frayed at the edge

A change of venue

This morning's post brought another exciting parcel from foreign lands .......

 

 

....... if you need another clue, this is the corner of the customs form

 

 

I was very excited to receive the parcel, as it contained the very first thing that I have ever bought on ebay!!  After wrestling with lots of sticky tape and bubble wrap, I finally reached the contents

 

 

Are you scratching your head, wonderfing what it is?  Here it is set up on the edge of the worktable

 

 

It is a ball winder, which winds the yarn from the swift

 

 

This is the start of the ball

 

 

And this is the end result

 

 

I stuck the label back on, so that I know what yarn it is when I use it

 

 

Now we come to the reason for the cake and the change of venue.  We couldn't have our usual Friday afternoon patch'n'chat at Borderland Fabrics, as there was a group visiting the shop, so I offered to host it in my studio.  Of course we can't have Friday afternoon without cake, so I got out my ancient, old M&S book 'Cooking for your Freezer', by Mary Berry.  The cake is so easy to make, even I can do it!!

 

 

You will need 150g of currants, 150g of sultanas, 150g of brown sugar, finely grated rind of 2 oranges, 300ml of hot tea, 275g self raising flower and 1 egg.

Put the fruit, sugar and orange rind in a bowl and pour over the hot tea.  Leave to soak overnight.  Grease and line a 20cm round cake tin with greased greaseproof paper and preheat the oven to 150 degrees C, 300F gas mark 2.

Add the flour and egg to the fruit mixture.  Mix well, turn into the tin, then back for 90 minutes.  Leave to cool on a wire rack

 

Malcolm and I had a slice with our morning cuppa - purely to make sure that it had turned out ok!

 

 

The cake was declared to be very good by my three guests ...... Tricia, who was handquilting her gorgeous sampler quilt

 

 

Katy, busy with tiny foundation-pieced blocks

 

 

Anne S, with yet another of her tiny log cabin squares

 

 

I made a start to machine quilting a baby quilt (I'm supposed to have it finished for next Saturday!)

 

 

 

I've got all my things packed ready for tomorrow's show ....... including the photography cup, which has been on the mantlepiece for the last year.  Wouldn't it be good if it came back home with me!!  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, love Anne

Slightly damp!

When I looked out the window when I got up, it was a bit damp, but not raining, so I went out as usual.  I hadn't even got to the garden gate when it started to rain, but I thought it was only a little drizzle, it wouldn't last.  But it did last and got heavier and heavier, so I turned for home after a mile.  However, I did take some photos on the way (such dedication to you, dear readers, taking photos in the rain and then tucking the camera back under my jacket!)

This field is usually full of sheep, bu today it was full of seagulls ..... I have never seen so many in one place ....... then suddenly a cloud of them rose into the air

 

 

This toadstool has been nibbled on

 

 

as have these two smaller ones

 

 

The garden has been full of birds again - it is very entertaining to watch them ...... although sometimes they have to be told off for fighting, as there is plenty of food for all of them!  This adult robin has been coming to the garden for two or three days now - but it has been very difficult to get a photo, as he bobs about all over the place - just as you get him in focus, he has hopped off again.  However, I finally managed to snap him this morning

 

 

 

 

This collection of birds were well behaved, occasionally swapping perches as they tucked in

 

 

This little one decided to forego food, and shelter from the rain under the roof of the bird table

 

 

This morning, I went to visit my friend Ali, who was having an open day, selling lots of lovely fabrics and threads.  Also there with goodies was  Lindsay.  Did I buy anything - of course!  From Ali I got two lovely  bundles of fabrics and trims - new cushions for the lounge?

 

 

From Lindsay, some little charms

 

 

colourful bits for needle felting/embellishment

 

 

and some excellent, very sharp snips ..... with their own little hand quilted cover

 

 

When Malcolm was heading out this morning, I jokingly asked him to buy me a present ..... and he did!  He had his lunch here, and came home with two packets of gorgeous woollen fabrics

 

 

I finished the shawl last night (hooray) and blocked it this afternoon - I will leave it to dry for a couple of days

 

 

 

I sorted out all my stuff for my sales table - we have to take our own tables, as the village hall ones will be in use. As I can only fit a small table into my car, I thought I had better check that everything fitted on it

 

 

To finish ..... there was a bit of a power tool failure when Malcolm was drilling the holes for the string in this shopping list holder - the fabric caught in the bit and got somewhat mangled!

 

 

Ghastly!

When the post arrived on Saturday morning, I got excited when I spotted this on one of the envelopes ....

 

 

...... as I knew that meant my fabric had arrived from my fabulous bloggy friend Thimbleanna.  When she posted recently about the Ghastlies fabric, I just had to have a piece

 

 

Would you like a closer look?

 

witches knit and natter!

 

 

is she giving out orders from her chaise longue?

 

 

has she noticed the owl on her head?

 

 

this could be me, glass in hand!!

 

What will I make with the fabric ....... I don't know!  I don't really want to cut it up, so maybe I will add borders and make a lap quilt to snuggle under in the winter ...... which will probably arrive any day now, as the weather forecasters say that there will be no more summer weather!  Anna also enclosed this cute card, which contains a set of sewing needles

 

On Saturday afternoon, I headed out to the studio to make two lots of bunting, to enter in the Southdean Show.  Inspired by a post on Lee's blog, I persuaded Malcolm to part with an old road atlas. 

 

 

I stuck three lots of two pages together, and with the help of a template and a spare rotary cutter fitted with a blade that was too blunt to cut fabric, but still sharp enough to cut paper, I soon had all the pieces cut

 

 

I used double-sided sticky tape to stick the fabric strip on - two metres of easy to make bunting

 
 

 

To make the second string, I pulled out some fabrics that I bought some years ago in Aix-en-Provence.  The bright colours are just perfect for bunting!

 

 

This time I stitched the fabrics together and stitched the tape on - again, very quick and easy to make

 

 

Yesterday afternoon, I made the shopping list holders for my sales table - Malcolm will drill holes at the top, so that I can add coloured string for hanging them up

 

 

Of course at this point on a Monday, I should be showing you the knitting update.  Oops, I forgot to take a photo ...... but I have almost finished stitching on the edging.  I shall have to get a move on if the shawl is to be ready for the show on Saturday!

Another soggy day!

It wasn't raining this morning when I went for my walk, but there was plenty of evidence of yesterday's rain.  The water drops on the grass look like jewels

 

 

The other day I had remarked to Malcolm that perhaps I don't really go for walks, but just stroll up to the church and sit on the bench admiring the view for an hour, before strolling home for breakfast!  Of course, my photos let Malcolm know how far I've walked, so this morning I thought I would take one of the white lines on the road, which mark my turning point.  However, there was an obstacle to this plan - or rather several obstacles - lambs!!

 

 

Now that they are older, they are much braver and don't run back into the field as you approach.  This group weren't going to let me stop them enjoying their early morning snacking on the verge

 

 

They weren't the only ones enjoying the lush grass - this lovely boy interrupted his munching to come over to the fence and pose nicely

 

 

His gleaming black coat was a nice contrast to these much paler boys

 

 

I was five minutes from home when it started to drizzle ....... it's amazing how wet you can get in five minutes!!  There was no patch'n'chat today, as most of the chatters were off to Birmingham for the Festival of Quilts (so no Friday cake either).  I spent the afternoon in the studio.  First I finished stitching the hexagon lavender bag, then filled it with lavender

 

 

Pretty, but it needed something more ...... beads!

 

 

 

It didn't take long to make the second lavender bag.  I ironed some wadding on to the silk and cut out two rectangles which I stitched together

 

 

I folded this in half and stitched the long edge, to form a tube

 

 

Then I folded the silk I had chosen to be the lining over, and stitched across the bottom

 

 

I turned the bag right side out, filled it with lavender, tied it with matching ribbon and added two sprigs of lavender

 

 

 

When I went back into the house , it was raining (again) ........ but that didn't deter the birds from tucking in 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you all have a great (and dry!) weekend, love Anne

Sparrows at both ends

It was still wet and miserable this morning, but I made the effort to get up and go for my walk (although I have to admit that I did two miles, instead of three!)  As I stepped out of the front door, I discovered that the sparrows had already arrived for breakfast - these are just a few waiting to return to the feeders when I went out the gate

 

 

It was so grey and miserable, even the little red tractor looked dejected!!

 

 

Our neighbour's horses were huddled against the wall, sheltering from the rain

 

Look again at the photo - did you notice that there are four horses, with the two smaller ones sheltering behind the bigger ones!

 

This snail didn't mind the rain - it looks as if it is aquaplaning along the road!!

 

 

To amuse myself as I trudged along, I imagined what this sheep was thinking : was it

a: if she doesn't put that camera away I'll jump over the hedge and butt her!

b: why is that woman thinking abour roast potatoes and mint sauce?     

c: hurry up and take the photo so I can eat this lovely grass for breakfast, before I have tasty grass for lunch, followed by delicious grass for dinner.

 

 

There's only one thing to do when it's miserable - go shopping!  I was a woman with a mission this morning - looking for a new dress to wear when we go out for dinner with Stuart and Alison to celebrate our Silver Wedding at the end of the month.  I found the perfect dress in the first shop I went into - but you will have to wait until after our special day to see it!  I popped into the garden centre on the way home, and had a very tasty bacon roll for lunch

 

 

Back home, I headed out to the studio.  As usual, I opened the back storm doors, and without looking, went to put the hook into the eye to hold the door open.  I felt something very strange on the door.  I didn't scream, but I did let out a loud squawk!!  On investigating, I found a snail on the door - that's my thumb beside it, to show just how big it was!!

 

 

I have been so busy making things for my sales table for the Southdean Show, that I have forgotten about making my entries for the craft competition.  One of the categories is a handmade lavender bag.  I can actually put in two entries, so I looked out some lovely pieces of scrap silk (which were given to me by my friend Anne S,)

 

 

I started with the two fabrics on the left, thinking that they would make a pretty hexagon lavender bag.  I was going to iron the silk onto vilene to make it easier to work with - but then I discovered that the vilene was sew-in, not iron-on - oops!  After a bit of a rethink, I got out some iron-on wadding, and marked the hexagons on it.  I then had to get out another pair of scissors, which I keep for cutting wadding

 

 

Having cut out the hexagons, I ironed them onto the silk, and then cut them out

 

 

I tacked the seam allowance with a fine needle and thread, so that the silk wouldn't be marked, then I got out my box of silk threads

 

 

Soon, I had the two sides stitched

 

 

While I was busy in the studio, Malcolm was working on the re-modelling of the front garden.  The birds certainly like what he has been doing ....... and here are the other sparrows, which were promised in today's heading

 

 

 

Nothing but blue skies!!

Well, not quite, but we have had a lot of blue sky and sunshine today ........ although there has also been a chilly wind.  But first thing this morning, this lone seagull was enjoying a leisurely flight.

 

 

Passing a neighbour's house, I was delighted to see lots of sparrows - here are just a few of them

 

 

There was a wonderful scent in the air, with the sun shining on this honeysuckle

 

 

The sheep looked much happier today, after the soggy weekend

 

 

 

 

Every time I read Meredithe's blog, I am amazed at how much stitching she does - she makes me feel like a complete slacker!!  So today I was determined to get more done.  I started with my hexagons.  The project box is filling up nicely, with the first set done, and six more strips cut out ready to tack on to the papers

 

 

Working on the hexagons, I use three different pairs of scissors.  The black handled ones are for cutting paper, the yellow handled ones are for cutting thread, and the blue handled ones are for cutting fabric.  The ribbons are to indicate what the scissors are for when I have visitors in the studio using them (it is a terrible offence to use my fabric scissors to cut paper!!)

 

 

Then I got out the second Baltomire block, and finished the flowers.  It has still to get some berries on the main stem, bit I haven't decided how I will do them - I may make some beaded ones

 

 

Then I started on the third block, pinning the wreath in place, and stitching some of it

 

 

To end, some snow in August ...... no, not real snow, the snowberry hedge round one of the neighbours' garden has suddenly produced a large crop of berries - much earlier than usual!

 

 

Creating order out of chaos!

This is what the studio looked like on Saturday afternoon

 

 

 

I had dismantled a sample book of fabulous curtain fabrics, to cover the notebooks, then realised that I could use the backing board for another project involving 'shoppping list' notebooks.  There are several other ongoing projects on the tables as well!

The fabrics are gorgeous ........

 

 

........ but unfortunately have heavy paper frames stuck on the wrong side

 

 

I found this lovely rich remnant of 'silk' fabric in my stash to line the covers with

 

 

and soon had eight covers ready to sew, which took to me to the end of the afternoon

 

 

Yesterday morning was too wet to go for a walk, but we headed out to the Waterwheel cafe for a cuppa.  The scones looked so good, we got a fruit one and a cheese one, and had half each (we didn't have any lunch!)

 

 

We braved the rain and the mud underfoot to visit the eagle owls.  This one wasn't bothered by the horrible weather

 

 

but this one looked thoroughly miserable, barely opening one eye to look at us!

 

 

Malcolm has a very nasty, VERY itchy insect bite ....... but he rejected my suggestion that maybe the owl could scratch it for him!!

 

 

Back home, I finished the eight notebook covers

 

 

I happened to glance down at the carpet ....... oh dear, I think it's time for some serious cleaning

 

 

So, this afternoon I headed out to the studio determined to make it all neat and tidy again, putting things away, vacuuming the carpet - and even cleaning the windows!

 

 

The frogs are glad that they can now welcome people without having to apologize for the mess

 

 

Although we don't seem to have had a very good summer, it has been good for wonderful strawberries .......

 

 

....... and raspberries

 

 

To finish, the knitting update.  I have knitted miles and miles of edging and can now make up the shawl

 

 

You scratch my back ........

......... and I'll scratch yours!  These two horses were using their teeth to groom each others manes this morning

 

 

I saw a flash of white in this field, and thought perhaps it was a carrier bag, caught in the grass ....... but then I looked more closely, and saw that it was one of the neighbour's cats!

 

 

When I went out this morning the air was full of swallows, swooping and diving.  Do you think the ones sitting on the wires were giving them marks for degree of difficulty and artistic merit?

 

Or given how grey the sky was, were they discussing packing their bags and setting off early for Africa!

 

I was delighted when I heard my neighbour Marion's old donkey braying in the field, as I haven't seen him for quite a while.  He has an unusual black and white coat - but unfortunately when I got to the field gate, he was half hidden by the long grass, with his white rear end the most visible part of him!

 

 

However, I was soon distracted from the disappointment of not getting a better photo of the donkey by a very pretty grass seedhead

 

 

I was actually focusing on this seedhead, when the tiny bug (about the size of a pinhead) crawled into sight

 

 

This afternoon, I headed out to the studio, to make a prototype book cover.  I unearthed the books from my stash, and pulled out some fabrics

 

 

I cut the main piece of fabric, and two smaller pieces for the flaps, which I folded in half.  I also pinned a piece of ribbon in place, to make a page marker

 

 

I cut a piece of calico for the lining and pinned it in place.  I stitched round the four sides, leaving a gap at the bottom

 

 

then I trimmed the corners

 

 

and turned the cover through to the right side

 

 

I stitched the opening and pressed the seams, then slipped the book in

 

 

To finish the cover, I added a cord and some wooden beads ..... however I'm not sure about the the rough, textured fabric - I think I will have another trawl through my stash (but don't worry, that one won't be wasted, I'll keep it for myself!)

 

 

To finish, a very special photo!  As I meandered strode down the hill towards breakfast home, I heard what was obviously a large animal in the field to my left.  I looked round, and standing there was a deer!  I held my breath as I turned the camera on and slowly raised it ..... but the deer continued to stand there, watching me

 

Totally, completely, utterly .........

...... wet and miserable morning!  I didn't bother taking the camera with me this morning, as everything was wet and dripping - as was this bird feeder later this morning.

 

 

This poor sparrow looked very bedraggled

 

 

However the rain didn't stop the birds tucking in ........

 

 

 

 

........ and posing prettily between visits to the feeders

 

 
 

 

So what's a girl to do on such a horrid day - head for the studio and sew of course!!  I finished another batch of lavender bags

 

 

As Malcolm was out for lunch, I had a rare treat, made with the simplest of ingredients

 

 

Cheese on toast with piccalilli - delicious!

 

 

Back out in the studio, I cut out the coasters

 

 

I made them the same way as I made the lavender bags, but only put half the amount of lavender in, and I frayed the edges (!) instead if using the pinking blade

 

 

 

 

By the time I finished my sewing, the rain had finally gone off, and this was the much brighter view behind the studio

 

 

After such a grey day, I will finish with some garden photos from last week, to give a splash of lovely colours

 

the sweet pea now has a good grip on the dead clematis

 

 

this rose is tiny

 

 

the bees balm in full bloom

 

It's in the bag

Yesterday morning when we were out for a walk, we came across a plant that looked like a thistle, except for the leaves.  My trusty wildflower book tells me that it is lesser burdock ....... I wonder if that's what is used to make dandelion and burdock, a favourite childhood drink

 

 

Malcolm spotted these bright red berries , but I haven't yet found the tree in my new tree book!

 

 

And the berry theme continued this morning, with a new crop of raspberries

 

 

If you think they look like big raspberries ....... yes, they were (and they were also delicious)

 

 

The hedgerow apples are just about ready to pick

 

 

The rosehips are ripening - I just hope that I get the chance to pick them before the hedges are cut

 

 

If only you could eat conkers - they are abundant this year

 

 

Over the weekend, I have been working on a new design of lavender bags, for my sales table later in the month.  I started with some trial stitching on cotton tape

 

 

Having decided to use the font on the right, I stitched a batch, and then sewed them in the centre of the fronts of the lavender bags.  Then I stitched a 'frayed' label on the back

 

 

I stitched round three sides, then put the lavender in before stitching the fourth side.  I trimmed the edges with the pinking blade on my rotary cutter

 

 

When I showed Malcolm the prototype, he thought it was a coaster ...... so when I finished the lavender bags, I looked out some woollen fabrics and stitched some tape, using wonderful variegated Madeira threads - I plan to make the coasters tomorrow.

 

 

I forgot to do the knitting update last week - I had taken the photo, I just forgot to include it in last Monday's Post!  I have now finished the four sections of the shawl ........

 

 

........ and I've made a start to the miles and miles of edging!