frayed at the edge

I saw a ship come sailing in ......

......... or rather, I saw three ships in the studio yesterday, after Malcolm added sails and little flags on the masts

 

and in case I get lost in the garden, I have a smart new sign over the studio door

 

I bought the tiles in Majorca last year, but Malcolm only found the fourth piece of driftwood for the frame on the beach at Berwick when we came home two weeks ago

 

this may seem a funny thing to buy on holiday, but when I saw these pegs they made me smile!

 

I have long been a fan of Marian Keyes, going back to her first book, which was published in 1996

 

so when I saw her latest in the supermarket on Monday when I did the weekly food shop, of course it went in my trolley!

 

I raced through it in a couple of days ....... a real "I couldn't put it down" book (except to eat and sleep!)

 

I shall have to make a space in the Marion Keyes section of the bookcase!

 

This is the first of this year's sparrow chicks that I have seen ....... a little bundle of fluffy feathers visiting the new birdbath

 

in the back garden, I took this photo through the studio door of a blue tit about to pop into the nest box.  You can just see that it has a fly in its beak

 

I keep getting distracted by the sheepies in the field across the road

 

and to end, we have the Friday cake - a delicious chocolate confection flavoured with Ovaltine, and topped with Maltesers ....... bliss!

 

I am going to a workshop at Abbey Quilters tomorrow, so hopefully I will remember to take photos to share with you on Monday!  Have a good weekend, love Anne

 

 

 

Getting ready for the fair

On holiday, we were in a lovely new shop in Pollensa which sold all things soapy.  I spotted something which I thought I could make for the craft fair.  When I was in Berwick last week I was able to buy some lovely scented soaps, which you can see here cut up into quarters

 

I bored a hole in each piece of soap with a skewer, and tied some rafia round each piece

 

then strung the soap with shells and driftwood. to produce fragrant mobiles to hang in the bathroom

the next job was to cut up card to make price tags (the word blunt  on the rotary cutter refers to the fact that the blade is too blunt to cut fabric, but not card)

 

ready to stamp - if you didn't see the stamp when I made it several weeks ago, it says DriftAway

 

we have just about finished making things, the next job is to decide how to set up our table - I think we will have a trial run on one of the studio tables next week, so that we have a plan to follow when we set up on the Friday night.

 

I have been stitching away in the evenings, and have finished another block for "Twas the night before Christmas" - a jolly fat Santa

 

when we were in Majorca, Maureen wasn't that far away, as she was on holiday in Barcelona.  She found a shop selling beautiful Japanese fabric, and brought back this piece for me

 

I have been trying very hard not to buy quilting/craft books, but I succumbed to this one after seeing Joanne Sharpe on The Quilt Show

 

a lot of the book is about lettering in journals, but I like this little stitchery

 

we went out for lunch today, to the Jammy Coo.  Malcolm had a delicious parma ham, mozarella and olive paninni

 

while I tucked into a bacon, brie and cranberry bagel

 

when we finished, Delia, the lovely owner, tried to tempt us with a cake, but we declined!  To finish, I have two quirky photos from our holiday of modes of transport - neither of which you are likely to find me using!

 

Don't worry, there will be sewing ........

........ but I have some other photos that have been patiently waiting for inclusion.  First ..... sheepies!

 

and a horse, all of them in the field across the road

 

we had a beautiful sunset on Friday night

 

remember I bought the inexpensive bird bath as a temporary replacement?  Well, it's just as well it was inexpensive, as the birds wouldn't go near it!  And when we had heavy rain last week, we realised that the resulting increased water level was too deep.  So it has been demoted to looking pretty in the back garden, and I have bought a proper replacement.  The sparrows have already checked it out and approved!

 

so, now for the sewing.  I took the "Twas the night before Christmas" stitchery on holiday, and managed to get quite a lot of it done

 

and when we were over at the flat last week I finished another little stitchery (that's 12 of 32!)

 

but best of all, at patch'n'chat on Friday, I persuaded Margaret to let me take photos of some of her latest blocks.  Her work is beautiful ...... I am looking forward to seeing how this quilt progresses (click on the photos to enlarge them to see the detailed stitching)

 

I wouldn't want you worrying that we were deprived af tasty treats now that we are back home"  Yesterday we went to The Waterwheel Cafe on the outskirts of Selkirk, where we enjoyed one of our delicious two scone lunches

 

 

A greedy person's paradise ......

.......... or should that be two greedy people's paradise!  Just feast your eyes on these beauties!!

 

but I wouldn't want you to thing we ate cake every day .......... sometimes we had ice cream instead!!

 

and of course, you can't visit Spain without eating tapas

 

on to other matters!  We had a potter round the charity shops in Berwick during the week, and came home with one or two little goodies.  My first purchases were actually new goods, A little tin (a girl can never have too many tins!) and a notebook (a girl can never etc!)

 

next was an unused stencil, a bargain at 49p!

 

what was this, a tin saying embroidery threads

 

oh my, just look at all these wonderful colours

 

and with the paper label removed, another smart tin for the collection (refer to previous remark about tins)

 

the last purchase was made by Malcolm ....... he hummed and hawed over this little teapot, which has markings on it which the charity shop staff thought were foreign silver markings.  It may be silver, it may only be silver plate, but it wasn't that expensive for such a decorative item

 

I'll be back on Monday with some sewing.  I hope you have a wonderful weekend - we will be busy making things for the upcoming craft fair in Berwick (on the 6th of June, from 10am to 4pm, in the Town Hall).  To finish, you know that I like silly things, and the artwork on this lorry made me laugh!

 

 

 

The hailstones, thunder and lightning ..........

........ that we suffered yesterday afternoon nearly had me booking a flight back to Majorca!  However today is bright and sunny, and I am sitting at the dining table in the flat typing this, with the French door wide open on to the Juliet balcony.  We have come over to the flat as there is major upgrading work going on at home to our electricity supply ....... and when we have no power, we can't run water or flush the toilet!

I have just finished sorting through my holiday photos ...... I only took my point and shoot this year, as I have masses of photos from our previous visits.  I was very embarrassed to realise that by far the biggest file is of food, and that the food is mostly cakes!!  (yes I am firmly back on my healthy eating plan!).

For today though, I think I will show you some photos of our "neighbours" at the villa.  In the paddock next door were two horses, a sheep, three goats a cockerel and numerous fat hens, which provided us with lots of entertainment ........ especially the hens when they came running on their little fat legs when there was any food on the go!

 

 

don't worry, the horse wasn't as near to the barbed wire as he looks in the photo

 

the brown goats were very agile, leaping on to the wall to eat the trees, but the smaller black one couldn't quite make it

 

we mostly heard, rather than saw, the sheep, as she had a bell round her neck.  I eventually managed to snap her the day after she had been shorn!

 

there was a dovecote in the villa garden, with four beautiful white doves ........ I crept out one morning and managed to capture all four

 

there was also an aviary, with some beautiful little birds.  It was hard to take photos as there was a wire mesh front on the aviary, so I had to wiggle the camera about to try to get shots through the mesh.  They were rather shy, and if you startled them they would pop into their hollowed out logs

 

back home, the cherry tree has forgotten the dire warning that it was given last year (firewood was mentioned!), when it only managed to produce a handful of cherries.  I don't think this year's sparse blossom will produce anything much!

 

however the other tree in the front garden is looking very pretty, despite having already shed petals in the windy weather

 

then in the back garden, just look at this tree - this is the best display of blossom from it in all the years we have been here!

 

the little clematis beside the summer house is in full bloom

 

and there is a lovely splash of colour in the main border

 

on Friday I may just share some of the cakes with you ....... and there might be a delicious ice cream too!!

 

 

Rain rain go away!!

Oh my, we have seen more rain since we got home on Saturday evening than we saw the whole time we were away!  I am still sorting through all my photos, so for tonight a small selection

a rather strange boat!

 

a mountain in the distance behind the villa

 

the first (of many!) cakes

 

beautiful fruit in the market

 

as always, Malcolm wanted to buy a boat!

 

an idea for a driftwood fish?

 

it was rather hot!!

 

I am going to be very busy over the next few weeks, catching up on my sewing and making things for the craft fair, so I'll only be blogging on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.  Thank you for all your comments about my trip down memory lane.  Some of you asked questions, so I hope over the next week or so to reply.

To finish ...... there was a little calamity in the garden while we were away.  It must have been very windy, as the birdbath had blown over and smashed beyond repair.    When we were out this morning we popped into Homebase and found this inexpensive replacement.  I don't think we will be able to leave it out over the winter, so we will have to look for a winter-proof one later in the year

Memory lane : 9

The last of my meandering down memory lane!  This photo was taken, I think, when I was in 5th year at the Academy.  We had to cross from the main building to an outlying building to have our photos taken.  It was wet and windy, as you can see from my windblown hair and the large spots of rain on my blazer!  I'm not smiling as I had a crooked front tooth which I disliked!

 

I hope you have enjoyed these memories from my childhood!

Two more sleeps!!

 

I was complaining that my feet were very hot, so Stuart fetched a bowl of delightful cool water from the pool!!  Bliss!!

Last day tomorrow, the holiday has flown by!

Memory lane : 8

I mentioned before that I was a shy child, but at the Academy I joined the Debating Society.  The teacher who ran it, Mr Liddell, also taught us the basics of public speaking - stand up straight, don't fidget, don't wave your hands about*, look out over the audience and make lots of eye contact, so tht everyone thinks you are talking to them.  The highlight of my public speaking career was when four of us were invited to speak at the local Toastmasters' Club

 

this was the verdict on my speech

 

looking at the newspaper cutting, I see that I made the speech almost three weeks before my sixteenth birthday

 

and I still have my, by now somewhat tattered, original handwritten speech! 

 

 

*modern politicians need to take note of that instruction!!

Scorchio!!

It has been so hot today, we have spent a lot of time in the pool!