frayed at the edge

In search of a title

Some days, I struggle to think of a title for my post - and this is one of those days.  So lets just dive straight in to the photos.  This morning the garden was full of birds - which promptly flew off as soon as I switched the camera on.  Eventually they returned

    

 

there is also a new bird in the house.  Maureen gave me this very cute owl as a thank you for giving her a lift to Abbey Quilters' meetings

 

and Maureen also provided me with another photo this afternoon, when she brought her finished Christmas wallhanging for us to see at patch'n'chat

 

Cathy has just finished this stocking for her newest granddaughter (there is a clue in the stocking to Cathy's nationality!)

 

then of course there was the Friday cake.  This week it was the delicious apple and sultana cake.  Although we flirted recently with the Norwegian apple cake,  we have reverted to our original opinion that this is our favourite cake

 

we are just about organised for tomorrow's Christmas Fair, fingers crossed that lots of Malcolm's creations sells!  I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne

 

ps - I was a bit scared when I saw this root creeping round the label on one of my orchids - maybe I have watched too many horror films!

Cardsharp

I was looking for something in the back of the wardrobe recently, and came across two t-shirts.  I could have modelled them for you, but decided instead to pin them to the design wall to take photos.  When we lived in Indonesia, I used to get together on Friday mornings with a group of ex-pats to play a silly card game called 99.  We used to put 5000 rupiah in the pot each week - but this wasn't prize money.  We used the money to buy things for the local boys orphanage.  We bought them new mattresses ........ but these weren't matresses for their beds, as they had no beds.  Until we gave them the mattresses, the boys were sleeping on a bare concrete floor.  We also bought them new t-shirts for Idul Fitri - it's traditional to have new clothes to wear to celebrate the end of Ramadan, so they were delighted to receive them.  So, to get back to the t-shirts!  We had them made to wear on Friday mornings - I think we only wore them a couple of times!

 

I can't remember why we had this t-shirt made.  It wasn't because we had enrolled as students to spend our time doing something more productive than playing cards ....... indeed we would have trouble enrolling, as not only is there no Becak Business School, there is no Merak university!

 

it has been a miserable day here - the sort of day when you have to have the lights on, which is very depressing.  So what could I do to cheer myself up?  Make fudge!

 

it didn't take long to assemble the ingredients

 

I didn't use the fruit and nut baking mix, as I don't really like nuts.  Instead I used a Black Forest mix, with these yummy ingredients

 

it was very easy to make, and was soon cooling in the tin

 

we have been very good, and have only had one square each!  It is very sweet - and very delicious.

 

 

Party time!

Before we  get the party started, a little foodie treat.  Remember when I made the Christmas pudding vodka, I had all that boozy fruit left over?  Well, Malcolm turned it into a sort of strudel, using filo pastry - delicious!

 

so, fortified with a large helping of strudel (and cream!) I picked up Maureen and we headed over to Kelso for an evening filled with oooohs and aaahs - and lots of laughter!  We played two silly games, during which the fat quarters we had taken were passed round, swapped, and fought over.  Our sides were sore with laughter by the time the second game finished ........ anyone peeking in the window would have wondered what illegal substances these mostly middle-aged ladies had been imbibing, to cause such hilarity!  No photos were taken of that part of the evening, to protect reputations, but there are lots of photos of the show and tell, so let's get started.  First, Ivy, who does a lot with folded Japanese patchwork and hexagons

 

Kathleen had several quilts

 

next was Caroline

 

Mary's child's quilt

 

Maureen had Santas

 

then it was me!  Anne S. took some photos for (of) me

 

Katy's Santa was too small to be seen from across the room, so here he is sitting on my knee

 

Chris, who lives just down the road from me, was next with a super child's quilt

 

Doreen had a table runner and a quilt

 

Ann had two quilts

 

Sheila and her Santa

 

this is Sandra, hidden behind her quilts (and oh dear, I managed to cut the top of her head off!)

 

Moira and her fun child's quilt

 

Sheena with her little elephant

 

and last, Lesley with her cushion

 

there were lots more that I didn't manage to get photos of - lots and lots of super work!  The evening ended with a lovely supper laid on by the committee, but I was too busy blethering (and eating) to take a photo!

However, I do have some food to show you - our lunch today.  Malcolm had a cheese and pickle toastie

 

and I had a coronation chicken wrap - delicious!

It's getting closer!

Yesterday was grey, dreary and damp, so yet again we weren't able to go for a walk.  So we went off to The Old Melrose Furniture Showroom (that's their Facebook page, it's the only link I could find).  There was a Christmas Fair, but again we didn't buy anything.  However, we had the consolation of sharing a toasted teacake ......

 

....... and a cheese scone

 

on the way in to the Furniture Showroom, we saw this enormouse tree, which probably came down during Thursday night's storm.  The second and third photos were taken through the side windows of the car, which were wet

 

back home, I put up the Christmas tree(s) and decorations, but I had to wait until today to take photos, when it was brighter

the big tree

 

the driftwood tree

 

the minimalist tree - and the new bunting above it

 

the tiny mittens garland

 

the Gnome brothers and sisters as usual squabbled over which cushions and stockings were to be put on their chairs  ...... I had to remind them that only good Gnomes get presents from Santa!

 

the elves are counting down the days in the kitchen

 

the little wallhangings brighten the doors

 

in the dining room, I turned the table runner over, to reveal the Christmas side

 

and decorated the deep windowsill

to finish, I hope thhe owls play nicely with the robin, which has popped in to visit for Christmas

 

 

An assortment of birds

First, we have the birdy bunting, which is now up in the kitchen

 

then we had the feathered variety on the feeder

 

I have finished my scarf, which will look good with my "best" navy coat (please excuse my scruffy housework-doing t-shirt)

 

Annette hasn't been well this week, so didn't bake a cake for us ........ but as she knows how much we love our Friday cake, she popped into Border Meringues and bought a delicious gingerbread, and a local delight, a Border tart

 

I have lots of sewing to do this weekend, and hopefully will also put up the Christmas tree and decorate the house.  Do you like to decorate your house now, or do you prefer to do it all on Christmas eve?  I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne

Rain, hail, sleet and .......

.......wind!  I woke up several times during the night, disturbed by the stormy weather.  Then later when I woke again, I turned over to check the time on the digital alarm clock, as I thought it must be neary time to get up.  But there were no bright green numbers - oh bother, the electricity was off.  Fortunately we were able to have breakfast, as some years ago we got rid of the all-electric cooker, and instead intalled a dual-fuel one.  Malcolm phoned the power company to find out what was happening, and it wasn't good news. A recorded message informed him that the power would be off for some hours.  So we popped into Hawick, where the power was on, and headed to Sainsbury's for a cuppa and to pass some time reading the papers.  Back home, the recorded message had changed to say that we might not have power until tomorrow ...... but at 1pm, hooray, the power came back on.  However, the weather didn't improve, with a rather scary hailstorm

 

however, we aren't complaining, as we are watching the early evening news while I'm writing this, and some areas have had, and others are going to have, far worse conditions than we have had.  Once the power was back on, I could get on with my plan for the afternoon.  I assembled these ingredients

 

I lined and buttered the cake tin

 

yes, you've guessed, I was making the Christmas cake.  The recipe I use doesn't require that the cake is made months in advance, a couple of weeks will do.  I hope you like my "action shot" of beating the butter

 

soon the cake was ready for the oven

 

and the kitchen was somewhat messy!

 

two and a half hours later, the cake was cooked - I wish you could smell it!

 

a bit of fun to finish.  I had an email from a very nice man who works for the FBI.  Various organisations around the world, including the CIA, have been .... well, I shall let him tell you what they have been doing

The FBI in group effort with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), World Bank, South African Reserve Bank, and other related agencies have verified every unpaid contract / inheritance / Lotto winnings and agreed to settle the beneficiaries through the easiest means by issuing them swift ATM DebitCard value US$600,000.00 only. We are contacting you because YOU are listed and approved for this payment

all I have to do is send another nice man $210 and he will rush the special card to me, so that I can take possession of my $600,000.  So, you see, there is money to be made with spam

 

 

Beautiful!

After such a dull, grey day yesterday, we were delighted to have a much brighter day for our trip over to Duns.  And of course I was deighted when we encountered not one, but two, tractors (the spots on the left of the photo are on the car windscreen, not the camera lens!)

 

as always the Waterloo Monument stood out against the blue sky

 

after a potter round the shops in Duns, we headed to the garden centre for a bowl of soup for lunch.  While Malcolm was at the counter placing our order, I had a look at my magazine.  I have done quite well cutting down on the amount of magazines that I buy, but this one caught my eye this morning

 

Malcolm chose two different rolls to have with the soup, and as is our custom, we had half each

 

the soup was mixed vegetable, and we decided the strongest flavours were leeks and celery

 

on the way home, this big beastie stopped to let us squeeze past ....... but the car waiting on the right thought he had stopped to let him out - oops, a scary moment as he started to drive into our path

 

we came back through Kelso, and popped into the shop and garden centre at Floors Castle.  You can picture my delight when I saw that they had dozens of beautiful orchids ........ and of course one of them had to come home with me (and it must be a good one, as Malcolm didn't object!)

 

I have been working on two tiny cross stitch kits that Malcolm gave me for my birthday - isn't it amazing how the smaller the stitching, the longer it takes!

 

I looked out this scarf yesterday.  I started knitting it months ago, but then it got put aside. I have lost the ballband, so can't tell you what the yarn is.  Hopefully I will finish it tonight

 

Old-fashioned skies

When I was sorting out some photos for today's post, I realised that I had forgotten about these ones which I took late on Saturday afternoon.  Skies like this always make me think of those enormous paintings you see in museums, which feature God, angels, cherubs, saints etc

 

the maple toffee vodka has been bottled

 

and the Christmas pudding vodka has been strained twice.  First through a nylon jelly bag to drain the liquid from the fruit

 

and then through a paper coffee filter to remove the residue of the spices.  I'll bottle it tomorrow

 

as we are now counting down to Christmas, I changed over the quits on the guest bed this morning.  These aren't the best of photos, as it has been a gloomy, grey day, and I had to use the flash.  For most of the year, the row-by-row quilt is the top one on the bed

 

but this lovely quilt was given to me last year in Melbourne by the lovely Helen.  Although there are no Christmas fabrics in it, the colours are definitely Christmassy

 

Helen is well known for disliking fabric with birds on it, but she had been in such a hurry to finish this quilt, she didn't notice the birds on the border fabric!  So she very generously gave me the quilt top, which Kay quilted beautifully for me

 

underneath both quilts is this log cabin quilt which was one of the first quilts I made twenty years ago.  It is made from curtain fabric samples, and is very heavy!

 

I have been busy sewing all day, but I can't show you what I was doing as it is a Christmas present.  I was using my walking foot

 

but the bar across the centre was making it difficult to see where I was stitching a very precise line

 

I had a word with my resident Mr Fixit (aka, of course, Malcolm) and it was only a matter of minutes until he had solved the problem!  He simply used his junior hacksaw to remove the offending section

 

The wrong weather!

We were disapointed when we saw the weather forecast for Sunday, with talk of cloudy skies, which was not what we wanted for our visit to Jedburgh Abbey.  So we were delighted on Sunday morning to see that we had the wrong weather, with bright blue skies and sunshine.  This is the first view of the Abbey, when you come out of the Visitor Centre

 

at this time of year, the sun is low in the sky, which meant there were lovely deep shadows

 

 

while admiring the magnificent building, it is easy to miss tiny details

 

I declined to climb the steep, narrow spiral stairs to the upper level (I did it last time I was there - not a happy experience), so I gave Malcolm the camera with the small lens .......

 

........ while I stayed at ground level with the big lens

 

I set the camera to B&W for these next photos

 

this is the tomb of the 8th Marquis of Lothian

 

as I took this close-up, I had a shiver down my spine, as I felt that he was going to reach out and grab me!

 

then, of course, we had to go for some sconnage!  We went to the Woollen Mill, where they have the most amazing cheese scones.  They are so big, we only have one between us, rather than the famous Sunday 2-scone lunch

 

to finish ....... if you think the Abbey is a fantastic building, consider this.  It was built using these tools!

 

and the stones were lifted using this very basic device

Top Secret project - part 3

I am having fun working on these little projects!  Part 3 is a needlecase.  I started with four pink strips and four blue strips, and some ric rac

 

I stitched the strips to a piece of wadding

 

then added strips of ric rac

 

I didn't add a strip in the middle, as that is where the needlecase will be folded.  I hope to finish it over the weekend

 

there has been more activity in the kitchen - this is maple and toffee vodka being strained through a paper coffee filter

 

this may look unappetising, but it is somewaht alcoholic toffee, skimmed off the top of the vodka before I strained it.  It will be delicious with some icecream

 

we had a busy afternoon at patch'n'chat.  I was first back in the workroom after our teabreak, and snapped the table covered in various projects

 

we had what is now our favourite Friday cake, the Norwegian apple cake - delicious!

 

one more foodie item to end.  Maureen knows I like spicy food - the hotter the better.  So when she and her partner Alan found this sauce much too hot for them, she gave it to me .  I'll let you know just how hot it is!

 

whatever you are eating this weekend, I hope you have a good one.  We have vouchers for free entry to Jedburgh Abbey, so I am hoping for good weather for taking photos - and no doubt sconnage will be involved after our visit to the Abbey!  Love, Anne