frayed at the edge

Now read the instructions!

Having had a play with my new machine, I though perhaps it would be a good idea to read the instructions ....... and not just read them, but also watch the instructional DVD that came with the machine.  So first I sat and watched the DVD (I even made notes!) and then read (most of) the manual.   I looked out a folder and cut some calico to fit the pockets, then I made a start on trying out the 'utility' stitches, making notes on the fabric as I went .....

 

 

The first six were straightforward .......

 

........ but you may notice that stitch 8 is missing.  That's because to do it, I have to put on a very scary looking foot and alter the thread tension and the presser foot setting ....... so I thought I would leave that to another day!

 

We had a browse in our favourite charity shop on Saturday, and as soon as I saw this book, I grabbed it and ran to pay for it before anyone else realised what a treasure it is!

 

 

There are clear instructions

 

 

Lots of wonderful stitches

 

 

and beautiful patterns, like this Christening dress

 

 

I have finished my first sock (apart from the Kitchener stitch)

 

 

and have knitted the cuff and picked up the stitches for the main part on the second one (I need to finish off the first one, so that I can transfer the stitches to the double pointed needles!)

 

 

I have also been working on Maia.  I had been knitting it on the circular needle that came with the kit, but no matter how oftern I use a circular needle, I just can't knit very quickly, so yesterday I transferred the stitches to straight needles, and things are going a bit faster!  I pinned this bit out, so you can see the pattern

 

 

If you look at the top of the left-hand sidebar, you will see that I have added an e-mail link ....... and if you look at the right-hand one, you might see another additon - yes, I've been given an award!! It was given to me by the lovely Lee of Just Like Martha - it's hard to believe that it is almost a year since I met Lee in Sydney when we were on holiday!  I now have to nominate ten people I would like to pass the award on to and then tell you ten things about myself.  So first the nominees - I have passed on an award before, so this time I thought I would choose blogs that I maybe only recently started reading ....

http://chasingpurpledreams.blogspot.com/

http://www.ourgrandmotherskitchens.com/

http://sweetmarynz.blogspot.com/

http://cathyholtomdustylane.blogspot.com/

http://thimbleanna.com/

http://bumblebearies.blogspot.com/

http://www.rattlingon.typepad.com/

http://www.attica-slowlife.blogspot.com/

http://kristenmakes.wordpress.com/

http://www.thegreengal.co.uk/

If you would like to accept the award - just pass it on to ten other blogs that you love and list ten things about yourself.  I haven't been able to put the award into the body of the post, so if you can't take it from the sidebar, email me and I will send it to you.

 

Now, the hard part, ten things about me

1. I learned to knit and sew when I was seven

2. I'm allergic to prawns

3. I once (over the course of a month) travelled round the world

4. I have had a scar on my left knee since I was five

5. I fractured a knuckle on my ring finger when I hit myself with a badminton racquet

6. I passed my driving test first time

7. I'm scared of heights

8. I suffer from seasickness

9. I prefer a starter to dessert

10. I always wanted to be tall

 

My new toy!

As promised, I have more photos of the rhinos in Chester - I just wish I could go back and see more of them!

 

 

 

 

Then, there was the visit to the Needle Museum.  It was very interesting, not just for me to learn more about sewing needles, but also for Malcolm as there was lots of information about the engineering methods involved in their manufacture.  And it wasn't just sewing needles - I I had to avert my eyes from this display

 

 

Needle making was a major provider of employment, as you can see from this census

 

 

If you think all needles are the same, look at this display

 

 

But if you were thinking of applying for a job, you might want to read the conditions of employment first

Perhaps you would rather just use some needles to produce wonderful work like this

 

I won't tease you any longer ..... yes, it arrived!!  A very big, very heavy box

 

After a great deal of unpacking and organising, I eventually took the machine out to the studio

 

Then I lifted the lid ......

 

..... an amazing array of stitches and fonts

 

Of course I had to have a little play - I've used black thread on yellow fabric so that you can see the stitches 

my first stitches - a bit plain, can we have something fancy? 

 

a row of umbrellas

 

one of the three fonts

 

I think it is going to take me quite some time to get to grips with all the functions and features - so if you can't find me, I'll be in the studio!

ps - except for tomorrow, when I'm off on another adventure!!  

   
 

 

 

   

Warning : major boasting ahead!

Last Saturday was the Southdean Show, which meant a chance to show off some of my craft work, and hopefully win some prizes!  When I had a look round after the judging, I was amazed to discover I had three firsts, two seconds, two thirds and two highly commended.

 

 

First prize for my 'Celtic Wedding Rings' wallhanging, felt flower and a photo of a stunning window (which I took last year on holiday in Sydney)

 

 

Second prize for my felt picture and swallowtail shawl

 

Third prize for a photo of our huge snowman  and one of Malcolm's shed in our last garden

 

Highly commended for the chicken wallhanging and the octopus scarf.

 

I wasn't the only prizewinner in the family ....... Malcolm got a third prize for his cracket!  The best bit, though, is that the entry fees came to more than twice the prize money!!

 

Tomorrow, I'll tell you about the Needle Museum and show you more of those wonderful rhinos (and there may even be something about my new sewing machine!!)
  

A little bit of shopping

On Thursday, once we had looked at lots of quilts, I produced the pocket money that I had saved up and we headed for the traders!  But in the end, I didn't buy a great deal ..... I think there was so much choice, I couldn't make up my mind!  But of course I did buy some fabric - a wonderful collection of eight fat-eigths (that's enough to make a small wallhanging)

 

 

There was a stand selling back issues of some of my favourite Australian magazines at very good prices, so I eventually decided on these four

 

 

On the practical side, I invested in this needle threader, which is very easy to use

 

 

I found this pattern in a 'reduced' basket - I do love a bargain!

 

 

OK, now I have to tell you what else I bought ........ I had been thinking for some time about buying a new sewing machine, as my main machine has a recurring fault, which will eventually need an expensive repair.  I knew that all the main sewing machine dealers would be at the show, ....... and of course, there would be big discounts to be had as they vied for business! 

Machines have come a long way since my first one (not that I am that old!!) .... it was given to me when I was sixteen by a friend of my Mum's - I took this photo at the Needle Museum on Friday - this is similar to the one I had

 

All it did was sew a straight stitch, no reverse, no zigzag, with only one extra foot - a zipper foot, but I made all sorts of things on it .... including a fetching peach satin bridesmaid's dress for my sister's wedding!!  I can't show you the new one yet, as it is being delivered on Wednesday, but it is an all-singing, all-dancing one   - I think it will take quite some time to get to grips with all the features.

And now, the moment you have all been waiting for - who has won the prize?  I didn't even use my random number generator (aka Malcolm) .... I did it the old fashioned way with names on bits of papers ....... and the lucky winner is .......  Rattling On .  But you will have to Wait a few days to see what the prize is, so it will be a surprise for Rattling (I was glad that I had picked her piece of paper, as she has cut her hand badly and was in need of cheering up!)

 

To finish - some very good news!  I finally got the results of my MRI scan ...... the letter had been delivered to our neighbours' house by mistake, and as they were away, it lay on their doormat for a week before I got it!  The scan showed that there is nothing untoward in my head, so now I just have to hope that when this troublesome tooth is extracted next week, the pain will go!  (and yes, we've had all the jokes as to whether they found my brain rattling around somewhere in there!!)

 

 

Festival of Quilts

Sorry not to have done a post yesterday, but the hotel we stayed in last night wanted £15 for internet use (it was free in the hotel in Chester!).  This is just a quick post, as we had a long journey home, including crawling along in a huge tailback on the motorway and coping with torrential rain!

So yes, we went to the Fetsival of Quilts (I will sort out all the correct guesses later and pick a winner for the little prize that I bought at the Festival).  It was very busy, as you can see from this photo, with a great atmosphere as people oohed and aahed at the quilts

 

 

Of course I would love to show you photos of the quilts, but as always I can't because of copyright issues ...... but there were lots of stunning quilts, including some of the smallest miniatures I have ever seen (even Malcolm was impressed with them)

 

Tomorrow's post will as ever be my Shadow Shot Sunday (yes, I know that it's Saturday, but it will be Sunday in Australia, from where Tracy organises things) so you will have to wait until Mondayfor the rest of our adventure (including something very special that I bought!!)  But I'll finish with a photo to tell you where we went this morning.  Hope you all have a wonderful weekend, love, Anne

Rained off!

I got up as usual at 6.30 this morning, looked out the window, saw it was wet, windy and miserable ....... and got straight back into bed!  However I've only missed a couple of my walks since I started them in the middle of May, so I didn't feel too guilty.

I have had another go at wet felting.  This one wasn't quite so successful - it hasn't quite all felted together, and is a bit see-through in places.  Also a lot of the colour came out, so instead of a bright pink and lemon flower, it is now pale pink - the lemon has disappeared!  However, the green that I added on what will be the outside of the flower worked quite well

 

 

As a temporary measure, I have just used some thread to tie the flower into shape

 

 

and like my previous flower, I have put some little strands in the middle

 

 

I will have to get some green plant sticks to use for flower stems, but just for the photo I used a bamboo knitting needle!

 

 

I'm not the only one making flowers - Malcolm made this origami one yesterday

 

 

I haven't got much work done on my row quilt recently, so I made a special effort this afternoon at patch'n'chat to finish the cuties

 

 

You might have noticed that only one of them has her headscarf!

 

 

I have also been working on Maia in the evenings - I have now done about half of it

 

 

Of course, Friday afternoons mean cake ...... today's was a wonderful apple and sultana sponge - delicious

 

 

I will have to make sure I go out for my walk on Monday morning, to walk off the cake calories - although we will probably go for a walk on Sunday (weather permitting!!)  Whatever the weather, I hope you have a wonderful weekend, love, Anne

 

 

Keeping the boys happy!

The Gnome Brothers were very unhappy when their sisters got the first toile cushions, so they were delighted when I finished theirs yesterday!

 

 

Yesterday afternoon, I decided to have a proper go at wet felting, so I got out my book and assembled all the ingredients

 

 

Usually, ofcourse, I would show you photos of all the stages ..... but my hands were wet and soapy all the time!  When I have another attempt I'll have to make sure that Malcolm is available to take the photos.  After much rubbing and rolling, this is what I produced

 

 

When I did finally dry my hands, I took this photo to let you see who was keeping me company in the kitchen - a very young-looking George Clooney!

 

 

When I took my little piece of felt out to the studio this afternoon, I had a play using some bits I had felted some weeks ago ...... I produced this flower, with the 'wrong' side on show

 

 

I actually cheated a bit - I held the flower in place on the back with one of those plastic clips that hold new shirts on the card packaging!

 

 

Yesterday morning we went for a walk - come back tomorrow and I'll tell you more about this building we found hidden in the woods!

 

 

 

Fabulous fabric from France

There was a distinct nip in the air this morning when I went for my walk .... we are definitely into late summer!  The farmers are still busy - this field was cut for hay yesterday

 

 

The crops have been harvested from this field, and the straw baled

 

 

This afternoon I made a start to my cushions using my lovely piece oftoile fabric, which was originally made in France.  The first job was to disassemble the sample curtain

 

 

I then cut the pieces for the back of the cushion

 

 

To make sure I hemmed the correct edges and put the matching pieces together, I used different coloured pins on the edges to be stitched

 

 

Despite the dozens (and dozens) of threads that I have, I had trouble finding a brown one - I eventually unearthed this rather old reel

 

 

I like to listen to music when I am sewing, so there was a slight pause while I put on another cd - this one was pure nostalgia - I used to love watching Ally McBeal (and I cried when Billy died!!)

 

 

Having hemmed the pieces for the back, I then had to decide which pictures to use for the fronts.  Having picked two, I then had to mark cutting lines.  I used my twelve and a half inch square ruler to centre the picture, then added another ruler to give me my line to mark

 

 

These are the two pictures I chose

 

 

The first cushion pinned and ready to sew

 

 

After stitching, I turned the cuchion cover right side out and ironed it well.  I wanted to topstitch it an inch from the edge, so I put a quilting guide on the sewing machine

 

 

I only had time this afternoon to finish one of the covers - I should get the other one done over the weekend.  They are for the big chairs in the back lounge - I am pleased with how this one looks .....

 

 

....... and the Gnome Sisters like the new look for their chair!!

 

 

 

 

 

A little bird told me ......

...... to watch out for this BIG bird, which we saw when we were out for lunch today

 

 

A magnificent specimen of eagle owl - this sign tells you more about him (click on it to enlarge it

 

 

I would not like to get too close - we were behind a fence, which kept us several feet away from the enclosure

 

 

He kept his eyes firmly on us!

 

 

However, this afternoon, I was quite happy to get up close to these birds!  I finished the quilting in the ditch, then started to free-motion quilt the chickens

 

 

I'm having fun, just 'scribbling' over the birds, then stitching several wavy lines round the outside of each bird

 

 

Every time I work on the chickens, I change my mind as to which one is my favourite - this was today's choice

 

 

I have recently been reading a super new blog .... The Cloth Shed ..... I would say that it is filled with gorgeous things - but of course Helen has first dibs on that description!  In a recent post, Julie showed some lovely toile cushions, which reminded me that I have a large piece of toile that I bought some time ago.  I got it very cheap, as it had a large dirty mark on it, but I knew that even if the mark didn't wash out, there was so much material it was still a bargain.  I was sure that my piece was terracotta, but when I got it out, it was brown!  Now this is where things get a bit weird - when I said to Malcolm about the colour, he said he thought it was terracotta too ...... but the even weirder bit is that it was the dirty mark that was terracotta!!  I very bravely put the fabric in the washing machine, and was delighted when the mark washed out.  Now I just need to decide which parts of the fabric to use for my cushions

 

this bit

 

 

or this bit

 

 

but then I like this scene too!!

 

I had a hunt through my stash of curtain samples and found this one, which will look good on the back of the cushions

 

 

This afternoon I got a phone call from the MRI department at the hospital.  The lovely lady said they had 'a wee space' on Friday afternoon, and if I wanted, they would fit me in for my scan.  Of course I said 'yes please' ....... I would cancel a date with George Clooney to get it over and done with!

 

 

 

 

Curtains!

When we were visiting Stuart, we had a visit to Remnant Kings, to get some fabric for me to make new curtains for his lounge.  Malcolm was surprised that Stuart was quite at home in the shop .... until Stuart pointed out that he was often there with me when he was little - and the shop has hardly changed!  He chose this fabric - it is a lovely medium weight silky one

 

 

I have used this book for many, many years for curtain making - but I didn't need it this time, as they are just plain curtains - no swags and tails!

 

 

However, I did need to get out the sewing machine manual, as I can never remember how to do a blind hem!

 

 

I did the hems on Saturday and the side seams and tape yesterday and finished them off today - I hung this one on a quilt pole to let you see how they turned out

 

 

I have also been getting on with Maia ....

 

 

Malcolm has finished painting the inside of the summerhouse (he will be painting the outside the same colour as the doors)

 

 

He has found some of the bits'n'bobs we had in the summerhouse in the last garden, including this fun sign which a friend gave us