frayed at the edge

Looking after the pennies

We had a rather unusual day out today ...... we went to a "wealth management" seminar!  My, doesn't that sound ground - but let me explain.  Some weeks ago, Malcolm got a letter inviting us to this seminar.    We don't know why we got an invitation - Malcolm must be on a mailing list somewhere - as we certainly aren't wealthy!  His first reaction was to recycle it as junk mail, but as he read on, he spotted the words free, lunch and wine ...... so we thought we might as well go!  We were very glad that we did go, as this was the venue, Tilmouth Park Hotel

 

We got there early, so had a chance to walk round the grounds.  Looking up at the hotel, I could see this room has a four-poster bed

 

The trees are much further open than here

 

and the rhododendrons are flowering

 

 

When you enter the hotel, it is easy to picture the original family living there, as all the original features have been retained.  We were welcomed with a cuppa in this beautiful room

 

A quick trip to the Ladies before the seminar got under way meant that the camera had to come out to capture the fabulous wallpaper and general luxury!

 

So, what was all the wealth management stuff?  It was mostly advice about making the most of savings/investments/pensions - of course the firm running the seminar will do it all for you, for a fee.  I managed to stay awake until we had a break for another cuppa, in another lovely room

 

The ceiling had an unusual painted plaster centrepiece

 

as did the room the the seminar was in

 

it also had a very sparkly chandelier

 

I also managed to stay awake during the second session (I knew Malcolm was paying attention and taking notes!) ...... then, hooray, it was lunchtime.  We both chose lasagne, with side salad and garlic bread (and we had a glass of wine)

 

It was delicious ....... and then the very pleasant man who had served us came over to the table and asked if we would like anything else.  Well, the other choice had been chicken in white wine and cream sauce with rice, which also looked delicious, so we had some of that too (almost everyone had a second helping of whatever hadn't been their first choice!). 

We are glad we went, as we did get some useful information on making the most of our money ..... and a delicious lunch.  We usually have dinner quite early, but we will be eating much later tonight!

 

On the sewing front, progress is being made on the Christmas stitcheries.  Using just the one thread makes it much quicker, without all the stops and starts to change colours ...... and there are none of those dreaded French knots on the lettering, which took so much time on the "Love Notes" stitcheries.

 

Backtracking

After being sidetracked by the little lambs yesterday, back to what we did at the weekend.  On Sunday, we went for a walk aloong the river in Jedburgh, where this seagull flapped his wings, just as I clicked!!

 

The butterbur is just starting to flower on the riverbank

 

We went past the John Deere dealership ...... if only I had somewhere to park this!!

 

Although the blossom was springlike ........

 

......... it was decidedly chilly, and we abandoned the walk.  We headed to Border Meringues, where we had cake for lunch!  We shared a delicious cheese scone

 

and this sticky sweet confection, with marshmallows, cherries and coconut

 

On both Saturday and Sunday I was working on the prep for the stitcheries, cutting out the blocks, then ironing on the transfers for the embroidery

 

 

The last task was to tack the blocks to thin cotton wadding

 

I also made a start to Lilly Pilly, tracing the tree trunk and branches on to bondaweb

 

then cutting the pieces out and arranging them on the fabric

 

This afternoon, I covered the fabric and bondaweb with some nonstick baking parchment, and bonded them using a hot iron

 

Next, I cleared the worktables and put a heat proof cover over them, then put the paper pattern on top - I had turned it to the wrong side and traced the outline of thhe tree, as the pattern is reversed when you use bondaweb

 

I added the background fabric, then put the tree in place

 

I will need Malcolm's help with the next stage ..... carefully pulling the pattern out from underneath, so that I can then bond the tree in place.  Then I will have to cut out lots and lots ..... and lots of leaves!

After the cute little lambs yesterday, here are some ewes snoozing away the afternoon in a neighbour's old apple orchard

 

 

 

Getting my priorities right!

I have lots of photos from the weekend, and had a vague idea of the layout of today's post ....... but then I went for a walk after lunch, and everything changed!  So, I hope you aren't too disappointed at having to wait to see where we went for our Sunday walk and what sewing I did over the weekend, and instead have to look at lots of photos of ......... LAMBS (and other country things)

this little one kept falling off mum's back

 

and climbing back on

 

holding on tight!

 

a post-lunch snooze

 

the Jacob's lambs are big now

 

I love the pink inner ears

 

After all the cute lambs .......... the first rabbit of the year!

 

This female pheasant was striding down the field .......

 

........ resolutely ignoring the male trotting along behind her

 

There are more and more plants bursting into life

 

 

 

This flower is slightly bigger than a shirt button, but has amazing markings (definitely one to save as an idea for an applique flower!)

 

I think this is a starling, but it was on its own, whereas you normally see a flock of them

 

To finish, a little taster of the weekend sewing

 

Shadow Shot Sunday

It has been a busy week, and I haven't had time to go shadow chasing, so I have delved into the archives for these reflection shots from a walk in the park several weeks ago.  To see more shadows, do visit Shadow Shot Sunday 2!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheap and cheerful reading

When I was looking for a book to read in the bath this week, I found this one that I have had for years, lurking at the back of the bookshelves (I don't read the Kindle in the bath in case I drop it - the only book I have dropped in the bath for some time of course belonged to Malcolm!)

 

It's a very lighthearted, entertaining story, and reading it I remembered that I also loved the previous book with the same characters, which I had borrowed from a friend.  I had a look on Amazon to see if it was available for the Kindle, which it wasn't.  However I discovered that I could buy it from a bookseller for 1p, plus £2.80 p&p - a bargain, and I happily employed that "buy with one click" button!

 

Did you notice my bookmmark peeping out of the first book.  I bought these bookmarks for the two of us last time we were in Australia ....... Malcolm is the Virgo and I'm the Libran

 

Of course all the good points, and none of the bad ones, apply to both of us!

 

Having missed patch'n'chat last Friday, I enjoyed the cake even more this afternoon ..... Annette's lovely light chocolate sponge

 

We have a new pet - a big black spider that Malcolm has named Hector (no, I don't know why he chose Hector!!)  He's hiding at the moment, but hopefully he will come out to play tomorrow!

 

I hope you all have a good weekend, love Anne

More about Ricky

For some reason last night, I didn't give you the link to Ricky's website - do have a look, as there are lots of photos and info to browse through.  Ricky started his show by encouraging us to shout out whoo hoo, to show that we were enjoying ourselves. He explained that when he was in Dubai two years ago, he got everyone in the audience to write where they were from on a slip of paper.  When he counted up afterwards, he found there were people from 35 countries, and he decided to name this his whoo hoo nation.  There was a lot of laughter as he encouraged us to whoo hoo throughout the evening!  He spoke of one of the defining moments of his life, when his home town of Wichita Falls, Texas was struck by a tornado on the 10th of April 1979 (and in one of those little coincidences, of course Tuesday was the 10th).  He rushed home to find that his parents' house had been wrecked, but his parents were safe in the storm shelter.  He then found his two dogs had survived under pieces of furniture.  It didn't matter that his car had landed on the grand piano that he had been given for his 21st birthday ....... possessions can be replaced, but your loved ones can't.  He isn't the only quilter in the family - his Dad quilts too!  Although these days, sadly his Dad has lost his short term memory, and makes the same quilt pattern over and over, as that is in his long term memory - Ricky gives him fabrics grouped in different colourways, so they don't all look the same.

Ricky was born and raised in Texas, so it was surprising to learn that he now lives in Colorado ....... but he went on to say that if you look at an old map of America, you will see that Texas once covered part of what is now Colorado, so he still feels that he lives in Texas.  He lives in the charming little town of La Veta (population just over 900!).  He showed us photos of the views from his house - on three sides he has stunning mountains, and on the fourth side he looks out across a reservoir to the plains beyond.  If I lived there, I would never get anything done, as I would spend my time enjoying the views!

A last mention about Tuesday night.  When Ricky is in Scotland, he stays in Edinburgh with Margaret Boe, a stalwart of the Quilters' Guild, talented quilter and  entertaining speaker.  I knew Margaret some years ago, when I was in the Quilters Guild - we used to meet at committee meetings when we were both area reps - indeed Margaret once attended a committeee meeting in my house, when we couldn't meet at our usual venue.  So I was delighted that she had come with Ricky, and I was able to have a chat with her and catch up on what she has been doing since I last saw her.

 

I don't think I have written so much without including a photo, so let's get on with my visit to Anne's shop yesterday and the two new projects I came home with.  I spent an enjoyable few hours at the shop, chatting to the ladies who meet there on Wednesdays,  blethering to customers, having lunch, drinking lots of tea.  In these two photos you will see a man at the counter, busy cutting fabrics.  This is Anne's husband, the long-suffering Mick, who now works in the shop most days. 

 

 

The two women at the far end of the shop were choosing fabrics to make the stitchery quilt - they saw it draped over the end of the counter, and immediately decided to make their own!  (that's Anne in the cream sweater with her back to the camera).  So what was Mick busy cutting?  These gorgeous fabrics ......

 

....... to make this wallhanging

 

 

I am also going to do another stitchery wallhanging  ....... I know it is only April, but it's never to early to start on Christmas sewing!

 

For the moment I only have the fabric and thread for the stitcheries.  I'll get the rest of the fabrics once they are done.

 

The thread is variegated, which gives a lovely effect - this is the first block that I will be stitching

 

Anne will be at The Festival of Quilts in Birmingham in August, so if you are going, do visit her stand and say hello ....... and of course buy lots of the lovely kits that she sells.  She is also hoping to have her website up and running soon - I will let you know as soon as it's online.

Having fun with another man!

I was very excited yesterday evening, as I headed over to Kelso for Abbey Quilters' monthly meeting.  Why?  Because we had a VERY special guest speaker ....... the wonderful, fabulous Ricky Tims.  I had been at three of Ricky's big shows in the past, but this would be quite different - a small peformance in front of an audience of about eighty.  For those of you who don't know who Ricky is, he is a talented musician, composer ...... and quilter.   He entertained us with stories of his life and his beloved Granny, he played the piano for us ..... and of course he had quilts to share.  When we were able to take photos at the end, I only took some details of the quilts, as I knew I wouldn't be able to get good photos of them, but you can see his work, and read more about him here and here. 

But first here is the man himself ....... when I asked if I could take his photo, he not only said yes, but he put his trademark hat on

 

Then he asked if I would like to have my photo taken with him ........ I promptly handed the camera over to Katy, who told Ricky he was very honoured to have his photo taken for my blog, as it would meaning joining the august group (which includes her), who have appeared there!!

 

Charlie asked me to take a photo of her and her delightful Mum with her smartphone - oh dear, total failure, I couldn't make the thing work, so used my camera and emailed the photo to Charlie!

 

Ricky chatted, posed for photos, signed books, talked about his work ...... and all this while being decidedly under the weather with a chest infection.   I took lotso f notes during his performance, and had meant to write a much longer post, but I have been out all day* and am simply too tired, so I'll tell you more tomorrow, and for now leave you with the little details from his quilts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is Ricky's latest quilt - it is just amazing that we were allowed to handle it and take photos!

 

*I left home before 9am, to drive down to Longframlington (a 90 minute drive) to Anne's shop, to deliver the quilt top.  I'll tell you all about the day tomorrow, after the rest of the Ricky story!

Going the right way now!

Just a quick post, as it's my monthly night out at Abbey Quilters.  It's a very special night - but of course I'm not going to tell you why until tomorrow!

On Saturday afternoon, I turned the misbehaving geese the right way round .......

 

........ then added the final border.  It has been a lot of work,  but I am really pleased with it!

 

Now that the design wall is free again, I put the Baltimore blocks up, hoping that they will encourage me to get on with the other blocks

 

I added the latest Linus quilt, and my lovely new piece of Ghastlies fabric

 

Will this Ghastlie baby ......

 

......... grow up to look like its siblings

 

And will this cute girl

 

grow up to look like these two beauties

 

 

 

 

Strolling along the river

There was a brief flurry of rain as we left the house yesterday morning, but fortunately it had gone off by the time we got to Melrose, to go for a leisurely walk along the river.  The river level is quite low, as you can see from this fisherman - usually he would be in water just about up to his waist

 

Every time we go on this walk, I take a photo of this boat!

 

The air was full of the scent of wild garlic, with great swathes of it running down to the river .......

 

....... and carpets under the trees

 

The garlic may be a bit smelly, but it does have a lovely flower

 

There were other flowers along the riverbank

 

 

 

 

Malcolm spotted this strange creature watching us from the end of a branch!

 

On the way back to the car, I spotted this dovecote - perhaps Malcolm could make one for me?

 

Of course you know what comes next - yes, we went for a cuppa!  It is some weeks since we last went to the Old Melrose Furniture Studio ..... and we were somewhat surprised by how much had changed!  A new carpark has been laid out behind the buildings, leaving the courtyard free, and the large pile of old doors has been removed from in front of the farm shop.  The pots are full of herbs

 

We ordered a toasted teacake and a cheese scone, then as usual shared them - delicious!

 

Back home, the snakeshead fritillaries have started to flower

 

To finish ..... you never know when you might need your camera.  I took this photo when I was in the Ladies at the furniture studio - I know Malcolm has some nice pieces of wood in his stash in the garage ...... perhaps he could make a picture frame for me (once he has made a dovecote!)

 

Shadow Shot Sunday

This week's shadows come from Etal Castle in Northumberland - these are the photos that I would have posted last week, if they hadn't been knocked in to second place by the handsome pheasant!  To see other shadows from around the world, pop over to Shadow Shot Sunday 2 .. perhaps you will be inspired to join in the fun!