frayed at the edge

Shadow Shot Sunday

This week, my shadows shots are reflections - most of them taken several weeks ago after heavy rain had fallen overnight, leaving lots of puddles

 

 

 

 

This one was taken the other evening - I noticed the shadows when I turned the kitchen light on!

But I've kept the best till last!  This stunning photo was taken by my son, Stuart, on a recent visit to Inverary (you can read about the town here )

 

For more shadow fun, head over to Hey Harriet ....... Malcolm is delighted that the shadow shot of the spiral staircase, which he spotted, is included in this week's collage! 

 

   

 

The changing seasons

Walking round the back garden, some of the plants think it is still summer, while others definitely think autumn has arrived, like this creeper .......

 

 

...... and this heather

 

 

However these clematis were basking in the sun ..... despite Malcolm's best efforts to prune them and train them to grow separately on the trellis, the purple one is just too vigorous, with only a few flowers of the pink one showing through! 

 

 

This climber (I don't know what it is) is lovely.........

 

 

....... but it too is being swamped by the fast growing clematis

 

 

There was some ground frost here this morning, so Malcolm is talking about lighting the stove tomorrow .......

 

 

....... he has filled the log basket in readiness!

 

 

As usual for a Friday, once the housework was done I headed off to Borderland Fabrics for an afternoon of patch'n'chat.  I laid out the rows of my quilt to see how they look together - the flower blocks will have corners, the same as the 'cuties'.  Malcolm is going to draw an owl for me for my last row, then I will have to decide what borders to add

 

 

However, I won't be doing any sewing tomorrow, as I will be working on the new and improved version of the felt coaster for Stuart.  I am going up to Falkirk to visit him next week, as it is his birthday next Saturday (mine is the Saturday after that - it is an expensive time of year, with all our birthdays within a month!!)  I will be out all day on Sunday having all sorts of crafty fun - of course I will tell you all about that on Monday.  And don't forget to come back tomorrow for Shadow Shot Sunday .... I must remember that I have another of Stuart's wonderful photos to use!

 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, love Anne

  

Slicing and dicing!

I spent most of the afternoon in the kitchen, indulging in one of my favourite occupations .....cooking!  The weather has turned a bit chilly, so it was the ideal time to try out my new slow cooker with a hearty beef in red wine.  First I prepared the veggies - red onion, celery, mushrooms, garlic and carrots

 

 

Then the most important ingredient - wonderful braising steak

 

 

I am really pleased with the slow cooker - I can put the inner pot on the cooker to start off the cooking (with my old one, I had to do that in a saucepan then transfer it).  First I browned the meat in batches

 

 

Then I put in the veggies (except for the carrots) to soften

 

 

Next, the meat went back in, along with the carrots, salt and pepper, water .... and of course some red wine

 

 

Into the outer pot, then it just sat there gently cooking away

 

 

I served it with cauliflower, broccoli and plain boiled potatoes - delicious!

 

 

While the beef was cooking, I made some plum chutney (no matter how many I use, there are still lots of plums left - I think they are breeding!!)

 

 

I made the recipe up, with bits from several different ones ....... as you can see from where I jotted it down in my (very old) cookery notebook, my handwriting has deteriorated somewhat (and the fact that the other recipe is in imperial measurements shows the age of the notebook as well!)  

 

 

Fortunately Malcolm was busy doing something crafty, as I haven't knitted or sewn a stitch all day!  He has almost finished another cracket

 

 

As well as being good at practical crafts like woodwork, Malcolm is also artistic.  I get very annoyed when he doesn't use his talents ... I would love to be able to draw (you've seen some of my efforts!).  However, he has just finished this painting - inspired by a card from a set we bought last year on holiday. 

 

Oops - the painting isn't hanging squint - it's my photo ... I was trying to avoid having my rather large yucca in the corner of the photo!!

 

 

A chip off the old block .....

..... or like father like son!  Remember my gorgeous boyfriend

 

 

I am sure this must be his son, who was in the field with him today 

 

 

If they get fed up with each other, they could always sneak into the field next door, where they could join ... this cute cow

 

 

or these little ones

 

 

or my favourite one!

 

 

We went out for lunch today and I had a delicious bowl of wild mushroom soup ......

 

 

..... but I don't think I would cook any of the mushrooms we have found on recent walks

 

don't worry, I washed my hands well, just in case!

 

 

this one was the size of a tea plate

 

 

something found this one tasty - it had been well nibbled on!

 

 

if you're really hungry, this would make lots of soup!!

 

 

this definitely looks like one to avoid! 

 

To end, a reminder of the winners of the giveaway.  First was WandaFish, and second was Leenie.  I've already heard from Leenie to organise sending her parcel ..... can WandaFish please e-mail me with her postal address.

   

 

 

 

 

 

  

In stitches!

Today was a 'Kist' day - when my house group come for the day to knit, sew, drink tea and generally have fun!  I have been working on Malcolm's socks - I have already turned the heel of the first one

 

 

One of the group, Seonaid, loves to play with sewing machines .... so she was delighted to have a play with my new one.  Whereas I have started at the beginning of the stitches (ie, the plain boring ones!) Seonaid plunged in to try out the fancy stitches

 

 

 

 

I forgot to show you these two photos yesterday ..... we went for a walk in the park in Hawick on Sunday.  One side of the park ends at the river - on the other side there are some houses with gardens which run down to the river, which gave me a good view of these two garden features

 

a rather smart bird table

 

 

a fun topiary

 

The weather has taken a turn for the worse - we have just had a very heavy shower and the forecast for tonight is for very strong winds ..... so I thought I would pretend that it is still the height of summer, with a look back at our glorious bees' balm in full flower ......

 

...... and one of the lovely fuchsias which added glorious colour to the garden

 

  

A bunny flop!

On Saturday, I (almost) finished my bunny pincushion ..... bit it didn't all go quite to plan (in future I'll read the instructions properly!).  I had pinned the front and back together, with all the limbs and the head tucked inside .......

 

 

But I should have left a gap in one of the seams so that I could turn it right side out after stitching right round the edge!  When I did turn it through, I found that I hadn't made a very good job of positioning the various bits.  I've stuffed it so you can see how it looks, but I will have to unpick it and do it again (I have actually pinned the head, as I hadn't tucked it in far enough and it just flopped forward!)

 

 

While I was sewing, our neighbour 'Jim the farmer' popped in with some more fruit.  He used to own the farm steading which our house is part of - my studio was the milking parlour!  He was amazed at the transformation from when he used to mik the cows!  I made plum jam today with the first lot of plums that he gave me ........ I think I might run out of jars before I use all this!

 

 

I had to go to the dentist today to get my broken tooth repaired.  It feels great not to have a ragged edge anymore!  The dentist also finished the cleaning and scaling while my mouth was numb (he's very considerate of my fear of pain!!).  Then on my way home, I called in to collect this .......

 

 

It's the first pair of Kylie's paintings, which I have just had framed. 

 

 

Aren't they gorgeous!!  (I'm sorry about the quality of those two photos, but it has been such a miserable grey day, it was hard to find somewhere in the house with a decent amount of light to take them!)   The pictures are the same size - it's just the way I propped them on the couch to take the photo that makes them look different!

 

And now ..... roll of drums, fanfare etc.  The big moment, the winners of the giveaway.  I know lots of bloggers use online number selectors, but I use the low-tech method, as in ' Malcolm, give me a number between one and whatever!'

The first winner is ...... WandaFish

The second one is ..... Leenie

Can you both please email me with your addresses ..... I have two little pile of goodies ready to send to you!

Shadow Shot Sunday

 

It's that time of the week again, when we shadow chasers share our latest finds.  But this week, there is something even more special about my post ...... because it's my 500th!!  Of course that means a giveaway, so leave a comment if you would like to have a chance to win some goodies!

But first things first  .......... as always Tracy has been working hard over at Hey Harriet to enable us to have our shadowy fun - do pop over and see who is joining in this week.  My shadows were captured a couple of weeks ago, when we went for a walk in the nearby town of Jedburgh

this gate cast an intricate shadow

 

an elegant railing

 

a spiral shadow

 

a heron on the river

 

another lovely gate shadow

 

Finally, I must aplogise for forgetting to include this photo last week ........ because, of course, we are in a new month, and that means yet another braw laddie.  Like last month's, this one is also called Malcolm - I'm getting worried that when I turn over the next page, MY Malcolm might appear!!

 

 

A nice surprise!

I arrived home from patch'n'chat to find this in the kitchen

 

 

I knew what was in it ....... but I wasn't expecting it until next month!  

 

 

It's the carrying case for my new sewing machine.  It was part of the special offer I got when I bought the machine, but they didn't have any in stock and said I wouldn't get it until October.  It has a thick padded inner to protect the machine in travel (but I will have to practise more before I take it with me to workshops!)

 

 

I was working on my row quilt this afternoon (I have to admit that I hadn't done any work on it since last Friday!)  I am now working on a row of flowers, and have completed two

 

 

 

Of course Friday afternoon wouldn't be complete without cake - today's was one of Annette's light as air sponges, sandwiched with delicious raspberry jam.

 

 

Well, that's it, my 499th post - I find it hard to believe I've done so many!!  Tomorrow, of course, is Shadow Shot Sunday, so I won't tell you who has won the giveaways until Monday ..... by which time I should also have found something to give away!!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend - I will be catching up on my neglected sewing!  Love, Anne

  

 

 

Watch the birdie!

On our way home this morning, we decided to have a stop in Linlithgow.  We had a walk down to the loch, where this swan went all shy just as I snapped!

 

 

We are used to seeing swans and ducks at the loch, but today we also had the treat of seeing geese

 

 

These cygnets haven't yet got their adult plumage

 

 

But one day they will look like this!  

 

 

But it was all too much for this one - a short nap was called for!

 

 

Our next stop on the way home was at a garden centre for a bowl of soup for lunch (chicken and haggis, delicious!).  When we had a look round after lunch .... more birds!

 

 

And who could resist this mum and her babies

 

 

But the day wasn't all about birds!  This funny little van caught our eye in Linlithgow

 

 

We also did a little bit of shopping ..... I have almost finished my cable cuff socks, so I got Malcolm to pick some sock yarn (I don't think he will want cables on his!)

 

 

We also saw this kit to make a fabulous wallhanging ........ it's my birthday soon, so Malcolm bought it for me as an early present

 

 

This is my 498th post, so remember to leave a comment if you would like to be included in the draw for the 500th post.  There will be two draws, one for home and one for 'away', because of the cost of postage ...... but I have a little confession to make - right now I have no idea what the prizes will be!!  I will have to delve into the depths of my stash (I may be gone for some time!!) to find some suitable things!!

   

   

Ah - so that's what it's for!

We're sitting relaxing after dinner at Stuart's.  It was a special dinner, to celebrate Malcolm's and Alison's birthdays (hers is this Friday).  But first, what was the felt coaster for?

 

 

It was to sit on the cracket under his candlestick

 

 

Now that I have seen what it is for, I will make another one, slightly wider, with the pattern round the edge.

 

I also had his new curtains to hang - after making them several weeks ago, this was the first chance I had to put them up

 

 

For dinner, Malcolm had made lasagne (it's his signature dish!)

 

 

and pudding came from Marks and Spencers

 

 

would you like a better look (of course you would!!)

 

 

Must go, I'm missing out on the conversation (and perhaps a glass of wine!!)