball end"  sweater, as worn by the late Mick Aston when he appeared on Time Team.  

photo from Wikipedia

 

Always happy to accept a challenge, I tracked down some cheap and cheerful yarn, which arrived today.   It will be fun knitting in random stripes

 

when I was ordering the yarn, I hadn't enough in my basket to qualify for free p&p, so I added a ball of sock wool to the order.  As you can see, it co-ordinate nicely with my footstool!

 

A little bit of sewing!

As I moved a half-done project out of the way on my work table, I thought that perhaps if I just made the effort to finish it, in the long run it would save me time, not having to keep moving it (I hope you followed that!)  So that's what I did.  I had stitched the sashiko some time ago, so all I had to do was assemble the bag

 

the lining is a very pretty Japanese fabric

 

I have to admit that I am very good at starting things, but not so good at finishing them, so spurred on by the pleasure of finishing the little bag, I looked out my Baltimore blocks which were waiting to be made up into a scarf/runner for across the bottom of our bed.  I found the perfect fabric for the sashing in my stash and soon had the blocks stitched together.  It is too long to show you in one go, so you will see the centre block in both photos as I rotated it to show both ends.  When I go to patch'n'chat on Friday I wil get wadding and backing fabric , so that I can quilt it

 

woo hoo, two things done, what can I do next?  When I did the beginners class at the college, the last thing they made was a little bag.  Of course I had prepared several bags, taking each one a stage further.  I got them all out, finished them, and now instead of tatty polythene bags stuck to the edge of my work tables with masking tape, I now have very smart fabric to collect rubbish in.  I made five - one of them is in the house and the other four are pinned to the table edges - here are two of them

 

some time ago, along with a lot of others, I got caught up in the "Farmer's Wife" quilt fever.  However I soon recovered, as I didn't enjoy putting the blocks together - they were "non-standard" sizes and some of them had so many pieces it was hard to be accurate.  When I unearthed them, I found that I had actually made sixteen blocks, enough for a small quilt.  However some of them were decidedly undersized, so I needed to have a bit of a pochle* to get them all to fit.  I stitched borders round all the blocks, then trimmed them all to the same size.  I like the way the inner border makes the blocks "float" on the quilt.  Now all I have to do is quilt it

 

next up was an ongoing, rather than an unfinished, project.  In the evenings I had appliqued the hexie flowers to their background squares, and I have now stitched them together, ready to go on after I have made the next section

 

I have also been stitching away on the hexie pyramids, and have finished another nine

 

I have also made something using these two orphan blocks, but as it is connected to the Aunts' Quilt, you will have to wait until my next Auntlet's report ot see what it is!

 

when Malcolm brought me my afternoon fix of hot chocolate, he also brought me a piece of Christmas cake ....... bliss!!

 

to finish - a little oops!  I had been using this plastic template the other day, and hadn't put it away when I finished with it.  I then was cutting something with the rotary cutter and didn't notice the template on the cutting mat ....... oh dear!

 

* pochle can mean to cheat in a criminal way, but we quilters use it simply to mean adjusting or manipulating bits so that they fit together.