frayed at the edge

Another accidental purchase!

When Ruth and Annie were reorganising the fabric yesterday at Stitchin' Heaven, they also sorted out some bolts of fabric that have been in the shop for some time, and just haven't sold.  Anne has decided to have a permanent "sale" section at the back of the shop - all the fabric on these shelves are now £6 a metre.  So if you are going to be in the area, call in and bag yourself some bargain fabric!  While they were sorting out the sale pile, there was one fabric whichh caught my eye, and when Malcolm came back for me, he picked the same one!   Somehow, two other fabrics jumped off the shelf and went to the counter with me

 

so which was the fabric we both picked?  The apple one

 

the fabrics came home in my sewing box, which had taken the patterns and kits to the shop (do you like it, Meredithe?)

 

we have had quite a lot of rain, and the raindrops on the hosta caught my eye as I headed back into the house after a short session in the studio

 

I haven't taken many B&W photos recently, but inspired by Annie, after taking the photo of the hosta, I set the camera to B&W.  First, I took two photos of the climbing rose on the pergola

 

the roses are pink, as is this osteospermum

 

this might look like something from a sci-fi film, but it is a hosta flower, which is just starting to open

 

this is my favourite.  I think this leaf on the grape vine looks metallic

 

and that's it - a poor day for taking photographs!  I shall try to do better tomorrow!

On the doorstep

I took these photos this morning, standing on the front doorstep.  First, the horses in the field across the road

 

then, turning slightly to my right, the Eildons

 

a litle bit further to my right, fields and a higgledy piggledy fence

 

round a little bit more, and I should have had a view of the Mintos ....... but these trees have grown so much since we moved here almost seven years ago that you can only just see the top of the hills

 

 just after taking the photos, we set off for Longframlington, and Anne's shop.  It's good when Malcolm goes with me, as it means I can take some photos of the scenery

 

there would have been more photos, but it is a rather bumpy road, and several of the photos were blurred or showed the sky, as the car bounced just as I clicked!

It was with great excitement that I hung Country Cottages on the wall

 

and I was even more excited when a customer came in, looked at the wallhanging and not only wanted the pattern, but wanted a kit as well!!

 

then one last thrill, hanging the patterns on the stand!

 

Ruth and Annie were busy completely rearranging the fabrics

 

after a great deal of discussion and huffing and puffing carrying bolts (which are surprisingly heavy) from one end of the shop to the other, here is just a little bit of the new arrangement

 

only one bit of sewing to share - Susan was working on her version of Lilly Pilly

 

and to finish - when I went through to the kitchen when I got up (at 6.30), there were several starlings sitting on the birch tree in the front garden.  By the time I grabbed the camera, there was only one left on the tree ........ and the camera was on the wrong setting!

 

ps - did I accidently buy some fabric - come back tomorrow and I'll tell you!

 

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Rush, rush, rush

I emailed Anne last night to check if it was ok to go down to see her next Wednesday, as I usually go on the first Wednesday of the month.  She replied that next week didn't suit, and could I go this Wednesday instead.  So today I have been running about finishing Country Cottages and printing the patterns.  I wanted to add some beads, so looked out these three tubs

 

there are all sorts of beads

 

they added nice finishing touches as flowers and doorknobs

 

and here it is, the finished quilt!

 

while I was sewing on the beads, I had the printer chugging away, printing the patterns

 

but then there was a slight hiccup - when I started printing the photos to go on the front of the patterns, the colour cartridge ran out

 

fortunately I had a new one, and by the end of the afternoon, the patterns were in their bags, ready to go south tomorrow

 

Susan asked me where in the garden my studio is, so I took these photos this morning.  For the first photo I am standing just inside the gate from the front of the house into the back garden, with the studio at the back of the garden beyond the summerhouse

 

I'm now standing where Stuart was lounging in the hammock (sorry about the washing line in the photo!)

 

the back part of the studio is one of the original farm buildings - it was the milking parlour

 

this is the view out the back

 

a funny story ...... a while ago a friend had asked me about the outer wooden storm doors.  I went out to take photos, closing them as they looked better that way.  Oops - you can't open the storm doors from the outside ..... and you can't undo the bolts on the gate from this side - so I had to climb over the gate.  I am very glad that no-one saw me!

Very cute post alert!

Do you remember Margaret's very cute penguins?  She had promised to bring them back when she finished the quilt top so that I could take photos to share with you

 

it was hard to pick some for close-ups

 

Margaret has now started work on a quilt with cats.  It has been well documented on this blog how I feel about cats, but I suppose I will eventually show you photos!!

So what was I doing with the French curves?  I have been very remiss this month with my block for Lucie's "A is for applique" challenge, so yesterday I sat down in the studio to put on paper the idea I had bubbling in my brain.  I wanted curves for the flower stems, so instead of drawing them freehand, I used the French curves

 

this is the wording, which will go above and below the flowers

 

I don't think I have ever written "tranquillity", and I wasn't sure if it had one "l" or two, so I looked it up in the dictionary, only to find it can be spelled both ways!

Annette braved the heat of the kitchen to bake delicious fairy cakes for our afternoon cuppa, topped with chocolate and a Smartie.  I have to confess that we all ate two of them!

 

our fingers are firmly crossed that the good weather continues tomorrow for Stuart, Alison, Fraser and Linsey visiting.  The fridge is full of beer for the boys and wine for the girls, and there are lots of toppings for the pizzas.  We will be having fun, and I hope you have fun too!  Love, Anne

 

Hooray for Mr Heron!

As usual we went to Hawick this morning for a cuppa, and as we meandered back along the High Street to the car park we decided to have a detour to where we often see a heron.  It was more in hope than expectation, as we haven't seen any herons on the rivers (Teviot, Slitrig and Tweed) for weeks ......... but there he was!

 

several of you guessed that yesterday's photo showed Malcolm's pizza oven ....... but the first thing he cooked wasn't pizza!  It can also be used as a barbecue and a smoker, so he decided to hot smoke the salmon for last night's dinner.  Yesterday's photo showed the kindling - once that was burning well, he added some ash logs

 

once it was at the required temperature

 

he added some maple wood chips for added flavour

 

a quick peak to see the salmon cooking in the smoke

 

we had the salmon with cauliflower cheese.  It was delicious - succulent and flavoured with the smoke

 

did you notice how orange the cheese sauce was?  That's because Malcolm used some of this fabulous cheese

 

while Malcolm was busy with the salmon, I got out this packet of pizza base mix

 

and after five minutes kneading, left the dough to rise

 

once we had eaten the salmon and cauliflower, I topped the pizza base with some olive oil and garlic salt

 

we the had a bit of a problem transferring the pizza on to the pizza stone in the oven, so there are no photos of that stage.  Next time we will make small pizzas to make it easier.  So, our first (sort of garlic bread) pizza ....... it's not pretty, but it was delicious!  It might have been a rather strange order to eat dinner, but we enjoyed the salmon and the pizza - the oven has been voted a big success!!

 

I've mentioned before that it is handy being married to an engineer.  Today I looked out Malcolm's set of French curves, which he has had since he was at university

 

but you will have to wait until tomorrow to find out what I was doing!

To tidy or not to tidy .......

Stuart and Alison had already arranged to come down for a visit on Saturday, staying over until Sunday, then on Monday Stuart phoned to say that their friends Fraser and Lynsey had asked if they could come too.  No problem, but when I looked round the studio yesterday, I thought perhaps I ought to tidy up a bit

 

I might even have to vacuum the carpet!

 

after surviving my visit to the dentist (I was very brave and didn't cry or scream!) I decided to treat myself to a nice lunch!  I went to the Damascus Drum

 

it looks as if I was the only customer, but there were people behind the partition

 

I always have the same thing when I go to the Drum for lunch - the ploughman's bagel.  Of course Malcolm is usually with me, so I share the cheese with him, but I just had to eat it all myself yesterday.  I love cheese, but of course it is high in fat, so I try not to each too much ..... although I am supposed to have lots of dairy in my diet for my thin bones.

 

On the way back to the car I walked down to the river to take some photos of the low level of water.  When you see it this low, it is hard to believe that when it floods it comes up so far that the house on the left has raised the height of their garden wall to keep the water out

 

this gate is closed to contain flood water

 

but yesterday there was so little movement in the water that there was a wonderful reflection of the bridge

 

I have been doing reasonably well not buying magazines, but this new magazine came home with me yesterday.  I have been doing so much sewing recently that I have neglected my needle felting, but I hope to get back to it soon

 

I have also doing quite well not buying books, but I'm justifying buying this one as there are projects for Malcolm as well as me ...... and of course it's using up junk, rather than buying stuff

 

and now, the sewing update.  I have been beavering away on Country Cottages, finishing the machine quilting on the blocks

 

the next job was to quilt the outer border.  I set up the quilting guide, so that the lines of stitching would be 1" apart

 

it didn't take long to quilt the four sides

 

this afternoon I added the borders to "home is where the heart is" - this is the second version of this block, as this one is a sample for Anne.  The next job is to quilt it - then comes the really difficult part - writing the instructions!!

 

this has been quite a foodie week of blogging - and there is more tomorrow!  Here is a sneak peek

A short post!

Somehow today I managed to only take four photos, so tonight's post will be short and sweet!  This afternoon Anne S. had this adorable tiny teddy with her.  It was made by her daughter, Roberta

 

 

Roberta embroidered one of the paws witn BBB ..... Bears By Bobbi

 

Maureen has started a very cute wallhanging with little owls - here is a little sneak peek

 

now for the cake ...... another of Annette's light as air chocolate sponges with fresh cream and strawberries ....... very, very delicious!!

 

Meredithe has now received her prize for fogetting something special - in her case, her Mum's 70th birthday.  And I deserve a prize, because I forgot to take photos of what I sent her!  Fortunately Meredithe has posted about her prize, and you can read it here.

 

The weather is still glorious, and hopefully will remain so for the weekend!  Whatever the weather, I hope you have a great weekend, love, Anne

Swanning about

As we walked across the car park to the car after our usual Thursday morning potter round Hawick, I suggested that we walked on towards the river

 

we were rewarded with a pair of swans

 

however the seagulls looked somewhat unhappy at the lack of water

 

because of the extended spell of good weather, the council workers have been able to cut the grass in public areas of the town, making everywhere look very neat and tidy

 

I can only think that it is the hot weather which has persuaded this orchid to start flowering again. 

 

there had only been two flowers left on it, when it suddenly put out more buds

 

this one also had only two flowers left, and it too has put out more buds

 

these two were languishinng on the windowsill in the back bedroom, as it is some time since they last flowered - but they have both put out flower spikes since I checked them last Friday, when I watered the house plants

 

this afternoon I layered up and pinned Country Cottages ready for quilting

 

I did some in-the-ditch quilting, then started quilting round the cottages

 

when I did the workshops with Gail Lawther, she mentioned frequently that she always uses the knee-lift on her sewing machine.  This is a lever which you push with your knee (you probably guessed that) to lift the foot, instead of using the lever.  This leaves both hands free to manouevre the quilt, and also makes it a bit quicker.  I have rarely used mine, but thought I would have a go as there was a lot of turning back and forward quilting round the cottages

 

once I got into the rhythm of using it, I decided that it does indeed make it quicker and easier, and I will continue to use it.  I don't have one for my other machine, as it has a feature that raises the foot slightly every time you stop stitching.  It would be great if you could get a sewing machine with all the best features from every machine you have ever had ...... I've just counted up, and I have had eight machines over the years, starting with a very old Singer treadle machine which a friend of my Mum's gave me when I was a teenager!

 

the birds have been making good use of the bird bath.  The collared dove had been having a drink

 

whereas the sparrows like to have a good splash

Des res*

Work has been continuing on the Country Cottages.  On Saturday I finished stitching the raw edge applique - eek, look at all those ends to sew in!!

 

on Sunday I added some little bits of machine embroidery - later I will add little flower shaped beads

 

the next stage was the checkerboards and strips round the blocks

 

 

On Monday I started adding the sashing

 

today, I finished adding the sashing, but I forgot to take a photo, as my friend Lorraine was here for a day's sewing (and blethering).  However after she left, I remembered to take this photo, which shows the completed top

 

the honeysuckles in the garden have been basking in the sunshine.  This one is in the front garden

 

and this one in the back

 

the purple elder looks striking in the front garden

 

Malcolm has finished painting the summer house - but I should have closed the doors so that you could see that they are painted in the darker colour

 

the plants in the new planter are filling out nicely

 

the funny, scruffy little robin has been back in the birdbath

 

well, I'm off to stir the lamb curry which is smelling delicious.  It is for tomorrow's "fast" day ...... it is made with no fat or oil, which keeps it low in calories.

 

* des res - estate agent shorthand for desirable residence

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This one or that one?

When I arrived at Borderland Fabric this morning, Maria had lots of hexagons laid out on the table in a random fashion

 

she then rearranged them into an ordered pattern

 

she sent photographs of both arrangements to her daughter, for whom she is making the quilt.  Maria preferred the ordered arrangement ....... so of course her daughter wants the other one!!  Maureen finished this, her twelth applique block ....... she may do more to make the quilt bigger, but then again, maybe not!!

 

Katy has been working on a log cabin quilt, using the most gorgeous fabrics

 

Tricia's applique quilt is for her granddaughter Charlotte

 

and of course there was cake!  This week it was Annette's delicious spiced fruit cake - it is lovely and moist, similar to a clootie dumpling

 

during the week, I have been working on the revised version of my "Country Cottages".

 

I had a fair bit of fabric folding and putting away to do once the houses were done!

 

I made a start to the checkerboard borders

 

when you need to draw lots of circles, it helps to be married to an engineer!

 

it promises to be another hot and sunny weekend - yippee!!  Whether you are enjoying summer in the northern hemisphere, or winter in the southern hemisphere, I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne