frayed at the edge

These are a few of my favourite things!

I've been tagged by Shannon of Free Spirit Knits to tell you ten simple things that make me happy .........

1. Of course I have to start with Malcolm and Stuart .... my family always comes first.  This is us on our wedding day in 1986.

 

2. My home .... I get to see this every morning when I open the curtains!

3. Books - I love to read and need to have a book within easy reach at all times!

4. Orchids - I have a collection on the kitchen windowsill - this one has just started flowering

5.  Friends - this are a wonderful group of friends I had in Indonesia .... as you can see, I had been teaching them patchwork!  I have to admit that's me with the grey hair - now, thanks to my marvellous hairdresser, I am a stunning blond .....

6. My studio - I took this photo yesterday ........ it was snowing and miserable out, but I was happy working on my latest projects

7. Travel - I enjoy holidays so much it's hard to pick a photo ...... this is Pollensa in Majorca

8. Food - I am definitely a 'live to eat' person, and while looking for a holiday photo, I also found a wonderful food picture, also taken in Pollensa

9. Of course any list of things that make me happy has to include wine ... I don't have any great knowledge about it, so if all else fails, I pick a bottle with an interesting label!

10. To end, the most simple pleasure known to woman ..... chocolate!!

 

Now I'm supposed to tag ten wonderful women .... but I find it so hard to choose (I can't help it, I'm a Libran!) ....... so, what I've decided is ........ if I regularly comment on your blog, and you would like to tell us of your ten things, then consider yourself tagged!!
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
  

A grand day out!

After some debate because of - yes, you've guessed - the weather, my friend Lorraine and I decided to head to Edinburgh today for the Spring Quilt Show.  I would love to show you photos of the stunning quilts, but that's not allowed, so here are some general views of the show

 

yes, men are allowed!

 

 

it's hard work shopping - a rest is sometimes required!

 

I was very good and didn't buy any fabric!  Of course that doesn't mean I didn't buy anything at all ....... I couldn't resist this

 

 

And this is a wonderful book, with so many projects that have promptly gone on the to-do list

 

I think I know what I'll be doing in the studio tomorrow afternoon!

 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend ....... love, Anne

 

Inky fingers!

I may have mentioned before that I love notebooks and journals, so when I wanted to practise my lettering this afternoon, I had no trouble finding a book to use ......

 

 

I borrowed Malcolm's calligraphy set, which includes this helpful booklet

 

 

For my first effort, I don't think this is too bad!

 

 

I didn't do quite so well on the next page - my 'Y' is back-to-front!

 

 

Our names were straightforward

 

 

When it came to the next page, I found it hard to keep using the slow deliberate strokes to form the letters, and not lapse into my normal scrawl!!  As for the sentences - the first one contains all the letters of the alphabet, and is an aid to learning to type, and the second one uses right and left hand alternatively in a lot of the words - good practice for someone like me who is strongly righthanded and tends to transpose letters as the right hand types quicker!!

 

 

By the time I finished, I had managed to get as much ink on me as on the paper

 

 

When we were busy making dinner, there was a slight pause as we went outside to see the wonderful sunset  .....  the photos don't need any captions!

 

 

 

 
 

 

Rising to the challenge

The lovely Anne Gaal has issued a challenge, to make something on the theme of butterflies and spring.  I can never resist a challenge, so this afternoon I headed out to the studio, put on some good music and set about making a card to enter.  I started by cutting my card to size

 

 

Then I used the back of the scissors to score the centre of the card to make it easier to fold

 

Next came the fun bit - I got to play with my new toy, a Cuttlebug, which cuts shapes from card. 

 

 

Before I cut out the flowers, I stuck the card onto a double sided adhesive sheet - much easier than trying to use glue (I always end up with more glue on me than the card!)

 

 

After pressing out the flowers, I stuck them in place on the card (I cut an extra pale pink flower, so that I could swap the centres of the flowers)

 

 

For the next stage, I stuck two strips of patterned card together, and cut out two butterflies

 

 

I creased them, so that their wings would stand out when I stuck them on the card.  The last stage was to do the lettering.  I am just learning calligraphy, but I was quite pleased with the finished card

 

 

Inside, the wording is

 

 

To see the other participants, do pop over to Anne's blog and scroll down to the bottom of the post about the challenge.  The second part of the challenge is to give the card to someone you know to brighten their day - I wonder whom I will give it to .......

  

Spring is in the air!!

It has been wonderful this week to get back into our normal routine, after the disruption of the last few weeks.  So we headed into Hawick this morning for our usual Thursday cuppa and a scone, which is my treat!    I had a pot of tea, and Malcolm had this magnificent cappucino

 

 

When we got home, Malcolm spotted these snowdrops peeking through the gravel in an old half-barrel which sits next to the front door .....

 

 

and this little alpine in one of our  wooden planters bravely putting out some new leaves ....

 

 

If that's not enough evidence that spring is (or might be) in the air, then surely this lovely card from Lindsay, inviting me to her next Woolgathering, should convince you ...

 

 

Not quite persuaded?  Then my other post surely means that it's nearly spring ...

 

.... no, I'm not entirely convinced either!!

 

I spent the afternoon in the studio, working on next week's Tuesday Tutorial - all I am going to say is that it involves chocolate!!

Then it was time to make dinner, which meant that I could try out this fabulous new knife that Malcolm bought for me on Tuesday

 

So what did I make ..... aubergines stuffed with spicy lamb and feta - this is it ready to go in the oven

 

We also had a side salad (mine is the one without tomato - while I like cooked tomato, I just don't like raw tomato in a salad!) 

As you can see, the salad is garnished with  strawberries - I don't usually buy foreign strawberries in winter, but Jennifer and her husband are coming to visit on Sunday, and I need strawberries for the starter ....... I'll tell you all about the meal on Monday!!!
 

 
 

 

 

 

At last!

Yes - we finally went out in the new car yesterday!!  As expected, it is lovely - very quiet, very comfortable and drives like a .... well I don't know that bit, because there's no chance I'll be driving it any time soon!!  We went to a garden centre for a bacon roll for breakfast (and to stock up on bird food) then went on to Galashiels for some food shopping, so altogether a good morning out!

On Friday, I decided to have an extra giveaway, to celebrate my 300th post.  After a rummage in the studio, I came up with this as a prize

 

it's a notebook that I bought in Singapore - the back is cute too

 

 

( there may be a little extra something in the parcel!)

I posted the parcels this afternoon, so hopefully they will be with the winners soon.

 

I mentioned that I thought 'octopus' when working on the 'circles' scarf.  This in turn made me think of an octopus knitting!  I had a go at drawing one on Saturday.  I wasn't entirely happy with it (we all know about my lack of drawing skills) so I asked Malcolm if he could tweak it for me .... he took one look at it, turned over the page and drew another one!  So here are are drawings (I coloured both of them in!!)

this is my offering ....

 

.... and this is Malcolm's

I thought for a bit of fun, I would ask you to say which one you prefer, and why .... there will be a little prize for the best comment!!

 

I read a delightful post on Lee's blog about how her daughter is famous in Germany - you can read it here and if you want to make the Christmas tree, you can see the tutorial here.  I decided to have a go last night while we were watching tv - I used a magazine from one of the Sunday papers.  My tree isn't as good as Lilly's - I should have used a magazine with far more pages - mine only made half a tree!!

 

We were watching the film 'Sleeping with the enemy', with Julia Roberts and Patrick Bergen.  It reminded of this book

.... it's a very moving novel, telling of the efforts of a battered wife to leave her husband.  I have read it several times, and every time I cry!!  I bought the book in Borders Bookshop in Singapore - I used to spend a lot of time (and money) in Borders!  I think I have told you this story before, but I'm going to tell you again!  When there was political unrest in Indonesia, I, along with another BP wife, had to go to stay in Singapore.  When we moved into our apartments, we went out to buy the necessities to make our stay comfortable ... she bought tonic for her gin ... and I headed to Borders to buy a book and a magazine!!

 

While I'm typing this, I am watching the news, and the terrible pictures from Haiti.  I am full of admiration for the people who go to help - I know that I couldn't do it ... all I can do is make a donation and hope that it helps to make a difference.
 
   
 
 

 

Hoarders Challenge

The lovely Anne Gaal, who makes the most wonderful cards, issued a challenge to hoarders to raid their stashes and make something.  She listed 15 categories of supplies, from which you had to choose 3 or more to use ...... I don't have a lot of the things on the list, as they are specialist card-making things, but I headed for the studio this afternoon and did the best I could with what I have .......

 

The card is made with two colours of parchment, with paper flower embellishments, which have a little jewel in the centre.  The wording is done with peel-off stickers.  I finished it with a satin ribbon bow

 

Inside is a piece of handmade cotton rag paper, with a handwritten greeting .... and who could resist adding the little chick  in the corner!

 

and just for fun, I added the 'handmade by' sticker on the back.
 

  
 

I must make a note of that .....

I love notebooks ...... big ones, small ones, in between ones ..... so imagine my delight when I found not ONE, not TWO, but THREE notebooks in my Christmas Stocking!!  First was this little tiny one

 

It's perfect for in my handbag, for shopping lists, things to do, those moments of inspiration which you have forgotten by the time you get home if you don't write it down there and then ........ and best of all,  you too could buy one here  - do have a look at the website, as there are all sorts of delicious notebooks and cards ..... and it's all made with recycled paper!

 

The next one is exceedingly cute .....

and it gets even cuter ........

..... when you open the cover, this little scene pops up!  And yes, there is a website for this one too!

 

And then there is this glorious one .....

... a wonderful confection of felt and beading - I already have plans for this one!!  (unfortunately there is no website for this one).

 

So, what was it I wanted to make a note of?   Oh yes, I have to write myself a reminder to bake next year's Christmas cake on time (I'm always late doing it!) and to get more of Lorraine's wonderful marzipan fruits to decorate it.  We had a slice of cake with our afternoon cuppa - and Malcolm enjoyed his marzipan lemon!

  
 
 
 

Here come the girls!!

At last Ulrika's sisters have decided to come out of the knitting basket, so today she was joined in getting up to no good by Agnetha and Frida ......

 

quick girls, make lots of snowballs before the boys get here!

 

 

having a blether with Mr Owl

 

 

checking there's plenty of food for birds like .......

 

 

.... this little robin

 

 

a mug of hot chocolate after their snowy adventures!

 

A good read

When we were in Falkirk last week, I had two places I wanted to go to ....... The Wishing Well Newsagents, who have a superb collection of magazines, and Waterstone's bookshop, because you know that I love books.  So .... did I buy anything - of course I did!!

 

I haven't seen this American knitting magazine before.  There are lots of super patterns, and I particularly liked these stockings - but I don't think I will be knitting any in time for this Christmas!!

 

I like cloth.paper.scissors magazines, and I really, really like their Studios special issues.  It's fascinating to see other peoples' studios ..... and to show Malcolm that there are people who have bigger stashes than me!!

 

I liked the little sign about chocolate in the next photograph - I think I may have to do an embroidered picture with the saying for my friend Lorraine - she would rather have a box of chocolates than sausage, bacon and egg for breakfast (and I do mean a box!!)

 

Then it was on to Waterstone's, where I was spoiled for choice ...... there were just so many wonderful books!!  When it got to the point of Malcolm threatening to drag me from the shop, I choose this gorgeous book.  I just want to make everything in it!!

 

 

How could you resist these fabulous little creatures

 

 

I think these little birdhouses are just so cute - they are definitely going to the top of the post-Christmas to-do list!!

 

But I would need to make a much bigger birdhouse for the pigeon who visited the garden this morning, pecking at the food which the small birds had scattered from the bird table