frayed at the edge

Day 18 ....... and (oops) I start another project!

This morning was damp and misty .......

 

..... if you were looking towards Hawick Town Hall, but if you looked in the other direction, the sun was shining!

 

Thursday, of course, means a scone to share in The Pickled Orange.  Today's was cheddar, chives, chilli ..... and something else which we have forgotten.  It was just out of the oven - delicious!

 

when we got home, there was still some mist round the Mintos

 

this was my bargain of the week - 99p for an insulated bag.  I'll use it to take my lunch on Fridays to patch'n'chat

 

so, on to the new project!  This is based on an item in one of the Ricky Timms shows that I watched yesterday.  The design is by two sisters, Barbara and Mary.  Their company is called 4th and 6th Designs ....... because they were the 4th and 6th children in the family!  They didn't fully explain the pattern (obviously they want you to buy the book), so this is my interpretation of it.  I decided to use the lovely Australian fabrics that Lee gave my for my birthday

 

I started by cutting strips in widths from an inch and a quarter to two inches, increasing the width each time by a quarter of an inch

 

I then sewed all the strips together (those of you who don't do patchwork, will be saying the same as patchworkers' husbands everywhere ..... why do you cut the fabric up, then sew it back together!?)

 

the next stage was to take a six and a half inch square ruler, and if you look where I am pointing, put the diagonal line on a seam.  I used my small rotary cutter, to make it easier to cut round the ruler

 

the first square cut

 

four cut, and put on the design wall

 

eight blocks cut, and stitched together

 

so what is it?  Well, when we moved here (six years ago), I put a little ruuner on the wine cupboard in the hall as a "temporary" measure, so this is going to replace it

 

I will add triangles to the ends, to hang down over the sides of the cupboard.  I will also make matching ones for the little chest of drawers and lamp/plant stand, that you saw in the recent post about flowers.  When I cut out the squares, I thought at first that it was a bit of a wasteful method

 

but I realised that a lot of the offcuts can be pieced together and used in another project

 

out in the garden, this rose is still flowering

 

it's a miniature rose - this is my pinkie!

 

three of the clematis are also still flowering, although they are a bit bedraggled

 

to finish ....... I don't mind getting begging letters from charities, but I prefer to choose how much to give.  This latest missive from Oxfam (I already give them money every month) went straight in the recycle bin, as there was no option for an amount that I chose to give.  I didn't entirely grasp the "doubled" bit, it was something about them having money set aside to match the donations to this appeal .....

Day 16 ....... and some mother's ruin

When I was labelling the piles of pieces for the baby quilt, my eye was drawn to the logo in the corner of the notepaper

 

I used to be a member of the Quilters' Guild - for a while I was even an Area Rep.  The badges then were, for me, stylish and elegant

 

but those in charge decided to modernise the look ....... and this much derided logo was the result

 

back then, I went through a spell of collecting badges, most of which I have pinned on my sewing bag.  You will no doubt recognise the material the bag is made from - it is from Provence.  Malcolm had been working on a major project in Provence, leaving home at lunchtime on Sundays, and getting home late on Friday nights.  So after this had gone on for several weeks, I went out to Aix-en-Provence to sppend a week with him ...... and while I was there, I not only bought lots of Provencal fabric, I also bought this bag

 

I was given the little badge at the top left by the owner of quilting shop in San Antonio, Texas.  Malcolm was due to go to Houston on (yet another) business trip, and as it was just before Easter, he arranged to have a few days holiday.  While he was working, I had a few days pottering round some excellent little local shops, and one day I had a marathon session, in a cocoon of pillows, eating chips and dips, watching back to back episodes of CSI!!  When Malcolm had finished his business, we travelled to San Antonio, and consulting the phone book, I found the address for this shop ...... although it was somewhat harder to find the shop, as the road to it ran through an enormous military base - which post 9/11 had been closed, so we had to make a huge detour

 

these two badges were from my trip to a quilt symposium in New Zealand in 2001 (that was the famous occasion when I said to Malcolm can I go, and he replied "you can go if you want to"!!)  The badge on the left is a Scottish Region Quilters' Guild badge.  I gave one to a man called Craig Brown (good Scottish nmae - at that time the manager of the Scottish national football team was also called Craig Brown), who was mayor of the town of Whangerei ...... he could trace his ancestors back to the "Nova Scotians" - Scots who had emigrated to Canada, didn't like it, and had travelled on to, and settled in, New Zealand.  He said he would wear the badge with pride at council meetings - I wonder if he did?

 

more Quilters' Guild badges, and my Stirling Castle Quilters badge - I was one of the founder members of the group, and was their second chairman ....... and then some years later when we came back from Indonesia, I rejoined the group, and ended up being chairman for a second time!

 

and yet another crop of badges, pinned to my various identity badges for the Houston quilt show, and the (now defunct) European Expo

 

and now for the mother's ruin (or do I have the apostrophe in the wrong place, is it mothers'?)  I found several recipes for redcurrant gin online, all of which said to put the redcurrants and sugar in a bowl and mash them together, then transfer them to a jar.  But I thought why dirty a bowl, and just weighed out the redcurrants in the jars

 

the great thing about my digital scales is that I can push a button to return the setting to zero, then weigh the next ingredient, in this case the sugar

 

I tried mashing them with a fork, but it was hard going - so I simply added some of the gin and used my stick blender

 

there were so many redcurrants, I also prepped some vodka!  Now it just has to mature for two or three months!!

Day 15 ...... and a disappointment

Yesterday, I thought it was time to finish  a quilt I made some time ago, so I made some binding ......

 

....... for the "row" quilt

 

despite the fact that the quilt has been on the guest bed for months, I hadn't noticed that I had missed these ends!

 

when I started stitching the binding on, the sun was shining, and I was going to take a photo of thhe quilt over the chair on the deck ........ but the time I finished it had turned rather wet

 

so instead I had to take a photo of it in front of the stove.  I still have to stitch the binding by hand on the back, I just pinned a bit in place for the photo, then when I saw it on the laptop, I realised that you can't really see it against the dark backing fabric!

 

then it was on with the baby quilt.  After some stitching, I had three piles of blocks

 

row one on the design wall

 

row two added

 

then three

 

well ........ you get the idea!  Here is the finished top.  The colours aren't true, as I had to have the light on, it had got so dark because of the rain ..... I'll need to take a photo outside

 

then on to today and the disappointment.  We went for a walk after lunch, struggling through nasty bits like this

 

but we didn't mind, as we were going to ........ well, this is where it all went wrong.  Last year the blackthorns lining the path were laden with sloes ....... and this year there were none, not one, not a single sloe!  We were so disappointed, as we were looking forward to making more sloe gin (and Stuart and Alison had already put in an order for another bottle).  However, there was a little bit consolation ....... lots of redcurrants, some elderberries, and some rosehips

 

but who could stay disappointed for long, when you can gaze out over this view on the way home!!

Day 13 ........ and fun with fabric

We went out for breakfast with Stuart and Alison this morning, then after they left, I headed out to the studio for an afternoon of sewing.  First, I unearthed this little quilt top for Linus, which I made ages ago.  I picked a fabric to add borders .........

 

........ I think it makes a nice frame

 

next, I used a reel of thread to draw circles on some bondaweb .......

 

....... which I used to attach little noses made of fleece

 

then I used a smaller reel to draw more circles .......

 

....... to make eyes

 

I've just marked the whites in with pencil, but I'll embroider them before I layer the top and quilt it

 

just before we went on holiday, Stuart and Alison were thrilled at the birth of a niece, Amie Louise ....... a second child for Alison's brother and his wife, and a sister for Lucas.  Of course that means a quilt!!  I chose these lovely Moda fabrics from my stash, to make a "6-fat quarter" quilt

 

the first strips cut ........

 

...... the various bits stitched together, and lots of sub-cutting later

 

the eagle-eyed amongst you might have spotted that a seventh fabric has appeared (bottom right)  ..... I have to admit that I made a slight faux pas when I cut the first strips, but fortunately the bundle of fabrics that I used had eight fat quarters in it, so I was able to cut the extra pieces needed

 

Malcolm appeared during the afternoon with a large box from Amazon ........ despite the fact that he was working in the front garden, somehow the delivery driver had managed to leave the parcel on the doorstep without his seeing him/her!  The main part of the order was for Malcolm, but tucked in the bottom of the box was a book that I had ordered.  I saw this book in a bookshop in Sydney ....... but looking at the book I saw that it was a British publication, so I ordered it when we got home......

 

there are lots of wonderful recipes - I don't which one to start with!

 

ps - this post has taken rather a long time to do, as we are watching "Strictly Come Dancing" (in other countries it's called "Dancing with The Stars"), so I have to stop every time they dance, then type furiously during the judges comments! 

Day 10 ..... and trying to avoid C*****mas!

It's only the 10th of October, but the shops are rapidly filling up with cards, decorations and presents.  We could hardly get in the door of a shop this morning, as a member of staff was stringing up lights!  When I rule the world (!!) I will ban anything to do with Christmas until December (except for those organised people who make their cakes and puddings weeks/months in advance).  However at Abbey Quilters last night, I had to bend my rules, as we were making felt decorations.  We had a choice of a stocking or a pudding, both adorned with little teddies.  I chose to start with the stocking

the decorations are made with felt

 

all the pieces cut out

 

the white pieces stitched in place and a cute little Santa added

 

the back and front stitched together

 

that's as far as I got!

 

the pattern for the pudding decoration

 

at the end of the evening, Caroline came over and put a little parcel into my sewing bag.  I asked her if I could have a peek ...... she said no, to wait until I was home before I opened the parcel.  I was squealing with delight when I saw what she had given me.  Thank you very much, Caroline, for the wonderful present!!

a beautiful handmade card

 

the cutest sheepie fabric

 

I shall have to make something special to show off the sheep

 

pull the lamb's tail .....

 

...... and you can measure your knitting!!

 

I took the photos of the present out in the garden this morning, making the most of the sunshine, as the forecast is for rain tommorrow.  It's no surprise to me that it is going to rain ....... I am going to the hairdresser tomorrow afternoon, and it always sees to rain when I get my hair done!!

Day 7 - and this is strange!

Regular readers know that I don't usually blog on Sundays (it's all to do with Shadow Shot Sunday and is a bit complicated).  But having committed to posting every day during Blogtoberfest, here I am with a Sunday post!

We woke this morning to a beautiful frosty autumn morning -  it's hard to believe that last Sunday we were sweltering in the Botanic Gardens in Singapore

 

however, we had a wonderful walk this morning, made even better by these gorgeous creatures!

 

there is no better place to be on a beautiful autumn morning than the glorious Scottish Borders

 

and after a busy day ...... a little bit of blog reading, a glass of wine, and a cosy fire ...... bliss!!

 

ps - did the studio stay tidy?  NO!!

 

Day 6 ...... and the first fire of the season

I finally escaped from housework and laundry duty, and headed out to the studio for some fun.  I had tidied up before the holiday, but I suspect by the end of the weekend the tables will be covered in  stuff!!

 

although it wasn't really cold, I said yes please when Malcolm offered to light the stove for me (typical male, he thinks I can't manage anything fire-related ........ or maybe he still remembers when I set the chimney on fire in 1989!!)

 

I thought I ought to make the effort to get on with some UFOs, before I get more work from Anne.  I think I have been calling this wallhanging Love Notes ...... but when I got the pattern out, I realised that it is called Notes of Love!  I still have two of the stitcheries to finish, but I trimmed the others to size ......

 

and arranged them on the design wall with the pieced blocks .......

 

...... and added the first border

 

by the end of the afternoon, I had stitched the rows together

 

do you remember when we drove from Sydney to Melbourne, it took us three days?  I found this postcard which I had bought years ago when we had a holiday in Western Australia, and Malcolm kindly marked the approximate locations of Sydney and Melbourne for me (geography is not my strong point!)

 

but if you thought that during that 3-day journey we saw a lot of Australia, think again!!

 

the forecast is good for tomorrow, so we are looking forward to going for our usual Sunday walk ..... and no doubt we will go for a cuppa (and possibly a scone!)

I'm singing John Denver*

Not long to go now!!  I am just about jumping up and down with excitement at being off on our travels, but before we go, as promised, the project I am taking to work on when I join Meredithe and her friends for a sewing day.  I have so many things on the to-do list it was hard to decide, but in the end I settled on this

 

I love Anni Downs patterns (I have another book and a small pattern for a needlescase as well!).  I have gradually been collecting small-print fabrics .....

 

....... including some of Anni's own designs

 

and of course there was the bundle of Lynette Anderson fabrics which had one with cats on it hidden in the middle of the bundle!

 

However, I won't be taking the fabrics with me, as I will be working on the stitcheries first.  I photocopied the patterns, to make it easier to trace them on the light box

 

 

Once the patterns were traced, I put some thin iron-on wadding on the back (oops, forgot to take a photo of that stage!) and looked out an assortment of embroidery threads

 

We leave here early tomorrow morning, and finally arrive in Sydney on Thursday  I've got lots of books on my Kindle and music on my ipod for the journey, but as it is an overnight flight, I will probably sleep through most of it.  I got used to flying longhaul when we lived in Indonesia, so although it can be boring, I don't mind it too much.

 

When I have finished this post, I will do another three quick ones and schedule them to appear while we are travelling, as I still have lots of photos to share with you ....... and we visited somewhere new yesterday for our cuppa after our walk.

 

* and I'm still singing "all my bags are packed, I'm ready to go" and "I'm leaving on a jet plane"!!

Extinct volcano?

A lot of the hills around here are extinct volcanos, including Rubislaw

 

but when I saw it this morning, I was a bit worried that it wasn't extinct after all!

 

there were some dramatic cloud formations this morning, with just a tinge of pink from the sunrise

 

 

 

there are lots of seedheads in the verge, giving me the chance to indulge in some of my favourite arty photos

 

 

 

 

but as well as all the plants going to seed there is new growth too

 

so ........ the holiday.  We start by driving to Newcastle Airport (how exciting is that!), then we fly to Heathrow ......... and then (BIG roll of drums, ENORMOUS fanfare) ........ we fly to Sydney!!  Australia is our very, very, most favourite holiday destination, so of course that was our first choice for celebrating the big birthdays.  But it gets better, because we are also spending some time in Melbourne, before flying to Singapore for a week (our second most favourite place for a holiday).  And if you think it couldn't get any better than that ........ when we are in Sydney, we will be visiting Lee, whom we met on our last trip to Sydney three years ago.   And then ...... when we are in Melbourne, I am going to spend a day sewing with Meredithe and her very talented friends  (and there is talk of a quilt shop hop!) 

 

I was in Kelso at the hairdressers this afternoon, and popped intoWH Smiths to buy a magazine to add to Malcolms "birthday bundle" (which he will oen before we leave).  I wanted to get him either a cricketing or a woodworking magazine ........ but I couldn't find anything suitable.  So I did what any sensible personn would do - I bought a quilting magazine instead!

All done!!

It took somewhat longer than I thought it would, but finally at 8o'clock last night, I put the final stitch into Tree.  I had spent the weekend hunched over the sewing machine, even missing my day out yesterday

 

 

 

Malcolm spent the weekend providing meals and cuppas (thank you dear) while I stitched away (one broken machine needle, several pricked fingers).  But the end result was definitely worth all the work (my apprentice took the photo in the front garden this morning)

 

he also took this photo of The Night before Christmas

 

earlier, of course, I had been out for my morning walk.  It had rained throught the night, and it was a bit grey and humid.  There wasn't much happening as most of the sheep have been moved to far flung fields, so I had to content myself with a couple of ancient tractors ........

 

 

lumps of mud left on the road by said tractors .......

 

.......and trying to make it look as if this bale of haylage was sitting on top of the gate!

 

as well as lots of wrapped haylage bales, there are also fields full of hay bales

 

and straw bales

 

we went down to Longframlington this morning to drop off the sewing to Anne, ready for her trip to The Festival of Quilts.  Anne and Mick will travel down to Birmingham on Wednesday and set up their stand ready for the show opening on Thursday morning.  If you are going to the show, do stop at their stand (Stitchin' Heaven on the 697) and say hello (and buy lots!)  After having a cuppa and a blether with Anne and Mick, we went on down to Morpeth, to go out for lunch with Malcolm's sister Jennifer.  We were going to go to Meldon Park, only to discover that it is closed on Mondays.  So instead we went to The Blacksmiths Coffee Shop, which was so busy, we had to sit at an outside table!  We all chose the same - cheese savoury sandwiches, which were delicious

 

ps - I was so busy sewing yesterday that I didn't take any photos, or open the laptop ....... which is unheard of!  I shall have to try  harder tomorrow to find interesting subjects for photos!!