frayed at the edge

Nostalgia!

Oh my, I don't know where the weeks have gone!  I have been so busy enjoying the glorious summer, that blogging has been just about the last thing on my mind!  But I thought I would pop in and share these photos, which I took several weeks ago.  We were enjoying a cuppa in a coffee shop, when Malcolm spotted this Girl Guides diary in a pile of old books

 

the diary is from 1950, so it is (even) older than me!

 

by the time I was a Girl Guide, of course we promised to do our duty to God and the Queen, as the King died in 1952.  I still try to do a good turn every day, and of course I am always prepared!

 

the photo on the left brought back memories of learning how to drag an unconscious person from a burning building.  We took turns, dragging each other along the floor.  We also made a rope ladder, which could be dropped out of an upstairs window to escape from the aforementioned burning building.  As I was the smallest and lightest Guide, I had the honour of climbing up the ladder to test it!  We could do all sorts of things with our ties - give me my Guide tie and two wooden spoons, and I can put a splint on a broken leg ……..

 

who needs mobile phones …… I could still communicate by semaphore!!

Berwick and Warkworth

 Although we have had some rain today, it is still a bit hot for blogging, so just a very quick description of our visit to Berwick on Thursday, and Warkworth yesterday.

 

The swans were out in force on the river

 

I never tire of taking photos of the bridges

 

the heron's feathers were ruffled by the breeze

 

work on the major money pit continues

 

of course we have to have a photo of the lighthouse!

 

looking from the town walls over the roofs, with Bamburgh Castle on the horizon

 

in Warkworth, we parked by the river

 

and walked along the riverbank towards the old bridge

 

this young man paddled quietly past us

 

but then with a great deal of noise …...

 

dozens of scooters roared past (that's the Northumberland flag on the last scooter)

 

a glimpse of the castle, dominating the skyline

 

it must have been quite a feat to build it with just manpower, no great cranes or machinery to lift the stone

 

I imagined Rapunzel leaning out of the tiny window at the top of the tower, letting down her hair

 

we popped into Bertram's for a cuppa

 

we hadn't been there before, and loved its style, with scrubbed wooden table tops and mismatched chairs

 

Malcolm's coffee came in a plain white mug, but I was delighted with my teapot, cup and saucer.  What was that, you spotted the cake??!!  We shared this banana and fudge cake - delicious!

A girls' day out!

On Saturday morning, Malcolm dropped me off at my friend Sonia's house, as the two of us were heading up to Kelso for Abbey Quilters' Exhibition.   As you know, I have been busy for the last few weeks quilting some of the wonderful work of Margaret, the Queen of Appliqué.  In this post I am just showing you her work in the exhibition, but if you pop in next Tuesday for my end of the month report on the 6&6 challenge, I will show you some details of the both her appliqué and my quilting.  We start with Sunbonnet Sue and Friends.  This is a big quilt, and I somewhat exhausted at the end of each session working on it!

 

Margaret's husband, Stan, remarked recently that the only way he could stop her buying fabric would be to chain her up.  That chance remark led to this whimsical wallhanging!

 

I quilted this one last year, for her grandson Harry.  Only Margaret's imagination could have penguins playing on the beach!

 

this one is a three-person effort.  Margaret made the quilt top (I should have mentioned that all her work is done entirely by hand!!), then someone offered to quilt it for her, but they only quilted the sashing and borders, which left the blocks looking saggy and wrinkled.  That was where I came in, using dense quilting to flatten out the blocks

 

this one has yet to be quilted

 

it's a pity that there wasn't room for this one to be hung, to show it off properly - I hope to quilt to it soon

 

I don't know how Margaret thinks of all these wonderful designs

 

this one is so cute - if she asks me to quilt it, I might just forget to give it back!

 

I can't show you any of the other quilts from the exhibition, as there were signs up saying that photos were not to be put online, but Edith, who as always created lovely floral arrangements for the tables in the coffee shop, gave me express permission to share a couple of photos with you

 

and of course, you know that we quilters always have wonderful home baking! 

 

and to tempt you to come back next week, here is a little sneak peek

We should have known better .......

 .……. than to decide to have a day out on the day that the schools broke up for the summer, because of course that meant that it rained!!  There was the odd spot of rain as we pottered round Corbridge, enjoying the old-fashioned shops

 

you can buy everything you need for the kitchen here (and quite a lot of things you never knew you needed until you saw them in the shop!)

 

there are lots of places to eat, and we finally decided on Café No. 6

 

where we shared this very tasty ploughman's platter

 

the road climbed and climbed as we drove through the rain along the old Roman Military Road, which served Hadrian's Wall.  The sat-nav informed us that we had reached 892 feet above sea-level

 

we called in at The Sill, which has now been open for about a year

 

there are lots of very interesting and informative exhibits, but we were more interested in going up on to the roof to see the scenery

 

normally at this time of year, the fields would be green, but the long hot summer means the view is more brown  than green

 

the rain had gone off, but there were still lots of threatening clouds hanging over us

 

some people who live "down south" like to say that it is "grim up north" ……. but if this is grim, I would rather live here!!

 

on the way back to the car, I stopped to take this photo - a gnarly tree, a falling down bit of wall, and a little bit of higgledy piggledy fence …… and there are even some sheepies in the distance

 

I just had time to snatch this photo as we drove past on the way home - this is the famous Sycamore Gap

 

tomorrow I will be heading up to Kelso with my friend Sonia, to see the Abbey Quilters' exhibition.  That means I will finally be able to show you all the quilting that I did for Margaret, the Queen of Appliqué, so do pop in again on Monday to see her wonderful work.  Have a great weekend, love Anne 

A grand day out!

Last Wednesday, we headed south to Seaburn, to visit the amazing Lucy Locket Land.  Lucy and I were blogging friends some years ago, but we somehow lost touch.  But then I came across her on Instagram, and was delighted to find that she has opened this wonderful shop

 

everywhere you turn in the shop, there is so much to see

 

luscious yarns, cute kits

 

more yarns, more kits

 

and while your head is still spinning from all the gorgeousness ……. what is this?  Another room stuffed with more goodies!

 

this corner has all sorts of patchwork delights

 

while Malcolm enjoyed some coffee and biscuits, Lucy and I talked and talked, catching up with what we have been doing since we read each others blogs.  She has been running some excellent workshops, and I hope to be able to go to some of the upcoming ones.  Malcolm expressed an interest in  a basket making workshop - could we see some competitive basket making!  And totally uninterested in all the talking was the exceedingly cute Pippy the Shop Dog!

 

 

Hot, hot, hot!

Hello everyone,

I've just popped in to say that it is much to hot to think about blogging!!  However you can still keep up with what I'm doing on Instagram (@annetaydon).  I'll be back when the weather cools down a bit!

Love Anne

A damp morning!

We were somewhat surprised when we got up yesterday morning to find that it was raining.  While agreeing that the garden needed it (the grass is turning yellow), we were a little bit annoyed, as we had planned to go to Newbiggin by the Sea for a walk.  However by the time we had enjoyed a muffin filled with bacon for breakfast and headed out, they rain had turned to a light drizzle.  After leaving the car in the car park, we walked down to the beach, where these two tractors (used for pulling boats out of the sea), were perfectly parked for a photo

 

nature is gradually filling in the gaps in this wall

 

I was a bit annoyed to see that these little bits of street art …...

 

are looking somewhat neglected

 

it seems fitting that this old Wesleyan Chapel is now home to the Salvation Army

 

this is now a small museum - we must go back when it is open

 

Malcolm was rather taken with this fence - but there isn't anywhere in our garden that he could build one

 

I do like an old tractor

 

especially if, like this one, it has strange rusty bits on the back!

 

Malcolm remembers going to the café when he was little - it was a short bus journey away from his home, and his family would go to Newbiggin for a day out in the summer holidays

 

it was closed for many years, but has been re-opened by the descendants of the original owners

 

I thought for a moment someone had dropped their ice cream ……. but it is a doorstop!!

 

there were no scones on offer, so we had to share a (rather delicious) chocolate brownie!

Domestic sewing

I have sewn for as long as I can remember, including making curtains and cushions.  I didn't make this pair, but as you can see, I am letting down the hem

 

having pressed the bottom of the curtains, I laid them out on the floor, ready to  turn up a small hem .......

 

so that they can be hung on either side of the opening through to the garden room

 

we brought this couch home with us from Indonesia (it is called a Bali couch).  Last week I snapped up this remnant of fabric for the absolute bargain price of £15 to recover it

 

this as a detail of the stitching on the fabric

 

do you remember that Malcolm recently recovered the dining chairs and the two tall Indonesian chairs with this beautiful black fabric?

 

there was some left, and turned to the wrong side will make excellent cushion covers to put on the refurbished Bali couch

 

when we bought this sofa bed last year, it came with rather boring cushions

 

but this recently purchased remnant will make very smart  new cushions

 

I said I would tell you about The Hunk ....... some years ago, when we were in Singapore, we were strolling down Orchard Road when I saw this rather handsome young man, clad only in (very) low slung jeans, standing in a shop doorway.  As I had my camera in my hand, I raised it to take a photo.  He saw me, and immediately posed for the photo.  Several days later, we were strolling down Orchard Road again, and Malcolm was teasing me about the handsome young man - would I perhaps talk to him if I saw him again.  Well, there he was, standing in the doorway, so I trotted over and reminded him that I had taken his photos several days previously.  I told him that I had put his photo on my blog, and had made a lot of ladies all round the world VERY happy!!!  He asked me if I would like a photo with him - and as you can see, I said yes!  He was a model for Abercrombie and Fitch, who obviously stood at the door of the shop looking gorgeous to entice shoppers in ....... and there was an young lady on stand-by with a camera to take photos!

 

I'll be back on Friday with photos of Malcolm's hard work in the garden!

A very grand day out!

 I had said that I would tell you today what Malcolm was making with the old clock that he bought last week, but that will have to wait until Friday, as we had a very special day out yesterday.  We had received an invitation from The Newcastle Building Society to a presentation at Alnwick Castle.  Not only would we be treated to a buffet lunch, we would also be given a guided tour of the grounds of the Castle, after a talk from the CEO of the Building Society.  So of course we accepted the invitation.  As the Castle is still lived in by the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland, there are no ugly car parks in the grounds of the castle - but who would object to walking from the outlying car park up to the Castle while enjoying this view!

 

there was a large group of children walking into the Castle in front of us

 

it is a magnificent building

 

these two tourists give you an idea of the scale

 

this ring is for tethering your horse

 

with a rather fierce beastie to look after it

 

after the presentation and a delicious buffet lunch, we went on the guided tour, which was conducted by a charming young man named Daniel.  If you have been thinking that the Castle looks familiar, it may be because many films and tv programmes have been filmed there - the most famous being the Harry Potter movies, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves (the Kevin Costner one), and the latest Transformer movie

 

 and an episode of Downton Abbey, which of course is shown all round the world (although I have to admit that I have never seen it)

 

but this is a real life hero, Sir Henry Percy, aka Harry Hotspur

 

this courtyard has been used in several firms, including one in which our guide Daniel had a minor part!

 

fortunately we knew .....

 

that these threatening figures on the roof are statues!

 

the Union Flag was flying proudly in the breeze

 

as we made our way back to the car, I spotted this tree ........ could this have been the model for the Whomping Willow?

 

 

(yet another) change of plans!

The plan for yesterday morning was : pop down to Morpeth for some bits of shopping, visit Jennifer, then head up to Berwick.  Unfortunately we got up to discover that the boiler was on the blink, so the plans had to be changed.  But one thing never changes - the camera is always to hand in case a photo opportunity arises.  You may think this is a rather poor blurry shot .......

 

but is was the sun shining through my little stained glass candleholder, casting a coloured shadow on the wall, while we were having our after-breakfast cup of tea

 

Malcolm found a heating engineer to fix the boiler, but he couldn't come  out until this morning, so we headed to Morpeth as planned.  After doing the odds and ends of shopping, we went for a cuppa, and shared a piece of rather tasty lemon and coconut cake

 

who could resist this little sweetie, patiently  waiting for its owner outside M&S?

 

we spent an hour with Jennifer - she is making good progress and hopes to be home by the end of next week.  She thanks you for all your good wishes for her recovery.  Afer lunch, we decided to abandon our chores, and headed to Alnmouth for a walk on the beach.  As you can see, a lot of people had the same idea

 

it was cheering to see so much blue sky, after the recent bad weather

 

you know I always find strange things to take photos of

 

including crab claws

 

and a large lobster claw

 

I had given Malcolm one of my cameras to play with, and he promptly got his revenge for all the times that I shout at him for getting in my photos, shouting at me to get out of his!

 

when we looked at all the photos later, we argued over who had taken which ones, each of us claiming to have taken the best ones.  But I know Malcom took this one of some coils of wire lying on the sand

 

while I took this one of the remains of a lobster pot

 

I also took this one of the waves pounding on to the beach, with Coquet Island in the distance

 

we both took photos of the groynes

 

Malcolm because he likes the weathered wood

 

 

and me because I like the rusty metal

 

away from the beach, there was still plenty to take photos of, the church spire

 

chimneys (and more wonderful blue sky)

 

yet more chimneys

 

but what was this ....... we both thought that it looked like a Minion disguised as a chimney!

 

after all that walking and competitive photography, we were in need of a cuppa and sustenance (yes, I know, cake twice in one day is very naughty!)  This was an unusual cake, which was described on the menu as apple and cinnamon, but it also had oats and chopped nuts in it, and was very delicious!

 

we will be visiting Jennifer tomorrow morning, then in the afternoon I hope to do some sewing.  Then on Sunday, our former next door neighbours (the lovely shoe shop owners) are coming down for a visit.  The forecast is reasonable, so we hope to go out for a bit of sightseeing with them.  I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne