frayed at the edge

My new best friend!

I have to admit that for some time I wan't getting on very well with Mrs Billings, but now she is definitely my new best friend!  I was going to work on Stuart and Alison's blind yesterday, but I decided instead to get out Mrs Billings and organise what I have done so far.  You know that I have been working away on the hexagons for the outer border - this may look like a lot, but it's only enought to do one edge!

 

I laid out the various pieces for the centre and the first border

 

the pattern suggested adding the border before stitching to centre medallion, so that is what I did.  The first two sides stitched 

 

then the other two added

 

I then pinned the centre in place ready for stitching

 

I have also stitched the hexie flowers for Border 9

 

I have lots more hexies prepped for the outer border, some on my tray

 

and the rest in my box

 

we had a special visitor at patch'n'chat this afternoon - little Barley, who belongs to Annette and her husband Norrie.  Annette is away at the Festival of Quilts, so Norrie was minding the shop today and had brought Barley with him.  We had a violent thunderstorm during the afternoon, and poor Barley got in quite a state.  But when not barking at the thunder, his tail wagged constantly

 

 

as Annette is away, there was no home-baked cake, but Margaret brought in this delicious bought one

 

it is still very wet this evening, and I know the south is threatened by the remnants of Hurricane Bertha, but hopefully the weather will improve.  I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne

A variety of projects

Thank you for all your batty stories - I didn't realise that they got indoors so often.  When we lived in Indonesia, we sometimes payed tennis in the evening under floodlights.  Every so often a bat would swoop at the tennis ball - I guess they thought it was a big yellow bug!

Now for the sewing update.  The first job yesterday was straightforward - a cover for the bolster pillow at the flat.  I used some batik fabric from my stash.  The new sheets are a sort of burgundy colour, so the cover will go well

 

the next project was a little thread catcher bag.  This will sit on the table next to my chair in the flat, and will act as a little bin for all the ends of embroidery threads from working on the stitcheries.  Again, I used batiks from my stash, choosing two vaguely seasidey fabrics

 

I worked out the spacing for the four sides of the bag, and pinned two lengths of tape to the right side of one of the fabric

 

I put the other fabric on top, right side down, and stitched the two together

 

next I folded it in half and stitched the seam

 

I folded the lining over the outer fabric, then stitched across the bottom

 

the last job was to stitch across the corners ....

 

....... and trim the extra away

 

the little bag will hang from my seaside themed coaster that sits on my table, but for illustration purposes I have used a coaster from the studio

 

having made shoe bags for Alison's best shoes, I had thought some time ago that I would make something similar for Stuart for some of his collection of trainers.  Having finally tracked down some fabric with sneakers on it, I ordered a metre ....... but when it arrived, not only was it heavy furnishing fabris, but also was very, very wide.  I  coudn't think what to do with it, so put it aside.  When Stuart was here the other weekend, I asked him if there was something he wanted me to make for his "man cave" (aka the smallest bedroom) where he has his XBox, his dartboard, and other manly pursuits.  He suggested a bean bag, so I bought a pattern for one

 

when I made a start yesterday, there was a slight problem - I didn't have quite enough fabric.  Malcolm was summoned to redraft the pattern to fit, and the main part of the body was soon cut out and stitched together.  This is it roughy stuffed with some cushions

 

that just left the base to make - could I do it using the scraps?

 

I laid half of them out and placed the pattern on top - yes it would work

 

I trimmed the edges and stitched five pieces together, then cut out the first half of the base

 

I did the same for the other piece, then stitched the body and base together.  It was hard to take photos without any beans in it, so I pinned it on the design wall.  The first photo shows the base, with the opening through which the beans will be added, and the second photo shows the main body

when Stuart and Alsion moved into their new house, I made this Roman blind for their kitchen.  When they decorated the kitchen, the blind didn't quite match the colour scheme, so they asked if I would make a new one.  They chose the lovely rich chenille fabric on the right.  I will recycle the lining to make the new one - it will make it quick and easy to do as I will only have to cut the new fabric to size, then use the existing stitching lines as a guide

 

Malcolm is over in Berwick - I decided to stay at home to get my sewing done.  I have just spoken to him on the phone and he said that a ship docked this morning and he has taken photos for tomorrow's post ....... he also said he got caught in a heavy rain shower when he was beachcombing!

 

ps - we had a wonderful dinner with our neighbours, and we may have had a glass or two of wine.  We also had a very late night, so it will be early to bed tonight!

Another guest quilter

Before introducing you to the mystery quilter, some photos from yesterday evening and this morning

the big machine framed the boats

 

a catamaran came in to dock for the night

 

 

the first stitchery is almost finished

 

 

click to enlarge the photo to see how many seagulls were on the dockside and in the water

 

this afternoon, I asked Malcolm if he could pop into the studio for a minute.  Not suspecting that I was being mischievious, he was a bit surprised when I sat him down at the machine, which was set up for free motion quilting.  As he didn't want to lose face by saying that he couldn't do it, he had a go.  He filled in a gap between my doodles.  His doodling was ok, but he had trouble writing his name!

 

when I was having my practice on Sunday, I had trouble with this "c" curve ...... I had to concentrate so hard on which direction I was stitching in, the shapes were decidedly irregular

 

my first two efforts today were an improvement

 

then by my third attempt I finally got the hang of it

 

I thought I would have a go at an owl ........ Malcolm only laughed a little bit at it!

 

then I thought I would have a go at a sheep - perhaps it is as well that the thread ran out

 

after that I settled down to doing some prep for Mrs Billings, cutting out triangles for for the first border (I have done a lot of work on some of the outer borders)

 

while I was busy in the studio, Malcolm was playing with big boys toys in the garage

 

what was he making?  You know that I am going to tell you tomorrow!

Natural born stitcher*

So who was the mystery stitcher?  The story starts five years ago when Sarah and Andy came to visit.  Sarah was the first blogger that I met in real life, and we had a great day when she and Andy visited all those years ago.  So when Sarah got in touch to say that they would be in Northumberland again this summer for a holiday, of course we invited them for another visit.  They were a little bit late getting to us because of a major road diversion, so as soon as they arrived, we set of for lunch at Harestanes.  We were chatting so much I forgot to take a photo of lunch (delicious, freshly made sandwiches).  However, as we walked round the courtyard the camera came out

 

we then went to Mary Queen of Scots House in Jedburgh

 

the next stop was at Borderland Fabrics, but for some reason Malcolm and Andy chose not to go into the shop, and instead went to Border Meringues for a cuppa.  After Sarah did a little bit of fabric shopping, we joined the boys for a cuppa - but we resisted all the cakes and made do with the little meringues that came with our drinks

 

back home, we went out to the studio, as Sarah had asked if I would show her how to free motion quilt.  I had prepared a couple of sample pieces at the weekend, and looked out this book

 

I had a little go at the basic exercises on Sunday

 

so I was ready to show Sarah what to do

 

she took to it straightaway - Andy could only watch in wonder as she effortlessly doodled her designs

 

as she was doing so well, I rethreaded the machine with a luscious variegated thread, and she was off again

 

then, to finish, she stitched this owl on a branch, over her first efforts

 

unfortunately the weather wasn't good enough for us to have dinner outside, but the food tasted just as good eating at the kitchen table

asparagus soup (before the crumbled blue cheese was added)

 

roast chicken and gravy, with charlotte potatoes and Malcolm's green beans

 

meringue with 3-berry compote and cream

 

all too soon it was time for Sarah and Andy to head back to their holiday cottage.  We had a super day ...... and we hope it won't be another five years before we do it again!!

 

we zoomed off down to Stitchin' Heaven this morning, as Anne's major summer sale had just started.  The shop has been reorganised, and looks even better

 

Anne was cuddling a very special customer

 

Anne has started stocking some beautiful yarn, which comes from here.  So if you knit rather than sew, you can pop in to the shop and Anne will make you a cuppa while you decide which delicious colours to buy

 

after Malcolm dragged me out of the shop with rather a lot of fabric, we headed to Wooler.  We had lunch here, sharing a cheese and ham toastie and a cheese and onion toastie - yum!

 

but what was this?  Behind the coffee shop area, we discovered a small but perfectly formed patchwork shop.  It hasn't been open long, so if you are in the area, do pop in and support them

 

from Wooler, we came over to Berwick, so I am writing this post in the flat.  OK, I can here you all shouting "what did you buy"!  First, from Patchquirk, I got this super beach hut furnishing fabric, which will make more cushions for the flat

 

then from Anne's I got : the two white fabrics are for the Father Christmas wallhanging kits; the dark red variegated embroidery thread is for a Christmas project (I bought the fabric for it last year); the bright variegated threads are for stitcheries; the ruler is a handy size that I have been meaning to buy for some time; and the three coloured fabrics are for a Christmas throw for the couch in the flat

 

in case you don't think they are Christmas fabrics, here is a detail

 

of course if we are at the flat we have to have a swan photo (no close up of the seal, as Stuart has borrowed my big lens)

 

and to finish ...... I wonder if the person who parked this big machine on the dock left the keys in the ignition .......

 

*  apologies to Humble Pie for (almost) using their song title

A whole lot of sewing!

On Sunday afternoon, I set about finishing my Father Christmas wallhanging, as the college needed a photo to advertise the class.  When I put it on the design wall, I wasn't entirely happy with it - because I had only outline-quilted it, the background was sagging a bit

 

I decided to do a bit of free motion quilting, so this was the time to try out some of the things that I have learned from watching Leah Day's classes on Craftsy.  I was particularly interested in her classes as she uses the same sewing machine as me (most of the other Craftsy teachers use Berninas)

 

I inserted the teflon washer, in the hope that it would improve the stitching, reducing thread breaks and stopping fankles on the wrong side

 

I have always free motion quilted with the feed dogs down, but Leah recommends keeping them up, and reducing the stitch length .........

 

.... to zero

 

I am very pleased with the result, with no thread breaks and nice even stitching.  (Malcolm is delighted too, with how his design turned out!)

 

yesterday I made a start to making cushions for the new flat.  The first two are for the new dining chairs.  I had bought the seaside fabric some time ago, the plain fabric is offcuts from curtains that we bought from Ikea when we moved in here (almost eight years ago), and Malcolm had picked up the seat pads some time ago in a sale

 

it was a simple matter to sew round three sides of a square of patterned fabric right sides together with a square of plain fabric, then stitch across the corners, trimming off the excess fabric

 

the cushion pads already had ties on them, so I simply brought them through the seam

 

the finished cushion

 

next I made two cushions for the couch, using the same fabrics.  A square of the patterned fabric

 

right-sides together with two hemmed rectangles of the plain fabric

 

oops - I missed a photo of the next step!  I stitched round all four sides, then turned the cushion right side out.  I gave it a good press, then topstitched about 2" in from the edge

 

what to do with the leftovers?  That had to wait until today.  I cut out some of the words and strips of plain fabric to put on each side

 

then stitched them together with more strips in between

 

I added a strip top and bottom and squared up the cushion front ........

 

then I made the cushion up using the same method as the others

 

when I was out in the back garden this morning, the swallows were making an incredible racket.  There were nine of them lined up on the neighbours' roof ....... but I could only fit eight of them into the photo!

 

the weather was so good, I went for a walk after lunch.  I will show you the photos tomorrow ........ but here is a little sneak peek!

That's it all over .......

......... for another two years!  It may have taken a whole day to hang all the quilts, but it only took about an hour to take them all down again.  It had started to rain late in the afternoon, so our banner, which was hanging outside, got rather wet.  I brought it home and hung it out yesterday to dry

 

while I was waiting for Malcolm to get home from Berwick, I had some fun trying to take photos of the many bees in the garden  - just as you get them in focus they buzz off to the next flower

 

 

the olive tree is flowering

 

and the grapes are swelling

 

Malcolm came home with some photos of the dock.  Another large ship had come in, this time to be loaded

 

several large lorries came in and parked, spoiling his view somewhat!

 

once the ship was ready to leave, the pilot boat appeared

 

yet again the swans had to make a dash for safety!

 

on Saturday afternoon he was entertained by a great cloud of seagulls

I had to get an emergency appointment at the dentist this morning, as a filling had fallen out (it was soon sorted, and the bill was more painful than the treatment!)  When I parked in Hawick, I spotted this very large gull hopping from car to car 

 

I was a bit early for my appointment, so I walked along to the cauld

 

I was delighted to see a heron standing in the water - there have been few sightings of them this summer

 

 

I'll be back tomorrow with lots of sewing

Somewhat tired!

Oh my, it has been a busy day, so I shall rattle through today's post.  Limited photos from the exhibition, as a lot of peope don't want photos of their work shown online, but I can share these ones with you

Maureen to the left, me to the right

 

 

me and me!

 

Kathryn's elephants, all in silk

 

a beautifully beaded detail

 

this is also Kathryn's work

 

 

remember the landscape I made for the competition, with the mutant sheep on the tropical island?  Well, amazingly, it didn't win!!  This is the winning entry, from Rineke

 

Edith did lovely flower arrangements for the tables

 

and you may have noticed some tasty cakes as well

 

I intend to spend the rest of the evening with my aching, weary feet up on my footstool, watching tv (the final of Mastermind is on later) ........ and I may just have a glass of wine (or even two!!).  Then tomorrow I will head back to  Kelso to do it all again ....... it is so enjoyable chatting to the visitors to the exhibition, and hearing their compliments. Malcolm is enjoying his week in Berwick ....... he has been for long walks, has found lots of seaglass for me, has had his hair cut, and has bought lots of tasty stuff at a food festival!

Time to go and pour a glass of wine!  I hope you have a great weekend, love, Anne

School's out!!

When I got to the College this morning, Tracey wasn't there, so after dealing with the burglar alarm, the next job was to put the urn and the kettle on.  Why both?  Because I needed my cuppa there and then, not later when the urn had come up to the boil!!

 

after a general chat about quilting designs, I showed the students how to hand quilt, then they set about making a start to their practice pieces

Betty

Jo-an

 

Jane

 

Susan

 

on our last morning, the table stayed quite tidy!  

 

all to soon it was time to pack up and say goodbye.  We have had highs and lows along the way, but we have had lots of fun too.  Hopefully I will see them in November for the Father Christmas workshop.

I then headed to Kelso, to help with the setting up of the Abbey Quilters' exhibition ....... I'll tell you all about it tomorrow.  

After a rainy evening yesterday, we had a striking sunset

 

the horses grazed peacefully as the sun set

 

to finish ....... I was entertained this morning by the young robin having his bath

Too early for lunch

I had various errands to do in Hawick this morning, then I planned, in Malcolm's absence, to take myself out for lunch.  As I had my breakfast about 6.45, I was rather hungry when I arrived at The Mill (I was going to put in a link, but their website is being most unco-operative!) at 11.30.  But alas and alack, they don't serve lunch until midday.  So what did I do?  Well first, I settled down with a cuppa and my new magazine

 

then as I couldn't have lunch, I had a second breakfast!  The sausages are from a Hawick butcher, and they were delicious

 

I managed to ignore the tempting array of cakes - I didn't even zoom in to take the photo, so that I wouldn't have to look at all their luscious deliciousness 

 

when Malcolm was cooking dinner on Saturday at the flat - shock, horror .......... no spoon rest for his wooden spoon!  So when I saw this rather cute one in a shop window this morning, and also saw that it was very reasonably priced, I popped into the shop to buy one.  However I couldn't find one on the shelves, so asked a member of staff - she immediately opened the glass door into the window display and got it out for me.  I do like good service!

 

I also popped in to one of the several charity shops on the High Street, as their paperbacks are only £1 each.  I came home with these three

 

I have been stitching away, prepping more hexagons for Mrs Billings.  I will soon have enough done to start stitching them together

 

when I was in the Post Office this morning sending a small parcel,  I was asked what was in it.  The woman's face was a picture when I replied seaglass, driftwood and sea shells ..........

 

and I will be sending off another parcel next week to the winner of the "name the octopus" competition.  So, fanfare, roll of drums ...... the winner is Tracy, with her wonderful suggestion of Obadiah!  Thank you for all your suggestions - perhaps we will have to ask Obadiah to produce some offfspring, so that we can use the other names!

 

An object seldom seen ........

......... on my side of the room!

 

......... yes, for five whole evenings, I am in charge of the remote control - but only because Malcolm is over in Berwick.  No, we haven't fallen out, we are having some furniture delivered, and on Frriday the nice man is coming from Sky to instal the tv/phone/broadband, so we will be connected to the outside world!!

Malcolm left before 9 this morning, but my thoughts were already turning to lunch - I'll tell you later what I made with these

 

I have finished my cushion for the raffle at the exhibition

 

at our last class this Thursday, I will be teaching the students how to hand quilt, so today I made up small practice pieces for them.  I used a nice soft calico  and cotton wadding, which should be easy to stitch, and marked the pattern on using a stencil that I have had for years (and years!).  I used my Frixion pen to mark the pattern, when disappears with heat.  I know there has been a lot of discussion about these pens online and in quilting magazines, and while I wouldn't use it on an heirloom quilt, I am quite happy to use it on practice pieces

 

having basted thhe quilt sandwiches, I sorted out needles, thread and thimbles

 

I also looked out some hand quilted pieces to take with me to the class (you may have seen some of them before)

 

so what did I make with my veggies - a delicious bowl of soup, which I topped with some crumbled blue cheese

 

I'll be back tomorrow with the winner of the octopus-naming competition ....... but in the meanwhile I am off to change channels frequently and often, just because I can!!