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This week we have had rain, hail, sleet and snow ..... so it's just as well I already had my shadow shots for this weekend! After the magnificent structures of Melrose Abbey last week, this week I have wonderful shadow shots of all sorts of architectural details, most of which had to be taken with the big lens, as they are way above head height! To see what my fellow shadow addicts have captured, head on over to Hey Harriet.
I know there has been rather a lot of food this week, but we had such a delicious lunch at our patch'n'chat Christmas party, I am sure you will enjoy seeing it! We all took a plate to share ......
We also had a small glass of wine, and a cracker
You might recognise the bags of painted pine cones - I took along the ones left from the Christmas fair and gave everyone a packet
Then it was on to the desserts - pavlova twice in one week ...... I don't think I'll get on the scales any time soon!
After lunch, Sheena bought a piece of this lovely fabric - she doesn't have a specific plan for it, she just couldn't resist it (it actually has a white background, but as always the strip lights make it look slightly yellow)
We then played a very entertaining game ......
We were all so full of food, the title of the game probably was a good description of our efforts to play. To end our enjoyable afternoon, we all got our 'secret santa' present. I was delighted with this strip of quilt labels and the pretty spotted scissors
My cold seems to have gone as quickly as it arrived - it was a great relief not to have to blow my nose every two minutes. Thank you for all your good wishes!
I hope you all have a good weekend - I am planning to put up our Christmas tree and decorations. Love Anne
...... where it probably isn't raining, hailing or blowing a gale! And the thought of being there sent me to the UFO pile this afternoon, to unearth this block
I stitched it some years ago (it was certainly more than five years ago, as I did it before we moved here). I had forgotten how big the block is, almost twenty five inches. I think I will add borders to it, to make it into a lap quilt. I have two delightful books on Hawaiian quilting .....
..... not only are they full of delicious patterns, they also have the most wonderful illustrations
Do you remember some weeks ago I showed you the little practice 'redwork' block, which was actually worked in blue? I thought it was time that I started stitching my challenge block, as it has to be handed in at the start of January! We have to stitch the blocks in a variety of colours - it is up to us what colours we use. I decided to use very girly colours, starting with pinks ....
....... and adding in blues
I used to do a lot of embroidery, before becoming addicted to quilting, so I still have lots of embroidery threads
This afternoon I started stitching some more spirals on the Christmas wreath ....... oh no, another broken needle! The thread had well and truly jammed, necessitating opening the cover and carfully removing it from the inner workings - scary stuff!
It's just as well that computers only pass on virtual viruses and not the real kind - I have a rotten cold today and have been sneezing steadily while typing this! I hope both my cold and the weather improve overnight, as tomorrow is the patch'n'chat Christmas lunch ..... I would be most upset to miss it!
....... who invented elasticated waists, because after our wonderful lunch yesterday, I had another excellent one today! Fortunately when I got up this morning, I discovered that most of the snow had gone, so I was able to meet up with Lorraine to head to Kelso for our knit'n'natter Christmas lunch. The main part of my lunch was actually very healthy - chilli bean stew with a baked sweet potato and salad
However dessert was somewhat more indulgent - a slice of lemon tart (sprinkled with edible glitter to make it festive!)
On the way home, we called in at Borderland Fabrics, as Lorraine needed some fabric. Of course I wasn't going to buy anything ....... until I saw these small prints in the 'last chance to buy' basket. I do have a project in mind for them, honest!!
Just as it got dark, we were treated to a fantastic display of hundreds of crows flocking past the house - the photos are slightly blurred because of the long exposure time
I promise there will be no photos of food tomorrow!!
....... as we had more snow last night, and the road wasn't looking too good. So why the panic - because this was the day for my housegroup Christmas lunch! However, Lorraine, Tricia and Anne all braved the elements - although poor Tricia did have a slightly scary moment when her car skidded. Unfortunately Ali was poorly and Lizzi had a prior appointment, so perhaps we will have to do it all agin in the New Year.
The snow may cause travel problems, but it does make things look pretty
Of course Christmas lunch means pressies, so I had these little parcels ready
Then came the best bit of the day - usually we have our lunch in the kitchen, but today I laid the dining table with Christmas placemats, the best cutlery ....... and
lots of lovely food - we all contributed a dish (although perhaps I should have taken the photo before putting the bottle of chilli sauce on the table!).. That's Lorraine's hands on the left, dressing her caesar salad
For dessert, Anne brought the makings for a pavlova. When we finished the main course, I carefully put the cream in the middle of the meringue, then tastefully arranged the strawberries round the edge before filling the centre with raspberries ..... then forgot to take a photo! So you will have to make do with this photo of the leftover portion (which Malcolm had after dinner)
Anne also brought some chocolate teddies - Malcolm has already eaten his, but I am saving mine!
I sat the teddy on my coaster to take the photo, so it occurred to me that you might like to see it (there may be a glass of wine sitting on it as I write this!)
so of course that means that showing you Malcolm's coaster too!
Yes, the white stuff has arrived! Yesterday there was just a little bit on the hills ......
........ but when we got up this morning, a couple of inches had fallen in the night
I decided that there was nothing urgent on the shopping list, and instead of heading into Hawick for the weekly shop, I baked the Christmas cake, turning this ......
...... into this
I've been busy working on the snippets wreath - but had a mishap on Saturday
That's the first needle I have broken in quite a while - in fact it is the first one i have broken on my new machine. This is the back of the wallhanging, showing the first stage of the quilting
Having stitched the ivy leaves in green, I added some more in red, and quilted the centre
I added some baubles
then made a start to quilting silver spirals round the outside
I also stitched another Farmer's Wife block - I am going to have a break from this project until after Christmas, as I have rather a lot to do at the moment
I cut out the pieces according to the book, and you can see that the block is stitched properly ....... so why do I have two pieces left over?!
I have been getting on well with the scarf - I have finished the first side and have picked up the stitches from the provisional cast-on and started to knit the second half
To finish, some snowy scenes and several cute birds!
Last Sunday was bright, clear and sunny (also windy and cold!) ...... perfect for taking the most wonderful shadow shots of Melrose Abbey. For more shadows, visit Hey Harriet
After all those large scale shadows, for next week I have wonderful shadow shots of some amazing architectural details.
...... for some of the photos I wanted to take this week. First, there is my lovely twiggy arrangement in the hall. Because I had to turn the overhead light on, some of the colour is washed out, so you can't see that there are two colours of twigs, and they are all sparkly ....... and sadly you can't smell that they are infused with cinnamon and nutmeg (no, I haven't been very clever, I bought them in Sainsbury's on Monday when I did the weekly shop!)
Then I wanted to take a photo of the little picture that I picked up from the framers, after Malcolm hung it under the picture of the hare. But it was difficult to get a photo without reflections. This was the best I could do - you can see the wallpaper on the facing wall, and a bit of the ceiling light!!
I usually take photos of the birds in the afternoon, but these days when I come in from the studio it is too dark (never mind, it's not long until we get to the shortest day). So I made the effort to take these photos this morning when it was quite bright
I almost finished the Christmas tree wallhanging this afternoon. I just have a few more bits of bling to add ........
........ but the one thing that did photograph clearly, despite the light levels, was this afternoon's cake. This was just delicious - very sweet, but oh so tasty.
I can't remember all the ingredients, but there were cranberries, crushed biscuits and Ovaltine
I am planning to bake the Christmas cake at the weekend ....... whatever you are planning to do, I hope you have a good time. Love Anne
ps - don't forget to pop in over the weekend to see the wonderful shadow of Melrose Abbey that I will be posting for Shadow Shot Sunday!
....... for the first of the month! Yes, it's now December, so we can mention Christmas - hooray!! I spent the afternoon quilting my 'snippets' tree. You might not see the first lot of stitching in this photo
so here it is from the back
Having stitched the tree and the doves, I had to decide how to stitch the background. When Malcolm brought me out a mug of hot chocolate (he is very good to me!!) I asked him what he thought the stitching suggested. After a moment's thought, he said strings of Chritsmas lights ....... which was the right answer!!
I added the binding
Although it looks like Christmas fabric, it is a William Morris design
Hopefully tomorrow at patch'nchat I will get the binding sewn down on the back, then I can add some 'bling'
When I switched out the light in the studio when I had finished sewing, I was drawn to the cosy glow of the stove ......
...... while outside, the sunset was reflected in this little cloud and the moon was already out
To finish, what was the special treat for dinner tonight?
Lovely pots of tapas. I added some spicy potatoes, and mixing cuisines, a focaccina. This is dinner just out of the oven.
It was all delicious (and we now have three terracotta dishes to make more tapas in) ....... but we probably shouldn't breathe on anyone tomorrow, as we will probably reek of garlic!!