frayed at the edge

Early to bed and early to rise .......

........ means that you can be out on your tractor at a very early hour

 

 

and these early birds might not be getting the worm, but they are getting a feed of the seeds being planted

 

 

As I trundled up the hill, I realised that I was being watched ........ by some of the bullocks in the field

 

 

 

As soon as I had taken the photos and started to walk on up the road, they ran off to the middle of the field ..... well, given what has happened to them, perhaps they are right to be wary of humans!

 

 

Yesterday, when I didn't have the camera with me, I saw that a little yellow flower, which I think is a vetch (I must get a better book!) had started to flower.  Fine, I thought, I'll get photos tomorrow.  Then - horrors - the verges were cut yesterday afternoon!!

 

 

But fortunately the verges are only cut to the width of the mowing arm on the tractor, so my little yellow flower survived, as it is on a wide stretch

 

 

This thistle also survived - there are hardly any thistles in the verges here this year

 

 

 

Further down the hill, I saw this rose, which will provide rosehips in the autumn

 

 

and also by the autumn, these funny little things will be hawthorn berries

 

 

but before that, these flowers will have turned into raspberries

 

 

I had a little accident this morning when I was taking some mugs back out to the studio - oops

 

 

Fortunately it wasn't my haggis mug

 

 

 

Maybe I'll see a little haggis like this one morning when I'm out for my walk!

 

The rest of being very busy!

When I pottered through to the kitchen on Sunday morning to make breakfast, I immediately reached for the camera!  The angle of the photo makes it look as if the blackbird is feeding the pigeon, although they weren't actually that close ........ and check out that wonderful blue sky (it didn't last long!)

 

 

After breakfast, we headed off to Selkirk, where we were going to see Souter Quilters' exhibition.  But first we went for a walk, and I was rewarded with another postbox to add to my collection

 

 

I was tempted to clean this neglected sign, but I would probably have been arrested for vandalism!

 

 

We still had some time to fill before the exhibition opened, so we went for a look round Sir Walter Scott's courthouse - now a small museum.  After looking round the exhibits, I paused to take photos of the magnificent stained glass window - although unfortunately I had to take the photos through a glass door!  This little notice on the door describes the window and the clock tower where it is situated

 

 

The Battle of Flodden was the worst defeat inflicted on the Scots by the English - you can read more here.  There is a place near us which is called Sorrowless Fields, as the owners were the only local family not to lose someone in the battle

 

 

 

Then it was on to the exhibition - where photography was allowed!

 

a beautiful table centre

 

 

this was Malcolm's favourite

 

 

this was under glass, so not the best of photos

 

 

a vibrant wallhanging .....

 

 

..... a detail of the stitching

 

 

I liked this label!

 

There were lots more quilts, but I would be here for the rest of the evening including them!  Back home, I continued quilting the little Linus quilt.  Unlike the last one, which I quilted with straight lines, I have been 'scribble quilting' this one (I'll show you more in a moment)

 

 

I recently showed you the bud on a flower, which should have flowered some time ago.  Well ....... it finally flowered - just in time to be battered by the wind and rain!

 

 

A lovely yellow iris, which has now been joined by a purple one

 

I had a little bit of quilting to finish this morning, then I trimmed the quilt to size ......

 

 

...... and cut the strips for binding

 

 

I didn't quite finish hand-stitching the binding on the back this afternoon, but I'm sure you won't mind!

 

 

The fleece on the back looks paler in the bright sunshine

 

 

To finish, a last photo from the weekend.  I just had time to snap this vintage car when we passed it on our way home!

 

A very VERY busy weekend - part one

Saturday morning found us standing in Hawick High Street, waiting to see part of the spectacle of the Common Riding, which you can read about here.  We knew the proceedings were about to start, when the band formed up on the road

 

 

The band moved off, as the Cornet, with his right-hand and left-hand men, came into view

 

 

Following them were horses of all sizes and colours, with riders of all ages

 

 

The bearded chap on the left is our neighbour, Billy the Farmer

 

 

After all the horses had passed, we followed them up the High Street

 

 

There was an entertaining moment, when this horse was determined to head back down the High Street

 

 

And of course, the the most essential part of the parade wasn't far behind!

 

 

After all the excitement, we walked round to where we sometimes see a heron, on the River Slitrig ....... and there he was (for some reason, we have just assumed that it's a male!)

 

 

He was sitting minding his own business, when a crow swooped past him, causing him to raise his head at glare at the offending bird!

 

 

Back home, I headed out to the studio, and turned the tv on ...... to find there was an even grander spectacle to watch - the annual Trooping the Colour, to celebrate the Queen's Official Birthday - you can read about it here

 

 

 

 

 

I then spent the rest of the afternoon quilting the other Linus quilt that I made recently - but I'll save the photos for tomorrow, along with what we did yesterday.

 

Of course, Monday means the knitting update.  Last week's project was a string bag.  Straightforward to knit ..... but the pattern said it took 150g of double knitting cotton ...... and I only used 50g!  The pattern said to put fabric binding round the handles, but as I'm just going to hang the bag up in the utility room cupboard to put carrier bags in, I didn't bother

 

 

 

I wouldn't put anything heavy in it - this is how much it stretched with just a tin of tomatoes in it!

 

 

I am getting a bit fed up with the poorly written patterns and the vague making up instructions.  I have eight more projects bagged up ready to do, but I think after that I will just do the ones that appeal, rather than working my way through the rest of the book

 

 

This week's project is a pencil case, knitted in two colours

 

 

I was at the dentist this morning ....... and there was some very bad news!!  No, no, nothing wrong with my teeth, they are doing well ......... but shock, horror, my dentist is retiring!  I said to him 'you can't retire, I'm in love with you (in purely a dentistry way)'.  He said he may come back and work part time, so maybe I'll get to see him again - he has been such a help with all my dental trials and tribulations, that it is quite upsetting to lose him!!

So do remember to come back tomorrow for part two - including a visit to a quilt show .......

 

 

Shadow Shot Sunday

This week I have a rather random collection of shadows and reflections for you!  To see what other shadows have been collected around the world, pop over to Hey Harriet

 

 

early morning leafy shadows on the tree trunk

 

 

this strange shadow is Malcolm's head!!

 

 

is the heron admiring his reflection?

 

 

a magnificent horse with just enough shadow to qualify!

 

 

upside down? - the sky is reflected on the kitchen windowsill

 

 

a shadow in the garden and more reflections on the windowsill

 

To finish, a rather spooky photo from yesterday morning, with mist swirling round the Minto Hills

 

Mind the gap!

Yes - the flower should have been on the stem, not an inch above it!  I was so busy arranging the petals that I forgot about where it was supposed to go.  So I arranged all the petals again, took another photo ......

 

 

........ then noticed that two petals were lying to the right of the flower.  I put them in place  ........

 

 

........ but I hadn't noticed the petal to the left!  (I just won't mention that I then found another petal on the floor!)  Hower, eventually the petals were all pinned in place, and this afternoon I got half of them stitched

 

 

Once all the flowers are in place, I will do centres for them.  Some will just have circles, but I think for this big flower I will either make a small ruched flower similar to this one

 

 

or a Suffolk puff (yoyo) like this

 

 

I also have to confess a problem with the flower on the left of the block - you will see that at the moment it only has four petals, instead of eight.  That's because I had a problem with the freezer paper - it simply refused to peel off the fabric (maybe I had the iron too hot), so I will have to prep another four petals.

Friday of course means cake - today we had a choice between Selkirk Bannock

 

 

and Annette's delicious tray bake

 

 

To finish, I thought I would show you some photos from through the week, that didn't make it into a post!

 

it was very hazy on Monday morning

 

 

Tuesday's sunset

 

 

on Wednesday I spotted these tiny apples

 

 

and on Thursday, raspberries

 

 

rose buds in the hedgerow this morning

 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, Love Anne

That tastes good!

I'm not talking about my soup and bread that we had for lunch with a friend (more about that later), but about something which was so delicious, these lambs had escaped from the field to eat it

 

 

They were so engrossed in their munching, that they let me get really close to them

 

 

So what was so delicious?  Beech hedge ..... you can see where they have strippped the lower branches.

 

 

The lambs weren't the only ones enjoying the taste of the hedge ....... further down the road, this horse was tucking in too!  (It doesn't have a coat on because of the chilly weather - it's a fly coat)

 

 

So, back to the soup and bread!  I took two lots of soup out of the freezer last night - and couldn't understand why one lot looked brown, rather than red like the other one

 

 

My first thought was that perhaps it had gone bad (depite being in the freezer).  However, common sense prevailed, and reading the labels, I discovered that one lot was 'tomato and veggies', while the other one was 'tomato and roasted veggies'.  I simply stirred the two together!!  I also baked some cheese and onion bread (oh. alright, I confess ........ I put a packet mix into the bread machine and an hour later I had a delicicious loaf!)

 

 

I took these next photos yesterday, but they got bumped down the schedule by Warkworth!  On my walk yesterday, I had a detour down this farm track .......

 

 

........ as I could see these lovely fellows in the field

 

 

As I approached the gate, I saw this rabbit ........

 

 

......... which obviously thought that if it didn't move, I couldn't see it!  It sat there while I took several photos, and only moved when I turned away

 

 

I would have looked in the next field to see the Jacob's sheep ......... but the gap in the hedge that I usually go through to reach the field gate is completely overgrown with stinging nettles!

 

 

After my visitor left, I did some more work on the Baltimore block.  I had arranged the big flower on the right, taken this photo ........ and realised there was slight error

 

 

If you can't spot the error, I'll tell you tomorrow, and show you what else went wrong!!

Real chips!

We very rarely eat chips - if we do have chips at home, they are oven chips ........ ok, but not as good as real chips.  So when we were out for lunch with Jennifer today, we shared a bowl of real, proper, delicious chips (with salt and vinegar, of course!)

 

 

So where did we have this feast?  In this pub in Warkworth .......

 

 

........ and of course we ate more than chips!  I had this delicious stottie, with ham and pickle

 

 

Malcolm and Jennifer both had spicy chicken skewers

 

 

We went for a walk round the town after lunch - and the first sight we saw was somewhat unexpected - a window displaying a knitted Royal Wedding!

 

 

On the river bank, this seagull was happy to pose for a photo ......

 

 

........ but these ducks turned their backs!

 

 

As we came up the footpath from the river, we arrived at the back door of the castle

 

 

The castle must have been an impressive sight before it fell into ruin

 

 

Of course a visit to Warkworth has to include walking over the old bridge

 

 

It's just a pity that the replacement bridge is rather ugly!

 

 

As usual, I didn't just look around me, I also looked up ........ and was rewarded with this striking piece of wrought iron

 

 

There was more wrought iron on these front door steps

 

 

and a beautiful climbing rose round this door and window

 

 

All too soon it was time to head for home - but we did have one more stop to make.  We pass this postbox every time we go to see Jennifer ....... and every time we mean to stop on the way home (as it's on that side of the road).  So finally today, we remembered to stop.  This is the only postbox I have ever seen in a hedge!!

 

 

The first cut is the sweetest!

I went out to the back garden this morning, to decide whether or not to hang the washing out before I went shopping (the answer was 'no', as it was raining!).  I heard a lot of noise coming from the field behind us, and on seeing what was causing the noise, I quickly fetched the camera.  I had missed the hay being cut, but two tractors, with attached machinery, were busy dealing with it

 

this one raked the hay into lines

 

 

then this one gathered up the hay and baled it

 

 

working together, soon the field was full of ....

 

 

neat hay bales

 

After lunch, I tackled a job I have been meaning to do for some time.  The ceramic tiles on  my bathroon floor are textured, and although I mop them regularly, the dirt collects in the  ridges.  So I got out the steam cleaner and the scrubbing brush, and in no time at all the tiles were gleaming again (no photo, much too boring!)

However, while I had the steam cleaner in the bathroom, I decided to tackle another job.  When we bought this house, the bathroom was the only room which had been recently decorated, so we have yet to tackle it.  However, the previous owner had painted blue squares on some of the tiles (very 'Changing Rooms'!) ........

 

 

...... but the paint was starting to peel off some of the squares, revealing patterned tiles underneath

 

 

The half-peeled tiles were annoying me - and when I went to take a photo of an unpeeled square, I discovered that the bottom edge had started to peel!

 

 

I was reluctant to use any kind of chemical paint stripper, but I wondered if I could steam the paint off.  I quickly discovered that the answer was 'yes' - although while some squares came off in one piece, others came off in little bits.  (and my hair started to curl in the steamy atmosphere!)

 

 

Now that we can see the colours in the tiles, we can choose a colour scheme for when we redecorate the bathroom later in the year - the walls are the same blue as the squares and as it is matt paint, it is quite dull.

 

When I was out for my walk this morning, I picked up this tiny conker, which has fallen off the tree just a little bit early.  It is only the size of a large pea - by autumn, it would have been at least the size of a golf ball

 

 

I also picked some grasses and a spray of elder flowers, which I popped into a little bud vase, which I bought years ago in Jakarta

 

 

The last photo is from yesterday morning ....... as I was walking past some trees, I heard a great deal of noise.  Looking up, I just had time to snap this squirrel before it raced off out of sight

 

Honey!

On Saturday, I had a wonderful day out with the ladies of Southdean Rural (the Scottish version of the WI).  I used to be a member, and they very kindly invited me to join them on their annual day out.We were picked up by bus at the village hall, and headed for Northumberland, to visit the Chainbridge Honey Farm - you can read more here.  As we didn't leave until eleven, we arrived just in time to have lunch!  They have a very unusual tearoom - an old double decker bus ......

 

 

They had reserved the upstairs seating for us, and I was able to nip up the stairs ahead of the others to take a couple of photos

 

 

 

We were all so busy chatting when the food arrived, that I forgot to take a photo of my delicious cheese savoury baguette (but don't worry, there will be cake later!).  After lunch, we were given a guided tour by Heather, one of the daughters of the farm owners, who took us through the whole process from hive to the finished products that they sell (if you click on the link above, you can see the wide range of goodies, which you buy online!)

After seeing the large pieces of gleaming machinery where the combs are processed, we moved on to the workshop where all sorts of things are made with the beeswax

 

 

 

After seeing the working side of the business, we headed for the visitor centre and shop.  First stop was a taste of the honey .......

 

 

...... then some shopping!  For me, soap, handcream and a block of wax to run my thread through for handsewing

 

 

 

 

For Malcolm, a tub of heather comb honey and a beeswax owl candle (which is beside the owl I bought for him in Majorca for his collection)

 

 

 

In the visitor centre, when I saw this wasps' nest, I was very glad that we spotted the small ones in the summerhouse - this one is about two feet long!

 

 

The last stop of our visit was back in the bus, where we enjoyed a cuppa and cake - I had an exceedingly delicious piece of border tart

 

 

It's Monday, so that means the knitting update.  Because I decided to knit a second cushion cover, I only finished knitting last night, so I haven't made up the covers (I also need to get foam pads).  So for the photo, I put them over our footstools

 

 

This week's project won't take long - a string bag, the main part of which is knitted on 9mm needles!

 

 

Shadow Shot Sunday

Just one photo this week!  I took this yesterday morning when I was out for my early morning walk.  So why is it special ....... well, the flower buds are minute - just the size of pinheads, but have still cast a shadow!  For more shadow fun, pop over to Hey Harriet.