frayed at the edge

A perfect day!

This morning dawned bright and clear, and although Sarah and Andy were arriving mid-morning, I still got up and went for my walk.  I was glad I did when saw these beautiful boys - the pale one stood and posed for the photo, looking at me with his great big eyes!

  

I was slightly nervous waiting for Sarah and Andy to arrive - what if we didn't like them - we had invited them to spend the whole day with us!  I needn't have worried - from the moment they got out of their car we got on fine (Sarah did say later they had similar thoughts!)  Malcolm was the perfect tour guide, taking us to all sorts of wonderful places.  I have previously blooged about some of them (one day I'm going to learn how to put in a link to previous posts!!)  Malcolm took this photo of Sarah and me, with the wonderful Victorian railway viaduct, which crosses the River Tweed, behind us.  I'm squinting a bit as the sun was in my eyes!

 

We had a wander round the shops in Melrose (Sarah was delighted to find a shop which sold cake glitter!) then after a lovely lunch at the Waterwheel Cafe, near Selkirk, we had a look round the sights of Hawick, before getting back home in the late afternoon.  Of course Sarah and I headed out to the studio, while Malcolm and Andy sat out on the deck enjoying a glass of wine.  It was such a lovely day, we decided to have dinner out in the garden.  We started with soup - roast red pepper, tomato and sweet potato.  As you can see, I served it in teacups (with some fresh basil) - we once had soup served like that in a posh restaurant!  It's great if you only want a small helping, so you don't spoil your appeteite for the main course!!

 

Malcolm did the main course - pot-roasted brisket (a Donald family secret recipe - but if you want to know, just ask!) served with Ayrshire potatoes, turnip, cut green beans, Yorkshire puddings and of course lots of gravy.  There is just one problem - I forgot to take a photo - but I think this photo shows how good it was

 

Of course there was pudding!!  A sort of cheesecake in a glass - it was delicious (if you would like the recipe, leave a comment and I'll e-mail it to you!)

 

here are the other three about to tuck in

 

and just relaxing and chatting

 

Sarah brought me a very special present - something that she made for me ....

 

.... a Victorian pillar box (you know I have a bit of a weird thing about pillar/post boxes!).  I will have to get a nice frame to put it in - it is so lovely I think it will have to go up on the wall in the house, rather than in the studio.

We had a wonderful day with our new friends - hopefully one day soon we can visit them in London!

A trip down memory lane

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!!

 

Tuesday Treasures

Today's treasure is Malcolm's.  It's a very special clock that I bought him as a Valentine Day's present in 1996 - a beautiful antique!!

 

It's so precious it sits on top of a tall cupboard in the dining room

 

You can see how the face is crazed with age

 

would you like to see the back

 

ok, so I lied, it's not some extremely valuable antique ..... it's a cardboard clock!!! ..... but Malcolm wouldn't part with it!

Great excitement!

We have been very busy making sure the house and garden are spick and span, because we have very special visitors coming on Thursday (we don't usually tidy up that far in advance, but Malcolm will be away all day tomorrow visiting his Dad, and I'm going up to Falkirk to see Stuart - I'm staying the night, so I won't be home until Wednesday afternoon) - anyway, to return to our visitors - Sarah and Andy.  Sarah and I have become blogging friends, first leaving comments on each others' blogs, then chatting via e-mails.  So when I read that they were coming up to Northumberland on holiday (not that far from us) I immediately invited them to visit!  So, the big tidy up of the studio commenced

  

welcome to my studio

 

a neat and tidy table

 

the woodburning stove in summer-mode

 

quilting and knitting books

 

pretty threads and pretty things

 

quilts and pictures all hanging straight

 

stash tidied up

 

very cute things on display!

 

and now for the garden

 

front garden looking neat and tidy

 

beautiful alpine (complete with hoverfly in the middle!)

 

a lovely clematis

 

pretty in pink on the pergola

 

vibrant crocosmia (I'm holding it as it was blowing about in the breeze!)

 

I'm sorry you can't all come to visit, so I hope you have enjoyed your virtual visit - and fingers crossed for good weather on Thursday, so we can show off the glorious Borders to Sarah and Andy!

 

Shadow Shot Sunday

Unlike last Sunday, when my shadow shots told a story, today's offerings are just a meander through last week .....

 

The sun shining through the end of the bed in the guest bedroom - can you just see the similar pattern on the duvet cover?

 

Did you see my recent post on the new statue in Hawick of the man wrestling a bull - this is him in shadow .....

  

..... no, it's not oxtail, it's the bull's tail!

  

This is Malcolm (husband, on left) and Stuart (son, who was visiting, on right), looking over railings at the River Slitrig

 

This is the three of us looking over Drumlanrig Bridge at the Slitrig - compare this with Wednesday's post of the same view, when the river was swollen after heavy rain!

 

Ok, I'm sneaking in another reflection, but I couldn't resist taking the photo, after taking this one of me, leaning on the gate!

 

The last photo is another sneaky one, as it is of my footprints, as I stepped off the wet grass of the verge, after taking a photo of yesterday's free food.  I wouldn't have thought to take the photo if it weren't for a fabulous photo I saw recently, taken by the extremely talented Anne Gaal

 

As ever, to see more shadow shots, do pop over to Hey Harriet.

Free food and fun

Hugh Fearlessly-Eatsitall might have done it before me, but on my walk yesterday morning, I could have breakfasted handsomely on free food from the hedgerow! 

 

Some gorgeous gooseberries

 

A few ripe raspberries

 

Rosy red apples

 

Not yet enough for rosehip syrup

 

But enough berries for hawthorn jelly

 

The brambles (blackberries) have a while to go

 

A second flush of nettles for soup

 

A little fresh dandelion for a salad ....

 

..... decorated with geranium flowers

 

After all that free food, I then went off to Borderland Fabrics, where I didn't do any sewing, as I was too busy having fun with the gorgeous Harry, Annette's grandson

 

We drew a picture of Granny's shop, we looked at Granny's shop on my blog (I had my laptop with me, and Jedburgh has free wi-fi access) and then we played computer games - Purble Place, making cakes (we got one wrong, which was put in the bin, much to Harry's delight!), then we played Inkball (he got very excited when we got gold balls instead of the blue and orange ones!).  Then that was all abandoned when Pam arrived for her first visit to the shop since her hip replcement.  Young Harry was thrilled when he got to help take a photo of Pam

 

I had just taken this photo of Jane, and her wallhanging (now with the borders on) (she wouldn't smile, so I told her to imagine having s*x with Brad Pitt!!!) .....

.... when the camera batteries ran out, so no photos of cake this week, which is very unfortunate, as we had a choice between a sponge so light it floated off the plate and the most wonderful moist chocolate brownies (some people who will remain nameless had both!!)