frayed at the edge

A lovely sunny morning .......

....... so of course I spent it indoors!  After a wait of a few minutes when I got to Ingliston, the doors opened and I went straight upstairs  ..... to have breakfast!  Suitably refreshed and revived by a bacon roll (with brown sauce) and a mug of tea, I headed for the quilts.  Most people start by browsing round the stalls, so I had plenty of room to take photos.  Of course, every time I go to a quilt show, I have a debate with myself about posting photos, and usually only show general photos and photos of friends' quilts.  But then I read other blogs and see lots of photos, so I'm going to show you more than usual!!

This first quilt is by Anja Townrow, a Dutch woman who has lived in England for years.  The quilt is based on the very traditional double wedding ring block, but it looks quite different with the addition of the fun applique

 

I love this blue and white quilt .......

 

....... and shall let the maker tell you about it

 

a detail of the beautiful hand quilting

 

There are a lot of pieces in this quilt .....

 

....... again, the maker's description

 

and to give you an idea of the scale, this is my (small) hand

 

Of course I had to take a photo of this wallhanging

 

made by ........

 

a detail of the feathers

 

This tiger is amazing

 

but unfortunately I didn't check this photo of the label when I took it, and it is blurred - I hope you can read it

 

the detail on the face is amazing - look at the beading in the eyes!

 

The show was very busy - the busiest that it has been for some time.  By lunchtime it was getting very, very crowded, and the queue for food was very, very long.  So having looked at all the quilts several times, chatted to lots of friends, and bought one or two things, I decided to head for home, stopping on the way at a garden centre for lunch.  Further down the road I stopped briefly in a layby to have a drink, and quickly took some photos of the scenery

 

 

 

So what did I buy?  Some back issues of my favourite Australian magazines

 

More Anni Downs fabric (Meredithe, I checked this time that there were no cats!)

 

beautiful teeny tiny beads

 

And last, a fun pattern for a felt toadstool.  As soon as I saw it, I knew it was just the thing for Cobweb the fairy to sit on.  The photos are shown with permission

 

 

After seeing so many lovely quilts, I am looking forward to having a busy time in the studio this weekend!!  I hope you all have a good weekend, love Anne

 

 

 

A day for staying indoors!

Unfortunately it has been a miserable day, with steady drizzle and wind, as I left home just after nine this morning to drive up to Falkirk, to visit Stuart and Alison.  I haven't taken a single photo outside, as I knew that I wouldn't be able to keep the camera dry.  However, I did find some things to take photos of indoors, starting with my lunch

tuna mayo and cheese - delicious

 

We no longer have a branch of Thortons in Hawick, so I popped in to the Falkirk branch to stock up on a little sweet treat for each of us ...... you can probably guess that the Turkish Delight is for me

 

When I'm in Falkirk, there is a newsagents that I always visit, as they have a wide range of American magazines.  They haven't had cloth paper scissors recently,  so I was delighted to find this one today

 

I opened it at this page - definitley an idea for the to-do list

 

I was very naughty and also bought this one

 

Well, could you have resisited a magazine that had this cutie in it!!

 

Tomorrow I'm going to the Spring Quilt Show at Ingliston, so hopefully I will have lots of photos to share!!

If I kiss all these frogs ........

....... will I find a prince?!  This is my next project - a quilt for Project Linus

 

I've backed it with this wonderful 'cammo' fleece, which Malcolm bought for me recently - as soon as he saw it he knew it would be perfect for a boy's Linus quilt!!

 

Who coud resist these little frogs!

 

Of course, if I'm planning my next project it means that .... yes, hooray, I've finished the quilt top for Anne

 

To give you an idea what the quilt will be like when the stitcheries that Anne is working on are added, I photocopied one and pinned it on the top. 

 

When I stitched the circles on, I put stabiliser on the back, and being a thrifty person, I was able to reuse the centres of the big circles to put behind the small ones!

 

When we were in the Oxfam shop the other day, I was delighted to find a Jodi Picoult book that I hadn't read on the 99p shelf

 

I started to read it this morninng when I had my usual Wednesday morning soak in the bath.  Within a few pages I was totally engrossed - it promises to be as heartbreaking as some of her other books ........ I cried and cried at the end of My Sister's Keeper!!

I'm off first thing tomorrow morning, and won't be home until late Friday afternoon.  Where am I going and what am I doing?  I'll tell you tomorrow!

Girls with attitude

Recently, my friend Ruth, knowing that I like country music, recommended this cd (yes, it was one of those one-click purchases!)

 

It's brilliant ...... some of the lyrics are funny, some feisty, some just a little bit naughty - but most of all these are girls who won't stand any nonsense from men!!

 

 

On Sunday, Stuart sent me this link .  Yes, another one-click purchase (I actually ordered two, as I didn't want Malcom to sulk if I didn't get one for him!).

 

What is it?  A waterproof cover for the Kindle for when we go on holiday

 

I have almost finished the third Blankit, with just a little bit stitching to do on the narrow borders, then the finishing blanket stitch round the edge

 

Although I have only been using some basic embroidery stitches - French knots, couching and fern stitch - it has reminded me how much I used to enjoy embroidery, before I went over to the dark side (otherwise known as patchwork and quilting!)

 

Although I already have a large collection of reusable shopping bags, I couldn't resist this one by fashion designer Matthew Williamson, which is being sold to raise money for Sport Relief ....... who needs a bag costing hundreds of pounds, when you can buy this for £5, and know that you are helping a very good cause!!

 

 

And now, as promised, the last of the postcards.  I have been amazed at the variety of the cards, and the beautiful work put into them.  Thank you to to everyone who joined in, and made it such a successful swap!

Judi

 

Lee 

 

Liz

 

Yvonne



 

 

 

A hint of spring?

When I was out in the back garden on Saturday afternoon, a little flash ofcolour caught my eye.  Could this tiny narcissus be the herald of an early spring?

 

Then yesterday when we were out for our usual Sunday morning walk, we saw shoots of wild garlic .....

 

....... seedlings

 

...... and a tiny winter aconite

 

Before our walk, we stopped at Scott's View ...... to admire the view!

 

 

On our walk to the William Wallace statue, we were entertained by a beautiful chocolate labrador, which ran tirelessly back and forward along the path.  You can just see him in the middle of the photo, as he careered round the bend in the path

 

I had the long lens on the camera so that I could photograph some of the detail on the statue - I hadn't noticed this dragon-like creature on his helmet before

 

From the path, we could see another monument, away in the distance.  This is the Waterloo Monument on Peneil Heugh

 

Of course you know what the next photo is ...... yes, after our exertions we had to go for a cuppa!  As it was nearly lunchtime, as well as sharing a piece of lemon drizzle cake, we also shared a bacon and mushroom muffin

 

For the last couple of weeks, we have been using the main road rather than the back road to the house, as part of the back road was covered in muck* after the farmer cleaned out his cow byres.  However, we came round that way yesterday so that we could check on the Jacob's lambs

 

 

I was busy in the studio on both Saturday and Sunday afternoons working on the circles for the quilt top.  I discovered that I had miscalculated how many squares to cut to make the circles, and didn't have enough, however I have now made the rest and hope to get them sewn on tomorrow, and the final outer border added

 

I'll keep the rest of the postcards for tomorrow, and end with one of my 'arty' photos!

 

* that's muck as in manure, not mud!!

A lack of support

I turned my back for two minutes ....... and look what happened to my hyacinths!!

 

At patch'n'chat this afternoon, Katy was showing off her miniature quilt.  The squares are just an inch, embellished with beads ......

 

....... and I love this tiny fussy cut bird

 

For our afternoon tea, we had Annette's delicious cupcakes, with a choice of toppings

 

Another batch of postcards (I think there will be one more after this)

Rattling On

Rattling On

 

Sarah

Sarah

 

Shandy

 

Caroline

 

Carol

 

Dee

 

Is it just me, or are you having trouble with the new word verification on Blogger blogs?  I have great trouble making out the obscured word ...... last night I made numerous attempts to leave comments and in the end I gave up!  I gather too that ocasionally word verification pops up when you are commenting here.  It shouldn't, as I have my preferences set for no word verification, so I'm sorry if you are annoyed by it (I have also encountered it occasionally on other Typepad blogs, so perhaps the blog owners don't know that it happens)  So if you don't get a comment from me, it's simply that I can't get past the dreaded word verification!

 

The weather forecast isn't very good for the weekend, so I think I will be spending a lot of time sewing.  I hope you all have a good weekend, love  Anne

 

Stop splashing!

This afternoon, instead of going out to the studio to sew, I stayed in the lounge, so that I could take some photos of the birds in the garden.  I was immediately rewarded with this lovely photo of the sparrow on the rim of the birdbath looking most disgruntled at being splashed!

 

This great tit was tucking into the peanuts .......

 

........ while the sparrow enjoyed the seeds

 

They were joined by a big fat pigeon

 

But the pigeon is small compared to the heron, which swooped in to land on the River Slitrig this morning .........

 

.....before stalking along the edge to look for a tasty fish

 

Some more postcards .......

Lisa

 

Mary Ann

Mary Ann

 

Pat

Pat

 

To finish, a silly photo .......

Stop standing on my head!!

Going down in a blaze of glory!

We were treated to the most amazing sunset last night, with the sky blazing with colour.  The photos don't really show the true depth of red, as the camera kept trying to add light!

 

 

 

At Abbey Quilters last night, we had the choice of three small proects to work on.  As a new member, I chose the name badge.  I was pleased with how the embroidery turned out, as I didn't mark it, I just did it freehand

 

Next to me, Mary and Katy were prepping pentagons to make balls for babies

 

This morning we headed up to Lauder for a walk before lunch.  I got sidetracked by the way these plants were growing in the cracks in an old wall

 

 

When I caught up with Malcolm, he pointed out these stones stuffed in to the cat flap in this garden door - I guess that's one way of keeping cats out of the garden!

 

We had intended to have lunch in the Flat Cat Gallery, but it was very busy and we couldn't get a table.  So we headed off for Stow (pronounced to rhyme with now).  The scenery was stunning (sorry, there are funny marks on some of the photos .... courtesy of the dirty windscreen!)

 

 

 

 We had lunch in The Cloudhouse.  Bacon, poached eggs and toast ...... sometimes simple food is the best!!

 

To end, the first of the photos of the post cards from the swap

Anairam

Anairam

 

Lynne

 

Linda

 

Aren't they all fabulous!!  More tomorrow.

In a fankle

Just a quick little post, as this is my evening at Abbey Quilters.  I have been prepping the last lot of circles for the quilt.  I used the template to mark the circle on the wrong side of the four-patch, then cut out it out

 

I then ran a gathering stitch round the edge, and gathered the fabric over a card circle

 

Once pressed, the circle is ready to sew in place

 

Last night, I finished the heart, except for the hanging loop

 

I have made a start to the third Blankit - it will have a little blue cottage in the middle

 

I was winding the first of the embroidery threads on to a card bobbin when ........ disaster!  A moment's inattention and I have ended up with a complete fankle!!

 

We quilted until we wilted!

As usual on Friday morning, I headed over to Borderland Fabrics for patch'n'chat ........ but this was no ordinary one - this was a "quilt till you wilt"!  We had our usual afternoon session, including the wonderful apple and sultana cake with our cuppa

 

We also had sweets to eat .......

 

........ brought by Ruth, who doesn't get to join us very often.  Here she is showing off the progress of her Grandmother's Flower Garden

 

At the end of the afternoon, most of us stayed on, and some others arrived to join us.  We settled down for some serious sewing, pausing only to enjoy a Chinese takeaway.  I had duck in black bean sauce with boiled rice - delicious!

 

Everyone enjoyed their meals - and the plastic containers were washed out and kept to be re-used!

 

As the evening wore on, people started to head for home ...... I lasted until eleven o'clock, but there were still several going strong when I left!!  I finished the little house

 

and did quite a bit more work on my hexagons - as you can see I have still to add in some on the left hand side

 

Yesterday morning I set off down the road to Chesters, to one of the regular Woolgatherings, organised by Lindsay, who is not only a talented crafter, but also a very good baker ......... the cake was absolutely delicious

 

Having finished the little house on Friday, I started on the next Blankit.    This one is a large heart, which will be stuffed and have a hanging loop attached to it

 

As I will be out tomorrow evening, we had our Valentine's dinner last night.  I wish I had remembered to take photos, as Malcolm excelled himself!  To start, we had coquilles st jacques, then pork tenderloin stuffed with haggis, wrapped in pancetta.  Later we enjoyed an excellent bottle of cava - it was a lovely romantic evening!!