frayed at the edge

Happy birthday to .........

............  ME!!!!!

 

the day got off to a good start, with my favourite breakfast of smoked salmon and scrambled eggs

 

then lots of lovely pressies and cards

 

Malcolm gave me a super big tv for The Attic ........ and I enjoyed watching one of my favourites, Bruce Willis while I was doing some sewing this afternoon

 

of course there has to birthday cake ......... I know this one is really meant for children, but I couldn't resist it!

 

did I hear you mention candles?  I thought I had better not have one for each year of my age (29!!) in case the house burned down!

 

we had a piece of cake with our afternoon cuppa - it was delicious, light sponge, with lots of chocolate and a banana-flavoured buttercream topping

 

making my wish before I blew out the candles

 

Malcolm is taking me out for dinner this evening, and this bottle of fizz is now chilling in the fridge for when we get back home!

 

A change of schedule!

I've just popped into say that I forgot that I will be posting the end-of-the-month update for the 17UFOs challenge tomorrow, so for today I will share with you the delicious cupcakes that I bought at an amazing bargain price.  I wouldn't have bought them at the full price, but I was happy to buy them for 30p!  We had them with our afternoon cuppa, and they were delicious!

Have a great weekend, love Anne

A very busy weekend!

On our way to Stuart and Alison's on Saturday, we called into a garden centre for lunch ........ but what was this I spotted as we headed for the entrance?  EEK ....... it's 3 months until Christmas, but the garden centre was full of all things Christmas!

 

it's quite a few years since we last had lunch at this garden centre, so we were delighted to find that they still serve their delicious old-fashioned lentil soup

 

after lunch, we had a look round the outside plant area.  We were rather taken with this tree .......

 

until we saw the price, then we decided that we didn't like it that much after all!

 

of course you have all heard of/seen the Forth Bridge and the Forth Road Bridge, but now there is a third bridge, the Queensferry Crossing, which the Queen opened at the start of the month.  It was very hazy, so the new bridge doesn't stand out against the two older bridges

 

the upright in the centre of the photo is the new bridge, with the Road Bridge behind it on the right

 

bits of all three bridges

 

the Road Bridge is dwarfed by the new bridge

 

driving on towards Grangemouth, you wouldn't think that just after passing this long row of trees ......

 

........ that this would come into view

 

if you want to know what all these things are .......

 

just ask Malcolm, as he spent the greater part of his working life here, when it was still BP Chemicals

 

it is now owned by a chap called Jim Ratcliffe, who is worth in excess of £3billion (yes, billion).  Why do I mention this?  Because Malcolm was at university with Jim!  OK, so Jim has a slightly bigger bank balance than Malcolm (!), but he still works long hours, whereas we have spent the last twelve years enjoying Malcolm's (early) retirement

 

we weren't the only visitors at Stuart and Alison's.  Stuart's stepsister Claire popped in to see us, with her two gorgeous children ........ and their new puppy, Purdey (named after the Joanna Lumley character, not the shotgun!)

 

she is a Border Terrier, and you can see here that she has the terrier instinct, as she savages her toy squirrel!

 

and she was doing her best here to bite Stuart's ears!

 

on Sunday morning we went out for breakfast with Stuart and Alison (sorry, forgot to take a photo of my delicious French toast with bacon and maple syrup).  Then it was on to the quilt show.  It was quiet when we arrived, so I was able to take some general photos

 

there were some stunning quilts

 

but I wasn't overly impressed with this miniature quilt, which had been chosen as Champion.  I think it's the scale of the different blocks that I don't like, with the anchor being as big as the house

 

however, I was delighted to see that this miniature had won a rosette, as I know the maker Mhairi (pronounced Varry, to rhyme with marry).  She was a member of the first quit group I joined, Greenpark Quilters in Polmont, way back in 1993.

 

look at all these luscious threads

 

did some of them come home with me?

 

yes they did!

 

the charming young man on the stall gave me a very helpful leaflet, with info about the thread, needle size to use etc

 

and a card with his website, should I wish to buy more

 

and of course I had to make some purchases at my favourite stall

 

some beautiful remnants of Japanese fabric, with a plain piece in the middle, to use for sashiko

 

to finish ....... look at these beauties, fresh from Stuart's garden.  I have used one already, slicing it thinly and putting it in the bottom of an oven dish, then sitting pork chops on top, then smothering the chops with finely sliced onions.  Some garlic salt and pepper, and a measure of cider, then into the oven ....... delicious!

 

A quick and easy quilt!

Friends of Stuart and Alison have recently become parents to a gorgeous baby girl, so of course I offered to make a quilt.  The brief ...... anything pink and with unicorns!

 

I had a look in my baskets of wadding leftovers, but there wasn't a big enough piece ........

 

which meant I had to cut a piece from this roll of wadding, which I bought recently at The Quilt Shop.  I use so much wadding it made sense to invest in a whole roll of it, as it works out cheaper than buying it by the yard ......... and Sue had a special deal on it!

 

I started by trimming of the selvedge from the unicorn fabric

 

then folding the fabric diagonally - after trimming off the excess strip on the right, I was left with a square metre of fabric

 

the easiest way to measure the wadding was to wrap the fabric round it!

 

I didn't trim the backing fabric, as it should be bigger than the quilt top, so I pressed it well and taped it to the table

 

I also gave the wadding a light press, as it was slightly wrinkled  - only do this to cotton wadding, never do it to polyester wadding!  Then having smoothed it out over the backing fabric

 

I pressed the unicorn fabric and smoothed it on top of the wadding, ready to pin the layers together.  This is the tedious bit, but it is worth making the effort to use a lot of pins to keep the sandwich stable while you quilt it

 

the next stage was to choose the thread - just as I was auditioning three threads, Malcolm came up the stairs into the Attic, and together we agreed on the turquoise thread on the left

 

I made up a little sandwich to see how the stitching would look - this was worth doing, as the top thread was showing on the back and I had to adjust the tension to get the balance right

 

I used a large, lazy, loopy meander

 

I found fabric for the binding in my stash

 

we came up to the flat this morning, so while Malcolm went out for a walk this afternoon, I sat and hand stitched the binding on the back

 

a simple, quick way to make a baby quilt

 

when Malcolm came back from his walk, he produced this bag of deliciousness!

 

and of course we have to have a bit of sconnage on a Friday ....... this cheesy delight was still warm from the oven!

 

tomorrow we are heading north over the Border, to visit Stuart and Alison, and then on our way home on Sunday we are going to pop into the Autumn Quilt Show at Ingliston (I may need to lie down in a darkened room on Monday after such a bust weekend!)  I hope you have a great weekend, love Anne

 

 

A glorious sunrise!

Regular readers know that on weekdays I leap jump stumble out of bed at 6.20, to engage with the implements of torture in my efforts to get fit (which begs the question, WHEN will I actually get fit??!!).  But there are advantages to getting up that early .......

 

...... when you can see spectacular sunrises from the kitchen window!

 

but there are disadvantages, when you encounter very large spiders in the hall

 

as usual for a Wednesday morning, I headed off down the A1 to The Quilt Shop in Morpeth.  Sue was busy folding fat quarters

 

with this pile of luscious new fabrics waiting their turn

 

I spotted this one at the bottom of the pile - it is much more blue than it looks in the photo, very cute

 

this piece of fabric may look as if it has been attacked by moths, but the holes are where Ros has fussy cut hexagons

 

her hexies are tiny, about the size of a fingernail

 

Ros brought me a squash and a courgette from her garden

 

and in return I gave her a bag of plums from our garden .......

 

left over after I made plum chutney

 

and plum jam

 

I have also made rather a lot of strawberry jam, which is my all-time favourite homemade jam

 

as we were away at the start of the month, I almost forgot about sharing the calendars with you.  As a dedicated disliker (spellcheck says that isn't a word!!) of cats, of course I like this month's page on the kitchen calendar

 

and out in the attic, we have a fine specimen of a young man on the quilting calendar

 

but sorry ladies, he is already taken!!

The last instalment

As a change to visiting castles, we headed to Scolton Manor.  As we walked from the carpark up to the house, we came upon this amazing carving

 

here is a small detail

 

further on, this owl was decidedly more weathered.  I think his talons are slightly out of proportion to his body!

 

then it was into the garden, which is being restored

 

this may look like a greenhouse for very small people

 

but when you go inside, you find that the floor level is much lower than the garden outside

 

these old straw bee skeps have been inset into the wall - I would love a feature like this in our garden ...... if only we had some skeps, and an old wall! 

 

this photo is for Kelly, a lover of old gates

 

there is a very productive kitchen garden

 

these freshly picked veggies were en route to the gift shop

 

as we continued our meander to the house, we then came across this carving, which depicts the French invaders surrendering to the women of Fishguard

 

the sign claimed that this is the Holy Grail ....

 

finally, we arrived at the house

 

it's always fascinating to see how people lived years ago

 

some things don't change - you could find a similar piece of embroidery in progress in our house

 

I have no idea what was kept in a Brain Jar!

 

"upstairs" dining was rather grand

 

"downstairs" was more informal

 

down in the cellar, even posh people have  a room full of junk

 

but they also have a room full of wine!

 

Malcolm wanted to take this clock home!

 

the next stop was the café for lunch

 

I had a cheese and pickle sandwich

 

and Malcolm had cheese and tuna.  We had expected dainty sandwiches with perhaps grated cheese - not great thick  slabs of the most delicious cheese ...... it's just as well we were doing so much walking to work off the calories!

 

on the way back to the car, we found more carvings

 

this one told a sad story

 

while this one

 

is symbolic of the struggles between Wales and England

 

this chap may have been a pirate

 

but he was a well-behaved one!

 

back at the car park we discovered this old engine ......

 

and signal box, which are hopefully going to be restored to their former gallery

 

we went for one last walk on the beach - no, this isn't us!

 

pausing to admire the scenery

 

do you prefer the sharp, jagged rocks

 

or the ones worn smooth by the waves?

 

the tide was out

 

so the boats

 

were high and dry on the sand

 

except for this one, which was nowhere near the sea!

 

it's Friday, so that means we have to have something tasty!  One morning I had the rare treat of hot chocolate, complete with whipped cream and marshmallows.  And we shared a Danish pastry, as there were no scones on the menu

 

but don't worry, we popped down to Heighley Gate garden Centre on Sunday to buy some bulbs for the garden to give us a show of colour in the spring, and while we were there we shared an exceedingly good cheese and spring onion scone

 

I was up early enough on Sunday morning to see the sunrise

 

ok - I was only up that early to go to the loo!

 

then later in the day, we had some heavy rain, followed by a double rainbow

 

it was so intense we could clearly see the seven colours

 

I'll be back on Monday with some sewing, and what I did with several kilos of plums from the tree in the garden.  Have a great weekend, love Anne

Birthday Boy!

Hello my lovely peeps!  Did you miss me?  I certainly missed you - no wifi for a whole week!!  We had a super, if at times rather damp, holiday, and spent the week celebrating Malcolm's birthday.  We stayed in the town of Newport, in Pembrokeshire, which was a good base for being out and about sightseeing.  On the day of the Big Birthday, we went for a pub lunch, which is something we rarely do.  Malcolm had the most delicious cod and chips, with light, crispy batter on the fish

 

and I tucked into a spicy lamb burger

 

later, we had a rather eclectic birthday tea, with sushi, cheese, a glass of fizz, and a chocolate cake, complete with candles.  I think Malcolm's poor ears have just about recovered from my rendition of Happy Birthday!

 

on Wednesday, we had planned to have dinner in this restaurant, but it was such a lovely day, we decided instead to have lunch, sitting outside in the sunshine

 

a lovely lady sitting at the next table offered to take our photo, when she heard us telling the waitress that we were celebrating Malcolm's birthday

 

Malcolm has smoked salmon terrine, with gravadlax and salad

 

oh dear, I had another burger - beef this time ....... and I very generously shared the chips with Malcolm

 

after lunch, we strolled back to the cottage, and I popped out to take some photos

 

 

I had to step back off the road to avoid being squashed by this tractor!

 

I have about 500 photos to sort through, so I will be back on Wednesday with ruined castles and beautiful beaches, and for today I will leave you with this one.  You know by now that I have a quirky sense of humour, so as soon as I saw this sign, I had to take a photo.  Of course it doesn't mean that it is an exit for people called Allan - it is a dual language sign ....... we now know about four words of Welsh!

Diet??

Oh dear, my best intentions to shed a few pounds keep getting thwarted!  First, it happened on Thursday, when we were heading up the A1 to Berwick.  Some miles north of Alnwick, just where the road becomes dual carriageway again, you pass this sign

 

then a little bit further on you pass this sign

 

and having taken the next turn on the left, you can enjoy (half, we shared it)a delicious bacon sandwich for an early lunch (we were too early for the lunch menu) at Carnaby's

 

I've mentioned before that my rule of thumb for buying a bottle of wine is the appeal of the label ........ so of course I had to buy this one - a sparkling Italian wine

 

and this one - a pinot grigio to drink day or night

 

but I bought this one because we first drank it in our favourite restaurant in Pollensa, when we were on holiday in Majorca  (don't worry, we haven't drunk all of them, two of them are still in the wine rack!!)

 

the big green machine had been moved on the dockside so that it was opposite the flat's front window ...... nicely placed for a photo

 

this is one of our favourite coffee shops in Berwick

 

and we can recommend this Provence scone, rich with the flavours of sun dried tomato, feta cheese and olives ....... and the coffee shop scores extra points for giving us two plates, knives and napkins when we say we are sharing

 

back home, Malcolm has been busy demolishing the top section of the deck, after he discovered that some of the boards and the frame underneath were rotten

 

the plan is to turn this area into a gravel garden, with planters and seating round the edges

 

on Sunday we popped over to Warkworth for a stroll.  Malcolm spotted these two old chimneys, butted up against each other, on adjacent properties

 

walking along the river, we were surprised at how red the rowan berries are - we wouldn't normally see them so red until at least next month

 

leaving the town behind, we walked down to the beach.  This is Coquet Island in the distance

 

on our right we could see Amble

 

and on our left, Alnmouth

 

this dog had been sitting, waiting for his owner to call him.  Once he called to the dog, he started to run towards his owner, then stopped and posed handsomely for a photo.  His owner said he is a very vain dog!!

 

this big black lump on the sand is sea coal, either washed out of coal seams under the sea, or dropped overboard way back when Amble exported coal

 

in contrast, this little crab has been bleached white

 

yesterday, Malcolm's sister, Jennifer, popped up from Morpeth for a visit, which of course meant we had to have a stroll along to Nelson's.  As it was a lovely afternoon, we sat out in the sunshine to have a cuppa

 

afterwards, we walked round to see these birds, which we were originally told were emus .......

 

..... but have subsequently been told are rheas

 

and to end, another scone.  I had a quick trip to Alnwick yesterday morning for some shopping, and popped into the Olive Branch for a cuppa and a scone (yes, for once I had a whole one all to myself).  It was described as a cheese and sun dried tomato scone, but had no real taste of the sun dried tomato.  When the waitress asked me if I had enjoyed the scone, I said that I was a bit disappointed at the lack of flavour.  She went through t the kitchen, and came back to say that they hadn't wanted to make the taste of sundried tomato too strong, in case people complained that it was stronger than the taste of the cheese ....... so in that case, why not just make some ordinary cheese scones for those who don't want the taste of sun dried tomato as well?

Sightseeing

 The weather last Thursday was glorious, so we decided to head over to Cragside, to both go round the house, and have a walk in the glorious gardens

 

first stop was the old stable block

 

which has several displays, one of which has this sketch of the house when it was built

 

William Armstrong, who had the house built

 

this shows important events in the early years of the house (click on the photo to enlarge it)

 

there was also a long time line - for Malcolm this was the most important event!

 

I was more interested in this poster!

 

I took this photo for Stuart, as he is a mechanical engineer (Malcolm was in shock for weeks when Stuart said that he would not be following in his footsteps as a chemical engineer!)

 

this poster was actually in one of the rooms in the house, but I have included it with the other technical stuff.  This was of great interest to Malcolm, as when he started work with BP, they used Tangye engines and pumps

 

we sat out in the sun in the courtyard at the stable block to have some excellent sandwiches for lunch

 

after lunch I popped into the facilities - I think it is the first time I have seen a fireplace in a ladies loo!

 

this is the view from in front of the coach house -we both thought it looked like Canada.  I thought that from photos that I have seen, Malcolm thought that because he has been there!

 

this family walking in front of us provide the scale to show just how tall the trees are

 

this is one of the first electric lamps, mentioned in the wheel of events

 

I always enjoy seeing kitchens in old houses

 

I don't think you would be allowed to impose such strict working conditions now!

 

one of several patchwork quilts

 

the view from one of the bedroom windows

 

I got fed up waiting for this woman to stop looking at her phone and walk out of the photo - but then, she shows the size of the fireplace (and how can you walk past such magnificence and not look, finding your phone more fascinating!!)

 

out in the gardens, I wasn't entirely happy walking down the steps in the rockery

 

but it was worth it to see the view over the bridge

 

and then to see the small wooden bridge on the other side (you can see both bridges in the sketch at the start of the post)

 

this glass house is undergoing major renovation work

 

the rabbit has been back in our garden - maybe we need to get a big fence and a gate like this to keep it out?

 

some of the cottages in the grounds are available to rent for holidays - look at the stunning views this one enjoys

 

it's just as well we don't have a big tree in the garden, or Malcolm might be tempted to cut it down and carve an owl on the stump

 

beautiful water lilies

 

they almost look as if they have been carved from wax

 

in the rose garden

 

there was a riot of colour

 

and lovely old fashioned scents - so many modern roses have no scent

 

a last piece of engineering - an Archimedes screw.  Normally Archimedes screws lift water to a higher level, but this one has the water running down it, turning the screw to generate electricity (thank you to my engineering guru- aka Malcolm -  for the information)

 

and so to the Tuesday cake - we shared this delicious Palmier yesterday.  It was stuffed with jam and cream ...... delicious!

 

 

 

 

Make yourself a cuppa ........

....... and settle down to enjoy this rather long post!  When we were out and about last week, Malcolm had to make an emergency stop, so that I could jump out of the car to take photos - first of this wonderful higgledy piggledy fence

 

and then of this handsome creature!

 

last Friday afternoon we were entertained by a long line of swans gliding into the dock

 

on Saturday morning we went for a potter round Berwick town centre.  This is the top of the Police Station!

 

on our way back to the flat, I had fun taking photos of the road bridge and rail bridge (I was standing on the old bridge)

 

there are lots of interesting angles to look at

 

this was Malcolm's suggestion

 

this rowan tree is already laden with berries

 

in the afternoon, we went for a walk on the beach.  The water no longer covers this patch of sand, so plants are already growing

 

although it was sunny over the beach, there was a threatening black cloud in the distance

 

bits of dead crabs, both little and large

 

of course there has to be a photo of the lighthouse

 

there was enough of a breeze for kite flying

 

in the evening, there was a very heavy shower of rain - this is the view through the window to a rainbow in the distance

 

back home on Sunday, I popped the latest two Potty McDotty blocks up on the design wall to admire them!

 

sadly, this month's man from the "naked" calendar is a bit shy, and has clothes on!!

 

but we will forgive him for that, as he is an upstanding member of his community

 

I had a hunt through my stash for the necessary supplies to do a "woolly bits" wallhanging

 

and started pressing some circles for the outer border of The Aunts' Quilt

 

when we were at Heighley Gate garden centre last week, we bought what may be the bargain of the year!

 

I would never have paid the full price, but was happy to pay £5.  The hosta may look a little bit sad now, but it will come away again in the spring

 

I also bought two more bargain plants for my little border in front of the house - but it isn't quite as little now, as Malcolm extended it so that the ends are in line with fence posts (for some reason it just looks better that way!)

 

the hibiscus on the left of the border has flowered

 

the plums are getting bigger and starting to ripen

 

and the apples too are getting bigger - Malcolm thinks they are russets

 

we even have some brambles in the hedge at the back of the house

 

there have been very few butterflies in the garden, just a handful of little white ones

 

we were given this rose bush by our former lovely neighbours (the shoe shop owners).  Not only are the roses a  pretty colour, they also have a lovely old fashioned scent

 

after my busy day teaching at The Quilt Shop on Tuesday, it was much more relaxed yesterday, at our usual Wednesday sewing day.  One of the group went home with some refreshment - but I won't embarrass her by telling you who it was!

 

Malcolm had his first load of logs delivered last week, and in no time at all had them stacked in his new log store, ready for the winter

 

and to finish, we have a scone!!  A rather delicious raspberry and vanilla scone

 

it has been a lovely day today, with clear blue skies, so we decided to do some sightseeing!  So do come back on Tuesday to see where we went.  I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne