frayed at the edge

All grown up

I got a very special present from Malcolm for my birthday this year (it's also my Christmas present!) ..... a proper grown up camera.  Since starting the blog, I have become much more interested in photography, and although my little compact digital camera has served me well, I thought it was time to step up to a serious (and very scary!) camera.

 

To help me get the best from it, Stuart gave me this book

 

Every evening I have been reading the instruction manual - it might as well be written in Martian for all the sense some of it makes!!  I have also been taking photos of anything and everything to find out what all the settings do.  Today's batch is a definite improvement on some of the first efforts!!

 

a beautiful climbing rose in the front garden

 

a late flowering clematis in the back garden

 

dried flowers in the kitchen

 

Hopefully tomorrow I will be back for Shadow Shot Sunday, having missed it last week because of those naughty little gremlins!

 
 
 
 
 

A nice bit of fruit cake!

It has been a busy day!  Of course, being Friday, it started with the housework, so the house is clean and tidy for the weekend.  Then it was off to the dentist .... I was having impressions taken - something I really don't like!  After that it was a quick trip to the post office, to post off the prizes for the giveaway.  A stop at the baguette shop for lunch, then it was on to Jedburgh for patch'n'chat at Borderland fabrics.  I was working on those chickens again - marking the beaks and feet, ready to embroider them.  Fortunately, Seonaid had some wonderful quilting with her, so I have interesting photos for you (there are only so many times I can show you those chickens!!)

The first photo shows Seonaid's practice pieces ...

 

and this photo shows a detail of her quilt

 

Having marked in the central line of the vine, Seonaid is quilting the leaves without any marking, which takes a lot of skill - it looks fabulous, and I hope I get the chance to show you photos once the quilt is finished.

 

Of course, we can't have a report of patch'n'chat without a mention of cake ..... today there was a choice of fruit cake or shortbread - we all had a slice of cake, but managed to resist the shortbread!!

One of the other Annes was missing today - she is at home recuperating after surgery on her knee.  We all wish her a speedy recovery.

Hope you have a good weekend, love, Anne
 
 

Crafty things!

I found this wonderful book when we were on holiday.....

 

It is written by Pip Lincolne, who lives and works in Melbourne.  She has a shop called 'Meet Me at Mike's', full of all sorts of wonderful things (according to the back of the book - I haven't been there .... yet!!).  She also has a popular craft group and this book is full of whimsical projects.

 

My favourite one, just because I turned the page and burst out laughing, is this one ....

 ..... paper flowers made with metal coathangers and pages from old phone books - that's my kind of quirky craft!  (And I love the distressed stool.)

 

I also liked this idea, and collected up lots of receipts, tickets, brochures etc, so that I can make a mobile for the studio, which will remind me of our holiday 

 

ps, I haven't suddenly started crocheting squares - it's the inside back cover of the book!

 

To return briefly to yesterday's giveaway, I have now put together Lee's prize!  I hope she likes the Hinnigan fabrics, buttons from the Scrapstore, silk thread from my stash and a pretty piece of ribbon which I am sure she will use in her cardmaking 

 
 
 

Great excitement!!

The moment has arrived, the random number generator (aka Malcolm!) has picked the winning numbers, and I've taken a photo of the prizes (except for the one from the studio, which is a surprise - ok, so I haven't picked it yet!!)  So here are the prizes ...

 

 

........ and the winners are 

Anairam who wins the notebook, bought in Singapore, although made in Korea!

Meg who wins the 'vintage' Australian craft magazine  

Tracy (Pink Purl) who wins the handpainted Australian mohair

Helen (Busy Bee) who wins the mohair fun pack for embroidery

Lee who wins something wonderful from the studio

Thanks to everyone who reads the blog and leaves comments - and if you didn't win this time - I'm sure  there will be another giveaway sometime soon!!

On Monday the sun was shining (although it was rather chilly), so I headed out into the garden for some photos

 

Do you remember the little tiny grapes earlier in the year - they are a bit bigger now ..... but not quite big enough to make wine with!!

 

and the black grapes are even smaller!

 

the sedum has just started to flower

 

I don't know what this climber is, but it is a beautiful colour

 

vibrant red berries

 

This is the wall of the house next door, which forms one boundary of our back garden - and shelters us from the worst of the winter weather!!  The creeper is just turning to its glorious autumn colours....... but all too soon it will be winter ......
 
 
 
 
 
 

Australian Adventures

I was just looking through some of the hundreds of photos that we took on holiday (aren't digital cameras wonderful!!), wondering what to put in the first instalment of our adventures .... and I thought I would show you some quirky photos .......

 

now where did I park my boat?

 

 

who stole the sea?

 

 

oops - the tide went out!!

 

 

I cannot think of a comment - the label says it all

 

Remember - there's one day left to leave a comment or e-mail me so that you'll be in the draw!!
 
 
 
 

Gremlins!

Well, those pesky little gremlins have been rounded up and removed!!  So after a slight delay, here it is, my 200th post (I just hope you think it was worth waiting for!!!)  I have been so busy since we got back, that I haven't yet taken photos of the things included in the giveaway, but there are things from Australia and Singapore ... and maybe even something from the studio.  All you have to do is leave a comment (or e-mail me) ........ I'll make the draw on Wednesday evening, so be sure to visit on Thursday to see if you are a winner.  I really enjoy writing my blog - I had withdrawal symptoms on holiday!!  But of course there would be no point in writing it, if I didn't have all you lovely people out there reading it - so .... thank you!!

Yesterday, it was off down the road to Chesters, for another of Lindsay's Woolgathering.  There was a good turn out, and as it was a slightly chilly (but sunny) day, we had a log fire to keep us cozy while we worked.  As always, there was a great variety of work - my favourite was Janet's beautiful embroidered cushion

Her stitching is exquisite, as you can see in this detail

 

Alison is just starting a new venture, making wonderful kitchen accessories

I immediately bought a chef's pad, and I may have to buy a matching towel - they are designed to fit over the handle of your oven - a great thing if you have husbands/children who take the kitchen towel to dry their hands and don't put it back!!  There are also aprons and oven gloves available.  If you are interested in buying any of these lovely things for your kitchen, let my know and I will pass your enquiry on to Alison.

 

Fiona received lots of compliments on this wonderful fabric picture - I'm sorry the photo doesn't do it justice - it was hard to take a photo without getting reflections on the glass.

 

I was working on my chickens - I think I will have to make an early New Year's Resolution - get those chickens finished!!

 

 

Of course, no Woolgathering would be complete without one of Lindsay's wonderful cakes ......

 

 

 

Post 199a

Hi everyone - we are having major technical problems with my laptop and/or our internet connection, so I am using Stuart's (fortunately he's visiting this weekend!) to do an emergency post just to let you know what's happening!!  Of course, this had to happen on the day I should have been doing my 200th post, so that will have to be delayed until all this gets sorted out.  I'll be back with you as soon as possible - but remember you can still leave comments or e-mail me to be included in the draw for all the goodies.  Fingers crossed that normal service will soon be resumed!!!!!

Back to reality!

After all the wonderful weather we had on holiday, we awoke this morning to grey skies and drizzle!!  Never mind, the damp weather couldn't spoil my birthday!  Malcolm brought me a cup of tea in bed (and presents!)  - and I had cards from friends, including a very special one sent from Australia by my very special blogging friend Lee.  Thank you, too, to all the people who left comments with birthday wishes!!  We went to a local garden centre for brunch (more sausage, bacon and egg!)  Then it was home to continue with the unpacking.  Among the goodies from Australia are these three magazines ...

This is the first issue of this magazine.  There are some interesting articles and some good projects.

This is the second issue of this knitting magazine - it was the only Australian knitting magazine that I found - although there were several British and American magazines available.

Just one of the quilting/sewing/craft magazines that I bought - some of them were in 'bundles', where they give you two out-of-date magazines free with a new magazine - brilliant idea!!

 

I was relieved to find that this little gift tag had survived the journey home - it is ceramic, and although it was in bubble wrap and cushioned by clothes, I was worried that it would snap.  I think I will frame it to hang in the studio - the quote just appeals so much to me .....

 

It wouldn't be a birthday without cake ..... this is just a tiny little cake (it's on a teaplate) but it is lovely and chocolatey, with Smarties on the top - yum, yum!

  Malcolm is busy cooking dinner ..... salmon, new potatoes, broccoli and hollandaise sauce, and we are having a nice glass of fizz, as we have an extra reason to celebrate - the sale of Malcolm's Dad's house was finally completed today, after some hitches along the way.

I'm hoping to do some sewing tomorrow, but if not, I will defintely do some on Sunday, as Lindsay has orgaised another Woolgathering - it will be good to catch up on everyone's news and see what they are working on.

 

As Simon and Garfunkel said .....

...... Gee, but it's good to be back home (or something like that!!)  It's lovely to be sitting in my nice comfortable armchair, with my laptop on my lap (!), and my feet up on my footstool - bliss.  We had an absolutely wonderful holiday, but it's always good to get home.

It's also great to have a reasonably fast Internet connection again - while it was good having the connection in our apartment in Singapore so that we could e-mail family, it was so slow to put photos in the blog that I was going off and doing other things, coming back every so often to check on the progress!!

While having a last potter round the shops yesterday, we came across this lovely lady ....

..... she was very cute, but also very LARGE .......

 ..... she is actually 20 metres tall!!

 

We went for a cuppa, but I decided to have a change from iced lemon tea, and had a hot chocolate - Malcolm ordered a 'regular' for me- which turned out to be rather large .....

 

It was a long day to spend before we finally got on the plane, but we then enjoyed our last experience of First Class .....

..... jammies, toilet bag, a little appetizer and of course a little glass of champagne .... and after a good night's sleep, what better way to end the flight than this delicious breakfast

On the way home, we called in to see Malcolm's sister Jennifer, who made us chilli con carne - it was so good to have a home-cooked meal!  Tonight we had a bowl of home-made vegetable soup - the start of the healthy eating regime (musn't say 'diet!) after all the wonderful meals we had on holiday (I don't want to think about how many times we ate chips - we very, very rarely eat chips at home!!!!)

 

I wonder what I'll be doing tomorrow - laundry perhaps?

ps - don't forget to leave a comment to be included in the draw for my 200th post giveaway!!