frayed at the edge

Inclement weather!

Well, what can I say .... it's still snowing!!  This morning I stuck Malcolm's yardstick in the snow on the patio table ........

 

 

....... so how much snow have we had?

 

 

The birds were on the feeders from early in the morning, but they had to wait until I had showered and dressed before I put more food out.  However the robin found a stray seed

 

 

Having had the disappointment on Saturday of the Christmas Fair being cancelled (it might go ahead this Saturday), I was anxious about my dentist's appointment this morning (I've got toothache again!).  We had decided that we wouldn't go, but before I could phone to cancel, the receptionist phoned me.  She spoke to Malcolm, as I was in the shower .... he asked when I could have another appointment and she said that it would be sometime in the New Year!!  He then explained that I was suffering some pain, so her advice was for me to phone for an emergency appointment as soon as I can get there.  But as this was the state of our road this morning ...... I might have a long wait!

 

 

However, I have been making the most of my time at home!  I went into my stash of Christmas fabrics, and found this panel

 

 

I decided to cut it up to make small cushions.  This is the first one, ready to quilt

 

 

I decided to use YLI invisible thread for the quilting ...... I don't usually use it, but I am pleased with the result.  Here is a detail ......

 

 

....... and here is how it looks on the wrong side

 

 

I had asked Stuart for some ideas for Christmas presents for Alison.  Amongst other things, he said that she likes pandas.  I could picture a magazine that had a panda block on the front cover, and for once I found it quite quickly (usually when I am looking for a specific magazine it's the last one in the pile!)  It didn't take long to make the cushion front

 

 

After my success using the invisible thread, I decided to use it on this cushion too - here is a detail

 

 

and here is the back

 

 

I have been busy kntting as well - but I'll save that for tomorrow!

 

Who stole the field?

We've had a foggy day .....when I looked out this morning, the field across the road had vanished!

 

 

However, the fog didn't stop the birds popping in for breakfast

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There hasn't been much craft work done this week!  I have done some more of the crochet shawl and hope to finish it over the weekend.  This afternoon at patch'n'chat, there was too much of the latter, and not enough of the former, but I did make a start to embellishing the houses on my row quilt, adding some curtains and blinds on the windows

 

 

 

 

 

 

Over the weekend, I will be chained to my worktable, putting the finishing touches to all my goodies for the Fair.  Whatever you are doing, I hope it all goes well and you have a good time!  Love Anne

Not so exciting after all ......

Today's post was going to tell you all about my trip to Edinburgh to have my first lesson on my new sewing machine ..... but things didn't quite go to plan.  We had a good trip up, and after we got over the cost of parking (almost all parking in Hawick is free!) we popped into Starbucks - as much to have a toilet stop as a drink!  Malcolm then headed off to have a potter round the shops and I went for my lesson.  I'm not going to name the shop (I don't want to be sued!) ...... but lots of you will know where I went.  I met the woman who was going to give me my tuition - and then it all went rapidly downhill.  She waffled on about completely basic stuff concerning needles and threads and showed me how to switch the machine on(!).  I said I knew all of this, could she perhaps move on a bit.  She said she didn't know how experienced I was, so had to cover the basics ... I said I hardly thought my machine was an entry level machine (perhaps she should have asked how experienced I was and then pitched the lesson to that level?) She then finally got round to demonstrating a stitch to use ..... at which point it became clear that she was unfamiliar with the machine - I was telling her what to do!!  At that point I gave up, complained somewhat vociferously to the shop owner and said I would arrange with Janome to have my tuition elsewhere!! 

Never mind, things got better after that!  Thank goodness for mobile phones ..... I was able to get a hold of Malcolm and we went for a quick sandwich for lunch.  Then of course the camera came out ...... this was our first glimpse of the castle (sorry, it was a bit grey, and I only had the small camera, so not the best of photos!)

 

 

Those of you who have been to Edinburgh will know that the castle sits high above the main railway station.  There is a frequently told joke about a tourist (I'm not going to put in the nationality!!) who asked why they built the castle next to the railway (perhaps it was the same tourist who asked why the Queen built Windsor castle under the flight path to Heathrow Airport!!)  I took this next photo to show you one of the beautiful wrought iron balcomies - it was only when I looked at it on the laptop that I realised that there is a pigeon perched on it!

 

 

This magnificent building ......

 

 

...... is home to the national Archives

 

 

When we looked up the lane at the side of the building, we saw this quirly little building (it turned out to be a restaurant)

 

 

This next magnificent building belongs to the Church of Scotland

 

 

I was puzzled by the lighthouse on this building, until I saw that it is the offices of the Lighthouse Commission!

 

 

Do you think we should have a sphinx put on our roof (except it's probably bigger than the roof!)

 

 

Another glimpse of the castle

 

 

It is often said that we Scots have very bad eating habits, and that we eat too much (deep) fried food, and too many sweet things.  So you can indulge in both with one of these ....

 

 

Of course we would never eat anything like that - our tastes are much more sophisticated, as you can see from this 'plate to share' that we enjoyed with a cuppa at a garden centre on the way home ...... oh dear, that was a lie, these were all sweet and sticky and gorgeous (but just small pieces, honest!!)

 

 ....... the one at the back on the left had bits of Turkish Delight (the chocolate covered kind) in it - that made up for the rotten morning!!

 

 

 

 

 

First class service

I was intrigued this morning to recive a tiny padded envelope in the post - I hadn't bought anything, so what could it be? I was delighted when I opened it to find this

 

I think it is excellent customer service to send out this new foot - I was unaware that there was one available.

 

I was trying to take photos of the tiny tits on the bird feeders this morning - but they just wouldn't stay still long enough!  (click on the photos to enlarge them)

 

I think this one was a blue tit

 

 

you can see how small this one is compared to the sparrows behind it

 

For the past two weeks, there has been a new horse in the field in front of us - can you tell which is the new one (hint- look at the state of their coats!)

 

 

Of course Friday means patch'n'chat ...... and that means cake!  This week Annette had made one of her wonderful sponges - although she didn't think it was one of her better ones .....

 

 

I chose the fabrics for the borders of my row quilt - the darker fabric will be the inner border, the lighter one a much wider border which I will applique .... probably with flowers and leaves

 

 

I quite often buy scented candles in glass holders from my local supermarket ...... I like to burn a candle after dinner to eliminate cooking smells.  I looked out a collection of used ones this morning (and a large jar which had last year's Christmas candle in it).  I stood them in a basin with very hot water to soften the remnants of wax

 

 

Once I had cleaned the wax out, I put them in the dishwasher, where they are being washed along with today's dishes!  I will be doing something with them over the weekend, which I will share with you on Monday!

I hope you all have a good weekend ..... the forecast isn't very good, so I think I will be spending a lot of it in the studio!  Love Anne

Would you like to know ......

....... what was in the box?  It was exciting to find it on the doorstep when we got home yesterday and see the Italian postmark ......

 

 

..... and to see that it was from my lovely bloggy friend Meg.  This gorgeous card .......

 

 

.....told me that the contents of the box were belated birthday gifts.  First, there was a ball of Meg's beautiful hand dyed yarn

 

 

Then there was this beautiful felt bag

 

 

The flower is made with felt and embroidery

 

 

But that wasn't all, as I realised that there were two little gift bags inside the felt one

 

 

Inside the smaller one were these glass hearts, which Meg thought I might use as stitch markers

 

 

and inside the larger one, this fabulous glass bottle stopper

 

Thank you very much, Meg, for these wonderfull gifts!!

 

As it has been a wet and windy day, I was quite happy to spend the afternoon in the studio, with the stove to keep me warm, and 'golden oldies' on the radio.  The first job was to sew the rows of my quilt together, so that I can choose my border fabrics tomorrow when I go to patch'n'chat.

 

 

Next, I put more labels on, ready for the Christmas Fair

 

 

The last job of the afternoon involved the bright fabrics and notebooks ...... I cut squares from the fabric and stuck them on to the books

 

With brightly coloured pencils, they will make nice stocking fillers for Christmas.

It wasn't me .....

...... I didn't do it, it was like that when I got here.  (I think it's maybe Bart Simpson who says that!). 

 

I went into the Post Office in Kelso today to see about my new photo driving licence.  I had to stand in a booth and face the camera while the counter assistant adjusted it to the correct height.  After a couple of tries to get a photo that the computer would accept ....... everything went haywire, the camera shut down, her computer shut down, the computerised tills of the other assistants shut down, their National Lottery Terminal went offline ..... oh no, surely my photo wasn't that awful!!  But of course it wasn't me ... it seemed to be a repeat of a problem that had first occured on Friday night, when thousands of people lost their internet connection for seven hours.  When I phoned Malcolm to tell him what had happened, he checked and found that our internet connection was down.  However the good news is that I went back later and it all worked properly, so I should have my new licence soon (although I am dreading seeing the photo!

 

After what seems like years of sewing, I finally finished the buttonhole stitch round the owls.  So yesterday, I got out all my rows and put them on my design wall (ok, I don't really have a proper design wall - mine is a brushed cotton sheet I hang in place of a wallhanging).  The advantage of doing it like this is that the rows cling to the brushed cotton and you don't need to pin them in place.  This was my first layout - just the rows as they came off the pile

 

 

I wasn't particularly happy with this layout - I didn't like the look of the flying geese at the bottom, so I moved them to the centre

 

 

Still not right, so I decided to remove the flying geese

 

 

Getting better, but now I felt that the log cabin row looked too dark - it is the only row that doesn't have any background fabric in the blocks - so out it came

 

 

That's better!  Just one last tweak, and I was happy with the layout

 

 

I did think of making two more rows to replace the ones I removed (don't worry, they'll be used in something else), but I think I'll add an inner border, then a wider outer border, perhaps with some applique on it.  But of course the next stage is to sew the rows together ....... but that might have to wait until Sunday, as I've got quite a lot on over the next few days (including a trip to the dentist tomorrow).

Needles and pins

The collection of things for the Christmas Fair is growing, with boxes of finished stuff on the floor, piles of fabric on the worktable and a lovely smell of soap and lavender in the air.  After finally deciding how to package the little pails, the next decision was what to do with the knitted washcloths.  I had them folded this way, I had them folded that way .... and finally, I decided to present them like this

 

Two facecloths, wrapped round bars of soap and tied up with pretty ribbon

 

I also looked out some little baby beenies that I had knitted some time ago, and popped them into bags - again tying them up with ribbon 

 

 

The first batch of hearts is finished, and I've cut out a second batch

 

 

The next thing on the list was a needlecase.  I had a vague idea for a design ..... and it has turned out ok

 

 

Inside, there are needles ......

 

 

...... and pins

 

 

And the finishing touch - a label on the back

 

 

Of course, I didn't just make one ......

 

 

Visitors to my studio are, of course, very welcome ...... and even more so since Malcolm bought this welcome sign for me!

 

 

Tomorrow, I'm planning to renew my photo Driving Licence.  I've had it for ten years, so the photo is obviously out of date ...... but I'm a bit peeved that I have to pay £20 to have a new one issued - especially as in all those years, I have never used it for an ID check ....... I've always had to use my passport!

 

 

Do you like my painting?

 

No, I haven't miraculously been given a new talent - this is a postcard sent to us by Sarah from Rome, where she has just had a brief holiday.  I can't speak Italian, but I think the info on the back of the card says that it is a detail from the Creation of Adam by Micheangelo, in the Sistine Chapel.  Also on the back is this rather impressive stamp

 

 

I have been making more for the Christmas Fair - this time it was lavender hearts.  I started with linen fabric and a heart template

 

 

Then I got out some of the lovely red and white ribbon that I bought recently

 

 

I stitched strips of ribbon at random angles on the hearts

 

 

I added another strip of fabric at the back, pinned the hearts and cut them apart

 

 

I stitched round the hearts, inside the line, with red embroidery thread, leaving a small gap

 

 

and cut them out on the line with pinking shears

 

 

The next stage was to fill them with toy stuffing and lavender (from the garden)

 

 

To (almost) finish them, I added a loop of ribbon

 

 

and then the final touch ..... my own label!!

 

Lots of knitting .....

...... and a little bit of sewing!  The star of today's post is Maia - it may have taken me a while, but finally it's finished!  I think part of the problem was that the pattern has a twelve row repeat, so I kept getting bored, doing the same thing over and over (and over).  However, as you will see, it was definitely worth the effort!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I gave my cable-cuff socks their first outing today.  They are very warm and I really like the colour

 

 

Now that I have finished Ishbel and Maia, I have been getting on with Malcolm's socks, and have finished the first one, except for the dreaded Kitchener stitch

 

 

As for the little bit of sewing ...... of course it was chat'n'patch this afternoon, and I was working on my owls (I know, there hasn't been much progress on them)

 

 

As always, there was cake - another of Annette's wonderful sponges, with raspberry jam.  I just wish I could share it with you!

 

 

I can't believe it's the weekend again - it hardly seems five minutes since the last one!  I hope you all have a good one, love Anne

A (very) mixed bag!

I was going to call this post 'When will I see you again?' ..... but you might have got upset, thinking I was taking a break- it was because when I went out this morning, it was three degrees, which always starts me singing ......'When will  ....... ok, terrible joke!!  We woke up this morning to the first frost - it was so cold, I took this photo of my car from the bedroom window - I wasn't going outside until I had to!

 

But it wasn't that surprising that it was cold, as it was very clear last night - I did brave the cold then to take this photo of the moon

 

Tonight's heading reflects the fact that I have a collection of photos that haven't made it into other posts, so I thought I would use them tonight before I forget that I have them!  It was my bloggy friend Sarah's birthday yesterday (this is an 'oops' moment - because we went away just after my birthday, I didn't post photos of my lovely bloggy presents .... sorry).  Sarah loves beachcombing and driftwood .... and Malcolm just happpened to have some driftwood in the garage, so he made these two lovely things for her ( I remembered as I wrapped them that I hadn't taken a photo - do you like the animal print tissue paper!)

 

Don't worry - he didn't use my best cutlery ..... we found some in a charity shop to use.  The lettering and decoration on the shopping list is done with a poker pen.

 

When we came back from our holiday, this clump of tiny mushrooms had appeared in the grass at the front of the house

 

 

Recently we were back at the Water Wheel cafe, where the eagle owls are still thriving

 

 

 

Yesterday, when Malcolm was going out, he asked if there was anything I wanted (meaning milk, bread, veggies).  I replied that he could bring me a present (ignoring my Mum's voice in my head saying 'people who ask don't get'!)  Well, I did get ...... he brought me this quilting magazine - complete with cd, which has lots of patterns and templates that can be printed out

 

 

I have finally finished Maia - well, almost ..... I have still to block it

 

 

For some months now, I have had company in the bathroom ........ a very leggy spider.  Usually it is hanging from the ceiling - but of course when I went to take a photo, it was hiding in  a corner!

 

 

As this last photo shows, we may have had frost, but the climbing rose is determined to behave as if it is still summer!