frayed at the edge

Hooray - it's the weekend!!

It had been another busy week, and although we are 'retired' .... it's still good when the weekend arrives!

I came home with a little handful of something this morning - but unfortunately today it was something sad - feathers from a woodpecker

 

 

In amongst the black feathers with white spots, there was this rebellious one, with the colours reversed!

 

 

This afternoon at patch'n'chat, there was such a lot to admire ......... Seonaid has made a lovely lap quilt for a friend who is a reflexologist, so using her embroidery machine, she added this wonderful detail

 

 

Cathy has been making a fantastic quilt for her daughter's wedding.  We have been following its progress since she started the blocks .... it is almost finished now

 

 

Anne was working hard at putting the final borders on her Thimbleberries quilt

 

 

This is Cathy's 'row' quilt - as you can see I have a few more rows to do!!

 

 

Of course we can't have a Friday post without cake - another of Annette's light-as-air sponges, topped with cream and strawberries!!

 

 

After two glorious days, it was a bit grey and chilly this morning, but it is a lovely evening - if only we could have several weeks of unbroken sunshine!  Whatever the weather, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend - I will be spoiling Malcolm on Sunday for Fathers' Day!!  Love, Anne

 

I'm shy ......

........ no, not me (although I was painfully shy as a child!), but this heron which we saw on the riverbank this morning - he (or she) just wouldn't turn round and look at the camera!

 

 

The lovely weather of the last two days has encouraged more poppies to flower - I love the colour, the markings on the petals, the centres - yes, I really like poppies

 

 

the iris are almost ready to open now - you can see the colours

 

 

I was in the studio for a little while this afternoon (the rest of the time I was sitting in the sun reading a book!).  I had another play with my embellisher.  I started with this ......

 

 

........ shaping it into petals

 

 

....... the flower needs some more work, but I am pleased with what I have done so far!

 

 

When I came back from my walk this morning, Malcolm was puzzled by the bits and bobs that I was carrying ....... but I thought they would make a nice 'still life' ........

 

 

The piece of wood at the back is all dried out - it hardly weighs anything.  I liked this end - it looks like a scary creature

 

 

The verges are full of beautiful grasses - I picked just a few.  At the moment it is grass pollen season, so we are both sneezing and sniffing!!

 

ps - I shouldn't have had that thought about Dr Doolittle ....... when I turn for home and start up the hill, I often start singing (just in my head - you wouldn't want to hear my singing, I make the crows sound tuneful!) to get my rhythm going for the long uphill stretch.  Usually I sing ..... I love to go a-wandering, along the mountain track ........ but now this is stuck in my head ....... if I could talk to the animals, grunt, sqeak and squawk with the animals ........

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summer at last!

It was glorious this morning when I went out for my walk - a little bit of high cloud, but lovely and warm.  I know I keep showing you photos of the Minto Hills, but they look different every day!

 

 

It is just about time for the sheep to be shorn, but this one is already moulting

 

 

I was entertained by this pheasant, which looked as if it was creeping up to scare the horses

 

 

I've said before that we regard as a neighbour anyone living within walking distance - so the people building this house will just qualify, as this is where I turn round to come home!

 

 

The roses in the hedgerow are just starting to flower - hopefully there will be a good crop of hips come the autumn

 

 

When we moved here, there were three old sinks in the drive.  It turned out that they belong to our next door neighbour, with whom we share the entrance.  As they were obviously neglected, full of weeds, we offered to replant them - our neighbour was quite happy for us to do this.  However,  after the winter, most of the plants were dead, so now that we have our  new drive, we have been smartening them up again.  We got a lot of bits of broken slates from the man who is building the house beside us, and Malcolm arranged them, then planted alpines in the spaces.  We will have to get some grit and a few more plants to finish them off, but they are already looking good

 

 

 

 

It was 23 degrees this afternoon - fingers crossed that the second half of June is going to be glorious!!

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not just pretty in the fields.......

........ but pretty tasty on the plate too!!

When I do my weekly food shop, I always look in the 'reduced' section for bargains.  Yesterday, I was delighted to find these two lamb shanks

 

 

I had a look through some cookery books, before finding a recipe in this one

 

 

 

 

As you can see at the bottom of the recipe, Marcus suggests frenching the lamb, which is what I did

 

 

I then assembled the other ingredients - except for a leek and fresh rosemary (the rosemary in the garden didn't survive the winter and I haven't replaced it yet)

 

 

I seasoned the shanks, and browned them in olive oil

 

 

I transferred the shanks to a casserole, then added the chopped veggies to the pot, followed by the other ingredients.  Once they were ready, I poured them over the lamb, ready to go in the oven

 

 

Marcus shows you how to cut a circle of greaseproof paper to put in the casserole .......

 

 

........ I simply drew round the rim of the casserole, then cut the greaseproof paper out with a 'seam allowance'!!

 

I served the lamb with couscous - it was delicious ...... so tender the meat just fell off the bone!

 

 

If only we had some of the ginger cake left to have as pudding!!  Several people asked about the recipe ......

 

 

Remember you can click on the photos to enlarge them.  So what did we have for pudding - nice healthy yogurt!!

 

And then the heavens opened!!!!!

I spent lots of time in the studio over the weekend.  Some of the time was spent on the chickens

 

 

 

and some on the 'row' quilt.  I satin-stitched the hearts onto their background fabrics

 

 

then I made my log cabin blocks

 

 

so I now have two rows completed

 

 

The garden is now just about recovered from the severe winter ........ but this iris should have flowered about eight weeks ago!

 

 

I love poppies - this one in the front garden is stunning (it would make a lovely applique block!)

 

 

I have loved lupins since I was little - this one is a gorgeous colour

 

 

Malcolm's vines are flourishing - you can see the tiny grapes on this one

 

 

so, to return to today's heading ....... we had just finished dinner last night, when we had a torrential downpour .......

 

the rain was so heavy, there was a waterfall from the gutters!

 

 

you can see the rain bouncing back up!!

 

Much as I enjoy my morning walks, there is one unpleasant aspect ....... sometimes I encounter dead animals!  The past few days have been particularly bad - in order of size, there have been : several newts, a mole, a crow, a badger and a lamb.  I had an idea this morning for a film, where I float along the country lanes, talking to dead animals (Dr Doolittle meets Sixth Sense?).  Obviously, Julia Roberts would star as me - but I would stand in for her when it came to the romantic scenes with Bruce Willis (as long as he promises not to wear his vest!!).  Of course George Clooney would have a cameo role as Malcolm .......

 

 

 
 

Shadow Shot Sunday

 

 

There has been something special going on all week in our home town of Hawick, in the glorious Scottish Borders ........ you can read about it here.  This morning, the High Street was dressed with bunting ........

 

 

........ and the shop windows were decorated in blue and yellow, the town colours

 

 

what was the band waiting for?  (but the dog wasn't bothered!)

 

 

it was worth waiting for - the final ride through the town

 

a wonderful collection of horses, horsemen, women and children, all beautifully turned out

 

 

the sun went in, so there aren't very strong shadows in the last couple of photos, but I thought you would like to see them!

 

 

once all the horses had gone, there was one important job left to do!

 

 

Fow more shadow fun around the world, pop over to Hey Harriet!

 

 

 

Change of venue!

This afternoon, we were unable to have our patch'n'chat at Borderland Fabrics, as twenty eight quilters were visiting the shop, and there was no room for us!!  So ........ of course they came to spend the afternoon in my studio instead.  Anne D is for the moment living in a tiny cottage, while her new house is being made habitable, so she has nowhere to set up her sewing machine.  She had two things with her to do by machine and asked if I could help her out by putting the binding on this stunning quilt (she originally intended to make it for her friend's 60th birthday ....... her friend is now 63!!)

 

 

This details shows Anne beautiful applique - I love the tiny buttons in the centre of the pansy

 

 

Anne was adding borders to her stunning Thimbleberries quilt - the blocks are all hand stitched, but she decided to machine stitch the borders because of their size

 

 

Agnes was working on something just a little bit smaller - her log cabin blocks are only four inches square

 

 

Anne S (yes, it's confusing with three Annes in the room!) was also working on tiny log cabin blocks - she had her sewing things in this cute litlle bag

 

 

Once Anne finished using her sewing machine, Seonaid asked if she could play with it and had fun trying out some of the embroidery stitches

 

 

and she had even more fun when she discovered the elephants

 

 

I was working on the chickens .... I'm determined to get them finished.  I bought some sequins and beads for the eyes ...

 

 

Of course, Friday afternoon means cake, and you have seen over the weeks the wonderful cakes that Annette makes for us.  I had a look through this little book ....

 

 

and decided on a ginger cake, which has finely chopped stem ginger in it 

 

 

The recipe actually has the cake topped with a very rich ginger flavoured butter icing, but as there was already a lot of butter and sugar in the cake, I decided to simply dust the top with some icing sugar

 

 

As I very rarely bake, I was worried about how the cake would turn out, so Malcolm and I bravely had a slice to check it out!

 

 

Fortunately, it turned out well, and everyone enjoyed their slice with our afternoon cuppa!!

At the moment, we can't watch tv, llisten to the radio, or read the papers without being bombarded with the World Cup - but don't worry, that is the only reference to it that there will be on the blog - this is definitely a football-free zone!!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend .... mine no doubt will include more work on those pesky chickens!!  Love, Anne

 

 

 

Not so flaming June!

It was decidedly chilly when I set out for my walk this morning, so I wasn't surprised to see these horses huddled together

 

 

These lambs may be getting big, but they were still happy to cuddle mum for warmth

 

 

However, a mile down the road, these horses were unaffected by the cold wind blowing from the north

 

 

Usually the horses just ignore me when I take photos, but this morning, they decided to come over to the gate

 

 

This foal is getting big - and a typical boy, he is turning into a bully ....... he pushed and shoved and even bit some of the mares to get nearer to the gate

 

 

He is looking a bit scruffy - I think he must be shedding his baby hair!  No doubt soon he will look like this beauty

 

 

It may have been a cold gloomy morning, but it did provide me with this misty photo

 

 

But it wasn't all gloomy ..... this rhododendron was a bright splash of colour

 

 

I spent the afternoon ironing .......it's the one household chore I really don't like, and one that Malcolm absolutely refuses to do!!  I know I should do it as soon as the washing is dry and not wait until the basket is overflowing and I've run out of clean clothes ..... but I did finally get to the bottom of the pile!  I also baked a cake this afternoon ..... but I'll tell you about it tomorrow!

 

All things chicken!!

It has been another busy day!  It started with a doctor's appointment for some routine stuff, but while there (I tend to save up minor ailments!) I asked my GP if she could have a look at my right ear, as I have had a bit of earache off and on for a while.  The first thing she did was look in my ear - would you believe I have tickly ears!!  Now, I know I am very tickly, especially my feet ...... but I never knew the insides of my ear were tickly!  After a bit of peering into both ears, the left one was judged to be fine ........ but I have a perforated eardrum in my right ear.  So, now I have to wait for an appointment to go to ENT at the local hospital to have it checked out.  Ah well, to cheer me up, Malcolm took me out for lunch - a delicious bowl of wild mushroom soup.

Then it was back home for a major session in the studio, working on those pesky chickens!  I am not the tidiest of workers, so by the end of the afternoon, my worktable looked like this

 

did you spot my hot chocolate mug?

 

 

I finished the second section ......

 

 

...... and the third section!

 

As they are now safely secured in the wallhangings, I won't have to buy the chickens one of the henhouses which we saw at the gardening show on Sunday

 

this is definitely a deluxe model

 

 

but this plain one does the same job!

 

I keep asking Malcolm to buy me a John Deere tractor (well, we do live in the country!), but failing that, I thought he might buy this for me .....

 

..... but he pointed out it is almost as big as our lawn!!

 

So maybe I'll get one of these, so I can chill out after a busy day - the inside is beatifully finished with padded fabric - I could put in a chaise longue with lots of cushions, perhaps a small fridge to chill some white wine, employ Robert Downey Junior to peel grapes for me ........

 

....... maybe I'll keep the rest of that fantasy to myself!!

 

 

 

Please do not adjust your set ........

......... normal service will be resumed soon!  I'm sorry if you were expecting a Tuesday tutorial, but I've just got so much on the go at the moment that I thought I would take a few weeks to catch up with things, and to work on some new projects for future tutorials.  But don't worry, there will still be plenty of crafty goings on included in my daily ramblings!!

Of course I have been playing with my embellisher - this is the piece I produced at the weekend

 

 

I started with two layers of roving, with the fibres in the top layer at right angles to the bottom layer

 

 

After needling it into a rectangle, I added stripes in two colours, weaving them over and under each other.  The piece is about the size of a post card and is very firm - it would make a nice little mat to stand an ornament on.

 

Some time ago, I needled (by hand) this pink heart on to a piece of blue felt, intending to turn it into a little bag.  It was the work of minutes to use the embellisher to 'seam' the sides .......

 

 

It's the perfect size for my little i-pod shuffle - and one day it might even acquire a button!

 

 

I haven't mentioned my housegroup for some time.  We meet on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month.  The group is called Kist, which stands for knit 1 stitch too ......... but kist is also a Scottish word for a chest, in particular the sort of chest that a girl would have stored her hand stitched household linens in, ready for when she married.  It is an informal affair, with everyone working on their own projects.  Today I was making a start to a quilt we are doing on Friday afternoons at Borderland Fabrics.  The quilt is made up of rows of different patterns.  The row I have started with has crazy patchworh hearts (I've got them in two rows to make it easier to take a photo!)

 

 

In the course of the day, copious amounts of tea, coffee and hot chocolate are consumed!  Today I was using this fun mug, which I bought some years ago in Houston

 

 

I have a matching t-shirt ...... but I don't think you will see me wearing it !!