frayed at the edge

Trying harder!

I started my efforts to take more photos last night, when I just caught the sun before it sank below the horizon

 

when I was cleaning the bathroom this morning, I noticed the flowers in the planter on the windowsill showing through the glass

 

we have a cuppa in the middle of the Friday morning housework, and this morning we finally had a taste of the salted caramel shortbread (I can't quite believe it either that we have had it for almost two weeks without eating it!)

 

I was going to cut it into lots of little squares, but having tasted a little bit before I cut it, I ended up cutting it into somewhat larger pieces - it is delicious!!

 

at patch'n'chat this afternoon, Anne S. had brought some more of her daughter Roberta's fabulous tiny teddies for us to see

 

Andrea has almost finished this stunning wallhanging.  It is her first attempt at free motion quilting and she has done very well!

 

Maureen has finished her Gail Lawther wallhanging

 

a real treat for the Friday cake - Annette's wonderful chocolate sponge, with fresh cream and strawberries

 

next week's cake might not be of quite the same standard ...... Annette and some of the others are heading to Birmingham for the Festival of Quilts, so I have volunteered to bake a cake.  It's not that I can't bake, it's just that I rarely bake ..........

I hope you have a wonderful weekend - preferably with cake or scones on the menu!  Love, Anne

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I don't believe it!

How many fans of One Foot in the Grave had Victor Meldrew's voice in their heads when they read today's heading?!  So what is it that I don't believe?  TOOTHACHE!!!!!  It started at lunchtime on Saturday and got worse over the weekend, so this morning I phoned the dental centre at 8.30 to get an emergency appointment.  Fortunately there was one available at 1.15.  The dentist poked at the tooth (ouch!) and declared that there was a big hole under the filling right down under the gum (double, if not triple ouch!)  So why didn't he see it when I was there last Tuesday?  I didn't ask, as I just wanted him to fix it. Sounding like a villain from a Bond movie, he declared that "ze longterm prognosis for ze tooth eez not good" - he is Polish and his name would earn lots of points at Scrabble!  He drilled it so much I thought he was going to end up in Australia!  He has put a dressing in, and I have to go back at the start of September for more treatment.

But the toothache didn't stop me having fun with our visitors.  Saturday afternoon was hot and sunny, but we were worried when there was a brief heavy shower just when Malcolm was ready to light the pizza oven.  Fortunately the rain cleared and the sun shone again.  I forgot to take a photo of the starter, but you can admire my lovely serving platter

 

after the difficulties with the big pizza, I made small ones, topped with passata, mozzarella, salami, chorizo, proscuttio and onion

 

I need to work on producing neat circles

 

Stuart managed to snap me with a mouthfull!

 

the Youngsters brought the pudding - I wonder what's in the box

 

on my - just look at these delights!

 

Stuart has dared me to include these photos!!

 

it didn't take long to finish the doughnuts - they were delicious!!

 

they also brought a box of plain doughnuts - certain people ate one for an early breakfast ....... all I'll say is that Malcolm and I didn't have one

 

we went out for breakfast in Melrose, but unfortunately it was raining heavily so we didn't get to walk round the town.  After waving goodbye to the visitors, Malcolm and I headed to "The Whole Lot", a quirky shop that is part gifts, part antiques, part junk.  I spotted this wonderful fabric, which will make sumptuous curtains for the dining room

 

we were relaxing in the back lounge, reading the Sunday papers, when it started to rain ......

 

....... and rain

 

the garden had benefitted from the rain - Malcolm's bargain olive tree is thriving

 

and is now flowering

 

to finish - Stuart couldn't resist trying out the hammock on Saturday afternoon

Very cute post alert!

Do you remember Margaret's very cute penguins?  She had promised to bring them back when she finished the quilt top so that I could take photos to share with you

 

it was hard to pick some for close-ups

 

Margaret has now started work on a quilt with cats.  It has been well documented on this blog how I feel about cats, but I suppose I will eventually show you photos!!

So what was I doing with the French curves?  I have been very remiss this month with my block for Lucie's "A is for applique" challenge, so yesterday I sat down in the studio to put on paper the idea I had bubbling in my brain.  I wanted curves for the flower stems, so instead of drawing them freehand, I used the French curves

 

this is the wording, which will go above and below the flowers

 

I don't think I have ever written "tranquillity", and I wasn't sure if it had one "l" or two, so I looked it up in the dictionary, only to find it can be spelled both ways!

Annette braved the heat of the kitchen to bake delicious fairy cakes for our afternoon cuppa, topped with chocolate and a Smartie.  I have to confess that we all ate two of them!

 

our fingers are firmly crossed that the good weather continues tomorrow for Stuart, Alison, Fraser and Linsey visiting.  The fridge is full of beer for the boys and wine for the girls, and there are lots of toppings for the pizzas.  We will be having fun, and I hope you have fun too!  Love, Anne

 

Hooray for Mr Heron!

As usual we went to Hawick this morning for a cuppa, and as we meandered back along the High Street to the car park we decided to have a detour to where we often see a heron.  It was more in hope than expectation, as we haven't seen any herons on the rivers (Teviot, Slitrig and Tweed) for weeks ......... but there he was!

 

several of you guessed that yesterday's photo showed Malcolm's pizza oven ....... but the first thing he cooked wasn't pizza!  It can also be used as a barbecue and a smoker, so he decided to hot smoke the salmon for last night's dinner.  Yesterday's photo showed the kindling - once that was burning well, he added some ash logs

 

once it was at the required temperature

 

he added some maple wood chips for added flavour

 

a quick peak to see the salmon cooking in the smoke

 

we had the salmon with cauliflower cheese.  It was delicious - succulent and flavoured with the smoke

 

did you notice how orange the cheese sauce was?  That's because Malcolm used some of this fabulous cheese

 

while Malcolm was busy with the salmon, I got out this packet of pizza base mix

 

and after five minutes kneading, left the dough to rise

 

once we had eaten the salmon and cauliflower, I topped the pizza base with some olive oil and garlic salt

 

we the had a bit of a problem transferring the pizza on to the pizza stone in the oven, so there are no photos of that stage.  Next time we will make small pizzas to make it easier.  So, our first (sort of garlic bread) pizza ....... it's not pretty, but it was delicious!  It might have been a rather strange order to eat dinner, but we enjoyed the salmon and the pizza - the oven has been voted a big success!!

 

I've mentioned before that it is handy being married to an engineer.  Today I looked out Malcolm's set of French curves, which he has had since he was at university

 

but you will have to wait until tomorrow to find out what I was doing!

To tidy or not to tidy .......

Stuart and Alison had already arranged to come down for a visit on Saturday, staying over until Sunday, then on Monday Stuart phoned to say that their friends Fraser and Lynsey had asked if they could come too.  No problem, but when I looked round the studio yesterday, I thought perhaps I ought to tidy up a bit

 

I might even have to vacuum the carpet!

 

after surviving my visit to the dentist (I was very brave and didn't cry or scream!) I decided to treat myself to a nice lunch!  I went to the Damascus Drum

 

it looks as if I was the only customer, but there were people behind the partition

 

I always have the same thing when I go to the Drum for lunch - the ploughman's bagel.  Of course Malcolm is usually with me, so I share the cheese with him, but I just had to eat it all myself yesterday.  I love cheese, but of course it is high in fat, so I try not to each too much ..... although I am supposed to have lots of dairy in my diet for my thin bones.

 

On the way back to the car I walked down to the river to take some photos of the low level of water.  When you see it this low, it is hard to believe that when it floods it comes up so far that the house on the left has raised the height of their garden wall to keep the water out

 

this gate is closed to contain flood water

 

but yesterday there was so little movement in the water that there was a wonderful reflection of the bridge

 

I have been doing reasonably well not buying magazines, but this new magazine came home with me yesterday.  I have been doing so much sewing recently that I have neglected my needle felting, but I hope to get back to it soon

 

I have also doing quite well not buying books, but I'm justifying buying this one as there are projects for Malcolm as well as me ...... and of course it's using up junk, rather than buying stuff

 

and now, the sewing update.  I have been beavering away on Country Cottages, finishing the machine quilting on the blocks

 

the next job was to quilt the outer border.  I set up the quilting guide, so that the lines of stitching would be 1" apart

 

it didn't take long to quilt the four sides

 

this afternoon I added the borders to "home is where the heart is" - this is the second version of this block, as this one is a sample for Anne.  The next job is to quilt it - then comes the really difficult part - writing the instructions!!

 

this has been quite a foodie week of blogging - and there is more tomorrow!  Here is a sneak peek

What's that wet stuff ......

..... falling out of the sky?  I think I know what it's called, give me a minute, I remember ...... it's RAIN!!

 

yesterday afternoon was spent in the kitchen cooking.  I started with a large batch of beef curry, which will be frozen in portions for "fast days" (I've now lost almost a stone!!)  I started by slicing and dicing red onions, green and yellow peppers and celery, which I then cooked gently in a non-stick saucepan, using no oil

 

as I have to work out all the calories in the curry, these little frozen portions make it a lot easier

 

while the veggies were cooking, I prepped the salad for last night's dinner - we had fresh herb omelettes

 

I added the beef in batches to brown it

 

the next stage was to add the spices and seasonings

 

after mixing it well, I let it cook for a few minutes, to cook out the rawness of the spices, then added the final ingredient

 

I then left the curry to simmer for a couple of hours until the meat was tender.  Once it had cooled I divided into five lots of two portions and popped them in the freezer - curry definitely tastes better after it has been in the freezer!

 

next I made some rhubarb and strawberry jam.  Haing washed the fruit (250g of each), I sliced it up and put it in a large glass bowl - you don't have to add any more liquid, the little bit water from washing the fruit is enough

 

I zapped it for five minutes in the microwave, then stirred in 500g of jam sugar

 

I zapped it a bit more in the microwave until setting point was reached, then put it into jars.  Next I reached for my go-to book for basic recipes - Delia never lets me down

 

I don't make lemon curd often enough to remember the quantities

 

it's very easy to make - and all that stirring is good for the arms!

 

four jars of jam and (almost) two of lemon curd waiting for labels

 

Malcolm has, as ever, been busy in the garden.  This is the start of his latest project ......

 

and this is it finished

 

the plan is to grow a climber on it, to screen the hose and the garage from view when we are sitting on the deck

 

you must have sent me lots of positive vibes, as all I needed done at the dentist was a scale and polish!  I'll tell you about what I did after the dentist tomorrow, and I'll also have a sewing update.

Fluttering by

There was a butterfly in the garden yesterday, so I ran and fetched the camera, ran back to the garden, switched the camera on ....... and it flew away!  So when I saw another one this afternoon, I didn't rush to get the camera, but amazingly it stayed and posed prettily!

 

yesterday, we went to Jedburgh fo a walk along the river.  As always, as soon as I got out of the car, I took a photo of the Abbey

 

as I have mentioned, the rivers are very low, so this duck was standing on the riverbed!

 

this one had found a deeper place to swim

 

I keep waiting for this tree stump to lose its hold on the cliff

 

there will a great deal of noise and a large splash if it does come down, as it is at the top of the cliff!

 

the still water meant there was a clear reflection of the bridge

 

as we walked back into town, we passed my favourite shop - although I would have to be very, very good to get this for Christmas

 

we had been in this little coffee shop/bookshop several times, and were sorry to see recently that it had closed.  But it has just reopened with new owners.......

 

......so of course we had to check it out!  The banana bread was delicious, as was the scone.  The jam was proper home made strawberry, and the cream was clotted - a very good first impression!

 

on the way home we called in at the Teviot Smokery, as they were havinng one of their 25% off everything weekends.  This tin of biscuits was already half-price, but we still got the extra money off

 

I was pointing out this salted caramel shortbread to Malcolm, when an elderly lady who was walking past gave me a very stern look and said "NO"!  I said I wouldn't eat anything else for a week ....... but she didn't believe me!  At the moment it is in the fridge, waiting to be cut into bite size pieces

 

you know that we love all things owl ........

 

...... this might be a little bit cheesey, but it looks very cute on the mantlepiece!

 

the lavender has turned a deep purple in the sunshine - gorgeous!

 

please think of me tomorrow morning - I am going to the dentist!

 

 

A short post!

Somehow today I managed to only take four photos, so tonight's post will be short and sweet!  This afternoon Anne S. had this adorable tiny teddy with her.  It was made by her daughter, Roberta

 

 

Roberta embroidered one of the paws witn BBB ..... Bears By Bobbi

 

Maureen has started a very cute wallhanging with little owls - here is a little sneak peek

 

now for the cake ...... another of Annette's light as air chocolate sponges with fresh cream and strawberries ....... very, very delicious!!

 

Meredithe has now received her prize for fogetting something special - in her case, her Mum's 70th birthday.  And I deserve a prize, because I forgot to take photos of what I sent her!  Fortunately Meredithe has posted about her prize, and you can read it here.

 

The weather is still glorious, and hopefully will remain so for the weekend!  Whatever the weather, I hope you have a great weekend, love, Anne

Two for the price of one

Not only did we have a morning out on Sunday, we had a day out today!  So, to start with Sunday, we headed out to Abbotsford.  We started by looking at the map

 

then set off through the trees

 

there were some nasty steps to negotiate to go under the main road

 

but once back on the path, I paused to take one of my favourite arty photos

 

there were more steps

 

then we started to catch glimpses through the trees of this old bridge over the river

 

the rivers here are very low at the moment - you can see from the marks on the bridge how high the water is at times

 

this is the bridge where we went down the nasty steps to go under the road - on the way back we crossed the road, which we reckoned was safer!

 

as it was another lovely day, we sat out on the balcony to have our cuppas and scones

 

we had a wonderful view over the house, which has just re-opened after a major refurbishment.  We are waiting for a rainy day to see round the house!

 

last week, I noticed a voucher in the paper for two tickets for the price of one for the four Royal Botanic Gardens in Scotland, so today we set off for Dawyck Botanic Garden.  It was another lovely warm day, although a little bit cloudier.  There are some magnificent trees

 

Malcolm kindly provided the scale for this one

 

there are little stone bridges

 

and pretty flowers

 

I remembered that last time we were there, I wondered why they didn't remove this tree which spoils the view of the chapel

 

I had forgotten that it is in a row of trees round the chapel

 

the chapel is private, so I could only take a photo of the outside

 

we came upon a little wooden house in the trees

 

which had posters with words I have never seen before! (click on the photos to enlarge them)

 

all that walking had made us hungry (of course!) so we headed back to the visitor centre for lunch.  Egg mayo sandwiches for Malcolm

 

and a cheese and pickle toastie for me

 

I'll be back tomorrow with some sewing, but to finish ......... if I am a very good girl, do you think Santa will bring me one of these!!

Christmas in July!

Two Christmas presents arrived today ....... one for each of us.  I'll tell you about mine first.  Last week, Lucie emailed me, to ask for my snail mail address, as she had a parcel to send me.  The plot thickened, when she said the parcel was from Susan in Australia.  When I got back from the Monday morning food shopping, the parcel had arrived

 

curiouser and curiouser - Christmas wrapping paper!  All was explained in the letter in the parcel.  Some Australian quilters celebrate Christmas in July, when its winter over there, and Susan thought shhe would send Lucie and me a present.  Look what a wonderful present it is ....... four delicious fat quarters!  Thank you very much Susan, for such a delightful present!

 

Lucie had included one of her business cards - isn't it just the cutest thing!

 

and now for Malcolm's present.  We have to cast our minds back to last September, when we were in Sydney.  We were invited to dinner with Lee, John and the Gorgeous Girlies.  John made pizzas for us in his outdoor pizza oven, which you can see (with its cover on) on the left of the photo

 

 

Malcolm was quite taken with the oven, and we talked about getting one, but once back home we never got round to it.  Then last Wednesday, on our way home from St Abbs, we popped in to the Garden Centre in Duns for a cuppa.  We had a look round ...... and there was a pizza oven!  I could see that Malcolm was still quite keen, so I asked if he would like one for his birthday* and Christmas*.  Being a sensible shopper, I didn't buy it there and then, but had a look online that night - and got it for a good deal less!  While I was opening my parcel, a delivery van pulled in to the drive, and the driver wrestled this very heavy box on to the drive

 

the box was so heavy, Malcolm had to unpack it and carry the contents a bit at a time to the back garden

 

fortunately the assembled oven has wheels for ease of moving it!

 

the logs or charcoal go here

 

and the pizzas go here

 

I will of course have a full report when we cook our first pizzas! 

 

I remember showing you these last summer ........ a little taste of childhood!

 

I had intended today's post to be about our Sunday morning walk (and sconnage) so please pop in tomorrow to see where we went.

 

**I know his birthday isn't until September, and of course it's quite a while until Christmas, but it made sense to get it now and enjoy using it over the summer!