frayed at the edge

Back to childhood!

I had good fun last night at Abbey Quilters, playing with my paintsticks

 

I used a set of stencils which I had bought years ago in Singapore, to stencil on to paper using coloured chalks.  They worked just as well with the oil paint sticks

 

doing this practice piece made me realise that I would have to be much more careful not to leave smudges or go over the edges of the stencils

 

I borrowed this stencil for my last effort - much better!

 

after the paint has "cured" for about 48 hour, it then gets ironed with a hot iron to set it, and can then be washed.  I really enjoyed the evening - it took me back to playing with paints as a child.  As always I gave Maureen a lift, and yet again she had a present for me to say thank you ........ the most delightful glass coaster ..........

 

with an oh so cute handpainted owl

 

I have been working on one of the quilts that I started recently for Linus.  I added a smal flower to the centre square

 

the wadding, supplied by Sandra our lovely Linus lady, is polyester, and I find it unsuitable for free motion quilting, so I put the walking foot on and zigzagged round the flowers

 

next I marked a network of straight lines to quilt

 

and finally added the binding - all I have to do now is hand stitch the binding on the back, and sew in all the ends

 

I finished the fourth applique block for the Aunts' Quilt ....... or so I thought.  When I referred to the picture on the pattern when I was putting the finished blocks on the design wall, I noticed that block four has a flower in the middle

 

but this wasn't on the pattern sheet!  I might just leave the centre blank, then embroider some information in it about the quilt when I finish it

 

Malcolm has been working on his wine box bookcase.  When he showed it to our (shoe shop owning) neighbour this afternoon, he promptly took photos of it with his phone, to show his wife!!

 

we popped over to Pirn House for lunch - delicious brocolli and stilton soup with excellent bread

 

we came home via the back road, to have a look in Marion's field to see if the Jacob's lambs had arrived yet, as they are always born much earlier than the other lambs.  I only had my little point and shoot camera, so I have had to crop the photos, making them slightly blurred ....... but who cares, as we have the first lambs of the season!!!

 

I'll be back tomorrow with a bit of knitting ....... and a review of an excellent new knitting book!

 

Today's special mug .......

........ for my special tea, was my oh so cute Herdie mug

 

I thought I would start with the mug, in case I forgot by the end of catching up on the weekend!  On Saturday we decided not to go beachcombing, but to go for a walk round the town instead.  The river was low enough to show the foundations of the railway bridge

 

a bright collection of primroses beside the footpath leading up from the river

 

we hadn't used this footpath before, and were delighted to discover these two seating areas at the top

 

as we headed back to the flat, we had a good view of the three bridges

 

I remembered my own advice to look up

as we approached the od bridge, this little boat came through at a great rate of knots!

 

yesterday we drove the few miles up the coast to Eyemouth, where we went for another long walk.  I thought you might like another photo of the eider duck - I thought it had caught a fish, but looking more closely at the photo, I think it is a piece of litter!

 

as we walked along the cliff top (not my favourite part of the walk!) the waves were crashing on to the rocks below

 

as we walked back to the car, we paused to admire this building ....... 

 

...... with its amazing gargoyle!

 

it's Abbey Quilters' monthly meeting tonight, so I'll be heading out after dinner to pick up Maureen to drive over to Kelso.  We will be playing with paint sticks and fabric tonight - hopefully I will produce something good enough to show you tomorrow!

Sunrise and sunset

The reflection of the sunset on Saturday turned the river and the dock pink

then yesterday and this morning the sunrise turned the sky orange 

 

over the weekend we encountered lots of birds -  swans

 

cygnets

 

seagulls

 

eider ducks

 

a shy robin

 

I still have lots of photos from the weekend to sort out, so I'll bring you another intallment tomorrow, and I'll finish with some excellent sconnage

fruit with jam and cream

 

cheese

Smiling again!

I forgot to tell you yesterday that I was at the dentist in the morning to have my new crown fitted.  There was a slight delay as Mr GoodScrabbleScore couldn't remove the temporary crown.  He pulled and he tugged, and he tugged and he pulled, and eventually had to resort to the drill.  I am delighted with my lovely new crown - perhaps Malcolm will capture me smiling over the weekend!

I have shown you the driftwood drying in the garage, but I haven't shown you my seaglass and assorted bits, which have been drying on the draining board in the utility room, after being thoroughly washed with bleach

 

it'a amazing the great assortment of pieces that you can pick up on a short walk

 

this old shell has been home to a host of other small creatures

 

I like this partial shell

 

having previously framed some for Malcolm's shower room in the flat, I framed these ones for my bathroom at home

 

I was glued to the Great British Sewing Bee last night ....... but I still can't decide if I like Patrick without his beard, but still with a moustache!  (he's still gorgeous, but is he slightly les gorgeous!)

 

we were delighted that there was a contestant from Jedburgh, a lovely lady called Annie who is a retired dairy farmer and cheesemaker (we have eaten her delicious cheese).  Here she is with the delightful Claudia

 

Patrick and his fellow judge May examining a piece of sewing (the funny dark shapes on the right hand edge of the photos are from the large rubber plant which sit beside the tv)

 

while I was watching the programme, I was casting on my Ripple Rug.  As I had to cast on 282 stitches, I used stitch markers to show where the 100th and 200th stitches were, to make it easier to keep count

 

now for the star of tonight's post - Malcolm's wine box bookcase.  He has made the basic carcase

 

there will a shelf in the middle section, and after some deliberation, he has decided that instead of putting pine panelling at the back, he will put a piece of plywood and cover it with wine corks!

 

and of course to finish we have the Friday cake - our favourite apple and sultana

 

we'll be heading off to Berwick in the morning, hoping for good weather to get out for a good long walk.  I hope you all have a great weekend, love Anne

Catching up!

We're back home after a very enjoyable visit to Stuart and Alison, so let's get going and catch up on yesterday's news.  First of all, the ball end sweater.  I modelled it yesterday morning before we left

 

I might have posed some more, but it was far too cold, as you can see from Malcolm's dashboard, when we set off a short time later ...... yes, it does say minus five!!

 

when I spoke to Stuart on the phone on Monday, he recommended Tea Jennys for lunch (that's where he and Alison bought my special tea that I have in a special mug on Tuesdays)

 

it was very busy, so I couldn't take a general shot of the interior, but I sneaked a photo of the wallpaper without getting anyone in the shot

 

every teapot comes with a cute teacosy - and isn't the old china fabulous!

 

Malcolm had delicious leek and potato soup with excellent bread

 

while I had a slightly different version of cheese savoury sandwich, with a very good salad

 

after lunch we walked past the house we lived in from 1990 to 1997 (when we went to live in Indonesia).  I have to say now that we lived in the downstairs of the house, we didn't own all of it!  It had actually been built  for the two spinster daughters of a local builder, unlike other similar sized houses in the area, which were built as a single house, but were then split into two flats

 

Malcolm made the fence (which is looking sadly neglected), cutting the shaped top of every piece.  He made it a panel at a time over quite a few weekends

 

he also made this rustic bridge ....... we were surprised to see that it had lasted so long!

 

we did some shopping, but you will have to wait until tomorrow to see what I bought.  We had an enjoyable evening with Stuart and Alison, and Fraser called in to pick up the ball end sweater.  He was delighted with it, and hopefully will send me a photo of his dad wearing it, to share with you.  On our way home today we called in at Ikea - but again you will have to wait until tomorrow to see what I bought.  So I'll finish with some snowy scenes from our drive home

 

 

Teddy bear sheepies!

We wrapped up well and went for a walk yesterday morning.  We parked beside the donkey sanctuary, but the first creatures we saw weren't donkeys, but little shaggy ponies

 

this donkey must have thought that I had food with me, as he stretched his head as far a possible over the fence ........

 

......... Malcolm had to distract him, so that I could take a better photo of him

 

there weren't any other donkeys about (I think they were being sensible and keeping warm in the stables), but we didn't mind too much when we saw these amazing sheepies in the next field.  They looked a cross between big cuddly teddy bears and sheepies

 

 

 

we walked on down to the River Tweed

 

as we crossed the footbridge .....

 

....... Malcolm was making it wobble as I tried to take this photo!

 

as we walked on, we coud see the Temple of the Muses

 

there was a bitterly cold wind whistling through the Temple, so we didn't linger after I took these two photos

 

we headed to the Old Melrose Tearoom for a warming cuppa and an excellent toasted teacake

 

did you notice the cute little milk jug?

 

it made me laugh every time I poured some milk!!

 

if you are now wondering why we had two jugs, Malcolm had hot milk with his coffee.  To finish ....... a Sunday walk wouldn't be complete with an arty shot (or two) of dried seed heads!

 

Tractors and snow .......

....... what more could a girl want?  (apart from George Clooney).  When I went out for my walk yesterday, this little tractor was sitting across the road

 

I walked on up the road, pausing to take a photo of the frozen ponds

 

and an arty shot of a snowy fence

 

I heard a chug chug chug behind me, and there was the little tractor chugging up the hill.  As I didn't know the driver, I waited until he had passed me before I took the photo

 

then there was another chug chug chug, and a matching tractor appeared, driven by our neighbour BillytheFarmer

 

I walked on up past  the church, to where I could see over the valley

 

I wonder why this one field was still green

 

of course on the way back down the hill I had to take photos of my favourite view

 

and then a last photo of fences in the snow

 

I have finished knitting the ball end sweater, and have started making it up (sewing in all those ends is a pain in the wherever!).  Malcolm wasn't available to model for me this morning, so I just had to drape it over the back of the couch

 

we were a reduced company at patch'n'chat this afternoon, because of the weather.  However, there was still plenty of chatting and a delicious spicy fruit dumpling for our Friday cuppa

 

the forecast for the weekend is for cold weather, with the possibility of some more snow, so I don't think we will be going far!  Whether you are chilly in the Northern Hemisphere, or enjoying warm weather in the Southern one, I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne

 

A good idea?

The latest issue of Homemaker magazine arrived in the post this morning.  As usual it is full of good ideas ........ but I think this suggestion on the cover might make your bed soggy!

 

of course they meant a hot water bottle cover!  I was delighted with this month's free gift - very often these little kits languish in the studio, but I think I will make up this one

 

when we set off for Melrose this morning, there were some flights of snow, but the sun was shining.  

 

sometimes when I take photos from the car, they don't quite turn out as planned ........like these blurred sheepies!

 

we had a very enjoyable lunch.  Malcolm had a cheese and ham toastie

 

and I had cheese savoury sandwiches

 

on the way home, the weather got steadily worse

 

back home, Malcolm was delighted with his bargain of the day ...... a half-price tin of amaretti biscuits (and he can eat them all himself, as I don't like them!)

 

to finish - these Belted Galloway cattle looked decidedly miserable standing in the mud!

I saw a ship .......

......... but I didn't see it come sailing in, as it was already in the dock when we arrived at the flat on Saturday morning

 

this was a BIG ship

 

 

all these little fishing boats could fit on board with room to spare

 

after lunch, we wrapped up warmly and headed for the beach.  This might look like a pile of rubbish

 

but a closer look produced the first piece of driftwood of the day - when I sat it on the sand I couldn't quite decide if it was a bird or a fish!

 

I had a different subject to decide if it shoud be on the right or the left of the photo - the clock tower

 

I like the shapes and colours of the rocks - inspiration, perhaps, for a quilting design?

as the forecast wasn't do good for yesterday, we headed back home in the morning, stopping on the way at The Teviot Smokery for a cuppa and excellent scones

fruit

 

cheese

 

on Saturday morning we had collected this picture from the framers in Berwick.  Malcolm had found the First Day cover, featuring the famous Berwick swans, in a charity shop, and gave it to me for my birthday

 

but we only saw two swans over the weekend, and they vanished behind the ship before I could get a good photo!

 

I popped out to the garage this afternoon to take some photos of the driftwood we have collected recently.  It doesn't show up too well against the grey concrete floor - when the weather is better I'll take some of the bigger pieces out into the garden to get better photos

 

 

to finish, these arrived today for Malcolm.  He is planning to make a bookcase and/or chest of drawers from them

Who ate all the pies?!

I hadn't weighed myself recently, as the scales needed a new battery, but Malcolm bought a battery yesterday, so this morning I stepped on the scales .......... and turned round to see if the Wicked Weight Witch was standing behind me with a foot on the scales!  Oh dear, recently there has been too much of this

 

and not enough of this

 

so I will have to up my fitness regime on the instruments of torture

 

when we were in Berwick last Saturday, I saw this piece of beautiful blue woollen fabric in a shop window.  As it was very reasonably priced, I popped into the shop and bought it .....

 

.......as I knew it would be perfect for this pattern, which I bought in Australia, along with the book and assorted woolly bits

 

Margaret has started to put her latest quilt together - every time she makes a new quilt I ask if I can have it!!

 

I may have had a shock when I stood on the scales this morning, but that didn't prevent me tucking into my Friday cake!  Annette had tried out a new recipe - raspberry and yogurt muffins ...... delicious!!

we're off to Berwick in the morning, and hopefully will be able to have a walk on the beach in the afternoon, no doubt collecting more driftwood!  I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne