frayed at the edge

A very special day!

On Monday we will celebrate our Pearl Wedding Anniversary ........ yes, thirty glorious years!  Here we are looking slightly apprehensive as we set off for the Registry Office in Winchester  (all these years later, I still have the scarf, as it was the first present Malcolm gave me!)

 

our friends Jo and George were our witnesses, and Stuart was delighted that he got to sign the register as well!  We were married by two lady Registrars, who had a box of tissues to hand for our happy tears (only George didn't shed a tear!)

 

posing on the steps of the Registry Office - what you can't see is the statue of a naked man on a horse, which was in front of us!

 

if you are thinking "so she's not a natural blonde" ....... that isn't my natural colour either!!

 

to celebrate our anniversary, we are heading off down to Hampshire tomorrow.  We will be there for a week, having a wonderful trip down memory lane - we lived there for three and a half years, so there are lots of places we want to visit.  Then on Saturday the 3rd (Malcolm's birthday) we head over to Cambridgeshire, where we moved to from Hampshire.  We lived there for eighteen months, although for a large part of that Malcolm was working away from home, so he doesn't have as many memories as I do of our time there.  We will be back home on Monday the 5th, so you will have to do without me until Tuesday the 6th!!  I'm looking forward to sharing our trip with you then!

 

 

 

Checking out the fibre

 No, I wasn't closely examining some fabric ........ we popped over to the flat this morning, as Malcolm had signed up for fibre broadband, and it went "live" today.  It's not quite up to speed, as is to be expected on the first day, but it is FAST!!  As it was a lovely morning, we went for a walk round the old walls (on top, this time).    You can just see people walking out to the lighthouse

 

it was very clear, and way, way in the distance, you can see Bamburgh Castle on the right, and Lindisfarne  on the left

 

there were lots of people enjoying the sunshine on the beach

 

we are used to seeing weeds growing out of the top of the wall round the allotments, but this is a small raspberry cane (and Malcolm may have pinched a ripe raspberry from it!)

 

looking through the trees to the church

 

we went to Lowrie's at the Chandlery for lunch.  Malcolm had egg mayo sandwiches

 

and I had my favourite Coronation chicken

 

back home in the garden, yet another clematis is flowering

 

the passion flower produces a new flower almost every day

 

and the hellebore has decided to flower again!

 

when I was sorting through my photos, I realised that I had forgotten to show you what I bought last week at Sue's shop.  I didn't bother taking a photo of the stitch'n'tear, as that would be a bit boring!  So first we have this delicious charm pack

 

just look at those scrummy fabrics!

 

then something practical - tape for joining odd bits of wadding together.  Yes, I could stitch them together, but this is the equivalent of the tape that lazy people non-sewers use to hem their trousers!

 

I do love receiving happy mail, especially if it from my wonderful friend Lee (Just like Martha).  There are birthday cards for Malcolm and me, and a wonderful set of inspirational cards - these are just a few of them

 

to finish, we pop back over to Berwick.  This is the back of the Money Pit.  As the front is accessed from the walls, it is only 3 storeys high, but, as you can see, the back is 5 storeys (and the van and wheelie bins help with the scale)

 

and this shot of the fire escape shows just how big it is

 

but even bigger is this old school, which has been lying derelict, home only to pigeons.  But this morning there were workmen busy about the place, so it will be interesting to see what happens to it.  I have named it the Very Big Money Pit!! 

 

I shall be back tomorrow with some very special news!

What would we do without .........

......... potatoes?  On Sunday afternoon, I settled down to watch The Martian, while I did some hand sewing.  A large part of the story revolves around the main character, Mark, growing potatoes, after he has been left behind on Mars.  I was interested in this part of the story, as Albert Bartlett, from my home town of Airdrie, gave technical advice on growing potatoes

 

I did some quilting on my hexies

 

but then decided that I ought to get on with Mrs Billings

 

Malcolm made sure I had enough energy for all the sewing I was doing

 

and after The Martian finished, the Minions made sure I kept on stitching!

 

so here is the latest progress on Mrs B, after another session this afternoon (Meredithe and Sue, please stop sniggering!)

 

I finished stitching this small hexie border in place

 

and pinned this one in place

 

I stitched together all the hexies for the other two borders, and pinned them on

 

next, I looked out a pile of scrappy pieces ......... as you can see, the sun was shining brightly through the velux on to the table.  I also got out the acrylic template and some tiny paper diamonds

 

the first batch of diamonds cut out

 

and stitched over the papers

 

the diamonds stitched together and pinned on one of the big hexies

 

the little ears will be tucked in when I stitch the diamonds in place

 

the second lot pinned in place - and now you can see the little oops.  I hadn't paid attention, and used the same fabric for the first diamonds as the neighbouring hexie, so I will have to do another one

 

to finish - in the garden this afternoon, I noticed this little tree was looking a bit bare ......

 

........ yes, the dreaded caterpillars have returned!

We weren't expecting that!

 There was a very large ship in the dock last week - this is only half of it

 

we were watching the big green machine scooping up the cargo and depositing it in a succession of large lorries

 

but we weren't expecting not one ..........

 

but two men to pop out of the bucket!!

 

they had obviously decided that it was too much work to manually sweep up the remaining cargo, and instead lowered this little machine into the hold to do it instead!

 

by the time the ship was ready to leave, the rain had started

 

the pilot boat ready to guide the ship out to sea

 

the next two photos were take through the rain-spattered window in the lounge, as the shipped turned, ready to leave

 

but then I opened the bedroom window and braved the wind and rain to take these last two photos, as the ship squeezed out of the dock

 

when we were in the Garden Centre on Friday morning, I couldn't resist these two exceedingly cute (and very inexpensive) mugs.  Why are they called Back To Front Mugs?

 

because this is the other side - given how often I encounter this when taking photos, of course I had to buy them!!

 

do you remember the house I christened the Money Pit, that I had hoped that Malcolm would buy for me so that I could turn it into a quilting retreat?

 

we were pleased to see that the new owners are making a thorough job of refurbishment, and not just patching it up

 

I think the house with the red tiled roof in the middle of the photo could do with some help - you can see that the right hand end has sagged, if you compare the slope of the roof with the one behind it

 

although we didn't go for a walk yesterday, we did share a delicious scone with jam and clotted cream

 

I'll be back tomorrow with some sewing!

A matter of scale

After lunch, Malcolm suggested that we went for a walk round the old walls, but instead of walking along the top of the walls as we usually do, he thought we should walk  round the bottom.  That meant that on the way to the walls, we passed the entrance to the icehouse.  Usually the gate is shut and locked, and all you can see is the entrance tunnel, but when we went past we saw it was open, and that there were people inside ........ so we went in too!  We were amazed at the sheer size of the place. There was a knowledgeable chap who explained that the icehouse dated back to the heyday of salmon fishing on the Tweed, and could hold 250 tons of ice, which was collected from the frozen river in the winter

 

the hatches at the tops of the walls allowed them to completely fill the space - and Malcolm and the informative chap give the scale

 

as we walked on round to the walls, we noticed this statue, and wondered who the woman was

 

well, we still don't know, but assume she had something to do with medicine, as the statue is dedicated to a doctor

 

so how high do you think the walls are - 6 feet, eight feet, perhaps 10 feet?

 

that little speck is a man standing on top of the walls ..........

 

and these are two people walking their dog - which you can just see on the left

 

you know that walks with Malcolm often involve steps - today it was a long flight down

 

on our way down we had one of those silly arguments ........ I liked this door

 

........ but Malcolm said this one was better!!

 

our walk ended here, at Lowry's coffee shop in The Chandlery

 

I had rocky road and a pot of tea

 

while Malcolm had lemon drizzle cake and an americano, with hot milk on the side

 

after two days of glorious weather, we are back to the default end-of-summer weather ....... rain!  We will be heading home in the morning, but the forecast isn't very good, so  I don't think we will be out and about.  However I think Malcolm has football and cricket to watch on tv, and no doubt I will be out in the studio playing.  I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne

 

The continuing saga ........

........ of the war with the neighbours' many horrid nasty cats!  We have tried so many things to keep the cats from using the planters at the edge of the deck as a toilet.  We used to grow vegetables in the planters, but who would want to eat something that a cat might have messed beside.  Some things just don't work, some work for a little while.  The teasels which Maureen gave me last autumn kept them away for the winter, but then in the spring we realised that they had gone soft and were no longer a prickly deterrent.  So Malcolm came up with the plan to gather a bag of flat stones every time we were on the beach, and here is what we hope will be the ultimate cat deterrent

 

the garden is blooming, with yet another clematis flowering

 

there is still a flush of colour at the tips of the pieris

 

my Lace Lady tree seems to have doubled in size this summer!

 

this shrub, and the lambs' ears below it, are always buzzing with bees and hover flies

 

the climbing rose in the pergola is pretty in pink

 

this is to the right of the studio door - shame about the drain pipe!

 

a riot of colour in one of the many pots on the deck

 

and more colour at the edge of the little cobbled area under the pergola - Malcolm made the chair and beehive from pallets!

 

some of the many lavender plants - they too are always buzzing with bees

 

and to finish - two beautiful red roses

 

 

I recently teased you .........

 .......... with some details of a project I was working on.  I had looked out this half-completed wallhanging, as I thought it would make a lovely gift for Sue's shop

 

the first job was to trim away the excess wadding

 

then I got out my box of Tilda fabrics

 

and chose this spotty one for the border

 

I layered up the wallhanging, ready for some fmq

 

after quilting, I trimmed the wallhanging

 

and added the binding

 

and here is the finished wallhanging

 

Sue was delighted to be given the wallhanging this morning, and hung it up here temporarily - she will hang it on the door once she gets a sucker to attach it to the glass

 

there were some new faces at today's sewing session, and as you can see from the table, there were all sorts of projects being worked on

 

Lucie had a pile of appliqué blocks ........

 

in all sorts of colours - I am looking forward to seeing what she does next

 

I am always in awe of Margaret's exquisite piecing

 

Barbara was working on clamshell blocks, and she and Lucie put their heads together to work out how the blocks could be put together

 

Frances delights in making ever smaller units for her latest quilt - her work mat shows you just how small these ones are

 

when I took this photo of Ros's hexie flower, there was a debate as to whether the photo showed just how small it is - perhaps you wouldn't realise that those are small embroidery scissors

 

so Ros gave me another one to compare it to.  The smaller one has sides which are a quarter of an inch!!

 

there were some delicious new fabrics in the shop

 

and these are just some of the classes which are available - if you are going to be in Northumberland, do visit the shop (you can find the details in this post).  As soon as you go in the door you will be offered a cuppa, and if your husband is with you, he will be whisked away to relax in the Husbands' Creche, allowing you to shop in peace!

 

I'll be back tomorrow to tell you why we have been spending so much time on the beach recently!

Two new projects

I had to pop down into Hawick this morning for some shopping, then when I got back, the sun was shining and I decided to take a walk along the road to see if the donkeys were out in the field.  I heard a tractor approaching, and was glad when it turned off, as its load didn't look too safe!

 

the donkeys unobligingly were in a corner of the field, so bits of fence were in the way

 

this little one must have been very hot with its shaggy coat

 

I don't know if this was a display of affection or chastisement!

 

this horse is often in this pen on its own - I know some horses mustn't eat rich grass, so perhaps that is why

 

in the field across the road, this horse was looking magnificent

 

these sparrows are slightly blurred, as they flew over so fast

 

back home, there were dozens of swallows on the neighbours' roofs

 

it was hard to count them

 

as they constantly took off and landed

 

but I think there were over 40 of them - I think they have raised three broods this year

 

the first of the new projects mentioned in today's title is Malcolm's

 

he has set up a work station in the summer house to work on some stained glass angels

 

he found some glass beads in his stash to use for their heads

 

he sat at our rather tatty table on the deck to put the copper foil round the edges

 

a good afternoon's progress

 

now for my new project - I had pieced this square years ago for a contest, but never finished it (I can't even remember now what I was going to do with it!)

 

I put it on the design wall, and cut a piece of stitch and tear

 

on which I drew some vague pencil lines

 

I then summoned my artist in residence (aka Malcolm) to turn my lines into a tree

 

I got out my embellisher (I had to give it a bit of a clean, as I haven't used it for a while!)

 

and some roving, which is a warmer brown than it looks in this photo

 

a start made to needle felting the roving on to the stitch and tear

 

gradually building up the tree - and even getting arty and adding a knot in the wood

 

after finishing the tree ........

 

........ the last stage was the scary bit - cutting the tree out, even although I knew the edges wouldn't fray.  Next I will use fmq to stitch it to the background - but that will have to wait for another day!

 

All the fun of the fair!

Before we set off on our journey to the Seaside Festival, we have to go back to Friday night, when a perfect rainbow appeared over Berwick

 

I hope someone found a pot of gold in the town, at the end of the rainbow

 

so, now to Saturday.  We walked along to the Festival, browsing through the "car boot" stalls on the first stretch of the promenade, then decided to share a bowl of chips, sitting in the sunshine, for lunch

 

there were all sorts of fairground rides for the children

 

and for their weary parents, there was a coffee stall

 

a hog roast stall - yes, they had a whole roast pig!

 

it was hard to resist the delicious smell from the freshly cooked donuts

 

this trailer had been granted a special licence for the weekend, to sell alcohol on the promenade, and for the customers to walk along the promenade with their drinks (served in plastic tumblers)

 

I had to drag my sweet tooth away from the sweetie stall

 

and in case you were hungry again by the time you got to the end of the promenade you could stop for a burger (I only realised afterwards that I hadn't taken a photo of the ice cream van at the start of the prom!)

 

we missed the Punch and Judy show, and Malcolm declined my offer to pay for him to have his face painted!  I then declined to join the little girls who were singing their hearts out to "Let it go", the annoying song from Frozen

 

in the final marquee, there was a delightful Scottish lady who, as well as selling jewellery, had two owls.  For £5 you could have a photo taken with an owl on your arm, but I preferred to pop some money in the donation tin and take photos of the owls on their perches

 

as the owl turned its head away ........

 

then back again, the lady explained to some children that owls have an extra two bones in their necks, which enable them to turn their heads 340 degrees.  They need to be able to turn their heads so much because, unlike us, who can look to the side, they can only look forward

 

I have only seen owls like this one in books, so it was a delight to see it on its perch

 

and as you can see, this child was fascinated by it

 

on our way back along the prom, I offered to buy Malcom a beer, which he immediately said yes to, and as I don't like beer, I had wine.  Cheers!!

Some odd things .........

......... I encountered this morning while walking on the beach!  We walked along to the far end of the promenade, before going down on to the beach to walk back

 

and I had only walked a few yards before I saw this

 

the remains of an old sweeping brush

 

if the owner of this shoe is as big as it suggests, I was quite glad not to meet him

 

this is a rubber stopper, the kind you get on the end of walking sticks

 

a very large piece of bone, but as it has been cleanly cut, it's not from an animal that met its end on the beach

 

a deflated football - I am sure some little boy was upset to leave it behind

 

now this is a very strange thing to find on the beach - a gun cartridge.  I would hope that it had been washed down the river, and wasn't left by someone shooting on the beach

 

we occasionally chat to a man who regularly walks his dog along the beach - he is always interested in what we are picking up, and what we plan to do with it.  He had already stopped for a chat on the outward leg of his walk, then on his return leg stopped to give me this strange looking stone. I thought it might be a piece of worn concrete, but Malcolm thinks it's some kind of stone

 

a collection of bits of crabs against the wall - I would think an animal or bird ate them, as there would hardly be a taste of flesh on them for a human

 

this daft dog was determined to dig all the way through to Australia

 

while this one was determined to kill its stick

 

as I approached this tree stump, I thought someone had placed stones round it - perhaps to make a campfire

 

but when I poked one of the "stones" with my foot, it turned out to be sand.  I decided that someone had built square sandcastles round the stump

 

it was windy on the beach, and this square was already being sculpted by the wind

 

I thought Malcolm was being romantic when he handed me this heart-shaped stone ........ but he had picked it up because he thought it looked like a chicken!

 

and so to the best bit of Friday ........ the cakes!!  We went to Fantoosh, where Malcolm enjoyed a piece of Bakewell tart

 

while I had Lover's Lemon Drizzle cake (it was heart-shaped).  Malcolm assured me that his tart was delicious, but as I don't like Bakewell, I didn't have a taste, but he had a taste of my lemon drizzle, which he enjoyed

 

we have our fingers firmly crossed for tomorrow, for the Spittal Seaside Festival, where there will be fun and games for everyone (and all sorts of things to eat!).  I hope you have a great weekend, love Anne