frayed at the edge

It may be the middle of December ......

........ but after reading Jessica's latest post, I realised that we still have lots of interest in the garden

daffodils peeping through in a sheltered corner

 

a little bluebell

 

a rose bud on the climbing rose on the front of the house

 

buds on the ornamental quince

 

 buds on a little alpine in an old sink

 

I don't know what this is!

 

even some of the tattered flowers still look good!

this fuchsia flower was pink!

 

a shredded osteospermum

 

a faded hellebore

 

clematis #1

 

clematis #2

 

this strange thing is on the false castor oil plant

 

there is also new growth on two of the trees in the back garden

 

usually when we go for lunch on a Wednesday Malcolm pays the bill ...... but today was my treat!  We went to the Jammy Coo, where as usual I had the bacon, brie and cranberry panini (I know I should try something else, but when I find something I like, I tend to stick to it!)

 

Malcolm had Parma ham, mozarella and olive on his panini - of course I wouldn't choose that one as I don't like olives, but he said it was delicious!

 

Friday will be my last post of the year. so do come back for some festive fun!

Fairy Twinkle!

It was our Christmas lunch at patch'n'chat on Friday, and Margaret as always had decorated the tables

 

she had also brought along her latest Christmas quilt

 

and she made a raggy wreath with the leftover fabrics from the quilt

 

I din't manage to take a photo of the delicious buffet lunch, but I did manage a photo of our afternoon cuppa

 

Betty's mince pies, which were served hot, were delicious!

 

but the highlight of the day was a visit from Fairy Twinkle.  To protect her reputation, I won't tell you who dressed up as her* (but Margaret used to own a fancy dress business .......)

 

it rained rather a lot on Saturday in Berwick, but yesterday was dry (and rather chilly), so we went up the coast to St Abbs for a walk.  I think it is probably obligatory to take a photo of a seagull when you are walking round the harbour!

 

there were lots of lobster pots on the quayside

 

as always I found some interesting things to take photos of

 

I don't know what these small trolleys are for - moving lobster pots perhaps

 

several boats had been lifted out of the water for the winter

 

although there were still some in the dock

 

we went for a cuppa and a sandwich for lunch ....... as usual I had a plain white cup, saucer and jug for my tea, while Malcolm had lovely decorated ones

 

we had ordered a sandwich to share, and were delighted when it arrived on two plates, both with a little bit of salad, coleslaw and some crisps - excellent service!

 

to finish, a message for Santa.  If I can't have a yellow machine .......

 

...... can I please have a big red truck (I've been a very, very good girl!!)

 

*I should point out that there was a "fat suit" underneath the fairy dress!!

 

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!!

 

 

A casualty of the weather

On Friday morning, we headed to Jedburgh Town Hall to set up for the Christmas Fair

 

once we had finished setting up, Malcolm dropped me off at patch'n'chat.  As the afternoon wore on, I started to worry as it got very windy, and by the time Malcolm picked me up again at the end of the afternoon it was very windy indeed.  We had fish suppers for dinner, then headed to the Town Hall, and waited for the Fair to open.  Last year great crowds came in as soon as the doors were opened, but on Friday there was only a trickle.  We found out later that less than half the number of people turned up this year, compared to last.  As the evening progressed, the weather got worse, with heavy rain.  Sales were few and far between, not just for us, but for all the stall holders.  Even the cupcake lady didn't sell all her delicious confections ....... yes, a box of them came home with us

 

along with several others, we packed up and went home early, and had to leave everything in the car overnight as it was so wet and windy.  Saturday was no better, it just rained and rained and rained.  When we got up on Sunday the rain had finally stopped and the wind had dropped, so we decided to head into Hawick for a walk and a cuppa.  The river was very full

 

people had taken precautions, with sandbags and special plates to seal the airbricks, to prevent the foundations flooding

 

as we walked on, we could see evidence that the river had actually flooded over into the street

 

we had thought that we would cross over the footbridge, to walk back along the other side of the river

 

but the footbridge was closed, as this had happened just beyond it - you may have seen this on news bulletins

 

further on, we stopped to watch some ducks struggling against the fast flowing water

 

this footbridge across the road from Sainsbury's was closed

 

perhaps because of the tree wedged under it

 

at the end of our walk, we came across this bunch of men, armed with brushes and shovels, offering to help clean out flooded premises

 

I'll be back on Wednesday with some sewing, and hopefully some cheerier photos!

 

It's beginning to .......

....... smell a lot like Christmas!!  Yes, somewhat later than most, I have baked the Christmas cake!  The fruit had been soaking in brandy for two days, and I assembled the other ingredients this morning

 

but before I started baking, we popped out for lunch at Lochcarron.  Malcolm had lovely thick lentil soup

 

and I had Moroccan chicken - deliciously spicy.  The thick slice of bread was very tasty too

 

I have made the Christmas cake so often, I only need to consult the recipe for the amount of each ingredient, not the method.  So it was soon in the oven, and the delightful smell of Christmas was wafting through the house.  After taking it out of the oven, I had already taken the brown paper collar off before I remembered to take a photo

 

oh yum, a thing of perfect beauty!  Over the next couple of weeks it will be fed more brandy, before it is iced

 

yesterday afternoon, I made a start to quilting the reindeer wallhanging

 

after quilting the main body of the quilt with a little loopy meander, I stitched in the ditch round the border

 

and then made a start to stitching straight lines on the borders.  I hope to finish it tomorrow

 

I keep forgetting to show you my little Sue Spargo needle case, that I have been working on at patch'n'chat.  Having stitched all the pieces in place

 

I have made a start to the embellishment, stitching round the wings with bullion knots and coral stitch

 

then working on one of the flowers, with French knots in the centre, and over-wrapped bullion knots round the edge

 

those of you who have been reading this nonsense rubbish drivel informative and entertaining blog for a while, may remember that over the years I have suffered from bouts of nasty pain in the right hand side of my face.  During the summer, I saw an ENT consultant at our local hospital, as I have a funny lump inside my ear which my GP might be a factor in the pain.  The consultant said that it wasn't to blame, and that he thought that I had trigeminal neuralgia.  But as that comes under neurology, I had to wait for another appointment, to see a neurology consultant.  That happened yesterday, and he confirmed the diagnosis.  So it has only taken ten years to finally find out what is the cause of the pain!  There isn't any real treatment for it, although he did recommend a drug that I have not yet been given (the ones I have had so far have nasty side-effects) but he told me about a last resort operation that I could have, but as it would involve drilling a hole in my skull, I'll pass on that!!

Busy,busy, busy!

I have been in denial about Christmas, but I now have to admit that it is getting close, and I had better get on with my sewing!  I finished the hand stitching on the Santa wallhanging

 

added the borders

 

then layered it up, ready for quilting

 

and I have been working on this little wallhanging, which I started last year! 

 

I had a slight oops when I was quilting it, as I didn't notice that the backing fabric had become folded over

 

fortunately I was able to snip the caught bit off

 

as it was at the edge, where it would be trimmed off

 

the next job was to put the binding on

 

I finished the hand stitching of the binding on Saturday, when I was at Abbey Row with some of the members of Abbey Quilters, but I haven't taken a photo yet.  There was lots of sewing being done.  Lorraine has stitched another stunning hexie quilt

 

we have a new member, Margaret, who was working on her very first quilt!

 

Rineke put together this quilt top for Linus

 

Sandra, who of course as well as being our Chairman is also our lovely Linus lady, had all sorts of fabric for us to choose from to make Linus quilts.  I loved this panel with elephants, and the spotty fleece is perfect for the back

 

and of course I had to have this panel with big machines! 

 

of course you know that we quilters love our food, and we were delighted when Val popped in with some of her wonderful baking, despite the fact that she couldn't join us, as she had to work.  First, her fabulous cheese scones

 

then a deliciously sticky carrot cake

 

Elaine brought in this sweet confection ...... she said that if we liked it, she had made it, and if we didn't like it, she bought it on Friday evening at a Christmas Fair!

 

I have kept the best sewing for last ........ recently at patch'n'chat, Margaret asked me if I would quilt a wallhanging for her, as she wants to give it to a friend for Christmas.  She brought it in on Friday ....... isn't it FABULOUS!!!!!

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!

Hands up .......

....... if you want one of these!!  Maria brought her puppy, Lily, to patch'n'chat this afternoon, and she is so cute there was not a lot of sewing done as we played with her

 

Maria told us that Lily is almost blind, but as dogs rely more on smell and hearing, it is not as great a handicap as it would be in a human.  This is Maureen trying to get her to turn towards the camera

 

a lot of photos turned out like this!

 

when we went through for our afternoon cuppa, I was allowed to look after Lily.  Maureen promptly took the camera and started snapping

 

after we had finished our cuppa, Maria took this photo of me with her baby

 

but I did get some work done!  I made a start to a Santa wallhanging, which is to be a Christmas present

 

I gradually assembled the pieces

 

I did get all the pieces in place and started stitching ....... but I forgot to take another photo (I wonder why?!).  But I do have another piece of sewing to share with you - I forgot to take my knitting with me last weekend, so I finished another stitchery - that's 23 done!

 

and of course we mustn't forget the Friday cake, a lovely rich gingerbread

 

we're staying home this weekend, as we want to get everything organised for the Christmas Fair (it's in two weeks time!!).  Snow has been mentioned in the weather forecast, but hopefully we won't have any.  Whether you are freezing in the Northern Hemisphere, or enjoying the sun in the Southern one, I hope you have a great weekend, love Anne 

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!