frayed at the edge

Blowing away the cobwebs

We went for a long walk on the beach at Bamburgh yesterday.  It was rather windy, and the walk helped clear our heads, as we both have a nasty cold.  Someone else making good use of the wind was this kite surfer

 

LS Lowry regularly visited Berwick on holiday ....... perhaps he had a trip to Bamburgh one day and was inspired by the little figures in the distance on the beach

 

when we turned round to walk back, the castle was only just visible above the dunes, which made me think that if you were a Viking who had arrived to attack the castle, you would think it wasn't that big

 

until you walked further along and saw it in all its glory!

 

it was a hazy day, with the Farne Islands just visible on the horizon

 

this shell caught my eye, sitting in a little depression in the sand

 

this jellyfish was somewhat larger

 

I had just taken this photo of the remains of a butterfly when a large dog ran up and stood on it, spoiling it

 

when I was taking photos of the castle from the beach, I cut off the right hand side

 

as the vehicles parked there were rather out of keeping with the grand structure

 

if you don't like snails, skip past the next few photos!

 

and you might want to avoid this hairy caterpillar too!

 

of course after such a bracing walk, we needed some excellent sconnage for lunch, and headed to Sunnyhills

 

where we tucked into a cheese scone

 

and a fruit scone

 

before going out to see the llamas

 

I'll be back tomorrow with more photos from the weekend, and some sewing.  But to finish ......... I think it may be some time before we start producing wine from our grapes!

 

Eating chocolate at 5am!

No, this is not a bizarre new diet.  We couldn't sleep, wondering what was happening as the votes were being counted in the Independence Referendum, so we got up at 3am to watch tv.  By 5am we were flagging somewhat, so a few squares of chocolate kept us going.  I haven't really mentioned the referendum before, as the blog is my little happy space, where the nasty outside world is not allowed to intrude ....... but you would probably have guessed that I was firmly in the NO camp when I referred to Alex Salmond as the Great Haggis, the Chief Turnip, the Head Numptie etc.  We are delighted that the NO vote prevailed, and our family of nations isn't being ripped apart.

 

OK, back to the happy world of sewing!  At patch'n'chat this afternoon we had just finished our cuppa when a lady approached and spoke to me.  She waited for me to realise who she was ........ but as I hadn't seen a photo of her on her blog, the only clue I had was her accent.  I was delighted to realise that it was Susan, who is over here with her husband visiting family and having a wonderful holiday.  Maureen was entrusted with the camera to take a photo of us

 

we had a lovely chat, then all too soon it was time for me to leave.  Susan had given me a parcel, which I didn't open until I got home.  I was delighted to find this apron with OWLS!!  Thank you very much Susan!

 

....... the gift tag is cute too!

 

now for the photos that I had planned to share with you today!  Out in the garden, we are still getting courgettes, albeit tiny ones

 

the tiny beans aren't maturing

 

the honeysuckle is flowering again

 

and after three years, the everlasting sweetpea has finally flowered!

 

and of course we can't have the Friday post, without the Friday cake!  I don't know what this is called, but it was delicious.  It is made with crushed digestive biscuits, cranberries, marshmallows and condensed milk.  It is made into a log, rolled in coconut, and then chilled in the fridge

 

the weather has been a bit grey and damp for the last couple of days, but hopefully it will improve over the weekend.  Whatever the weather, I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne 

Low tide

We came over to Berwick today, as Malcolm's sisters are visiting us tomorrow - and as they are arriving by train at 9.30, that would have meant a very early start from Hawick.  It was very foggy when we got up this morning, and it was still hazy when we got here and went for a walk along to Spittal.  The tide was the lowest we have seen it - these two boats beside the lifeboat station were high and dry

 

these wooden supports are slowly rotting

 

it was decidedly hazy looking over to the lighthouse

 

and back to the three bridges

 

this dog was patiently waiting for its owner, who was blethering to another dog walker

 

we passed this delightful group of ladies on the promenade.  As we went down on to the beach for the return walk, the tiny lady on the left was being teased that she had to go the the very end of the promenade ..... so she stepped round the fence.  The two ladies beside her are holding her walking aid!

 

there is always so much to see on the beach - interesting rock formations

 

sand and tiny stones caught in a hollow in the rocks when the tide went out

 

of course we can't walk on the beach without picking up seaglass.  Some of it is easy to spot on the sand

 

whereas other pieces are harder to spot amongst the stones

 

I do like a bit of rust ......

 

.......... and old weathered wood

 

we spent so long on the beach, the tide had started to come in, and the boats at the lifeboat station were afloat again

 

 

at the bottom of the slipway on the other side of the lifeboat station, two men were setting out to fish

 

while this boat was just heading back in from a fishing trip (as I write this, it is moored in the dock in front of the flat)

 

knowing that you would be disappointed if there wasn't a Friday cake photo ...... there are two!  On our way over, we stopped at the Village Shop in Cornhill for lunch, and while Malcolm paid the bill, I purchased two muffins for afternoon tea

 

lemon and poppy seed on the left, and banoffee on the right.  Delicious!!

 

we are looking forward to our day with Jennifer and Judith, showing them the sights of Berwick.  Whatever you are doing, I hope you have a great weekend (and Happy Birthday to Gilly), love Anne

Time warp

There was a bit of deja vu this morning, when I had to phone the dentist for an emergency appointment as a filling had fallen out - the same one that I had an emergency appointment for in July!  I arrived a bit early for my appointment, so picked up a magazine to read.  A few pages in, I was puzzled by this advert

 

had I been caught up in some sort of time warp, fallen down a wormhole, had Doctor Who whisked me back some years in the Tardis, to a time before BP introduced their current logo, which I think looks as if it was designed by a five-year old with a Spirograph?

 

 

no - it was just a very old magazine!  But the funny thing was, if I hadn't noticed the advert, I might not have realised how old the magazine was, as the main topics were just the same as those of today, including a debate about badger culling (the latest cull started yesterday)

 

my tooth was quickly and efficiently repaired by the hygenist/technician, and there was no charge - I just hope this repair lasts longer than the previous one.  So, now we can get back to the weekend, and the cake I baked.  I had been given the recipe for a chocolate and beetroot cake by Maureen, and she also gave me beetroot from her garden, so I had to make it!  It didn't look very appetising before it went in the oven

 

but once it was baked and had a delicious chocolate topping added, it looked much tastier

 

I used some of the cake to make pudding for our visitors on Sunday - our lovely neighbours, the shoe shop owners.  I made a strawberry compote

 

a little compote in the bottom of the bowl, then a square of cake on top - yummy!

 

we saw a large ship waiting for high tide to come into the dock, so we hoped our visitors would arrive in time to see it, but they arrived just too late to see the pilot boat heading out ........

 

........ to guide the ship in, coming round past the lighthouse

 

this ship was narrrower than previous ones, so negotiated the opening without a problem

 

but it was much longer, taking up a long stretch of the dock.  As usual lots of people had stopped to watch the ship docking

 

and also as usual, the swans had gone off in a huff!!

 

the shadows in this photo look as if they are cast by the sun, but it is actually a light outside at nighttime.  The room was dark, but the camera decided to make it look somewhat orange!

 

we went out for a walk after lunch today - and look what we found ....... sloes!  Not very many, but enough to make sloe gin!

 

we also collected a bag of pine cones

 

and a big bunch of honesty, which will of course look much better when the outer layers come off, revealing the silvery paper innards

 

the swallows have taken to congregating on the lovely neighbours' roof

 

I'll be back tomorrow with some very cute little birds - and some sewing!

 

Cast your mind back ........

........ to Friday, when the robin sneaked in at the end of the post.  Well, I had hardly hit the publish button when the scruffy robin turned up and had a bath as well!

 

In a comment on Friday's post, Julia mentioned that if we were going to Berwick at the weekend, we should take a walk along the pier, as dolphins had been sighted.  So as soon as we arrived and got organised, off we set, pausing along the way as always to take photos.  As we walked across the old bridge, the seal popped up to say hello

 

then Malcolm suggested this street scene

 

this scene was my choice

 

we didn't see any dolphins, but we did see several boats

 

having failed to see any dolphins, we went for a walk on the beach, where as always there were all sorts of things to snap

 

on Sunday morning we went for a walk - and instead of walking along the top of the town walls, as we usually do, we walked round the bottom

 

and look what we found - a garden celebrating the Queen's Jubilee

 

the garden bench shows just how big the walls are

 

by the time we had walked down all these steps .....

 

........ we were ready for a cuppa and some excellent sconnage

 

I still have lots more photos to share with you - but I have a big pot of chutney wimmering on the stove, and I need to go and bottle it, so do come back tomorrow, as I even have a photo of a cake that I baked (a rare occurence!!).  To finish - we were bemused yesterday by this car, sitting in the middle of a large grass area which seems to be used for parking when the carpark is full.  As you can see, the grass has been cut round it .............

 

 

Sheepies!!

I had just mentioned to Malcolm yesterday that there hadn't been any sheepies on the blog recently (the swans have been hogging the limelight) ......... and then, this morning, there were sheepies in the field across the road!!

 

there was a definite feel of autumn when I was out in the garden taking photos this morning.  The rowan tree is laden with berries, which the blackbirds love

 

 

 

and the climbing roses are hanging on

 

 

when the post arrived this morning - woo hoo, an envelope from far-flung places

 

there were birthday cards for both of us from Lee and her lovely family in Sydney.  I think you will guess which one was for Malcolm and which one was for me!

 

I was very busy sewing at patch'n'chat this afternnon - but I wasn't doing my own sewing!  Margaret had stitched a beautiful applique panel to put on a bag for her great-granddaughter, but she wasn't sure how to stitch it on.  I started by showing her the stitch that I would use to do it ....... and ended up sewing the whole thing for her!

 

Margaret did allow me to have a break, so that I could enjoy the Friday cake - cute little cup cakes with chocolate icing and fresh strawberries

 

we have a busy weekend ahead, with our lovely neighbours (the shoe shop owners) coming over to Berwick on Sunday for a visit.  I hope you have a wonderful weekend, love Anne

 

I was just about to publish the post when the robin turned up for a bath - so here are some extra photos!

 

 

A delightful evening

We had a pleasant stroll over to the restaurant yesterday evening, and we sat at a table in the window, just where the sandwich board is

 

I managed to take a quick snap of the interior before it got busy

 

toasting the birthday boy

 

if we had known how generous the portions were for the main course, we wouldn't have ordered starters - for Malcolm Canarian potatoes with a trio of dips

 

and for me sizzling garlic mushrooms

 

for my main course I chose a trio of tapas - chicken paella, lamb meatballs and patatas bravas

 

Malcolm had decided to order something from the specials board - lobster paella.  He expected to get a dish of paella with pieces of lobster mixed through it.  WRONG!  This is what he got!

 

a magnificent whole lobster, which took him quite some time to eat.  When he had eventually extracted the last morsels from the claws, he went off to wash his hands.  I promptly had a word with the waitress, and asked if she had any candles that she could pop on a cake.  After a bit of a search, she found some and went through to the kitchen with the candles and a large piece of cake.  When Malcolm sat back down at the table, he was somewhat surprised when she put this in front of him

 

it was a wonderful meal, the service was excellent, and we shall certainly go there again.  And now for some sewing!  I have prepped the other two Christmas stitcheries

 

and I have done more stitching on the first one

 

on Tuesday, after playing with my new rulers, I got on with some prep for the Father Christmas class.  I wanted to check that I had got all the measurements right for the fabric that will be included in the kit, so I assembled the fabrics and the fusible web, on which I had already drawn out the pattern pieces.  This shows the first piece stuck to the wrong side of the fabric

 

but instead of using my usual fusible web, I am using double stick web.  It is tacky, and sticks to the fabric without ironing.  You can see the web of adhesive on the fabric

 

once the piece is cut out and the backing paper removed, this side is tacky as well, and sticks to the background fabric without ironing - you can see here that is didn't fall off when I picked it ip

 

but it can be peeled off if it needs to be repositioned

 

I laid the backgrond fabric over the pattern sheet

 

and started buiding up the pieces

 

once they are all in  place they will be ironed, which will fuse them permanently

 

to finish, one last photo from yesterday evening - do you like the candles on Malcolm's cake?!

Gizmos and gadgets

I had been waiting for a little something arriving in the post - but I didn't expect it to arrive from here!

 

we have recently been eating courgette ribbons instead of pasta, but it's a bit of a faff cutting them, so I have invested in this gadget (or is it a gizmo?)

 

which promises to turn courgettes into spaghetti with just a twist

 

quite often these things promise a lot, but deliver a little ......... but this one does just what it says on the packet!

 

so now for the goodies I came home with in Saturday.  First, who can resist that magic word "sale"

 

then there were these yummy woolly bits, which were on a special offer, saving me £4

 

I have seen these gloves being used in online quilting classes, so I thought I would give them a try (although I think it's a bit of a silly name!) 

 

they are light and comfortable, with "sticky" fingertips

 

I almost didn't get to make my last purchase ......... the stallholders were having problems with the machine for processing credit card sales, and I didn't have quite enough cash left to pay for my purchase.  However, as I had been patiently waiting for quite some time, they let me off with some of the bill!!  (as I was leaving, I stopped to give the few coins I had left to a chap collecting for Help for Heroes - so I came home with a completely empty purse!!).  So what is in my bag from Parrs Reel Ruler

 

two rulers (one came with the basic kit, I added the second one), a foot for the machine, and a "sew slip" mat

 

the mat, as you can see, is much bigger than the one I got some time ago

 

there was a slight pause at this point, as I stared in disbelief at the tv!

 

the trickiest bit of using the new rulers was getting the protective covering off them, but eventually I was ready to start.  Put simply, the foot fits into the slot in the ruler and you simply follow along the slot

 

but of course it isn't quite as simple as that, as you have to make sure that the ruler doesn't slip, and as you are free motion quilting you have to concentrate on keeping your stitches even.  My first attempt with the straight ruler wasn't too bad ......

 

then I set up the curved ruler

 

once you have stitched your first line, you can then stitch an echo line - you line the edge of the slot up with the first line of stitching

 

then you can turn the ruler round and stitch a cable.  Of course you can stitch longer lines - you just keep moving the ruler along

 

I went back to the square ruler and stitched a square within a square - Malcolm came into the studio at that point and was quite impressed (it obviously appealed to the engineer in him)

 

I also had a little play with some fmq - first some spirals

 

then some meandering

 

next some waves/flames

 

followed by flowers

 

I thought I would have another attempt at an owl.  Malcolm had laughed at my previous try - and he laughed at this one too!

 

so to finish we'll have two better looking birds - one of our many sparrows, sitting on top of the stone owl in the front garden

 

 

Non-stop fun!

Well ........ it was fun except for getting up at 6am on Saturday!  It was a long way to Harrogate - including a comfort stop, it took four hours to get there.  As always I have taken some general shots to share with you

 

those of you who watched the first series of The Great British Sewing Bee might recognise the chap in this photo (click on it to enlarge it).  I didn't get too close to take the photo in case he tried to flog me a signed copy of his book  (I overheard him telling someone that business was slow!)

 

our very own Kay Bell, who does such wonderful longarm quilting, has added to her collection of awards and trophies.  She got a First for quilting the stunning quilt which was also Best in Show.  Do pop over to Kay's blog to see a photo of the quilt.  

 

but what was this .........

 

another version of Mrs Billings!

 

of course I bought some things, but I didn't get the chance to take photos today, so you will have to wait until tomorrow to see my goodies!  We didn't have a comfort stop on the way home, so it only took us three and a half hours, then when we got back to Kelso, I only had a thirty minute drive over to Berwick.  Malcolm, Stuart and Alison had long since had dinner by the time I arrived - a delicious spread of tapas, but Malcolm had kindly kept some for me.  On Sunday morning we went out for breakfast- no photos were taken to avoid embarrassing those of us who ate large amounts of sausage, bacon and egg (Alison was somewhat more restrained with poached eggs and toast).  After the visitors left, we decided to go for a walk on the beach.  Woohoo, I've got the big lens back ...... and the next two photos show the difference it makes - the same boat snapped from the same place with first the small, and then the big lens

 

in this photo you can see Bamburgh Castle and Holy Island beyond the lighthouse

 

Malcolm was busy collecting driftwood, but I got distracted by these feathers

 

then there was an arty seedhead

 

and a little bird darting back and forward

 

after a long walk, we were of course in need of a cuppa.  It was such a lovely afternoon that we sat outside in the sunshine while we shared a toasted teacake

 

Malcolm as usual had coffee, while I had tea in a rather snazzy insulated cup

 

I was glad to have the big lens back when the swans came into the dock, going from this

 

to this

 

to this

 

these ones appeared in the evening, and soon settled down for a nap

 

 

ignoring the seal, which kept popping up among them

 

 

to finish, we didn't have a big ship come into the dock over the weekend, just this funny little boat

 

Our special day

It's our wedding anniversary today ........ 28 wonderful years!  You have probably noticed by now that our celebrations usually involve food and drink, and today has been no different.  We started of with a delicious breakfast of smoked salmon and scrambled egg - I stirred some cream cheese through the eggs to make them even tastier!

 

then for dinner tonight Malcolm had cooked the most wonderful slow-roasted shoulder of lamb - it was in the oven for four hours

 

and of course you can't have lamb without mint sauce

 

I still ate my Friday cake - Annette's delicious chocolate sponge with cream and strawberries

 

so that was the food, now for the drink!  A nice chilled glass of bubbles - served in the beautiful glasses that Stuart and Alison gave us for our Silver Wedding

 

it's going to be a very busy weekend, as I am off at the crack of dawn (or possibly earlier) to pick up  Maureen to head for Kelso to meet up with lots of other ladies from Abbey Quilters for our annual outing to the quilt show in Harrogate.  When we get back, I will head over to Berwick - Stuart and Alison are visiting for the weekend.  I am now going offline for the rest of the evening, so there will be a delay in replying to comments and emails - but I am sure you will understand that our anniversary celebrations come first!!  Whatever you are doing over the weekend, I hope you have a super time, love Anne