frayed at the edge

Picking lilies?

Malcolm : What do you mean, you're going to pick lilies, we don't have any in the garden.

Me : No dear, I said I'm going to make some piccalilli. 

Some weeks ago, I promised Tinky that I would share my recipe for piccalilli with her ...... so I thought I might as well share it with all of you!

I started yesterday, when I chopped up about 500g of cauliflower.  I put it in a colander, over a bowl, and covered it generously with salt.  I left this overnight for the excess moisture to drain out of the cauliflower

 

 

The original recipe for the piccalilli uses cucumber and pickling onions, but I prefer to use ......

 

I cut 100g onions in half and sliced 200g gherkins.  I rinsed the salt off the cauliflower and left it to drain.  The other ingredients are

 

300ml vinegar, 50g sugar, 1 tsp turmeric, 1 teaspoon ground ginger, 2 teaspoons dried mustard, 1 tbsp cornflour

 

The method is simple - put most of the vinegar, the sugar, turmeric, ginger and mustard in a large saucepan and bring to the boil.  Add the cauliflower and simmer until it is almost cooked.  Add the onions and gherkins and simmer for a few more minutes.  Use the remaining vinegar to slake the cornflour, then add a little at a time, until the mixture has thickened.  Spoon into hot jars, cover and label.
This made four small jars - now I just need some cheese on toast .....

 

Once the piccalilli was ready, I finished my Ishbel shawl - I had blocked it yesterday, and today I sewed in the ends.  I had also knitted fingerless mittens with the leftover yarn and I finished them as well.  Then it was out to the studio to take photos  ......

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While I was cooking, the postman arrived with two boxes.  One contained a roll of cellophane wrapping and some cellophane bages.  I popped two washcloths and a bar of soap into a bag and tied it with a scrap of ribbon - of course it will look better with matching ribbon and a pretty tag

 

 

When I saw these cardboard boxes, I thought hmm - what can I use them for?  Perhaps for the new baby sets, with some pretty tissue paper (this is just an odd piece from my stash)

 

 

And to finish - could you have resisted this bakers' string and these super tags, which I can stamp or embellish 

 

Miserable!!

No, no ...... not me, but the weather!  We have had some heavy showers this afternoon, and the forecast for the next two days isn't very good (snow was even mentioned for the Highlands!).  On Saturday, I popped out for a quick walk before lunch (I'm missing my morning walks, now that it is too dark).  It was sunny when I set out, but by the time I had walked up the hill to the church, some threatening clouds had gathered

 

 

However, it had cleared again when I took this next photo

 

 

But what was this I encountered along the way - have the Martians finally landed?

 

 

Nothing so exciting - it's just an electricity supply pole

 

 

Just about this time last year, I mentioned to Malcolm that there were a lot of berries on the trees and in the hedgerows - and according to folklore, that is the sign of a hard winter to come.  He laughed at me .... and we all know what sort of winter we had!  Well, I don't want to worry you, but the holly tree in front of the church is laden with berries .....

 

 

In the afternoon, I was busy in the studio - I thought it was time to make a serious effort to get things ready for next month's Christmas Fair.  Do you remember quite some time ago I knitted a great pile of cotton washcloths, and new baby sets?  I eventually found them in a drawer, and pressed them, ready to sew the ends in

 

 

I have bought some lovely soap, to make up sets with perhaps two washcloths and one or two other pamperings things (I've ordered some lovely packaging!)

 

 

I also made a batch of handbag tissue holders.  I have been making these for years - I have made dozens and dozens!  Every time I say I'm not making any more .... but I always do!

 

 

I recently bought a new die for my Cuttlebug, which it makes teeny tiny tags.  I thought I would use them for price tags and maybe make up some small bags with other bits and pieces to use for cardmaking and scrapbooking.

 

 

Yesterday morning, as usual, we went for a walk (and as usual we went for a cuppa and scone afterwards).  Malcolm spotted this cow, sitting in the shadows.  There weren't any others in the field , just this one looking lonely!

 

 

I took this photo because of the funny-looking dead tree - but now I just want to sit and look at the wonderful blue sky ....

 

 

To finish, something I haven't taken a photo of for a while - a lovely length of higgledy piggledy fence!

 

 

Shadow Shot Sunday

 

After a busy week, it's good to sit down and choose some shadows for this week's contribution ...... do pop over to Hey Harriet to see who else is playing this week.

Today's shadows come from our recent holiday in the Lake District.  On our last night, we had fish and chips for dinner, eating them at the lakeside, while watching the sun go down

 

 

 

 

 

I rotated this last photo of the reflection of houses in a puddle - it just looks better this way round!

 

 

Here's one (or two) ........

......that I made earlier!  As promised, collages of some of the many holiday photos ......

Oops - I got a bit carried away playing with the coloured borders!  I love the little red toadstool in amongst the plain mushrooms.

 

 

More of those coloured borders - maybe I won't use them next time!

 

On one of our walks, we were walking on a hillside ......

 

 

...... with the sound of water below us

 

 

It made me think of a poem I learned at school, but I could only remember the first two lines.  But with the wonders of Google, I found it.  It was written by William Allingham . This is the first verse - it's quite a long poem!  You can read the rest here. 

The Fairies

Up the airy mountain
Down the rushing glen
We daren’t go a-hunting
For fear of little men;
Wee folk, good folk
Trooping all together
Green jacket, red cap
And white owl’s feather.

 

After a busy week, I am looking forward to the weekend - I hope you all have a good one!  Love, Anne

Doodling

Yesterday afternoon, I settled down to have another practice session on my new sewing machine.  The stove was lit and I had some good music playing (a birthday present from Malcolm)

 

I also had plenty of thread to play with, having found all this in a box in the Oxfam Shop yesterday morning!

 

I chose one of the green threads, so I could see at a glance what was my original effort, and what was my new work

 

 

I went back over the stencil design to see if I could make a better job of it - the short answer ...no!

 

 

So I thought it might be more sensible to just relax and have a bit of fun .....

 

 

Since I was at school, this had been my favourite doodle (I used to do it on exam question papers!)

 

 

And I often use leaves in my quilting designs - these ones were done freehand

 

 

With some small leaves trailing behind

 

 

At the start of the session, I filled in one of the sections of the stencilled design, but I couln't get a smooth curved line

 

 

But I tried again at the end of the afternoon - I hope you can see some improvement!

 

 

Practice over, I popped the new threads into a plastic box, and put them away on the top shelf of my new storage unit ....... the studio looks so much tidier now with things stored neatly on the shelves, instead of in piles on the floor!

 

 

I haven't forgotten about showing you more of the holiday photos - it has just been such a busy week, I haven't had a chance to organise some collages!

What's a girl supposed to do .....

...... when she is trying to lose weight (or even just not put any more on!) and her husband arrives home with lemon meringue muffins.  She could try using some willpower, but unfortunately, her willpower packed its bags and left home long ago!!

 

Fortunately, said husband only supplied half a muffin (oozing lemon curd) with the afternoon cuppa!

 

Of course I could have used the excuse that I needed to build my strength up again after the effort of being guest speaker last night ...... but that would have been a fib, as it all went very well!  I took along some extra quilts to decorate the table (thanks Tricia for the idea!)

I had all the quilts and fabrics arranged in order in two suitcases

 

But things were slightly less tidy by the end of the night!

 

The ladies all seemed to enjoy themselves

 

Here they are busy working on their bowls

I took photos when I was making the samples for the bowls, so some time soon I'll get them organised into a tutorial.  You know I'm a bit of a technophobe, but I should be able to to scan the template, then email it to anyone who would like to make a bowl of their own.

 

There was one more thing to enjoy last night ...... when I was leaving, I was delighted to see that the Abbey was floodlit.  The photo is slightly blurred, as I was using my small camera, but I think that adds to the slightly spooky look!!

Fear and trepidation!

Just a quick post, as I will be leaving shortly to go to Kelso ...... I have been invited by Abbey Quilters to be their guest speaker tonight.  I haven't done a talk for a while, so I am just a little bit nervous!  The Kist ladies were here today, so they put me through my paces, with lots of helpful advice.  I looked out piles of fabrics and quilts to illustrate my talk (The Fabric of My Life).

 

 

 

Once the talk is over, we will be doing a little project, when we will start with this

 

 

and end (hopefully!) with a fabric bowl.

 



Of course it had to be tonight that Typepad had one of its little wobblies and not centre the photos and I don't have time to beat it into behaving!  I'll tell you all about my talk tomorrow - if I have emerged from recovering in my darkened room with scented candles and soothing music!

Some of the best bits!

I've sorted through some of the holiday photos, to bring you some of the highlights!  Of course we had lots of cuppas when we were away, but the quirkiest coffee shop had to be this one in Keswick

 

The shop is full of all sorts of gorgeous things .......

 

 

I couldn't resist buying this card for Malcolm

 

 

Did you notice the little rabbit hiding under the plant?

 

 

We also visited Ambleside, where we found the smallest house in England

 

 

And in Grasmere, we visited William Wordworth's grave

 

 

Which brings me to this, which we spotted in an underpass in Keswick ....... is it art, or is it graffiti?

 

 

 

If it was graffitti, then at least the vandal is educated!!

 

I also added to my collection of pillar boxes, with an Edwardian one (Edward VII)

 

 

And a Georgian one (George VI)

 

 

We were in so many places, we might have got lost ...... but this wonderful old signpost showed us where to go!!

 

Shadow Shot Sunday

 

It's just as well that I didn't wait until today to take some shadow shots - there hasn't been any sun at all, so I wouldn't have been able to play along with all the other shadow chasers at Hey Harriet

The first photo (click on it to enlarge it) today sets the scene for the shadow photos - you might think that a concrete structure can't be beautiful .......

 

 

....... but I think these photos will change your mind

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I might not eat here .....

...... just in case the ingredients came from the shop next door!!

 

 

Oh dear, I just had to start with that one!!  We are back home, after having had a wonderful holiday!  The weather was a little bit mixed, but not bad for this time of year.  We have walked for miles (I think we did 10 miles on Tuesday!), eaten far too much, had the odd glass of wine ...... and taken lots and lots of photos!

When we have been on holiday, we always ask each other what was the best bit .... and this time I think just about the whole holiday qualified as a best bit!  I showed you my super kit that Malcolm bought for me at the Quaker Tapestry exhibition, but I forgot to show you the pencils I got for him at the Pencil Museum

 

water colour pencils

 

 

pastels (and a helpful booklet, which was a free gift!!)

 

Other little bits and bobs were also bought (some may involve chocolate!) - I will have to organise them into collages to show you next week.  On the way home, first we stopped here (with blue sky and sunshine) - I got a beautiful skein of angora yarn in the upstairs craft gallery

 

 

Then we stopped here for lunch, at the highest cafe in England.  As you can see, the weather had changed just a little bit!  We had a really good lunch - Malcolm ordered a roll with turkey and stuffing and a roll with roast beef and gravy for me - they were so good, we cut them in half and swapped bits.  I would have taken a photo, but the place was full of macho male cyclists in very tight lycra shorts .... if I had accidently included them in a photo they would have made the 'braw laddies' look like choir boys!!

 

 

Our last stop wasn't far from home - despite having lived here for four years, we still hadn't visited here

 

 

And I still haven't visited, as it was closed for the winter!  Malcolm may have climbed over the gate to take some photos (!), while I stayed on the road (on the other side of a stream) ....

 

 

Malcolm's tiny figure in the bottom right hand corner gives you an idea of the size of the castle.  He particularly liked this photo - attackers creeping up would get a surprise when they got to the top of the slope and found just how big the castle was!!

 

 

Malcolm also had to screech to a halt (as always, he did of course check for other cars) when we spotted these cuties

 

 

Do make sure to come back for Shadow Shot Sunday ...... you will see concrete as you have never seen it before!!

Have a good weekend - Jennifer is coming to stay, so we will be out and about .... fingers crossed we get the wonderful weather that has been forecast!!  Love Anne