frayed at the edge

Decisions, decisions .......

Oh my, what will we start with, donkeys or sewing?  No contest really, it has to be donkeys (and horses - oh, and sheepies too).  I had a quick walk up the road yesterday, to see if the donkeys were about - they were, but in the far field, so I only managed to snap two of them

 

to make up for that, there were horses in the field across the road

 

there were also some chubby lambs ....... oooh, I'm thinking mint sauce and roast potatoes .......

 

an eight-legged lamb?

 

it's a hard life eating grass all day

 

Malcolm would appear to havve won the battle with the swallows ..... I saw these two starting to build a nest under the neighbours' roof

 

and now for some sewing!  I have been doing more handquilting on the "home is where the heart is" block

 

leaves and assorted twirly bits

 

echoing the curves

 

an assortment of hearts

 

echoing the wings

 

I put the binding on the scrappy strippy/strippy scrappy quilt (maybe I should call it strappy or scrippy?)

 

as there are so many colours in the border and the binding, it didn't really matter what colour thread I used, so I took the opportunity to finish up several reels of thread which just had a few yards on them ..... and for once the bobbin didn't run out with a few inches to go

 

I have to admit that I had a blonde moment, and cut far too much binding!

 

Leanne's House went back up on the design wall to be measured for the borders

 

the first border added

 

and the second

 

it's the last meeting of this session of Abbey Quilters tonight.  It is the AGM followed by a show and tell.  When I was folding Notes of Love to put in my bag ..... OOPS - I haven't embroidered the tiny hearts on the right of the centre panel of the heart!!

 

my sewing was interrupted for a while, when Malcolm appeared with a mid-afternoon treat .......

How to accidently buy .......

...... I know that some of you are puzzled as to how I accidently bought fabric yesterday.  It's very simple.  First you wander round the shop until you notice some wonderful new fabric.  You pick up the two bolts, and look for some co-ordinating fabrics, choosing another two bolts.  You go behind the counter (well, you are a friend and employee of the owner!) and cut half a metre of each fabric.  See, totally accidental!  So, here are the gorgeous fabrics

 

and the cutest of details

 

ok, perhaps gorgeous and cute aren't quite the right words to describe the fabric!  For those of you who like to know these things ......

 

when I asked Anne if she had another project for me, she got a rather wicked look in her eye ....... and produced this mammoth task! 

 

It is actually a double-sided quilt, but I shall make it as two separate quilts, so that both sides can be displayed in the shop. 

 

and again, for those who like to know about the fabric .......

 

as well as working in the shop, Anne is also very involved in various horse-related events, and she hadn't had time to put the borders on Leanne's House, so it came back home with me, along with two lovley fabrics.  I'll also quilt it

 

knowing that rhubarb and ginger jam is Anne's favourite, I took her a jar of the jam I made on Tuesday.  She asked me if I would like some rhubarb, explaining that not only did she not have time to use it, but they are having work done on their kitchen, limiting her cooking.  When I said yes please, she phoned her husband Mick, and asked him to pull the rhubarb and bring it to the shop for me.  I was somewhat taken aback when Mick arrived and handed me this

 

this afternoon I decided to make chutney, using a recipe from this book

 

I had to make some changes, as I didn't have all the ingredients.  So, I used sultanas instead of raisins, lemons instead of oranges, and as I didn't have fresh ginger, I used some of this frozen ginger.  I also used brown sugar instead of granulated, and ordinary vinegar instead of wine vinegar ........ but other than that, I followed the recipe!

 

except I also left out the cardomom, as I'm not particularly fond of the flavour.  However, I did put in the pinch of cinnamon, using one of my special spoons!

 

another specialist piece of equipment is my jam funnel.  I am so glad that I bought it, as using it has put an end to messy, sticky jars

 

instead of my posh jars with the spotty lids (you have to promise to give me the jar back before I give you the jam or chutney!) I decided to use some of the motley collection of recycled jars which I have several boxes of

 

I also prepped another kilo of rhubarb to make more jam tomorrow.  I washed and sliced te rhubarb, then put it in a large bowl, with a kilo of jam sugar and the juice of two lemons.  I also finely diced some stem ginger.  All I have to do in the morning is put it in a large saucepan (maybe a proper preserving pan will be my next investment) and boil it until setting point is reached.

 

ps I haven't even used half of the bag of rhubarb yet!

 

A long day!

I left home at 9am and didn't get back until 5.30pm ......... so where did I go and what did I do?  It was my monthly visit to Anne's, to catch up with what the Wednesday ladies have been doing, and to pick up some more work

Annie was turning these ......

 

into these pretty foxgloves

 

Lucie was piecing diamonds

 

Frances was stitching a pretty applique block

 

the first three leaves for Susan's Lillypilly

 

a detail of Margaret's hand-pieced quilt

 

Roz was tacking pieces in place for an applique block

 

and last but not least, Anne has started "Mrs Billings", a fabulous pattern which we first saw when Meredithe made an award-winning one

 

Anne has a long way to go!

 

and I have an even longer way to go, as I haven't even bought my copy of the pattern yet!  You will have to wait until tomorrow to see what the new projects that I will be working on for Anne ..... and I may have accidently bought some fabric!

A change of plans

I had intended to spend the day in the studio sewing, but that didn't happen!  Malcolm had a day out arranged with his sister, Jennifer ...... but then the man from the company that installed the boiler phoned to say that one of the boys who installed it would come to the house first thing this morning to fill the hole in the wall, and do the final testing.  This meant I had to stay in the house until he arrived and carried out the work, so I decided to make some rhubarb and ginger jam

 

bottle last year's sloe vodka

 

and redcurrant gin

 

of course once the jam was ready I had to do a taste test (delicious)

 

I took my toast out to the garden to take the photo, putting the plate on the new table which Malcolm made yesterday (I must get him trained to take photos!)

 

we have had a change round of the garden furniture, so we needed a little table to sit between the two steamer chairs on the deck

 

I used the table later to take this photo

 

when I finaly got out to the studio, it was a bit late to start sewing, so instead I worked on a couple of designs.  First was the June block for Lucie's A is for Applique challenge.  The theme this month is the birds and the bees.  This is the first  draft of my block - I need to do more work on the birds!

 

I then did some work on the wallhanging that I showed you the other day, using the Moda squares for the borders.  The idea came to me when I was writing an email to Meredithe ....... I was complaining about havinng to do the shopping and the laundry, when  ........

 

but I do have sewing to show you, from the weekend.  I have finished stitching round the tree and fence on Lillyanny, and have also stitched the birds (yes, Anne, more ends to sew in!)  The next stage will be to satin stitch the birds' legs

 

I finished the Baltimore block for Abbey Quilters

 

so what was the detail of, that I showed you yesterday?  We were given a challenge at Abbey Quilters to make something on the theme of clowns.  It has to be ready for next Tuesday, the last meeting before we have our summer break.  I had a vague idea of what I wanted to do, so after a quick internet search, and employing Malcolm' drawing skills ........ may I present my wallhanging "I found Nemo!"

 

this is an example of my "sideways" thinking, as Nemo, of course, is a clown fish!!  I found some fish beads that I got years ago when we had a holiday in Western Australia, and some shells that I bought in John Lewis (a big department store) in Edinburgh!

 

to finish ..... the ongoing swallow war!  You might have seen a scarecrow, but have you seen a scareswallow?  This is Malcolm's creation to keep the swallows out of the garage - it looks as if it has a nasty weapon, but it's just a trowel which Malcolm had taped to a pole to reach something in the garden.  It certainly scares the swallows. and it gave me a scare when I opened the garage door yesterday, forgetting that it was there!!

 

 

Wonderful friends!

When we got back from Majorca, amongst the great pile of post I spotted two envelopes with foreign stamps.  The first one I opened was from Meredithe, and contained this fabulous button.  I think I will make a blue and yellow bag to put it on

 

the next one was from Tracy, who had been having a major clearout/reorganisation of her craft room.  She had made up wonderful charm packs with some of her stash, and had sent them to friends.  I already had a project in mind for a charm pack, so now I can get busy with it

 

when I was in Melbourne last year, I spent a wonderful day at Meredithe's, meeting lots of her lovely quilty friends (it was slightly strange, as they "knew" me from the blog!).  I have kept in touch with some of them, and last week had an email from Glenda (no blog), telling me to keep an eye out for the post.  On Wednesday, this box arrived covered in Australian stamps, so I knew it was from Glenda

 

when I opened the box, I was jumping up and down and squealing

 

some time ago, Meredithe had posted a photo of Glenda's pin cushion which I had admired, so she had sent me one, along with a tiny needlecase

 

the pin cushion is mounted on a golf tee, so that it can sit on top of your spool of thread

 

then Meredithe posted photos of a macaroon case, which Glenda had made at a workshop ....... you can find the photos if you scroll down through this post.  I had left a comment saying how much I liked the little case ...... and Glenda sent me a kit and the pattern!

 

as soon as I saw the kit, I knew which fabrics I would pull from my stash!  These are little bits of Japanese kimono fabrics ......

 

....... which I was given by one of the charming Japanese young women whom I taught to quilt in Indonesia.  There were also an American (who isn't in the photo, though her daugher is!), an English woman, a German and a Fillipina (the one with the baby).  I have to admit that is me with the silver hair.  I think that is the last time that my hair was its natural colour - I have been blonde since then!!  We made a four block sampler quilt ..... I don't have mine, as I raffled it to raise money to pay for longterm contraceptive implants for poor women!

 

thank you very much to my lovely friends for such wonderful, thoughtful presents!!

 

I was squealing again this afternoon, when Kay arrived at patch'n'chat with my strippy scrappy (or is it scrappy strippy) quilt.  Although I still have to do the binding, it is already on the bed!

 

the Friday cake was supplied by Katy ...... it was her grandson's first birthday yesterday, and she had baked two birthday cakes for his party.  Only one was eaten, so she brought the other one for our afternoon cuppa (and as there was some left, she gave me a slice for Malcolm!)

 

I have several things to work on over the weekend, including my challenge for Abbey Quilters, which has to be ready for the 11th (oops!).  It has been a  lovely day, so hopefully the weather will be good over the weekend, and we will have our Sunday walk.  I hope you have a wonderful weekend, and I'll finish with a photo of apple blossom in the hedgerow, which I took this morning when I went out for an early walk.  Love, Anne

A nice cup of tea!

I have been working on my "everything stops for tea" wallhanging.  After I had stitched the teapot, cup and saucer in place, I added the borders

 

I then layered it with wadding and stitched the wording

 

I kept the quilting simple, stitching round the shapes and in the ditch round the borders.

 

then I added some little lines to suggest steam coming from the cup.  I drew them on thin paper and pinned the paper on, then stitched over the lines.  The paper tears away easily

 

the last job was to add the binding ....... apart, that is, from writing the pattern!

 

I have also been working on Lillyanny.  I added a fence at the bottom of the tree (it shows up better on the detail)

 

I layered it with wadding, and started stitching round the tree ..... this is a detail

 

I bought these little squares from Anne's shop when I was there before the holiday

 

I have an idea for another little wallhanging ....... but you will have to wait to see what will be in the middle!

 

in the evenings I have been working on the applique block for the Abbey Quilters raffle quilt

 

it's good to see a full design wall!

In a bind

I thought it was time that I put the binding on my Birdie Border Quilt.  For new readers, the quilt top was given to me by the lovely Helen when I was in Melbourne last year, and I had it longarm quilted by Kay before Christmas.  So on Saturday I made the binding

 

After machine stitching the binding on to the front of the quilt, I put clips on this corner to let you see how it will look when I get round to hand stitching the binding on the back (hopefully it won't have to wait another five months!)

 

I also stitched the binding on Notes of Love

 

today I was trying to draw better cottages for my wallhanging, but I was getting nowhere, so decided to put that to one side until I can get Malcolm to do some drawing for me.  Instead I got out this drawing, which I did several years ago for a little quilted wallhanging which I made for a swap.  OK, I didn't draw it, I took a photo of a teapot, cup and saucer and traced them!!

 

I decided to make an applique version, with a view to developing it into a pattern to sell.  These are the pieces drawn on fusible web

 

I decided to use these Tilda fabrics

 

this was the first version ..... the teapot doesn't stand out against the background fabric

 

this is the second version ...... better, but still not quite right

 

then, finally, I was happy with this one

 

I had printed out the wording for the original drawing from my laptop, but as I'm not sure about copyright for computer fonts, I thought I would rewrite it, using the same style of lettering as I have used for the A is for Applique blocks

 

the last stage was to decide on fabric for the border.  When I couldn't make up my mind, I arranged four different ones round the centre - I think I'll go with this!

 

when I was trying out the first teacup and teapot, I didn't fuse them to the background fabric.  This is a trial block from the cottages wallhanging, and it shows them off better than the patterned fabric

 

this afternoon I saw a great tit going in and out of the nest box on the wall next to the studio.  I don't know how many times I stood with the camera, hoping to get some photos - this is what I ended up with

 

however, when I went back into the house at the end of the afternoon, I was delighted to see a pair of collared doves in the front garden ..... I hope this is the original pair, reunited!

 

before I went on holiday, I tidied the studio ...... it hasn't taken long for it to descend into the usual state of (organised) chaos!

 

 

Cakes and dogs

It was back into the old routine today, house work in the morning, then off to Borderland Fabrics for patch'n'chat.  But there was one difference, as I had my sewing in my new basket, which Malcolm bought for me on holiday

 

Margaret was working on one of her stunning applique quilts.  She is always reluctant to let me take a photo, but after a bit of pleading and cajoling, she allowed me to take one

 

however, I wasn't happy with the photo, as the electric lights in the room we sew in give everything a yellow look.  So I nipped through to the main part of the shop so that I could take another photo at the window - and what a difference that made!

 

but it wasn't just the sewing that looked yellow ....... Annette wasn't in the shop today, so her husband Norrie was holding the fort, aided and abetted by their fabulous Dandie Dinmont Barley.  He wags his tail constantly, as you can see from the blur!

 

of course Friday means cake, and as well as this afternoon's offerings ........

 

....... I thought you might like to see some more of the delicious cakes we had on holiday

 

whether or not you are eating cake, I hope you have a good weekend, love, Anne

Beware of dragons!

The second Saturday of our holiday was a bit cool and wet, so we decided to visit the Caves of Drach ...... the Dragon Caves.  Our friends Lee and John in Sydney had recommended that we go to see them, as they had visited them when their cruise ship called in at Majorca.  We knew from their description that the caves were going to be amazing - but we hadn't imagined just how amazing!!

 

the lighting shows off all the stalactites and stalagmites to great effect, and you can easily imagine dragons lurking, waiting to pounce on unwary travellers!

 

we wandered on, oohing and aahing

 

we arrived at a large chamber with a lake in it.  We were directed to rows of benches, and after everyone was seated (probably several hundred people), we were told that boats were going to appear, carrying musicians who were going to play some classical music pieces for us.  The lights were dimmed, and three boats appeared.  Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos during the perfomance, but I was able to snatch a quick snap as the boats left

 

it was an amazing place to visit, and I am sure we will go back next time we go to Majorca

 

on our way to the caves, we had seen a sign for a restaurant, which said that it was in an ancient monastery.  We decided to call in on the way back for a late lunch. 

 

there didn't seem to much evidence of old buildings, but we didn't mind, as the food was so good.  We decided to share a "mixed meat grill"

 

just as we manfully (and womanfully?) put the last helping on to our plates, the chef appeared with more!

 

I had to admit defeat, so the delightful waitress took my plate away and came back with a doggy bag ...... whch we enjoyed for lunch the next day!  While we were eating, we could see this fine fellow

 

but when we left, he had tired of strutting about the branch, and had settled down for a snooze

 

to finish, my holiday sewing.  I finished the applique and embroidery on the April block for Lucie's "A is for Applique" challenge, and as I had decided to "quilt as you go", I made a start to the quilting

 

I had asked Lucie what the theme for May's block was, so that I could work on that one too.  It didn't take long to think of a block for "happiness is ....."

 

I'm off out this evening for Abbey Quilters monthly meeting - hopefully I will be able to take some photos to share with you tomorrow.

 

 

Shopping!

When we were in Hawick this morning, we saw a new shop

 

of course we have to support any new shops, so we went in for a browse.  The shop is full of all sorts of lovely things, with lots of shabby chic furniture, old china, sets of crystal glasses ......

 

I spotted something which I thought Malcolm would like, so I sent him to wait outside while I bought it.  He had to stand in the rain for quite a long time, as the shop owner was very chatty!!  However, he didn't mind so much when he saw this 1930s barometer (which has been painted with Annie Sloan chalk paint)

 

of course I bought something for me too!  A rather quirky magnetic notice board

 

if you are visiting Hawick, do pop in to the shop, which is in North Bridge Street (the same street as Fun 2 Do).

and now, back to Home is where the heart is.  I wanted a curved line to meander between the two rows of words, so I got out my flexible ruler

 

I used a reel of thread to make the curves

 

having transferred the words and curve to the fabric, I added some little flowers and hearts along the curve.  Tha last stage was to pin the applique pieces in place

 

all I have to do now is start stitching!