frayed at the edge

Our special day

It's our wedding anniversary today ........ 28 wonderful years!  You have probably noticed by now that our celebrations usually involve food and drink, and today has been no different.  We started of with a delicious breakfast of smoked salmon and scrambled egg - I stirred some cream cheese through the eggs to make them even tastier!

 

then for dinner tonight Malcolm had cooked the most wonderful slow-roasted shoulder of lamb - it was in the oven for four hours

 

and of course you can't have lamb without mint sauce

 

I still ate my Friday cake - Annette's delicious chocolate sponge with cream and strawberries

 

so that was the food, now for the drink!  A nice chilled glass of bubbles - served in the beautiful glasses that Stuart and Alison gave us for our Silver Wedding

 

it's going to be a very busy weekend, as I am off at the crack of dawn (or possibly earlier) to pick up  Maureen to head for Kelso to meet up with lots of other ladies from Abbey Quilters for our annual outing to the quilt show in Harrogate.  When we get back, I will head over to Berwick - Stuart and Alison are visiting for the weekend.  I am now going offline for the rest of the evening, so there will be a delay in replying to comments and emails - but I am sure you will understand that our anniversary celebrations come first!!  Whatever you are doing over the weekend, I hope you have a super time, love Anne

Cold porridge .......

.......... doesn't sound too appetising, but refrigerator oatmeal sounds a bit better.  As I resolutely avoid Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/Pinterest, I am usually lagging behind the latest buzz, but thanks to Thimbleanna providing a link on her blog, I read this post and decided that it sounded quite tasty.  So I prepared some on Tuesday afternoon that we thoroughly enjoyed for breakfast yesterday ....... in fact we enjoyed it so much I made it again yesterday afternoon, with these ingredients

 

it should also have chia seeds in it - but I have no idea what they are (probably the latest superfood which cure all ills).  This is the oatmeal all shaken up and ready to go in the fridge overnight

 

I don't normally eat my breakfast from my footstool!  It was raining and the room was gloomy, so I took the jar over to the window to get better light for the photo.  As you can see, the breakfast is lovely and thick and creamy ....... and you can simply eat it from the jar, saving on washing up!

 

 

we had a cuppa in Cafe Crema in Berwick before we came home.  As this is a "fast" day, I had to watch Malcolm tuck into the most delicious cheese and pickle scone ...... he took pity on me and gave me a little bit!

 

Malcolm gave me a shout this afternoon to come and see what he had disvovered when he was deadheading the rose on the pergola.  A rather scary caterpillar

 

I would much rather see the resulting butterflies, which were enjoying the warm afternoon sunshine

 

I know we are still in August, but it won't be long until Christmas (!), so I thought I had better make a start to my Christmas sewing.  I looked out these three patterns

 

and made a start to stitching the first one last night

 

it's a special day for us tomorrow - but you will have to wait until then to find out why!

 

Morning, noon and night ......

...... or rather night, morning, noon and late afternoon!  We start with last night's sunset

 

then it's on to early this morning.  You know that summer is drawing to a close when the swallows start to congregate on the phone wires, getting ready to fly off south for the winter.  It has been a good breeding year - I counted sixty of them this morning!

later in the morning when we arrived in Berwick, the dock was a hive of activity, as the ship that came in on Sunday was still there ........

 

..... and had been joined by another one

 

when we were walking into town, we stopped to look in the other dock gate and could see this ship was being loaded .....

 

..... while this one was being unloaded

 

we had a stroll round town, deciding where to go for lunch.  Two places were ruled out as they were a bit pricey, and another one was ruled out before we even looked at the menu in the window - we could hear the customers' conversation out in the street - if they were talking so loudly, it would hardly be a quiet lunch!  We finally settled on this tiny coffee shop

 

where we shared a delicious "French platter".  We should have had a wooden board each with our bread and cheese, but as we were sitting at a small table, we had to share one

 

on Sunday I finished the stitcheries, and yesterday I pressed them and trimmed them

 

so after lunch we took the stitcheries to a picture framer, and had a long discussion on spacing, mounts and frames.  It will be some weeks before we get the resulting picture back, as the framer is very busy.  When we got back to the flat, the dock was still very busy, with two machines unloading the ship nearer to us

 

then, an extra flurry of activity, and the pilot boat appeared

 

the swans took off towards the opening

 

closely followed by one of the ships

 

then, late afternoon, there was a great burst of activity on the remaining ship

 

and the holds were closed

 

then we watched in amazement as the pilot boat pushed the ship round ......

 

........ and round

 

until it too headed out to sea

 

to finish - the swans really do get annoyed at all the activity, and every so often one will rise up out of the water and flap its wings in a very disapproving way ....... but usually not when I have the camera to hand.  So I was delighted when I captured not one, but two doing it!

Bamburgh Castle

We had been meaning to visit the castle for some time, but we finally made the effort as we had a BOGOF entry voucher which was about to expire!  You can read about the castle here, here and here.  There is so much to see, it is somewhat overwhelming, and at times I simply forgot to take photos, as I looked round in awe!

the imposing entrance

 

a tribute to Lord Armstrong

 

looking up at the Keep

 

old defences

 

the  State Apartments

 

I liked this sign!

 

just one of the many exquisite treasures

 

the magnificent teak ceiling in the Great Hall

 

a detail of the ceiling

 

grand living

 

delicate furniture

 

not so delicate armour

 

an amazing wooden model

 

made on the other side of the country

 

this is a very special curtain ....

 

...... from many, many years ago

 

a detail of the curtain

 

so what is this contraption?

 

I think it would make the job harder, not easier!

 

we escaped before the portcullis came down!

 

as we went round the castle, we kept getting glimpses of the beach below

so of course we went for a long walk (along with lots and lots of other people, as it was the Bank Holiday weekend).  There are excellent views of the castle from the beach

 

we could also see the Farne Islands

 

and Holy Island

 

I was about to take an arty photo of this seaweed when a wave came much further up the beach than the proceeding ones - I got wet feet and my shot was spoiled!

 

I had better luck with the next one

 

just a few of the many people on the beach

 

I liked this row of old fence posts we passed, as we walked back up from the beach

 

to finish, another shot that went wrong - just as I took a photo of a surfer, he fell off and a little girl ran into the photo!

This and that ......

........ sometimes I just can't think of a title, and despite seeking Malcolm's help, that's the best I could come up with for today's post!

On Saturday morning, we walked to the local DIY shop, to buy, amongst other things, a hook to hold back the new bedroom curtain.  On the way, we had a detour to the local church

 

it was hard to take photos of the church itself, as it is surrounded by very large trees

 

the church is surrounded by a large graveyard, with some very old headstones

 

 

 

if you can't read this one, do click on it to enlarge it, as it has a lovely sentiment

 

 

a lot of the headstones are well preserved, although sadly some of them can no longer be read

 

 

back at the flat with the new hook, we spent some time trying out various options for the new curtain - should it go to the left or the right, should it be fixed right across the top, or pulled to the side?  This is what we finally decided on

 

when I saw this man coming into the dock in a small rowing boat, of course I reached for the camera.  I didn't expect a bonus in the photo - the seal popped its head out of the water just as I snapped!

 

we went to Bamburgh Castle yesterday, but I have so many photos, that I will keep them for a separate post tomorrow ......... but I will show you what we had for lunch.  As we had tucked into kippers and soda bread for breakfast, we shared a sandwich ........ delicious brie and onion chutney

 

late on Saturday afternoon, we saw a ship anchor offshore, waiting for high tide to come into the dock.  They obviously had decided not to use the high tide in the middle of the night, so when we got back yesterday, we were just in time to see the ship coming round the final bend of the deep water channel ........

 

....... while the pilot boat waited to usher it in through the opening to the dock

 

this ship was nowhere as big as the previous ones we have seen, and it had room to spare as it came in

 

this photo of it passing a lorry parked on the dockside shows the size of the ship (as an aside, Stuart was at school with, I think, three of the Stevenson famiy, owners of the haulage firm)

 

as usual the swans went off in a huff

 

supervised by that cheeky seal!

 

later on, there were two more arrivals

 

the swans didn't like that one either - off in another huff!

 

to finish, a little taste of tomorrow's post

A high score at Scrabble

Yes, I had an appointment with my Polish dentist this morning, the one whose name I can't spell, but I'm sure would give me a winning score at Scrabble!  It was just for my routine annual checkup - you have to imagine his saying in his James Bond film Villain's voice ...... is good, no cavities, no decay, just need scrape and polish.  That was soon done, with only slight discomfort ....... I was very brave and didn't cry!  There was no patch'n'chat today, as there was a group visiting the shop, so Malcolm had come to the dentist with me, and as soon as I had paid the bill (that's the biggest ouch!) we headed for Berwick.  We stopped just over the border for lunch at Cornhill Village shop

 

it just looks like a little place from the outside, but inside there is a food shop, a gift shop and a small coffee shop

 

the lady who took our order was delightful, and soon we were tucking into a delicious lunch.  Malcolm had a haggis, beans and tatties pie (the tomato is from my salad, you know that I don't like it) 

 

I had a roll stuffed full with chicken tikka

 

when we got to the flat, as soon as we had unpacked, we headed out for a walk to the lighthouse, but got sidetracked by this ship being loaded in the dock

 

then as we walked across the old bridge there was another pause as we saw the seal in the river.  As Stuart still has my long lens, you will just have to trust me that the little dark blob is indeed the seal

 

finally, the lighthouse was in sight

 

but there were still distractions.  This Edward VII postbox is from the early 1900s (he was Queen Victoria's son)

 

in the distance we coud see (just) Bamburgh Castle

 

and Holy Island

 

and of course I had to stop to admire some swans

 

but at last we reached the lighthouse.  Would you like it on the left of the photo

 

or on the right

 

the clouds started to build up, giving us dramatic skies

 

it would never do if I had to do without my Friday cake, so on our way back to the flat we bought two slices of a rather delicious lemon cheesecake

 

the ship was still being loaded

 

with a constant  stream of large lorries

 

there was a scary moment when these two got a bit close to each other

 

I haven't forgotten about the sewing - the cloth is on the table

 

the cushion is on the bed

 

and the curtain is up, with Malcolm acting as a temporary hook to hold the tieback in place!

 

we plan to be out and about over the weekend - whether you are at home or away, I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne

Home sewing

When I went out to the studio this morning, I pulled these three fabrics from my stash

 

the first job of the day was to make a table cloth for the little round table that we took over to the flat.  It is being used temporarily as a bedside table, but the dark wood doesn't look right against the pale wood of the bed.  Ths is a piece of embroidered silk that I found in a charity shop.  It was a half width, so the first job was to cut it in half lengthways and trim the ends

 

the sew the two pieces together. Then I folded the resulting piece on the diagonal to give me a square

 

having trimmed away the extra fabric, I folded it in half, then in half again to give me a square.  For the next stage I needed a map pin, a marking pen and a piece of string

 

I tied the string to the pin and pushed it through the corner into the floor (don't worry, it's just wooden flooring underneath, not wonderful floorboards that would be marked by the pin!)

 

I tied the pen to the other end of the string

 

and drew a quarter circle

 

I then cut out my circle

 

it took longer to pin and stitch the hem than the first stages took!

 

the next job was to run up a quick curtain for our bedroom in the flat.  It faces east, so on sunny mornings we have been woken up very early as the sun streams through the thin blind.  As we haven't decided on a colour scheme for when we decorate the bedroom, I don't want to spend a lot of money making curtains at the moment.  The fabrics I used were sample curtains which I bought for 25p each!  I started by cutting the patterned fabric into three strips (the sun decided to suddenly shine through the velux as I took the photo, causing a deep shadow on either side of the fabric)

 

I used the strips to put a border along the bottom and on one side of the main fabric

 

I added some recycled curtain tape, and that was my curtain made - it will be tied back to one side during the day

 

as all that hadn't taken as long as I thought it would, I decided to make some cushion covers, using the beach hut fabric I bought several weeks ago.  I had already cut the fabric into three pieces before I remembered to take a photo!  The next stage was to trim the ends

 

I hemmed both the short ends of each of the three pieces

 

then with the wrong side out, I folded and overlapped the fabric to give me almost a square - the width was an inch more, because of the seam allowance

 

having stitched the two side seams I turned the cover through to the right side and pressed the seams

 

the last stage was to topstitch round the cover, half an inch from the edge

 

the first one, finished except for the ends of the topstitching threads to be darned in

 

but alas the other two didn't get finished.  I only had the topstitching to do, but the machine threw a wobbly and the bobbin thread tension went haywire.  Usually this means one of two things - the machine needs cleaned, or the needle needs changed.  As by this time it was late in the afternoon and dinner would soon be ready (we eat early), I decided to leave finishing the other two to another day!

 

A fun day out

We picked Maureen up this morning, on our way to Anne's shop in Longframlington.  Malcolm dropped us of and then went to visit his sister Jennifer in Morpeth.  We were so busy blethering (and drinking tea) that I nearly forgot to take some photos!  First, this is Frances' (or should that be Frances's) Robin's Nest

 

this Mariner's Compass is about four inches in diameter

 

I would never have the patience to sew the tiny pieces for these minute  blocks

Ros was working on a large clamshell border ........

 

....... and has just finished this stunning applique and embroidery block

 

Margaret works on this piece off and on - it has grown quite a bit since I last saw it

 

in between all the chatting and tea drinking, I did manage to sew the next border on Mrs Billings

 

when we visited the shop last month, Ishowed you the lovely yarn that Anne now stocks.  Frances has bought several skeins, and wound it into balls today

 

it was nearly time to leave when I remembered that I hadn't taken any photos of the latest delicious fabrics

 

 

but fabrics don't have to be colourful to tempt you to buy them ...... I had to be very strongwilled not to come home with lots of these 

 

but I did buy something, this panel of labels

to finish - if you don't like spiders, don't scroll down to the last photo.  This beauty was in the utility room at bedtime last night - it's not the best of photos as the room isn't brightly lit (the wall is actually green, not the sickly yellow it looks in the photo)

Slightly cheating?

I was busy over the weekend working away on the stitcheries.  I finished this one, apart from the dots over the i's and the polka dots

 

then I made a start to the dreaded satin stitch dots - you can see at the bottom that I outline them with backstitch, which I find helps to get the shape right

 

this morning I made a start to Stuart and Alison's kitchen blind.  First I disassembled the old one

 

then pinned the lining to the new fabric, right sides together

 

having stitched down one side, across the bottom and up the other side, I cut away the excess fabric

 

having turned the blind through to the right side, I pressed the seams then topstitched them, working on the wrong side as it was easier to see the stitching

 

it didn't take long to stitch the channels for the battens, as I could see the old stitching lines

 

then I snipped the stitches to open the seams where the battens will be inserted

 

the last job was to sew on the rings that the cords run through - I had left bits of thread when I cut them off the old blind, so I knew where to stitch them on the new one

 

I'm looking forward to seeing how the blind looks when it is put up in Stuart and Alison's kitchen

 

I have been making a very determined effort ot get on with Mrs Billings.  Each of these bags ..........

 

....... contains the hexies to make either a triangle with calico and patterned fabrics, or all patterned fabrics

 

I have also cut out lots more hexies, and am gradually filling more bags, which will then be sorted out like the ones above

 

I picked this blue fabric for the next border - although I have blue corner squares, I like the way the different blue frames them

 

now comes the "cheating".  The next border has lots of squares in it, and a further border has even more squares the same size.   So I decided to rotary cut them in batches, rather than drawing round the template and cutting each one out individually.  There are four different fabrics in each stack, which gives me the choice of twenty fabrics for the border

 

and to finish ........ although the weather has turned somewhat cooler, there are still butterflies in the garden

The three bridges

The tide was up yesterday morning, so instead of going for a walk on the beach, we decided to walk along the river.  This meant we had excellent views of all three bridges over the Tweed.  First is the oldest bridge, Berwick Bridge, which was built between 1611 and 1624

 

the second bridge is the Royal Tweed Bridge, which was built in the 1920s

 

then the third bridge is the biggest, the Royal Border Bridge, a magnificent Victorian construction.  It is so long that I couldn't quite get it all in one photo

 

on beyond the railway bridge, I stopped to take a photo of this unusual railing ......

 

....... when Malcolm pointed out this gate, which was just a few steps further on.  It is a musical gate - the wind blowing through it plays tunes

 

we meandered on along the riverside path to Berwick Castle - or rather its remains

 

we stepped from the path down on to the riverbank, where I found the shell of a tiny green crab

 

usually I would call these brambles, but as they are English ones, they are blackberries!

 

we turned off the path to head back to town, passing first a wonderful old fence post complete with moss and rusty wire

 

then in contrast, a smart new fence

 

there is always time for an arty seedhead photo!

 

this padlock is so rusted, its insides have fallen out

 

all together now ....... aaaaaahh

 

we decided to try somewhere new for our lunchtime sconnage, and popped in here

 

we were very glad that we did.  The cheese scone was delicious, with lots of sharp cheese

 

and as for the fruit scone - it was very, very, yummy, rich with the taste of vanilla

 

I'll be back tomorrow with a sewing update, including the dreaded satin stitch polka dots!