frayed at the edge

Friday round-up

When I was doing the housework this morning, I moved the orchids off the kitchen windowsill so that I could clean it, which reminded me that I haven't yet shown you the latest ones to flower!  We have one wall painted a dark red in the kitchen, which provided the perfect backdrop  for the photos .......

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I filled the bird feeders this morning, it wasn't long before the tits were tucking in

 

 

 

Then the bully boy sparrows turned up!

 

 

The Friday cake at patch'n'chat was a delicious spiced tealoaf - most of us spread some butter on it, for an extra treat!

 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend - I will be busy sewing!!  Love, Anne

 

 

A fantasy bird ......

..... and real ones too!  The fantasy bird will (hopefully) appear on Saturday, during the workshop with Sheena Norquay, which I am really looking forward too.  We will be printing on plain fabric with fabric paints, then machine embroidering/quilting a fantasy bird with our printed fabric.  Before that, Sheena is giving a talk tomorrow evening about her work and the influence that Orkney, where she is originally from, has had on her quilts.  Do click on the link and look at the various sections on the left-hand sidebar - I have been a great fan of her work for many years, ever since I saw her stunning quilt 'The Three Norns'.  Fingers crossed that I will be able to take photos to share with you.

The real birds are,of course, the ones that frequent our feeders in the front garden ....... starting with the irresistible robin

 

 

 

Just one of the (at least) two dozen sparrows, which rule the garden and bully all the other birds!

 

This great tit's head is slightly blurred, as it moved its head, but you can see the detail of its feathers and feet

 

Look at the size of it on the fatball feeder ........

 

..... and compare it to the tiny coal tit  (sorry, it's a little bit blurred).......

 

If those two are little and large (or should that be large and little) then the blue tit is medium!

 

I have mentioned that I was inspired to do the Farmer's Wife blocks after seeing Krystine's  beautiful blocks.   I love the fabrics she has been using, and have finally managed to track some down - these eight delicious fat quarters arrived in the post on Tuesday

 

I have continued to do mine using up the left overs from the row quilt - I have now finished all the main outline quilting ...... can you see the many ends I have still to sew in? (click on the phpoto to enlarge it)

 

When I cut out the pieces of the first block, I laid them out ready to stitch, but something wasn't right.....

 

...... having turned round the two triangles on the right , I was ready to stitch ....

 

....... but I was concentrating so hard on matching up my seams, I forgot to insert the edges of the basket handle!

 

Having finally got that one right, it was on to the second block. 

 

As I was putting the blocks on the design wall, I remembered that they are actually set on point in the quilt (the handle of the basket is pinned - I ran of of time to stitch it!)

 

In a tangle!

Unlike Rachel, who showed off gleaming locks in this post, my hair was looking less than happy this morning!

 

The problem?  My hairdryer had been a bit poorly recently, refusing to blow at its usual rate.  I asked Malcolm to have a look at it - he took it apart, couldn't find what the problem was ...... then simply couldn't get it to fit back together!  So until I can buy a new one, I'll have to make do with my travel one ...... which is just a little bit small and underpowered

 

However, some time later my hair was finally dry and straight again (it only curls when it gets longer!)

 

As the sun was shining, we popped over to Jedburgh, and had a walk round the town before lunch.  This acer was a blaze of colour against the blue sky

 

Can you just picure the two of us rattling around our country roads on these two fabulous machines - perhaps we could hire ourselves out to move sheep to other filelds, or bring the cows in for milking

 

I had to drag Malcolm away from this pile of logs, before he tried to stuff them in his pockets to take home!

 

Malcolm spotted this carving above the library door

 

The restoration work on the fountain has finally finished

 

Back home, Malcolm was pottering about the garden while I was in the studio.  He stuck his head in the door and shouted for me to come quickly and bring the camera.  There was a wonderful rainbow .... this is it as seen from the back garden

 

and this from the front

 

I am going to a workshop on Saturday, so I thought I ought to organise the rather long list of requirements

 

I looked out my workshop bag .......

 

it has a pocket at the back for the cutting mat and ruler

 

and two zipped plastic pockets which are held in place with velcro

 

I also cleaned the sewing machine and stowed it away in its case, so everything is ready for Saturday morning ....... I'll be out on Friday evening, which is why I'm getting organised early (I'll tell you all about the evening out and the workshop is tomorrow). 

 

I have started the prep for the next Baltimore block - ok, I have to admit that I have put the Hawaiian block aside, as it will have to be needleturned, which is my least favourite method of applique!

 

ps - I have done my Farmer's Wife blocks for this week, I'll show them to you tomorrow!

Gorgeous gifts!

I was sitting having a well-deserved cuppa in the middle of doing the housework this morning and reading a 'book', when the postman arrived

 

I got quite excited, as I knew it was the parcel from my swap partner Alyson.  I opened the envelope to find all these wonderful goodies

 

But you will have to wait until Monday to see everything ..... because a) the light was very bad for taking photos, and b) I just didn't have time before I went to patch'n'chat.  But I can tell you that they are wonderful thoughtful gifts - including a fabulous bookmark which Alyson's little boy drew pictures on for me!

Of course Friday afternoons mean cakes - today we had Annette's superb cupcakes, topped with cream and strawberries

 

Could you have resisted this delicious little cake?  And could you have further resisted when a second one was offered?

 

Earlier in the week, I was going to show you photos of the back garden, now that Malcolm has tidied it for the winter.  But Typepad had different ideas and refused to insert the photos ....... hopefully this time there won't be any problems!

 

Yesterday I showed you photos of the heron on the River Slitrig - but also falling victim to the non-appearance of photos on Monday was this heron on the River Teviot.  It was very windy ..... I had trouble keeping the camera steady, and he had trouble keeping a grip on his rock!

 

We have a busy day tomorrow, starting off the sloe gin and making the rosehip syrup - I'll report on Monday how we get on!  I hope you have a wonderful weekend, love Anne

I'm not saying it was cold .......

....... but there was ice on the birdbath this morning!!

 

I went out, broke it up and took it off - and some time later it was still lying there, unmelted!!

 

This little sparrow looked thoroughly miserable!

 

But as soon as I filled the feeders, things looked a lot livelier

 

When we went into Hawick for our usual Thursday morning cuppa, we were a little bit early, so we walked round to where we sometimes see a heron on the River Slitrig.  I was disappointed not to see him (I know, I always think that herons are male!) ....... but then Malcolm spotted him sitting on a garden wall above the river - maybe the water was just too cold!!

 

Although it was starting to cloud over a bit, we went out for a walk after lunch.  We decided to walk the route that we have only walked once, but this time we would do it the other way round, so that we didn't have to walk up the very steep hill!  Usually when I show you photos of the Minto Hills, you only see one - but here are both of them!

 

We have had quite a lot of rain recently, which meant there were some tricky stretches to negotiate

 

We were distracted for a while ...... but I'll tell you why later!  This calf was keeping a careful eye on us, although it was a good distance away

 

This horse obviously believes that the grass is greener on the other side

 

When we got back home, I lurked just outside the garden gate, hoping to take some photos of the birds on the feeders - but the sparrows just sat in the hedge and laughed at me!

 

So what caused the hold-up in our walk?

picking lots of rosehips  ........

 

...... and even more sloes!

 

As we hadn't picked sloes before, we brought a little bit of a branch home to check that they were indeed sloes - a quick google search confirmed we were right (thank you Wikipedia!)

 

Now we will make sloe gin and rosehip syrup!  To finish, two photos of the birdbath ....

a brave sparrow takes the plunge in the cold water .......

 

..... while the other birds stay firmly on the rim!

Sunshine!

Yesterday was bright and sunny, so we headed over to Harestanes for one of our favourite walks.  I was able to take lots of photos for next weekend's Shadow Shot Sunday. and still have lots left to share with you today

the bees were enjoying the sunshine too, both on this plant .......

 

....... and this one

 

the mild weather has confused this rhododendron into flowering at the wrong time

 

this mushroom has been well and truly nibbled .......

 

but I think it would be wise to  avoid this one!

 

I was going to show you more photos from our walk, then some photos of the garden, but they just kept vanishing ...... and now this block of text won't budge from the right!  So on with the knitting update - I've made a start to the shawl, but it needs a lot of concentration, so I have also started a pair of socks

 

 

I love the colours in the shawl, like autumn berries ........

 

..... which brings me to the last photo I am going to attempt to include.  We picked some brambles yesterday, and Malcolm made a very tasty apple and bramble crumble, which we had with some custard ...... we very rarely eat puddings, so this was a real treat!!

 

A pleasant stroll

Now that it is dark in the mornings, I no longer go out for a walk ........ I torture myself on the cross trainer and rowing machine instead.  But I miss walking, so today I went for a walk after lunch (I strongly deny that I was trying to avoid doing the ironing!)  Usually I head up the hill towards the church, but for a change I went downhill.

Although it is still reasonably mild, most of the horses now have their blankets on

 

The sheep, of course, have their own woolly coats to keep them warm

 

And sometimes all you need is Mum

 

Along the way I was able to indulge my liking for gates ......

 

...... and falling down bits of old fences

 

It wouldn't be a walk in the country without one of these thundering past ........

 

....... and there are a lot of tractors about at the moment with these attachments on the back for cutting hedges - although as you can see our road has yet to be done

 

This sparrow was perched in the hedge across the road from us - he obviously didn't know that all the other sparrows in the neighbourhood were in our front garden, waiting for the feeders to be filled

 

I hope he arrived in time to share in the feasting on the fat balls!!

 

I have finished making/extracting from my stash a little pile of goodies to send off to my partner in Mousy Brown's swap.  All that is needed is an address label on the envelope, then it will be off to the post office on Saturday to send it. 

 

For lunch today we had homemade soup (I had apple and parsnip, Malcolm had pea and ham) and some of the sourdough bread we got yesterday - it was delicious!!

A little bit country

I usually watch tv at the weekend when I am in the studio, but on Saturday I was listening to music - my wonderful new Lady Antebellum cd (it's that buy with one click on Amazon .... it is just too easy to look at something, and before you know it, you have bought it!!)

 

 

I have done quite a bit more stitching on the Baltimore block - I have done all the leaves on the outer left hand side

 

 

I got out the Farmer's Wife Sampler Quilt book, which I bought at the quilt show in Harrogate, and the fabrics that were left over from the row quilt

 

 

Included with the book is a cd with all the templates needed to make the blocks

 

 

This meant fetching the laptop from the house and plugging in the printer (I need to tidy my desk!)

 

 

There was only one template on each page, which was a bit annoying as some of them are very small

 

 

What was that - you want ot see more of the ruler (I won't embarrass Malcolm by telling you that is is actually his ruler!)

 

 

The next stage was to get out some of my stash of cereal packets, and some clear sticky backed plastic

 

 

I cut out the first template, leaving a margin round it - don't worry about all the paper I will have to cut off, it will be used for shopping lists etc

 

 

The first template - only another 105 to go!!

 

 

Yesterday we had plain brown sparrows to finish - but today we have a colourful blue tit

 

 

 

Persuasion

Berwick Quilters held their exhibition at the weekend ....... and Malcolm didn't need too much persuasion to go, when I reminded him that there is always wonderful home baking at quilt shows!  I don't think he was disappointed by yesterday's selction (I should point out that we shared the cakes!)

 

 

There was a wonderful display of quilts ......

 

 

....... and Malcolm promptly spotted this owl

 

 

This is the quilt that my friend Katy made for her husband, featuring his wonderful Highland cattle

 

 

She also made this very cute teddy bear quilt

 

 

Another very, very cute quilt ...... I love the elephants!

 

 

I forgot to find out who made this amazing miniature quilt show - the detail is fantastic, given how small it is

 

 

Also on a very small scale is this bed - it is about six inches long

 

 

The quilt show was held in the village hall in Horncliffe, which we hadn't been to before, so we went for a walk before we headed for home.

The first thing to catch my eye was this tablet in memory of a former minister in the village

 

 

I was also able to add to my collection of post boxes - you can tell from this one that we were over the Border in England, as Scottish post boxes don't have ERII on them (she is the first Queen Elizabeth of Scotland)

 

 

Malcolm spotted this doorway - we thought perhaps the door hadn't been used for some time!!

 

 

The knitting update - I have finished my socks ........ but when trying them on - oh dear, they make me itch!  Hopefully they will be ok once they have been washed

 

 

I couldn't decide what to knit next, so had a potter round my stash and found a kit with this pattern, which can be knitted as a wrap or a triangular shawl (sorry, it wasn't the best of photos on the pattern)

 

 

I haven't decided yet whether to knit the wrap or the shawl, but as I have still to wind the yarn into a ball, I won't be starting it until Wednesday (I'm out at Abbey Quilters tomorrow evening)

 

 

To finish ...... I have great admiration for wildlife photographers who spend days, weeks, months, even years waiting for their subject to appear - I get bored after five minutes waiting for the birds  

 

 

Wine and cricket!

Although the domestic cricket season is over, there is still cricket being played abroad ....... so we are enjoying a glass of wine and watching cricket in India, thanks to the magic of Sky tv.  Yes - I watch cricket too - my Dad played when I was little, and we used to have 'test matches' in the back garden, until we got new neighbours who erected a greenhouse!

The wind has finally dropped, and it is merely breezy now.  The sky is clear, so hopefully we will get another lovely sunset.  I have a collection of 'sky' fabrics ..... maybe one day I will make a wallhanging of the view of the sunset from the front garden.

This afternoon at patch'n'chat, Tricia produced her sampler quilt, which she has just finished.  It is a truly stunning quilt and she is under strict instructions to put it into the Scottish Championships next year.  It is her birthday tomorrow - so many happy returns, Tricia, and have a wonderful day with your family!!

 

 

Andrea was working on a gorgeous wallhanging (even if it does have cats on it - you know that I don't like cats).  We all liked the combinations of blue and yellow, giving it a lovely fresh look.

 

 

Annette wasn't able to bake a cake for us this week, but we forgave her when she produced Selkirk bannock for us to enjoy with our afternoon cuppa.  This link will take you to the website of the firm who make 'the original' Selkirk bannock - and lots of other traditional Scottish goodies.

 

 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, love Anne

 

ps - I thought you might like another photo of the robin in the birdbath!