frayed at the edge

It's Friday again!

My goodness, it hardly seems five minutes since I was sitting here in the flat last Friday writing a post!  When we arrived after lunch there was a big ship in the dock, but it wasn't being loaded as it was raining, so there was also a queue of lorries

 

when the rain went off, this crew member appeared and started opening the hatches with this natty hoist

 

having lifted a section, he whizzed along and deposited it on top of the others - I wanted to have a go!  But before long it started to rain again, the hatches were closed and all the lorries left

 

on Wednesday afternoon I thought I ought to make a start to stitching my block for this year's challenge for Abbey Quilters.  We are doing sashiko blocks  - we were given a piece of fabric and thread, and a choice of patterns.  I chose this one, as it is much more interesting than the ones that are made up of straight lines or curves.  This is the pattern pinned to the fabric with a piece of chalk transfer paper in between

 

the chalk lines will rub off after the pattern is stitched

 

it is very soothing to sit and stitch along the lines with long stitches

 

this afternoon we braved the rain and walked over to town, where we popped into Fantoosh for a cuppa and cake  

 

Malcolm chose lemon and almond shortbread, which was very tasty

 

but when he tasted my chocolate mint brownie, he wished he had ordered one too!!

 

the forecast for the weekend is cold but dry, so hopefully we will be out and about.  Have a good weekend, love Anne

One for now ......

....... and one for later!  I was busy cooking this morning, starting with asparagus and fennel soup.  The other ingredients - onions, chicken stock and pepper (there is enough salt in the stock)

 

as always when I make soup, I started by sweating the onions in a little glug of oil

 

I sliced the fennel using the mandolin - making sure I used the guard, having cut myself in the past!  I added the fennel and asparagus to the pot, and sweated them with the onions a little longer

 

then I added the stock and the pepper, along with some boiling water, and left the soup to simmer until the veggies were tender

 

I love my stick blender - so much easier than getting out the food processor to whizz the soup (I don't like soup with bits in it)

 

a delicious lunch, with the addition of a little bit of Cambozola cheese

 

the rest of the soup, which is now in the freezer for another day

 

I had taken these lamb shanks out of the freezer yesterday to defrost, ready to cook today

 

I got out my Davina book

 

to (more or less) use this recipe

 

I used mushrooms instead of aubergines, and cooked them gently with onions and garlic in some olive oil

 

I measured out the spices, a half teaspoon of each, except for the cinnamon, which was a quarter teaspoon

 

using a tip from Madhur Jaffrey (from way back in the 80s, when she had a cookery programme on tv), I added some water to the spices to make a paste, which makes it easier to stir them into the veggies.  I then let them cook gently for a couple of minutes, which cooks off the raw taste of the spices

 

the next ingredient was tomatoes - although I don't like raw tomatoes, I am quite happy to eat cooked ones

 

having stirred in the tomatoes and some water, I transferred the sauce to the slow cooker

 

then having added a little bit more oil to the saucepan, I browned the shanks

 

and added them to the slow cooker.  Then I left them to cook for several hours (while I tackled the ironing!)

 

we had one each for dinner, with some couscous.  The other two have gone in the freezer, ready to have on a busy day

An entertaining evening!

Our speaker last night was Susie Finlayson, who was very much involved in the making of the Great Tapestry of Scotland.  You can read about when I went to see it, and see lots of photos here.  Susie told us that it was her Mum who signed up originally to work on the Tapestry (despite not being a stitcher!),  then one day she phoned Susie and suggested that she should go along and give a hand ....... of course Susie (despite being a grown up) did what her Mum said!  She started by tracing the designs and sorting out the wools needed, then posting off the packs to the stitchers.  But she gradually got drawn in and ended up stitching too.  Since then, she has developed a new career, teaching stitching workshops, and now, along with some other stitchers, has formed Yarns Ecosse - do click on the link to see the beautiful kits that they have produced.  Although they aren't yet selling them online, Susie said that if there is one you would like to email them, and hopefully they will be able help.  It was a very enjoyable evening, as Susie is a natural story teller, who had us in fits of laughter

 

so, now on to the sewing.  At the weekend, I quilted eight of the stitcheries, and made start to the ninth

 

I bought this magazine on Saturday

 

and was very interested in this little item on numbered pins ........ until I got to the end and saw the price!!

 

when I told Malcolm about the price, he said what I was thinking, that I could make my own.  So I got out this set of pins, which had been free with a magazine, and a little block of post-it arrows, which are only sticky on the point

 

I simply wrapped the post-its round the pins and wrote the numbers on (hi-tech stuff!!)

 

and here is one in action

 

next I looked out this tin, which had previously had lemon-flavoured salt in it

 

it looked a bit boring, so I added some washi tape

 

so here are my numbered pins, which probably cost me about 10p to make

 

having made the pins, I then got on with the rest of the blocks with the birdie fabric.  This was my first random layout which I wasn't happy with.  I fetched Malcolm from the garage, where he was playing with bits of wood, to have a look.  He stated the obvious, that there was too much purple at the top, but didn't have a suggestion for a better layout

 

so after a lot of rearranging (and perhaps a naughty word or two) I arrived at a layout I liked

 

and it didn't take long to stitch it all together

 

so all that is leftover is a little pile of scraps, and three strips from the jelly roll ....... I wonder what I can do with them

 

to finish - we are in the middle of the campaign for the elections for the Scottish Parliament.  Election day is the 5th of May, when we will choose a new set of numpties/idiots/useless chookies/MSPs.  I was going to strike through the first descriptions, but they apply to most of our politicians.  So when this election pamphlet arrived this morning, I had a chuckle ....... would you trust a politician called Cunning ......... I can just hear his opponents saying "cunning by name, cunning by nature"!

 

What we did on Sunday

We had just set out to head south down the A1 on Sunday morning, when I realised that I had forgotten to lift the big camera, so all of these were taken with the point and shoot.  Our destination was Amble, where we were rather taken with these new pods

 

there are fifteen of them, with all sorts of little businesses

 

there are rather more boats in the marina than we are used to seeing in our dock!

 

lunch was broccoli soup, with delicious fresh-baked bread

 

on our way back, we drove through Warkworth, which has an imposing castle (the strange mark is a reflection on the car windscreen)

 

we came back up the coast road, with a little side trip to Low Newton.  We popped into the pub to use the toilets - we would of course have bought a drink if we had been challenged, but the place was so busy nobody noticed (and as there are no public toilets, I guess the pub must be used to people sneaking in to use the facilities!)

 

sand, sea and blue sky - bliss!

 

we rather liked these posh beach houses

 

away in the distance, you can just make out Dunstanburgh Castle

 

and one more castle to finish - the magnificent Bamburgh Castle

 

this has been a rather hurried post, as it is Abbey Quilters' monthly meeting tonight, and I need to pick Maureen up much earlier than usual, as we have committee duties to attend to.  I'm not sure if I will be able to take any photos tonight, as we have a guest speaker, but I will be back tomorrow with some sewing.

What we did on Saturday

When we walked over the old bridge on Saturday morning on our way to town, we heard a splash and a plop ...... and there below us was a seal, which had come out of the water on to a rock.  I only had the point and shoot with me, so you can't see him too clearly.  And even less clear is the heron on the little outcrop behind him

 

then we spotted another heron - this time you can see more of his reflection than you can of him

 

the sun reflecting off the water had given this photo the feel of a painting

 

it was an exceptionally low tide, and you can see the wooden piling round the bridge pier

 

and this is very old wooden piling round the foot of the old bridge

 

I rather like the bits of reflections of the bridge in the pools

 

later in the morning we set off for the beach, and we got a closer look at a heron

 

looking back at the three bridges basking in the sunshine

 

this is the ramp for launching the lifeboat - there isn't usually this much of it exposed - we were worried that there wouldn't be enough water at the end of the ramp if the boat was needed

 

the sky reflected on the calm water

 

I wonder who had fun making this - could it have been us?  A couple walking their dog stooped to ask if we were going to dance round it ....... Malcolm said yes we would be back at midnight, and I added that we would take off all our clothes.  Did they want to join us?  For some reason they said no!

 

if we could have picked this up, we would have brought it home to make a seat in the garden

 

I think Malcolm was contemplating how many logs this would provide

 

of course we have to have a photo of the lighthouse

 

I just liked this abandoned tyre, standing upright in the middle of the beach

 

halfway through our walk, we sat in the sun outside the cafe on the promenade, and shared a delicious bowl of chips

 

then, on our way back after quite a bit more walking on the beach, I treated us to icecreams

 

I'll be back tomorrow to tell you what we did on Sunday.

Small boats and large ships

We came over to the flat after lunch, and the new runner was immediately put on the little dining table

 

I think it looks very good - and even the pot pourri is colour coordinated with it!

 

when we walked over to town, we stopped on the old bridge to look at these two small fishing boats.  Malcolm was laughing when the left hand one turned to show its stern, just as I took the photo, suggesting it had taken lessons from all those uncooperative animals who turn their bottoms to the camera

 

when we came back form town, we found that a yacht had come into the dock

 

but it was dwarfed by this ship

 

which was being loaded

 

the swans weren't bothered by the ship

 

and the pigeons were happy pecking at the spilled seed

 

but then the survey boat came in

 

the swans scattered, and as the boat came up against the dock, the pigeons took off too

 

of course when we were in town we went for a cuppa and cake.  Malcolm had this elegant white chocolate and raspberry tart, which he said was delicious (I didn't taste it, because as you know, I don't like white chocolate)

 

and I had this wonderful lemon meringue pie

 

the forecast is a bit mixed for the weekend, but hopefully we will get out for a walk.  I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne

 

Painted and planted

Here is Malcolm's latest creation, basking in the sunshine this morning.  It looks grey here, but it is actually a very stylish black

 

the little conifer was from a pot in the front garden, which it had outgrown, and we bought the three little plants yesterday.  It still needs some more plants, but it is looking good

 

this afternoon I sat down in the studio, with the stove blazing to keep me warm and watched a film, while I hand stitched the binding on the big runner

 

next, the piece of fabric which Maureen gave me.  I managed to cut eight six-inch strips

 

which I then cross cut to give me a total of twenty four squares, with only the smallest of scraps left over

 

I looked out the remains of a jelly roll, which I had got some time age from Sandra, our lovely Linus lady

 

I sorted out the strips into pairs of a coloured one and a green one

 

I stitched a strip down one side of two squares

 

cut off the extra and stitched it to the other side

 

I cut the two squares apart and pressed the seams

 

then did the same on the other two sides with a green strip.  When I put them on the design wall, I had thought of arranging them like this

 

but this afternoon I had a rethink, and decided to do half the squares like that, and half the other way round, with short green strips and long coloured strips.  It will look better once I have done more squares and mixed the colours more

 

to finish - I found this photo earlier, when I was looking back through last month's photos, and thought that it might make a good quilting pattern (it's a tractor's tyre track in the sand).

The final stitch!

On Sunday night, I put the last stitch into the 32nd stitchery!

 

these are the last two, pressed and ready to trim, before adding the backing fabrics

 

the pile of thirty two, ready for quilting

 

I had already decided to use this thread and big stitches - although I find it hard to quilt with big stitches, they tend to get smaller as I go

 

I have quilted round the stitchery, and the inner edge of the edging

 

I will also quilt round the outer edge

 

I had a search through my stash yesterday for backing fabric for the big runner.  Not only did I not have anything with a beach or nautical theme, but I didn't have a piece big enough (I don't like joins in my backing fabric).  So it was into my precious stash of Laura Ashley fabrics ........ I have to admit that I have had this stash since the 1990s, when I was able to buy a big pile of remnants which were a quarter of the original price

 

all pinned up, ready to quilt

 

I thought it might be difficult to work the pattern across the whole runner, so I started by quilting down the middle row of squares

 

in places I stitched into the squares on either side, and left spaces so that I could stitch into the centre squares from each side

 

as I quilted down the second row, there was a bit of a clank and a clonk, and I thought the thread had jammed, but the spool had run out

 

fortunately a quick search of my thread stash (!) uncovered another reel of the same colour

 

the second row quilted, showing where I have stitched from side to side over the centre seam

 

the third row stitched

 

it didn't take long to trim the runner and machine stitch the binding to the front.  Now all I have to do is hand stitch the binding to the back

 

this is the blanket that I knitted for the Jedburgh Flower Show industrial section competition.  It has still to be blocked, which will show the pattern off better

 

but a certain bear was most annoyed that Jemima got to show off the blanket, as she also showed off the pink one, so he had to have his photo taken too!

 

I thought the plain cream blanket was perhaps a little bit boring, so I have started one with a different coloured border

 

I have to admit that I put this matinee jacket (also for the competition) aside, as I don't like sewing up knitting ........

 

....... and started on a slightly different version, which will have short sleeves

 

Maureen gave me this piece of fabric on Monday to include in a Linus quilt ....... I'll show you tomorrow what I have done with it so far

 

 

A walk in the park

On Sunday we walked over the old bridge, then along the river to Castle Vale Park

 

the start of the walk is dominated by the railway bridge

 

this photo shows the scale of the bridge, with the tiny figure of a rower who had just come through the arch

 

the air was full of the small of wild garlic - but look out for the nettles if you pick it!

 

as always we paused to admire the ruins of the castle

 

this plaque shows what the castle might have looked like

 

someone has had fun with the trees and branches washed down the river in the floods, building a wonderful boat!

 

the boat even has a deck

 

but my favourite bit is the branch at the front which looks like a strange four-legged beastie is trying to climb aboard

 

further along the path Malcolm spotted this owl peeking out of the undergrowth

 

and who can resist a rotten old fence post (but again, look out for those nasty stinging nettles)

 

it looks as if this tree is coming into leaf

 

but it is fluffy catkins, not leaves

 

we encountered several gates on our walk.  The first one is in need of some tlc

 

the second one is at the entrance to the park which was to have commemorated the coronation of Edward VIII, but after his abdication, it was dedicated to George VI

 

but this is my favourite - if you look to the left of the gate, there is nothing to stop you simply walking past it!

 

this beautifully restored cottage is a holiday rental

 

it has a stylish weather vane

 

and a quirky garden seat

 

as always on our way back, I paused to take a photo of the view through the railway bridge to the "new" road bridge, and the old bridge

 

the railway bridge is so long, that even this photo doesn't show the full length of it

 

as we walked back into town, we crossed over the railway just as a train pulled into the station

 

somehow the beautiful old buildings have survived - so may old stations have been knocked down and replaced with ugly modern buildings

 

we were going to have scones for lunch, but we made the mistake of looking at the menu, and instead had rather delicious sandwiches.  It may look as if I used a special effect for these photos, but it was just that the lens had steamed up!  Malcolm had egg mayo

 

and I had coronation chicken

 

we walked along the quayside after lunch - and there was another lovely rusty pile

 

late in the afternoon, these two swans came into the dock

 

I'll be back tomorrow with some sewing - and some knitting.  But to finish - I was delighted to read the other day that a recent survey showed that the population of long tailed tits has increased because of the mild winter.  And to prove it, we have had more in the garden

 

A ripping yarn!

Our first stop on Saturday was at the St Abbs Wool Festival.  It was very busy, and this was the only photo that I took (with permission).  The needle felted creatures were delightful, but sadly none came home with us.  Indeed I didn't buy anything, because I just thought of the size of my stash, and sensibly decided not to add to it

 

it was a lovely day to be out and about, looking down to the harbour

 

I have taken lots of photos of this memorial

 

with its tragic figures looking out to sea

 

and when I was sorting out my photos on Saturday evening ......

 

..... it occurred to me that I always take the photos from behind, looking out to sea with the figures

 

we had taken a picnic with us, and decided to go on down the coast to Coldingham, to eat it looking out over the beach.  As usual there were some surfers braving the cold water

 

this snail on the side of the picnic bench looked determined to share my sandwich!

 

this tiny one was on the table top - that's the top from a bottle of (diet) Coke to give the scale

 

our next stop was in Eyemouth.  When we there there the other Sunday, this shop was shut ...... and it was shut again on Saturday, as it is being refurbished.  Hopefully it will be third time lucky next time we go

 

however this little gallery was open (Malcolm was on his way in, then turned round just as I took the photo).  

 

The gallery has all sorts of lovely things, and I bought the little blue and white boat for Malcolm to add to his fleet

 

 

what is this up in the tree?

 

a friend of this big pink Easter rabbit!

 

there was all sorts of yarn bombing in front of the church

 

but every time I see yarn bombing, I just think that it is a waste of yarn that could be put to better use!  (I know, I'm turning into a grumpy old woman!!)

 

this is the Eyemouth lifeboat

 

and this one is from Whitby, which is quite a bit further down the coast, so we have no idea why it was in the harbour

 

we were about to give up watching for a seal - when one popped up!

 

I am sure that some trendy art gallery would display this collection of rusty bits as a cutting edge work of art

 

as we walked back to the car, we paused to watch a boat load of divers heading our of the harbour

 

I'll be back tomorrow to share what we did yesterday, and to finish, two photos of the super display of daffodils as you drive into Berwick