frayed at the edge

Frothy!

When we do the housework on Friday mornings, we stop half way through for a cuppa.  Malcolm has coffee and I have hot chocolate.  We do love our gadgets, and this is one that was also a Christmas present for Malcolm.  It may look like a caffetiere, but it is a hot milk frother

 

it has a nylon mesh insert, which you pump up and down, creating creamy, frothy milk

 

I was busy at patch'n'chat this afternoon, working on both the revised version of Country Cottages and the June block for A is for Applique - the birds and the bees.  I have mentioned before that any photos I take there never come out well because of the lighting, so I waited until I was home to take these

the fusible web prepped ready to make up the cottages

 

the three elements of the birds and the bees

 

perhaps I need to work on my poetry!

 

what a delicious treat with our afternoon cuppa, Annette's light-as-air chocolate sponge, with cream and strawberries

 

the sparrows appear at the end of the afternoon to have a drink from the birdbath - although strangely they don't seem to be as keen to have a bath as they do in the freezing winter weather!

 

this one was giving a running commentary on the proceedings

 

I haven't been doing much knitting, as I have been doing so much sewing, but I have finally produced ....... well, hopefully I'll finish it at the weekend and show it to you on Monday!

 

I hope you have a good weekend - I'll be busy sewing!  Love, Anne

So what did I do?

After Malcolm went off to build his wall on Saturday, I went for a walk.  The cottage we were staying in was part of what had been a working farm - you can read more here

 

the owners of the cottages rent out the surrounding fields to a local farmer - there are cows in the summer and sheep in the winter.  As I got to the bottom of the farm road, all the heifers in the field kicked up their heels and came running over.  It was a bit scary, and I was glad that there was a well-built wall between them and me!

 

they were almost dancing as they followed me

 

when I was talking to one of the owners of the cottages the next day, he described them as a bunch of teenage hooligans!

 

this cow in the field across the road was slightly more sedate!

 

back in the cottage I setted down to do some sewing.  This is the comfy sofa I spent quite a lot of time sitting on, sewing, over the weekend (I didn't get time to read my magazines).  The tv is just out of sight on the right - on Saturday I watched King Solomon's Mines (the Richard Chamberlain version) and on Sunday it was Coraline (which was scary!!)

 

looking at the room from the tv corner, you can see the well-equipped kitchen (yes, that is a tiny dishwasher on the left!)

 

the small, but charming, bedroom ........

 

....... and the ensuite shower room

 

on Sunday morning I went out for another walk, but this time the heifers ignored me, as they were too busy licking at something in a bucket

 

the sun was shining and the birds were singing- bliss ....... except for the large amount of cars going past!  It is so quiet here when I go out for a walk - I was out early this morning and all I encountered was  a tractor in the distance and one of the neighbours walking his dogs.  When I saw all these walls, I wondered if Malcolm would want to stay on a repair them!

 

I was rather taken with this beautiful farmhouse - perhaps I could live in it while Malcolm works on the walls?

 

and these two gorgeous beasties were in the field in front of the farmhouse.  I think the second one looks like a sphinx

 

I liked the way that the trees arched over the road

 

I took this photo of the sign for the footpath on my way out........

 

...... then took this one from the other side of the road on my way back - yu can see the path meandering off into the distance

 

this little stone barn made me think of The Little House on the Prairie

 

back at the cottage, I tried to capture the beautiful scenery, but it was very hazy

 

I still have to tell you what we did on the way home on Monday, and about my walk this morning, and the walk we had before lunch ....... and I haven't even shown you any sewing yet this week!  We very rarely have pudding (I don't count a low-fat yogurt as pudding)  - but look at this  delicious concoction we had tonight.  And although it looks indulgent, it was surprisingly low in calories ..... the meringue nest is 50 calories, as is the spoonful of half-fat creme fraiche, and although I didn't work out the calories for the fruit, it wouldn't have added many more

Stoned!

I had a lightbulb moment last year, when I was trying to think of a Christmas present for Malcolm ....... knowing that he is interested in dry stone walls, I did a search and found this.  It was a simple matter to buy a gift voucher, which meant he could choose which weekend to go.  He sensibly decided to wait until now, in the hope that the weather would be good, and apart from a brief shower on Saturday morning, it stayed dry, but not too hot.  It turned out that several of the other thirteen participants had also been given a voucher for Christmas!  Their first job was to take apart a section of old wall - the piles of green are stinging nettles, which they had to clear

 

next, they graded the stone and laid it out in rows

 

then they started rebuilding the wall

 

this was Malcolm's section on the Saturday - he was working at the other end on Sunday

 

he was creaking a bit when he came back to the cottage on Saturday evening, so we headed to Bakewell, where we sat by the river and tucked into fish and chips

 

back at work on Sunday, the wall was taking shape

 

but it wasn't all hard work

 

Malcolm showing off his hard work

 

by the end of the afternoon, the coping stones were being put on top of the wall

 

the finished section of wall - hopefully it will still be there in a hundred years' time!

 

on Sunday evening we headed back to Bakewell, where we found a French restaurant for dinner

 

Malcolm had chicken fricasse

 

while I tucked in to boeuf Bourguignonne

 

I'll be back tomorrow to tell you what I got up to while Malcolm was building his wall, with photos of the stunning scenery ...... and I'll also tell you about these cows

Sweet treats

When we were shopping this morning, I spotted these cuties

 

on the packet, the lady on the left at the back, Pearl Stitch, is knitting ....... but you can't quite see that on the sweet, which is the middle one on the bottom (I did think of licking them to see if that made them clearer, but as this is a "fast" day, I couldn't have eaten them afterwards!)

 

I love meerkats - there is just something so appealing about them ...... and I'm sure I'll love these tomorrow when I get to taste them

 

could you resist them?

 

after such a cold spring, it seemed as if we were never going to have any colour in the garden.  But then we had some lovely warm weather, and everything exploded into life

 

it won't be long until the poppies flower

 

 I don't think we will get any cherries this year

 

but the quince is looking promising

 

we are off to Derbyshire tomorrow, for Malcolm to do a dry stone walling course (I gave him a gift voucher for the course for Christmas).  The cottage we are staying in has wifi, so I should be able to do a post as usual tomorrow.  While Malcolm is having fun with stone (fingers firmly crossed that it doesn't rain!) I shall be finally be hand-stitching the binding on the Birdie Border quilt, Notes of Love and the scrappy strippy quilt.  I also have several magazines to read (some were given to me, I am sticking reasonably well to my resolution to not buy them!)

All hands on deck!

First, I have to say that Malcolm thought of today's title (thank you, dear!).  We left here early on Saturday morning to travel up to Stirlingshire.  When we got to Stuart and Alison's they were out, so Malcolm dropped me off and went to buy the deck boards and screws.  I was sitting in the garden reading the paper and enjoying the sunshine when Stuart arrived home, having dropped Alison off at the hairdressers.  I then had a very strenuous day supervising the workers!

Malcolm took this scrap wood to make the legs of the deck

 

my supervisory station

 

ready to start

 

the framework being made

 

the first boards in place

 

Alison came home from the hairdressers, and took me for a walk to see a pair of swans and their cygnets

 

back home the boys were working hard

 

by the end of the afternoon, they had done enough for the table and chairs to be put on the deck

 

Stuart suggested that I take a photo from upstairs, and I was just in time to catch Malcolm having a very well deserved beer

 

leaving Malcolm to tidy up, Stuart headed to the kitchen to make dinner ....... chicken wrapped in Parma ham on saffron and spinach risotto - delicious!!

 

on Sunday morning Alison went off the visit her Granny, and I walked to the shopping precinct to buy the papers. It was sad to see the McCowan's factory boarded up ......

 

....... before we moved here, we lived about a mile away from the factory (in the opposite direction to where S and A live) and there was always the wonderful smell of toffee in the air when you went past.  I think the toffee is still being made by another firm, but I'm reluctant to try it, in case it doesn't taste as good as it did in my childhood.  When I was in New Zealand in 2001, I saw some Highland toffee in a shop.  I remarked to the young man serving me that it was made a mile from my home ....... he gave me one of those "so what" looks, but given that I was halfway round the world from home, I thought it was interesting!  A new shopping precinct has been built since we left, complete with these two magnificent beasts

 

by the time I meandered back (just over an hour later!), the boys had almost finished

 

the last board was fitted in neatly round the fence posts

 

a final check that it was level

 

we brought this garden thermometer from Majorca for them

 

the perfect spot to read the Sunday papers

 

could there be a better way to celebrate the new deck than tucking into sconnage?

 

yes!  This is Alison on the right, with their friends Fraser and Lynsey.  They are drinking a very nice bottle of Australian sparkling wine, which I had bought for them when I went to the shops in the morning

 

back tomorrow with the sewing update ...... and donkeys!!

 

<

Last night's red sky .......

 

..... was, for once, the harbinger of a glorious morning.  So I leapt out of bed at 6.30, threw on some clothes, grabbed the camera, and headed out for a walk

a wonderful higgledy piggledy fence

 

apple blossom in the old orchard

 

misty Minto Hills

 

misty Ruberslaw

 

having taken the photo of Ruberslaw on my right, I walked on down the road and looked to my left.  What was this? Had a new hill somehow been formed ....... well, all I'll say is that I looked to see if Job was sitting on it ..........

 

there was a house here until recently ........

 

......all that is left is the garden gate

 

this Jacob's ewe posed regally for me ........

 

....... as her lamb watched

 

the horses were munching on the lush grass

 

while this one had a long lie!!

 

don't you wish you had this view a few minutes from home!

 

an electrical gubbins sparkling in the sun!

 

when we went through for our afternoon cuppa at patch'n'chat ........ yippeeeeee, my favourite apple and sultana cake! 

 

We are off early tomorrow to visit Stuart and Alison.  When they moved into their new house last year, we said that we would give the a deck for their back garden as a house-warming present, so Malcolm and Stuart will spend the weekend making it (Alison and I might ake them a cuppa .... or even pour them a beer!)  I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne

How to accidently buy .......

...... I know that some of you are puzzled as to how I accidently bought fabric yesterday.  It's very simple.  First you wander round the shop until you notice some wonderful new fabric.  You pick up the two bolts, and look for some co-ordinating fabrics, choosing another two bolts.  You go behind the counter (well, you are a friend and employee of the owner!) and cut half a metre of each fabric.  See, totally accidental!  So, here are the gorgeous fabrics

 

and the cutest of details

 

ok, perhaps gorgeous and cute aren't quite the right words to describe the fabric!  For those of you who like to know these things ......

 

when I asked Anne if she had another project for me, she got a rather wicked look in her eye ....... and produced this mammoth task! 

 

It is actually a double-sided quilt, but I shall make it as two separate quilts, so that both sides can be displayed in the shop. 

 

and again, for those who like to know about the fabric .......

 

as well as working in the shop, Anne is also very involved in various horse-related events, and she hadn't had time to put the borders on Leanne's House, so it came back home with me, along with two lovley fabrics.  I'll also quilt it

 

knowing that rhubarb and ginger jam is Anne's favourite, I took her a jar of the jam I made on Tuesday.  She asked me if I would like some rhubarb, explaining that not only did she not have time to use it, but they are having work done on their kitchen, limiting her cooking.  When I said yes please, she phoned her husband Mick, and asked him to pull the rhubarb and bring it to the shop for me.  I was somewhat taken aback when Mick arrived and handed me this

 

this afternoon I decided to make chutney, using a recipe from this book

 

I had to make some changes, as I didn't have all the ingredients.  So, I used sultanas instead of raisins, lemons instead of oranges, and as I didn't have fresh ginger, I used some of this frozen ginger.  I also used brown sugar instead of granulated, and ordinary vinegar instead of wine vinegar ........ but other than that, I followed the recipe!

 

except I also left out the cardomom, as I'm not particularly fond of the flavour.  However, I did put in the pinch of cinnamon, using one of my special spoons!

 

another specialist piece of equipment is my jam funnel.  I am so glad that I bought it, as using it has put an end to messy, sticky jars

 

instead of my posh jars with the spotty lids (you have to promise to give me the jar back before I give you the jam or chutney!) I decided to use some of the motley collection of recycled jars which I have several boxes of

 

I also prepped another kilo of rhubarb to make more jam tomorrow.  I washed and sliced te rhubarb, then put it in a large bowl, with a kilo of jam sugar and the juice of two lemons.  I also finely diced some stem ginger.  All I have to do in the morning is put it in a large saucepan (maybe a proper preserving pan will be my next investment) and boil it until setting point is reached.

 

ps I haven't even used half of the bag of rhubarb yet!

 

A change of plans

I had intended to spend the day in the studio sewing, but that didn't happen!  Malcolm had a day out arranged with his sister, Jennifer ...... but then the man from the company that installed the boiler phoned to say that one of the boys who installed it would come to the house first thing this morning to fill the hole in the wall, and do the final testing.  This meant I had to stay in the house until he arrived and carried out the work, so I decided to make some rhubarb and ginger jam

 

bottle last year's sloe vodka

 

and redcurrant gin

 

of course once the jam was ready I had to do a taste test (delicious)

 

I took my toast out to the garden to take the photo, putting the plate on the new table which Malcolm made yesterday (I must get him trained to take photos!)

 

we have had a change round of the garden furniture, so we needed a little table to sit between the two steamer chairs on the deck

 

I used the table later to take this photo

 

when I finaly got out to the studio, it was a bit late to start sewing, so instead I worked on a couple of designs.  First was the June block for Lucie's A is for Applique challenge.  The theme this month is the birds and the bees.  This is the first  draft of my block - I need to do more work on the birds!

 

I then did some work on the wallhanging that I showed you the other day, using the Moda squares for the borders.  The idea came to me when I was writing an email to Meredithe ....... I was complaining about havinng to do the shopping and the laundry, when  ........

 

but I do have sewing to show you, from the weekend.  I have finished stitching round the tree and fence on Lillyanny, and have also stitched the birds (yes, Anne, more ends to sew in!)  The next stage will be to satin stitch the birds' legs

 

I finished the Baltimore block for Abbey Quilters

 

so what was the detail of, that I showed you yesterday?  We were given a challenge at Abbey Quilters to make something on the theme of clowns.  It has to be ready for next Tuesday, the last meeting before we have our summer break.  I had a vague idea of what I wanted to do, so after a quick internet search, and employing Malcolm' drawing skills ........ may I present my wallhanging "I found Nemo!"

 

this is an example of my "sideways" thinking, as Nemo, of course, is a clown fish!!  I found some fish beads that I got years ago when we had a holiday in Western Australia, and some shells that I bought in John Lewis (a big department store) in Edinburgh!

 

to finish ..... the ongoing swallow war!  You might have seen a scarecrow, but have you seen a scareswallow?  This is Malcolm's creation to keep the swallows out of the garage - it looks as if it has a nasty weapon, but it's just a trowel which Malcolm had taped to a pole to reach something in the garden.  It certainly scares the swallows. and it gave me a scare when I opened the garage door yesterday, forgetting that it was there!!

 

 

More excellent sconnage!

We went for a long walk along the River Teviot yesterday.  The air was full of birdsong ....... and the smell of wild garlic

 

there were lots of wildflowers

 

not all bluebells are blue!

 

there were interesting old fence posts

 

an old raised section ......

 

...... and a new one

 

this swan was sailing serenely past

 

but the duck on the right stuck its head under water just as I snapped!

 

the river level is very low just now, but you can see from the detritus caught in this tree how high it can be

 

I love the way this tree hangs out over the river - it reminds me of the Pine Walk in Puerto Pollensa

 

I had to pause as I went to take this photo, as a car drove over the bridge ...... most inconsiderate!

 

we left the path at this point, and walked round the road and on to the bridge.  This is the view from the bridge looking on down the river

 

on the way back along the river, Malcolm spotted these ducklings with the mother.  They were being carried at some speed by the current, so it's not the best of photos

 

having walked so far, we of course needed some sustenance ...... and what better than a two-scone lunch at the mill -  as usual we had half each

fruit scone

 

cheese scone

 

back home I set the camera up on the tripod, in the hope of catching the tits going and out of the nest box.  Ah well, perhaps next time I'll manage to get more than its rear end!

 

I'll be back tomorrow with lots of sewing - I wonder what this is a detail of?

 

 

Wonderful friends!

When we got back from Majorca, amongst the great pile of post I spotted two envelopes with foreign stamps.  The first one I opened was from Meredithe, and contained this fabulous button.  I think I will make a blue and yellow bag to put it on

 

the next one was from Tracy, who had been having a major clearout/reorganisation of her craft room.  She had made up wonderful charm packs with some of her stash, and had sent them to friends.  I already had a project in mind for a charm pack, so now I can get busy with it

 

when I was in Melbourne last year, I spent a wonderful day at Meredithe's, meeting lots of her lovely quilty friends (it was slightly strange, as they "knew" me from the blog!).  I have kept in touch with some of them, and last week had an email from Glenda (no blog), telling me to keep an eye out for the post.  On Wednesday, this box arrived covered in Australian stamps, so I knew it was from Glenda

 

when I opened the box, I was jumping up and down and squealing

 

some time ago, Meredithe had posted a photo of Glenda's pin cushion which I had admired, so she had sent me one, along with a tiny needlecase

 

the pin cushion is mounted on a golf tee, so that it can sit on top of your spool of thread

 

then Meredithe posted photos of a macaroon case, which Glenda had made at a workshop ....... you can find the photos if you scroll down through this post.  I had left a comment saying how much I liked the little case ...... and Glenda sent me a kit and the pattern!

 

as soon as I saw the kit, I knew which fabrics I would pull from my stash!  These are little bits of Japanese kimono fabrics ......

 

....... which I was given by one of the charming Japanese young women whom I taught to quilt in Indonesia.  There were also an American (who isn't in the photo, though her daugher is!), an English woman, a German and a Fillipina (the one with the baby).  I have to admit that is me with the silver hair.  I think that is the last time that my hair was its natural colour - I have been blonde since then!!  We made a four block sampler quilt ..... I don't have mine, as I raffled it to raise money to pay for longterm contraceptive implants for poor women!

 

thank you very much to my lovely friends for such wonderful, thoughtful presents!!

 

I was squealing again this afternoon, when Kay arrived at patch'n'chat with my strippy scrappy (or is it scrappy strippy) quilt.  Although I still have to do the binding, it is already on the bed!

 

the Friday cake was supplied by Katy ...... it was her grandson's first birthday yesterday, and she had baked two birthday cakes for his party.  Only one was eaten, so she brought the other one for our afternoon cuppa (and as there was some left, she gave me a slice for Malcolm!)

 

I have several things to work on over the weekend, including my challenge for Abbey Quilters, which has to be ready for the 11th (oops!).  It has been a  lovely day, so hopefully the weather will be good over the weekend, and we will have our Sunday walk.  I hope you have a wonderful weekend, and I'll finish with a photo of apple blossom in the hedgerow, which I took this morning when I went out for an early walk.  Love, Anne