frayed at the edge

Shadow Shot Sunday

This is my second attempt at this post, as when I published the first one, most of it had vanished, never to be seen again!!  So ... fingers crossed for this one!  As always, shadows abound over at Hey Harriet, but I have had to rely on the archives today.  These are recent photos of the Leaderfoot Viaduct - I have shown you some photos before, but it is worth another visit. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's the first Sunday of the new month, so that means the latest braw laddie baring (almost) all for this good cause - I had to pop a post-it on his bum, it was just a bit too rude!

 

Move over Winnie!

Poor Winnie the Pooh had to be moved from his bed this morning, as Stuart and Alison are visiting.  However, he wasn't too upset, as he still has his special cushions with him (and he has the koalas for company)

 

 

Once he was relocated, the next job was to take the various quilts off the bed and fold them

 

 

After that, I had to wrestle the cover onto the duvet - we don't have a duvet on our bed, so I'm not very good with duvets!

 

 

If they need some bedtime reading, they might just find something suitable on the bookshelves

 

 

Or they might want to start planning a little craft project

 

 

I hope they don't get scared by this fearsome dragon (this embroidery is even older than Stuart!)

 

 

They could spend some time laughing at the rogues' gallery

 

 

Of course, there is someone else in the bedroom who might enjoy the company - my rag doll Jemima.  She may look like a young thing, but she is older than Stuart too!

 

 

I had better finish now, as it is a bit rude sitting tapping away on the laptop and ignoring the guests!  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, love Anne

What a fun day!

OK, I lied .... it has definitely not been a fun day!  This morning I had to tackle my least favourite domestic job - the ironing!  That was bad enough ..... but then it got decidedly worse when I went to the dentist.  You know that I have had bother with pain in my face/mouth/jaw off and on for some time.  Over tha last few weeks, the muscular spasm pain has been quite bad, but I also started to think that I had toothache.  Of course I was not at all happy about this, as I just had a tooth out a few weeks ago, and this is the tooth next to that one.  Fortunately I was able to get an appointment for this afternoon, so after lunch off I went to see my new dentist, Douglas (it's all very informal at the dentist these days!)

He duly poked, prodded, tapped and wiggled the tooth, and also poked the gum (that was a very sore bit!)  After taking an xray, he reached the conclusion that it was necrotic pulp and bacterial infection (I'm not sure if the necrotic pulp caused the infection, or the other way round).  Then, came the horrible bit, as he drilled into the tooth (he drilled so deeply I thought he was looking for marooned miners!!).  Next came that awful bit when he used things like miniature corkscrews to clean the tooth out.  He then packed it with antiseptic and put in a temporary filling.  It feels much better already, and I go back in three weeks time to (hopefully) have a permanent filling done.

 

With all that going on, there was no craft work done, but I did manage to take a few photos of the birds after I put food out for them!

 

waiting in the elder - you can see that they have eaten all the elderberries

 

 

the sparrows love the fat balls

 

 

you can see by how blurred the sparrows are, how quickly the were flying in to the table

 

 

this finch sensibly went to the other table

 

 

picking up the crumbs!

 

 

they've calmed down a bit now!!

 

I was a bit worried about my pet spider, as he had vanished from the bathroom.  However, I discovered him in the utility room ...... when I almost washed him down the plughole!  I just managed to grab one of his long legs before he vanished, and popped him on the draining board to dry out.  I'm delighted to tell you that he is alive and well and enjoying his holiday in the utility room .... I wonder where he'll go next!

 

It wasn't me .....

...... I didn't do it, it was like that when I got here.  (I think it's maybe Bart Simpson who says that!). 

 

I went into the Post Office in Kelso today to see about my new photo driving licence.  I had to stand in a booth and face the camera while the counter assistant adjusted it to the correct height.  After a couple of tries to get a photo that the computer would accept ....... everything went haywire, the camera shut down, her computer shut down, the computerised tills of the other assistants shut down, their National Lottery Terminal went offline ..... oh no, surely my photo wasn't that awful!!  But of course it wasn't me ... it seemed to be a repeat of a problem that had first occured on Friday night, when thousands of people lost their internet connection for seven hours.  When I phoned Malcolm to tell him what had happened, he checked and found that our internet connection was down.  However the good news is that I went back later and it all worked properly, so I should have my new licence soon (although I am dreading seeing the photo!

 

After what seems like years of sewing, I finally finished the buttonhole stitch round the owls.  So yesterday, I got out all my rows and put them on my design wall (ok, I don't really have a proper design wall - mine is a brushed cotton sheet I hang in place of a wallhanging).  The advantage of doing it like this is that the rows cling to the brushed cotton and you don't need to pin them in place.  This was my first layout - just the rows as they came off the pile

 

 

I wasn't particularly happy with this layout - I didn't like the look of the flying geese at the bottom, so I moved them to the centre

 

 

Still not right, so I decided to remove the flying geese

 

 

Getting better, but now I felt that the log cabin row looked too dark - it is the only row that doesn't have any background fabric in the blocks - so out it came

 

 

That's better!  Just one last tweak, and I was happy with the layout

 

 

I did think of making two more rows to replace the ones I removed (don't worry, they'll be used in something else), but I think I'll add an inner border, then a wider outer border, perhaps with some applique on it.  But of course the next stage is to sew the rows together ....... but that might have to wait until Sunday, as I've got quite a lot on over the next few days (including a trip to the dentist tomorrow).

Needles and pins

The collection of things for the Christmas Fair is growing, with boxes of finished stuff on the floor, piles of fabric on the worktable and a lovely smell of soap and lavender in the air.  After finally deciding how to package the little pails, the next decision was what to do with the knitted washcloths.  I had them folded this way, I had them folded that way .... and finally, I decided to present them like this

 

Two facecloths, wrapped round bars of soap and tied up with pretty ribbon

 

I also looked out some little baby beenies that I had knitted some time ago, and popped them into bags - again tying them up with ribbon 

 

 

The first batch of hearts is finished, and I've cut out a second batch

 

 

The next thing on the list was a needlecase.  I had a vague idea for a design ..... and it has turned out ok

 

 

Inside, there are needles ......

 

 

...... and pins

 

 

And the finishing touch - a label on the back

 

 

Of course, I didn't just make one ......

 

 

Visitors to my studio are, of course, very welcome ...... and even more so since Malcolm bought this welcome sign for me!

 

 

Tomorrow, I'm planning to renew my photo Driving Licence.  I've had it for ten years, so the photo is obviously out of date ...... but I'm a bit peeved that I have to pay £20 to have a new one issued - especially as in all those years, I have never used it for an ID check ....... I've always had to use my passport!

 

 

Season of mists ......

.... so wrote John Keats in 1819 about autumn.  And we had a misty start to the day, with a ribbon of mist along the top of the field in front of us

 

 

Did you spot the little sheep on the right of the photo?  Looking the other way, the sky was clear and a brilliant blue, with the moon still visible

 

 

I decided to have a day in the kitchen, doing some batch cooking for the freezer.  I started with some real comfort food - mince and dumplings  (one portion for dinner tonight).  This is a wonderful reminder of childhood, when it used to be my job to make the dumplings!  I organised my main ingredients

 

mince, lots of onion and sliced carrots

I started by softening the onions in a little oil, then added the mince to brown.  I added some salt and pepper, then poured in some boiling water and added the carrots.  Then .... I added my secret ingredient - a large squeeze of .....

 

 

Later, when it was time for dinner, I reheated a portion of the  mince, then got out my last two ingredients.  There are lots of ways to thicken the gravy, but as I make my mince the same way my Mum made it (and probably my Granny too!) I use Bisto.  I used to make the dumplings from scratch, but it is so much easier with this packet mix (and I think every bit as good)

 

 

All that was left to do was to cook some broccoli, and dinner was ready

 

 

I also planned to make a sausage and bean casserole, so while I made a start to cooking the mince, I popped the sausages in the oven to cook.  I then assembled the other ingredients

 

Onions, mushrooms, sweet red pepper, garlic and cannellini beans (oh dear, I forgot to include the passata and had to put it in the next photo!)

Once the onions had been softened in some oil, I added the mushrooms, pepper and garlic, two teaspoons of ground cumin and a smidgen of smoked paprika

 

 

Then I got the sausages out of the oven (mmmmm - I wish you could smell them!)

 

 

and added them, the beans and the passata to the pot

 

 

I only had to simmer it for a short while as the sausages were already cooked ...... then I divided it into containers to go in the freezer

 

 

I also made a quick pot of vegetable soup for lunch tomorrow!  After all that, I was glad to sit down later in the day to watch a dvd with Malcolm.  We wouldn't normally do that, but Malcolm unfortunately is hobbling about the place, having fallen off a ladder last week!  We watched 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'.  We had both read the book (indeed, we have both read all three books), so we were looking forward to watching the film.  The only thing we were concerned about is that the film is dubbed , but we needn't have worried, as it has been done very well.  Of course we could have watched it with the Swedish soundtrack and English sub-titles .... but then I couldn't have done my sewing at the same time!

I've been busy making more things for the Christmas Fair - I'll tell you all about them tomorrow!