frayed at the edge

A fun weekend!

 On Saturday, I headed off down the A1 to The Quilt Shop, ready for a day of fun!  The wonderful Lucie had designed this wonderful whimsical wallhanging for us to sew (the photos are used with Lucie's permission)

 

every block is just so cute

 

and I will have lots of fun  ........

 

........ adding all sorts of embellishments

 

I started by tracing the shapes on to fusible web

 

then having cut out the pieces, I checked that they were centred in the block

 

unfortunately I wasn't paying attention, and put the top heart the opposite way up to the pattern - oops!  The other ladies thought it would look ok with the addition of a star on the top, but I have plenty of fabric, so I might make another one

 

of course there was cake to keep up our energy levels

 

working a zigzag stitch round the edges.  There is another class next month, so we have to finish our blocks, ready to add the sashing and borders

 

yesterday morning we went up to the flat, and as the weather was reasonable, we went for a walk on the beach.  The sand has moved again, so that this wooden post now only comes up to my hip, whereas last year it was above head height!

 

fortunately the interesting rusty bolts are still visible

 

there were several large stumps

 

all much too heavy to bring home

 

this wooden beam is about 15 feet long, and probably came from an old barn

 

I tried to pull out the bolt, but although I could turn it, I couldn't free it from the beam ....... I am sure Malcolm could have used it to create a feature in the garden

 

there was a lot of sea glass, so I have come home with a nice pile to add to my collection

 

dark clouds were appearing beyond the lighthouse

 

and there were no customers for the ice cream van

 

but it was mild enough to sit outside the café on the promenade for a cuppa

 

I went back to the car while Malcolm fetched a smaller piece of tree trunk that he had spotted

 

and here it is in a temporary place in the front garden.  The photo looks a bit fuzzy, but that's because it is very misty.  Storm Ophelia is due to reach us about midnight, so fingers crossed that she has run out of steam by then!

 

 

 

Very Happy Mail!

 I was somewhat surprised today to receive an envelope in the post with a Guernsey stamp on it, as I don't know anyone there

 

but all was soon explained ...... the envelope contained a card made by one of those companies that you can upload a photo to, and they turn it into a card and send it out for you.  And what a lovely card it is, a thank you for the pink unicorn quilt, from the parents of the gorgeous Jasmine, seen here with her quilt

 

Stuart mentioned recently that two more of his friends are to become fathers soon, so of course that means I get to have fun making baby quilts.  Sue has a sale on at The Quilt Shop (it's only on until next Wednesday, so you will have to get your skates on if you want some excellent bargains)

 

so I bought two bundles of fat quarters - oh my, the quilts are going to be bright!

 

I also succumbed to this batik jelly roll .......

 

over the last few weeks, I have been a bit worried about my Christmas cactus, which has gone a funny purple colour, and looks somewhat limp

 

so imagine my surprise yesterday when I noticed flower buds

 

I am so pleased that it is going to flower, I won't tell it that there are still quite a few weeks to go until Christmas!

 

do you remember I showed you this ivy some months ago.  I had given it to my Dad, not long before he died, so it is about twelve years old.  As you can see it is thriving since Malcolm re-potted it

 

I have always had houseplants, and the current crop are doing well

 

the yucca is still home to my Parliament of owls

 

this one is probably about four times its original size

 

and the rubber plant will soon be touching the ceiling!

 

the orchids haven't been happy since we moved here, although that may be because I have had them for years

 

looking beyond them into the front garden, the dahlias are still flowering

 

this one is quite happy growing in an old coal scuttle

 

this fern has had to be moved to the side of the mantelpiece, because we are lighting the fire in the evenings

 

I also love to have a vase of fresh flowers too - they just somehow find their way into the trolley every few weeks when I do the weekly food shop

 

it's Friday, so that of course means food!  We were in Morpeth yesterday, and decided to have a bite of lunch in The Morpeth Larder

 

Malcolm went up to the counter to order a Coronation chicken sandwich for us to share

 

and when he came back, he had to confess that he couldn't resist adding this excellent cheese scone to the order!

 

to finish, this is yesterday morning's sunrise - spectacular!

 

I will be heading down the road to The Quit Shop tomorrow, to do a class with the lovely Lucie - I am sure it will be fun!  I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne

Much too intelligent ........

......... to be a cat!  I love the Garfield cartoon strip - yes, I know he is a cat, and I don't like cats, but he is so intelligent he must be a dog in disguise!  Remember, you can click on the photo to enlarge it, if the print is too small for you to read

 

I frequently get "free gifts" with quilting magazines (surely, if it's a gift, you don't need to say it is free?!).  Anyway, here are some recent ones.  First, good quality templates for cutting scallops

 

then, in another magazine, paper pieces and .......

 

...... a booklet of patterns to add to the scallops

 

the owl is my favourite

 

these two good quality templates are for making Dresden Plates

 

and finally, a set of templates for fussy cutting shapes

 

and to finish ..... having quickly made a sample for the Funky Chickens class, I have been working on the full wallhanging,  When I was at the Quilt Shop today, I was delighted to hear from Sue that five people have already signed up ...... so hopefully more will sign up when the wallhanging is displayed in the shop.

A very busy weekend!

On our way to Stuart and Alison's on Saturday, we called into a garden centre for lunch ........ but what was this I spotted as we headed for the entrance?  EEK ....... it's 3 months until Christmas, but the garden centre was full of all things Christmas!

 

it's quite a few years since we last had lunch at this garden centre, so we were delighted to find that they still serve their delicious old-fashioned lentil soup

 

after lunch, we had a look round the outside plant area.  We were rather taken with this tree .......

 

until we saw the price, then we decided that we didn't like it that much after all!

 

of course you have all heard of/seen the Forth Bridge and the Forth Road Bridge, but now there is a third bridge, the Queensferry Crossing, which the Queen opened at the start of the month.  It was very hazy, so the new bridge doesn't stand out against the two older bridges

 

the upright in the centre of the photo is the new bridge, with the Road Bridge behind it on the right

 

bits of all three bridges

 

the Road Bridge is dwarfed by the new bridge

 

driving on towards Grangemouth, you wouldn't think that just after passing this long row of trees ......

 

........ that this would come into view

 

if you want to know what all these things are .......

 

just ask Malcolm, as he spent the greater part of his working life here, when it was still BP Chemicals

 

it is now owned by a chap called Jim Ratcliffe, who is worth in excess of £3billion (yes, billion).  Why do I mention this?  Because Malcolm was at university with Jim!  OK, so Jim has a slightly bigger bank balance than Malcolm (!), but he still works long hours, whereas we have spent the last twelve years enjoying Malcolm's (early) retirement

 

we weren't the only visitors at Stuart and Alison's.  Stuart's stepsister Claire popped in to see us, with her two gorgeous children ........ and their new puppy, Purdey (named after the Joanna Lumley character, not the shotgun!)

 

she is a Border Terrier, and you can see here that she has the terrier instinct, as she savages her toy squirrel!

 

and she was doing her best here to bite Stuart's ears!

 

on Sunday morning we went out for breakfast with Stuart and Alison (sorry, forgot to take a photo of my delicious French toast with bacon and maple syrup).  Then it was on to the quilt show.  It was quiet when we arrived, so I was able to take some general photos

 

there were some stunning quilts

 

but I wasn't overly impressed with this miniature quilt, which had been chosen as Champion.  I think it's the scale of the different blocks that I don't like, with the anchor being as big as the house

 

however, I was delighted to see that this miniature had won a rosette, as I know the maker Mhairi (pronounced Varry, to rhyme with marry).  She was a member of the first quit group I joined, Greenpark Quilters in Polmont, way back in 1993.

 

look at all these luscious threads

 

did some of them come home with me?

 

yes they did!

 

the charming young man on the stall gave me a very helpful leaflet, with info about the thread, needle size to use etc

 

and a card with his website, should I wish to buy more

 

and of course I had to make some purchases at my favourite stall

 

some beautiful remnants of Japanese fabric, with a plain piece in the middle, to use for sashiko

 

to finish ....... look at these beauties, fresh from Stuart's garden.  I have used one already, slicing it thinly and putting it in the bottom of an oven dish, then sitting pork chops on top, then smothering the chops with finely sliced onions.  Some garlic salt and pepper, and a measure of cider, then into the oven ....... delicious!

 

A quick and easy quilt!

Friends of Stuart and Alison have recently become parents to a gorgeous baby girl, so of course I offered to make a quilt.  The brief ...... anything pink and with unicorns!

 

I had a look in my baskets of wadding leftovers, but there wasn't a big enough piece ........

 

which meant I had to cut a piece from this roll of wadding, which I bought recently at The Quilt Shop.  I use so much wadding it made sense to invest in a whole roll of it, as it works out cheaper than buying it by the yard ......... and Sue had a special deal on it!

 

I started by trimming of the selvedge from the unicorn fabric

 

then folding the fabric diagonally - after trimming off the excess strip on the right, I was left with a square metre of fabric

 

the easiest way to measure the wadding was to wrap the fabric round it!

 

I didn't trim the backing fabric, as it should be bigger than the quilt top, so I pressed it well and taped it to the table

 

I also gave the wadding a light press, as it was slightly wrinkled  - only do this to cotton wadding, never do it to polyester wadding!  Then having smoothed it out over the backing fabric

 

I pressed the unicorn fabric and smoothed it on top of the wadding, ready to pin the layers together.  This is the tedious bit, but it is worth making the effort to use a lot of pins to keep the sandwich stable while you quilt it

 

the next stage was to choose the thread - just as I was auditioning three threads, Malcolm came up the stairs into the Attic, and together we agreed on the turquoise thread on the left

 

I made up a little sandwich to see how the stitching would look - this was worth doing, as the top thread was showing on the back and I had to adjust the tension to get the balance right

 

I used a large, lazy, loopy meander

 

I found fabric for the binding in my stash

 

we came up to the flat this morning, so while Malcolm went out for a walk this afternoon, I sat and hand stitched the binding on the back

 

a simple, quick way to make a baby quilt

 

when Malcolm came back from his walk, he produced this bag of deliciousness!

 

and of course we have to have a bit of sconnage on a Friday ....... this cheesy delight was still warm from the oven!

 

tomorrow we are heading north over the Border, to visit Stuart and Alison, and then on our way home on Sunday we are going to pop into the Autumn Quilt Show at Ingliston (I may need to lie down in a darkened room on Monday after such a bust weekend!)  I hope you have a great weekend, love Anne

 

 

A glorious sunrise!

Regular readers know that on weekdays I leap jump stumble out of bed at 6.20, to engage with the implements of torture in my efforts to get fit (which begs the question, WHEN will I actually get fit??!!).  But there are advantages to getting up that early .......

 

...... when you can see spectacular sunrises from the kitchen window!

 

but there are disadvantages, when you encounter very large spiders in the hall

 

as usual for a Wednesday morning, I headed off down the A1 to The Quilt Shop in Morpeth.  Sue was busy folding fat quarters

 

with this pile of luscious new fabrics waiting their turn

 

I spotted this one at the bottom of the pile - it is much more blue than it looks in the photo, very cute

 

this piece of fabric may look as if it has been attacked by moths, but the holes are where Ros has fussy cut hexagons

 

her hexies are tiny, about the size of a fingernail

 

Ros brought me a squash and a courgette from her garden

 

and in return I gave her a bag of plums from our garden .......

 

left over after I made plum chutney

 

and plum jam

 

I have also made rather a lot of strawberry jam, which is my all-time favourite homemade jam

 

as we were away at the start of the month, I almost forgot about sharing the calendars with you.  As a dedicated disliker (spellcheck says that isn't a word!!) of cats, of course I like this month's page on the kitchen calendar

 

and out in the attic, we have a fine specimen of a young man on the quilting calendar

 

but sorry ladies, he is already taken!!

Making snowmen!

No, don't worry, winter hasn't arrived early!  Last Tuesday saw me trundling down the road to The Quilt Shop, to teach the second part of the snowman cushion.  Last month we had stitched our wonky borders, so now we were ready to appliqué the snowman

 

when Jill, who was looking after the shop for Sue the day of the first class, saw the cushion, she suggested doing one with a night time scene, so when I was sorting out a class sample, that's what I did.  I used a navy fabric for the background, white for the bottom border to look like snow, then a starry sky round the other three sides

 

the patterns for the appliqué pieces - they are reversed, so that the appliqué ends up the right way round

 

I traced all the pieces on to fusible web

 

then cut them out and fused them on to the wrong side of the appropriate fabrics

 

the pieces cut out, ready to fuse to the background

 

did you notice that his shoes changed colour ........ the black ones didn't show against the navy background!

 

set up at the shop, ready for the ladies arriving

 

sometimes when you are concentrating hard on your sewing, you need a little sweet boost to help your brain!

 

Ros had to leave early, as she had double-booked herself, but she got most of her appliqué done

 

Sonia doesn't like blue, so she used a lovely cream fabric for her background

 

Veronica missed the first class, so after learning the technique for the wonky borders, she then got on with her appliqué.  She had a little oops ...... somehow she managed to turn one of the boots the wrong way, making her snowman look like Charlie Chaplin!

 

I had also prepared this little sample to demonstrate how to do the invisible machine appliqué.  I simply drew round a tin for the body, and a reel of thread for the head - a quick and easy way to make a snowman!

 

and to finish ....... when I saw this in a shop on Friday, I just had to buy it!!

Brownie points!

 When we were driving up the A1 recently, we saw a sign for a new coffee/gift shop in Brownieside (the sign for the turn-off always makes me smile, thinking of my delightful bloggy friends Jenny and Lucy, the Crafty Brownies ).  So on Friday, when we were on our way to the flat, we popped in to check out Carnaby's

 

as we were early, we were the only customers, and I was delighted to be given permission to take photos to share with you

 

I think in the winter you will find us beside the log-burning stove (Malcolm may have plans for similar log storage next to our stove!)

 

this was the view from our table, looking out to the courtyard

 

I love quirky things, so the menus written on rolls of brown paper met with my approval!!

 

a pretty mug, unusual teapot, and milk in a tiny bottle - simple but stylish

 

the important stuff ...... the scone!  A delicious cheese scone, with butter and a little dish of chutney.  You know how much we love our scones, and we will definitely be going back for more!

 

I also checked out the facilities ....... a smart rustic theme, spotlessly clean, and with very posh hand wash and lotion

 

if you are travelling with little ones, they will love the outdoor play area

 

it is a lovely place to stop, quite and peaceful, despite being just yards from the A1 (and I should say at this point, I haven't been paid for this review, I have written it simply because we enjoyed our stop there)

 

and now, in other news!  This morning found me at The Quilt Shop, getting ready to teach the snowman with "wonky borders".  Normally, the appliqué would be worked first, and the borders added afterwards, but in this case, the wonky borders are done first, so that the snowman can then be centred in the irregularly shaped centre

 

one of the ladies who had signed up for the class was unfortunately unable to attend, so I just had three students, who are all regulars at the Wednesday sessions.  I liked Christine's three border fabrics - and I liked her sewing bag even more!

 

Sonia had been undecided about her fabrics, so brought in several to make her final choice from

 

this is Ros's machine and fabrics -  you will notice that first order of the day was to have a cuppa.  Sue wasn't in the shop today, but we were well looked after by the lovely Gill, who, when she wasn't serving customers, kept us supplied with teas and coffees

 

Ros, unfortunately was double-booked and had to leave early, but had made a start to her borders

 

by the end of the day, Sonia was adding the fourth side of her middle border

 

and Christine had finished her middle border.  They will finish their borders at home, then we will get together next month to add the snowman appliqué

 

while writing this, I am sitting with my feet up on my footstool, sipping on a well-chilled glass of white wine ....... bliss!  I have lots more photos to share with you, some from the weekend in Berwick, and some from the garden ....... so pop back in on Thursday for an extra post!!

Going Potty!

I have been working hard on catching up with my Potty McDotty blocks, and have almost finished the first eight, except for some circles to be added.  Every month I receive a PDF from Irene, to print out the patterns.  Each month's block is worked twice, in different colours. This is month one

 

month two

 

month three

 

and month four.  Month five 's blocks are prepped and ready to stitch.  I have to confess that I am using fusible web and then blanket stitching the blocks, rather than doing needle turn appliqué, which I don't like doing!

 

Margaret, Queen of Appliqué, asked me to quilt this pretty little Sunbonnet Sue quilt top

 

and to make a little baby quilt using a panel, to which I added borders.  I have quilted them, but have yet to take photos - I must remember to take them before I hand the quilts over to Margaret

 

it's a new month, which means a new page on the calendar.  Given the snow on the hills in the background, I am sure he wrapped himself in the quilt as soon as the photo was taken

 

just in case you want to get to know him, this is where you can find him!!

 

we had an unusual visitor in the garden on Sunday afternoon - the first time we have  seen a hedgehog in any of the several gardens we have had over the years

 

I realised that you have missed out on a lot of magnificent sconnage while I am not blogging so often ...... so to finish, a rather tasty selection!!

Swans galore!

 When we arrived at the flat last Thursday, there were lots of swans in the dock, and as the gate was open (it is normally only open at the weekend), I sneaked in to take some photos

 

there were also quite a few geese amongst the swans

 

although this duck was content to sit on the edge of the dock

 

but the swans peace and quite was about to be well and truly disturbed, as this VERY large ship came into the dock

 

at first they headed to the far end

 

but then decided they would head out into the river ...... their upright posture shows that they were travelling at speed to escape!

 

the ship was so big that it needed help from the pilot boat to berth

 

and in no time at all, the lorries were rolling in to take away the cargo

 

after all that excitement, we headed out for a walk to town.  As we crossed the old bridge, there was a great flapping noise, and half a dozen swans flew over us

 

work has ground to a halt on the money pit.  It actually looks more shabby now - I hope that they will eventually clean the stonework so that the repairs are less obvious

 

a pause for an arty photo, with rusty barbed wire

 

and of course there has to be a view of the lighthouse!

 

I'm sorry, but I think this man looks ridiculous, with his pretend kilt, half-mast socks and the pony tail.  As we walked along behind him, I said to Malcolm that I would have to take a photo of "kiltie kiltie cauld bum" ........ it turned out that Malcolm hadn't heard this expression before.  Well, Scotsmen traditionally don't wear anything under their kilts, so of course they have a cauld (cold) bum!!  I suppose I could have offered to knit him a proper pair of kilt socks.........

 

walking back across town, I spotted this gate with thick overhanging ivy

 

a new gallery has opened just along the road from the flat - it might not look anything much from this photo, but it is a listed building, so they are limited as to what they can do with the outside

 

but the stylish door leads into ........

 

........ a cornucopia of arty delights.  If you are going to be in Berwick, email me and I will give you directions to the gallery

 

I took this photo of the salmon fishermen  at 10o'clock on Thursday night

 

then I took this one on Friday morning, as we walked over the old bridge in search of a cuppa and cake (more of that later!)

 

after lunch we went for a walk on the beach, but it started to rain!  So we got back in the car and drove up the coast to St Abbs, where we went for a walk round the harbour

 

I am always tempted to acquire a lobster pot to put in the garden

 

one of a row of fish hooks on a boat ready to go out to sea

 

but this gull didn't need to go fishing - he had found something tasty to eat in this box on another fishing boat

 

almost back at the flat, Malcolm spotted this view of the fishing boats, seen through an arch of the old bridge.  He dropped me off to take the photo ........ leaving me to walk the rest of the way!!

 

but then that meant I also took this photo - perhaps one of the most photographed views of the old bridge and the town

 

and so back to the cuppa and cakes.  Malcolm chose this delicious cheese and leek scone

 

while I indulged in a slice of gooey chocolate cake!

 

do you remember some weeks ago Anne made this cute sheepie for me?

 

of course that meant that I wanted to send her something in return, and knowing that she collects cruets sets, this pair of cuties was just the perfect present!

 

and do you also remember the happy mail from Kelly, which included the fun piece of John Deere fabric

 

Kelly had recently managed to open an old family trunk, which she knew contained some old family quilts,  However she was disappointed that the Sunbonnet Sue quilt that she remembered from years ago wasn't there, so what better thing to send her than a little Sunbonnet Sue cushion

 

I'll be back on Friday with my end of the month report on 17UFOs in 2017 ........ and I have lots to report this month!!