frayed at the edge

The birds and the bees ......

......... and other creatures. 

I'm running late tonight as I was at the hairdresser, then had to put a cake in the oven after dinner (yes, me, baking!!).  So, not much text, just lots of fun photos!

 

sparrows saying good morning

 

 

enjoying breakfast

 

 

crows having a noisy quarrel

 

 

I love his top knot!!

 

 

a squirrel with a conker

 

 

a big fat bumble bee on the bees balm

 

 

a bee on the budleiia (alas, no butterflies)

 

 

a hover fly

 

 

a little fly

 

 

a fat fly on the grape vine (but, alas again, no grapes this year!)

 

Must go, as the cake needs to be checked.  What am I baking - I'll tell you tomorrow!!

 

Slightly damp!

When I looked out the window when I got up, it was a bit damp, but not raining, so I went out as usual.  I hadn't even got to the garden gate when it started to rain, but I thought it was only a little drizzle, it wouldn't last.  But it did last and got heavier and heavier, so I turned for home after a mile.  However, I did take some photos on the way (such dedication to you, dear readers, taking photos in the rain and then tucking the camera back under my jacket!)

This field is usually full of sheep, bu today it was full of seagulls ..... I have never seen so many in one place ....... then suddenly a cloud of them rose into the air

 

 

This toadstool has been nibbled on

 

 

as have these two smaller ones

 

 

The garden has been full of birds again - it is very entertaining to watch them ...... although sometimes they have to be told off for fighting, as there is plenty of food for all of them!  This adult robin has been coming to the garden for two or three days now - but it has been very difficult to get a photo, as he bobs about all over the place - just as you get him in focus, he has hopped off again.  However, I finally managed to snap him this morning

 

 

 

 

This collection of birds were well behaved, occasionally swapping perches as they tucked in

 

 

This little one decided to forego food, and shelter from the rain under the roof of the bird table

 

 

This morning, I went to visit my friend Ali, who was having an open day, selling lots of lovely fabrics and threads.  Also there with goodies was  Lindsay.  Did I buy anything - of course!  From Ali I got two lovely  bundles of fabrics and trims - new cushions for the lounge?

 

 

From Lindsay, some little charms

 

 

colourful bits for needle felting/embellishment

 

 

and some excellent, very sharp snips ..... with their own little hand quilted cover

 

 

When Malcolm was heading out this morning, I jokingly asked him to buy me a present ..... and he did!  He had his lunch here, and came home with two packets of gorgeous woollen fabrics

 

 

I finished the shawl last night (hooray) and blocked it this afternoon - I will leave it to dry for a couple of days

 

 

 

I sorted out all my stuff for my sales table - we have to take our own tables, as the village hall ones will be in use. As I can only fit a small table into my car, I thought I had better check that everything fitted on it

 

 

To finish ..... there was a bit of a power tool failure when Malcolm was drilling the holes for the string in this shopping list holder - the fabric caught in the bit and got somewhat mangled!

 

 

Another soggy day!

It wasn't raining this morning when I went for my walk, but there was plenty of evidence of yesterday's rain.  The water drops on the grass look like jewels

 

 

The other day I had remarked to Malcolm that perhaps I don't really go for walks, but just stroll up to the church and sit on the bench admiring the view for an hour, before strolling home for breakfast!  Of course, my photos let Malcolm know how far I've walked, so this morning I thought I would take one of the white lines on the road, which mark my turning point.  However, there was an obstacle to this plan - or rather several obstacles - lambs!!

 

 

Now that they are older, they are much braver and don't run back into the field as you approach.  This group weren't going to let me stop them enjoying their early morning snacking on the verge

 

 

They weren't the only ones enjoying the lush grass - this lovely boy interrupted his munching to come over to the fence and pose nicely

 

 

His gleaming black coat was a nice contrast to these much paler boys

 

 

I was five minutes from home when it started to drizzle ....... it's amazing how wet you can get in five minutes!!  There was no patch'n'chat today, as most of the chatters were off to Birmingham for the Festival of Quilts (so no Friday cake either).  I spent the afternoon in the studio.  First I finished stitching the hexagon lavender bag, then filled it with lavender

 

 

Pretty, but it needed something more ...... beads!

 

 

 

It didn't take long to make the second lavender bag.  I ironed some wadding on to the silk and cut out two rectangles which I stitched together

 

 

I folded this in half and stitched the long edge, to form a tube

 

 

Then I folded the silk I had chosen to be the lining over, and stitched across the bottom

 

 

I turned the bag right side out, filled it with lavender, tied it with matching ribbon and added two sprigs of lavender

 

 

 

When I went back into the house , it was raining (again) ........ but that didn't deter the birds from tucking in 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you all have a great (and dry!) weekend, love Anne

Sparrows at both ends

It was still wet and miserable this morning, but I made the effort to get up and go for my walk (although I have to admit that I did two miles, instead of three!)  As I stepped out of the front door, I discovered that the sparrows had already arrived for breakfast - these are just a few waiting to return to the feeders when I went out the gate

 

 

It was so grey and miserable, even the little red tractor looked dejected!!

 

 

Our neighbour's horses were huddled against the wall, sheltering from the rain

 

Look again at the photo - did you notice that there are four horses, with the two smaller ones sheltering behind the bigger ones!

 

This snail didn't mind the rain - it looks as if it is aquaplaning along the road!!

 

 

To amuse myself as I trudged along, I imagined what this sheep was thinking : was it

a: if she doesn't put that camera away I'll jump over the hedge and butt her!

b: why is that woman thinking abour roast potatoes and mint sauce?     

c: hurry up and take the photo so I can eat this lovely grass for breakfast, before I have tasty grass for lunch, followed by delicious grass for dinner.

 

 

There's only one thing to do when it's miserable - go shopping!  I was a woman with a mission this morning - looking for a new dress to wear when we go out for dinner with Stuart and Alison to celebrate our Silver Wedding at the end of the month.  I found the perfect dress in the first shop I went into - but you will have to wait until after our special day to see it!  I popped into the garden centre on the way home, and had a very tasty bacon roll for lunch

 

 

Back home, I headed out to the studio.  As usual, I opened the back storm doors, and without looking, went to put the hook into the eye to hold the door open.  I felt something very strange on the door.  I didn't scream, but I did let out a loud squawk!!  On investigating, I found a snail on the door - that's my thumb beside it, to show just how big it was!!

 

 

I have been so busy making things for my sales table for the Southdean Show, that I have forgotten about making my entries for the craft competition.  One of the categories is a handmade lavender bag.  I can actually put in two entries, so I looked out some lovely pieces of scrap silk (which were given to me by my friend Anne S,)

 

 

I started with the two fabrics on the left, thinking that they would make a pretty hexagon lavender bag.  I was going to iron the silk onto vilene to make it easier to work with - but then I discovered that the vilene was sew-in, not iron-on - oops!  After a bit of a rethink, I got out some iron-on wadding, and marked the hexagons on it.  I then had to get out another pair of scissors, which I keep for cutting wadding

 

 

Having cut out the hexagons, I ironed them onto the silk, and then cut them out

 

 

I tacked the seam allowance with a fine needle and thread, so that the silk wouldn't be marked, then I got out my box of silk threads

 

 

Soon, I had the two sides stitched

 

 

While I was busy in the studio, Malcolm was working on the re-modelling of the front garden.  The birds certainly like what he has been doing ....... and here are the other sparrows, which were promised in today's heading

 

 

 

I should have known ......

...... that the blue sky and sunshine wouldn't last!  I got up this morning and looked out of the window to find it was grey, wet, miserable.  I decided that I really didn't want to go out for a walk.  Now, I could have got dressed as usual, then gone through to the fitness room (aka the spare bedroom!) and used the implements of torture machines to work on my fitness

 

 

 

However, I got back into bed and snuggled down under the comforter, to spend a lazy half hour listening to the radio.  Malcolm caught my lazyitis and stayed in bed too, instead of having his usual session on the torture machines!

When I was in the kitchen after breakfast, I looked out the front door (through the glass, I didn't actually open the door, it was so miserable) and saw the horses across the road standing in a line, with their tail-ends to the wind, looking thoroughly fed up with the weather

 

 

After lunch, I filled the bird feeders, and sat down to patiently wait for the birds to appear, which they soon did.  We are in the middle of sorting out the garden where it was dug up for the new drains.  Malcolm placed this planter near the feeders, and the birds are landing on it and having a look round before they use the feeders

 

 

 

 

This is a very young robin - you can see his red breast just starting to appear.  He was so cute, I took rather a lot of photos of him!

 

 

 

 

Every so often, the birds would all fly off, so while I waited for them to return, I took photos of various things both in the room, and outside in the garden

 

I gave Malcolm this Beanie Baby, called Rainbow, years ago

 

 

a tassell hanging from a key

 

 

buds which will open out .......

 

 

into beautiful roses

 

Soon, more birds arrived

 

a blue tit

 

 

a young sparrow

 

 

a male chaffinch

 

 

a female chaffinch

 

And finally, my patience was rewarded, when a rare visitor to the garden appeared - a greenfinch

 

 

I didn't get any sewing done this afternoon, as I had to do my least favourite domestic chore .... the ironing!  However, this evening I will continue sewing the sections of the shawl together and make a start on attaching the miles of edging!

Creating order out of chaos!

This is what the studio looked like on Saturday afternoon

 

 

 

I had dismantled a sample book of fabulous curtain fabrics, to cover the notebooks, then realised that I could use the backing board for another project involving 'shoppping list' notebooks.  There are several other ongoing projects on the tables as well!

The fabrics are gorgeous ........

 

 

........ but unfortunately have heavy paper frames stuck on the wrong side

 

 

I found this lovely rich remnant of 'silk' fabric in my stash to line the covers with

 

 

and soon had eight covers ready to sew, which took to me to the end of the afternoon

 

 

Yesterday morning was too wet to go for a walk, but we headed out to the Waterwheel cafe for a cuppa.  The scones looked so good, we got a fruit one and a cheese one, and had half each (we didn't have any lunch!)

 

 

We braved the rain and the mud underfoot to visit the eagle owls.  This one wasn't bothered by the horrible weather

 

 

but this one looked thoroughly miserable, barely opening one eye to look at us!

 

 

Malcolm has a very nasty, VERY itchy insect bite ....... but he rejected my suggestion that maybe the owl could scratch it for him!!

 

 

Back home, I finished the eight notebook covers

 

 

I happened to glance down at the carpet ....... oh dear, I think it's time for some serious cleaning

 

 

So, this afternoon I headed out to the studio determined to make it all neat and tidy again, putting things away, vacuuming the carpet - and even cleaning the windows!

 

 

The frogs are glad that they can now welcome people without having to apologize for the mess

 

 

Although we don't seem to have had a very good summer, it has been good for wonderful strawberries .......

 

 

....... and raspberries

 

 

To finish, the knitting update.  I have knitted miles and miles of edging and can now make up the shawl

 

 

Wagging his tale behind him!

Now that the breeding season is over, I have started filling the bird feeders again, which means we have had a lot of different birds in the garden.  This morning, I finally managed to take a photo of this wagtail - he kept jumping about catching flies!

 

 

Yesterday we had a robin

 

 

a female blackbird

 

 

a male blackbird

 

 

and a very fluffy young blue tit, determined to get at the last bit of food

 

 

There have been a lot more rabbits about this year ...... I think we have just about reached saturation point of photos of cute young rabbits!!

 

 

There has been little progress on the Baltimore block, as I have been concentrating on making things for my sales table.  I did do some stitching on it this afternoon, breaking off to enjoy Annette's delicious apple and sultana cake, which is a firm favourite with the patch'n'chatters!

 

 

I hope you have a good weekend - unfortunately the forecast for Sunday for us is rain, rain and more rain, so I don't think we will be going for our usual Sunday morning walk!  Love, Anne

Hot,hot,hot!

 
What a contrast to yesterday ....... today has been hot and sunny  These horses looked wonderful with their gleaming coats

 

 

 

I don't like flies when they are flying round the kitchen, but when seen close up, they are fascinating

 

 

I came across another plant which looks like a thistle, but this one is common knapweed

 

 

Every morning this dog barks at me, but I'm sure if I went over to the gate it would be friendly

 

 

I was so intent on trying to take a photo of a  bee (I failed), I was startled when I started walking again and found this little rabbit right in front of me

 

 

The birds have been tucking in to the fat balls - you can see how much they have eaten in a day

 

 

This young sparrow may be as big as his father, but is quite happy still to be fed

 

 

Slightly bigger than the sparrows is this heron, which was sunning itself on the River Slitrig in Hawick this morning

 

 

When I was in Kelso this afternoon with my friend Lorraine (on our way to knit'n'natter), we popped into the bookshop which, unfortunately, is closing down.  But of course that means a sale ...... and all the books are half price!  So did I buy any ..... of course - two for me and one for Malcolm

 

 

 

Totally, completely, utterly .........

...... wet and miserable morning!  I didn't bother taking the camera with me this morning, as everything was wet and dripping - as was this bird feeder later this morning.

 

 

This poor sparrow looked very bedraggled

 

 

However the rain didn't stop the birds tucking in ........

 

 

 

 

........ and posing prettily between visits to the feeders

 

 
 

 

So what's a girl to do on such a horrid day - head for the studio and sew of course!!  I finished another batch of lavender bags

 

 

As Malcolm was out for lunch, I had a rare treat, made with the simplest of ingredients

 

 

Cheese on toast with piccalilli - delicious!

 

 

Back out in the studio, I cut out the coasters

 

 

I made them the same way as I made the lavender bags, but only put half the amount of lavender in, and I frayed the edges (!) instead if using the pinking blade

 

 

 

 

By the time I finished my sewing, the rain had finally gone off, and this was the much brighter view behind the studio

 

 

After such a grey day, I will finish with some garden photos from last week, to give a splash of lovely colours

 

the sweet pea now has a good grip on the dead clematis

 

 

this rose is tiny

 

 

the bees balm in full bloom

 

Hello deer!

No - I haven't got the spelling wrong ---- this morning I finally saw a deer again, having seen one some weeks ago, when I didn't have the camera with me

 

 

Altgough we are still in July, there was a decided autumnal nip in the air this morning, and some plants have already gone to seed

 

 

 

 

But other plants are still putting out buds and new growth

 

 

 

Next month I have a sales table at the Southdean Show, so I thought it was time to knuckle down and make some things to sell!  I looked out a pile of ready cut circles that I bought some time ago, with the thought that I could make something with them one day!

 

 

I sorted some of them into pairs

 

 

I took the first pair, and ran a gathering stitch round the edge of each circle, and pulled the stitches tight, to make yoyos (Suffolk puffs)

 

 

I stitched the two together and added a brooch pin to the back ......

 

 

......... and added a large button to the front to complete the brooch

 

 

I had an unexpectedly large meal at lunchtime yesterday, so I didn't want any dinner when I got home.  As Malcolm had already cooked it, that meant there were some leftover vegetables to use up when I made dinner tonight.  I also had a bit of stale bread to use up

 

 

I got out my trusty processor (it's about 12 years old!) and made breadcrumbs

 

 

Mashed the veggies

 

 

Mixed the veggies and breadcrumbs together, and added seasoning and a beaten egg

 

 

I divided the mixture into four portions, and formed it into potato and veggie cakes

 

 

I shallow fried them in sunflower oil - the trick is to get the oil quite hot, so that when you put the cakes in the surface cooks quickly and seals, so that they don't get oily

 

 

So what else were we having?  On Wednesday mornings, the fishman comes to the house in his van.  I'm usually in the bath when he arrives, so Malcolm gets to choose what fish we have.  Today he chose breaded haddock, which I cooked on the griddle, with just a spray of one-calorie oil

 

 

To complete the meal, I made a very quick sauce with low fat creme fraiche and blue Shropshire cheese - simply warmed until the cheese melted

 

 

After all that effort, I thought I should get out the fish knives and forks!

 

 

The verdict ....... delicious!