frayed at the edge

The end of a busy week!

First, Malcolm says thank you for your lovely comments on his photos!  

Second, good news from Margaret's silent auction - my bid for a lovely blue and white quilt top was successful (I'll take photos at the weekend), and the amazing amount of £1200 was raised to help fund Margaret's disabled grandson to play Boccia.

Third,I forgot to post these photos yesterday of the most delicious scone that we shared with our morning cuppa

 

cheese and pickle - Malcolm declared that it was possibly the best scone that he has ever had (that is high praise!)

 

I hope you're not on a diet, as fourth is the Friday cake!  Annette's light-as-air chocolate and cream sponge

 

finally ........ over the last few weeks, there have been two butterflies flitting about Borderland Fabrics, which had been named Sew and Sew.  They had joined us when we had our cuppa last Friday, but then, during the week, Sew (or was it Sew) went to that great big butterfly heaven in the sky (pause to wipe away a tear!).  But Sew (or Sew) joined us this afternoon (althought we didn't give him//her a piece of cake!)

 

we are staying at home this weekend, and I am looking forward to spending time in the studio sewing, with the log burning stove keeping me cosy.  I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne

 

What Malcolm did on holiday!

Usually I take almost all of the photos on holiday, but when I was away on my retreat, Malcolm was forced to take his own photos!  I think you will agree he did very well, considering he was just using a little point and shoot.  First, some general shots

 

he took the next one for me, because of the name ........ my Dad was Angus Colin MacKenzie, so perhaps this was a distant relative?

 

the next ones are of the Olinda Falls

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

this is the Melbourne skyline, taken from St Kilda

 

if you walk to the end of St Kilda Pier, there is a rocky area to your right, which is home to a colony of tiny penguins.  We have been there several times, and no matter how much time we have spent peering into the nooks and crannies of the rocks, we have never seen any penguins.  Then Malcolm went on his own ...... and yes, he spotted some penguins.  You have to squint a bit to see the first two,  but the third one is clearer

 

but that's not the only cute cuddly things that he saw - he also found two koalas, albeit in a sanctuary and not out in the wild

 

I shall have to send him out with his camera more often!

Sewing ....... little and large

When I went on the retreat with Meredithe, Helen and Karen, and then Maree who joined us midway through the week, there was lots and lots of sewing activity.  Helen spent some time arranging and rearranging her star blocks on the design wall

 

Maree was working on her Message in a Bottle

 

Karen did some work on these blocks and their diamond border

 

then made this baby quilt top

 

Meredithe made a great pile  of colourful blocks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

which grew so much .........

 

........ that they had to be laid out on the floor!

 

and my contribution to the design wall?

 

obviously all that sewing has to be fueled by delicious and nutritious meals - which one would you rather have?

 

of course I have been working on the stitcheries since I've been home.  The third one is almost finished

 

and I have started on the fourth one

 

do you remember before we went on holiday (yes, I know that's a long time ago!) I took the set of three stitcheries to have them framed.  We picked the picture up today, and it is now hanging above the bed

 

I had also finally remembered to get the little boxing hares print framed

 

back tomorrow with Malcolm's holiday photos - prepare to oooh and aaaah!!

 

 

A day of indulgence!

Just a quick post, as I shall be heading out shortly to pick up Maureen to go to Abbey Quilters for our monthly meeting.  We had a notice from our electricity supply company that there would be a planned power outage today, as they were going to do major maintenance works.  This poses a problem for us, as when we have no power we can't run water or flush the toilet, as our little sewage treatment plant needs power to operate.  So we decided to head off to Ikea, as we wanted to buy a new bed for the guest bedroom at the flat, and we had seen a good one in Ikea which has storage drawers underneath.  On the way, we stopped at Mayshade Garden Centre for a cuppa, where we shared a "tasting plate" of cakes (half an indugence)

 

then at Ikea we had meatballs for lunch (it's obligatory to eat meatballs at Ikea!!).  The presentation could be better, but those Swedish meatballs are yummy (not really an indulgence)

 

we came home via Peebles.  We had hardly got out of the car when it started to rain, so we took refuge in a wonderful chocolate/coffee shop.  Malcolm had a large americano, with hot milk and I had a caramel hot chocolate.  We also shared a caramel mousse (definitely another half an indulgence!)

 

I'll be back tomorrow with a sewing update!

Far-flung friends

When we were in Sydney, we visited our friends Lee and John, and their beautiful daughters Taylor and Lilly.  Taylor was busy studying for her major school-leaving exams, and Lilly had been singing with the school choir, so was still wearing her uniform.  With a bit of toing and froing, we tried to get everyone in the photos!

 

then it was on to Melbourne and my lovey quilty friends.  When we went for lunch, the lovely waitress patiently took photos of us all with various cameras ........ from left to right Helen, Meredithe, Maree, me and Karen

 

when we visited Patch n Quilt, Mary, the owner, was being in helped by her daughter Claire ....... quite a contrast to Claire's proper job of midwife.  Claire was so lovely that I decided to adopt her -she was quite agreeable, as she fancied travelling overseas to her new home!

 

at the weekend, we were entertained by the seal, who had caught what looked like a salmon and was tucking into it  with relish (click on the photo to enlarge it)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

there weren't very many swans about - this one appeared this morning before it was fully light

 

yesterday, just as it was geting dark, this boat appeared and came in to the the dock at such a speed I only just managed to get a photo as it came through the opening

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

then I got up this morning just in time to see the boat leaving, with lights blazing

 

to finish, I know some of you have been worried about the recent lack of sconnage in our diet ....... but we put that right yesterday, with this magnificent cheese and spring onion beauty!

 

 

Friday afternoon cake!

I know you have missed the Friday afternoon cakes, so I will start with today's offering ......... light as air fairy cakes

 

Margaret was working on another of her stunning applique quilts

 

but the main event of the afternnon was the silent auction of 24 of Margaret's quilt tops, to raise funds for her disabled granndson Harry, to help fund his playing boccia.  He recently returned from a big match in Poland with both a gold and a bronze medal, much to the delight of his proud Grandma

 

at the end of the afternoon, we were treated to cheese and wine

 

Margaret is sitting, with behind her from left to right, Cathy, Annette, the other Margaret, and Sandra

 

I left before the closing time for the bids, so I shall have to wait to see if my bid was successful ....... if it wasn't I'll give Margaret a donation.  We're off to Berwick in the morning, and no doubt, weather permiting we will have a walk on the beach.  I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne

 

Not rocking .......

........ but sleeping around the clock!  When we got home at 2pm yesterday, we were thoroughly discombobulated!  We started our homeward journey by relaxing in the Emirates Lounge in Changi Airport.  We had a lovely meal, washed down with a glass of champagne.  The flight left at 1.30am, and once in the air, we had a "light bite", which consisted of three tiny sandwiches. We slept for a while, then had breakfast.  When we landed in Dubai, we headed off to the lounge, where we enjoyed another light breakfast.  On the next flight we had yet another breakfast, then some hours later we had lunch.  I think they keep feeding you to keep you occupied!  Once home we pottered about unpacking, then having had all those meals at odd times, we simply had a bowl of homemade soup for dinner!  Despite our best efforts to stay awake, we gave in and headed off to bed at 7.30 ...... and that was us until 6.30 this morning when the alarm went off!

Between the two of us we have taken over 900 photos, which are going to take a bit of sorting out, so I'll just select some at random for today's post

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had to go to the dentist this morning ........ remember the filling in my front tooth that fell out twice recently?  Well, it fell out again, just a week into the holiday, then a week later, another filling came out, taking some of the tooth with it.  Fortunately when I phoned yesterday afternoon, I was able to get an appointment this morning with my dentist - you know the one, sounds like a villain in a James Bond film, has a name that scores well in Scrabble.  It was all bad news ...... the front tooth has to be crowned and the other tooth has to be extracted.  And as always the most painful part will be paying the bill!  There was one other unfortunate occurence ....... on our first night in Singapore, I received a text message asking me to get in touch with my credit card company.  It turned out that there had been an attempted fraudulent use of my card in a shopping mall in San Francisco, so a stop was put on the card.  Fortunately I have an ancient old card that I have had since the 80s, which I was able to use for the few purchases that I didn't pay cash for, and of course Malcolm has his own cards, but if I had only had that card, things could have been tricky!

 

to finish ....... Christmas is in full swing in Singapore!

No words ..........

.......  well hardly any, are needed, as the photos speak for themselves!

 

 

 

 

well, this is the last night of our holiday, and there is one thing that I have learned ........ getting old isn't that bad if it means you don't have to give up your seat on the trams and trains in Melbourne, polite young Singaporeans give up their seat for you on the MRT ......... and you only have to pay $1 instead of $5 entry fee for the Orchid Gardens!!

Singapore fling

There is one thing we always do when we are in Singapore, and that is go to Raffles Hotel

 

 

where we head to the Long Bar

 

to have a Singapore Sling

 

 

we also enjoy chicken satay for lunch

 

the hotel is an oasis of tranquility in the middle of the busy city

 

 

we only have two days left ........ we plan to visit the Botanic Gardens tomorrow, so there may be one or two photos taken of the stunning orchids!!