frayed at the edge

Why did it rain all day?

Because I had an appointment at the hairdressers!  I should have been there last week, but I had to change the appointment because we had visitors - who sent us this photo of the two of us in the churchyard (or should that be three of us - the "village idiot" is behind us)  (note to self - the tails of a long cardigan hanging down below a jacket is NOT a good look!!)

 

As I spend some time at the hairdressers getting my colour done, I always take a book to read.  Today's book might not be intellectually challenging, but it is very enjoyable - and obviously has lots of knitting in it!

 

When the post arrived this morning, I was a bit puzzled to receive a small parcel fromLynne, which contained a lovely card and something wrapped in tissue paper ........

 

....... a lovely crochet mat which Lynne had made for me in return for my knitting mitts for her

 

When I was in the chemists this morning, I spotted this bottle of my favourite bubble bath .... marked down to half price

 

Excellent, because my other bottle is almost finished

 

Do you like the cacti on the bathroom windowsill?

 

And did you notice that they are actually candles?!

 

I went to the jewellers on Monday to get a new battery put in my watch ...... but it wasn't the battery that wasn't working, it was the watch.  The jeweller told me that if I wanted it repaired he would have to send it away and that it would probably cost £50.  I said I would think about it - although I really like the watch it's a lot of money to spend on it.  I do have another watch, but it is a tiny, dainty, delicate one, not really suitable for everyday wear.  However Malcolm offered to lend me his old watch - he has very slim wrists, so it wouldn't be too big.  There was just one drawback - it needed a new battery!  All I have to do now is put the date right!

 

I have almost finished the little house - last night I added some embroidery

 

I think I have now received photos of  most of the postcards from the swap, so I must get them organised to share with you next week.

I won't be here tomorrow as I will be out until very late - I'll tell you all about it on Monday (although of course I'll be back as usual on Saturday with Shadow Shot Sunday).  So, a day early, I will wish you all a good weekend, Anne

 

A cold and frosty morning

We wrapped up warmly and headed to Selkirk to go for a walk at The Haining.  The paths tend to get very muddy, so it is best to go there when it is either frozen or dry!  The views are stunning ......

 

 

...... with the Sheriff Court standing out against the hills

 

There are several paths to follow, and today we headed for the one through the woods

 

The snowdrops were peeping through the dead leaves

 

I often mentioning looking up ....... which Malcolm did today, spotting first this

 

then this, which we decided is a large nest

 

The wind came up as we walked back to the car, making it very chilly indeed, so we were glad to go for some lunch to warm up.  We both had the corn beef stovies  (delicious!) ..... the photo looks a bit blurred, as the camera kept steaming up, coming in to the warm!

 

Back home, I got on with the quilt top.  When I mentioned yesterday that I had stitched the wrong two rows together, it didn't occur to me to say why!  The first row has circles on blocks 2, 4 and 6, so on the second row, they should be on blocks 1 ,3, 4 and 7. 

Having stitched sashing to the lower edge of each strip, I put them back on the wall to make sure that they were all correct

 

I then sewed strips one and two together, then strips three and four, and then sewed the first two to the second two (did you follow that?)  It is much more accurate to do it this way, rather than adding strip after strip, as the piece can become distorted

 

This stage is much slower to do, as I have to make sure that the blocks are aligned

 

To finish, two quite different, but equally appealing photos.  First, I just love how the little window is squeezed in next to the chimney

 

and second ....... all together now --aaaaah, isn't that the cutest little dog!

Just when it was all going well .......

I've been working hard on the quilt top, and this morning I finished the first phase of putting on the sashing, which gave me three piles sitting on the work table

 

Once I had sewn all the strips and pressed them, I put them up on the design wall,  except for one strip, which there wasn't room for

 

I then took the leftover strip, and the top one from the wall and stitched them together

 

oh no  ........ I had stitched two similar strips together, so then had to unpick them.  When I then went to put them in the correct order on the wall. I kept ending up with two similar squares together, and every time I changed them, I still couldn't get the arrangement correct.  In the end, I took the strips into the house and enlisted Malcolm's help.  Of course he at first said how could I have got them muddled, it was surely easy to put them in order - but he sooon found that it isn't as easy as it looks!  However we eventually sorted it all out, and the strips are now labelled, ready to be stitched together.

In the evenings, I have been working on the Blankit - it is looking good

 

It has been cold for the last few days, and we have had lots of birds visiting the garden

 

 

 

 

I'm back!!

Thank you for all your good wishes and suggestions for remedies!  I am still coughing a bit, but generally feeling much better (I can manage a whole day now without having a nap!).  On Wednesday, Malcolm took me out for lunch to cheer me up, and on the way home we stopped to check on the Jacob's ewes ........ wonderful, the lambs have started to arrive!

 

 

 

As ever, the goose and gander were protecting the flock!

 

Yesterday we had visitors, and after lunch we went for a walk.  Wonderful - more lambs have arrived!

 

 

 

This time it was the old donkey who was watching over the new arrivals

 

I had been making good progress with the quilt top for Anne - I will have to catch up at the weekend

 

 

I was delighted to be well enough to go to patch'n'chat this afternoon, as that meant I could enjoy the Friday cake.  This week it was the Ovaltine tray bake - it is so delicious there was silence in the room as we all tucked in!!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, love Anne

The old and the new

Malcolm and I hadn't been to the Woodhorn Museum before, and we had assumed it was just a collection of the mine buildings and machinery .... so we were amazed to see this visitor centre (Malcolm and Jennifer kindly supply the scale!)

 

They are looking at this

 

The plaque made us smile, as the word jobbie means something quite different for us!!

 

This memorial is for the men who died in the 1916 pit explosion

 

We will have to go back, to have a closer look at the various buildings and large pieces of machinery

 

After getting off to such a good start knitting the fairies, I seem to have got bogged down finishing them.  I am still fiddling about attaching the wings to wire to shape them, but I have made a start to doing Cobweb's hair.  I haven't stitched it in place yet, but I think it looks good!

 

As always I was at patch'n'chat this afternoon, and there were cheers when we went through for our afternoon cuppa, and found our favourite apple and sultana cake!

 

I hope you all have a good weekend - no doubt I will be chained to the sewing machine!!  Love Anne

 

A visual feast

We had to head to Newcastle again this morning, as Malcolm's car had to have more work done on it (a warranty repair this time, no so nasty bill!)  As always I had the camera at the ready as we approached the border.  On our side the sun was shining ......

 

....... but on the other side it was misty

 

You can just make out the line of the hill on the left, under the low cloud

 

As the car repair was going to take some time, we were given a coutesy car.  We headed over to Morpeth, to visit Malcolm's sister Jennifer.  While we were having a cuppa, Malcolm spotted this blue tit on the peanut feeder

 

Suitably refreshed, we then drove to Newbiggin, where Jennifer treated us to lunch.  Cheese omelette for Jennifer ....

 

....... crab sandwiches for Malcolm

 

....... and a ploughman's for me (Malcolm pinched some of my cheese!)

 

After lunch, we walked down to the seafront, to see .....

 Couple

 

However, it had turned rather cold and windy, so we didn't linger, but went on to Woodhorn Museum to see this exhibition

 

There were no signs forbidding photography, so I took some photos, although because of the low lighting in the room, they don't do the work justice

As we walked back to the car, it started to rain ...... but the sun was still shining and we were treated to this beautiful rainbow

 

I also took a lot of photos in the grounds of the museum, but I'll keep them for tomorrow.

 

 

 

Seeing squares, not spots!

Usually you talk about seeing spots before your eyes, but after a serious amount of sewing today, I'm seeing squares!  This morning I laid out all the squares that I had cut on Sunday, arranging the piles in pairs

 

As always when I have repetitive machining to do, I chain pieced the squares, feeding in the next pair without cutting the thread

 

Once I had stitched one of each pair together, I moved the top right hand pile to the bottom and moved the others up, to change the pairings.  I kept doing this until I was about halfway through the pile ........

 

Then I rearranged the piles, pairing the left hand piles together followed by the right hand piles.  This ensured that I had a good mix of pairs.  The next step was to press all the pairs, and then sew them together in twos, ending with a large pile of blocks

 

By the time I had finished sewing, it was just about time to head into the house to make the dinner, so I pressed a few of the blocks and popped them on the design wall to let you see how they look (one of these days I must invest in a 'daylight' fluorescent striplight, so the colours are true!!)

 

Having taken time to make sure that my seams were neatly lined up ...... I remembered that all the centres will be covered with applique circles!!

 

I was distracted this morning by a blackbird who stood for some time with his back to me - but eventually he turned round enough for me to take a photo of him - you can see where the end of his beak is dirty, from where he had been poking in the mud

 

As I was crossing the garden at the end of the afternoon, a little gleam of colour caught my eye ...... a bright green shoot amongst the dead foliage on the clematis

 

Recently, Pat asked me where my studio is, as I sometimes mention going out to/being out in the studio.  It isn't that far away, it's at the end of the back garden.  This is the back of the house, with the back door on the left .....

 

...... if you go past the summerhouse, you'll find the wooden storm doors to the studio (inside the wooden doors are glass French doors) ......

 

 I still can't leave comments on Blogger blogs which have word verification - no matter how many times I correctly type in the word, I am told I have typed it wrongly and am given another one.  It is so frustrating!  However, I am still reading all my favourites, and if I could leave a comment, I would of course say that the posts were fascinating/interesting/moving/amusing (delete as applicable!!)

 

ps - Malcolm has pneumonia pleurisy flu a bad cold and has spent the day with his feet up, reading the paper, doing the crossword, watching tv.  He has now given it to me - do you think I'll get to spend tomorrow in a similar fashion??!!

Helping a good cause .......

....... and having fun!  As planned, I went to Kelso on Saturday morning to join in the Linus Day.  I took along the quilt I had almost finished, and by mid-afternoon it was all done and ready to hand over to Sandra, our wonderful Linus Lady

 

At our table, while I was hand stitching, Katy was machine quilting .......

 

......... Tricia was machine piecing

 

and Anne S was sorting out some small pieces into bundles ...... and we were all chatting, telling jokes and generally having a grand day out!

 

Last year Sandra distributed over 400 quilts and knitted blankets in The Borders, so hopefully we can improve on that figure this year.  I came home with a pile of fabrics which had been donated for making more quilts

 

I think I will start with these fabrics ...... the white/cream rectangles can be pieced to make backgrounds for applique and the patterned fabrics will make pretty sashing.  This is  a detail of the first quilt I made many years ago for Linus - so long ago that I didn't have a digital camera - by the time I had the film developed, I no longer had the quilt, so couldn't take a better photo!

 

Yesterday afternoon, I started my 'job' ....... but it scarcely seems like work doing something that I enjoy!  I have cut a vast amount of squares for the quilt top .......

 

...... and made a good start to one of the kits (isn't it just so cute!!)

 

I didn't do as much knitting as usual last week - I was out on Tuesday night and we were late home on Wednesday, so I had a good session this afternoon catching up with work on the fairies.  I had done some of the sewing up on the first fairy

 

The next stage involved a length of dowel and double-sided sticky tape .........

 

........ and some stuffing

 

Having wrapped the dowel in stuffing, I inserted it up through the body and into the head.  I then added more stuffing and sewed the remaining body seam

 

There is a bit of work to do on her face before I add her ears and hair.  I thought I had some wire suitable to use on the edges of the wings, but it was too fine.  Fortunately Malcolm produced some from the depths of his stash in the garage and I was able to make a start to shaping the wings

 

I have now received several photos of the wonderful postcards that have been made for the swap - remember, if you haven't yet sent yours, the deadline for posting them is the end of the month.  Cathy has now received my card, so I can show it to you.  It is a felted landscape, which I gave the title of Bluebell Wood at Sunset

 

You may have noticed that there were no photos of our usual Sunday walk ...... that's because just as we parked the car, it started to rain, and as it was also windy it really wasn't very pleasant, we went to the garden centre for a cuppa and scone instead!!

A special delivery

I love when things arrive in the post with foreign stamps ......

 

...... and I was especially excited this morning, as I knew this had come from Cathy, my swap partner.  Cathy is the most wonderful artist, and she has painted the most beautiful postcard for me

 

She also enclosed two postcards from Sicily

 

and some tiny cards showing more of her wonderful work

 

Thank you very much, Cathy!  I have received some photos of the postcards that have been sent already - they are all fabulous and I am sure their recipients will be delighted with them.  I am looking forward to when all the cards have been sent and recceived, and I can show you the photos.

 

I mentioned yesterday that I had picked up some little bits in charity shops.  First, in Shelter, I found this little Laura Ashley case (it is about 6"x4")

 

It contains beads, trims and little card labels and embellishments

 

Then it was on to the Oxfam shop, where first I found two balls of aran weight cotton yarn

 

and then a bag of tapestry wools, in soft shades

 

Friday of course means cake - today was one of our favourites ....... Annette's light-as-air chocolate sponge

 

I will have a very busy weekend sewing, with the Linus day tomorrow and on Sunday I will start my new 'job' ...... although I can't really think of doing something I love as a job!!  I hope you all have a good weekend, love Anne

Bridging the gap

After dropping off the car yesterday, we went to Freudz Cafe for a cuppa

The name of the cafe is explained by the plaque beside the door ......

 

Suitably refreshed, we headed for the Biscuit Factory, where we pottered round all the wonderful exhibits, until it was time for lunch. 

 

 I ordered a BLT and Malcolm a smoked ham and cream cheese bagel, but when they came we shared them - they were both delicious!

 

As we then had extra time to kill, we walked down to the River Tyne, where we saw several of the many bridges that cross the river

 

We crossed the river by the Millenium Bridge, which we then had a spectacular view of ........

 

...... from the Baltic Mill, which is now an arts centre.  Unfortunately we picked the wrong time to visit, as most of the floors were closed for the construction of new exhibits

 

Having crossed back over the river, we then stopped to look at The Blacksmith's Needle - which is where the tin of sardines came from.  Malcolm as ever provides the scale!

 

I could have taken dozens of photos, but contented myself with these ......

 

We then visitedBessie Surtees House, which dates frmo the 16th and 17th centuries

 

We enjoyed our visit to Anne's shop (she had just taken delivery of some delicious linens, which I was very tempted to buy) ......... but I came home with all this without spending a penny

No, Malcolm didn't distract her while I stuffed it under my jumper!  I've got a job!!  I am going to stitch sammples for Anne.  I am particularly looking forward to doing the little Blankits.

 

I was going to go for a walk after lunch, but while we were sitting at the kitchen table eating, lots of cloud suddenly appeared and there was a spit of rain in the air, so instead I headed out to the studio.  I layered up the quilt I am going to give to Linus ....

 

....... then quilted it and added the binding.  By the time I took this photo, the rain had turned to snow and it was so dark I had to turn the light on - you can see the difference that makes to the colours

 

I'll finish the quilt on Saturday, whenI am going to a 'Linus Day', organised by Sandra, our wonderful local Linus Lady.

I got some little bargains in the charity shops this morning, but I'll show them to you tomorrow.

 

ps - I've just come back to say that I am having a problem leaving comments on Blogger blogs that have word verification.  No matter how many times I type in the correct word, it says it's wrong and won't publish the comment.  So I am still reading all my favourites, I just can't leave you a comment.