frayed at the edge

Day 22 .......and thank you to my spotter!

I had just come through from having my shower and getting dressed this morning, when Malcolm, in his role as photo-op spotter, told me to grab the camera and follow him out to the garden.  It was very misty and damp, ideal conditions to show up the many spider webs.  Here are just a few of them

 

 

 

 

when I got in the car for my usual Monday morning trip to Sainsbbury's I noticed there was a spider web on the wing mirror, so when I got back in the car to come home, I took a photo of it ....... but not just the web, but also its reflection in the mirror.  And if you look carefully, you can see a car with a red canoe on its roof - not a very nice day to go canoing!

 

I made the first pot of soup of the winter - although I think it is still officially autumn, until the clocks change at the weekend, it has been such a mesierable day it definitely felt like winter!  As always, after taking this photo, I realised that I had left out an ingredient - vegetable oil.

parsnips, apples, onions, spices, seasoning and chicken stock

 

I chopped up the onions, parsnips and apples, and sweated them in a little vegetable oil.  I added the spices and seasoning, stirred it well, popped the lid on, turned the heat down and let it all sweat away gently. 

 

I made up the chicken stock with some boiling water, added it to the pot, and simmered the soup unti the veggies were soft.  Then it was into the blender, as I like smooth soup ..... ever since I was little I have disliked soup with "bits" in it!

 

a quick whizz later, a big bowl of delicious soup, and a little bowl to taste

 

finally, in to containers ...... two double portions for the freezer, and a single portion for my lunch tomorrow

 

when I went on my road trip in Melbourne with Meredithe, Mrs Mac and Helen, we were chatting about all things Scottish that Mrs Mac had learned from her Scottish Granny.  One of them was a "piece" ...... which can either be a sandwich, or a snack.  When I was at primary school, we took a "playpiece" to eat during the morning "playtime"  ...... the ten minutes mid-morning when we went outside for a break.  It reminded me of a song about children in Glasgow moving to high rise flats, and finding that their Mum's couldn't throw them a sandwich ....... this is the chorus

Oh ye cannae fling pieces oot a twenty storey flat,
Seven hundred hungry weans'll testify, to that.
If it's butter, cheese or jeely, if the breid is plain or pan,
The odds against it reaching earth are ninety-nine tae wan.

 

Mrs Mac was delighted when she mentioned jubblies and I knew what she meant ........ so when I noticed this box this morning in Sainsbury's, of course I had to buy it!

 

when I was little, we didn't have a fridge, never mind a freezer, so we had to buy our jubblies in the "wee shop" at the top of the road, not buy a box and freeze the at home.  These ones are the same shape, but considerably smaller than the childhood ones ....... but then at 27 calories each, I won't have to feel guilty about having one

Day 21 ...... and it had been a very busy day!

This morning we went for a walk through the old cemetery in Hawick, as we had noticed when we drove past yesterday that the trees were in their full autumn glory

 

 

The wording has worn off this headstone, but the carving looks as if it has just been done

 

this brother and sister moved away from their roots - the grave contains their parents

 

I rarely take photos of recent graves ...... perhaps if it's the grave of someone who lived to be over a hundred.  But when we saw this one, in the furthest corner of the cemetery, I found it so moving, that I wanted to share it with you (click on the photo to enlarge it). It's the word at the very bottom ....... reunited ..... it is a lovely thought that they are back together! 

 

it is intriguing that she is described as a detective and a poet.  The poppy wreath is from his regiment, the Grenadier Guards.  And we get to see what they were like, in this wonderful photo ..... she is tiny!

 

as we left the cemetery, it seemed fitting, in an Edgar Allan Poe kind of way, that a big black crow was watching us from his perch at the top of the tree

 

we walked along what was the route of the long-since defunct railway (although it might be restored sometime soon).  The trees were showing their glorious autumn colours

 

when we turned off the path, we had to go down some steep steps through a small tunnel

 

it looked quite different looking back from the other end

 

of course a Sunday walk means a cuppa and a scone - well, today we had two scones!  The scones were just out of the oven (we had to wait a few minutes for them) and as always we had half each.  I don't suppose it is healthy to have scones for lunch ........

first course, a cheese scone

 

followed by dessert, a cherry scone!

 

after "lunch", we walked over the footbridge across the River Teviot, pausing to admire the views

 

normally at  this point we would have gone home, but instead we headed to one of the local garden centres, which had a "20% of everything" weekend.  The garden centre is on the bank of the River Teviot, and has a very picturesque riverside walk

something found these mushrooms, growing on a tree stump, very tasty!

 

a glimpse of the river through a willow tree

 

a wonderful red bridge and a metal heron, surrounded by water lilies

 

a stunning acer

 

another view over the river

 

on the way home, I tried to take some photos of the scenery - but cars kept intruding!

 

in the distance, the Waterloo Monument stood out against the blue sky

 

back home, I finally remembered to take a photo of my ripple rug, which I have been diligently adding a few rows to every night

 

then it was into the studio for more sewing.  I had another session of fmq on the baby quilt, which is now more than a third done

 

then I got out these two fabrics, which I bought on Friday at Borderland Fabrics.  As well as making the baby quilt for Amie, I thought I would make a little quilt for the her big brother, Lucas. 

 

the pattern is one that I  ...... well, I was going to say designed, but that's too grand a word for such a simple pattern!  There are three variations - this is the one that uses two half metres of fabric.  From the main fabric, cut eight four and a half inch strips, and from the other fabric cut sixteen two and a half inch strips

 

next, sew a narrow strip to either side of a wide strip

 

from each strip, cut two eight and a hlaf inch squares, and arrange them thus

 

that's as far as I got this afternoon, but of course the next stage is to stitch the blocks together.  The finished quilt is thirty two inches square, but you could make it bigger by adding an outer border.  But that size is just right to put over a child in a car seat or buggy, and backed with fleece makes a lovely "cuddle quilt".

 

I still have lots of photos left from our morning out - here is a random selection

 

 

 

 

Day 19 ....... and I stroke an owl!!

After lunch at patch'n'chat, when we went back through to the workroom I checked my phone, and found that I had a missed call from Malcolm.  When I phoned home, he told me to go across the road to the Woollen Mill, as there was a display of owls and hawks in front of the mill (he had driven past earlier).  I grabbed my camera, and some money, as I knew that I would be expected to put some in the donations bucket in return for taking the photos.  I started taking photos from a reasonable distance, but the two men with the birds said to get as close to them as I wanted - I would be quite safe!  So just look at these beauties ......

a red tailed hawk

 

I was a bit nervous about getting close to that beak!

 

a Mackinders eagle owl - he is 14 years old!

 

a gyr

 

I was fascinated by the tiny stitches on the hood .......

 

....... and the beautiful markings on the feathers

 

when I went over to take photos of this Eurasion eagle owl, one of the men said to me that the owl, named Ollie, didn't like men.  He told me to stroke his chest (the owl's, not the man's!) ..... well, I didn't need to be told twice to do that.  It was amazingly soft and fluffy, and the owl was obviously quite happy to be stroked.  Then the man said, ok, watch this.  He stepped up to the owl, which immediately rose up and hissed at him!!

 

 

 

I have saved the best till last ....... get ready to say aaaaaah!  This is a four-month old Asian brown wood owl

 

 

 

all that remains is for me to hope that you all have a good weekend, and to share with you the Friday cake - a delicious fruit loaf.  Love Anne

Day 18 ....... and (oops) I start another project!

This morning was damp and misty .......

 

..... if you were looking towards Hawick Town Hall, but if you looked in the other direction, the sun was shining!

 

Thursday, of course, means a scone to share in The Pickled Orange.  Today's was cheddar, chives, chilli ..... and something else which we have forgotten.  It was just out of the oven - delicious!

 

when we got home, there was still some mist round the Mintos

 

this was my bargain of the week - 99p for an insulated bag.  I'll use it to take my lunch on Fridays to patch'n'chat

 

so, on to the new project!  This is based on an item in one of the Ricky Timms shows that I watched yesterday.  The design is by two sisters, Barbara and Mary.  Their company is called 4th and 6th Designs ....... because they were the 4th and 6th children in the family!  They didn't fully explain the pattern (obviously they want you to buy the book), so this is my interpretation of it.  I decided to use the lovely Australian fabrics that Lee gave my for my birthday

 

I started by cutting strips in widths from an inch and a quarter to two inches, increasing the width each time by a quarter of an inch

 

I then sewed all the strips together (those of you who don't do patchwork, will be saying the same as patchworkers' husbands everywhere ..... why do you cut the fabric up, then sew it back together!?)

 

the next stage was to take a six and a half inch square ruler, and if you look where I am pointing, put the diagonal line on a seam.  I used my small rotary cutter, to make it easier to cut round the ruler

 

the first square cut

 

four cut, and put on the design wall

 

eight blocks cut, and stitched together

 

so what is it?  Well, when we moved here (six years ago), I put a little ruuner on the wine cupboard in the hall as a "temporary" measure, so this is going to replace it

 

I will add triangles to the ends, to hang down over the sides of the cupboard.  I will also make matching ones for the little chest of drawers and lamp/plant stand, that you saw in the recent post about flowers.  When I cut out the squares, I thought at first that it was a bit of a wasteful method

 

but I realised that a lot of the offcuts can be pieced together and used in another project

 

out in the garden, this rose is still flowering

 

it's a miniature rose - this is my pinkie!

 

three of the clematis are also still flowering, although they are a bit bedraggled

 

to finish ....... I don't mind getting begging letters from charities, but I prefer to choose how much to give.  This latest missive from Oxfam (I already give them money every month) went straight in the recycle bin, as there was no option for an amount that I chose to give.  I didn't entirely grasp the "doubled" bit, it was something about them having money set aside to match the donations to this appeal .....

Day 17 ..... and a change of plan

I should have been going to Longframligton today, to visit Anne in her wonderful shop, but I had an email yesterday from her husband, Mick, to say that Anne was poorly.  I won't tell you in the graphic terms that Mick used what is wrong with her .... I shall simply say that she can't stray far from the bathroom!  But I didn't mind too much when I saw the awful weather this morning and I was even more glad that I had stayed at home when Malcolm came back from Coldstream (the same route that I would have travelled) and said that the roads were dreadful, with a lot of flooding.  This is the rain bouncing off the ice in the birdbath

 

Such a miserable can only mean one choice for breakfast, a warming bowl of porridge with a spoonful of homemade jam

 

we had scary company at the breakfast table ......

 

a white chocolate ghost which briefly was part of my autumn decoration on the kitchen table (he has now been eaten by Malcolm - regular readers know that I don't like white chocolate!)

 

it was hard to decide what to do with my unexpected day at home, but first I caught up with watching several Ricky Timms programmes, which had been lurking in my inbox.  Then I spent quite a lot of time sorting out photos to have made into cards, for sale in The Reivers Moon Gallery (they have sold some of my photos - hooray).

Next, I tackled the pile of magazines next to my chair, which is threatening to topple over.  But all that happened is that most of them went into a new pile, with dog-eared pages, marking things I want to look at online!

But I kept being distracted by the sparrows in the front garden, who were either sheltering from the heavy rain in the hawthorn tree

 

..... or thinking about havinng a bath (brrrr)

 

...... or tucking into the birdfood which I put out yesterday

 

 

 

but for every photo of the birds that turns out well, there are quite a few like this one!

Day 16 ....... and some mother's ruin

When I was labelling the piles of pieces for the baby quilt, my eye was drawn to the logo in the corner of the notepaper

 

I used to be a member of the Quilters' Guild - for a while I was even an Area Rep.  The badges then were, for me, stylish and elegant

 

but those in charge decided to modernise the look ....... and this much derided logo was the result

 

back then, I went through a spell of collecting badges, most of which I have pinned on my sewing bag.  You will no doubt recognise the material the bag is made from - it is from Provence.  Malcolm had been working on a major project in Provence, leaving home at lunchtime on Sundays, and getting home late on Friday nights.  So after this had gone on for several weeks, I went out to Aix-en-Provence to sppend a week with him ...... and while I was there, I not only bought lots of Provencal fabric, I also bought this bag

 

I was given the little badge at the top left by the owner of quilting shop in San Antonio, Texas.  Malcolm was due to go to Houston on (yet another) business trip, and as it was just before Easter, he arranged to have a few days holiday.  While he was working, I had a few days pottering round some excellent little local shops, and one day I had a marathon session, in a cocoon of pillows, eating chips and dips, watching back to back episodes of CSI!!  When Malcolm had finished his business, we travelled to San Antonio, and consulting the phone book, I found the address for this shop ...... although it was somewhat harder to find the shop, as the road to it ran through an enormous military base - which post 9/11 had been closed, so we had to make a huge detour

 

these two badges were from my trip to a quilt symposium in New Zealand in 2001 (that was the famous occasion when I said to Malcolm can I go, and he replied "you can go if you want to"!!)  The badge on the left is a Scottish Region Quilters' Guild badge.  I gave one to a man called Craig Brown (good Scottish nmae - at that time the manager of the Scottish national football team was also called Craig Brown), who was mayor of the town of Whangerei ...... he could trace his ancestors back to the "Nova Scotians" - Scots who had emigrated to Canada, didn't like it, and had travelled on to, and settled in, New Zealand.  He said he would wear the badge with pride at council meetings - I wonder if he did?

 

more Quilters' Guild badges, and my Stirling Castle Quilters badge - I was one of the founder members of the group, and was their second chairman ....... and then some years later when we came back from Indonesia, I rejoined the group, and ended up being chairman for a second time!

 

and yet another crop of badges, pinned to my various identity badges for the Houston quilt show, and the (now defunct) European Expo

 

and now for the mother's ruin (or do I have the apostrophe in the wrong place, is it mothers'?)  I found several recipes for redcurrant gin online, all of which said to put the redcurrants and sugar in a bowl and mash them together, then transfer them to a jar.  But I thought why dirty a bowl, and just weighed out the redcurrants in the jars

 

the great thing about my digital scales is that I can push a button to return the setting to zero, then weigh the next ingredient, in this case the sugar

 

I tried mashing them with a fork, but it was hard going - so I simply added some of the gin and used my stick blender

 

there were so many redcurrants, I also prepped some vodka!  Now it just has to mature for two or three months!!

Day 15 ...... and a disappointment

Yesterday, I thought it was time to finish  a quilt I made some time ago, so I made some binding ......

 

....... for the "row" quilt

 

despite the fact that the quilt has been on the guest bed for months, I hadn't noticed that I had missed these ends!

 

when I started stitching the binding on, the sun was shining, and I was going to take a photo of thhe quilt over the chair on the deck ........ but the time I finished it had turned rather wet

 

so instead I had to take a photo of it in front of the stove.  I still have to stitch the binding by hand on the back, I just pinned a bit in place for the photo, then when I saw it on the laptop, I realised that you can't really see it against the dark backing fabric!

 

then it was on with the baby quilt.  After some stitching, I had three piles of blocks

 

row one on the design wall

 

row two added

 

then three

 

well ........ you get the idea!  Here is the finished top.  The colours aren't true, as I had to have the light on, it had got so dark because of the rain ..... I'll need to take a photo outside

 

then on to today and the disappointment.  We went for a walk after lunch, struggling through nasty bits like this

 

but we didn't mind, as we were going to ........ well, this is where it all went wrong.  Last year the blackthorns lining the path were laden with sloes ....... and this year there were none, not one, not a single sloe!  We were so disappointed, as we were looking forward to making more sloe gin (and Stuart and Alison had already put in an order for another bottle).  However, there was a little bit consolation ....... lots of redcurrants, some elderberries, and some rosehips

 

but who could stay disappointed for long, when you can gaze out over this view on the way home!!

Day 12 ..... and a fleeting visit!

Just a very quick post, as Stuart and Alison are visiting, and we have just had (yet another) birthday dinner, as their birthdays are both in September, so we had all four birthdays to celebrate.  Sorry, but too busy having a lovely dinner to have taken photos, but as always I have a photo of the Friday cake at patch'n'chat ..... this week it was Annette's light-as-air chocolate cake

 

back tomorrow with some sewing!!

Day 11 ........ and it's that hunk again!

Back in our routine, we went for a cuppa in the Pickled Orange this morning ....... and of course that meant sharing one of their wonderful scones - this one is blackberry and vanilla (with some of their tasty homemade raspberry jam to spread on it)

 

I always have a vase of flowers in the hall - but since I started shopping in Sainsbury's, they haven't always been the fanciest of flowers ..... the latest offering was what I call petrol station flowers (yes, I could go to a florist, but it's a case of lazy "pop it in the trolley" shopping!)

 

so when we popped into Morrison's for some shopping this morning, I took the chance to buy a bunch of altroemeria and a bunch a gypsophila

 

did you notice the little blue and white pot on the left .....

 

Malcolm bought it years ago on a business trip to Manila.  Then, when we were in Singapore, he spotted this little pot

 

so of course it had to come home with us

 

so ....... what is that on the right?  It's a temple bell, which Malcolm bought on a business trip to Kuala Lumpur

 

and what are all these things sitting on - a wine cupboard which we bought in Jakarta ....... and the little bit of rug that you can see - Malcolm bought that on a business trip to India!

 

and if you look at the hall from a different angle ....... the lamp/plant table in the corner also came from Jakarta  - but the little pine chest of drawers was bought years ago in Falkirk (we lived there in the 90s).  The big embroidered tree was a kit that my Dad bought from an advert in a newspaper many years ago (just as well that he knew someone to stitch it for him!) ....... and the two white tablecloths were stitched by my great-aunt Mima (they were already old when I was little, so they could be 80 or 90 years old!)

 

and I might as well show you the other corner, which has a lovely chair which we bought in an antique shop in Hexham years ago (Malcolm reupholstered it)

 

so, to return to this morning ........ when we came home, I was jumping up and down and squealing, when I found this on the doormat

 

why?  Well, let me explain.  Although I am now on my 4th laptop (Malcolm bought me my first one in, I think, 1999, when I took over as writer/erditor/producer of the monthly newsletter for the little expat group that I was a member of when we lived in Cillegon, West Java (we moved there after the fall of President Suharto and the ensuing political chaos meant that the project that Malcolm was working on in Jakarta was put on ice and he went to work on an existing plant, in the hope that the original project would be revived .... it wasn't) ...... I have never got the hang of using a touchpad, and have always used a mouse - which of course means also using a mousemat.  My current one is a rigid one, which means it can sit on the arm of the couch when I am using the laptop (it actually came with a cable to plug it into a usb port - the silver bit has several usb ports, so that you could, in theory, plug several things in - unfortunately it didn't work!)

 

ever since I took the photo of that gorgeous young man in the Abercrombie and Fitch shop in Singapore (I have since discovered that the staff in A&F shops routinely go about half-naked!), Malcoolm has been teasing me about him, and on Sunday said "I'm surprised you haven't had his photo put on a mousemat".  Yes. you have now guessed what was in this morning's post ....

 

sorry, Malcolm, what did you say ...... it's not for stroking

 

but why should a little mouse have all the fun!?!?

 

ok, I've run out of excuses to show you more photos of him ....... but I know that there are quite a few of you will have been drooling over him, given that I had more comments on him than I have had on most posts!  So ....... if you would like to get your own mousemat - I got mine here (or simply print out a photo), either tell me in a comment , or email me (there is a link to click on at the top of the righthand sidebar) and I will email you with the photo as an attachment for you to download.

Day 9 ...... and something I nearly forgot!

Stuart and Alison gave us a joint birthday present, which we opened before the holiday, as we didn't want to take it with us in case it got lost.  I finally remembered today to take photos to show you.  We removed the outer wrapping to discover this - I would box Stuart's ears for being cheeky, but I would have to stand on a stool to reach!

 

inside was an intriguing folder

 

and inside the folder ...... gift certificates for us to attend a food and wine evening.  They are valid for a year, so we have plenty of  time to decide which evening to attend

 

you know how much we enjoy our food (and wine) so they couldn't have found a better present for us!

 

I had to pop into Hawick this morning, and as usual walked round to see if the heron was sitting on the rocks in the Slitrig.   He wasn't there ...... but there is a new "water feature" - and old tyre which has got jammed in the rocks

 

I walked on round to see if the heron was further along the river.  No heron, but a pair of ducks

 

I walked through the old churchyard

 

I have wondered in the past about the meaning of a skull and crossbones on headstones, so today I made the effort to google it ....... if you click here you will find a very comprehensive list of gravestone symbolism.

A quick visit to my favourite charity shop produced these four wine glasses

 

taking that photo reminded me that I hadn't yet shown you the miniature glass bottles that I bought from a quirky shop at the South Melbourne Market (I put the espresso cup beside them to give you an idea of how small they are)

 

they are a little reminder of the very elegantly served cuppa that I had at the Armchair Collective, which we visited with Lee

 

when I went out this morning, I had to break the ice in the birdbath .....

 

...... the water must still have been cold this afternoon, as this (rather plump) female blackbird was somewhat hesitant about having a dip!

 

........ and the robin looked most annoyed at having to queue!!

 

I'm off to Kelso later for the monthly meeting at Abbey Quilters.  Come back tomorrow to see what tonight's project is.