frayed at the edge

Bag Ladies!

On Wednesday Katy, Tricia, Maureen and Andrea went to a workshop at Borderland Fabrics to make a bag.  They all used the same pattern, but different fabrics.  Katy has been put in the over-achievers' corner, as she has finished hers

 

Tricia had picked much cooler colours

 

while Maureen chose a blue and gold palette

 

Andrea had used some of the same fabrics as Tricia, but with a very different result

 

Margaret was working on yet another wonderful applique quilt, this one featuring penguins at the beach

 

I love this detail with the bucket

 

Friday, of course, means cake ...... and today's offering was my favourite apple and sultana

 

tomorrow, we're off to Cumbria for Woolfest, so hopefully on Monday I will have lots of photos of cute animals and all things wooly!  I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne

 

ps - remember to leave a comment or send me an email about an important event that you forgot about, to have the chance to win a wonderful prize.  I'll pick the winner on Monday.

 

 

Berwick : part II

Yesterday, we left Malcolm gathering driftwood on the beach.  Unfortunately he couldn't free this amazing piece from under a very large boulder - it would have made a great feature in the garden

 

he found lots of good pieces, but they were all wedged tight, and he didn't want to risk bringing the boulders down on top of him, trying to pull them free

 

I went on taking photographs, including some of my favourite arty ones of rusty things!

 

I also poked about in the sand, looking for other things to take photos of.  An empty crab shell

 

and a piece of glass, with the edges worn smooth

 

I also had fun deciding whether to have the lighthouse on the right .....

 

....... or the left of the photo

 

when looking through the photos to choose which ones to include, I came across this one.  You may wonder why the windows have been filled in  - unless you know about this tax

 

a neat stack of lobster pots on the quay

 

a seagull on top of an old chimney

 

and to finish, the first photo I took yesterday.  This was on the main road, just a few minutes into our journey.  There was a large lorry in front of us, so I only had a few seconds to take the photo as the caravan came into view, before we had passed it

 

I mentioned yesterday that I had missed the milestone of my 1300th post ....... and I'm offering a prize for the best story of a missed/forgotten significant event.  So tell me in a comment or email to have a chance of winning the fabulous prize (now I'll have to have a search in the studio for something fabulous!!)

 

 

A missed milestone!*

Oh dear, I didn't notice when I did my 1300th post ....... this is post 1306!  So we'll just pretend that this is the landmark one, as we had a great day out today, so there are lots of photos to share with you.  We headed over the border to Berwick, a town steeped in history.  As we walked from the car into town, I stopped to admire the railway viaduct

 

first stop was for lunch.  If we had known how big the baguettes were, we would have ordered one between us!  Malcolm ordered Coronation chicken, and I ordered cheese savoury.  When the waitress brought them, we took a look at each other's and decided to have half each!

 

after lunch, we set off for a walk round the town walls.  There are a lot of gun emplacements ......

 

........ a reminder of the days when the town had to be protected from the pesky Scots!

 

the sun came out, and the views were wonderful

 

two gates in one photo!

 

I remembered that the last time we walked along the walls, we passed some allotments, which seemed to be home to a Hobbit

 

I spotted this man in a boat ....

 

....... then realised that he was working with these men, pulling in fishing nets

 

but I don't think they would want to use this boat, which was part of a garden design

 

we had a good view of the three bridges - the original narrow one (easily defended to keep the aforementioned Scots out), the "new" bridge, which was opened in 1928, and the railway viaduct

 

after our walk on the walls, we headed to the beach, to look for driftwood for Malcolm's creations.  While he gathered wood, I took photos of the old wooden groynes

 

I still have lots of photos to share with you ...... so I think you will have to come back tomorrow for the rest!

*Have you missed or forgotten a special event ...... tell me in a comment or an email, and there will be a prize for the best one!

 

A busy day!

First thing this morning I popped my knitting in to soak

 

it is knitted with the most wonderful soft alpaca yarn, which I bought here, when we were in Australia lst year

 

once I had rinsed it, I squeezed out the excess water ...... remember, NEVER wring your wet knitting!  Then I rolled it in a towel and squeezed it some more

 

I put an old pillowcase on the rug in the back lounge, and got out my blocking wires.  I had invested in them some time ago when I was knitting a lot of shawls (both baby and adults ones).  They make it much, much easier to block out knitting

 

so, finally, here it is!  I got the idea to knit a cowl from Meredithe, who knitted a very pretty one recently.  I started knitting it when we were driving up to Stuart and Alison's the other weekend ......

 

........ and that's when a slight problem arose!  Through not paying close attention, and also because I was using a circular needle that was slightly too long, so I was juggling the stitches ....... I somehow managed to twist the knitting, and have ended up with a somewhat different cowl to the one I intended to make.  However, once it is dry and I can take photos wearing it, you will see that it actually has turned out ok (just don't ask me to produce another one the same, as I don't know what I did!)

While the cowl was soaking, I cleaned this vase.  I don't know quite how old it is, but I remember it as already being old when I was a child

 

I think the vase probably belonged to my grandparents, and would have been given to my parents when Granny and Grandpa moved to Galway to live with my only aunt and uncle (I only had one set of grandparents, as my Mum was an orphan).  The top of the vase is silver, so I had to unearth the silver polish from the back of the cupboard

 

once it was clean, I grabbed the secateurs and had a quick snip to fill the vase

 

by then it was time for a cuppa.  I would love a teapot like the one on the box!

 

so, what was the other thing that Malcolm made at the weekend?  A miniature chair!

 

I saw a tiny chair in this post on Thimbleanna's blog, and asked Malcolm to make one for me.  The frame is made from bits that he recenty removed from the gate-leg table in the studio, and the seat is oak that he used when he made crackets (stools).  The plan is to paint the frame, then upholster the seat.  I think he is worried that I am going to steal the paint he used for his chair, which several of you enquired about (he needn't worry, I intend to use Annie Sloan chalk paint)

 

when Malcolm was out and about this morning, he popped into the garden centre to get some compost and plants for his new planter.  Considering that it only a few hours to make, and is made with scrap wood, it looks exceedingly good!

 

I spent the rest of the day quilting, and have just about finished the in the ditch quilting - this evening will be spent sewing in rather a lot of ends!

 

a bit of silliness to finish.  I heard that annoying "walks like Rihanna" song on the radio this morning, and I thought of another chorus

She can't serve

She can't volley

But who cares

She shrieks like Sharipova .........

 

Shrieking!

No, not me, but Maria Sharipova this afternoon at Wimbledon!  I think that if I were her opponent, I would leap the net and stuff a tennis ball in her mouth to keep her quiet ..........

On Saturday, I got ready to start the quilting on Leanne's House.  As always when starting something new, I cleaned the machine and put in a new needle

 

it's amazing how much fluff accumulates under the bobbin case

 

I taped the backing fabric to the table, followed  by the wadding, and then added the quilt top

 

the next job was to thoroughly pin all the layers together

 

I decided to quilt in the ditch, which means stitching along the seams.  Once I have done that, I will add some decorative quilting on the bigger blocks

 

as the stitching doesn't show on the front, this is the back, showing how far I had got by the end of this afternoon

 

we were going to go for a walk yesterday morning, but just as we parked the car, it started to rain heavily.  So we just had to make do with some sconnage for an early lunch

cheese

 

cherry

 

when I did the food shopping this morning, I popped a bunch of flowers in the trolley - pretty sweet williams

 

while I was busy sewing over the weekend, Malcolm was sawing and hammering in the garage.  He has only just put the chair he made last year out in the garden, and yesterday it was joined by his latest creation, a sturdy planter

 

he also made something else, but you will have to wait until tomorrow to see it ........ yes, I forgot to take a photo of it!!

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Frothy!

When we do the housework on Friday mornings, we stop half way through for a cuppa.  Malcolm has coffee and I have hot chocolate.  We do love our gadgets, and this is one that was also a Christmas present for Malcolm.  It may look like a caffetiere, but it is a hot milk frother

 

it has a nylon mesh insert, which you pump up and down, creating creamy, frothy milk

 

I was busy at patch'n'chat this afternoon, working on both the revised version of Country Cottages and the June block for A is for Applique - the birds and the bees.  I have mentioned before that any photos I take there never come out well because of the lighting, so I waited until I was home to take these

the fusible web prepped ready to make up the cottages

 

the three elements of the birds and the bees

 

perhaps I need to work on my poetry!

 

what a delicious treat with our afternoon cuppa, Annette's light-as-air chocolate sponge, with cream and strawberries

 

the sparrows appear at the end of the afternoon to have a drink from the birdbath - although strangely they don't seem to be as keen to have a bath as they do in the freezing winter weather!

 

this one was giving a running commentary on the proceedings

 

I haven't been doing much knitting, as I have been doing so much sewing, but I have finally produced ....... well, hopefully I'll finish it at the weekend and show it to you on Monday!

 

I hope you have a good weekend - I'll be busy sewing!  Love, Anne

A bit of a blur

I was at the optician's this morning, for what I thought would be my regular eye check ....... but no, because of my age (!) I needed an extra test, which required havinng drops put in my eyes.  I really don't like having things put in my eyes - I have never tried contact lenses ....... so it didn't help when the optician said it would sting a bit (yes, it did!).  But the main thing was that it left me with blurred vision for the rest of the day.  The good news is that my distance sight has actually improved, and she has tweaked my reading prescription.  I eventually picked a new pair of glasses - but you will have to wait until the 1st of July to see them.

So, to finish off our trip.  On our way home, we stopped at Masson Mills.  But we didn't stop for the shopping (ok, we did have a look round), but for the museum

 

just when it looked as if we were going to have a weekend with no sconnage, we stopped at a coffee and farm shop ........

 

....... and shared a delicious cheese scone

 

when I got up yesterday and looked out the window, I decided to go for a walk, rather than using the implements of keep-fit torture.  Although it was only 6.45, this tractor was already hard at work

 

I just missed getting a photo of this bale as it popped out the back of the baler

 

this Jacob's ewe was keeping an eye on me through the bars of the gate

 

while this one ignored me and went on munching

 

sharing the field with the ewes is this old donkey - I think it is about 30!

 

back home I had breakfast, followed by my usual Wednesday morning soak in the bath (with a book and a mug of hot chocolate).  Then we headed to Old Melrose, where we went on a new walk

 

after his flirtation with stone, Malcolm went back to his first love of wood when he saw this rustic bench

 

we passed Old Melrose House

 

on our way to here

 

back home, I was taking some photos of the poppies in the back garden .......

 

........ when I saw this

 

slightly worried that it was some sort of nasty bug which would bite or sting, I poked it with a stick ...... only to find that it was the outside of a bud, which had fallen into the flower!

 

the hostas are looking wonderful - I much prefer them before they flower

 

well, I think that's me all caught up, except for one last thing from the weekend.  Malcolm saw a book he fancied, but having hummed and hawed he didn't buy it.  Then of course afterwards he wished he had bought it.  So being a loving and caring wife, of course I went online and ordered it for him, and it arrived this morning - he says it's full of all sorts of wondrous stuff about wood (ok, that might not be an accurate quote!!)

So what did I do?

After Malcolm went off to build his wall on Saturday, I went for a walk.  The cottage we were staying in was part of what had been a working farm - you can read more here

 

the owners of the cottages rent out the surrounding fields to a local farmer - there are cows in the summer and sheep in the winter.  As I got to the bottom of the farm road, all the heifers in the field kicked up their heels and came running over.  It was a bit scary, and I was glad that there was a well-built wall between them and me!

 

they were almost dancing as they followed me

 

when I was talking to one of the owners of the cottages the next day, he described them as a bunch of teenage hooligans!

 

this cow in the field across the road was slightly more sedate!

 

back in the cottage I setted down to do some sewing.  This is the comfy sofa I spent quite a lot of time sitting on, sewing, over the weekend (I didn't get time to read my magazines).  The tv is just out of sight on the right - on Saturday I watched King Solomon's Mines (the Richard Chamberlain version) and on Sunday it was Coraline (which was scary!!)

 

looking at the room from the tv corner, you can see the well-equipped kitchen (yes, that is a tiny dishwasher on the left!)

 

the small, but charming, bedroom ........

 

....... and the ensuite shower room

 

on Sunday morning I went out for another walk, but this time the heifers ignored me, as they were too busy licking at something in a bucket

 

the sun was shining and the birds were singing- bliss ....... except for the large amount of cars going past!  It is so quiet here when I go out for a walk - I was out early this morning and all I encountered was  a tractor in the distance and one of the neighbours walking his dogs.  When I saw all these walls, I wondered if Malcolm would want to stay on a repair them!

 

I was rather taken with this beautiful farmhouse - perhaps I could live in it while Malcolm works on the walls?

 

and these two gorgeous beasties were in the field in front of the farmhouse.  I think the second one looks like a sphinx

 

I liked the way that the trees arched over the road

 

I took this photo of the sign for the footpath on my way out........

 

...... then took this one from the other side of the road on my way back - yu can see the path meandering off into the distance

 

this little stone barn made me think of The Little House on the Prairie

 

back at the cottage, I tried to capture the beautiful scenery, but it was very hazy

 

I still have to tell you what we did on the way home on Monday, and about my walk this morning, and the walk we had before lunch ....... and I haven't even shown you any sewing yet this week!  We very rarely have pudding (I don't count a low-fat yogurt as pudding)  - but look at this  delicious concoction we had tonight.  And although it looks indulgent, it was surprisingly low in calories ..... the meringue nest is 50 calories, as is the spoonful of half-fat creme fraiche, and although I didn't work out the calories for the fruit, it wouldn't have added many more

Stoned!

I had a lightbulb moment last year, when I was trying to think of a Christmas present for Malcolm ....... knowing that he is interested in dry stone walls, I did a search and found this.  It was a simple matter to buy a gift voucher, which meant he could choose which weekend to go.  He sensibly decided to wait until now, in the hope that the weather would be good, and apart from a brief shower on Saturday morning, it stayed dry, but not too hot.  It turned out that several of the other thirteen participants had also been given a voucher for Christmas!  Their first job was to take apart a section of old wall - the piles of green are stinging nettles, which they had to clear

 

next, they graded the stone and laid it out in rows

 

then they started rebuilding the wall

 

this was Malcolm's section on the Saturday - he was working at the other end on Sunday

 

he was creaking a bit when he came back to the cottage on Saturday evening, so we headed to Bakewell, where we sat by the river and tucked into fish and chips

 

back at work on Sunday, the wall was taking shape

 

but it wasn't all hard work

 

Malcolm showing off his hard work

 

by the end of the afternoon, the coping stones were being put on top of the wall

 

the finished section of wall - hopefully it will still be there in a hundred years' time!

 

on Sunday evening we headed back to Bakewell, where we found a French restaurant for dinner

 

Malcolm had chicken fricasse

 

while I tucked in to boeuf Bourguignonne

 

I'll be back tomorrow to tell you what I got up to while Malcolm was building his wall, with photos of the stunning scenery ...... and I'll also tell you about these cows

A new skill

I've just popped in for a moment, to let you know that we are back home, weary after a very busy weekend.  I'll be back tomorrow with a full report, but here is a little sneak peak at Malcolm's wall building