frayed at the edge

Going the right way now!

Just a quick post, as it's my monthly night out at Abbey Quilters.  It's a very special night - but of course I'm not going to tell you why until tomorrow!

On Saturday afternoon, I turned the misbehaving geese the right way round .......

 

........ then added the final border.  It has been a lot of work,  but I am really pleased with it!

 

Now that the design wall is free again, I put the Baltimore blocks up, hoping that they will encourage me to get on with the other blocks

 

I added the latest Linus quilt, and my lovely new piece of Ghastlies fabric

 

Will this Ghastlie baby ......

 

......... grow up to look like its siblings

 

And will this cute girl

 

grow up to look like these two beauties

 

 

 

 

Did you hear .....

..... the squeals of anguish coming from the studio late this afternoon?  I had finished sewing for the day, put the quilt up on the design wall, taken photos, tidied up, had one last look at the quilt before I went back to the house ....... and no no no no ......

But to start at the beginning of the latest progress of the quilt.  Havinng finished eleven of the twelve stitcheries ( and almost finished the last one), the next job was to trim them to size, making sure the stitching was centred

 

I then added them to the design wall, first of all just putting them in the spaces as I trimmed them

 

But then I consulted the pattern, and ended up with a much more balanced distribution

 

I then stitched the blocks together in rows, then stitched the rows together

 

When I went out to the studio this morning, I thought it wouldn't take me long to add the three outer borders.  WRONG!!  First I added the plain border and the flying geese to the top and bottom.  This was a slow process, making sure I didn't cut off any of the points (this photo shows my second attempt, as I had stitched the bottom row of geese on facing the wrong way, as they are supposed to fly clockwise round the quilt)

 

I then had to stitch short strips and squares to the other two sets of flying geese, as well as the plain inner border, before adding them.  Now, having sewn one lot on the wrong way, you would think that I would have been extra careful to get the second lot correct.  But not only are the right hand ones going the wrong way ....

 

...... I didn't notice when I took that photo, and still didn't notice when I put a couple of strips of the outer border in place and took this photo

 

However, apart from the naughty geese flying the wrong way, I am delighted with how it looks.  The same cannot be said for today's weather!!  We didn't really take the forecasters seriously when they said we would have snow, thinking we would maybe see a few flakes ...... another WRONG!  This was the view through the lounge window this morning

 

 

And this was from the bedroom window - that's my car windscreen, covered with snow, in the background

 

Then this was the view at tea time

 

 

However, the roads are clear, and it is unlikely the snow will linger.  To end on a cheerier note, I captured the sparrows having fun in the birdbath yesterday evening

 

 

 

 

 

Still shining ......

....... yesterday, but today the sun has gone, the skies are grey, and it has been trying to rain (and we just won't mention that snow is forecast!).  To make the most of the sun, we headed over to Harestanes yesterday morning.  This is one of our favourite walks, with lots to see.  We started at the childern's play area, where there is this amazing thatched play house

 

 

Although we had some rain on Saturday, it was dry underfoot, and the level in the little stream was low

 

 

There was no breeze to make  these daffodils dance, but they still looked wonderful

 

These frilly ones were glowing in a patch of sunlight under some trees

 

I have been looking in my new wildflower books, but I haven't been able to identify this

 

The new growth gave me the chance to take some of my favourite "arty" photos!

 

 

 

 

Of course a long walk has to be followed by a cuppa and a scone ....... I wasn't quick enough to take the photo - Malcolm had already cut the scone in half!

 

I've been busy sewing over the weekend and today.  Here is just a little taster, I'll show you more tomorrow!

 

 

Ghastlie joy!

I was delighted to receive an envelope from abroad this morning ......

 

........ as I knew it contained a piece of the latest Ghastlies fabric, which I had ordered from Thimbleanna

 

I took this general view of it out in the garden, meaning to take close-ups later ..... and I forgot!

 

The post had arrived when I was in the shower, and in all the excitement of taking photos, I forgot that I had to dry my hair

 

What would I do without my hairdryer and my big round bristle brush!!

 

Did you notice my necklace - Malcolm gave it to me for Christmas.  The various stones represent the chakras.  He bought it here - although he bought it in their shop at Kirkharle, rather than online.

A few more photos from our day out on Wednesday ......

Heatherslaw Light Railway

 

we saw the little train puffing along the track at Etal

 

I want one of these!!

 

I resisted buying this!

 

We had a different Friday cake - a clootie dumpling loaf.  It was delicious - rich and fruity

 

After our spell of glorious weather, the forecast for the weekend isn't very good, but whatever the weather, I hope you all have a good weekend!  Love Anne

Bumblebee

Despite several attempts, this was the best I could do to capture a big fat bumblebee which was buzzing about the garden this afternoon

 

Over the last two severe winters, we lost two rosemary plants, but as you can see, this one is flourishing.  It looks a bit of a funny colour - it's because that part of the garden was in deep shadow

 

The lupin was also in the shade ......

 

....  unlike the pot of herbs, which are growing well already, having survived the winter

 

Also basking in the late afternoon sun was the Linus quilt, which I had just finished

 

You know I like getting parcels, so you can imagine my delight when not one, not two .... ok, five boxes were delivered yesterday

 

Lots of lovely jam jars and bottles - and spotty labels to match!

 

I had taken this photo of the celeriac I was about to peel and chop to make mash to have with last night's dinner - then I forgot to take a photo when I dished up, to show how something so strange looking ends up being something very tasty!

Sun, sun, sun!

The weather continues to be glorious, with beautiful blue skies .....which made our Sunday morning walk even more enjoyable.  We had planned to spend some time at the Reivers Festival in the park- but we didn't check what time the activities started, and we got there too early!  However, several of the participants were busy organising their stalls and practising their swordplay, so I was able to take some photos

 

 

 

 

There were more signs of spring in the park

blossom

 

primrose

 

wood anenome

 

I've been busy with the Linus quilt.  I finished the quilting and stitched the binding on, adding little bits of the chicken fabric to break up the black

 

 

Now I have to to stitch the binding on the back ....... and stitch in dozens of ends!

 

When we were shopping on Saturday, I found this storage box - a bargain at £2.50. It is just the thing to keep my hexagons in - much better than the pink storage box

 

I also had a bit of an experiment with some strips.  I have seen various versions of this technique on blogs and Youtube clips - though usually done with jelly rolls.  The first stage is to join all the strips together, using diagonal seams

 

You then take the two ends and sew a very long seam

 

There was then a slight hiccup, as I has twisted the strip - oops

 

Once I had cut the strip in half, I finished stitching it and pressed the seam.  Then I put the two ends together and stitched a not quite so long seam

 

And again

 

Eventually I ended up with this.  I was using up scrap strips which I had been given and I had several strips of some of the fabrics .....  of course they ended up together, so if I use the method again, I will use all different fabrics

 

I have some pretty floral fabrics which I'll use for borders ....... yes, it will be another quilt for Linus!

Little sparrow, little sparrow*

I love to see you on the feeders

 

I enjoy seeing you using the birdbath

 

I don't mind when your friends, big and small, call in to visit you

 

I'll even wait patiently to take photos when you and your entire family sit in the hawthorn tree and ignore me

 

But please, little sparrow, will you not make such a din outside the bedroom window at 5.30am and wake me up!!

 

I was still stitching away on the latest Baltimore block this afternoon at patch'n'chat ....... this block has an awful lot of pieces!

 

This afternoon's cake was the wonderful chocolate sponge that just floats off the plate and melts in the mouth

 

Taking bird photos requires a lot of patience - for every usable photo, there are several like these!!

 

I hope you all have a good weekend, love Anne

 

*Do all you Dolly Parton fans now have the song playing in your heads!!??

 

 

A frustrating day

I cleared the work tables this morning of the accumulated clutter (I'm very tidy in the house, but not in the studio!) to make room to layer up the latest Linus quilt

 

Several dozen pins later it was ready to quilt

 

I changed the free motion foot, as the large plastic one is better for quilting when I use fleece on the back of a quilt (I had to get the instruction book out, as I couldn't remember how to change it .... the tiny screw on the underneath  releases the bottom bit of the foot)

 

I thought I would try this thread, which I have had in my stash for some years

 

Although it is a thicker thread, the label says it is great for machine quilting - but unfortunately it wasn't great when I tried a sample.  The thread has a lot of slubs, and just wouldn't run smoothly through the needle.    So I changed to my everyday quilting thread and ........the thread broke, the thread jammed, the thread just wouldn't behave!  There is a lot of debate among quilters as to whether it is the fault of the thread, the machine or the quilter when it all goes wrong.  After many, many years sewing, and having had several brands of machines and many brands of thread, I would say it is probably a mixture of all three.  After some tedious unpicking, I switched to the walking foot, quilting the centre panel with a sort of scallop-shaped stitch

 

and using straight line quilting to create a secondary pattern of squares in the middle of the triangles.  I haven't decided how to quilt the other borders yet!

 

Malcolm in the meantime was having a more successful afternoon, cutting both the back grass ......

 

........ and the front one

 

He also had a successful morning - finding this fleece reduced in Asda to a mere £2.50!!  It will provide backing for two small quilts for Linus

 

ps - it's not the photo that's fuzzy, it's the fleece!!

In a bind

I had been putting off adding the binding to our new comforter, as I knew it would be a very big job.  However on Saturday I though I really ought to get on with it!  Faced with the thought of sitting for hours handstitching the binding on the back of the comforter, I decided to try a method I haven't used before  .......  back-to-front binding.  As the name suggests, the binding is sewn on the back of the quilt instead of the front, then turned over to the front and machine stitched in place, saving all those hours of hand stitching!  The first step was to cut the strips for the binding from the same fabric as the comforter, but in a darker shade of green

 

I then joined them using a diagonal seam

 

When the binding is folded in half and pressed the seam is staggered, giving a neater finish

 

Having stitched it to the back of the quilt, I turned it to the right side and stitched it in place as close to the edge as possible

 

in no time at all the job was done and the comforter was on the bed

 

Oops - it looks lovely, but it doesn't go with the valance!  So it was back into the studio yesterday to make a valance with the same dark green fabric as the binding

 

But I wouldn't want you to think that I was chained to the sewing machine all weekend!  Malcolm took me out for breakfast yesterday to celebrate Mothers' Day - a delicious bacon roll

 

We then had a walk past the donkey sanctuary - unfortunately we had forgotten that it doesn't open until 2pm, so had to content ourselves with looking through gaps in the hedge to see just a few donkeys

 

 

We usually have a traditional Sunday dinner, but yesterday Malcolm made turkey fillet en croute with a mushroom and shallot duxelles

 

Served with a jus and green beans, it was a wonderful dinner (we were slobs and ate it in front of the tv, as Malcolm was watching Newcastle play football - fortunately they won, so his appetite wasn't spoiled!!)

 

To finish, I thought you might like to see another cute ewe and lamb photo .......

 

I can't think of a title!

I had just said to Malcolm "I can't think of a title" ....... when I thought, well that will do!  After cleaning the kitchen windowsill this morning, I was putting the orchids back, and thought that I hadn't shown you any photos of them recently

 

 

 

 

 

 

At patch'n'chat this afternoon, we had an extra treat ........ our newest member, Maureen, had brought in a box of chocolates for Sandra, who had given her a lot of help last week - and Sandra shared them with us

 

Sandra, of course, is our wonderful Linus lady, and here she is on the right, showing a Linus quilt to a customer

 

This one was made by Jen (and you can see two from Pam on the pile behind it)

 

This one was made by Tricia

 

Katy had finished all her tiny heart blocks for a miniature quilt, and sewed the first two together.  As you can see, each square is just over an inch

 

We had the wonderful apple and sultana cake with our afternoon cuppa - I really must make the effort to bake one for Malcolm, as I keeep telling him how good it is!!

 

A bit of fun to finish - this case of wine was delivered this morning .......... will I have to strip off to drink it!!??

 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, love Anne