frayed at the edge

Magazine junkie

Hello, my name is Anne and I am a magazine addict ........ yesterday I showed you the magazine that I bought in the morning - but I didn't show you the one that I bought in the afternoon when I was on my way to the hairdressers (that's all my pocket money spent!)

 

The most irresistible of the ten irresistible projects is this bag (and I know I have suitable fabrics in my stash)

 

When my hair is long, I get very lazy about changing my earrings to match my outfit, and wear my gold hoops most of the time.  So now that my ears can be seen, I made the effort this morning to look out earrings to go with my black and grey top and trousers.  Stuart gave me these lovely earrings some years ago for my birthday

 

While I was looking in my jewellery box, I came across this brooch which I bought a few years ago.  I don't wear it very often, as it is made with modelling clay, and I am always worried that I might break it

 

At patch'n'chat this afternoon, Cathy was showing off her latest makes.  A very cute elephant, complete with pink toenails ........

 

....... and an adorable owl

 

And now, the most important photo of the week ....... yes, the cake!  Today we had the most delicious fruit loaf. 

 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, love Anne

 

The day got off to ......

....... a rather dreary start!  We have had a lot of rain - the river is running hard, and the poor heron looked somewhat bedraggled and miserable

 

Things did brighten up a bit, when I bought one of my favourite quilting magazines

 

and this little quilt would brighten up the dreariest of days!

 

I'm still stitching away in the evenings.  I have to admit that I haven't quite finished this block, as it involves satin stitch, which I'm not fond of

 

This little fairy is so cute!

 

I spent the afternoon in the hairdressers.  I asked Melissa, my lovely stylist, to cut my hair a bit shorter than I have had it of late. 

oops!

 

OOPS!!

 

Oh dear, I hadn't meant quite this short - but never mind, it will soon grow again!

 

ps - if you liked my sheepie notebook yesterday, you can buy one for yourself (and lots of other sheepie things) here

Here comes the sun

I was delighted yesterday to discover that I have been given an award by Kay, aka the Borderline Quilter

 

To accept the award, I have to give a link to Kay, tell you something about myself, spread the joy by nominating other bloggers, and of course let them know that I have nominated them

I have already given the link to Kay above - she is the wonderful longarm quilter who recently made our fabulous new comforter.  She won several awards at the Scottish Quilt Championships last year ..... and has an obsession for feathers (the quilted kind!)

 

I've done several of these "something about myself" things when I have been given awards in the past ...... I usually end up asking Malcolm, as I never know what to say about myself!  So here is a potted history of me.  Although I was born and grew up in Scotland, I am half English (through my Mum) and one of my great-grannies was Welsh!  I worked for British Rail, in the Chief Civil Engineer's department, so know obscure things about continuous welded rail, concrete sleepers and pandrol clips.  My singing is terrible, but that doesn't stop me singing along to the radio - especially when I'm driving.  I've sewn and knitted since I was little - as a hard-up teenager I used to make my own clothes.  I love to read - I have books in almost every room in the house - although not in the bedroom or bathroom!  Since I started blogging, I have become more and more interested in photography, and take photos every day.  And lastly, I can't write without using excessive amounts of exclamation marks!!

 

Now for the hard part - nominating other bloggers.  I think I have already nominated most of my favourites for other awards, so this time I have chosen

Cathy - I am in awe of her amazing artistic talents, as try as I might, my efforts look like a five-year old's drawing!

Rachel - her embroidery is beautiful

Pat - I love reading about her many children and grandchildren (and we have a name in common .... her married name is my maiden name!)

Thanks again Kay for the award!

 

As you know Malcolm now looks after the garden - but I had to do something this afternoon.  The harebells have spread, and underneath this clump .....

 

........ is the fabulous bees balm, which I would be upset to lose.  Some energetic pulling up, and the invading harebells were (just about) gone

 

This tiny clematis

 

already has a bud on it

 

This shot of the tree .....

 

..... doesn't show that the blossom is almost open

 

Meanwhile, in the front garden, the sparrows were squabbling on the fat ball feeder

 

and eating the emerging blossom on the tree

 

At least these little metal birds behave themselves

 

I whiled away a pleasant half hour or so, taking photos of the sparrows.  I tried to count them, but they kept flying off!  I think we probably have about two dozen of them - and we'll soon have more, as I think they are nesting under the roof again!

 

 

 

 

When we were in Melrose this morning, we popped into the National Trust shop for a browse, as they always have lots of lovely things ........ and today, this notebook just had to come home with me

 

Well ....... could you have resisted it?

Quilts, cattle and Katy

On Sunday we drove over to Cornhill, to visit the quilt and craft show.  As I paid the entrance fee, a disembodied voice from the back of the hall called out "Hello Malcolm, how are you Malcolm .... 0h hello Anne"  It was the redoubtable Katy, mainstay of the quilt show.  The first quilt we looked at was this wonderful one which she made for her husband Farmer Allan.  It shows his beloved Highland cattle, from the Douglas Fold at The Hirsel in Coldstream

 

Lovely as the Highland cattle are, of course I prefer the other quilt that she made for him ........ tractors!!

 

You saw bits of this cushion before, when Katy was working on it at patch'n'chat

 

So who is Katy?  She is a super fun friend, with a wicked sense of humour, and a willingness to have a go at anything .......  currently she is planning to abseil from the Forth Bridge to raise funds for charity.  This was her last fund raising effort - sitting pretty as Miss April on my studio wall

 

When we went through to have our cuppa and cake (there are always cuppas and cakes at quilt shows) a woman came up to me and said "You're the lady who writes the blog, aren't you, you're frayed at the edge".  I admitted that I was, and in turn said to her "You must be Audrey"  Yes indeed, she was Audrey.  So why does she know me, and why did I guess who she is.  Because her daughter is my blog friend Nicola.  I can't remember how Nicola and I discovered each other, but I love readiing about New Zealand, where Nicola now lives, and she loves when I write about Cornhill and the surrounding area, which she still misses.

When we were looking at the display of Christmas quilts, Malcolm pointed out this one

 

Although it has been done in very different colours, he recognised that it is the same pattern as ours

 

On the way home, we stopped for lunch at the Cream Puff, in Denholm

 

We had never been to the Puff  - it is only four miles or so from the house, so we had never really thought of going "out" to lunch there.  But someone recommended it, so we thought we would give it a try ..... and we are very glad that we did, as we had the most delicious celery, potato and stilton soup

 

Back in the studio, I listened to my latest cd, by The Civil Wars

 

 

To finish, I remembered this morning to take another photo of the Christmas stitcheries.  As the quilt also has red and white blocks, I put some red fabrics on the design wall

Siblings

We had surprise visitors today ...... Malcolm's sisters!  The younger one, Judith, is staying with the older one, Jennifer, in Morpeth for a few days, so they phoned this morning to say that they were going to pop up to see us.  Of course this meant going out for lunch!  This photo should have shown the three of them enjoying their lunch ....... but Jennifer moved, Malcolm looked as if he was crying and Judith looked awfully serious - so I have cropped the photo and instead you can enjoy the delicious food!

 

We had lunch at Harestanes, and as always had a walk round.  Malcolm was rather taken with this log pile - I hope he doesn't decide to move our logs from the log store and pile them under the windows!

 

There were a lot of woodworking tools in the courtyard - these rather large axes caught my eye

 

When we got home, the sun came out and we sat out in the garden to have a cuppa

 

We were amazed to see a pair of swallows swoop through the garden - it's very early in the year for them to have arrived.  Unfortunately they were much too fast for me to get a photo of them ...... but I did capture this sparrow sitting on top of the garden wall

 

The alchemilla mollis showed evidence of an earlier shower

 

The grape vine is just coming into leaf

 

and the herbs are growing well

 

I had planned to tell you about the quilt show we went to yesterday, but our surprise visitors of course changed that plan!  So I'll tell you about it tomorrow, and finish with a sewing update.  First, Lilly Pilly is all bonded, ready to be layered up with wadding and the applique stitched

did you spot the birds among the leaves?

 

Then, second, the Christmas stitchery is progressing well  - I took this photo on Saturday and have actually stitched quite a bit more over the weekend (yes, I forgot to take a photo today!)

Turning over a new leaf

I nipped out to the studio this afternoon to do some work on Lilly Pilly, before I had to attend to my domestic duties ........ doing a large basket of ironing and making chicken curry with spicy potatoes for dinner.  I got Malcolm to hold the bottom edge of the background fabric while I eased out the paper pattern, taking care not to disturb the layout of the trunk and branches.  I then covered it with non stick parchment ........

 

........ and bonded the pieces in place

 

I then numbered the first thirty leaves, and traced them on to bondaweb, using the leftovers from cutting out the trunk and branches

 

I laid out the ten fabrics for the leaves on the heatproof covering, and ironed three leaves on to each one.  There then followed the same process of putting the pattern sheet underneath as a guide to placing the leaves, then Malcolm was summoned again to hold the background fabric in place while I carefully removed the pattern sheet.  A quick iron with the non stick parchment, and the first thirty leaves were in place (only another 120 to go!!)

 

I have been watching my box set of "Lost" while in the studio

 

We watched it when it was on tv, and this is the second time I have watched the DVDs ...... and I have to say I am still lost as to what it is all about!!  But I do know that I much prefer bad boy Sawyer (played by the delicious Josh Holloway) to goody-goody Doctor Jack!

 

Heading back into the house, I paused to take a photo of our new clematis, which is flowering prettily

Looking after the pennies

We had a rather unusual day out today ...... we went to a "wealth management" seminar!  My, doesn't that sound ground - but let me explain.  Some weeks ago, Malcolm got a letter inviting us to this seminar.    We don't know why we got an invitation - Malcolm must be on a mailing list somewhere - as we certainly aren't wealthy!  His first reaction was to recycle it as junk mail, but as he read on, he spotted the words free, lunch and wine ...... so we thought we might as well go!  We were very glad that we did go, as this was the venue, Tilmouth Park Hotel

 

We got there early, so had a chance to walk round the grounds.  Looking up at the hotel, I could see this room has a four-poster bed

 

The trees are much further open than here

 

and the rhododendrons are flowering

 

 

When you enter the hotel, it is easy to picture the original family living there, as all the original features have been retained.  We were welcomed with a cuppa in this beautiful room

 

A quick trip to the Ladies before the seminar got under way meant that the camera had to come out to capture the fabulous wallpaper and general luxury!

 

So, what was all the wealth management stuff?  It was mostly advice about making the most of savings/investments/pensions - of course the firm running the seminar will do it all for you, for a fee.  I managed to stay awake until we had a break for another cuppa, in another lovely room

 

The ceiling had an unusual painted plaster centrepiece

 

as did the room the the seminar was in

 

it also had a very sparkly chandelier

 

I also managed to stay awake during the second session (I knew Malcolm was paying attention and taking notes!) ...... then, hooray, it was lunchtime.  We both chose lasagne, with side salad and garlic bread (and we had a glass of wine)

 

It was delicious ....... and then the very pleasant man who had served us came over to the table and asked if we would like anything else.  Well, the other choice had been chicken in white wine and cream sauce with rice, which also looked delicious, so we had some of that too (almost everyone had a second helping of whatever hadn't been their first choice!). 

We are glad we went, as we did get some useful information on making the most of our money ..... and a delicious lunch.  We usually have dinner quite early, but we will be eating much later tonight!

 

On the sewing front, progress is being made on the Christmas stitcheries.  Using just the one thread makes it much quicker, without all the stops and starts to change colours ...... and there are none of those dreaded French knots on the lettering, which took so much time on the "Love Notes" stitcheries.

 

Backtracking

After being sidetracked by the little lambs yesterday, back to what we did at the weekend.  On Sunday, we went for a walk aloong the river in Jedburgh, where this seagull flapped his wings, just as I clicked!!

 

The butterbur is just starting to flower on the riverbank

 

We went past the John Deere dealership ...... if only I had somewhere to park this!!

 

Although the blossom was springlike ........

 

......... it was decidedly chilly, and we abandoned the walk.  We headed to Border Meringues, where we had cake for lunch!  We shared a delicious cheese scone

 

and this sticky sweet confection, with marshmallows, cherries and coconut

 

On both Saturday and Sunday I was working on the prep for the stitcheries, cutting out the blocks, then ironing on the transfers for the embroidery

 

 

The last task was to tack the blocks to thin cotton wadding

 

I also made a start to Lilly Pilly, tracing the tree trunk and branches on to bondaweb

 

then cutting the pieces out and arranging them on the fabric

 

This afternoon, I covered the fabric and bondaweb with some nonstick baking parchment, and bonded them using a hot iron

 

Next, I cleared the worktables and put a heat proof cover over them, then put the paper pattern on top - I had turned it to the wrong side and traced the outline of thhe tree, as the pattern is reversed when you use bondaweb

 

I added the background fabric, then put the tree in place

 

I will need Malcolm's help with the next stage ..... carefully pulling the pattern out from underneath, so that I can then bond the tree in place.  Then I will have to cut out lots and lots ..... and lots of leaves!

After the cute little lambs yesterday, here are some ewes snoozing away the afternoon in a neighbour's old apple orchard

 

 

 

Getting my priorities right!

I have lots of photos from the weekend, and had a vague idea of the layout of today's post ....... but then I went for a walk after lunch, and everything changed!  So, I hope you aren't too disappointed at having to wait to see where we went for our Sunday walk and what sewing I did over the weekend, and instead have to look at lots of photos of ......... LAMBS (and other country things)

this little one kept falling off mum's back

 

and climbing back on

 

holding on tight!

 

a post-lunch snooze

 

the Jacob's lambs are big now

 

I love the pink inner ears

 

After all the cute lambs .......... the first rabbit of the year!

 

This female pheasant was striding down the field .......

 

........ resolutely ignoring the male trotting along behind her

 

There are more and more plants bursting into life

 

 

 

This flower is slightly bigger than a shirt button, but has amazing markings (definitely one to save as an idea for an applique flower!)

 

I think this is a starling, but it was on its own, whereas you normally see a flock of them

 

To finish, a little taster of the weekend sewing

 

Having fun with another man!

I was very excited yesterday evening, as I headed over to Kelso for Abbey Quilters' monthly meeting.  Why?  Because we had a VERY special guest speaker ....... the wonderful, fabulous Ricky Tims.  I had been at three of Ricky's big shows in the past, but this would be quite different - a small peformance in front of an audience of about eighty.  For those of you who don't know who Ricky is, he is a talented musician, composer ...... and quilter.   He entertained us with stories of his life and his beloved Granny, he played the piano for us ..... and of course he had quilts to share.  When we were able to take photos at the end, I only took some details of the quilts, as I knew I wouldn't be able to get good photos of them, but you can see his work, and read more about him here and here. 

But first here is the man himself ....... when I asked if I could take his photo, he not only said yes, but he put his trademark hat on

 

Then he asked if I would like to have my photo taken with him ........ I promptly handed the camera over to Katy, who told Ricky he was very honoured to have his photo taken for my blog, as it would meaning joining the august group (which includes her), who have appeared there!!

 

Charlie asked me to take a photo of her and her delightful Mum with her smartphone - oh dear, total failure, I couldn't make the thing work, so used my camera and emailed the photo to Charlie!

 

Ricky chatted, posed for photos, signed books, talked about his work ...... and all this while being decidedly under the weather with a chest infection.   I took lotso f notes during his performance, and had meant to write a much longer post, but I have been out all day* and am simply too tired, so I'll tell you more tomorrow, and for now leave you with the little details from his quilts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is Ricky's latest quilt - it is just amazing that we were allowed to handle it and take photos!

 

*I left home before 9am, to drive down to Longframlington (a 90 minute drive) to Anne's shop, to deliver the quilt top.  I'll tell you all about the day tomorrow, after the rest of the Ricky story!