frayed at the edge

Little Miss Muffet .......

......... may have sat on her tuffet, but she didn't have her own custom made footstool!  I always sit with my feet up in the evenings, so I needed a stool for the new flat.  Have no fear, my dear, said Malcolm, I shall make one for you to rest your dainty little feet on.  (The only true part of that sentence is that my feet are little!).  He started with a scrap of flooring left over from when the old milking parlour was converted into my studio, and some sturdy pieces of driftwood for the legs

 

before long the basic stool was assembled

 

the next stage was to put a foam block on the base and cover it with wadding

 

before I went to patch'n'chat today, I looked out a piece of fabric, and when I came home the stool was finished

 

I spotted this robin in the garden this morning, but I don't think it is our juvenile one

 

Maureen gave me this little beauty this afternoon - I shall probably stuff it with a vegetable and herb filling

 

as always, we had a delicious cake at patch'n'chat - chocolate sponge with cream and strawberries

 

the forecast isn't very good for the weekend, but I am sure we will find plenty to do indoors.  Whatever your weather, I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne

 

Natural born stitcher*

So who was the mystery stitcher?  The story starts five years ago when Sarah and Andy came to visit.  Sarah was the first blogger that I met in real life, and we had a great day when she and Andy visited all those years ago.  So when Sarah got in touch to say that they would be in Northumberland again this summer for a holiday, of course we invited them for another visit.  They were a little bit late getting to us because of a major road diversion, so as soon as they arrived, we set of for lunch at Harestanes.  We were chatting so much I forgot to take a photo of lunch (delicious, freshly made sandwiches).  However, as we walked round the courtyard the camera came out

 

we then went to Mary Queen of Scots House in Jedburgh

 

the next stop was at Borderland Fabrics, but for some reason Malcolm and Andy chose not to go into the shop, and instead went to Border Meringues for a cuppa.  After Sarah did a little bit of fabric shopping, we joined the boys for a cuppa - but we resisted all the cakes and made do with the little meringues that came with our drinks

 

back home, we went out to the studio, as Sarah had asked if I would show her how to free motion quilt.  I had prepared a couple of sample pieces at the weekend, and looked out this book

 

I had a little go at the basic exercises on Sunday

 

so I was ready to show Sarah what to do

 

she took to it straightaway - Andy could only watch in wonder as she effortlessly doodled her designs

 

as she was doing so well, I rethreaded the machine with a luscious variegated thread, and she was off again

 

then, to finish, she stitched this owl on a branch, over her first efforts

 

unfortunately the weather wasn't good enough for us to have dinner outside, but the food tasted just as good eating at the kitchen table

asparagus soup (before the crumbled blue cheese was added)

 

roast chicken and gravy, with charlotte potatoes and Malcolm's green beans

 

meringue with 3-berry compote and cream

 

all too soon it was time for Sarah and Andy to head back to their holiday cottage.  We had a super day ...... and we hope it won't be another five years before we do it again!!

 

we zoomed off down to Stitchin' Heaven this morning, as Anne's major summer sale had just started.  The shop has been reorganised, and looks even better

 

Anne was cuddling a very special customer

 

Anne has started stocking some beautiful yarn, which comes from here.  So if you knit rather than sew, you can pop in to the shop and Anne will make you a cuppa while you decide which delicious colours to buy

 

after Malcolm dragged me out of the shop with rather a lot of fabric, we headed to Wooler.  We had lunch here, sharing a cheese and ham toastie and a cheese and onion toastie - yum!

 

but what was this?  Behind the coffee shop area, we discovered a small but perfectly formed patchwork shop.  It hasn't been open long, so if you are in the area, do pop in and support them

 

from Wooler, we came over to Berwick, so I am writing this post in the flat.  OK, I can here you all shouting "what did you buy"!  First, from Patchquirk, I got this super beach hut furnishing fabric, which will make more cushions for the flat

 

then from Anne's I got : the two white fabrics are for the Father Christmas wallhanging kits; the dark red variegated embroidery thread is for a Christmas project (I bought the fabric for it last year); the bright variegated threads are for stitcheries; the ruler is a handy size that I have been meaning to buy for some time; and the three coloured fabrics are for a Christmas throw for the couch in the flat

 

in case you don't think they are Christmas fabrics, here is a detail

 

of course if we are at the flat we have to have a swan photo (no close up of the seal, as Stuart has borrowed my big lens)

 

and to finish ...... I wonder if the person who parked this big machine on the dock left the keys in the ignition .......

 

*  apologies to Humble Pie for (almost) using their song title

A special weekend

Our visitors arrived after lunch on Saturday

Stuart and Alison

 

their best friends Fraser and Linsey

 

and us!

 

we spent the afternoon and early evening out in the garden, enjoying a glass of bubbles .........

 

........ before enjoying a very pleasant red wine with Malcolm's delicious lasagne (oops forgot to take a photo of the starter!)

 

I also forget to take a photo of pudding - the meringue, cream and compote was eaten, and there was just a little bit of LMP left!

 

Stuart brought us some of his first crop of potatoes.  We had them with dinner last night, and thoroughly enjoyed them

 

the visitors had brought us a box of delicious doughnuts ........ and we were all very, very naughty and had one each for "first breakfast" on Sunday morning!!

 

we went to Johnston's Mill for our second breakfast, just as I did recently.  Then the visitors headed off for home.

 

The butterflies have made a welcome appearance  in the garden, and are enjoying the lavender

 

to finish - the bottle brush was given a good talking-to, as it stubbornly refused to flower.  Unlike thhe wisteria, it did as it was told, and flowered at the weekend .......

 

 ......... but there is room for improvement!!

 

End-of-the-week roundup

I can't believe it's Friday again!  So here, in no particular order, are odds and ends from this week's photos

windsurfers 

 

on a hot sumer's day .....

 

...... you can't beat a cooling bath

 

even wasps use the bird bath!

 

cute

 

cuter

 

is this our good side?

 

free-range chickens

 

the beautiful climbing rose in the front garden

 

in full bloom

 

just going over

 

there were only four of us at patch'n'chat this afternoon, so we had rather generous helpings of our favourite cake!

 

we have very special visitrs over the weekend - I'll tell you all about it on Monday.  I hope you all have a great weekend, love Anne

Slicing and dicing

We had a leisurely breakfast this morning, then pottered back home, stopping off for a cuppa and a scone.  Oh dear, I had left the camera in my back pack in the car, so no photo!

As soon as we got home, I got busy cooking.  I started with a sort of strawberry compote, as the strawberries were very ripe

 

those of you reading this in the UK will no doubt know where my little gadget came from*

 

after slicing the strawberries, I put them in a small saucepan with some vanilla (you don't need to add any water) and cooked them gently until they were soft

 

delicious with all sorts of things ........ if you want to be good, have the compote on top of your porridge, if you want to be naughty, have it with meringue and cream.  It will keep in the fridge for a couple of days

 

we are having beef olives for dinner tomorrow, so next up was an onion gravy to have with them

 

now you have to pretend that the last photo included a piece of pointy sweet red pepper!

 

once the onion and pepper had cooked, I added some hot water and Bisto, then popped it in a jug to keep in the fridge overnight

 

then it was on to tonight's dinner, using this recipe ...........

 

........ from this book

 

I replaced the kidney with mushrooms, and made double the quantity in the recipe, so that I can freeze the remainder for future meals.  I also made two individual pies rather than one between us

 

to go with the pie, Malcolm picked some of his green beans

 

after topping and tailing them, I sliced them finely

 

you might be wondering how a pie topped with filo pastry is in a diet book, but it's because the pastry isn't brushed with butter.  The recipe says to brush the pastry with a mixture of egg beaten up with milk.  I used that the first time I made the pie, but it wasn't very good, so this time I sprayed the pastry with 1 cal spray.  We enjoyed our dinner sitting out in the sun

 

Malcolm's beans  are growing as fast as we can eat them, and my courgettes are coming along nicely

 

but to finish, a bit of a failure.  Our cherry tree has only managed to produce four cherries!

 

* yes it came from Lakeland

 

 

Somewhat tired!

Oh my, it has been a busy day, so I shall rattle through today's post.  Limited photos from the exhibition, as a lot of peope don't want photos of their work shown online, but I can share these ones with you

Maureen to the left, me to the right

 

 

me and me!

 

Kathryn's elephants, all in silk

 

a beautifully beaded detail

 

this is also Kathryn's work

 

 

remember the landscape I made for the competition, with the mutant sheep on the tropical island?  Well, amazingly, it didn't win!!  This is the winning entry, from Rineke

 

Edith did lovely flower arrangements for the tables

 

and you may have noticed some tasty cakes as well

 

I intend to spend the rest of the evening with my aching, weary feet up on my footstool, watching tv (the final of Mastermind is on later) ........ and I may just have a glass of wine (or even two!!).  Then tomorrow I will head back to  Kelso to do it all again ....... it is so enjoyable chatting to the visitors to the exhibition, and hearing their compliments. Malcolm is enjoying his week in Berwick ....... he has been for long walks, has found lots of seaglass for me, has had his hair cut, and has bought lots of tasty stuff at a food festival!

Time to go and pour a glass of wine!  I hope you have a great weekend, love, Anne

Too early for lunch

I had various errands to do in Hawick this morning, then I planned, in Malcolm's absence, to take myself out for lunch.  As I had my breakfast about 6.45, I was rather hungry when I arrived at The Mill (I was going to put in a link, but their website is being most unco-operative!) at 11.30.  But alas and alack, they don't serve lunch until midday.  So what did I do?  Well first, I settled down with a cuppa and my new magazine

 

then as I couldn't have lunch, I had a second breakfast!  The sausages are from a Hawick butcher, and they were delicious

 

I managed to ignore the tempting array of cakes - I didn't even zoom in to take the photo, so that I wouldn't have to look at all their luscious deliciousness 

 

when Malcolm was cooking dinner on Saturday at the flat - shock, horror .......... no spoon rest for his wooden spoon!  So when I saw this rather cute one in a shop window this morning, and also saw that it was very reasonably priced, I popped into the shop to buy one.  However I couldn't find one on the shelves, so asked a member of staff - she immediately opened the glass door into the window display and got it out for me.  I do like good service!

 

I also popped in to one of the several charity shops on the High Street, as their paperbacks are only £1 each.  I came home with these three

 

I have been stitching away, prepping more hexagons for Mrs Billings.  I will soon have enough done to start stitching them together

 

when I was in the Post Office this morning sending a small parcel,  I was asked what was in it.  The woman's face was a picture when I replied seaglass, driftwood and sea shells ..........

 

and I will be sending off another parcel next week to the winner of the "name the octopus" competition.  So, fanfare, roll of drums ...... the winner is Tracy, with her wonderful suggestion of Obadiah!  Thank you for all your suggestions - perhaps we will have to ask Obadiah to produce some offfspring, so that we can use the other names!

 

An object seldom seen ........

......... on my side of the room!

 

......... yes, for five whole evenings, I am in charge of the remote control - but only because Malcolm is over in Berwick.  No, we haven't fallen out, we are having some furniture delivered, and on Frriday the nice man is coming from Sky to instal the tv/phone/broadband, so we will be connected to the outside world!!

Malcolm left before 9 this morning, but my thoughts were already turning to lunch - I'll tell you later what I made with these

 

I have finished my cushion for the raffle at the exhibition

 

at our last class this Thursday, I will be teaching the students how to hand quilt, so today I made up small practice pieces for them.  I used a nice soft calico  and cotton wadding, which should be easy to stitch, and marked the pattern on using a stencil that I have had for years (and years!).  I used my Frixion pen to mark the pattern, when disappears with heat.  I know there has been a lot of discussion about these pens online and in quilting magazines, and while I wouldn't use it on an heirloom quilt, I am quite happy to use it on practice pieces

 

having basted thhe quilt sandwiches, I sorted out needles, thread and thimbles

 

I also looked out some hand quilted pieces to take with me to the class (you may have seen some of them before)

 

so what did I make with my veggies - a delicious bowl of soup, which I topped with some crumbled blue cheese

 

I'll be back tomorrow with the winner of the octopus-naming competition ....... but in the meanwhile I am off to change channels frequently and often, just because I can!!

I saw a ship come sailing in ........

When we arrived at the flat on Saturday morning, we could see, through the mist, a large ship out at sea

 

we popped out for some shopping, and when we came back, the pilot boat ..........

 

......... was guiding the ship in

 

as the ship came round to follow the channel, we got a proper look at the size of it

 

so we were glued to the window to watch it coming into the dock

 

we held our breath as the ship squeezed in

 

we weren't the only ones watching - quite a crowd had gathered

 

the only ones not enjoying the spectacle were the swans, who gathered in the top corner of the dock, well away from the ship

 

I took these photos later, when the tide had gone out - you can see the channel of deep water that the  ship had to follow

 

it didn't take the seagulls long to check out the new arrival

 

when we got up yesterday it was raining, and although it did go off, we thought it would be a bit wet for a walk on the beach, so we headed down the A1, stopping first at Sunnyhills

 

where we indulged in some excellent sconnage

cheese

 

fruit

 

then it was on to Bamburgh, where we visited the Grace Darling museum.  I wasn't able to take photos in the museum, but when we went upstaits to the panorama window, I was able to take a photo looking out over the churchyard where she is buried

 

when we left the museum, we crossed the road to the church - it is so big I had to take two photos

 

Grace's grave is very elaborate, as befits a heroine

 

but how sad that she died so young

 

we then had a stroll round Bamburgh, which is dominated by the castle

 

our next stop was in Seahouses, where the harbour was busy in the afternoon sunshine

as we strolled round, we could smell the tantalising aroma of CHIPS!  There were several places where we could have bought a portion to share for lunch, but as soon as we saw this photo in the window we had to buy them here

 

these are probably the best chips we have ever eaten - crisp on the outside, fluffy on the inside - we will be back for more!

 

we had an audience while we ate them, waiting for titbits - but they were much too good to share

 

Malcolm laughed when I wandered off to take a photo of this pile of wood - but then a man walking past came over to say that he was glad that it wasn't just him that found the pile a thing of beauty!

 

as we drove back towards Bamburgh, the castle again dominated the skyline

 

before we left this morning, the unloading of the ship commenced, with a succesion of lorries driving in and out

 

 to finish ........ we keep seeing a seal in the dock, but as soon as I reach for the camera it disappears below the water.  Finally, a (slighty fuzzy) photo

 

Very naughty .........

......... but very, very nice!  While we were stitching away at patch'n'chat this afternoon, we heard the chimes of an ice cream van, across the river in the caravan park.  Annette nipped out and asked the chap if he would come round to the shop, which he did.  I wonder what he thought when an orderly queue formed of older ladies?!

 

most of us had a "99" ......... there was silence in the room as we demolished them before they melted in the heat - and we managed not to drip on our sewing!

 

when we went over to the new flat last weekend, I didn't have any sewing organised to take with me, so I sat and twitched in the evenings with nothing to do (I twitched even more because we haven't yet got our broadband connected, so I couldn't read emails and my favourite blogs!).  So yesterday, I sorted out some sewing to take with me.  I bought these whimsical stitcheries earlier in the year at Anne's.  I couldn't decide what colours to use, so looked out an assortment of embroidery threads

 

I backed them with iron-on wadding, which gives a nice texture to the stitching 

 

of course sewing needs to be kept in a basket, so Malcolm was despatched to the loft to fetch this one, which I brought home many years ago from Indonesia

 

I think it is an appropriate basket as it looks a (little) bit like a pirate's treasure chest!

 

the garden continues to flourish in the sunshine.  Malcolm's beans are growing well

 

while I have two courgettes, the size of my thumb

 

the olives are flourishing, although I don't think we will be producing oil any time soon!

 

the small clematis flowers have shed their outer leaves, leaving these centres

 

the "taken over by aliens" clematis has now produced some "normal" flowers

 

this is the last clematis to flower

 

after we had recovered from eating our ice cream this afternoon, it was time for the Friday cake!  Yum, yum, our favourite one!

 

we will be heading over to Berwick in the morning, and if the weather stays good we will stay until Monday.  Wherever you are, I hope you have a good weekend.

A little bit of fun ..... several of you asked if we have given the octopus in our new print a name.  We haven't yet, so why don't you suggest one ....... I am sure I can find a little prize in my stash for the best suggestion!