frayed at the edge

A very long day!

Before I tell you why I am so late posting tonight, I will first show you how last night's dinner turned out ........

steak and kidney, dumplings and buttered carrots

 

........ and show you this quilt top.  We have been getting the instructions month by month at Abbey Quilters, and mine should look like this, minus the outer borders.  It should look like that, but I haven't actually started mine (oops!)

 

So, on to today.  We left home at 9am to go to Newcastle, as Malcolm's car had to go in for a service.  The plan was to drop the car off, go for a cuppa, then later some lunch, before heading home the long way round so that we could call in to see Anne in her new quilting shop.  BUT, Malcolm got a call to say that new brakes were needed and that we wouldn't be able to get the car back until 3pm, instead of 2pm.  THEN, when we went for the car, it still wasn't ready, so we didn't get on our way until after 3.30.  After visiting Anne, we still had a 90 minute journey home ........ so we detoured into Hawick and bought fish suppers for dinner!

I am just simply too tired to start writing a long post, so I will tell you all about our day tomorrow.  But I'll leave you with this photo to whet your interest!!

a strange tin of sardines!

It's just the day for ......

.......rib-sticking, heart-warming comfort food!  The frost has gone and now we have raw, damp weather, with the possibility of rain later (I'm not complaining though, because it's heaps better then what it was like this time last year!).  I decided to make steak and kidney with dumplings for dinner, so I started by sweating onions and mushrooms in my new cast iron casserole, which was a Christmas present from Malcolm

 

I put the meat in a bag with well-seasoned flour and gave it a good shake

 

After browning the meat ......

 

I stirred in boiling water and my secret ingredient

 

Ready to go into a low oven to gently cook for a couple of hours

 

While the dinner was cooking, I popped out to the studio to make the next two farmer's Wife blocks.  It is so much easier to cut out the pieces on my new revolving board

 

With the blocks turning out the correct size

 

 

 

After adding thhese two blocks to the design wall, I have decided that once I have made the next two, I will make them up into a small lap quilt, then do the next batch of blocks in different fabrics

 

Now, a day late, the knitting update.  By the weekend I had finished all the body parts for the fairy  (and her skirt) .....

 

....... and had even knitted a second one!

 

I was unable to get a suitable sparkly yarn for the wings, so I decided to buy this plain (but slightly fluffy) one and add beads.  The usual way to include beads in knitting is to thread all on to the yarn before you start knitting - but this is a much simpler way.  All you need is a very fine crochet hook, which will go through the hole in the bead.

 

you then slip the stitch where you want the bead on to the crochet hook

 

pull the stitch through the bead

 

slip the stitch back on the needle and knit normally

 

The beads sit neatly in place at the base of the stitches

 

The wings are knitted in two parts

 

However I won't be sewing the fairy up tonight, as I am off out to the monthly meeting of Abbey Quilters.  We have to hand in our embroidered blocks tonight

 

As it's for a challenge, I made sure the back was neat too!

 

You will have to wait until tomorrow to see how the dinner turned out - because I am going out, I am posting this before dinner, rather than after as I usually do!!

900 posts .......

....... and I still haven't run out of things to say!!  When I started the blog, I never thought I would still be writing it three years later and that so many people all round the world would read it.  Thank you to everyone for reading and commenting - there wouldn't be much point in doing it if it wasn't for you!

As always for a Monday, I have lots of photos, all clamouring 'use me, use me, I want to be in the blog'.  So here goes.......

after the chocolate bunnies, mint chocolate lambs - yum, yum

 

the new curtains, looking good

 

I could see this from the back door of the studio - I want one!

 

the frosty start to yesterday's walk

 

sorry Malcolm, I couldn't squeeze this wood pile into the camera bag!

 

Malcolm provides the scale for this very old tree

 

not snow, but heavy frost in the garden this morning

 

icicles dripping from the sill of my (very dirty) car

 

the tit has its feather fluffed up to keep warm

 

this horse doesn't look very happy

 

and this one looks pretty miserable too

 

I'll keep the knitting update for tomorrow, as there are several photos to show you. 

It will be Burns' Night on the 25th, so one of the local butchers has an eye-catching sign in front of the shop, to remind folk to buy their haggis

 

Shadow Shot Sunday

The sun was shining when I went for a walk on Thursday, so I was able to capture shadows to join in the fun with my fellow shadow addicts.  First there were big shadows

 

Then medium shadows

 

and lastly teeny tiny shadows

Life in miniature

This afternoon we had two miniature creations to admire at patch'n'chat.  The first was Katy's miniature quilt.  The little pieces are one inch square, and this is half of the quilt (as usual, the lighting makes everything look a bit yellow)

 

Then Cathy showed us this miniature sewing machine, which she has just been given.  It is about four inches high, and as you can see needs  a bit of a clean.  First the front

 

then the back

 

a detail of the decoration

 

and the tiny original spool

 

I hadn't done any more work on my hexagons since last Friday, but I got quite a bit more stitched this afternoon

 

Then of course there was cake - or more accurately cakes, as Annette had made a batch of her delicious cupcakes .....

 

..... topped with chocolate sprinkles

 

The forecast for the weekend is for bright frosty weather, so we are looking forward to getting out for a long walk on Sunday morning.  I hope you all have a good weekend - I shall be working on my postcard!  Love Anne

A work of art!

As promised, a few more photos from our trip to Peebles.  When I saw this melted wheelie bin, I wanted to bring it home so that I could sell it to the Tate Modern, or enter is for the Turner Prize ....... well, it's as much a work of art as some of the stuff they inflict on us!!

 

Down by the river, one of these wonderful pine trees had come down in last week's storm

 

The centre of the tree was rotten, so it obviously just wasn't strong enough to withstand the high winds

 

This morning we popped into Hawick as usual - and as usual we walked round to see if the heron was on the River Slitrig.  Yes, there he was, basking in the sun

 

Just as I took this close-up  ..... he stuck his tongue out!!

 

I went out for a walk after lunch (Malcolm was rearranging the furniture in the back lounge and declined to accompany me!)  This was the first photo that I took ......

 

........ no, it's not a slightly fuzzy shadow shot, it's a completely out of focus shot - this is what it should look like!

 

These two women were enjoying a gentle potter on their horses

 

but this one went past at a trot!

 

So, I mentioned yesterday that we got a bargain in Peebles ...... and what a bargain!  A pair of pinch-pleated, double width, full length curtains

 

with thermal linings

 

They will replace the basic, cheap Ikea curtains which we put up as a temporary measure when we moved in more than five years ago

 

Malcolm has almost finished putting up a new rail for them, so hopefully we will get them hung tomorrow.  How big a bargain were they?  They cost us £35, which was a fraction of the original price ........ I couldn't even buy the fabric for that!

 

One last photo from my walk - and of course it has to be a sheep!  This Jacob's ewe should have her lamb(s) this month

 

It must be nearly Easter ........

....... as the shops are full of Easter goodies (I think we saw our first Easter egg on Boxing Day!)

 

We had a bit of discussion after breakfast this morning about where we would go for lunch today ..... we decided to go a bit further afield and went to Peebles.  When we parked in the main car park, we didn't take our usual route to the High Street, but instead headed in the other direction and crossed the river by this footbridge

 

Although this avenue of trees has a certain stark beauty, I want to see them in the spring to see if they have blossom, when they would look truly beautiful

 

We have never noticed this bead shop before, so were a bit surprised to be told it has been there for four years!

 

It was full of all sorts of beads and findings

 

We rarely see old-fashioned shops with their wares out on the pavement ...... perhaps the shops are worried that someone might trip over something and sue them!

 

Do you remember the last time we went to Peebles for lunch, when Malcolm had a delicious meal and I had the terrible chicken soup and dumplings?  I didn't show you the restaurant/deli last time, buut I'll show it to you this time ........

 

....... as we had the same meal that Malcolm had last time - toasted muffin with Ayrshire bacon, poached eggs and hollandaise sauce.  Delicious!!

 

After lunch we went for a good long walk along the river.  This was the second fishermen that we saw - it must have been a bit chilly standing in the water, waiting for a fish to bite!

 

Can you see at the right hand side of the footbridge, there is a dog walking across, followed by its owners?  It was funny when they got to the other side - the couple walked down the steps, but the dog, which was rather old, walked round the disabled-access ramp!

 

Walking back along the High Street, Malcolm spotted this sundial on a building across the road - it's just a pity the sun wasn't shining!

 

On the way home we stopped in Walkerburn at this new coffee shop ........

 

I was going to have my usual tea, but Malcolm suggested that I have hot chocolate ...... and he also got a chocolatey traybake .......you won't be surprised that we decided not to have the planned dinner this evening, and instead had a bowl of homemade soup!

I'll show you more photos tomorrow, when I will also tell you about the amazing bargain that we got.  But to finish,  this is what I bought in the bead shop

teeny tiny charms for me

 

a charm for shoe-mad Alison to add to the charm bracelet we gave her for Christmas

 

I hope the neighbours didn't see me .....

...... when I was out in the garden before eight o'clock this morning, taking photos of the moon!

 

Do you remember my sparkly, scented twiggy things I got before Christmas?  Today they went to a new home, when I took them out to the studio and put them on the windowsill, decorated with little hearts and butterflies, and with my big felt flower in the middle

 

Did you notice the card on the left of the windowsill - a very cheeky Mothers' Day card from Stuart!  I  would like to think that I look just like the woman on the card (except for the cigarette)

 

I was busy today making the next two Farmer's Wife blocks - helped by another of my Christmas presents from Malcolm ........

 

........ a small revolving cutting mat, which makes it much easier to cut out small pieces using the templates

 

This may look like an old radio

 

but it is a biscuit tin, in which I now keep all the templates for the Farmer's Wife blocks

 

The pieces for the first block

 

and the finished block

 

The pieces of the second block

 

and the finished block (by the time I finished it, I had turned the light on, so the colours look different!)

 

I had an email from Linda asking for clarification on the swap.  She first of all wanted to confirm that the postcards should be sent by the end of January ...... yes.  She also wanted to know if she was to write on the postcards, or leave them blank so that the recipient could use them if they wanted to.  Having thought about it, I would suggest that you write on the postcard of your home town, and leave the handmade one blank ...... however it is up to you - you might want to leave both of them blank and write a little note to send with them.

 

To finish, another photo from our Sunday walk - a dried seedhead ....... I can't convince Malcolm that the background is supposed to be out of focus!!

 

Stretching our legs

We haven't been for as many walks as usual. because of the weather, so we were glad yesterday to get out and have a good walk at the Leaderfoot viaduct .......

 

....... crossing the river by the old bridge - you can see the ugly modern replacement behind it

 

As we started to cross the bridge, we could here someone using a chainsaw.  Looking across the river, we saw a man cutting up the smaller branches of an enormous tree, which probably blew down in last week's storms - compare the size of the man with the size of the tree trunk!!

 

When we last saw this bridge, there was major repair work being done.  The workmen have made an excellent job of the stone walls - they just need to weather for a year or two to blend in with the old stonework

 

As we walked back through the woods, we wondered what this black blob was

 

but then we saw this, and realised that it was some sort of fungi.  I poked it with the toe of my boot, and it felt quite hard and woody

 

On Saturday, I added the borders to the Hawiian block.  I was going to make it up as a small quilt for Project Linus, but I like it so much, it is going to be a wallhanging for me!!

 

However, I will give this one to Linus.  The photo doesn't really show it at its best - the dark fabric stands out in the photo, but doesn't when you see the quilt

 

Yesterday afternoon I finally sorted out my scrap basket.  I am much too embarassed to show you a photo of what it looked like, spilling bits of fabric out on to the floor, but here are the scraps all sorted out and put into labelled bags

 

Later this evening I will start knitting my first fairy - I am looking forward to having something on the needles after my short break

 

And now to the swap ...... I put the names in my best velvet hat (I had to turn the pieces of paper over, as they also had the addresses on them!)

 

So here is the list of swapees

http://cathyholtomdustylane.blogspot.com/     and me

http://mytategallery.blogspot.com/   and Caroline

http://www.lovethosecupcakes.typepad.com/   and Lisa

Yvonne (sorry Yvonne, I've lost the link to your blog!)   and Linda

http://sweetmarynz.blogspot.com/   and Karen

http://www.mousybrownshouse.typepad.com/   and http://www.bunmountain.blogspot.com/

http://www.lloydsgirl.blogspot.com/   and http://www.cheviots.blogspot.com/

Dee and Carol

http://www.leemills.typepad.com/   and http://circles-of-rain.blogspot.com/

http://www.fraiing.blogspot.com/   and http://www.rattlingon.typepad.com/

Emma and Judi

 

If you asked to join in and I've left you out, please let me know ....... and it's not too late to join in ..... just email me (link above right) before the end of the week and I'll do another draw.  I've sent out emails with your swap partners, so if you haven't received your email, again, please let me know.I didn't include email adresses in the email, as they aren't really needed, and I would still be there typing if I had!  However, you will have seen that I have shown the blog addresses for those who have one  in the above list.  One last thing - instead of setting up a flickr group, I thought it would be easier if you could just email  me a photo of the postcards you send, then once they have all arrived at their destinations, I will do collages to share them with you.

 

To finish, I haven't shown you one of my quirky photos of a falling down fence for a while ......

Shadow Shot Sunday

It's good to be back after my break from blogging over Christmas and New Year, and I'm looking forward to seeing who else is joining in this week's shadow fun.  My selection this week come from the week before Christmas, when we had some snow (since then it has been wet and very windy!)

 

 

not sure if there is a shadow, but the robin is so cute standing on one leg, I had to include him!