frayed at the edge

Today's cake ......

........ was a delicious chocolate and fresh cream concoction.  I wouldn't want you to think that we have cake every day, sometimes we have ice cream!!

.

 

The villa we are staying in is a short drive from Pollensa, and a slightly longer drive from Puerto Pollensa, which is where we were this morning, as it was market day.  It's hard to take photos with the Hudl in the sunshine, as you can't see the screen, but this one shows you some of the fresh produce on sale

 

To finish, a photo of the scenery, taken through the windscreen as we drove back to the villa

 

 

There might not be sconnage ......

.......... but there are cakes!!

 

 

and there is wonderful scenery

hola!

I'm sitting on the terrace, enjoying a glass of wine before dinner, after a hard afternoon sunbathing.  Today's photo shows part of the coffee shop we had our morning cuppa, and a new shop filled with tempting goodies!

Another problem resolved!

Oh dear, no sooner was the blog sorted out, when the comment form went awol ....... not just for me, but for Typepad generally.  That too has now been fixed.  Thank you all for your lovely comments - I was delighted to read that you had missed me!

I went off to patch'n'chat early this morning, all organised for the Linus day.  I had a search in the shop for a fabric to team with the tractor fat quarter, but I couldn't find a green that looked right, so I opted for this fun chicken fabric

 

after adding the chicken borders, I layered the quilt, ready to do some machine quilting

 

it didn't take long long to do the quilting

 

Maureen was deciding what to do with these leftovers from a quilt she had made some years ago

 

Pam was making colourful blocks

 

Margaret, as always, was hand stitching her quilt

 

then there was the Friday cake ......... oh my, there was silence in the room as we tucked in to the most delicious chocolate sponge, topped with fresh cream and strawberries

 

so, to finish, what is the exciting news?  Well, this time tomorrow, we will be in Majorca!  Those of you who have  been reading the blog for a while (thank you!) know that for several years now we have headed off to Majorca at this time of year.  We are going for three weeks, and are staying in the same villa as last year.  I am hoping that the villa still has a wi-fi connection, as I am taking my Hudl, so that I can share some photos with you.  However if there is no wi-fi, unless I can find a cafe or a bar with wi-fi, you might have to do without me for three long weeks!  But to finish, here is a photo to help you picture where we will be spending quite a lot of time!

 

They're back!

For the past few days, Malcolm has been telling me that the swallows are back, but I kept saying that it was a bit early.  But then yesterday evening, there was a very soggy swallow sitting on the telephone wire.  I bet he was wishing that he had stayed in Africa a bit longer!

 

now, some more catching up, first with more photos from our walk on Sunday.  At first I thought these were snowdrops under the hedge ..... but if you could smell the photo, you would know that it was wild garlic

 

this boat was high and dry

 

everywhere we loooked there was blossom on trees

 

at first we were puzzled by this blossom

 

but then we saw this on another branch

 

of course when the sky is such a wonderful blue, I have to take photos to show it off

 

I wonder if this fisherman found the water a bit chilly?

 

now, on to Monday.  I treated Malcolm to lunch at The Night Safe Bistro in Hawick - so called as it is in a former bank (I would have shown you a photo of the outside, but just as I went to take it the camera switched itself off, as I had forgotten to change the battery!)

 

the restaurant opened last September, but this was our first visit.

 

they have kept the vault door, but now it is used as a storeroom

 

Malcolm ordered a BLT

 

and I ordered a chicken tikka wrap

 

then we had half each!   The food was delicious, the staff were friendly and efficient and the prices were reasonable - we will definitely go there again.

back home, the early clematis is now fully in flower

I have been working away on the sampler quilt

 

I have run out of the black fabric for the outer border, but hopefully I will be able to get more tomorrow at Borderland Fabrics - but don't worry, if I can't get more, I do of course have a plan B

 

while looking for the photos of the sampler quilt, I found this photo of Sandra's prize for winning the giveaway........ two of my photos, some of my cards, and a copy of my Country Cottages pattern

 

do pop in again tomorrow, as I have some exciting news to share with you!

 

I gather there is a problem with commenting - I don't know if it is related to the problems of the last few days.  If you can't leave a comment, please email me and let me know - there is an email link at the top of the right hand sidebar.

 

 

Fingers firmly crossed ........

....... that the problems are over!  As you may know, Typepad was subjected to some sort of attack which meant that there has been no blogging.  I'm just going to do a short post just now - I would hate to do a great long one and have it vanish!  So, back to Sunday.  We went for a walk in Melrose

 

the last time we walked along the river, the water was roaring over the rocks.  It was much quieter this time

 

most of the scaffolding has been removed from the Abbey

 

we popped into the Woollen Mill for a cuppa, and shared a delicious raspberry muffin

 

to finish, two little robins.  I snapped the first one on our walk on Sunday, and Maureen snapped the second one in her garden on Monday

Problems!

Oh dear, there have been problems all day with Typepad, and now I can't get any photos to load, so you will have to wait until tomorrow to discover what we have been up to over the weekend(aasuming the problems have been fixed by then).

And the winner is .......

........ I have just activated my random number generator (aka, of course, Malcolm!), and he has picked Sandra Hoy, who is one of my friends from Abbey Quilters.  Well done Sandra, and I'll be in touch with you about your prize.  At this point I should be showing you a photo ......... but I forgot to take one!!  I shall make sure I remember over the weekend and show you on Monday.

You know I love getting parcels in the post, and I love it even more when they are prettily wrapped like this one

 

the pretty packaging continued inside with ribbon .......

 

and a hand-written thank you

 

all that for a fat quarter of tractor fabric ( and the p&P was free!).  We are having a Linus day next Friday at patch'n'chat, soI thought I would get a little bit more tractor fabric to use with some of the piece that Dawn sent me.

 

I think a little boy will be delighted to have a quilt with this super fabric in it

 

if you want a really sweet treat this weekend, you could try this recipe

 

and on the subject of cake, we had the choice of two this afternoon - ok, I admit it, we all had a piece of both of them- a delicious gingerbread and a lovely gooey chocolate cake (I had already removed the white chocolate shavings from my chocolate cake when I remembered to take the photo)

 

after havinng the pleasure of Miss Molly's company last week, today we had Barley who belongs to Annette and Norrie, the owners of Borderland Fabrics.  He is a very cute Dandy Dinmont

 

it has been another lovely sunny day, and the forecast is good for the weekend, so we will be out and about, and no doubt consuming sconnage!!  Have a good weekend, love Anne

 

Please don't eat the daisies*

the pair of collared doves have been back in the garden, and this shot explains their name

 

they have been billing and cooing as they hoover up the fallen seed under the bird table

 

the scruffy little robin was back today as well

 

but what was he watching ?

 

he was watching the sparrows, who were tucking into the yellow daisy-like flowers.  They were in a feeding frenzy - in seven years of living here, I have never seen anything like it!

 

 

and to continue with the bird theme for the last photo, I saw these mugs this morning when we were out and about.  They had been reduced to £1.29 each ....... and we had a voucher for a further 15% off!!  We had planned to just use odds and ends of china for our new holiday home, but I couldn't resist such a bargain.  I had picked up two, but then picked up another two, so that when Stuart and Alison come to visit we can have matching mugs for our cuppas

 

remember this is the last post you can comment on to be included in the draw for my giveaway.  It has been great getting lots of new commenters, including Myra from Winnipeg!!

*  I remember reading this book when I was in my teens.

 

 

Darkening skies

We had dramatic skies last night as the sun set - but I have to admit to being lazy ....... I didn't go outside to take the photos, I simply pointed the camera through the (newly-cleaned) window!

 

and now for the promised sewing update.  I have been beavering away on the sampler quilt.  On Saturday I made two more blocks and rearranged the others on the design wall

 

the middle block on the top row took a while to make, as there were five blocks, each made up of 16    small squares

 

On Sunday I added white borders round six of the blocks

 

and made a start to adding the black sashing

 

no sewing on Monday (too busy with domestic duties), but I had a full day yesterday.  First I squared up some of the applique blocks.  I always cut the background fabric bigger than the finished size, as it can be distorted by the stitching

 

then it was time for the cunning plan for the grandmother's fan block - you may remember that it had turned out a little bit small.  First I squared it up, then I added slightly wider sashing strips

 

and trimmed it to the same size as the other blocks - it isn't noticeable that the sashing is fractionally bigger

 

the top row stitched together

 

the vertical sashings added

 

then the horizontal sashings and the cornerstones added

 

to finish, do pop over to Lucie's blog, to see how she quilted the top that I gave her for Quilts for Comfort ........ it is fabulous!!

ps - don't forget to leave a comment to be included in Friday's draw for my fabulous giveaway (well, hopefully it will be fabulous when I finish rooting through my various stashes for a gorgeous prize!)