frayed at the edge

Not the best way ......

...... to end the year!  Oh dear, I had to get up during the night as I had terrible toothache (again).  My tossing and turning, moaning and groaning was disturbing Malcolm, so I went through and made myself a cup of tea, then sat up reading for a couple of hours.  So as soon as the dentists' surgery opened at 8.30 I was on the phone begging for an appointment.  Fortunately, they were running an emergency surgery, so I was able to go straightaway.  After extensive poking and prodding and an xray, we reached the conclusion that finally I would have to part with the tooth.  As the dentist started to extract it, a large part sheared off, revealing the problem - the tooth was cracked right through!  I am now full of painkillers and antibiotics (fortunately not the one that you can't drink alcohol with, so I will still be able to toast the New Year with a glass of champagne!).  Malcolm has been spoiling me all day, making lunch and numerous cuppas - and I have to admit I had a nap this afternoon to make up for my lost sleep!

 

But now for something considerably cheerier!  Before Christmas I teased you with a sneak peek of a Christmas present I was making.  It was a lap quilt for Stuart's girlfriend Alison.  As we still haven't been able to visit, she hasn't got it yet, but I did email her a photo on Christmas Day, so she knows what it looks like and I can now share it with you.

 

It is a large lap quilt, the centre of which is made of six fat quarters. 

 

 

It is backed with a lovely thick fleece, which is actually a deeper blue than it looks in the photo.

 

This is a detail of the quilting on the outer border.

 

Of course having made a quilt for Alison, I thought perhaps I should also make one for Stuart!

 

This is the same pattern as Alison's, but it is made in soft brushed cotton fabrics.

 

 

I couldn't resist this dinosaur fleece for the back! 

 

I was going to do a collage of some of my favourite photos from this year, but my dental woes put paid to that idea!  So all that remains is to wish you all a happy, peaceful and prosperous New Year.

With love from Anne

Supermarket madness

We popped in to the new Sainsbury's for a bit of shopping this morning - I didn't do my usual big shop on Monday, so we keep having to buy bits and pieces.  Amongst other things, we bought these sauces ........

 

....... not just because they looked good and could be popped in the freezer ........ but also because they were priced at 1p each!!  (We have no idea why!)

 

As it was busy, we used one of the self service checkouts, which was fine until Malcolm scanned this dvd

 

An assistant (oops, sorry, they are called colleagues - which isn't really correct, as they aren't our colleagues!) ....... anyway, she had to verify that we were over 12 years old before we could buy it!  Then we had a voucher to use, and in dealing with that she made a mistake so we didn't get our Nectar points, which meant we had to go to Customer Services to have them added.  By this time the people who had been in the queue we would have been in had long since been served and left the shop (they were probably at home eating lunch).

 

I have been making progress with the cross stitch kit

 

The heart on the left is for the scissors keeper, the heart with the squares round it is for the pin cushion, and the heart on the right is for the needlecase, and will also have squares round it.

I had popped out to the studio this afternoon to put some things away, when another UFO caught my eye

 

 

I started this quite some time ago - lots of squares knitted with wool I bought in a charity shop

 

 

I got bored sewing them together, and put them away in a basket, so this afternoon I got stuck in and sewed quite a few more

 

Once they are all sewn together, the plan is to crochet flowers to sew on the squares, and then to back it with fleece to make a very cosy throw.

 

This afternoon. I finally cut the Christmas cake, so that we could have a piece with our afternoon cuppa

 

 

Malcolm, of course, had a marzipan fruit with his piece

 

 

Inspired by all the bird feeders at the garden centre yesterday, I bought two new ones today - one for fatballs and one for peanuts.  As soon as they were hung on the bird table, we had visitors!

 

 

 

It's wonderful to see colour in the photos, after all those weeks of unremitting white!

It's almost Easter!

Now that we have thawed out a bit, it is good to get out and about again.  We decided to go to Woodside Garden Centre for lunch, as they always have wonderful soup, so first we had a quick detour to Jedburgh, to pop into the supermarket for milk and newspapers.  When we went in, we were surprised to see a small display of Cadbury's Mini Eggs, then in the next aisle, Cadbury's Creme Eggs ...... and in the next aisle, a considerably larger display of similar small Easter Eggs!!  You would think that they could at least let us finish gorging ourselves on our Christmas choccies before they tempt us with Easter eggs!!

The garden centre did not disappoint with their soups ...... I had carrot, ginger and honey

 

 

and Malcolm had spinach and potato

 

 

We sat beside the window, so that we could watch the birds on the numerous birdfeeders hanging from the trees.  These are not the best of photos, as the window was rather dirty!

 

 

 

 

 

It was quite foggy when we got back home, so I decided to have a walk up to the church to take some photos

 

looking towards the Minto Hills

 

 

this could be a scene from a horror film!

 

 

the ewes have got rather muddy since the thaw started

 

 

these Jacob's ewes will be the first to lamb next year

 

But at last, a photo with lots of green in it, hardly any snow ...... and sunshine!!

 

 

 

Turning the tables

This morning we hit the sales ....... but not for me to buy 'bargain' clothes that would look wonderful once I shed two stones/grew six inches.  I was on a mission to find a small table to sit beside my couch, one large enough to accommodate all the bits and pieces I keep on my table, with room underneath to store my knitting basket.  The table I had was a little round wine table, that Malcolm's dad gave me for Christmas years ago - a lovely little table, but as politicians love to say ' not fit for purpose'.  I would have shown you a photo of it, but while I was making lunch, Malcolm installed the new table and put the little one away!  So here it is ...... my lovely new table

 

 

On it I have ......

 

....... my current reading.  I think there is a niche in the market for books 'for people who find dummies books bafflingly difficult' (ie me)!  I love Marian Keyes books - I was hooked from the moment I started reading 'Watermelon' many years ago.

 

 

........ the tidy bag that I made last year - it is very handy for all the odds and ends of thread and wool I generate.

 

 

........ my coaster - needs no explanation!

 

 

....... the owl notebook which was one of last year's pressies - as it has a magnetic catch, it is a good place to keep the scissors safe.

 

 

....... my reading specs - I wear them in the mornings when I read after breakfast (for the rest of the day I wear varifocals), pencils for doing crosswords, keeping track of knitting patterns etc, and handcream ...... I have tubes and bottles of handcream all over the house, as my hands get very dry in the winter.

 

 

....... I thought I should tidy out my knitting basket - these socks have been languishing at the bottom for months waiting for ......

 

 

....... the holes in the toes to be darned.  I knitted this pair four years ago.  They have been washed so often they are almost felted!

 

 

All tidied up!  I've added my current magazines under the books, and tucked in next to the knitting basket is my big camera, ready to snap visitors to the bird tables .....

 

 

Out and about

We had a wonderful Christmas day, with lots of lovely presents, good food and a glass or two of wine!  Yesterday morning, we popped into Hawick, where we were delighted to find Sainsbury's open, so that we could buy the Sunday newspapers.  Leaving the car at the supermarket, we went for a walk (a very cold walk!) in the park.After the walk, we went into the supermarket cafe ..... a large cup of steaming coffe for Malcolm, and a hot chocolate for me!

We were amazed to find that the river had frozen over

 

 

and there was a wonderful 'icefall', where water coming down off the bank above the path had frozen

 

 

When we crossed the footbridge over the river, this was the view in one direction

 

 

and this is the view looking the other way

 

 

As we went back across the river, Malcolm spotted a salmon!  If you look carefully in the centre of the photo, you can just about make it out

 

 

When I opened my presents on Christmas morning, I started with the smallest one ...... and immediately declared it to be my best present!!

 

Wonderful Sock Monkeys to put on keys - I have put them on the keys for the studio.  Then the second parcel produced .....

 

..... the cutest little owl to keep my Ipod headphones on!

 

I know it isn't quite yet time to make my New Year's resolutions, but I have already decided that 2011 will be (fanfare and roll of drums) ...... The Year of the Kits!!  I looked out two kits from the studio, but when I went to start the first one, which was a free gift with a magazine, there was a slight problem

 

 

If you look at the bottom, you will see that the chart for the design was in the magazine, which I no longer have!  However, all is not lost, as I think I will be able to mark out the stitches on squared paper.

It was on to the next kit ....

 

 

and encountering no problems with this one, I have done the basic stitching of the first heart

 

 

Although there has been a little bit of a thaw, we still have a lot of snow lying and the birds are still flocking to the garden to be fed ...... today's collection included this big fat pigeon

 

Two more sleeps!

The presents are under the tree

 

 

The cake is iced and decorated

 

 

The mince pies are baked

 

 

The cushions are almost finished

 

 

This beautiful orchid has flowered

 

 

So there is just one thing left to do, before I have a short break from blogging (I'll be back on Monday).  There is a very special card on the mantlepiece (and not just because it has a pillar box and a robin on it).

 

 

It is to wish all of you a very happy Christmas. 

 

 

Have a wonderful Christmas, love Anne

A deep depression over Hawick

No, I'm not talking about the weather, but the gloom in the Donald household when it started to snow again!  We are completely fed up with this weather - it hasn't been above freezing for days.  Ah well, never mind, it will soon be Christmas!

I took the big camera out to the studio this afternoon, put two chairs in front of the doors so that hopefully the birds wouldn't be so aware of the movement when I went to take photos and fly away, then ....... it started to snow yet again! 

 

 

However, eventually, the snow stopped and I saw a little flash of colour

 

 

Which turned out to be a great tit

 

 

It obligingly hopped down to have a peck in the snow for food

 

 

It was joined by a male blackbird

 

 

Then, much to my delight, some redwings appeared ....... but they were so well camouflaged by the leaf litter, it was hard to get a clear photo!

 

 

 

I have mentioned before that I like to light a scented candle in the kitchen.  Usually I buy supermarket own-brand ones, but my treat at Christmas is to buy one of these

 

Other than the Christmas cake and some mince pies, I don't bake at Christmas, but this candle is filling the house with the most wonderful aroma of vanilla - if only I could blog the smell!!

 

We finally had some of our purple potatoes!!  Malcolm cooked wonderful salmon for dinner (the 'fish man' calls at the house every Wednesday morning with fresh fish).  He made some purple mashed potato to go with it  - the potatoes stayed purple and looked a bit weird, but they tasted like ...... ordinary potatoes!

 

 

I had already started to write this post, when I remembered that I hadn't taken this last photo - and in my rush to take it I think I must have moved the camera, so it is slightly blurred!  I wanted to show you my wonderful crochet snowflake from Lynne, which I have added to the centre of the mitten bunting

 

I think I will have to work on my crochet skills, as snowflake bunting would look lovely for next Christmas!

The dark side of the moon

This morning we had a lunar eclipse ...... I think this may be the first one I have seen, as usually these momentous events are obscured by clouds!  This first photo shows the lights of Hawick to the left, and the shadow part way over the moon

 

 

Then this photo shows the shadow further over the moon

 

 

But I can't show you any more photos because ...... it suddenly got cloudy!!  Later, when the post arrived, I was delighted to see this envelope ......

 

 

....... as I knew it would be fron my lovely bloggy friend Lynne.  Enclosed with her Christmas card was this gorgeous crocheted snowflake

 

 

I think I might put it in the middle of my mittens bunting (don't worry, the flames are fake!!)

 

 

After having starlings in the front garden for the first time yesterday, there were two new birds outside the back doors of the studio today.  I had to consult the bird book for both birds.  I knew this first one was a finch, and the bird book confirmed that it is a bullfinch.  The colours are stunning ..... finally a bird to rival the fantastic birds that Karen has on her blog!

 

 

 

 

Then later in the day, there was even more excitement when three of them appeared, although I only managed to capture two of them (and one of them is hard to spot at the top of the photo!!)

 

 

But the biggest thrill was this bird - although it took me a long time to get  photos of it!  There was actually a small flock of them in the tree, but they kept flying off whenever I crept up to the door to try to snap them.    After a long consultation with the bird book, I decided that they are redwings ..... birds that neither Malcolm nor I have seen before

 

 

Once this one had finally sat still long enough to have its photo taken, it then hopped round and faced the other way, for this final photo

 

Please, no more songs on the radio ......

....... about snow!  We are very, very fed up with the stuff!  Yesterday, I should have been going to the last Woolgathering of the year, but I got up to find it had snowed again, and had to stay at home.  Then yesterday evening we should have been going to visit friends, but between the snow and the freezing temperatures, we reluctantly had to cancel.  And lastly, we should have been going up to Falkirk to visit Stuart, but with the threat of more snow to come, we were worried that, although we might get there, we might not get home!

But, on the other hand, it does makes for good photos!!  We had unusual visitors in the garden this morning - starlings

 

 

Malcolm had some errands in Hawick this morning, so I decided to go with him.  It was quite misty when we arrived, as you can see in this photo of the Town Hall

 

 

When I stopped on the bridge to take a photo of the river, I was delighted to see the heron

 

 

Remember the mountain of snow in the car park?  It has grown even higher ..... I think it will be a long time before it melts!

 

 

Later in the morning the mist cleared and we had blue skies and sunshine, so after lunch we decided to go for a walk.  This was the beautiful (but chilly) view as we set off towards the church

 

 

But at least we could head back home and warm up after the walk, unlike these gorgeous girls

 

 

The church looked lovely in the sunshine - but I am keeping the photos for Shadow Shot Sunday!  We walked back down the hill, past the house, as there was a large fallen branch that Malcolm wanted to bring home to cut up for logs.  While he was dealing with the branch, I found more sheep!

 

 

We had a detour on our way home from Hawick this morning, as Malcolm wanted to call in to Homebase.  I was quite happy with this, as it gave me the chance to take a photo of the view across the valley to our house

 
 

The camera did suggest that I altered the settings for the 'white balance', but that would have meant taking my gloves off, so there isn't a lot of contrast in the photo!

 

Shadow Shot Sunday

As this is our last day's play before Christmas, there was only one shadow shot that I could post ...... a stray shaft of sunlight through the velux, shining on my 'Cheeky Angel' wallhanging

 

For more shadow fun, pop over to Hey Harriet ...... hopefully there will be lots of sunny shadow shots - it was minus seven when I came home at 5pm today, with the forecast of horrendous snow over night!!