frayed at the edge

We should have known better .......

 .……. than to decide to have a day out on the day that the schools broke up for the summer, because of course that meant that it rained!!  There was the odd spot of rain as we pottered round Corbridge, enjoying the old-fashioned shops

 

you can buy everything you need for the kitchen here (and quite a lot of things you never knew you needed until you saw them in the shop!)

 

there are lots of places to eat, and we finally decided on Café No. 6

 

where we shared this very tasty ploughman's platter

 

the road climbed and climbed as we drove through the rain along the old Roman Military Road, which served Hadrian's Wall.  The sat-nav informed us that we had reached 892 feet above sea-level

 

we called in at The Sill, which has now been open for about a year

 

there are lots of very interesting and informative exhibits, but we were more interested in going up on to the roof to see the scenery

 

normally at this time of year, the fields would be green, but the long hot summer means the view is more brown  than green

 

the rain had gone off, but there were still lots of threatening clouds hanging over us

 

some people who live "down south" like to say that it is "grim up north" ……. but if this is grim, I would rather live here!!

 

on the way back to the car, I stopped to take this photo - a gnarly tree, a falling down bit of wall, and a little bit of higgledy piggledy fence …… and there are even some sheepies in the distance

 

I just had time to snatch this photo as we drove past on the way home - this is the famous Sycamore Gap

 

tomorrow I will be heading up to Kelso with my friend Sonia, to see the Abbey Quilters' exhibition.  That means I will finally be able to show you all the quilting that I did for Margaret, the Queen of Appliqué, so do pop in again on Monday to see her wonderful work.  Have a great weekend, love Anne 

A somewhat miserable weekend!

 The weather has seriously let us down this weekend.  It rained on Friday, it snowed on Saturday, it wasn't too bad yesterday  .......... but it has snowed all day today!  To brighten things up a bit, yesterday I made a spring wreath for the front door

 

I used leftover strips from a couple of jelly rolls, tied round a polystyrene wreath.  A quick and easy project

 

I finished the two cushion covers - but I only had one cushion pad, so you will have to wait to see the other one

 

 

and as usual in this house, there was a little person anxious to be in the photo!

 

if you are wondering why I took the photos from the side ..... I would have had to move the dining table to take them straight on!

 

I spent a while this afternoon working on my woolly blanket - a stash-busting project

 

I had found 10 balls of this Cashsoft Aran, which I bought years ago in a sale.  The pink Aran is left over from another project, and has lost its label.  This is the last ball of blue, so the blanket will soon be finished.  I will miss knitting it - it has been keeping my legs cosy in the evenings!

 

I have also started a pair of socks

 

the Opal yarn is lovely to knit with

 

it was just starting to snow when I took this photo of my new hellebore this morning

 

and it hasn't stopped since!  If you visit me on Instagram (@annedtaydon) you can see a (very) short video of the snow falling!

A little tutorial

When Rachel mentioned in a recent post about the trials of crocheting straps for a super bag she had made, I said in my comment that perhaps next time she could use an I-cord instead.  Back came a request to explain what an i-cord is!  By chance I had just started a little knitting project which would use i-cords, using this gorgeous Noro yarn, which I found in my stash

 

I cast on 30 stitches, and knitted 30 rows (I was making it up as I went along!!)

 

then I knitted the stitches on to the circular needle, and picked up 30 stitches on each of the other edges

 

after knitting until I was getting near the end of the second ball, I knitted two together across all the stitches, then knitted a few rounds of rib, creating a little bag

 

now for the I-cord.  You need two double-pointed needles.  I cast on 7 stitches

 

I knitted the first row as usual, but instead of turning  to knit the second row, I pushed the stitches back to the end of the needle, and brought the yarn from the left to the start of the row, pulling it as tight as possible

 

here is a close-up!  And that is all you do, just keep pushing the stitches back to the end of the needle and bringing the yarn across from the left

 

after a few rows, you can see that a cord is formed.  You need to pull a bit on the cord to close the slight gap where you have taken the yarn back to the start of each row

 

you can use any yarn to knit I-cord - the thinner one was knitted with some leftover sock wool

 

so here is the bag and two lengths of i-cord for handles

 

but what has happened to the bag?  Well. I washed it and the handles with a load of towels, then put them in the tumble drier, also with the towels, to felt them.  I pinned  one handle on, and popped a large ball of yarn in 

 

then pinned the other handle on.  I will probably attach them with buttons

 

and now a final snow report.  On Saturday morning, we walked up to the main road through the village.  I managed to wrest my Helly Hansen jacket away from Malcolm, having let him wear it when he was out shovelling snow - I have had this jacket for years and years, it maybe only gets worn once or twice each winter.  As you can see, we have had rather a lot of snow

 

with the roads barely passable

 

then yesterday morning a very nice man appeared with a large machine and cleared our road

 

this morning the thaw was well underway and we were able to go out in the car for the first time since last Monday.  So after doing the usual Monday food shop, we went for a cuppa ...... and shared a slice of delicious chocolate cake!

Over the Border

 It was bright, if a little bit chilly, on Saturday morning, so we headed up the coast and over the Border to Eyemouth

 

there was the usual assortment of small fishing boats in the harbour

 

and although boats are traditionally referred to as "she" ........

 

....... these two have boys' names

 

if boats can feel the cold, then this one must have been happy to be out of the freezing water and in the boatshed 

 

I wouldn't want to be given the job of untangling these ropes!

 

a nice jumble of old lobster pots and rusty bits

 

 I have no idea what this is for

 

there were lots of gulls about

 

after I took this photo

 

the gull turned round to face the other way, as if to say "this is my better side"!

 

there was a heron at the edge of the water

 

and lots of ducks

 

I remembered my own advice to look up, and spotted this weather vane

 

and a gull in a more familiar pose, with its tail facing me!

 

we just missed this boat being launched

 

I thought they were absolutely mad to be heading out to sea when it was so cold - I assume they must have had survival suits on under their jackets

 

we were a bit chilled by the end of our walk, so headed to this coffee shop

 

as we knew there would be a blazing fire to warm us

 

while we enjoyed our cuppa and a delicious cheese scone

 

back at the flat, there was a great squabble of pigeons fighting over some grain, which was probably spilled from a lorry which loaded the ship on Friday

 

while this swan swam serenely past

 

the light was just starting to fade as this heron landed on the edge of the dock

 

it stood there on one leg for a while

 

before striding over ........

 

....... to peck at the free food

 

yesterday afternoon, I knew it was snowing while I was busy in my Attic

 

but I wasn't prepared for the scene that greeted me when I came downstairs and opened the door!

All gone!!

Hooray, when we got up this morning, the snow had gone, so we headed out for lunch at Lochcarron, in Selkirk.  I was delighted that they had Thai chicken soup on the menu today

 

while Malcolm chose their lentil soup - both of them were delicious, as was the sun-dried tomato bread

 

I haven't made much progress with my socks, as I don't take them to Berwick

 

but I've made good progress with my latest blanket for Linus, as I can work on it in the car on the way to and from Berwick, which amounts to two hours of knitting

 

on the sewing front, I have prepped another four stitcheries

 

I have also cut out the eight hexies I need for the remaining stitcheries

 

there has been more work on Mrs Billings - I have stitched together the remaining hexies for the other three large borders

this afternoon I got out a pile of small hexies which I had previously prepped

 

and laid some out on the narrow border

 

having stitched them together I found that I was one short!

 

as I so enjoy sitting stitching hexies, I decided to have a big bite at this project, and by the end of the afternoon had completed two rows

 

I have been having a sort out of our DVD collection, with a view to giving some of them to a charity shop when I have watched them for the second, third or even fourth time (having checked with Malcolm that he doesn't want to watch them again).  This afternoon's offering was the Minority Report, with Tom Cruise, who is not one of my favourite actors*, but it is a good film

 

we had a glorious sunset tonight - a nice change from recent grey skies!

 

please think of me tomorrow morning, when I have a dentist's appointment at 9am - much too early to endure such torture!!

* my favourite actor is, of course, George Clooney ...... closely followed by Robert Downey Jr.  I have gone off Johnny Depp recently - he seems to have turned a bit weird!  And of course there is the delicious British actor Richard Armitage - oh, those smouldering good looks, that deep brown voice - excuse me, I shall have to lie down now in a darkened room!!

 

 

Busy stitching!

I have been busy stitching away over the last few weeks,including making some samples for the next Abbey Quilters meeting, where committee members are going to give hints and tips, and demonstrate gadgets.  I started with making binding, then stitching it on, but I have shown you that several times, so we'll start with making bias stems.  The first version uses a bias bar.  This makes a heavy stem, but it wastes material

 

I started by cutting a 1" strip on the bias, which makes a stem a quarter of an inch wide using this method

 

folding the strip in half, wrong sides together, I stitched it just a fraction over a quarter of an inch from the fold

 

then comes the wasteful bit, as you have to trim away half the seam allowance.  I have tried cutting a narrower strip, but it is too fiddly to stitch such a small seam allowance

 

the bias bar is then pushed through the tube, and the seam centred

 

the last stage is to press the tube as you slide it off the bar

 

I used this method years ago when I made this small quilt

 

the second method is using bias tape makers, which are available in different sizes

 

again I cut a 1" strip on the bias, but the difference this time is that it made a stem half an inch wide.  You simply insert the strip into the maker, then draw the maker back along the strip as you press the folded edges

 

this is my preferred method of making binding, it's quick and economical with the fabric

 

I used this method when I made these two samples ...... it was only when I went to use the photo that I realised that I should have put the pieces the other way round, so that winter, spring, summer and autumn would have been in the right order!

 

the third method is for when you want your stem to come to a point.  Again, I cut a strip on the bias.  I folded it in half and pinned it in a curve on a piece of background fabric

 

I would normally hand stitch the seam, but to save time I did it on the machine.  I started with a wide seam, then gradually narrowed it to a point

 

like the first method, this one is also wasteful of fabric, as you have to trim the seam allowance

 

after trimming the seam allowance, you fold the stem over, and stitch it in place.  I have just pinned it, so that I can show what to do

 

you can see the finished stems on this piece, which I made some years ago

 

I then thought I ought to make a start to this wallhanging, which several of the group are making

 

it didn't take long to make the first two leaf blocks

 

and then the next two blocks

 

then there was a slight oops, as I realised that I should have made three leaf blocks!

 

after piecing the remaining blocks, I put them in their places on the design wall

 

and realised that there was a major oops!!  I had misread the pattern, and made the leaf blocks too big.  What to do - I could make another three, or I could pochle* the pieces of background fabric which link the pieced blocks together.  So I started by sewing the bottom row together, which gave me the width to work to

 

then fitted the other pieces in

 

I added the applique pieces, using fusible web.  They will be stitched with buttonhole stitch

 

I have also been working away on the stitcheries when we have been over at the flat, and have completed another three

 

*the lovely word pochle has various meanings, including to cheat (particularly at cards), but in this instance it means to fudge or fiddle the sizes to make it all fit together

 

and just to return briefly to the snow ....... I wasn't the only one stuck in the snow on Friday

 

this photo from one of Saturday's newspapers shows the village of Denholm, which I drove through on my way home.  I have never seen such big snowflakes!

 

although it was raining rather than snowing when we went out on Saturday (in Malcolm's car, which shrugs off bad weather!) it was still very cold

 

and to finish on a happier note - the first sconnage of the year!  An exceedingly delicious cheese scone

 

 

 

I was going to show you ........

....... lots of sewing in this post, but after a rather eventful afternoon, the plan was changed!  I had just finished lunch at patch'n'chat (our first of the New Year) when Malcolm phoned me to say it was snowing heavily.  Jedburgh is only about ten miles from home, but although it was snowing a bit there, it wasn't enough to worry about.  He then phoned back about ten minutes later to say that the snow was getting really heavy and was lying on the road, so perhaps I ought to come home.  So I packed up my sewing and headed off.  The nearer I got to Hawick, the worse it got, with probably an inch of snow lying on the road.  Then I turned off the main road, up the steep hill towards home ........ and the car refused to go any further!!  I phoned Malcolm, who immediately set off to walk down to rescue me.  I will cut a very long story short, and just say that we ended up with Malcolm driving, while I pushed the car.  When we crested the hill, Malcolm very sensibly kept on driving, while I trudged along in his wake.  But I caught up with him when he turned into our road, which is even steeper ...... this photo is from several years ago

 

with a great deal more pushing by me, we eventually made it up the hill, and Malcolm again kept going, as he didn't want to get stuck again.  When he got home, there was of course another obstacle - our drive is quite steep, so he kept going as far up it as he could, before making sure the car was safely parked and abandoning it.  Some of my friends mock me for getting out of bed at 6.20 to exercise on the implements of torture - but finally all those early mornings paid off, when I was fit enough to push the car uphill for probably half a mile and walk another half mile ........ not bad for a pensioner!!  In case you are wondering why Malcolm did the driving while I did the pushing, I just wasn't confident enough to drive in such deep snow.

Once I had dried off and warmed up, I went out into the garden for some photos.  This ruler shows that 10cm ( 4 inches) of snow had fallen on the garden table in just over two hours

 

this is what the back garden looked like

 

and this is the front garden

 

but there were some fun photos too

 

and the snow did look pretty on this branch

 

according to the forecast, it is going to freeze overnight, so I don't think we will be going far tomorrow!  Whatever your weather, I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne