frayed at the edge

Roadblock!

I was a little bit late getting home this morning, as there was a roadblock just before the church.  A tractor, a combine harvester, a big lorry ....... no, three naughty lambs!

 

I was approaching them very slowly, as I didn't want them to keep running ahead of me, but then a car coming in the other direction made them to take refuge at the field gate, and I was able to sneak past!

 

it was glorious this morning, although there was a chill in the air.  The swallows have bred very successfully this year, and were enjoying the early morning sunshine

 

this isn't mist, it's steam rising off the neighbours' stable

 

William Leggat's statue in the churchyard was silhouetted against the sky

 

and of course we have to have a photo of a sheep!

 

when I was heading out to the studio this morning, I had to pause and take  photos of the contrails, which were giving a patriotic display of the Saltire

 

 

Now for the sewing update.  The paper piecing went well

 

I had to hold the square up to the light to make sure that the fabric was aligned with the sewing line

 

I used my wooden "iron" to flatten the seams

 

 

ready to start assembling the stars

 

all done

 

the next stage was to put it all up on the design wall

 

I got the top section stitched together before it was time to head in to the house to make dinner

 

to finish, you know that I like to take strange photos, and I rather liked the electrical gubbins gleaming against the blue sky

 

 

OK, let's just get the confession out of the way ....... cake two days running!  Yesterday we popped in to Border Meringues after our walk, and although Malcolm suggested that as usual we share a scone, I succumbed to a Malteser slice ....

 

....... to have with my excellent pot of tea (yes, I ate the meringue as well!)

 

while Malcolm had a wonderful cheese scone .....

 

....... with his usual americano with hot milk (yes, he ate his meringue too)

 

then after lunch today, Malcolm said that he was going to take a load of rubbish to the tip, which meant that he would pass the new mill shop.  Did I want to go with him and we could pop in for a cuppa?  At first I said no, as I had lots to do ..... but about two minutes later, I changed my mind - and look what I would have missed if I had stayed at home - today's special scone, filled with plump blueberries

 

now that we have got the greed out of the way, back to yesterday morning's walk in Jedburgh.  We hadn't seen the heron at its usual spot on the river for a few weeks, so we were delighted to see it yesterday

 

 

I usually take photos of this bridge from the other bank, but it looks good from this side too

 

I just had time to snap this tractor as it rumbled along the road

 

our log store is just across from my studio door, and I keep looking and thinking that this latest load of logs looks good - so I finally got round to taking a photo!

 

after we had our cuppa this afternoon, we had a stroll along the river.  We were entertained by this little dog surveying the world - the wider step he is on  is at just the right height for him to see over the fence

 

when I was getting out of the car when we got back home, I noticed this little bug

 

and when I went to take photos of the climbing rose round the lounge window, this fly promptly landed as I snapped

 

to finish, we saw this in an antiques shop in Jedburgh yesterday ..... I think it would give me nightmares!!

 

I had thought that I would use the shadow shots that got bumped last week, but they have just been bumped again, by a hare and a rabbit that I encountered on my walk yesterday morning!  To see more shadow fun, pop over here, where Magical Mystery Teacher, Gemma and Rose host this addictive meme

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where did the week go?  One minute it was Monday, now suddenly it's Friday.  As always at the end of the week, I have lots of photos that didn't make it into the blog, so I thought I would have a quick browse through the leftovers, and pick the best of them to share with you

a thistle, a problem for farmers, but striking in the verge

 

the first time we have tried growing beans

 

the pak choi has bolted, but the bees love the flowers

 

a foxglove in the hedgerow

 

enjoying the early morning sunshine

 

an "arty" weed in the verge

 

an unusual wall decoration in the cafe in Corbridge where we had lunch

 

a dog rose in the hedgerow

 

flowering privet hedge

 

these flowers are tiny, just the size of pinheads

 

I hadn't noticed before that you can see right through the church to a matching window on the back wall (despite passing the church dozens of times in the last six years!)

 

a heron on the River Slitrig

 

I hope you have enjoyed this wander through the leftovers ....... and talking of leftovers, there wasn't much left after we had our afternoon cuppa this afternoon!  Annette is on holliday, so the cakes came from Border Meringues

carrot cake

 

Border tart

 

As always I will be busy sewing over the weekend, and hopefully we will be able to dodge the forecast showers to go for a walk on Sunday morning. I hope you all have a good weekend, love Anne

 

 

On the way back to the carpark in Corbridge yesterday, we stopped on the bridge to watch some children having fun in the river

 

 

but they wouldn't have been able to play there the day that all this came down and got snagged on the bridge

 

 

leaving the town, we didn't get held up at the level crossing .....

 

........ but we did get held up behind this tractor

 

on the way home, we stopped in Bellingham for a cuppa .......

 

........ at this cafe

 

I like the standard rosemary plants in the pots at each side of the door - I just might attempt to grow one!

 

after our cuppa, we went for a stroll, popping in to this shop, where it was hard to resist all the lovely locally produced crafts

 

while I was taking photos of the village hall ....

 

 

....... Malcolm was examining this curiosity

 

 

why put up a new sign when this rusty old one still does the job!

 

however something that will have to be replaced is this section of pavement, which has fallen into the river

 

 

if only I could have fitted this old fencepost into my backpack - it would look good in the garden!

 

this was a lovely spot to sit and watch the world go by - just after I took the photo, an elderly couple settled on the bench to eat ice creams

 

our last stop in Bellingham was here

 

where Malcolm bought three bags of offcuts.  Some it will be used in the logburning stoves, but the better pieces will be turned into nest boxes and other little wooden items

 

 

altogether a great day out!

 

* you can find the words of the song here

 

........ as I set off for my walk, having taken these two photos as I stepped out of the front door!

 

 

the horses in the field across the road were sitting like bookends

 

the thistles provided a lovely background for this ewe

 

do you think these sheep appreciate the stunning scenery beyond their field?

 

after yesterday's eerie mist, this morning the church was basking in sunshine

 

once I had had my usual Wednesday pamper time, with a soak in the bath, with a good book and a mug of hot chocolate (!), we set off for Corbridge.  Parts of the road are like a roller coaster - this photo makes it look as if we are up in the air looking down on the road!

 

there are a lot of blind summits, and I caught this car just before it vanished over the top of this one - it's quite scary the way the cars either appear or disappear on these summits

 

when we were stuck at temporary traffic lights, I passed the time taking photos of the dry stone wall we were sitting beside

 

 

as the town was busy, we decided to go for an early lunch, which turned out to be a wise decision, as the cafe rapidly filled up.  As always I had a pot of tea

 

and Malcolm had a large americano, with hot milk on the side

 

there was so much choice on the menu, it was hard to decide, but in the end I ordered eggs benedict

 

and Malcolm a soft ciabatta roll stuffed with sausages

 

 ........ and then we traded half of our meals, so I can tell you they were both absolutely delicious (and I should add that we have a light dinner when we have lunch out on Wednesdays!)  Of course one of the reasons we went to Corbridge was to go back to Re ..... I can't show you all that I bought, as it's for presents, but I can show you the fabulous "French" breakfast cups (which are actually made in Portugal!)

 

so why did I buy two purple ones and only one yellow one?   Well .......... on Monday I was putting Malcolm's coffee mug in the dishwasher when it slipped out of my hand and fell on one of the two yellow breakfast cups which were already in the dishwasher.  Did the cheap and cheerful mug break, or did a great big chip get knocked out of the much dearer cup?  I think you can guess the answer to that one!  However, I remembered that I had seen the cups on our last visit to Re, and I was delighed to find that they still had them, so that I could replace the broken one, and buy a couple of spares to tuck away for future use, as we do like a great big cup of tea after breakfast!

 

I still have lots of photos left from our day out, which I will save for tomorrow, but I'll finish with this one ......... I guess solicitors must have annoyed this person, if they are now offering to savage them!!

*Bird on a Wire 

 

Malcolm was delighted to receive so many comments yesterday - could this be the start of a new hobby?

After handing over the blog to him yesterday, I have some catching up to do, starting with Saturday.  When I left the Quilt Exhibition on Saturday afternoonn, I was a bit annoyed to see that there was a major hold-up in the traffic.  However, I stopped being annoyed when I found out the cause ........ Kelso Civic Week parade

 

 

 

 

 

the star of the parade

 

Yesterday morning I headed out as usual for my walk, although it was a bit grey and wet.  These sheep were sheltering against the wall

 

but the crows and seagulls were busy pecking through this field, which has just been cut for hay

 

Yesterday afternoon I was busy making jam and chutney, but as it's for next month's Southdean Show, I can't show you the results yet!

 

This morning was grey and wet again - and it got steadily wetter.  I was dripping by the time I got back home!  The church looked quite eerie in the mist

 

 However these cows weren't bothered by the rain

 

I had just taken this photo .......

 

....... when this curious cow popped its head into the hole in the hedge

 

I have been busy working on Twas the Night before Christmas.  On Sunday I pressed and trimmed the stitcheries

 

and ironed the fabrics for the blocks

 

Today, I cut strips

 

and stitched them together in sets

 

I then cross cut these sets and joined the resulting strips into ones of varying lengths, which will frame the blocks and go round the edge of the quilt

 

Next I had two blocks to make 

 

 

 

The next stage is to make foundation pieced blocks, which is possibly my least-favourite method.  Just in case I get some wrong (it has been known!), I photocopied one of the pattern sheets, so that I have spares

 

When I am out for my morning walks, I quite often stop at the field gate just past the church to take photos of the Mintos and the Eildons.  However, on my way out this morning, this was the view - or rather lack of view

 

it had improved slightly on my way home - I think the rain had washed the mist away!

 

but this was last Tuesday ...... just a slight difference!!

 

 

When I was sewing this afternoon, Malcolm stuck his head in the door and shouted to me to come and see .........worms, worms and even more worms!  The compost bin was full of them - we have never seen so many worms!  This photo shows just a few of them

........Malcolm was entrusted with my small camera when he went off to points north last week.  He has obviously been paying attention to his lessons, and brought home a super selection of photos.  This afternoon he chose these ones for today's post.  (remember you can click on the photos to enlarge them)

His first stop was at the Falls of Feugh

 

 

His next stop was in Fettercairn, where he and his friends had lunch - you can just see the sign for the cafe/bistro on the left

 

Then it was on to Dunnottar Castle

 

 

 

This seagull chick in its nest wasn't very high off the ground

 

On his way home on Saturday he stopped off to see Crathes Castle.  He didn't encounter any of the ghosts when he was there!

 

 

 

His last stop on the way home was at Brechin Catherdral

 

 

And now, some more of his photos which I have chosen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think I'll be handing the camera over more often!!

 

Hooray - we have had some sunshine this week, and I had captured some shadow shots earlier in the week for SSS.  But when we had the first sunset for some weeks yesterday, I went out to the front garden (I was in my dressing gown, so I hope the neighbours didn't see me!) and played with the settings on the camera to produce these contributions to my favourite meme

 

 

 

 

Then, when I turned to go back into the house .......

 

 

I was all set this morning to take some more photos of the exhibition when ....... one of the group members started putting up signs saying photos could only be taken for personal use and were not to be put on the internet (because of copyright issues).  However, I can show you this bag, which I donated to one of the raffles .......

 

....... these cushions which were made by Kay - she's coming to give a talk to the group later in the year, and these cushions show off her exquisite longarm quilting

 

....... and these cushions which were made by the patch'n'chat ladies and some of the other regulars at Borderland Fabrics (it was when I was on holiday)  The cushions are being sold to raise funds for Project Linus

 

This afternoon I was on the door with my friend Katy, taking the entrance money and selling raffle tickets.  A woman came in and looked at me, and I looked at her ...... she said "I know you, how do I know you, where do I know you from?"  Eventually, we realised that we knew each other from years ago - maybe ten years or more - when we were members of Stirling Castle Quilters.  She was with her daughter, who recently got married and moved to Kelso, so maybe I'll see her again when she is visiting her daughter.

Then, we had a very special visitor ....... Katy's gorgeous new grandson Aaron!  His Mum, Lucy, was going shopping, so she popped in to leave him with Grandma, knowing that Katy would have a wonderful time showing him off to all her friends (there was a queue to ooooh and aaaah and say what a gorgeous boy!)  He is now seven weeks old ..... but he was born five weeks early!  However, he has steadily put on weight and is a healthy bouncing boy (Lucy was quite happy for me to take his photo for the blog)

 

back home, there was another baby to admire.  We have a large sparrow population in our front garden, and they are busy raising their second brood of the year (if the weather improves we might even get a third brood, as we did last year)  You can see that this young male hasn't fully lost his fluffy chick feathers

 

 

Of course Friday means cake, and although I wasn't at patch'n'chat, I still had some.  I had shared my lunchtime sandwich with Katy, as she had slept in and didn't have time to make her lunch, so we then had a little selection from the cakes for visitors to the exhibition (there are always cakes at quilt exhibitions!)  The first is my plate, the second is Katy's - but she didn't have less, she was already eating her first one when I took the photos!

 

 

The sun is shining and there is quite a lot of blue sky ........ fingers crossed that it stays like this for the weekend!  Love, Anne

Over-indulging?

OK, let's just get the confession out of the way ....... cake two days running!  Yesterday we popped in to Border Meringues after our walk, and although Malcolm suggested that as usual we share a scone, I succumbed to a Malteser slice ....

 

....... to have with my excellent pot of tea (yes, I ate the meringue as well!)

 

while Malcolm had a wonderful cheese scone .....

 

....... with his usual americano with hot milk (yes, he ate his meringue too)

 

then after lunch today, Malcolm said that he was going to take a load of rubbish to the tip, which meant that he would pass the new mill shop.  Did I want to go with him and we could pop in for a cuppa?  At first I said no, as I had lots to do ..... but about two minutes later, I changed my mind - and look what I would have missed if I had stayed at home - today's special scone, filled with plump blueberries

 

now that we have got the greed out of the way, back to yesterday morning's walk in Jedburgh.  We hadn't seen the heron at its usual spot on the river for a few weeks, so we were delighted to see it yesterday

 

 

I usually take photos of this bridge from the other bank, but it looks good from this side too

 

I just had time to snap this tractor as it rumbled along the road

 

our log store is just across from my studio door, and I keep looking and thinking that this latest load of logs looks good - so I finally got round to taking a photo!

 

after we had our cuppa this afternoon, we had a stroll along the river.  We were entertained by this little dog surveying the world - the wider step he is on  is at just the right height for him to see over the fence

 

when I was getting out of the car when we got back home, I noticed this little bug

 

and when I went to take photos of the climbing rose round the lounge window, this fly promptly landed as I snapped

 

to finish, we saw this in an antiques shop in Jedburgh yesterday ..... I think it would give me nightmares!!

 

I had thought that I would use the shadow shots that got bumped last week, but they have just been bumped again, by a hare and a rabbit that I encountered on my walk yesterday morning!  To see more shadow fun, pop over here, where Magical Mystery Teacher, Gemma and Rose host this addictive meme

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where did the week go?  One minute it was Monday, now suddenly it's Friday.  As always at the end of the week, I have lots of photos that didn't make it into the blog, so I thought I would have a quick browse through the leftovers, and pick the best of them to share with you

a thistle, a problem for farmers, but striking in the verge

 

the first time we have tried growing beans

 

the pak choi has bolted, but the bees love the flowers

 

a foxglove in the hedgerow

 

enjoying the early morning sunshine

 

an "arty" weed in the verge

 

an unusual wall decoration in the cafe in Corbridge where we had lunch

 

a dog rose in the hedgerow

 

flowering privet hedge

 

these flowers are tiny, just the size of pinheads

 

I hadn't noticed before that you can see right through the church to a matching window on the back wall (despite passing the church dozens of times in the last six years!)

 

a heron on the River Slitrig

 

I hope you have enjoyed this wander through the leftovers ....... and talking of leftovers, there wasn't much left after we had our afternoon cuppa this afternoon!  Annette is on holliday, so the cakes came from Border Meringues

carrot cake

 

Border tart

 

As always I will be busy sewing over the weekend, and hopefully we will be able to dodge the forecast showers to go for a walk on Sunday morning. I hope you all have a good weekend, love Anne

 

 

On the way back to the carpark in Corbridge yesterday, we stopped on the bridge to watch some children having fun in the river

 

 

but they wouldn't have been able to play there the day that all this came down and got snagged on the bridge

 

 

leaving the town, we didn't get held up at the level crossing .....

 

........ but we did get held up behind this tractor

 

on the way home, we stopped in Bellingham for a cuppa .......

 

........ at this cafe

 

I like the standard rosemary plants in the pots at each side of the door - I just might attempt to grow one!

 

after our cuppa, we went for a stroll, popping in to this shop, where it was hard to resist all the lovely locally produced crafts

 

while I was taking photos of the village hall ....

 

 

....... Malcolm was examining this curiosity

 

 

why put up a new sign when this rusty old one still does the job!

 

however something that will have to be replaced is this section of pavement, which has fallen into the river

 

 

if only I could have fitted this old fencepost into my backpack - it would look good in the garden!

 

this was a lovely spot to sit and watch the world go by - just after I took the photo, an elderly couple settled on the bench to eat ice creams

 

our last stop in Bellingham was here

 

where Malcolm bought three bags of offcuts.  Some it will be used in the logburning stoves, but the better pieces will be turned into nest boxes and other little wooden items

 

 

altogether a great day out!

 

* you can find the words of the song here

 

........ as I set off for my walk, having taken these two photos as I stepped out of the front door!

 

 

the horses in the field across the road were sitting like bookends

 

the thistles provided a lovely background for this ewe

 

do you think these sheep appreciate the stunning scenery beyond their field?

 

after yesterday's eerie mist, this morning the church was basking in sunshine

 

once I had had my usual Wednesday pamper time, with a soak in the bath, with a good book and a mug of hot chocolate (!), we set off for Corbridge.  Parts of the road are like a roller coaster - this photo makes it look as if we are up in the air looking down on the road!

 

there are a lot of blind summits, and I caught this car just before it vanished over the top of this one - it's quite scary the way the cars either appear or disappear on these summits

 

when we were stuck at temporary traffic lights, I passed the time taking photos of the dry stone wall we were sitting beside

 

 

as the town was busy, we decided to go for an early lunch, which turned out to be a wise decision, as the cafe rapidly filled up.  As always I had a pot of tea

 

and Malcolm had a large americano, with hot milk on the side

 

there was so much choice on the menu, it was hard to decide, but in the end I ordered eggs benedict

 

and Malcolm a soft ciabatta roll stuffed with sausages

 

 ........ and then we traded half of our meals, so I can tell you they were both absolutely delicious (and I should add that we have a light dinner when we have lunch out on Wednesdays!)  Of course one of the reasons we went to Corbridge was to go back to Re ..... I can't show you all that I bought, as it's for presents, but I can show you the fabulous "French" breakfast cups (which are actually made in Portugal!)

 

so why did I buy two purple ones and only one yellow one?   Well .......... on Monday I was putting Malcolm's coffee mug in the dishwasher when it slipped out of my hand and fell on one of the two yellow breakfast cups which were already in the dishwasher.  Did the cheap and cheerful mug break, or did a great big chip get knocked out of the much dearer cup?  I think you can guess the answer to that one!  However, I remembered that I had seen the cups on our last visit to Re, and I was delighed to find that they still had them, so that I could replace the broken one, and buy a couple of spares to tuck away for future use, as we do like a great big cup of tea after breakfast!

 

I still have lots of photos left from our day out, which I will save for tomorrow, but I'll finish with this one ......... I guess solicitors must have annoyed this person, if they are now offering to savage them!!

*Bird on a Wire 

 

Malcolm was delighted to receive so many comments yesterday - could this be the start of a new hobby?

After handing over the blog to him yesterday, I have some catching up to do, starting with Saturday.  When I left the Quilt Exhibition on Saturday afternoonn, I was a bit annoyed to see that there was a major hold-up in the traffic.  However, I stopped being annoyed when I found out the cause ........ Kelso Civic Week parade

 

 

 

 

 

the star of the parade

 

Yesterday morning I headed out as usual for my walk, although it was a bit grey and wet.  These sheep were sheltering against the wall

 

but the crows and seagulls were busy pecking through this field, which has just been cut for hay

 

Yesterday afternoon I was busy making jam and chutney, but as it's for next month's Southdean Show, I can't show you the results yet!

 

This morning was grey and wet again - and it got steadily wetter.  I was dripping by the time I got back home!  The church looked quite eerie in the mist

 

 However these cows weren't bothered by the rain

 

I had just taken this photo .......

 

....... when this curious cow popped its head into the hole in the hedge

 

I have been busy working on Twas the Night before Christmas.  On Sunday I pressed and trimmed the stitcheries

 

and ironed the fabrics for the blocks

 

Today, I cut strips

 

and stitched them together in sets

 

I then cross cut these sets and joined the resulting strips into ones of varying lengths, which will frame the blocks and go round the edge of the quilt

 

Next I had two blocks to make 

 

 

 

The next stage is to make foundation pieced blocks, which is possibly my least-favourite method.  Just in case I get some wrong (it has been known!), I photocopied one of the pattern sheets, so that I have spares

 

When I am out for my morning walks, I quite often stop at the field gate just past the church to take photos of the Mintos and the Eildons.  However, on my way out this morning, this was the view - or rather lack of view

 

it had improved slightly on my way home - I think the rain had washed the mist away!

 

but this was last Tuesday ...... just a slight difference!!

 

 

When I was sewing this afternoon, Malcolm stuck his head in the door and shouted to me to come and see .........worms, worms and even more worms!  The compost bin was full of them - we have never seen so many worms!  This photo shows just a few of them

........Malcolm was entrusted with my small camera when he went off to points north last week.  He has obviously been paying attention to his lessons, and brought home a super selection of photos.  This afternoon he chose these ones for today's post.  (remember you can click on the photos to enlarge them)

His first stop was at the Falls of Feugh

 

 

His next stop was in Fettercairn, where he and his friends had lunch - you can just see the sign for the cafe/bistro on the left

 

Then it was on to Dunnottar Castle

 

 

 

This seagull chick in its nest wasn't very high off the ground

 

On his way home on Saturday he stopped off to see Crathes Castle.  He didn't encounter any of the ghosts when he was there!

 

 

 

His last stop on the way home was at Brechin Catherdral

 

 

And now, some more of his photos which I have chosen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think I'll be handing the camera over more often!!

 

Hooray - we have had some sunshine this week, and I had captured some shadow shots earlier in the week for SSS.  But when we had the first sunset for some weeks yesterday, I went out to the front garden (I was in my dressing gown, so I hope the neighbours didn't see me!) and played with the settings on the camera to produce these contributions to my favourite meme

 

 

 

 

Then, when I turned to go back into the house .......

 

 

I was all set this morning to take some more photos of the exhibition when ....... one of the group members started putting up signs saying photos could only be taken for personal use and were not to be put on the internet (because of copyright issues).  However, I can show you this bag, which I donated to one of the raffles .......

 

....... these cushions which were made by Kay - she's coming to give a talk to the group later in the year, and these cushions show off her exquisite longarm quilting

 

....... and these cushions which were made by the patch'n'chat ladies and some of the other regulars at Borderland Fabrics (it was when I was on holiday)  The cushions are being sold to raise funds for Project Linus

 

This afternoon I was on the door with my friend Katy, taking the entrance money and selling raffle tickets.  A woman came in and looked at me, and I looked at her ...... she said "I know you, how do I know you, where do I know you from?"  Eventually, we realised that we knew each other from years ago - maybe ten years or more - when we were members of Stirling Castle Quilters.  She was with her daughter, who recently got married and moved to Kelso, so maybe I'll see her again when she is visiting her daughter.

Then, we had a very special visitor ....... Katy's gorgeous new grandson Aaron!  His Mum, Lucy, was going shopping, so she popped in to leave him with Grandma, knowing that Katy would have a wonderful time showing him off to all her friends (there was a queue to ooooh and aaaah and say what a gorgeous boy!)  He is now seven weeks old ..... but he was born five weeks early!  However, he has steadily put on weight and is a healthy bouncing boy (Lucy was quite happy for me to take his photo for the blog)

 

back home, there was another baby to admire.  We have a large sparrow population in our front garden, and they are busy raising their second brood of the year (if the weather improves we might even get a third brood, as we did last year)  You can see that this young male hasn't fully lost his fluffy chick feathers

 

 

Of course Friday means cake, and although I wasn't at patch'n'chat, I still had some.  I had shared my lunchtime sandwich with Katy, as she had slept in and didn't have time to make her lunch, so we then had a little selection from the cakes for visitors to the exhibition (there are always cakes at quilt exhibitions!)  The first is my plate, the second is Katy's - but she didn't have less, she was already eating her first one when I took the photos!

 

 

The sun is shining and there is quite a lot of blue sky ........ fingers crossed that it stays like this for the weekend!  Love, Anne

Shadow Shot Sunday

I had thought that I would use the shadow shots that got bumped last week, but they have just been bumped again, by a hare and a rabbit that I encountered on my walk yesterday morning!  To see more shadow fun, pop over here, where Magical Mystery Teacher, Gemma and Rose host this addictive meme

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's Friday again!

Where did the week go?  One minute it was Monday, now suddenly it's Friday.  As always at the end of the week, I have lots of photos that didn't make it into the blog, so I thought I would have a quick browse through the leftovers, and pick the best of them to share with you

a thistle, a problem for farmers, but striking in the verge

 

the first time we have tried growing beans

 

the pak choi has bolted, but the bees love the flowers

 

a foxglove in the hedgerow

 

enjoying the early morning sunshine

 

an "arty" weed in the verge

 

an unusual wall decoration in the cafe in Corbridge where we had lunch

 

a dog rose in the hedgerow

 

flowering privet hedge

 

these flowers are tiny, just the size of pinheads

 

I hadn't noticed before that you can see right through the church to a matching window on the back wall (despite passing the church dozens of times in the last six years!)

 

a heron on the River Slitrig

 

I hope you have enjoyed this wander through the leftovers ....... and talking of leftovers, there wasn't much left after we had our afternoon cuppa this afternoon!  Annette is on holliday, so the cakes came from Border Meringues

carrot cake

 

Border tart

 

As always I will be busy sewing over the weekend, and hopefully we will be able to dodge the forecast showers to go for a walk on Sunday morning. I hope you all have a good weekend, love Anne

 

 

Messing about on the river*

On the way back to the carpark in Corbridge yesterday, we stopped on the bridge to watch some children having fun in the river

 

 

but they wouldn't have been able to play there the day that all this came down and got snagged on the bridge

 

 

leaving the town, we didn't get held up at the level crossing .....

 

........ but we did get held up behind this tractor

 

on the way home, we stopped in Bellingham for a cuppa .......

 

........ at this cafe

 

I like the standard rosemary plants in the pots at each side of the door - I just might attempt to grow one!

 

after our cuppa, we went for a stroll, popping in to this shop, where it was hard to resist all the lovely locally produced crafts

 

while I was taking photos of the village hall ....

 

 

....... Malcolm was examining this curiosity

 

 

why put up a new sign when this rusty old one still does the job!

 

however something that will have to be replaced is this section of pavement, which has fallen into the river

 

 

if only I could have fitted this old fencepost into my backpack - it would look good in the garden!

 

this was a lovely spot to sit and watch the world go by - just after I took the photo, an elderly couple settled on the bench to eat ice creams

 

our last stop in Bellingham was here

 

where Malcolm bought three bags of offcuts.  Some it will be used in the logburning stoves, but the better pieces will be turned into nest boxes and other little wooden items

 

 

altogether a great day out!

 

* you can find the words of the song here

 

I was singing Leonard Cohen* .........

........ as I set off for my walk, having taken these two photos as I stepped out of the front door!

 

 

the horses in the field across the road were sitting like bookends

 

the thistles provided a lovely background for this ewe

 

do you think these sheep appreciate the stunning scenery beyond their field?

 

after yesterday's eerie mist, this morning the church was basking in sunshine

 

once I had had my usual Wednesday pamper time, with a soak in the bath, with a good book and a mug of hot chocolate (!), we set off for Corbridge.  Parts of the road are like a roller coaster - this photo makes it look as if we are up in the air looking down on the road!

 

there are a lot of blind summits, and I caught this car just before it vanished over the top of this one - it's quite scary the way the cars either appear or disappear on these summits

 

when we were stuck at temporary traffic lights, I passed the time taking photos of the dry stone wall we were sitting beside

 

 

as the town was busy, we decided to go for an early lunch, which turned out to be a wise decision, as the cafe rapidly filled up.  As always I had a pot of tea

 

and Malcolm had a large americano, with hot milk on the side

 

there was so much choice on the menu, it was hard to decide, but in the end I ordered eggs benedict

 

and Malcolm a soft ciabatta roll stuffed with sausages

 

 ........ and then we traded half of our meals, so I can tell you they were both absolutely delicious (and I should add that we have a light dinner when we have lunch out on Wednesdays!)  Of course one of the reasons we went to Corbridge was to go back to Re ..... I can't show you all that I bought, as it's for presents, but I can show you the fabulous "French" breakfast cups (which are actually made in Portugal!)

 

so why did I buy two purple ones and only one yellow one?   Well .......... on Monday I was putting Malcolm's coffee mug in the dishwasher when it slipped out of my hand and fell on one of the two yellow breakfast cups which were already in the dishwasher.  Did the cheap and cheerful mug break, or did a great big chip get knocked out of the much dearer cup?  I think you can guess the answer to that one!  However, I remembered that I had seen the cups on our last visit to Re, and I was delighed to find that they still had them, so that I could replace the broken one, and buy a couple of spares to tuck away for future use, as we do like a great big cup of tea after breakfast!

 

I still have lots of photos left from our day out, which I will save for tomorrow, but I'll finish with this one ......... I guess solicitors must have annoyed this person, if they are now offering to savage them!!

*Bird on a Wire 

 

Back to me!

Malcolm was delighted to receive so many comments yesterday - could this be the start of a new hobby?

After handing over the blog to him yesterday, I have some catching up to do, starting with Saturday.  When I left the Quilt Exhibition on Saturday afternoonn, I was a bit annoyed to see that there was a major hold-up in the traffic.  However, I stopped being annoyed when I found out the cause ........ Kelso Civic Week parade

 

 

 

 

 

the star of the parade

 

Yesterday morning I headed out as usual for my walk, although it was a bit grey and wet.  These sheep were sheltering against the wall

 

but the crows and seagulls were busy pecking through this field, which has just been cut for hay

 

Yesterday afternoon I was busy making jam and chutney, but as it's for next month's Southdean Show, I can't show you the results yet!

 

This morning was grey and wet again - and it got steadily wetter.  I was dripping by the time I got back home!  The church looked quite eerie in the mist

 

 However these cows weren't bothered by the rain

 

I had just taken this photo .......

 

....... when this curious cow popped its head into the hole in the hedge

 

I have been busy working on Twas the Night before Christmas.  On Sunday I pressed and trimmed the stitcheries

 

and ironed the fabrics for the blocks

 

Today, I cut strips

 

and stitched them together in sets

 

I then cross cut these sets and joined the resulting strips into ones of varying lengths, which will frame the blocks and go round the edge of the quilt

 

Next I had two blocks to make 

 

 

 

The next stage is to make foundation pieced blocks, which is possibly my least-favourite method.  Just in case I get some wrong (it has been known!), I photocopied one of the pattern sheets, so that I have spares

 

When I am out for my morning walks, I quite often stop at the field gate just past the church to take photos of the Mintos and the Eildons.  However, on my way out this morning, this was the view - or rather lack of view

 

it had improved slightly on my way home - I think the rain had washed the mist away!

 

but this was last Tuesday ...... just a slight difference!!

 

 

When I was sewing this afternoon, Malcolm stuck his head in the door and shouted to me to come and see .........worms, worms and even more worms!  The compost bin was full of them - we have never seen so many worms!  This photo shows just a few of them

My apprentice photographer ........

........Malcolm was entrusted with my small camera when he went off to points north last week.  He has obviously been paying attention to his lessons, and brought home a super selection of photos.  This afternoon he chose these ones for today's post.  (remember you can click on the photos to enlarge them)

His first stop was at the Falls of Feugh

 

 

His next stop was in Fettercairn, where he and his friends had lunch - you can just see the sign for the cafe/bistro on the left

 

Then it was on to Dunnottar Castle

 

 

 

This seagull chick in its nest wasn't very high off the ground

 

On his way home on Saturday he stopped off to see Crathes Castle.  He didn't encounter any of the ghosts when he was there!

 

 

 

His last stop on the way home was at Brechin Catherdral

 

 

And now, some more of his photos which I have chosen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think I'll be handing the camera over more often!!

 

Shadow Shot Sunday

Hooray - we have had some sunshine this week, and I had captured some shadow shots earlier in the week for SSS.  But when we had the first sunset for some weeks yesterday, I went out to the front garden (I was in my dressing gown, so I hope the neighbours didn't see me!) and played with the settings on the camera to produce these contributions to my favourite meme

 

 

 

 

Then, when I turned to go back into the house .......

 

 

Gorgeous babies!

I was all set this morning to take some more photos of the exhibition when ....... one of the group members started putting up signs saying photos could only be taken for personal use and were not to be put on the internet (because of copyright issues).  However, I can show you this bag, which I donated to one of the raffles .......

 

....... these cushions which were made by Kay - she's coming to give a talk to the group later in the year, and these cushions show off her exquisite longarm quilting

 

....... and these cushions which were made by the patch'n'chat ladies and some of the other regulars at Borderland Fabrics (it was when I was on holiday)  The cushions are being sold to raise funds for Project Linus

 

This afternoon I was on the door with my friend Katy, taking the entrance money and selling raffle tickets.  A woman came in and looked at me, and I looked at her ...... she said "I know you, how do I know you, where do I know you from?"  Eventually, we realised that we knew each other from years ago - maybe ten years or more - when we were members of Stirling Castle Quilters.  She was with her daughter, who recently got married and moved to Kelso, so maybe I'll see her again when she is visiting her daughter.

Then, we had a very special visitor ....... Katy's gorgeous new grandson Aaron!  His Mum, Lucy, was going shopping, so she popped in to leave him with Grandma, knowing that Katy would have a wonderful time showing him off to all her friends (there was a queue to ooooh and aaaah and say what a gorgeous boy!)  He is now seven weeks old ..... but he was born five weeks early!  However, he has steadily put on weight and is a healthy bouncing boy (Lucy was quite happy for me to take his photo for the blog)

 

back home, there was another baby to admire.  We have a large sparrow population in our front garden, and they are busy raising their second brood of the year (if the weather improves we might even get a third brood, as we did last year)  You can see that this young male hasn't fully lost his fluffy chick feathers

 

 

Of course Friday means cake, and although I wasn't at patch'n'chat, I still had some.  I had shared my lunchtime sandwich with Katy, as she had slept in and didn't have time to make her lunch, so we then had a little selection from the cakes for visitors to the exhibition (there are always cakes at quilt exhibitions!)  The first is my plate, the second is Katy's - but she didn't have less, she was already eating her first one when I took the photos!

 

 

The sun is shining and there is quite a lot of blue sky ........ fingers crossed that it stays like this for the weekend!  Love, Anne