frayed at the edge

Well, well, well ....

........ sorry, corny heading, as the first subject today is the old Cross Well in Linlithgow

 

here are two of the little side panels ....

 

 

and two of the figures

 

 

there were lots of tourists about ...... this bus had just disgorged a large contingent of foreign tourists, who had set off for the Palace, while their tour guide had a word with the driver

 

as always, I also found some quirky shots!

a funny little window set in the roof

 

a collection of chimney pots

 

higgledy piggledy roofs

 

spot the unused chimney!

 

this morning was dull, dreary and damp ..... or, to use a Scottish word, dreich.  These ewes looked miserable as they trailed across the field

 

and this one looked a little bit damp!

 

I have to admit that it was so dreary, that when I got yet another drip down the back of my neck from the overhanging trees, I about-turned and went home for breakfast!!

 

Remember the orchid that was about to flower ...... several flowers have now opened - isn't it pretty?

 

there was no patch'n'chat today, as most of them are at the Festival of Quilts ...... so sadly that means no cake!  So to finish, I have a photo of this wonderful book, which I bought yesterday in Hobbycraft.  I've only had time for a quick look through it, but I am already full of ideas for new projects!

 

I am still finishing my entries for tomorrow's Southdean show!  I am in the middle of making paper chains, and have still to wrap a parcel.  Fingers firmly crossed that the cups come home again with me - the lounge looks bare without them!  I hope you all have a great weekend, love Anne






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Homeward bound

Stuart and Alison had mentioned last night that there was a new shop in Falkirk, selling all sorts of craft stuff.  Imagine my delight when I went this morning and discovered that it is ........

 

I spent a very pleasant 5 10 15 ok, I spent about 30 minutes having a good browse!  I would show you what I bought, but I forgot to take a photo! 

My next stop was Linlithgow.  Alison had mentioned last night that she would like some black and white photos for their hall, so when I got to the Palace and St Michael's Church, I switched the camera over to B&W and started snapping away

 

 

 

 

There were some swans down by the loch, so I snapped them in B&W too

 

I was a bit surprised when this one took its head out from under its wing, to reveal that wasn't a swan!!

 

back to colour for a few more photos, first of the loch

 

then the church

 

and then back round to the front of the Palace.  Is it just me, but when you have such a wonderful, historic building, do you really need to provide parking right in front of it, spoiling the view.  There is space to the left which could be used for disabled, rather than general, parking and there is a public carpark just a short walk away, which is where I parked (end of rant!)

 

I've still got lots of photos of Linlithgow, so I'll save them for tomorrow.  On the way down the A7, I stopped here for a bite to eat

 

unfortunately I was too early for the sausage hotpot (or fortunately, as far as the waistline is concerned!), but I enjoyed my bacon roll

 

the nearer I got to Hawick, the gloomier the skies became, and just as I passed the town boundary, the rain began.  Not exactly welcome home!!

A bit late!

We've only just finished dinner ...... too busy blethering and catching up on all our news.  Then horrors - I had forgotten to bring the cable that I normally use to transfer the photos from the camera to the laptop - but Stuart came to the rescue and did it by other means!

 

So, lets start with this morning, when it was very misty.  The "whomping willow" tree looked especially spooky

 

 

and even this Jacob's ewe looked scary!

 

usually the horses just look at me as I lean on the gate taking photos, but this morning they came over for a chat

 

when the smaller one moved off, the other one struck a noble pose

 

however the damp air meant that these spider webs were visible

 

 

the mist had cleared when I set out,  but unfortunately when I got to Edinburgh it came down again, so I gave up on my plan to have a detour to take photos of the Forth Bridges ...... and went for lunch instead!  A delicious tuna mayo and cheese roll.  There was no way to eat it in a ladylike fashion!!

 

when I got to Stuart and Alison's, I was going to go out for a walk to take some photos, but the sky was grey and uninviting.  However, as there are still houses being built on the estate, I was able to bag a couple of good machines through the window!

 

 

hopefully the weather will co-operate tomorrow (the rain is pouring down just now!) and I will be able to take some photos of the glorious scenery!

The next deadline

Having finished my sewing, I can't sit back and relax just yet!  The Southdean Show is this Saturday, and I have my two cups to defend

 

the one on the left is for the Industrial Section - crafts and cooking - which I won for the first time last year (only because my friend Lorraine who usually wins it didn't enter!).  The other one is the photography cup, which I have won for the last two years, so this afternoon I was busy choosing and mounting my photos for the various categories

 

after I had done that, I thought I ought to tackle the overflowing ironing basket!

 

but of course before all that, I had my usual morning walk.  Instead of looking for photos of the scenery, I looked for little things, and was rewarded with these feathers, caught on nettles

 

 

I am missing the good looking sheep in the field beside the church ....... the ones in the old orchard are not the handsomest of specimens!

 

my goodness, what is this ...... another cat on my blog!!  Having taken this photo as I approached it  ..........

 

.......I was somewhat surprised by the length of its tail when I walked past

 

with its long silvery whiskers, I think it looks like an elderly oriental gentleman, so beloved by Hollywood films

 

today it was a Jacob's ewe making use of the telegraph pole in the field

 

and I had no sooner taken the photo than she  was joined by another one!

 

as I headed home for breakfast, I was still looking for little things .......

the first snowberries

 

a conker

 

holly berries

 

I'm off on my travels again tomorrow, going to stay with Stuart and Alison ....... but don't worry, the camera and laptop will be going with me!!

 

All done!!

It took somewhat longer than I thought it would, but finally at 8o'clock last night, I put the final stitch into Tree.  I had spent the weekend hunched over the sewing machine, even missing my day out yesterday

 

 

 

Malcolm spent the weekend providing meals and cuppas (thank you dear) while I stitched away (one broken machine needle, several pricked fingers).  But the end result was definitely worth all the work (my apprentice took the photo in the front garden this morning)

 

he also took this photo of The Night before Christmas

 

earlier, of course, I had been out for my morning walk.  It had rained throught the night, and it was a bit grey and humid.  There wasn't much happening as most of the sheep have been moved to far flung fields, so I had to content myself with a couple of ancient tractors ........

 

 

lumps of mud left on the road by said tractors .......

 

.......and trying to make it look as if this bale of haylage was sitting on top of the gate!

 

as well as lots of wrapped haylage bales, there are also fields full of hay bales

 

and straw bales

 

we went down to Longframlington this morning to drop off the sewing to Anne, ready for her trip to The Festival of Quilts.  Anne and Mick will travel down to Birmingham on Wednesday and set up their stand ready for the show opening on Thursday morning.  If you are going to the show, do stop at their stand (Stitchin' Heaven on the 697) and say hello (and buy lots!)  After having a cuppa and a blether with Anne and Mick, we went on down to Morpeth, to go out for lunch with Malcolm's sister Jennifer.  We were going to go to Meldon Park, only to discover that it is closed on Mondays.  So instead we went to The Blacksmiths Coffee Shop, which was so busy, we had to sit at an outside table!  We all chose the same - cheese savoury sandwiches, which were delicious

 

ps - I was so busy sewing yesterday that I didn't take any photos, or open the laptop ....... which is unheard of!  I shall have to try  harder tomorrow to find interesting subjects for photos!!

On Wednesday it was Stephen King ......

...... this morning it was Alfred Hitchcock!  When I went out this morning, there were rather a lot of swallows on the phone wires.  Usually they fly off when I go past, but this morning, not only did they stay on the wires, but as I walked past, they stopped chattering and an ominous silence fell, just like a scene from "The Birds"!

 

 

further up the road, I met one of the neighbours, Graeme the Decorator (he is out and about much earlier than me, as when I meet him he is on the way home from walking his dogs).  He told me that I had just missed an excellent photo opportunity ........ three deer in the field just beyond the church.  Of course when I got there, they had vanished!  However, when I got down to the bottom field, the horses posed prettily in the early morning sunshine

 

 

 

on round the bend, and there was Marion's old donkey, leaning on a telegraph pole in the middle of the field ....... there was just one thing wrong, he was showing me his rear end!!

 

fortunately I had taken this photo earlier in the week

 

the sky was deep blue again, which prompted me to take a photo of these old chimneys

 

I had a busy afternoon at patch'n'chat, stitching the binding on the back of the Night before Christmas - but I'll show you photos on Monday when hopefully Tree will be finished as well.  So all that's left for today's post is ......... the Friday cake!  This week we had delicious cupcakes with sparkly pink sprinkles - delicious!

 

I will be sewing away furiously over the weekend, finishing Tree - although I will be taking a little bit of time out on Sunday, to meet up with other crafty friends at one of Lindsay's  Woolgatherings.

 

I hope you all have a good weekend, love Anne

So, back to yesterday .......

........ and the photos that got left out

handsome horses in the field across the road

 

I snapped this honeysuckle on Monday ....

 

...... and again yesterday

 

the finch hopped behind the leaf just as I snapped - you can just see her beak and tail!

 

I love this tiny shed on an allotment

 

I was startled by this horse when we drove past, until I realised it was a model one!

 

Christmas in August?

 

no, just the Red Cross raising funds

 

quilting Twas the Night before Christmas*

 

the edges trimmed .......

 

...... and the binding added

 

and so on to today.  When we were in Hawick this morning, I called in at the Reiver's Moon Gallery

 

and there it was ....... a browser filled with my photos!!

 

back home, there was great excitement in the garden - our first beans (ok they are only half an inch long, but they are the first we have ever grown!)

 

this is the back of Tree, showing some of the stitching round the branches

 

 

it is very hard to get photos of squirrels, as they move so quickly.  I hardly dared to breathe when I saw this one this morning, tucking into a monkey nut - as soon as I took a careful step nearer, it ran off

 

 

*if you wondered why there is a piece of card stuck over the touch screen of the sewing machine, the answer is simple!  I know that it tells me somewhere in the instruction book how to disable the screen, so that you don't accidently change the stitch if the quilt touches it - but it's much quicker to put the bit of card over it, than find the book and the relevant  section! 

It was like something .......

........ from a Stephen King novel when I went for my walk this morning!  There was a band of low cloud/mist wrapped round the far side of the valley

 

 

 

then, on the way home, the mist suddenly swept across the valley and enveloped me, and had me nervously looking round for ghosties and ghoulies

 

 

 

fortunately, when we went for a walk in Hawick later in the morning, the mist had cleared.  The last time we took this route, we saw an excellent machine (you know I have a machine fetish), which was demolishing an old building.  Today the building has gone and the site has been levelled by this big boy

 

Malcolm often acts as my spotter for photos ...... here are the three that he spotted today.

first, a mushroom

 

then, a little pony looking out of its stable

 

and best of all, this fence post with a dandelion groing out of the top - it looks a bit like a little monster!

 

we went to the Damascus Drum for lunch, where as usual I has the ploughman's bagel (I ended up giving some to Malcolm, as I couldn't finish it)

 

and Malcolm had the cheese and pastrami toastie

 

we always have fish for dinner on Wednesdays, as the fishman calls at the house.   Malcolm usually goes out to the van to buy the fish, as I'm in the bath!  Today he bought salmon, and I decided to make a recipe from the latest edition of Landscape magazine

 

 

I prepared the veggies (you may notice there is no parsley, because a) we don't really like it, and b) the parsley in the herb pot in the garden has gone to seed!) and choose a packet of couscous (we prefer these flavoured couscous to the plain stuff)

 

there is quite a lot of butter in the recipe,  but I don't think we really need this lecture from the back of the couscous packet!

 

it was quick and easy to make, and was delicious!

 

I still have lots of photos left, but I will save them for tomorrow, as I need to get on with some knitting - I can't tell you what it is, as it is one of my entries for the Southdean Show.

Roadblock!

I was a little bit late getting home this morning, as there was a roadblock just before the church.  A tractor, a combine harvester, a big lorry ....... no, three naughty lambs!

 

I was approaching them very slowly, as I didn't want them to keep running ahead of me, but then a car coming in the other direction made them to take refuge at the field gate, and I was able to sneak past!

 

it was glorious this morning, although there was a chill in the air.  The swallows have bred very successfully this year, and were enjoying the early morning sunshine

 

this isn't mist, it's steam rising off the neighbours' stable

 

William Leggat's statue in the churchyard was silhouetted against the sky

 

and of course we have to have a photo of a sheep!

 

when I was heading out to the studio this morning, I had to pause and take  photos of the contrails, which were giving a patriotic display of the Saltire

 

 

Now for the sewing update.  The paper piecing went well

 

I had to hold the square up to the light to make sure that the fabric was aligned with the sewing line

 

I used my wooden "iron" to flatten the seams

 

 

ready to start assembling the stars

 

all done

 

the next stage was to put it all up on the design wall

 

I got the top section stitched together before it was time to head in to the house to make dinner

 

to finish, you know that I like to take strange photos, and I rather liked the electrical gubbins gleaming against the blue sky

 

 

OK, let's just get the confession out of the way ....... cake two days running!  Yesterday we popped in to Border Meringues after our walk, and although Malcolm suggested that as usual we share a scone, I succumbed to a Malteser slice ....

 

....... to have with my excellent pot of tea (yes, I ate the meringue as well!)

 

while Malcolm had a wonderful cheese scone .....

 

....... with his usual americano with hot milk (yes, he ate his meringue too)

 

then after lunch today, Malcolm said that he was going to take a load of rubbish to the tip, which meant that he would pass the new mill shop.  Did I want to go with him and we could pop in for a cuppa?  At first I said no, as I had lots to do ..... but about two minutes later, I changed my mind - and look what I would have missed if I had stayed at home - today's special scone, filled with plump blueberries

 

now that we have got the greed out of the way, back to yesterday morning's walk in Jedburgh.  We hadn't seen the heron at its usual spot on the river for a few weeks, so we were delighted to see it yesterday

 

 

I usually take photos of this bridge from the other bank, but it looks good from this side too

 

I just had time to snap this tractor as it rumbled along the road

 

our log store is just across from my studio door, and I keep looking and thinking that this latest load of logs looks good - so I finally got round to taking a photo!

 

after we had our cuppa this afternoon, we had a stroll along the river.  We were entertained by this little dog surveying the world - the wider step he is on  is at just the right height for him to see over the fence

 

when I was getting out of the car when we got back home, I noticed this little bug

 

and when I went to take photos of the climbing rose round the lounge window, this fly promptly landed as I snapped

 

to finish, we saw this in an antiques shop in Jedburgh yesterday ..... I think it would give me nightmares!!

 

Over-indulging?

OK, let's just get the confession out of the way ....... cake two days running!  Yesterday we popped in to Border Meringues after our walk, and although Malcolm suggested that as usual we share a scone, I succumbed to a Malteser slice ....

 

....... to have with my excellent pot of tea (yes, I ate the meringue as well!)

 

while Malcolm had a wonderful cheese scone .....

 

....... with his usual americano with hot milk (yes, he ate his meringue too)

 

then after lunch today, Malcolm said that he was going to take a load of rubbish to the tip, which meant that he would pass the new mill shop.  Did I want to go with him and we could pop in for a cuppa?  At first I said no, as I had lots to do ..... but about two minutes later, I changed my mind - and look what I would have missed if I had stayed at home - today's special scone, filled with plump blueberries

 

now that we have got the greed out of the way, back to yesterday morning's walk in Jedburgh.  We hadn't seen the heron at its usual spot on the river for a few weeks, so we were delighted to see it yesterday

 

 

I usually take photos of this bridge from the other bank, but it looks good from this side too

 

I just had time to snap this tractor as it rumbled along the road

 

our log store is just across from my studio door, and I keep looking and thinking that this latest load of logs looks good - so I finally got round to taking a photo!

 

after we had our cuppa this afternoon, we had a stroll along the river.  We were entertained by this little dog surveying the world - the wider step he is on  is at just the right height for him to see over the fence

 

when I was getting out of the car when we got back home, I noticed this little bug

 

and when I went to take photos of the climbing rose round the lounge window, this fly promptly landed as I snapped

 

to finish, we saw this in an antiques shop in Jedburgh yesterday ..... I think it would give me nightmares!!