frayed at the edge

This and that

When we were in Eyemouth on Saturday, we had a browse round one of the charity shops, and as soon as I saw this bundle, I grabbed it, as it was only £1.50

 

two frames for hand quilting - an absolute bargain!

 

I also bought this storage box in Homebase in Berwick, as it was very reasonably priced.  Malcolm asked me what I would put in it ..... to which I answered "stuff"!!

 

it didn't take me long to fill it with lots of my beach finds

 

on Sunday afternoon I was going to do some fmq, so I had a quick practice, filling in this shape which I had previously sewn

 

I can't show you the whole thing as it is a present

 

but I'll tease you with a little flower .......

 

...... or two!

 

out in the garden, there are real flowers to enjoy.  Last year our passion flower sulked and produced one bud, which didn't flower, but this year it is covered in buds which are producing beautiful flowers

 

a textured appliqué, perhaps?

 

another clematis has flowered

 

and this one has flowered for a second time.  It looks as if the new flower is on the same stem as the old one, but the new shoot had twined round the old shoot

big buds on this clematis

 

and tiny buds on this one

 

hopefully these little buds will produce olives

 

and these grapes will grow a bit bigger

 

I tried and tried to capture bees on the lavender

 

but as soon as you get them in focus they buzz off to the next flower

 

so all you get is a blur!

 

when I was sorting out the flower photos, I realised that I have quite a lot of bird photos that I haven't shared with you, so pop back in tomorrow to see them!

 

Fetching in Marigolds!

Malcolm caught me this morning having a bit of a clean and tidy in the kitchen!  (my apron says "a balanced life - a glass of wine in each hand")

 

so I thought I would have a bit of a tidy on the blog as well, and catch up with some photos lingering in the unpublished folder, starting with these photos of a sunset earlier in the week

 

I always think of skies like these as "Old Testament" skies

 

that you see in old paintings with the hand of God reaching down to man, or angels and  saints in heaven

 

the camera was still on the sunset setting when I took this photo the next morning, but it turned out ok ........ a rather dishevelled finch sitting on the bird table

 

it's always exciting when post arrives from abroad

 

and even more exciting when (almost) naked men are involved!!

 

oh my, what a dilemma, ogle the men, or appreciate the lovely quilts!

 

but unless you buy your own copy, you will have to wait until next year, when I will show you each month's photo in turn

 

as we walked along the path to the front door this afternoon, I paused to take some photos.  The climbing rose has a touch of pink on the outside of the buds

 

but once the bud opens, the rose is creamy white

 

my bargain supermarket fuchsias are flowering well

 

surviving the heavy rain showers

 

a few weeks ago, I noticed this little self-seeded tree growing in the back garden, so Malcolm dug it up and put it in a pot - it has grown about six inches since then

 

this afternoon, we popped over to Border Meringues in Jedburgh for a cuppa and cake.  I love the eclectic collection of china for my tea

 

Malcolm had a date crispie

 

and I had a piece of meringue roulade - I thought it might be slightly less calorific than lemon meringue pie!!

 

I was grumbling away to myself this morning ....... time wasted dealing with the problem with the phone......... the beautiful silver bangles that Malcolm was going to give me for our Pearl Wedding Anniversary next month were sold out......... my gorgeous new car, which should have been delivered this morning, won't now be delivered until Monday ..........

then I though of all the families mourning the loss of their loved ones in Nice ....... and my grumbles really didn't matter anymore.  I hope there is a pit in the deepest darkest horrors of Hell for this murdering terrorist, and all those like him, who want to destroy our way of life.......

 

But the best thing to do, in the face of these horrors, is to live our lives to the full, so I will wish you all the best of weekends, love Anne

At the end rainbow ........

Woohoo, Wales won on Friday night, and just as the final whistle blew, this rainbow appeared ........  perhaps instead of a pot of gold at the end of it, the Cup is waiting for them!

 

when we were over in Berwick on Saturday morning, Malcolm noticed these poppies growing on a derelict building site

 

a riot of colour

 

I've never seen poppies this colour

 

yet another view of the three bridges - you can just see the new bridge through the left hand arch, and the railway bridge through the right hand one

 

it's hard work keeping your feathers neat and tidy - the swans spend a lot of time preening, spreading oil along their feathers

 

but what has got these swans in a flap?

 

one of the little fishing boats coming back into the dock

 

we also had a visit from the seal

 

who was tucking into a fish

 

yesterday we went a short way down the coast to Cocklawburn beach for a walk - I'll share the photos with you tomorrow.  After our walk, of course we went for some sconnage, calling in here

 

Malcolm ordered a cheese scone

 

and I ordered a fruit scone, then of course we had half each!

 

that was going to be the end of the post, but when we got home this morning, as I was unpacking the bags, Malcolm went out into the back garden.  He came back in and said to come out and bring the camera.  Look at the tree, he said

 

some of the branches were bare.  Why? 

 

if you don't like caterpillars, don't look at the next two photos - the tree was covered in lots of these little beasties

 

which sadly are no more, but have been dispatched to caterpillar heaven!

Strange times

There is a scene in the film Local Hero with two elderly chaps watching the goings-on at a ceilidh, when one turns to the other and says "strange times, strange times" ......... and that is how we felt this morning when we put the tv on and found the country had voted to leave the EU!!  There are already all sorts of unintended consequences from that vote, but I am going to ignore them entirely, and instead treat you to some sunny photos of the garden, after last week's rainy ones.  I love big, blowsy poppies

 

with their intricate centres

 

this one had suffered a little in the rain

 

with splashes of colour from the centre on the petals

 

even the shady corner was enjoying a rare glimpse of sunshine

 

I do love hostas!

 

Malcolm has just given the summerhouse a good clean, but he was muttering about painting it - I'll just leave him to get on with it

 

we had to buy a new parasol this year, as the fabric on the old one had disintegrated!

 

we also replanted the big herb pot

 

and some small ones - we only have parsley as it came in a multipack of herbs, as we never use it in cooking!

 

the olive tree is looking healthy, but the vine next to it sadly would seem to be dead

 

unlike this one under the window, which is running riot

 

round in the front garden, the cherry tree has obviously paid attention to the threat to turn it into firewood, and has a good crop this year

 

the purple elder is just starting to flower - it looks very striking, but come the autumn, our cars will be covered in purple bird poo!!

 

I got these two little fuchsia in a supermarket for not much more than a pound each

 

I always think the flowers look like little ballerinas

 

just before I made our mid-morning cuppa, the postman arrived with a parcel containing these little beauties, so of course we had to have one - delicious!

 

this afternoon we headed over to Jedburgh, to make the great sacrifice of eating cakes, so that you can enjoy them vicariously

 

the premises had to be refurbished after being flooded in the winter, and Malcolm rather liked the bar, made from pallets

 

the tiny meringues that come with the cuppas are excellent - crisp on the outside and chewy in the middle

 

Malcolm chose cherry shortbread

 

while I had lemon meringue pie - it was the last piece, and was a rather large helping ....... so Malcolm had some of it (if Stuart had been there, we would have come to blows over which of us had it, as it is his favourite!!)

 

we are staying at home this weekend, so hopefully I will get on with my last quilt for the exhibition.  The forecast isn't very good, so we may not get out for a walk.  Whatever the weather, have a good weekend, love Anne 

Shaping up

So what did I do with the plastic shapes?  Well, first I will tell you what they are supposed to be used for.  There is a cutter which fits on the shape, then you use it to cut out card, but I haven't used it very much, as it is very hard to keep the shape in place as you run the cutter round it

 

but at the weekend, I was watching a class on Craftsy on using rulers for fmq, when I had a lightbulb moment ....... aha, I thought, maybe I could use those pink plastic shapes, instead of buying (very expensive) rulers.  So I set the machine up with the ruler foot, chose a circle and stitched round it

 

it was easier than I thought it would be - although I think it would be much harder doing it in the middle of a large quilt

 

perfect - my start and stop met up!

 

next I took this rounded square shape and positioned it (more or less) in the middle of the circle and stitched round it

 

a slight wobble at the end, but not too bad

 

a quick infill round the square - I can see lots of possibilities with the shapes

 

ok - I admit it, this one went somewhat awry!

 

when I was ironing the circus fabric prior to cutting out the cushion covers, I discovered that one edge had a flaw in the printing.  However I just trimmed it off before cutting the three strips, so these cushions are a little bit smaller than the farmyard ones

 

so who was going to be in the photos?  Choose us, shouted the Gnome Sisters!

 

no, no, choose us, yelled the Gnome Brothers

 

please choose us for the close-up, said JDtheTractor and Sock Monkey

 

after finding the strange moth yesterday, today Malcolm encountered a toad when he was doing some weeding (maybe I shouldn't let him out in the garden tomorrow!)

Squabbling!

Yesterday, I remembered to take photos of the satin-edged baby quilt.  Miss Jemima was delighted to pose with it ........

 

admiring the satin edging and hinting at a matching nightdress

 

but as you know, there is no show without Pooh, who demanded that he had his photo taken too, for after all the quilt is blue, and blue is for boys (no, he didn't want blue satin jammies, thank you very much!)

 

the two of theme squabbled so much, they had to be sent to the naughty step (which is difficult as we don't have stairs), and Miss Pink Piggy got to pose with the farmyard cushions

 

by the end of this afternoon, I had also finished the three silk cushions .........

 

...... and this one, which I am embarrassed to show you, as I got the measurements wrong and it turned out rectangular instead of square!  However, as soon as Malcolm saw it, he said he liked it, so I have given it to him

 

on Saturday, I bought this remnant of circus fabric.  It is the same make as the farmyard fabric, and should make another three cushions

 

while I was stitching away this afternoon, Malcolm stuck his head in the door and shouted to me to come out into the garden and bring the camera, as he had spotted this moth

 

it fluttered about a bit before disappearing - I just hope a hungry bird hasn't eaten it!

 

come back tomorrow and I will tell you what I did with these shapes!

It's raining again!

It has been a rather soggy week, and yesterday everything in the garden was dripping.  The miniature rose almost looked as if it had been dipped in plastic

 

large raindrops on one of the clematis

 

small raindrops collecting on the lilies in a pot beside the back door

 

the drops on this shrub look like little jewels

 

my favourite plant in the rain -  alchemila molis

 

a dainty seedhead on an early flowering clematis

 

as it was such a miserable day, we decided to put off going over to the flat until tomorrow morning.  So this afternoon we headed into Hawick, parking in the supermarket car park and popping in to buy the papers.  Then we left the car there and walked along the riverside towards the Mill.  Do you remember when, during the terrible winter floods, part of the road fell into the river?  Well, it's still there!

 

although some work has been done to shore up the riverbank

 

there is still a lot to be done

 

the power of flood water is frightening, causing huge sections of road to collapse

 

having inspected the damage, we crossed the footbridge to the Mill.  We had a potter round the shop before we went for a cuppa.  Malcolm saw a jumper that he rather liked, but it cost £495 ....... no, I didn't leave out a decimal point, it cost four hundred and ninety five pounds.  He decided that he didn't like it that much!

 

Malcolm had fruit loaf

 

and I had lemon sponge - both were delicious

 

we walked the long way round back to the car, giving me the chance to take to photo of these old wooden garages - I think they could do with some tlc!

 

you may be aware that there is some sort of football (soccer) event* going on in France - no doubt Malcolm will be glued to it for most of the weekend, but hopefully I can tear him away long enough to go for a walk!  I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne

* Scotland were sensible and didn't qualify, which saved the fans the expense of travelling to France to see their team going out in the first stage.  Malcolm of course is cheering on England, so I said I would cheer on Wales, to provide some balance  (I had a Welsh great-granny - or possibly great-great-granny!)

Going out in style!

I didn't take any photos at the party on Friday, but I can tell you that we had an excellent time, there was a lot of "do you remember", a lot of laughter ........ and of course there was food, food and even more food!  I gave into temptation, and bought one or two last little bits and bobs ........ on the left is just some basic calico, then in the middle there is a useful white, then a versatile red

 

you can just see that the white has a tiny print on it - it makes a very good background for applique. The red has tiny gold spots - it will be good for all sorts of Christmas projects.

 

some luscious variegated embroidery threads

 

the cutest of cute buttons

 

and even more cute buttons!

 

when I was taking the photos, I noticed this tiny spider on the wall - I put a pin beside it for scale

 

so what do you think this is a photo of?  It is a length of green garden cane, with two raindrops hanging from it

 

the first poppy has flowered - and in the background you can see the bird bath which the fussy birds refused to use - it now has plants in it

 

the inside of the poppy would make a good textured applique block

 

to finish - some sconnage!  When we were out and about yesterday morning, we went for a cuppa, and shared a very tasty (and still warm from the oven) scone

 

back tomorrow with lots of sewing!

 

The sun shone .......

....... yesterday, when I was taking photos out in the garden.  First, the spikes of a hosta just coming through

 

the dark hellebore has finally flowered

 

the early clematis just about to flower

 

and this one in a pot on the deck isn't far behind 

 

new growth on the climber on the back wall of the house

 

strong growth on the poppy

 

a splash of colour from the forsythia

 

the protective fleece has been taken off the olive, which is looking quite healthy

 

the herbs are thriving in their pot

 

I gave Malcolm this quirky little owl some years ago

 

looking across the deck

 

Malcolm had just cut the grass - the chair and beehive that he made are looking good under the pergola

 

he had also cut the front grass

 

he has been working hard tidying the garden

 

this area is for the birds, with several feeders, the bird bath, and lots of places for them to perch

 

I have something special to tell you tomorrow, do pop in to find out what it is!

 

Painted and planted

Here is Malcolm's latest creation, basking in the sunshine this morning.  It looks grey here, but it is actually a very stylish black

 

the little conifer was from a pot in the front garden, which it had outgrown, and we bought the three little plants yesterday.  It still needs some more plants, but it is looking good

 

this afternoon I sat down in the studio, with the stove blazing to keep me warm and watched a film, while I hand stitched the binding on the big runner

 

next, the piece of fabric which Maureen gave me.  I managed to cut eight six-inch strips

 

which I then cross cut to give me a total of twenty four squares, with only the smallest of scraps left over

 

I looked out the remains of a jelly roll, which I had got some time age from Sandra, our lovely Linus lady

 

I sorted out the strips into pairs of a coloured one and a green one

 

I stitched a strip down one side of two squares

 

cut off the extra and stitched it to the other side

 

I cut the two squares apart and pressed the seams

 

then did the same on the other two sides with a green strip.  When I put them on the design wall, I had thought of arranging them like this

 

but this afternoon I had a rethink, and decided to do half the squares like that, and half the other way round, with short green strips and long coloured strips.  It will look better once I have done more squares and mixed the colours more

 

to finish - I found this photo earlier, when I was looking back through last month's photos, and thought that it might make a good quilting pattern (it's a tractor's tyre track in the sand).