Yesterday I headed off up the A7 to visit Stuart. The first excitement of the day was when I got to the outskirts of Edinburgh and got to drive on, first, dual carriageway, and second, motorway - so I could drive (legally) at more than 60mph - oooh, the thrill!! My first stop was at Torwood Garden Centre for lunch
Suitably fortified with my carrot and orange soup, I set off on a nostalgic trip to see the various places we have lived in over the years. Our first home was in Brightons, just outside Falkirk
When we lived there I did lots of of knitting and sewing, but I no longer have any of it! We then moved to Hampshire and then to Cambridgeshire (I'll tell you about that another time), before moving back to Falkirk. This isn't the best photo, but it was a bit awkward lingering in the lane to take photos!!
Please admire the fence - Malcolm cut the shape into the top of every upright!! It was while living here that I got seriously involved in patchwork, having previously dabbled in it when we lived in Hampshire. These are the first two quilts I made (but photographed in this house)
We sold that house when we went to Indonesia, buying a flat for Stuart to live in (and for us to stay in on trips home!) - it's the upstairs bit to the right of the lamppost
I did do some sewing there on visits home, but I don't have photos on the the computer (sorry, not entirely organised after my two days away!) - but the sewing link comes from the view of the back of the flat - I made the Austrian blinds for our house in Cambridgeshire - so they are 20 years old!!
When Stuart left home, he moved into this flat in Falkirk High Street (technically, there was no parking in front of the flat, but he and his neighbours would sometimes park overnight - until Stuart got a parking ticket issued at 3am!!)
His were the three windows with the Roman blinds - yes, I made them, but the sewing connection is this cushion ... . it must be about 8 years old, but I took this photo this morning!
This was made using the same technique as the zebras - it's funny, but the badgers are much clearer in the photo. Just a little aside here - Stuart has tropical fish, the biggest of which is called Charlie (please don't ask me what kind he is!) Last night, he posed for this photo ....
So where were we - oh yes, when we came back from Indonesia we moved here, in Larbert - again, near Falkirk
As you can see, this photo was taken when the house was for sale before we moved here - it doesn't look quite like that now, as the new owners extended into the right hand side of the garage!! I did so much sewing when we lived there, it's hard to choose a photo, so we'll just go for the largest quilt!!
I can only claim credit for the applique, as I had it professionally quilted! I made it for Stuart, but it was hard to part with it!!
I started with food, so I'll finish with food! This morning I went to Aromas coffee shop, where Malcolm and I used to go every Saturday morning for breakfast (we would go in, sit down and start reading the papers and, as if by magic, our bacon rolls, tea and coffee would appear in front of us - the lovely waitress, Lindsay, gave up asking what we wanted as we had the same every week and Jane, the owner's daughter, would just start cooking the bacon,!!) Although it's almost three years since we moved here, when I went in this morning, Jane said hello and started making what is possibly the best bacon roll in the world for me
There is a little footnote to this story - when I went into Aromas, sitting in her usual corner table was a lovely lady (who is also called Anne!) along with another lady who also had breakfast on Saturday mornings - not only did they remember me, but Anne said she had seen me taking a photo yesterday (it was the one of the Austrian blinds).
I hope you have enjoyed this look back over the years!!