frayed at the edge

Living on a grand scale

This morning we headed over to Kelso, as we had a BOGOF voucher for entry to Floors Castle.  But first we fortified ourselves with an early lunch.  I had lentil soup

 

and Malcolm had cauliflower soup

 

you probably noticed that we also had a scone with the soup -  delicious!  When our cuppas arrived, there was an extra little treat - a tiny meringue

 

then it was on to Floors, which is the largest inhabited castle in Scotland.  Photography isn't allowed inside the castle, so if you get the chance, do visit to see the grandeur, spendour and opulence ...... and that's just in the very small portion that the public gets to see.  The castle is very grand

 

much too big to get in a single photo

 

I took quite a lot of photos of the roof!

 

wouldn't it be nice to live in a house (ok, castle) with a view like this from the drawing/sitting room window

 

we had a pleasant (if hot!) stroll round the grounds.  This bird was too far away for me to see what it was, but looking at the photo, I think it is a thrush

 

perhaps I should seek help for my tractor fixation!

 

this parterre garden was created for the Millenium.  The design incorporates the initials of the Duke and Duchess, but there wasn't a convenient stepladder for me to stand on, to look down on the design to show that

 

you aren't allowed to walk on the grass to have a closer look, but we could see one of the "M"s, which signify the Millenium

 

I still have lots of photos to share with you, which I will save for tomorrow, and will finish with photos I took yesterday evening.  First Mr Blackbird had a good splash in the birdbath ........

 

then Mrs Blackbird tried to splash even more!

 

Ill-gotten gains

The harbour at Eyemouth is dominated by Gunsgreen House, which was built by John Nisbet, using money made from smuggling!  We didn't have time to explore it yesterday, but have put it on the to-see list for another day

 

as we walked along the harbour, we wondered what a group of people were looking at in the water.  I edged my way in, and just had time to take one photo of this big fat seal before it disappeared under the water

 

there were lots of seagulls about

 

this might be a young one, but it was enormous!

 

I rather liked this old car, but as the driver was just getting out of it, I didn't like to take any more photos

 

just look at the blue sky ....... bliss!!

 

while Malcolm was watching the World Cup over the weekend, I was multi-tasking.  First, I was watching some Crafsty classes and some Ricky Tims tv shows on my laptop (using headphones).  Second, I was paying a little bit of attention to the football.  Third, I was drinking a glass of wine.  And fourth, I was prepping an awful lot of plain hexies for Mrs Billings

 

I had already stitched these three coloured pyramids together

 

they will be alternated with plain ones round the quilt, to form the final border

 

I have two photos to choose between for the "to finish" spot.  Should I show you the heron that I saw this morning when I was in Hawick?  I saw him as I meandered strolled walked  briskly over the footbridge where the Teviot meets the Slitrig

 

or would you like this tractor, which was sitting unattended in the field behind the house?  I did think about taking it for a spin round the field, but I would have had to climb on to our neighbours' wall, which is about five feet high, then climb over a fence, which you can't really see in the photo. So I settled for leaning on the garden gate and admiring it!!

A day at the seaside

We popped over to Berwick this morning, as we had to lodge our funds for the purchase of our holiday home with our solicitor, ready for the completion of the purchase on the 27th.  Having done that, we headed for a new cafe .......

....... and sampled a cheese scone - it passed our rigorous inspection with flying colours!

 

the service was very good, and we were given an extra plate for our shared scone - we'll definitely go back there!

 

when we were walking across the old bridge, we spotted this man in the water.  He didn't seem to be trying to progress against the current, but rather he was holding his position

 

I had just taken this photo of the heron .......

 

........ when it took off

 

I was delighted when it landed much closer, then posed prettily

 

as it was a lovely day, we decided to go to Eyemouth for lunch.  It was very enjoyable sharing a fish supper ......

 

sitting in the sun, looking out to sea

 

I'll tell you about the rest of our trip tomorrow, and I'll also have the usual sewing update.

 

Leaving home

On Saturday, I set up the camera on the tripod, to take photos of the blue tits

 

the parents were tireless, flying back and forward to feed their brood

 

this is one of the chicks, impatient for its next meal

 

and still mum and dad flew backwards and forwards

 

reluctantly, I put the camera away, thinking that I would take more photos on Sunday ........ but when we came back from our walk, there was silence in the garden, no cheep, cheep, cheep as the chicks called for food.  While we were out enjoying our scones, they had flown the nest!

 

so, what did I do to the little applique wallhanging?  Well, I wasn't happy with the binding, especially the bottom left hand corner, so I took it off, and put new binding on.  Much better!

 

I was delighted to receive another parcel in the post this morning, although this one wasn't squishy

 

it contained a little print, which I bought from here.  I only ordered it on Sunday evening, so was delighted that it arrived so soon (click on the photo to enlarge it for a closer look)

 

back to the College in the morning - my students will be using fusible web for the first time.  I have lots of baking parchment packed, to protect the iron and ironing board!

 

Teacher's pet!

It was only when I was looking at today's photos that I realised that the three photos that I remembered to take of this morning's class are all of Betty's work!  First we have an action shot of her trimming the selvedge of her background fabric

 

she decided she would rather finish her bag in the same way as the mug bag, instead of putting the handles on it

 

Betty is so enthusiastic, that not only has she neglected her house and garden to get on with her sewing, but she had also prepped her diamonds ahead of today's class

 

now, the big reveal of yesterday's purchase

 

so what is inside the little container ........ a tiny eggcup pin cushion

 

this is a very special pincushion, the story of which is explained briefly in the next two photos, and you can read more here

 

in the evenings, I am still prepping hexies for Mrs Billings.  My box is slowly filling up

 

I still have quite a few more to prep, but I have sewn a few of them together

 

Malcolm has done some more work on his planter

 

and has started painting it

 

when I was sitting in the lounge this afternoon, I saw the robin land on the bin store.  I grabbed the camera, pointed it at him ........ and he flew off!

 

but he only flew as far as the big wooden owl, and even turned towards the camera

Wet, wetter, wettest

It was raining a bit as we set off this morning to drive down to Stitchin' Heaven, but I was hoping that it would dry up and I would be able to take some photos of the early summer scenery.  Alas, the rain got heavier and heavier, and it rained all the way home too, so no scenery.  

However there was lots of sewing going on.  Except for Ros, we were all working on Mrs Billings, Robin's Nest,  a combination of the two patterns, or an interpretation of the patterns.

This is Frances' Robin's nest

 

she was working on some tiny blocks for the next border - my thimble shows you just how tiny!

 

this is Annie's Mrs Billings

 

she is planning to do a lot of beading on it

 

Margaret was working on her Robin's Nest - she has changed the centre

 

Anne is combining elements of both patterns

 

her colour choices for the centre are similar to mine

 

Sue was patiently cutting out the pieces for her next border

 

so what was Ros working on?  An applique block in my favourite autumn colours

 

did I buy anthing?  Well, I didn't buy any fabric, bit I did buy a little something which I will show you tomorrow.

I took this last photo yesterday evening.  The sparrow looks a funny shape ....... but it is a second sparrow sitting behind it!

 

 

 

 

Would you like to know the time .......

........ then let me consult my new watch.  I bought this fun watch and matching bracelet on the plane coming home from Majorca.  It was inexpensive and good fun - and if I get fed up with it I can always re-use the beads

 

I bought this little box in Pollensa - it was actually made in India, but it was too lovely to resist

 

I was busy stitching on my Sheena Norquay sampler at patch'n'chat.  I finished off the French knots, then filled in this square with random stitches

 

I have now finished the basic stitching, and can start adding  decorative elements

 

I was entertained yesterday evening by these young sparrows

 

it's Friday, so of course that means cake!  Today's was Annette's wonderful chocolate sponge, topped with cream and strawberries - delicious

 

hopefully we will get out for a short walk on Sunday morning, and of course as always I will be busy sewing.  I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne

The red sky last night ......

...... didn't lead to a shepherd's delight today, as it is raining steadily.  But it was such a stunning sky I went out into the front garden just before ten o'clock last night to take soe photos.  The horses in the field across the road were kicking up their heels and running back and forward (that's a telegraph pole in the foreground)

 

the sky changed colour in the few minutes that I was outside

 

Malcolm was out today, so I thought I would spend some time having a bit of a tidy up in the studio, especially this corner

 

after a quick break for a bowl of soup for lunch, I finished the tidying - that's much better (ok, I admit it, I didn't vacuum the very messy carpet!)

 

I bought this box some months ago, as it had been greatly reduced in price 

 

I hadn't yet decided what to keep in it, but I have been prepping a lot of hexies for Mrs Billington, and the box turned out to be just right for storing them

 

much as I love our many sparrows, I wish they wouldn't chatter quite so loudly at 4am!  It looks as if they are refurbishing their nests ready to raise a second brood.  This handsome fellow .......

 

....... was having a good look through this plant for nesting materials

 

this youngster was shivering in the rain!  You can see he still has his downy feathers on his back.  He was making a lot of noise, but when his parents didn't appear to feed him, he flew off in a huff

 

I think we need a bit of Majorcan blue sky to finish!!

 

I have probably told you before .......

........ that foundation piecing is my absolutely most least favourite patchwork method (in case you got lost in that ungrammatical statement, I don't like it!!).  However this year's Abbey Quilters' challenge is a foundation pieced landscape.  As we have to hand it in at next month's meeting, I thought I had better get a move on.  I had drawn out a rough pattern before we went on holiday (sorry, forgot to take a photo), so on SaturdayI auditioned some fabrics, putting some sheets of paper round them as a frame

 

I was so busy concentrating on the despicable horrendous delightful method, that I had stitched on several pieces of fabric before I remembered to take a photo

 

I trimmed the finished piece, leaving a big margin - the finished size is just inside the line of stitching which you can just see an inch from the edge.  I still have to embellish it with hedges, trees and fences - I might even add some sheepies!

 

I thought I ought to put the final border on the sampler quilt!

 

I trimmed the little Linus quilt which I made before we went on holiday

 

and added the binding

 

this afternoon I did some prep of the step-by-step for next week's sampler class (oops, forgot to take photos of this week's)

I also spent some time today birdwatching.  This swallows' nest is on our neighbours'  house

 

I sat in the back garden for some time trying to get photos of the blue tits.  It was very difficult, as they fly straight in and out of the hole ....... if only they would land on the roof and pause for a few seconds, before popping into the nestbox!  So rather a lot of photos ended up like this

 

but eventually I manage to snap the tiny birds

 

you might think this is just a dried leaf caught underneath the wooden rail at the edge of the deck - but as I saw it fly past me and land there, I know that it is a moth!

 

and to finish, a little visitor to the studio this morning.  This teeny, tiny snail was about four feet from the bottom of the back door - quite a climb for it.  I stuck a sheet of paper on the other side of the door so that you could see it, and added the pin for scale

Consequences!

If you eat a lot of this on holiday ........

 

.......  then when you come home, you have to eat a lot of this!!

 

I took lots of photos in the garden yesterday while the sun was shining, which turned out to be a sensible thing to do, as we got up this morning to rain (that's because I was going to the hairdresser this afternoon!).  We have buds on three clematis

 

the early-flowering clematis only has one sad flower left

 

but lots of fluffy seedheads

 

I love the colour of the new growth on the pieris

 

this may look like something from a sci-fi film, but it is a poppy!

 

the shady corner is looking lush

 

and the back border has filled out

 

as has this border

 

the rosemary and chives are flowering

the grape vine is flourishing

 

the front garden is looking good too

 

when we came back from our holiday, we were delighted to find that we had blue tits in one of the nesting boxes

 

and great tits in a hole in the back garden wall

 

the front garden as usual is filled with sparrows

 

to finish, more sheepies for Thimbleanna, as she wasn't impressed by the Spanish ones!