frayed at the edge

It seemed like a good idea!

OK, I said I was going to thoroughly tidy, and possibly rearrange, the studio.  This is what it looked like at the start of the afternoon

 

this is what was hidden by the table cloth

 

I gave Malcolm the table to use in the garage (I bought it for £10 in a junk shop) and cleared out the corner .......

 

........ and emptied the top part of this unit, which I bought some years ago from a wool shop which was closing

 

Malcolm helped me lift if down (or should I say that I helped him!) and I then emptied the bottom section, and rearranged the other end of the room

 

now I need to put everything away

 

oh dear - that's not everything, there is all this too!

 

I will finish putting everything away on Saturday ....... and I will have to try hard not to be distracted by finding things that I forgot I had (I hope Malcolm doesn't read that bit!)

Lucie gave me this as a belated birthday present

 

what is it?  It's a thread holder, for embroidery threads - I added a few lengths from my Welcome wallhanging, to let you see how it is used

 

I bought this magazine when we were in Hawick this morning

 

it is very different to other "lifestyle" magazines that I have bought over the years.  I think it is Dutch, and it has a lovely quirky layout, with lots of handwritten bits

 

I also bought this little work basket in a junk vintage shop this morning

 

I wonder what sort of garment you would put boil-proof elastic in?!

 

to finish - the recent rain has meant that the River Teviot is full again ......... and hooray, the heron is back!

Sustenance

I have been very busy today, printing the covers and instruction sheets for my red, white and bue patterns.  The main pattern sheets are A3, so I had then copied at a copy shop when we were in Falkirk last week

 

there was a slight oops when I realised that I had left a bit off the bottom of one of the sheets, so there was a furious burst of writing on the ten copies!

 

fortunately, Malcolm provided me with sustenance ....... an apple doughnut, and hot chocolate topped with frothed milk

 

Lots of folding later, the patterns were all assembled ....

 

....... well, not quite, as my printer ran out of black ink with six pages to go!  I brought my laptop back into the house to use Malcolm's printer - and his had run out of black ink as well!!  So the last six sheets were printed in blue.  So here are the finished wallhangings

 

Malcolm has been busy too, making these fabulous driftwood trees

 

do you remember the strings of "lights" that I bought at the quilt show at Harrogate?  They are perfect for the trees

 

there was a lot of discussion on Saturday on the best way to quilt Abbey Quilters' raffle quilt, so I took these photos today to email to Sandra, the chairman, as one way of doing it

 

when I went out to close the outer storm doors at the back of the studio ........ woohoo, the sheepies had just meandered down to the bottom of the field

 

but to finish, a slightly more exotic animal.  My friend Maureen sent me a photo of a llama - no she hasn't been abroad on an exciting holiday, the llama lives in Jedburgh!

 

A multitude of talents

I had a great day out on Saturday, joining some of the other members from Abbey Quilters for a UFO day (that's unfinished objects, not aliens invading!)  First, we layered the raffle quilt for next year's exhibition, but there is an embargo on photos of it!  Next up was Rineke's striking black and red quilt

 

then we oohed and aaahed over Ivy's pretty quilt

 

Edith was hand quilting a small applique quilt

 

Anne S was finishing off her block keeper, with its cute owl

 

Sandra started off working on a pile of blocks

 

then did some machine quilting on this very cute quilt

 

we helped Moira layer this stunning quilt - the photo doesn't do justice to the colours.  She is very generously giving the quilt to Linus

 

of course lots of cuppas were drunk, and many biscuits eaten ....... and we might have eaten a few of these chocolates which I took, in case we needed a sugar boost

 

we weren't able to go for a walk yesterday morning, because of short, heavy rain showers, so had to console ourselves with a rather magnificent cheese scone

 

while trying to ignore the Christmas tree beside our table!

 

fortunately the rain had gone off when we saw this pipe band marching through Jedburgh

 

the rain stayed off as we drove home, so I was able to take some photos of the scenery

 

this is Fatlips Castle (although sometimes I get confused and call it Hotlips - do you remember her from MASH?!

 

this last photo is for Thimbleanna - I'm sure she wishes she had sheepies in a field behind her house!!

Tin love!

You may have noticed that I love tins - big ones, small ones, in-between ones ...... and when we were away I added to my collection.  This one appealed to my sense of humour

 

and this one is slightly impractical - because of course if you put pins in the cushion, you couldn't put the lid back on!

 

even I have to admit that Christmas is getting close, so it was time to buy the Christmas biscuit tin

 

when we see items that have names on, we never find any with "Malcolm" ....... until Wednesday, when I found this garden sign.  When I was paying for it, I remarked to the lady serving me that I could always paint over "genius at work" - and she said "just put a question mark after it".  Poor Malcolm, well and truly insulted!!

 

I had to go to Jedburgh just before lunchtime today, so I arranged to meet my friend Maureen for lunch after my meeting ..... but we were blethering so much I forgot to take photos!  It was a beautiful afternoon, crisp and clear, so when I got home I grabbed the camera and headed off up the hill.  Why is it that sheep turn their bottoms towards you just as you snap?

 

there were only two donkeys in the field

 

there are still lots of apples in a neighbour's old orchard ...... maybe I should have a midnight scrump!

 

just look at that beautiful blue sky above the church

 

I never tire taking photos of the Mintos

 

and the Eildons

 

I wonder if these sheep .......

 

appreciate the scenery?

 

this sheep was giving me the evil eye!

 

whille this one just looked so pretty

 

on the way back down the hill, of course I had to stop to admire my favourite view

 

and take more photos of the donkeys

 

then my bucolic idyll was spoiled by this - I had to jump on the verge to get out of the way of this lorry!

 

but then I took a last arty photo to restore my inner peace (or something like that!!)  The higgledy piggledy fence may have been replaced, but the reflection still looks good

Belated birthday party

My friend Lorraine and I met up for lunch today to celebrate our birthdays (hers is a few days before mine).  There is a smart new sign at the entrance to the garden centre

 

as usual I was early, so passed the time taking photos of the birds on the feeders

 

Lorraine had a brie, apple and cranberry sandwich

 

and I had ham, cheese and pickle

 

of course you can't celebrate birthdays without cake!  As Lorraine is a chocoholic, she chose the chocolate crunch

 

and I had lemon meringue roulade

 

poor Malcolm was at home dealing with a load of logs which were delivered this morning

 

by the time I came home he had filled the log store

 

so what did I buy yesterday?  You may remember that I already have one of these tins

 

but unlike that one, this one is stuffed with delicious fabrics

 

inside the carrier bag is a big roll of wadding ......

 

....... and these fabrics

A misty morning

We left home at 9am, to head off down the road to Stitchin' Heaven. There were bands of mist drifting  across the valley, making the Waterloo Monument on Peneil Heugh look as if it was floating in the air (click on the photo to enlarge it for a better look)

 

there was more mist further down the road

 

we were held up by roadworks

 

it was very annoying to have to drive behind this truck at 10mph for THIRTY YARDS, when the work was completely on the other side of the road

 

never mind, as soon as I got to Stitchin' Heaven, Carolyn put the kettle on and made me a cup of tea.  Carolyn was minding the shop today, as Anne is still quite poorly.  However Anne joined us at lunchtime and spent the afternoon with us.  Since she has been ill I had only spoken to her on the phone, so it was good to see her.  As always, everyone was busy sewing.  Annie was sewing together lots of tiny squares, which will eventually become a table runner

 

she had made these two pretty holders for reels of thread .......

 

...... and this lovely bag

 

Frances was working on her applique blocks - she has found the perfect fabrics for her thistles

 

Sue was continuing the hand-quilting of her Lilly Pilly

 

Carolyn has been designing blocks - I like her pumpkins

 

Margaret was working on a complex pattern of hexagons and diamonds

 

Ros's applique basket is very pretty

 

and lastly Lucie was working on a whimsical applique. I am hoping that she will make up patterns for her whimsical blocks, as I would love to make a quilt with them

 

Lucie was also taking photos, so we pointed our cameras at each other, counted to three and snapped (yes, a bit childish!)

 

Sue brought in a very special present for Annie.  Some time ago she had been given these beautiful Japanese dolls, which are made of paper.  However, beautiful as they are, they are not her thing, and knowing that Annie loves all things Japanese, she gave them to her (I was most envious!)

 

did I buy anything ....... I may have, but you'll have to wait until tomorrow to see!

Isn't technology wonderful .......

....... when you learn how to use it!  After I mentioned yesterday about not putting a post-it on the Kindle, Rachel left a comment about making a note on the Kindle.  So I made the effort this morning to find out how to do that .......

 

...... so when I tap on the highlighted word, up pops the note to tell me to use less egg

 

a sad day ....... my favourite skirt is now too tatty for me to wear.  I have had this skirt for years - I had it before we moved here seven years ago.  It was great for travelling in, as it doesn't crease and the bright colours hide any dirty marks.  But I have a plan to recycle/upcycle/repurpose it!

 

today didn't quite work out as planned, as we had a visitor this morning who stayed much longer than expected.  Once he finally left, we poppped into Hawick for a spot of lunch and some shopping.  I had to call in at the pharmacy in the Medical Centre to pick up a prescription, only to find that it was closed for lunch!  So we had to potter about the shops until it re-opened.  This meant that I didn't have as much time in the studio as I had planned.  I made a start to putting the binding on the red, white and blue wallhangings.  This is the hanging sleeve pinned in place

 

and the binding stitched on the front, ready to be folded over to the back and hand-stitched in place

 

this shows the binding n the second wallhanging folded over and clipped in place, ready to be stitched

 

since Saturday, Malcolm has transformed the garage into an outpost of Santa's workshop!  He has been making his driftwood trees, which he sold lots of last year.  He has made five so far

 

he has plans for the contents of these boxes

 

for those of you who are to young to recognise yesterday's tv programme ...... it was Cagney and acey.

Little and large

I decided to make turkey meatballs for the Fast Diet dinner, but when I did the shopping this morning, I couldn't get turkey mince, so I bought turkey steaks innstead.   I got out my big food processor, which  I bought it when we lived in Indonesia, so it is probably fifteen years old, and is still used regularly

 

the recipe says to use dried oregano, but I decided to use fresh herbs - some from the garden and some from pots on the kitchen windowsill.  I got out the little herb chopper - just a little bit smaller than the proocessor!

 

while the meatballs were cooking, I made the pear and chocolate jam.  First I cooked the pears with lemon juice and sugar

 

then stirred in the dark chocolate.  It doesn't look parrticularly appetising ....... but does it taste awesome or awful?

 

and the verdict is ....... DELICIOUS!!  Malcolm, who doesn't really like dark chocolate, also thinks it is good, although I don't think we would eat it on toast for breakfast!  There is a recipe in the book for a speedy tart - make a shortcrust pastry case and blind bake it (if you want to be really speedy, use a ready made one) spread it with some pear and chocolate jam, then arrange slices of poached pear on top.

It was only when I added the eggs to the meatball mixture that I remembered that the last time I made them, the mixture was a bit sloppy.  If the recipe had been in a book, I would have put a note on the page, but a post-it on the screen of my Kindle would be annoying!!

 

On Saturday I spent the day at Borderland Fabrics working on quilts for Linus.  The day got off to a good start when we were treated to delicious sconnage

 

then we had a choice of soup for lunch - I had lentil

 

to make sure we didn't run out of energy, there was a big tub of chocolates

 

sorry, what's that you're shouting?  Oh, you want to know about my sewing!  Sandra, our wonderful "Linus Lady", had a pile of fabrics for us to use.  I chose these four, and cut them into two sizes of strips - there was enough fabric to cut strips for two quilts

 

I didn't take my sewing machine, as Annette had said that I coud use one of the demonstration machines that she has in the shop.  I was slightly nervous when she gave me a brand new, unused machine! 

 

the first batch stitched into blocks

 

I still have an outer border to add - it was good to have some sunshine to take photos this morning

 

I didn't have time to work on my knitting through the week, but added a few more inches over the weekend.  I had a trial run at stuffing the tube, and rolling it up.  I have decided to make the rug oval, rather than round

 

 

we went for a wlk along the River Teviot yesterday, hoping to find some sloes, but alas there were none to be had.  However we did see these two elegant swans ........

 

autumnal scenes

 

handsome fellows

 

and of course, arty seedheads

 

to console ourselves for the lack of sloes, we headed off for some sconnage.  I had gone to wash my hands, and when I came back, Malcolm had already cut up the fruit scone

 

it was delicious, as was the cheese scone

 

to finish - when I was busy in the kitchen this afternoon, I had the tv on.  Do you recognise this blast from the past?

Shock horror!!

We went for a walk after lunch, to look for sloes ....... and there wasn't a sloe to be found!  We had hoped that there would be a good crop this year, after the complete lack of them last year, but there was not a single solitary sloe to be had.  However I have had a look on ebay (where else??!!) and if we don't find any locally, I will be able to buy some to make sloe gin.

However, there were compensations aplenty ....... first there were animals

 

wonderful scenery

 

new gates to admire

 

I was glad to be in the company of a master dry stone waller  who approved of the construction of this new stretch of wall

 

then there was the chance to take some arty seed head photos .......

 

before wending our weary way up the hill home

 

resisting the urge to kick up the leaves!

 

when we moved here seven years ago, there were only a few sparrows in the garden.  Now, many, many, bags of bird food later (costing a lot more than tuppence a bag!), we have a very healthy population

 

finally, the sewing!  I started with the six blocks with little sayings

 

after cutting them to size, I added the borders

 

then stitched the six blocks together

 

when I was in the studio at the weekend, it was cold enough to have the first fire of the autumn!

 

next, I took the six blocks with little pictures (you might notice that one of them isn't quite finished!)

 

these six blocks just have plain borders

 

I looked out the instructions for my workshop bag .........

 

.......as two of my friends from Abbey Quilters, Sandra and Sheila, are coming for a day's workshop in November to make one

 

it's quite a while since I last taught this workshop, so I need to make new samples

 

I pulled these fabrics from my stash - I'm looking forward to using them

 

I bought this panel at patch'n'chat on Friday, for a quick and easy project ...... yes, I'll tell you about it tomorrow!

<

In a hurry!

It's Abbey Quilters' monthly meeting tonight, and right now I should be cooking the dinner!  So what did I decide to knit?  I had a look through my books and pulled out this one

 

this is what I knitted over the weekend

 

it may look a bit strange now, but eventually it should look like this, once the tube is stuffed - a spiral woollen rug!

 

Malcolm gave me this bag for Christmas - it stops the ball of wool from rolling about the floor

 

I needed a new notebook to record my knitting in, so this lovely owl book, free with a magazine, is perfect!

 

when we were out and about on my birthday, I spotted this tin.  Of course it had to come home with me!  It had biscuits in it, which I have transferred to Malcolm's biscuit barrel  It is so pretty, I will have to put a very special project in it

 

I had a long chat with Anne on the phone last week about Nice people, Nice Things.  We have decided that it is much too big a project to continue with, as she would end up paying me more for making it than she would recoup from selling the patterrns!  So I am going to make up the twelve blocks that I have finished into  samples for the shop - I'll show you the progress on them tomorrow.

I filled the bird feeders this morning for the first time this autumn.  Instead of clustering round the feeders nearest to the window, the sparrows decided to eat the peanuts in the feeder at the back of the garden, and as the shrub in front of the bird table has grown rather a lot over the summer, it made taking photos tricky

 

so Malcolm was despatched with the secateurs to give the shrub a trim - much better!

 

when I came back into the house from the studio this afternoon, the sparrows were out in force - click on the photo to enlarge it, to see them sitting on the stones

 

with a robin keeping an eye on them

 

I can now give you the link to Will's photography website.  Stuart thoroughly enjoyed his lesson, and says he would recommend the walking tour of Edinburgh .... you not only get to see the sights, but you get the best of advice for taking your photos (and, if you like whisky, I believe a dram or two can be included along the way!). 

I missed my big lens when I was taking photos of the birds, but I won't mind too much that I haven't yet got it back, if Stuart continues to send me photos like this one, which he took yesterday, when he and Alison were out and about on a day off (I don't think you need me to tell you that this is a boy!)

 

to finish - my breakfast looked so pretty this morning, I had to take a photo!  Toasted brioche with half-fat creme fraiche, strawberries and blueberries ...... and maple syrup!