frayed at the edge

Ghastlie joy!

I was delighted to receive an envelope from abroad this morning ......

 

........ as I knew it contained a piece of the latest Ghastlies fabric, which I had ordered from Thimbleanna

 

I took this general view of it out in the garden, meaning to take close-ups later ..... and I forgot!

 

The post had arrived when I was in the shower, and in all the excitement of taking photos, I forgot that I had to dry my hair

 

What would I do without my hairdryer and my big round bristle brush!!

 

Did you notice my necklace - Malcolm gave it to me for Christmas.  The various stones represent the chakras.  He bought it here - although he bought it in their shop at Kirkharle, rather than online.

A few more photos from our day out on Wednesday ......

Heatherslaw Light Railway

 

we saw the little train puffing along the track at Etal

 

I want one of these!!

 

I resisted buying this!

 

We had a different Friday cake - a clootie dumpling loaf.  It was delicious - rich and fruity

 

After our spell of glorious weather, the forecast for the weekend isn't very good, but whatever the weather, I hope you all have a good weekend!  Love Anne

122 photos!

We have had a marvellous day out - and yes, I did take 122 photos!  But don't worry, I'm not going to share all of them with you today!

Our first stop was at Flodden, scene of a great battle between the Scots and the English, which you can read about here, here and here.  In the bright sunshine, there was no sense of the dreadful happenings of that day, when so many Scots died

 

From the monument, there are wonderful views, including the small village of Branxton, round which the battle was fought

 

This isn't a very good photo, as the car was bouncing about on the bumpy road, but if you look carefully at the curved roof on the porch of the house on the left, you will see that it is covered in grass!

 

Our next stop was the village of Ford, where we had a browse round the Horseshoe Gallery

 

I wonder if anyone will build a house to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, as this was built to celebrate Queen Victoria's

 

The church looked lovely in the spring sunshine, surrounded by a carpet of daffodils

 

This gargoyle was keeping an eye on me!

 

Having taken some photos, I used these stone steps to climb over the wall .......

 

........ rather than open the rather grand gate (I had entered the churchyard by a small gate)

 

I had to wait until this rather large tractor went past before I could cross the road to rejoin Malcolm, who had gone to investigate a possible place for lunch

 

We had hoped to have our lunch here , but unfortunately the couple who own the coffee shop were unable to be there today. However a man who was working in the antiques building let us have a peek

 

The coffee shop looked lovely, and we will certainly go back.   We headed off to Heatherslaw Mill

 

where we enjoyed a delicious lunch.  We both decided to have a stottie (a large roll) ...... I had Coronation chicken

 

and Malcolm had corn beef and onion

 

The visitor centre was proudly flying the Northumberland flag

 

After a busy morning, we had an even busier afternoon - I'll tell you about it tomorrow!

 

 

Little sparrow, little sparrow*

I love to see you on the feeders

 

I enjoy seeing you using the birdbath

 

I don't mind when your friends, big and small, call in to visit you

 

I'll even wait patiently to take photos when you and your entire family sit in the hawthorn tree and ignore me

 

But please, little sparrow, will you not make such a din outside the bedroom window at 5.30am and wake me up!!

 

I was still stitching away on the latest Baltimore block this afternoon at patch'n'chat ....... this block has an awful lot of pieces!

 

This afternoon's cake was the wonderful chocolate sponge that just floats off the plate and melts in the mouth

 

Taking bird photos requires a lot of patience - for every usable photo, there are several like these!!

 

I hope you all have a good weekend, love Anne

 

*Do all you Dolly Parton fans now have the song playing in your heads!!??

 

 

My favourite season

I love spring ........ I like summer, I don't mind autumn, I dislike winter - but I really do love spring!!  Today has been glorious, with blue skies and sunshine, the birds singing, the lambs frolicking - bliss!!  We went out for a walk after lunch, and we hadn't gone far before I had to take off my jacket, it was so warm.  This ewe was a bit hot and bothered - no doubt she will feel better when her lamb(s) arrive(s)

 

The blossom is coming out

 

The catkins are abundant

 

The first dandelion of the year!

 

A carpet of tiny violets

 

The Minto Hills look hazy in the distance

 

The spring ploughing and planting is well under way

 

Looking down to the stretch of road where I frequently meet large lorries!

 

I stood well to the side as this horse passed us on the bridle path!

 

As we came up the hill to the house, Malcolm walked on home as I stopped to take some photos of the lambs

 

You know I quite often finish with a quirky photo, and today I had a choice of two ........

a rusty knot in fencing wire

 

a double yolk in the duck egg I was about to poach for lunch

 

Gretel makes ......

........ if you don't normally buy Mollie Makes

 

do look out for next month's issue, as the wonderful, multi-talented Gretel will be showing us how to needlefelt

 

I am still working every evening on the stitcheries I am making for Anne's quilt

love is the music of your heart

 

love is a happy revelation

 

do everything with love

 

love notes are portable hugs

 

love and joy are united as one

 

This afternoon I went to meet up with Lorraine for a knit and natter ....... which of course meant cake!!  Today's was a very, very delicious orange and rhubarb cake

 

My knitting hadn't been out of the bag since the last knit'n'natter, but I did do a bit more this afternoon - I have now done the two feet and one and a half legs of the doll

 

To finish, another little sign of spring from the garden ...... this time it's the ornamental quince, which has started to flower

 

In a bind

I had been putting off adding the binding to our new comforter, as I knew it would be a very big job.  However on Saturday I though I really ought to get on with it!  Faced with the thought of sitting for hours handstitching the binding on the back of the comforter, I decided to try a method I haven't used before  .......  back-to-front binding.  As the name suggests, the binding is sewn on the back of the quilt instead of the front, then turned over to the front and machine stitched in place, saving all those hours of hand stitching!  The first step was to cut the strips for the binding from the same fabric as the comforter, but in a darker shade of green

 

I then joined them using a diagonal seam

 

When the binding is folded in half and pressed the seam is staggered, giving a neater finish

 

Having stitched it to the back of the quilt, I turned it to the right side and stitched it in place as close to the edge as possible

 

in no time at all the job was done and the comforter was on the bed

 

Oops - it looks lovely, but it doesn't go with the valance!  So it was back into the studio yesterday to make a valance with the same dark green fabric as the binding

 

But I wouldn't want you to think that I was chained to the sewing machine all weekend!  Malcolm took me out for breakfast yesterday to celebrate Mothers' Day - a delicious bacon roll

 

We then had a walk past the donkey sanctuary - unfortunately we had forgotten that it doesn't open until 2pm, so had to content ourselves with looking through gaps in the hedge to see just a few donkeys

 

 

We usually have a traditional Sunday dinner, but yesterday Malcolm made turkey fillet en croute with a mushroom and shallot duxelles

 

Served with a jus and green beans, it was a wonderful dinner (we were slobs and ate it in front of the tv, as Malcolm was watching Newcastle play football - fortunately they won, so his appetite wasn't spoiled!!)

 

To finish, I thought you might like to see another cute ewe and lamb photo .......

 

I can't think of a title!

I had just said to Malcolm "I can't think of a title" ....... when I thought, well that will do!  After cleaning the kitchen windowsill this morning, I was putting the orchids back, and thought that I hadn't shown you any photos of them recently

 

 

 

 

 

 

At patch'n'chat this afternoon, we had an extra treat ........ our newest member, Maureen, had brought in a box of chocolates for Sandra, who had given her a lot of help last week - and Sandra shared them with us

 

Sandra, of course, is our wonderful Linus lady, and here she is on the right, showing a Linus quilt to a customer

 

This one was made by Jen (and you can see two from Pam on the pile behind it)

 

This one was made by Tricia

 

Katy had finished all her tiny heart blocks for a miniature quilt, and sewed the first two together.  As you can see, each square is just over an inch

 

We had the wonderful apple and sultana cake with our afternoon cuppa - I really must make the effort to bake one for Malcolm, as I keeep telling him how good it is!!

 

A bit of fun to finish - this case of wine was delivered this morning .......... will I have to strip off to drink it!!??

 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, love Anne

What we did today .....

....... or what we did up to and including lunch .... it was such a busy day I will have to save the afternoon's doings for tomorrow!  We went over to Duns, where our first stop of course was for our morning cuppa - you know that we normally share a scone, but when Malcolm went up to the counter to place the order, he couldn't make up his mind, and ordered the cheese one which you can see, and also a plum and orange one.  Both were delicious, but we preferred the cheese one

 

While Malcolm was getting some money from the hole-in-the-wall, my eye was drawn to this architectural detail above us

 

Of course I had to visit my favourite shop, Albany Vineyard .... I bought a super remnant, which I'll show you tomorrow (ok, I forgot to take a photo of it when we got home!)

 

I also bought a new British quilting magazine, which I had a browse through at lunchtime.  I'm not a great fan of Popular Patchwork and Patchwork and Quilting, so it's good to see a new magazine with a mixture of projects, articles and interviews

 

This cushion may have to go on the to-do list .....

 

...... but not the mug cosy, as I don't like my tea too hot!

 

Our lunch in Pearson's garden centre was delicious ....... I had a cheese and onion toastie

 

and Malcolm had leek, bacon and cheese quiche (I should say that after such a fabulous lunch, we had a very frugal dinner tonight!)

 

These last photos are out of sequence, as I took them on the way home ....... but I wouldn't make you wait an extra day for lambs ......

 

........ and three fat hens!

 

ps - I'm sorry about the wire mesh in the photos - but they were taken hurriedly from the car when Malcom made one of his emergency photo-taking stops!!

Soaking up the sun

As usual we went for a walk yesterday morning, choosing Melrose for a stroll along the river.  Last time we were there, there was snow on the ground, but yesterday was glorious!  Although I think perhaps these fishermen would have felt it a bit chilly round their nether regions, standing in the waters of the River Tweed

 

For a change, we crossed the footbridge and walked along the far bank

 

The air was full of the scent of wild garlic, which grows in profusion along the bank and under the trees

 

These shaggy ponies are usually in a field over beside the Abbey ...... they look quite content in their new surroundings

 

There were signs of spring everywhere

On our way to have a cuppa after the walk, of course I had to pause to take a photo of the Abbey

 

Having worked up an appetite after a longer-than-usual walk, we decided to have an early lunch ...... the bacon rolls were delicious!

 

Perhaps I should have saved a bit to give to this dog, which watched us with big sad eyes as we walked past, on our way back to the car

 

One last pause, to take a photo of this quirky chimney

 

As well as embroidering the stitcheries for Anne's quilt, I have also been busy in the studio doing the piecing.  This is as far as I can go until the stitcheries are finished

 

When I was looking for something to watch on tv, I found this programme

 

You might think they are somewhat mad, capturing large alligators, but there is a lot of money to be made!

 

I learned from the programme that alligators never stop growing - I wouldn't want to face a little one, never mind some of the huge ones the brothers deal with

 

It was so warm yesterday afternoon, we had our cuppa in the garden.  I fetched the camera and set the timer to take a photo of us, Malcolm with his coffee and me with my hot chocolate ......

not a very good photo, let's try again

 

now you can't see Malcolm's face and I've somehow acquired several chins!!

 

Gold!

I don't like it when I get letters in plain brown envelopes ..... usually they contain a demand from the taxman, or an invitation from the NHS to have intrusive and painful things done to my female bits.  But the brown envelope this morning contained something much better - a promise to give me lots of money in return for my gold jewellery!

 

So did I whip off my gold bangles and remove my lovely hoop earrings .......of course not!  But I did keep the bag and envelope to use (I will turn the envelope inside out).

 

Remember the bowl of hyacinths which our visitors gave us some weeks ago.  Now that the hyacinths have finished flowering and have been put away to keep for next year, I have put the bowl in my bathroom.   Despite not having visited the house before, the visitors managed to pick a colour which goes well with the newly redecorated bathroom!

 

I am enjoying embroidering the little stitcheries for the quilt I am making for Anne.  I have now completed three and started the fourth (they look a bit wrinkled, as they have still to be pressed)

love delights in the little things

 

a loving kiss is carried all day

 

love is a chance to deliver happiness

 

love and joy are united as one

 

At patch'n'chat this afternoon, I finished the prep for the Baltimore block

 

Our teatime treat was Annette's wonderful cupcakes

 

It was hard to choose, but in the end I decided to have one with pink sprinkles!!

 

 I hope you all have a good weekend, love Anne