frayed at the edge

Two very different lunches

Yesterday, after arriving at the flat, we walked over to town for a bite of lunch.  I ordered a tuna, cheese and gherkin ciabatta (unfortunately they didn't have any gherkins!), and Malcolm ordered cheese and ham.  Then as we often do, we swapped half (and I gave Malcolm the tomato from my salad)

 

back at the flat, there was activity on the dockside, as a lorry was unloaded

 

with not one, but two, machines whizzing about

 

this seagull was keeping an eye on proceedings

 

but these seagulls were too busy gossiping to be bothered with what the humans were doing

 

this ship was far too large to come into the dock, and sailed on down the coast

 

I was somewhat worried by this little boat on the far side of the river, as it had a definite list!

 

they say the camera never lies, but these photos contradict that.  This is the scene as the moon came up at teatime yesterday

 

but when I zoomed in on the moon, the camera saw things somewhat differently

 

a little bit later, some cloud appeared

 

but again, when I zoomed in, the camera saw the scene differently

 

today, we had an invitation to a very posh lunch at Eshott Hall Hotel ...... it was so posh I couldn't take photos of the food, but I can assure you that it was delicious!  Then after lunch, we thought we were just having a demonstration on how to make a Christmas wreath, by Christine, a florist from Lavenders Blue in Morpeth.  But after her demonstration, we were all given a wreath to decorate!!  The hotel gardeners had gathered lots of greenery from the grounds, and we were each given a goodie bag of decorations.  So, who produced the better wreath, Malcolm or me?!  I'm not going to tell you which wreath is which, I will just ask you to leave a comment  saying which one you prefer.  Bragging rights for months to come are at stake here ......

Stuck up!

I have been gluing a lot of things together over the weekend (including, at one point, two of my fingers!).  Some things had to be re-glued, as the first glue used wasn't strong enough, but eventually I had produced ........

sea glass boats

 

beach combing paperweights

 

a beach combing scene on slate

 

sea-washed brick paperweights

 

stone stack paperweights

 

slate and sea glass hearts

 

a cute stone dog

 

another cute stone dog

 

these have now had hanging loops of ribbon added

 

after I took this photo of the copper Christmas trees, I thought they looked a bit plain

 

so I added these little presents (they are actually buttons!)

 

the studio was somewhat messy by the time I finished!

 

Malcolm made the driftwood stars, raiding my string and ribbon stashes, and using some of the little boxes - I have been making more of them

 

when we got up on Saturday, there was a sprinkling of snow

 

and the bird bath was frozen for the first time this winter

 

so I was very glad to have my stove to keep me warm ....... I took the photo at the end of the afternoon when it was dark, and turned the light off to highlight the flames

 

then, when I went out to shut the back storm doors, I saw these sheep on the skyline, with the sunset behind them

 

yesterday morning we popped out to get the Sunday papers, and to have a cuppa ....... and a wonderful cheese scone!

 

to finish ...... on Saturday, Malcolm was doing a bit of tidying in the garden, and found these grapes  Sadly, still not enough to make wine!

Reading the small print

It all started with an email when we were in Portugal.  Jenny Fox-Proverbs, the editor of the new quilting magazine, Today's Quilter, got in touch to ask permission to use one of my photos.  She explained that they urgently needed a photo of Susan Briscoe for issue 3 of the magazine

 

 

they hadn't been able to find one of a good enough quality to use in the supplement to the magazine which was to feature Susan.  They had done an internet search, and had found a photo of Susan which I had posted on the blog way back in 2009.  Would I give them permission to use it?  They would say that I had taken the photo, mention the blog address, and send me a copy of the magazine, so I was happy to say yes.  There was then a slight problem, as my copy of the magazine didn't arrive, so I bought one at the weekend.  And there was my photo!

 

that led to another problem - I couldn't see any mention of my name as photographer, despite the photo appearing twice in the supplement and once in the main magazine.  So of course I emailed Jenny the editor.  I received a prompt reply to tell me that the credit line is on the left hand side of the photo - but the type is so small and so pale it is barely visible, so I doubt anyone has noticed it.  Even after I told Malcolm to look carefully at the left hand side of the photo, he didn't see it!  (and the blog address is wrong, it doesn't start www).  Ah well, never mind, it was good to see the photo!

 

so, on to the crafting.  Malcolm has clocks sitting all over the place, the latest two in the kitchen

 

he is quite happy with the verdigris on his copper dials, but I found when I tried a sample for my Christmas trees that it didn't stand up to being handled.  So I had a think, and decided to try using some Annie Sloan chalk paint, starting with a trial on an off cut of copper

 

after the paint had dried, I rubbed it with some wax

 

the trial went well, so I painted and waxed my angel with the blue paint that I already had, and today I bought some green paint for the trees, which I will use tomorrow

 

I looked out this book of papers, to use for the background for the little stone pictures

 

I used double-sided sticky sheets to stick the paper to the card mounts

 

I prepped these other little frames in the same way - all the frames came from a charity shop, which is why they needed a bit of tlc

 

I started looking out bits of sea glass, to make little boats - Malcolm will add the little artistic details

 

I had a play with a piece of slate, a candle jar and bits of driftwood ....... but I forgot to take a photo of the finished article, so you will have to wait until Friday to see it!  Next I had a rake through one of Malcolm's many boxes of driftwood, and, using slate (found on the beach) as a base, I produced these two little driftwood sculptures, which I rather like

 

last night I sat and tied ribbon round half of the little boxes that I made recently ...... so of course I demanded another reward!!  We went out for lunch today and I had my favourite coronation chicken sandwich, which was a fitting reward!

 

Malcolm enjoyed a bowl of French onion soup with a savoury scone

 

I loved my mismatched vintage cup and saucer ....... and yes, that is a little meringue!

Some serious crafting!

Before we get into the crafting, here is the finished jelly roll quilt (which a certain bear perched on the pillows didn't want to part with!)

 

my first crafting effort yesterday was a straightforward one.  I had bought some lovely organic scented soaps from the Green Shop in Berwick and looked out these scallop shells to put them in

 

I tied some raffia round the shells

 

and added little bits of driftwood

 

my next project was slightly more taxing, as it involved copper foil and cookie cutters

 

it took a bit of effort, but in the end I was pleased with my little tree, which is the first of four that I cut out

 

once I have given them the verdigris treatment and embellished them, I will mount them on pieces of driftwood

 

you will probably have seen pictures like these - they are in lots of craft shops and are all over Pinterest.  This was just a trial run, but when I do them properly, I will stick the stones in place and get Malcolm to do the arty additions, given my lack of drawing skills!

 

I also started building some little stone stacks, which I will glues together

 

meanwhile, Malcolm has been making more boats

 

he has also been making clocks

 

and there is a pile of half done clocks sitting by the stove, to make sure the driftwood is fully dry (not content with having the garage to work in, I think he is making a take-over move on my studio!)

 

after all that crafting, my thoughts turned to a sweet treat, and I decided to make some chocolate fudge

 

I started by melting 250g of butter with 500g of dark chocolate and two teaspoons of vanilla

 

then added the tin of condensed milk

 

after mixing in the tasty bits, I put the fudge in a tray, then put it in the fridge to set

 

this morning I cut it into squares, and set aside some to take with me to patch'n'chat

 

at teatime this afternoon, as well as the fudge and Annette's fruit dumpling .......

 

....... Betty had made apple cake.  Maureen joined me in the arduous task of tasting everything, purely so that I could use such words as delicious and scrumptious!!

 

the apple cake was so good it deserves a close-up

 

the weather forecast for the weekend isn't that good, so if you fancy a new blog to read, do pop over and read Jenny and Lucy's blog here.  They have got off to a very good start, and I am sure you will enjoy it!  I hope to make some progress with my brioche knitting!  Have a good weekend, love Anne

 

 

A tale of two beaches

On Saturday, we went for a walk on "our" beach.  There have been some very high tides, and the sand has shifted quite a bit, revealing the wooden groynes again

 

then there is the usual dilemma of the lighthouse ...... should it be to the right or the left of the photo

 

then on Sunday we went for a walk on the beach at Bamburgh

 

the sun was shining on the Farne Islands

 

but Lindisfarne was hazy in the distance

 

this family was enjoying a game of croquet on the beach

 

a rather large dead crab

 

Malcolm wouldn't let me play with this big (toy) truck!

 

on Saturday morning when we walked over to the town, I only had the point and shoot with me ........ so of course the seal was sitting on a mudbank!

 

look how much the tide had come in, when we returned home about 45 minutes later

 

we were delighted to see some cygnets come into the dock with the adult swans

I know there has been very little sconnage on the blog of late, so we took steps to correct that, having this delicious cheese scone on Sunday

 

and this even more delicious (and even bigger) cheese scone on Monday, on our way home

 

the trees are now blazing with their autumn colours

 

Maureen came over for the day yesterday, so that we could have some fun needle felting.  Before she arrived, I looked out all my felting stash, and most importantly, Gretel's excellent book

 

I had bought these rovings in Australia

 

I thought we should start with something simple, so chose the little mouse

 

my little mouse was soon under way

 

I just have a little bit of stitching round his tummy to do

 

but at the other end of the table, things weren't going so well, and there was a great deal of muttering from Maureen.  Having consulted the book, she decided to turn her mouse into a penguin!

 

however she then had a go with my embellisher, and in no time at all produced this super picture

 

while she was doing that, I made a start on a penguin

 

to finish ....... you know that I like tractors, but not when they are taking up the whole road!!

Soldering on!

No, it's not a spelling mistake in the title, I spent yesterday evening having fun with a soldering iron!  Let me explain.  Maureen had asked me some weeks ago if I would like to go with her to a workshop at the Lovatt Gallery.  As I love the beautiful pieces that Linda, the owner of the Gallery, makes, I jumped at the chance.  Lind was quite happy for me to take photos to put on the blog, but as I was using the point and shoot, I had to use the flash, as it doesn't like low light levels, so not the best of photos!  I had to start by making a little drawing of what I wanted to make.  As drawing isn't my strong point, Linda let me see her little catalogue which has line drawings in it, so I was able to produce this very faint sketch.  I also had to decide whether to use the bit of broken wine glass, or the piece of sea-washed china for my base

 

Linda let me use one of her templates, which I drew round on the copper foil

 

having cut the hare out, I turned it over and embossed it, just using a ball point pen.  This is it turned back to the right side

 

then I was let loose with the soldering iron, which was a bit scary!  First I attached the eye with a pin which went through to the back and was soldered in place.  Having wrapped this little chip of china in copper tape, I then soldered it in place.  You can see that the copper has changed colour where it has been heated

 

I had to put little blobs of solder on the ends of the three brass wires, which was very tricky - I had to remind myself to breath, I was concentrating so hard!  Linda wrapped the piece of china for the base with copper wire, ready to solder the hare in place

 

I got so wrapped up in what I was doing, I missed taking photos of a few stages, so we move on to this.  You can see the third brass wire clamped in place ready to solder to the back of the hare

 

the beads for the flowers are from a necklace which Malcolm gave me, which kept breaking.  The next stage is for the hare to be treated to give the copper a verdigris finish, which is done either by Linda or one of her assistants.  I am looking forward to getting him back!!

 

a last little look at him, showing off his whiskers!

Glassy eyed!

As Malcolm was looking through all the treasures that Rachel gave him (she is now a Lovely Grandma!), I whisked some of them away to take photos out in the sunshine

solder

 

glass nuggets

 

more nuggets!

 

metal wire

 

 

copper tape

 

there were lots of pieces of glass, but I was so worried that I would break them, I just picked out one pretty piece for a photo

 

there was also this machine, which is a grinder

 

Malcolm is looking forward to creating some stained glass pieces - which of course I will share with you.  

 

do you remember some weeks ago I painted my little pie crust table?  With, as usual, too many projects on the go, I hadn't done any more with it.  So Malcolm stepped in the other day, when it was too wet to work in the garden

 

and gave it a light sand, creating a shabby chic look

 

he then gave it a coat of wax

 

he'll take the table over to the flat tomorrow, but I won't be going with him, as I am going to the Autumn Quilt Show at Ingliston tomorrow, then I'm going to a workshop at Borderland Fabrics on Saturday, so I will have to wait to see how it looks.

 

to finish ....... when I was out in the studio on Tuesday it was rather chilly, so today Malcolm lit my stove for the first time since the spring

 

 

Making a mess!

We finally got round to playing working with the air dry clay.  I covered one of my worktables, and assembled everything we needed

 

we each worked with a small ball, kneading it to make it smooth

 

I rolled out my lump, and using a cookie cutter, cut out this fish

 

which I then decorated (badly!)

 

Malcolm meantime had produced two elegant starfish

 

my turtle left a leg behind

 

and Malcolm's seahorse lost its tail

 

this was turning out to be harder than we thought it would be!  Malcolm's next attempt, a penguin, turned out fine, perhaps because he didn't roll the clay out as thinly

 

then I changed tack and made a bowl

 

my next idea was to cover a tiny glass bowl with clingfilm

 

and press clay into it

 

a quick rake through the stash produced a bit of lace I had cut off an old t-shirt

 

I pressed it into the clay to make a pattern on the bowl

 

Malcolm too was creating freehand items

 

exhausted by all this creativity, we left the pieces to dry

 

today I thought I would try painting some of the pieces, but first I wanted to test their strength.  First I dropped my funny little fish on the carpet ........ and it broke!

 

so I thought I would try the first bowl I made, as it was by far the thickest, sturdiest piece ........ and it broke as well

 

we will have to have a serious re-think on what we will make with the clay - there is rather a lot of it left!  Fortunately it didn't cost very much, so the broken pieces aren't that much of a disaster.  Have you used it, and if so do you have any advice to offer?  I did watch some videos online, but there was no mention of it breaking so easily.  Ah well, thinking caps on!!

 

 

It's back!!

Hooray, The Great British Bake Off started again last night!  I love this progamme, with the brilliant judges and presenters (if there are funny black shapes on the right of the photos, it is my rubber plant, getting in the way!)

 

I don't know how many photo I took of Mary, and in every one she was pulling a face!

 

but Paul just smouldered as usual, with those piercing blue eyes

 

and Mel and Sue were as madcap as ever

 

fortunately the sight of this cake didn't make me hungry, as it is a walnut cake, which I don't like

 

Marie was named Star Baker

 

while Stu was the first to leave

 

when we were on holiday, we saw some driftwood mobiles that had little fish and other sea creatures dangling from them.  I said to Malcolm that when we got home I would get some air-drying clay to for us to have a go at making some ....... and I have finally got round to getting the clay!  This block is about the size of a shoe box, but it weighs 12 kilos!  I could hardly lift the parcel when it arrived

 

I also got a set of sea themed cookie cutters

 

and a basic set of modelling tools, so now we just need some time to have a go

 

inspired by some of the things we saw at the Gallery on Sunday, I also got this collection of "silver" charms (what we we do without ebay!!)

 

this afternoon I made a start to clearing the bottom room of my studio, so that we can get it painted.  This side is just about empty

 

but I shall have to find a place to put all this stuff from the other side

 

I made this quilt years ago for my Dad when he was in hospital after falling and breaking his hip.  The ward was far too warm, so the nurses would open the windows, but that meant Dad got cold, sitting all day in his bedside chair.  So I unearthed a pile of log cabin blocks and put together a quick lap quilt, with cosy fleece on the back.  I now use it as a table cover in the studio

 

the weather still isn't very summery, so I decided to have some summery music while I was busy - I can play CDs on the built-in DVD player in my little tv

 

to finish ...... I made this little wallhanging years ago, but I don't think it has ever appeared on the blog!

Getting ready for the fair

On holiday, we were in a lovely new shop in Pollensa which sold all things soapy.  I spotted something which I thought I could make for the craft fair.  When I was in Berwick last week I was able to buy some lovely scented soaps, which you can see here cut up into quarters

 

I bored a hole in each piece of soap with a skewer, and tied some rafia round each piece

 

then strung the soap with shells and driftwood. to produce fragrant mobiles to hang in the bathroom

the next job was to cut up card to make price tags (the word blunt  on the rotary cutter refers to the fact that the blade is too blunt to cut fabric, but not card)

 

ready to stamp - if you didn't see the stamp when I made it several weeks ago, it says DriftAway

 

we have just about finished making things, the next job is to decide how to set up our table - I think we will have a trial run on one of the studio tables next week, so that we have a plan to follow when we set up on the Friday night.

 

I have been stitching away in the evenings, and have finished another block for "Twas the night before Christmas" - a jolly fat Santa

 

when we were in Majorca, Maureen wasn't that far away, as she was on holiday in Barcelona.  She found a shop selling beautiful Japanese fabric, and brought back this piece for me

 

I have been trying very hard not to buy quilting/craft books, but I succumbed to this one after seeing Joanne Sharpe on The Quilt Show

 

a lot of the book is about lettering in journals, but I like this little stitchery

 

we went out for lunch today, to the Jammy Coo.  Malcolm had a delicious parma ham, mozarella and olive paninni

 

while I tucked into a bacon, brie and cranberry bagel

 

when we finished, Delia, the lovely owner, tried to tempt us with a cake, but we declined!  To finish, I have two quirky photos from our holiday of modes of transport - neither of which you are likely to find me using!