frayed at the edge

Shadow Shot Sunday

 

 

 

The start of the week was gloomy and decidedly shadow unfriendly!  I went for a walk on Thursday, and although I didn't get any shadow shots, I did get some good reflections.  On Friday, the sun came out for a while and I managed to capture some shadows while doing the housework.  But this morning - oh, joy, oh bliss ...... clear blue sky and sunshine - perfect shadow weather.

 

a heron on the bank of the River Teviot

 

 

me and my shadow at the end of the footbridge over the river

 

 

an interesting shadow of fences

 

 

 a lovely old metal field gate

 

 

sunshine and shadows on the church

 

It was just so good to get out in the sun to capture some shadows to share with you.  For more, head over to Hey Harriet, where Tracy has again been working hard to bring you the highly addictive Shadow Shot Sunday.

 

A busy day!

Friday morning is always busy, as I rush about getting the housework done, before I head off to Borderland Fabrics for a busy afternoon sewing (and chatting and drinking tea and eating cake .... more about the cake later).   However, I did find the time to take photos of this lovely primula, which is flowering on a windowsill

 

the flowers are a beautiful colour

 

 

the delicate markings on the petals are lovely

 

In contrast, my yucca is getting bigger and bigger!  It sits there, ready to stab anyone foolish enough to get too close .....

 

 

This afternoon I was doing a bit more work on the quilt I started last year, which I am going to give to Project Linus.  I forgot to take a photo (sorry!), so here is one I took earlier!

 

 

Fortunately I didn't forget to take photos of the cake - we had a choice of two today

 

a border tart - very sweet, but delicious

 

 

a lovely, rich, moist fruit cake

 

Oh dear .... I succumbed and had a piece of each!!  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, love, Anne

 

Saving the best until last

I went out for a walk after lunch, although it was rather chilly and the sun had vanished behind rather a lot of grey cloud!  I have had a horrible cold and cough since Christmas, so it was good to have a long walk after the enforced inactivity of recent weeks, to clear my head. Of course I took the camera with me, but I wish I could also have taken something to capture the wonderful smell .... the hedges were being cut by a man in a rather large tractor

 

 

Although the snow has almost gone, there is still some on the Minto Hills

 

 

and on Ruberslaw

 

 

However, there was this little sign that spring (hopefully) isn't too far away

 

 

Although these horses still have their winter coats on

 

 

I don't know what has made a home in this moss - it is about three feet off the ground, in  a hedge, and you can see the entrance

 

 

I also found this old metal can in the verge - I wonder if there is anything living in it

 

 

And now - the best photos!!  I was jumping up and down for joy when I saw ..... lambs!!  Yes - some of our neighbour's Jacobs sheep have had their lambs (I took this next photo while hiding behind the gate, in case I frightened them)

 

 

However, they were quite happy to pose for photos!

 

 

 

Are you smiling and going 'aaaaah'?

  
  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh no - I think I'm boring!!

 

 

 

I had a lovely surprise yesterday ..... Mattenylou of On Larch Lane has given me an award!!  I am delighted to accept.  I have mentioned before that we have a connection - Mattenylou's Granny was born in Hawick!  There are three conditions attached to the award:-

1st  I have to say who gave me the award and put in a link to her blog (done)

2nd  Pass the award on to seven other bloggers, putting in links to them.  (Will do so in a minute)

3rd  Tell you seven interesting things about myself - oh dear, I am struggling to think of seven things!!  Oh well here goes ....

 

1.  I was born and brought up in Scotland - indeed I have spent most of my life here, and if you ask me my nationality I will say Scottish ..... but my Mum was English, my Great Granny was Welsh, and if you go a bit further back in the family tree, there's a bit of Irish as well, so really I'm British!!

2. When I was at primary school, there were another three Annes in my class.  At secondary school, there were yet another three Annes, and when I started work - yes, you've guessed, there were another three Annes.  And now I have two friends called Anne, so I need to find another one!

3. I love to read.  As a child I worked my way through the childrens' section of the library, then started borrowing my Mum's card to take out adult books ... and no one ever stopped me!

4. I like dogs, but I don't like cats (they give me shivers).

5. Brad Pitt just doesn't do anything for me (but as for George Clooney .....).

6. Oh dear - now I'm struggling to think of another two things, does this mean I'm boring!  OK, it's embarrassing to admit this, but I like country music - anything from Hank Williams to Sugarland via Dolly Parton.

7. Last one - I can do this!!  When I was at school, I fractured the knuckle on my ring finger when I was playing badminton!  This was back in the days of wooden rackets.  I was running backwards to play a backhand shot and had my left hand out to keep my balance.  I managed to hit myself!!  My poor knuckle has never been the same - there is a very slight bump on it! 

Now for passing on the award.  First I will repeat what Mattenylou wrote to me - if you want to accept the award, but don't want to do the seven things list and pass it on to seven other bloggers, then that's fine with me - I appreciate that people don't always have time to take part in these things.  It was hard to decide whom to pass it on to, so here, in no particular order, are seven blogs which I have found inspiration from

Sarah of Circles of Rain.  Sarah's many interests always make me want to try new things, and of course we met in the summer and spent a wonderful day together.  It was through her blog that I found the next two recipients

Anairam of fra(a)iing .  When I saw the name of this blog on Sarah's sidebar, of course I had to click on it because of the similarity of blog names, and I'm really glad that I did, as Anairam's journal pages and drawings have encouraged me to draw more

Tracy of Hey Harriet.  Tracy of course is the tireless organiser of Shadow Shot Sunday.  I have had so much fun looking for shadow shots, and I look around me much more when I'm out and about, as shadows appear in the most unlikely places

Helen of  Busy bee Studio.  Helen has a cornucopia of gorgeousness on her blog, and I try to emulate her style - though not her cushion addiction!

Tracy of Pink Purl.  Tracy is an American transplanted to Norway.  She now has three blogs, with gorgeous goodies, beautiful photos and her latest venture - delicious food!

Sally of Sal's Snippets.  I've only recently discovered Sally blog, but I'm hooked!  She makes all sorts of wonderful things - it's amazing what she can produce in twenty minutes!

 Shannon of Free Spirit Knits.  Again, I've only recently discovered Shannon's blog, but her 'reduce clutter, create space' has really inspired me to sort out the clutter in my studio (and in my head!)

 

Of course, now that I have done the list, I've started thinking, oh I should have included ......... maybe I'll create my own award to give to my favourits bloggers!!

 

After all that typing, I think we need a photo!  I took this one when we were on our way home from visiting Jennifer today ...

 

Sadly, we didn't see any elves!

 

ps, is there anyone out there who is also on Typepad, who can tell me how to add my award to my sidebar ...... I've been trying to add things to the sidebars, but it all ends in failure!!

 

  

 

 

Tuesday Tutorial 3

 

Chocolate wallhanging

 

This week I am going to show you how to make a small wallhanging.  I have kept it fairly simple, so that beginners can give it a try.  More experienced sewers can add their own touches to it!

I started by doing the wording on the computer, changing the page layout to landscape and playing about with fonts and spacing ......

   

I printed out the wording in bold to make it easier to see

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I used the sheet of A4 paper as a template to cut out the centre panel of the wallhanging in calico (muslin) 

I taped the paper to the cutting mat, then taped the fabric over it 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, I traced the lettering, using an ordinary sharp pencil 

 

I then marked an inch and a half in from the edges ....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

......

I drew a frame, then drew another one quarter of an inch inside that one 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, I cut three strips, three and a half inches wide, from a fat quarter.  I cut one of the strips in half and stitched those two strips to the two short sides of the centre panel

 

 

 

 

 

I pressed the seams from the right side, pressing them towards the outer edges, then trimmed off the excess border fabric

 

 

 

 

 

 

I added the other two borders in the same way 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next I chose wadding (batting)  From left to right, iron-on wadding (which is what I used), lightweight polyester, and thin cotton

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you are using polyester or cotton wadding, the easiest way to  attach it is to use basting spray, such as this one 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I stitched the wording and the frame, using a small backstitch 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The stitching completed, ready for the next stage ..... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...... I added two rows of buttons.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next week, I will show you how to layer and quilt the wallhanging, and to finish it with binding and a hanging sleeve. 

 

 

Food glorious food!

As promised, lots of lovely food!!  First is the recipe for the stuffed aubergine.  The quantities are to serve two people.  You will need : 1 large aubergine, olive oil, 250g minced lamb, 1 onion finely chopped, 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped, 1 tbsp tomato puree, 1 tsp ground cumin, 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, 50 g feta, roughly crumbled.  Heat the oven to 180C.  Cut the aubergine in half and scoop out the flesh, chop the flesh finely, then rub the aubergine shells with some olive oil.  Put a glug of oil in a frying pan and fry the mince, add the onion and garlic and cook for about 5 mins until the onion is soft.  Add the tomato puree, cumin and cinnamon and mix well then stir in the feta.  Spoon the mixture into the shells, drizzle with a little oil, then bake for about 30 mins until the shells are soft.  Serve with a side salad.

 

Now for our wonderful dinner yesterday!  First the starter  .....

Smoked salmon and strawberry mousse

100g smoked salmon

50g strawberries

150ml double cream

lemon pepper

grapes, lemon zest and dill

Put the salmon, strawberries and cream in a processor and season with the pepper.  Using the pulse setting, gradually blitz until well mixed, but not too thick.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Put the mixture into four ramekins and garnish with the grapes, dill and lemon zest.  Cover the dishes with cling film and refigerate.  You can make this the day before - take it out of the fridge about 30 mins before eating.

 

 

 

 

The main course

 

a piece of rolled brisket(this one is about 2kg)

carrots

onion

parsnips

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Put the brisket and vegetables in a saucepan and add about an inch of water.  Bring to the boil and simmer for about 3 hours.  We cook ours the day before and leave the meat in the liquid overnight. 

 

 

 

 

The next day, remove the vegetables.  They make a good base for making soup - or add them to your dog's dinner!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bring the liquid up to the boil, and boil briskly until the liquid is almost boiled away.  Turn the meat frequently, coating it with the  reduced liquid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Put the meat on a serving plate and allow to cool - it is much easier to slice when it is cold.  Pour a little boiling water into the saucepan to deglaze the pan of all those wonderful meaty flavours and use this to make your gravy. 

 

 

 

 

We served it with roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, turnip, broccoli .... and of couse, lots of lovely gravy.    There was lots of meat left over - it's delicious on sandwiches with some chutney, or make more gravy and heat it up and serve with lots of mashed potatoes.

 

 

 

And of course there was pudding!

250g pannetone

2 eggs

75g caster sugar

215ml double cream

215ml milk

softened butter

1 slightly underripe pear

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Slice the pannetone and butter on both sides, then arrange in an oven proof dish.  Whisk the eggs and sugar together, then beat in the cream and milk.  Pour this over the panetonne.  Peel and core the pear, then slice it lengthways.  Tuck the pear between the slices of pannetone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stand the dish in a roasting tray and pour in cold water to come about two thirds of the way up the sides.  Bake at 180C for about 45 mins - check regularly, if the top edges of the pannetone are getting too dark, cover with some foil.  Check that the custard is set.  You can serve this hot or cold, and with cream or custard.

 

 

 

I forgot to take a photo when the pudding was ready, but if the proof of the pudding is in the eating, then this photo says it all!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

And lastly I haven't forgotten about Charlene's prize ....

 

A gorgeous little Cath Kidston book, full of tips to  achieve that vintage look. 

 

 

 

Shadow Shot Sunday

 

 

 

It has been another bad week for shadows!  I took the first one in the kitchen when the light was on, and then there was just enough sun to cast a little shadow on the wall of the guest bedroom ......

 

the jug for filling the iron, casting an interesting shadow

 

 

this is a photo of my Granny, probably taken before the First World War!

 

It's a horrible, wet, grey afternoon, so I am going to end with a nice sunny shadow from the archives!!

 

this was taken last year in Pollensa, Majorca

 

For more shadows, head over to Hey Harriet

  

  
  

 

A tale of two cakes

I haven't been very organised as far as tonight's post is concerned!!  I only have one photo from today .....of course it is the Friday afternoon cake from patch'n'chat

 

it was absoutely delicious, full of apple ..... yum, yum!

 

I've had a trawl through the archives, and I've found another cake.  This one is amazing ..... it was made for me by my amazingly talented friend Lorraine (remember her wonderful marzipan fruits on our Christmas cake).  She made it for a party I had to celebrate the finishing of my studio ......

 

The cake was so beautiful, it was a shame to eat it!!  All the decorations were made from icing - Lorraine must have spent hours making them.  The silver tube that you can just see in the top corner of the cake was an indoor firework - it looked amazing when the cake was brought in ..... but unfortunately it set off the smoke detectors!!

 

As promised, I have chosen the winner of the octopus giveaway - in the end it was an easy decision, as all but one of the people who commented on the drawings had won something in previous giveaways .... so the winner is Charlene!  This is where the disorganisation appears again, as I forgot to take a photo of the prize - I'll show you on Monday!

 

Several people have asked about the stuffed aubergine recipe .... I'll post it on Monday, when I'm also going to tell you about the meal we will be having with our visitors on Sunday.

 

I hope you all have a good weekend, love, Anne

 

Spring is in the air!!

It has been wonderful this week to get back into our normal routine, after the disruption of the last few weeks.  So we headed into Hawick this morning for our usual Thursday cuppa and a scone, which is my treat!    I had a pot of tea, and Malcolm had this magnificent cappucino

 

 

When we got home, Malcolm spotted these snowdrops peeking through the gravel in an old half-barrel which sits next to the front door .....

 

 

and this little alpine in one of our  wooden planters bravely putting out some new leaves ....

 

 

If that's not enough evidence that spring is (or might be) in the air, then surely this lovely card from Lindsay, inviting me to her next Woolgathering, should convince you ...

 

 

Not quite persuaded?  Then my other post surely means that it's nearly spring ...

 

.... no, I'm not entirely convinced either!!

 

I spent the afternoon in the studio, working on next week's Tuesday Tutorial - all I am going to say is that it involves chocolate!!

Then it was time to make dinner, which meant that I could try out this fabulous new knife that Malcolm bought for me on Tuesday

 

So what did I make ..... aubergines stuffed with spicy lamb and feta - this is it ready to go in the oven

 

We also had a side salad (mine is the one without tomato - while I like cooked tomato, I just don't like raw tomato in a salad!) 

As you can see, the salad is garnished with  strawberries - I don't usually buy foreign strawberries in winter, but Jennifer and her husband are coming to visit on Sunday, and I need strawberries for the starter ....... I'll tell you all about the meal on Monday!!!
 

 
 

 

 

 

Surveying the damage!

Yesterday morning, I was out in the back garden to see what it looked like now that the snow has almost gone.  The first casualty of course was our wonderful snowman, who has been reduced to this ....

 

 

But on a more serious note, several trees and shrubs have been damaged ......

 

The two bits hanging forlornly over the edge of the bed are the remains of a three foot high shrub - we will just have to hope it recovers!

 

As you can see from this photo, there is still a lot of snow on this bed - this was the snow that came off the roof.   Malcolm was able to rescue the olive tree and make a new fleece covering for it.  But on the right, you can see the a flattened conifer, and the shrub you can just see behind it has several broken branches - compare it with this next photo taken in better weather!!

 

On the left, you can see a rather large buddleiia - well, it's not quite so big now, as half of it was broken off .... but of course, it takes more than that to kill a buddleiia, as you can cut it down to ground level and it will come away again, so this poor thing will be splendid again in the summer and attracting butterflies - just like this one

 

After signing up to Shannon's campaign to 'reduce clutter, create space'  I was delighted to be interviewed by her (via email) ... you can read the interview (and see photos) here.  I have been doing even more tidying and organising in the studio, so now I have everything to hand, and don't have to waste time looking through piles of stuff and still not finding what I was looking for!! 

I will decide who has won the 'octopus' prize tomorrow - so if you haven't already left a comment, this is your last chance!!