frayed at the edge

Winter wonderland

The snow arrived during the night - just a little bit later than forecast.  This was the view from the lounge window when we opened the curtains

 

 

It wasn't fully light, and apart from the faint tinge of pink on the clouds, the photos look as if they were taken in B&W

 

 

It was a bit brighter looking out at the back garden

 

 

As you can see from the scaffolding, the new house next door still isn't finished

 

 

Of course the weather made the birds even more eager for food - there was quite a queue sitting in the hawthorn tree

 

 

We had planned to go to Gretna today, to do some Christmas shopping (there is only a month to go!), but of course the weather put paid to that.  So instead, I had a whole day in the studio, getting on with the Christmas sewing.  Fortunately I didn't have to worry about keeping the studio warm, as the log store is full

 

 

I have organised what I need to start my toe-up socks ......

 

........ all I have to do is master the Magic Cast On!

My winter garden

I was pottering back and forward between the house and the studio this morning, getting ready for my friends arriving for my house group, when this little rose caught my eye.  Although it is a bit battered about the edges, it is still hanging on, despite another frosty night

 

 

In our last garden, we had two castor oil plants, which sat in pots outside the dining room patio doors.  When we moved here, we decided to plant them out in the garden, as they were getting a bit big for the pots.  We put them in the back corner of the garden, which is shady and damp ..... a spot which they obviously like ......

 

 

..... because not only have they got rather large, but for the first time they have put out flower spikes.  This one hasn't quite opened

 

 

but the top of this one has

 

 

The chickens look better, the rustier they get!

 

 

There is still a splash of colour from this clematis

 

 

My little 'lace lady' tree had decided to put out some new leaves

 

 

Our old sinks, which Malcolm turned into miniature alpine gardens, have filled out nicely over the summer

 

 

 

 

At the front of the house, my car windscreen had lovely frost patterns on it .......

 

 

....... but at the back, the gate was gently steaming in the sun!!

 

Who stole the field?

We've had a foggy day .....when I looked out this morning, the field across the road had vanished!

 

 

However, the fog didn't stop the birds popping in for breakfast

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There hasn't been much craft work done this week!  I have done some more of the crochet shawl and hope to finish it over the weekend.  This afternoon at patch'n'chat, there was too much of the latter, and not enough of the former, but I did make a start to embellishing the houses on my row quilt, adding some curtains and blinds on the windows

 

 

 

 

 

 

Over the weekend, I will be chained to my worktable, putting the finishing touches to all my goodies for the Fair.  Whatever you are doing, I hope it all goes well and you have a good time!  Love Anne

Soup kitchen!

When the weather is this cold, there is only one thing to cook ....... soup, and lots of it.  I sometimes use a recipe, but most of the time I just use what's in the fridge.  So today I sorted out the ingredients for

 

orange soup

 

 

and green soup

 

For the orange soup, I sliced and diced onions, butternut squash, sweet potato, carrots and orange peppers.  For the green, courgettes, leeks, celery and broccoli.  I added stock and seasoning to both pots, then simmered them until the veggies were cooked.  The last stage was to blitz them (I don't like bits in my soup!)

 

 

Lots and lots of lovely soup to divide into portions for the freezer

 

 

Did you notice there is less orange soup?  That's because I had some for lunch, with a spoonful of creme fraiche to stir in ..... delicious!

 

 

It started out a very cold day (although it got milder and damp later).  The sheep in the field in front of us looked miserable this morning

 

 

But this little tit was quite chirpy, flying back and forward to the bird table

 

 

We have had other birds about the place recently.  It all started when Malcolm asked to borrow my chicken calendar

 

 

He got out the pencils that I bought him when we went to the Pencil Museum, and over several days, he produced two drawings

 

this one looks ready to have a peck at you!

 

 

a striking pose

 

 

it's got its beady eye on you!!


 

A little bit of string .......

........ was all it took to transform my empty candle jars into pretty tealight holders

 

 

I bought these lovely coloured strings in a garden centre some time ago, certain that I could use them for something!  I stuck some double sided tape round the bottom of the jars, then wound the string round.  I added some tealights, some pretty packaging and a fun label ....... a quick and easy way to transform the jars

 

 

I also solved the problem of how to attach the pencils to the notebooks.  I stuck them to strips of card with that horrible gummy stuff that free gifts are stuck to magazines with, then attached the card strips to the notebooks with tiny clothespegs.  A fun tag, and the job was done!

 

 

I may have mentioned before that my crochet skills are decidedly rusty.  Years (and years!) ago, I used to crochet ..... I even crocheted dresses when I was in my teens.  But I always had problems with my tension, and with knowing where to work my first and last stitches, so my work tended to have rather oddly shaped edges.  But having seen so many lovely crocheted things on other blogs, I decided to have another go.  I saw a nice shawl pattern in this magazine ......

 

 

It was funny buying a 'People's Friend' publication, as I can remember my Granny reading the People's Friend when I was little.

 

 

Once I had read the instructions for the special stitches several times, I made a start .......

 

 

.... but I had to frog a few rows, as there is a mistake (third row from the top, there should be three double trebles in the centre!)  But after that, I made good progress, and I've finished the first section

 

 

Weather forecasters might keep saying that it is late autumn, but it was definitely winter when I went out this morning ...... as you can see, it was minus one degree ......

 

 

....... and the windscreen took a bit of scraping!! 

 

First class service

I was intrigued this morning to recive a tiny padded envelope in the post - I hadn't bought anything, so what could it be? I was delighted when I opened it to find this

 

I think it is excellent customer service to send out this new foot - I was unaware that there was one available.

 

I was trying to take photos of the tiny tits on the bird feeders this morning - but they just wouldn't stay still long enough!  (click on the photos to enlarge them)

 

I think this one was a blue tit

 

 

you can see how small this one is compared to the sparrows behind it

 

For the past two weeks, there has been a new horse in the field in front of us - can you tell which is the new one (hint- look at the state of their coats!)

 

 

Of course Friday means patch'n'chat ...... and that means cake!  This week Annette had made one of her wonderful sponges - although she didn't think it was one of her better ones .....

 

 

I chose the fabrics for the borders of my row quilt - the darker fabric will be the inner border, the lighter one a much wider border which I will applique .... probably with flowers and leaves

 

 

I quite often buy scented candles in glass holders from my local supermarket ...... I like to burn a candle after dinner to eliminate cooking smells.  I looked out a collection of used ones this morning (and a large jar which had last year's Christmas candle in it).  I stood them in a basin with very hot water to soften the remnants of wax

 

 

Once I had cleaned the wax out, I put them in the dishwasher, where they are being washed along with today's dishes!  I will be doing something with them over the weekend, which I will share with you on Monday!

I hope you all have a good weekend ..... the forecast isn't very good, so I think I will be spending a lot of it in the studio!  Love Anne

Scraps

After cutting out the lavender hearts, I was left with this pile of scraps ....

 

 

....... but of course nothing is wasted in the studio, so I cut out little hearts to use for labels

 

 

I showed you the front of the label yesterday, so here today is the back

 

 

I will have to decide how to present things on the stall - I have a collection of nice baskets which I can use

 

 

The needle cases also look good in this one

 

 

I got some lovely crisp white tissue paper to line the boxes for the baby gift sets ...... and used more of the spotty ribbon to wrap the facecloth round the baby soap

 

 

The next project is to use these fabric pictures .....

 

 

..... to decorate the covers of these notebooks and then think of some way to attach a pencil

 

 

This morning, while we were having our breakfast, the birds were gathering in the hawthorn tree in the front garden for theirs

 

 

A splash of colour against the grey sky

 

 

These ones braved the rain to look for food

 

 

The good news is that the antibiotics are starting to take effect ...... fingers crossed that when I wake up tomorrow the pain will have gone - especially as we are heading off for Morpeth in the morning to visit Jennifer.  No doubt this means that we will be going out for lunch .......

 

What a fun day!

OK, I lied .... it has definitely not been a fun day!  This morning I had to tackle my least favourite domestic job - the ironing!  That was bad enough ..... but then it got decidedly worse when I went to the dentist.  You know that I have had bother with pain in my face/mouth/jaw off and on for some time.  Over tha last few weeks, the muscular spasm pain has been quite bad, but I also started to think that I had toothache.  Of course I was not at all happy about this, as I just had a tooth out a few weeks ago, and this is the tooth next to that one.  Fortunately I was able to get an appointment for this afternoon, so after lunch off I went to see my new dentist, Douglas (it's all very informal at the dentist these days!)

He duly poked, prodded, tapped and wiggled the tooth, and also poked the gum (that was a very sore bit!)  After taking an xray, he reached the conclusion that it was necrotic pulp and bacterial infection (I'm not sure if the necrotic pulp caused the infection, or the other way round).  Then, came the horrible bit, as he drilled into the tooth (he drilled so deeply I thought he was looking for marooned miners!!).  Next came that awful bit when he used things like miniature corkscrews to clean the tooth out.  He then packed it with antiseptic and put in a temporary filling.  It feels much better already, and I go back in three weeks time to (hopefully) have a permanent filling done.

 

With all that going on, there was no craft work done, but I did manage to take a few photos of the birds after I put food out for them!

 

waiting in the elder - you can see that they have eaten all the elderberries

 

 

the sparrows love the fat balls

 

 

you can see by how blurred the sparrows are, how quickly the were flying in to the table

 

 

this finch sensibly went to the other table

 

 

picking up the crumbs!

 

 

they've calmed down a bit now!!

 

I was a bit worried about my pet spider, as he had vanished from the bathroom.  However, I discovered him in the utility room ...... when I almost washed him down the plughole!  I just managed to grab one of his long legs before he vanished, and popped him on the draining board to dry out.  I'm delighted to tell you that he is alive and well and enjoying his holiday in the utility room .... I wonder where he'll go next!

 

Miserable!!

No, no ...... not me, but the weather!  We have had some heavy showers this afternoon, and the forecast for the next two days isn't very good (snow was even mentioned for the Highlands!).  On Saturday, I popped out for a quick walk before lunch (I'm missing my morning walks, now that it is too dark).  It was sunny when I set out, but by the time I had walked up the hill to the church, some threatening clouds had gathered

 

 

However, it had cleared again when I took this next photo

 

 

But what was this I encountered along the way - have the Martians finally landed?

 

 

Nothing so exciting - it's just an electricity supply pole

 

 

Just about this time last year, I mentioned to Malcolm that there were a lot of berries on the trees and in the hedgerows - and according to folklore, that is the sign of a hard winter to come.  He laughed at me .... and we all know what sort of winter we had!  Well, I don't want to worry you, but the holly tree in front of the church is laden with berries .....

 

 

In the afternoon, I was busy in the studio - I thought it was time to make a serious effort to get things ready for next month's Christmas Fair.  Do you remember quite some time ago I knitted a great pile of cotton washcloths, and new baby sets?  I eventually found them in a drawer, and pressed them, ready to sew the ends in

 

 

I have bought some lovely soap, to make up sets with perhaps two washcloths and one or two other pamperings things (I've ordered some lovely packaging!)

 

 

I also made a batch of handbag tissue holders.  I have been making these for years - I have made dozens and dozens!  Every time I say I'm not making any more .... but I always do!

 

 

I recently bought a new die for my Cuttlebug, which it makes teeny tiny tags.  I thought I would use them for price tags and maybe make up some small bags with other bits and pieces to use for cardmaking and scrapbooking.

 

 

Yesterday morning, as usual, we went for a walk (and as usual we went for a cuppa and scone afterwards).  Malcolm spotted this cow, sitting in the shadows.  There weren't any others in the field , just this one looking lonely!

 

 

I took this photo because of the funny-looking dead tree - but now I just want to sit and look at the wonderful blue sky ....

 

 

To finish, something I haven't taken a photo of for a while - a lovely length of higgledy piggledy fence!

 

 

Nearly there!

I have still been knitting away at Maia - it has to be 67 inches long before I attach the end, which I have already knitted.  As I am 64 (and a bit inches) I held it up , thinking I must have knitted enough by now .....

oh dear - a few inches still to knit!!

 

When we went out this morning, I noticed some tiny mushrooms in the grass, so I popped out to take some photos after lunch

 

the size of a 10p piece

 

 

these are pea-sized!

 

After taking photos of the mushrooms, my eye was caught by the berries on the rowan (mountain ash).  Traditional trees have red berries .....

 

ours has dark pink ......

 

 

...... and pale pink!

 

But not everything has realised that it is autumn ...... the climbing rose is still flowering

 

 

And this little alpine is gorgeous

 

 

On Sunday we went for a walk in Jedburgh - first we saw this street sign ......

 

 

....... then we saw this one

 

 

Malcolm wondered if perhaps there had been a pub called the Nag's Head in between the two closes - but is it a horse's head (I'm thinking of The Godfather and the head in the bed) ..... or did a husband finally snap when his wife nagged at him once too often?