frayed at the edge

Out and about

Yesterday, I went for a brief walk after lunch - brief because it was very windy and very cold!  Here are a few of the photos I took .......

snowdrops in front of a neighbour's wall

 

the Minto Hills, misty in the distance

 

some very nasty potholes!

 

my favourite view

 

 

the church

 

a rather muddy horse

this one's mane was blowing in the wind!

 

a miserable looking donkey

 

the next photos were taken from the car on the way to Jedburgh this morning

 

just look at the blue sky in these photos of the Abbey!

 

more blue sky behind the Clock Tower

 

an excellent shadow shot

 

a traditional red phone box

 

then it was on to the Woodside Garden Centre for lunch

 

I had bacon, brie and cranberry sandwiches

 

and Malcolm had ham, cucumber and mustard mayo

 

while Malcolm paid the bill, I had a look at the garden round the tearoom.  An interesting seedhead caught my eye

 

I couldn't quite read the label for this - I think it was a variety of crocosmia

 

a lovely rusty old water pump

 

I saw this in the shop - I don't think I will be buying it for the birds in our garden!

 

we haven't been using the back road to and from the house, because of all the potholes (see above).  But we did today, to see if the Jacob's lambs had arrived ....... and we were rewarded with a few.  I could just see some more way over at the back of the field - I will need to go back with the big lens to capture them

 

back home, the birds were enjoying the better weather.  This great tit was flitting about, flying off before I could get it in focus, before it finally settled on the bin store

 

this is a very fierce looking sparrow, but I don't know what the bird behind it is - I forgot to look it up in my bird books

 

Charity

This is a page from the Scotsman (newspaper) magazine, from last Saturday .......

 

....... showing a very cute "Hamish" Shaun the Sheep, which is being sold to raise money for charity.  You can buy him for £35.  It doesn't say how much of that goes to charity, but I just thought that if I was spending that sort of money, I would want it all to go to charity, no matter how cute Hamish is .......

 

....... so I cut out the picture and put it on my notice board, and instead will, over the weeks and months to come, spend money on fabric for Linus quilts

 

this quilt cost me very little to make, as I got the centre panel and border fabric from Sandra, our wonderful Linus lady.  I just added some bright orange fleece for the back

 

Stuart liked his Star Wars quilt so much, I thought I would make one for Linus too.  The camouflage fabric came from Sandra - someone had donated a large piece

 

there was enough camouflage fabric for a wide border and backing fabric, and I used an 80/20 wadding.  This is the quilt layered up ready to quilt

 

you can't really see the quilting, but the whole centre has been quilted

 

then I set up the walking foot, to stitch in the ditch between the centre and the border

 

normally I would then quilt the border, but I wanted to bring the backing fabric over to the front, to make a false binding, so the next stage was to put the cutting mat under the wadding

 

and trim the extra wadding away

 

after that I trimmed the excess backing fabric away, leaving an inch

 

then it was over to the ironing board, where I pressed the inch of backing fabric in half

 

at the corner, I folded it in to meet the corner of the quilt

 

then folded it over again

 

after pressing the first fold of the sides

 

I folded the sides over again and pressed them

 

pinned ready to machine stitch

 

the false binding complete.  I had used the false binding method so that there was no hand sewing to do, as there is in the usual way I do the binding.  The camouflage fabric is very tightly woven, and would have been difficult to hand stitch

 

the last job was to quilt the border with a random zigzag

 

and here is the finished quilt - at fifty four inches square, it is the biggest quilt I have made for Linus.  I am sure a teenage boy will love it!

 

when I was sorting out the photos for the post, I came across this one ...... poor little sparrows in the recent snow

 

and another reminder - leave a comment between now and Sunday to go into the draw for my 7th blogiversary giveaway.

 

Between the showers

The weather really has been dire, so as soon as the rain went off for more than five minutes, we headed out for a walk.  The first set of photos are from a walk round Hawick.  You can see how much water was still roaring over the rocks in the Slitrig, a tree almost uprooted ...... and how did that straw bale get in the river?

 

 

as we walked back to the car, I stopped to take photos of this old Rover, which I think has been lying abandoned in all the time we have lived in Hawick!

 

after all the grey skies, it was good to have some bright blue sky in these photos

 

the next set of photos come from a walk round Berwick - again with some blue skies.  But it was also very windy, so some of the shots are slightly shaky, as it is hard to keep the camera steady when the big lens is fully extended (Malcolm kindly let me use his shoulder as a tripod for some of the photos!)

 

I wasn't surprised to see the golfers ...... it takes much worse weather to stop them playing!!

 

at least the golfers were on dry land, unlike this chap.  This is definitely not my idea of fun - I would want an awful lot bigger boat before you would get me on the water!!

 

there aren't many swans about at the moment, so it was good to see this one.  It's only when you see them out of the water that you realise just how big they are

 

the last lot of photos come from a walk on the beach on New Year's Day.  It was the first time we had been on the beach since the storms and floods, and we were amazed at the huge piles of detritus

 

there were lots of turnips all along the beach.  We think they had probably been in a field to feed the sheep, and were washed away by flood water

 

sadly, the lump in the middle of this photo is a dead sheep - you can just make out its horns at the right hand side of the lump

 

the entire beach has been affected by the storms, with groynes being uncovered - some of which we hadn't seen before

 

Malcolm was just wondering if he could take this tree home with him!

 

we decided not to join the swans for a paddle!

 

as we walked back to the flat, of course I had to take a photo of the three bridges

 

the heron was oblivious to the seagull floating behind him

 

it had turned much colder, and we had to watch out for frozen puddles - I didn't want to slip and end up in an undignified heap!

 

and so to the last photo ...... when we went out for our walk, we popped into the supermarket to get the newspapers, and I had a quick look in the clothing section for a hat, as my ears were freezing, just in the short distance we had walked!  Not quite my usual style, but it was relatively cheap, and very warm!

The continuing story ......

......... after the technical problems, let's hope this post is problem free!

So, on Wednesday morning, we popped into Hawick, and walked round to see how much water was roaring over the rocks in the River Slitrig

 

did you notice the heron - I don't think he had much chance of catching anything!

 

we popped into the Damascus Drum for lunch

 

we both had soup, which came with delicious thick slices of bread.  Malcolm had leek and potato, and I had Lebanese chickpea

 

after lunch we walked round to look over the bridge at where the Slitrig runs into the Teviot.  The Slitrig had carved out two deep channels and created a new island  

 

and can you spot another heron?

 

when we got home, I grabbed the big camera and went out for a quick walk.  First stop was to take photos of some sheepies for Anna

 

the I walked on to see if there were any donkeys for Bumblevee.  There were horses (or are they ponies?) in the field

 

then as I turned for home, look who peeked out from behind the stables

 

we didn't seen many birds in the garden when the weather was so bad, but on Thursday they started to reappear.  First, the nuthatch, which is an infrequent visitor

 

then Mr Blackbird

 

several blue tits

 

but the star of the show was the red, red robin, bob, bob, bobbing

 

yesterday we had our Christmas lunch at patch'n'chat, with a special visit from Fairy Twinkle ....... but you will have to wait until Monday to see her!!

 

 

In a bind

Yesterday morning, I got organised to put the binding on the jelly roll quilt

 

this is a detail of the quilting

 

the first job was to trim the edges

 

the next job was to cut the strips for the binding

 

then stitch all the strips together, using a diagonal seam - I used to draw a pencil line to follow, but I have now done this so often I just do it by eye

 

I trimmed off the triangles, lining up the seam on the quarter-inch line on the ruler

 

and pressed the seams open

 

I folded the binding in half and pressed it

 

after stitching the binding on, the last job was to join the ends

 

I left the dog ears, so that you can see how the diagonal seam staggers the bulk when the binding is folded over

 

all that remains is to hand stitch the binding on the back of the quilt, which I plan to do this evening.  On Sunday I finished the twenty-second stitchery

 

today we went to The Mainstreet Trading Co for lunch

 

I was rather taken with my diminutive teacup and saucer .......

 

........ and the tiny teaspoon, seen here with Malcolm's normal sized coffee spoon

 

we had the most delicious sandwiches ....... I ordered wild boar sausage and ale chutney,while Malcolm ordered pastrami and leek jam(!), then as we often do, we swapped so that we had one of each

 

after lunch we had a look round the books ....... I was surprised to see Alex Salmond's tome in the biography section, when of course it should have been filed under fantasy! (it was a rare UNSIGNED copy!!)  We then headed out to the deli and home building (I love the colour of the paint) where two very small bars of chocolate may have been purchased

 

to finish ....... the birds are back in the garden for the winter, and enjoying the food in the feeders

 

but this tiny wren wasn't too sure about having a bath!

A scone is not enough!

On Saturday afternoon, Malcolm headed over to town, to have a potter round the shops. As the weather wasn't very good, I elected to stay in the flat.  When he came back, he handed me this box of Christmas cards

 

we have been invited to have a table at this year's Christmas Fair in Jedburgh, so Malcolm has been busy making more of his driftwood trees.  I offered to make some of my little folded gift boxes to hang on them, for which I needed inexpensive Christmas cards.  I made a start to the first box, then realised I couldn't remember where the second fold went ........ but all was well, as my first ever Tuesday Tutorial, way back in 2010, shows how to make the boxes.  You can find it here.  After a great deal of measuring, marking, cutting and folding, I had a pile of forty boxes

 

Malcolm declared that he would reward me with a scone when we went out for a cuppa on Sunday morning, but I declared that a scone was not enough for all the work!  So after Malcolm had ordered his fruit scone .......

 

........ I consulted with the waitress.  What did she have in the way of chocolate cake, because only chocolate would suffice.  She had tiffin, but it had a white chocolate topping, and you know that I don't like white chocolate.  She also had rocky road, which I was going to have, when she suggested a little something from the dessert menu ........ chocolate brownie baked cheesecake, with fresh raspberries.  By the time I had eaten this, my sore fingers from all that folding were feeling a lot better!!

 

and I washed it down with an excellent pot of Assam tea

 

we were in the lovely restaurant where we went for Malcolm's birthday dinner in September.  I do like this section of one of the walls

 

I popped to the loo before we left, and I took the camera, as I remembered from a previous visit that it was rather splendid

as we left the restaurant, I paused to take this photo.  I wonder if in times past shoes were made here?

 

we thought we should go for a walk on the beach, to use up some of the excess calories, but on the way I spotted some more things to take photos of

an ornamental air brick

 

a stylish detail on an old lamp post

 

I love these old stairs

 

a memorial plaque

 

it was rather windy over on the beach, and these little boats were flying along

 

we tried not to laugh when this boat tipped over

 

but he soon recovered

 

this chap preferred to supply his own power

 

the waves were crashing in

 

after being almost blown off the beach by the chilly wind, another cuppa was needed ........ and somehow we managed to eat a mince pie as well!

 

back at the flat, I was going to do some more practice on my sample of two-colour brioche knitting, but when I read the instructions, I realised that I needed stitch markers ....... which of course were all at home in my knitting basket.  Still, I am making progress with this rather complicated stitch

 

I don't know if we saw three different herons over the weekend, or the same heron three times!

 

and of course we have to have swans

 

 

and a cygnet

 

and to finish ........ I thought I might buy this little boat (complete with lobster pots) for Malcolm's Christmas ...... but for some reason he wasn't too keen!!

Our holiday - part 3

A quick last look at some of the delights of our holiday, before catching up on what we have been doing since we got home

were we tempted to take on a refurbishment project?  NO!!

 

beer for Malcolm, wine for me ...... and my terrible taste in holiday reading!

 

pomegranates

 

sunset

 

sunrise

 

swordfish with mango and coconut sauce - delicious

 

Malcolm ate a lot of olives (I don't like them)

 

very old olive trees

 

and one last lingering look at the wonderful pool

 

back home, the rowan tree in the back garden was looking glorious.  Although it was a bit damp and grey on Wednesday morning, I took a photo of it, which is just as well, as soon afterwards it rained and rained, and when the rain stopped, half of the leaves had come off!

 

the creeper on the back wall is looking glorious

when we were on holiday, there was no sign of Christmas at all in the shops ........ then we came home to shops overflowing with Christmas stuff, adverts on the radio and television ........ and even my Christmas cactus has buds on it

 

at the weekend, we had two walks on the beach, which I will tell you about on Wednesday.  To finish today ....... how cute is this little seagull, which we saw on the beach at Bamburgh yesterday

Bridging the gap

When we went for our walk on Sunday, we went the other way round the town, starting off at the bridges

 

 

there were great hordes of seagulls swooping on the water - there must have been a lot of fish for them to feast on

 

but this little gull wasn't interested, sitting quietly on a pile of seaweed

 

as we walked on along the river bank, a heron swooped in and landed just in front of us

 

I wasn't quick enough to capture the moment he caught a fish, but you can see the bulge in his throat as he swallowed it!

 

when we walked along to the ruins of the Castle, I had fun taking arty photos through the windows

 

we turned away from the river, going through this wonderful gate

 

then up this long flight of stairs, which has little bits of handrail to match the gate

 

there were splashes of colour along the way

 

I like the way the twisted handrail is finished off - as if they just wrapped the ends to keep them in place until they came back and finished them off neatly

 

the only place in the world which has been fought over and changed hands more times than Berwick is Jerusalem!

 

Malcolm spotted this big fat pigeon sitting in a tree

 

as we walked on round the old walls, we had a good view over the golf course

 

it was very misty looking out to the lighthouse

 

as we headed back round to our starting point, we could see the poor old wooden pier, which still hasn't been repaired

 

as we walked back over the old bridge, we saw one more little bird, well camouflaged on the seaweed

 

to finish ........what a pity I missed seeing this building being demolished, as no doubt there were big machines involved!

 

I'll be back tomorrow with some sewing!

 

Thoroughly spoiled!

Thank you very much for all your birthday good wishes!  I had a lovely birthday - once I got the boring household chores over with!  As usual I headed off to patch'n'chat, where I handed over my two quilts to Sandra, our lovely Linus Lady

 

the Friday cake was an extra-delicious chocolate, cream  and strawberry confection

 

and Margaret gave me a very, very special present ....... a beautiful block,which I will turn into a wallhanging.  Her work is exquisite, and I had tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat when I opened the parcel and saw what she had made for me

 

Stuart and Alison came for a visit ...... and I never gave a thought to taking photos of the wonderful birthday dinner that Malcolm made.  We started with asparagus and broccoli soup. topped with crumbled blue cheese, then we had the most wonderful rack of lamb ........ which maybe wasn't quite as good as this one which Stuart had when he and Alison dined in a Michelin-starred restaurant in New York last month!!

 

for dessert we had  Malcolm's signature bread and butter pudding, and it was all washed down with a glass or two of fizz.  On Saturday morning, we headed out to Pirn House for breakfast, which we all enjoyed, then Stuart and Alison headed off for a visit to Ikea on their way home.   

 

We came over to the flat yesterday, and I was delighted to see the little table looking so good in the hall

 

do you like the lamp?  Malcolm made it from a biscuit tin after seeing the idea in a magazine

 

this seaside-themed dish was one of Malcolm's birthday present from me

 

taking the photo of the dish reminded me that I had forgotten to show you the  present that I bought for Malcolm some weeks before his birthday ........ aren't these little boats just the cutest things!

 

 

we went for a long walk round the old walls yesterday, and although it was misty, I took lots of photos, which I shall share with you tomorrow.  To finish, two photos of a robin which stayed still as I took the first photo, then turned to face the other way and waited until I had taken the photo before it flew off!

A bit of a failure .......

....... but also a great success!  OK, let's get the failure out of the way.  As you know, we had an apocalyptic, end of the world, super moon, total eclipse of the heart (oops , got carried away with the title of a Bonnie Tyler song!)  I managed to wake up and stagger out into the garden at 3am on Monday (I just hope the neighbours didn't see me).  But despite fiddling and twiddling with camera settings, this is the best photo that I managed - if I had been more organised, I would have had the tripod set up, and would have had a much sharper image

 

but then on Monday evening, we had a stunning sunset, and as my camera has a dedicated sunset setting, these photos are a lot better than the moon failure!

 

at this time of years, large numbers of crows congregate in the field across the road, with some of them sitting on the phone wires

 

then they rose in a great cloud

 

I was slightly concerned as they flew over me (I still get frightened when I see The Birds !!)

 

I don't quite know how I managed to get this effect of beating wings!

 

to end, another failure ........ I don't think we will be making any wine from this year's crop of grapes ..........

 

....... or producing our own oil from these olives, which are the size of pinheads!