frayed at the edge

Foraging

We went for a walk yesterday morning, but we soon got distracted from the walk by these .....

 

 

..... lots and lots of wonderful rose hips.  And there were still some roses too

 

 

 

 

We picked lots of rose hips, and some brambles - more about them later.  But I wasn't so distracted by the picking that I forgot to admire the wonderful scenery

 

 

Malcolm dropped me off on the way home so that I could pick some more rose hips and some apples from the hedgerow, then I walked the rest of the way home, enjoying the warm sunshine.  The views have changed, now that the crops have been harvested, and some of the fields ploughed and replanted

 

 

 

 

The sheep were also enjoying the sunshine

 

 

 

Back home, I sorted out our foraged fruits

 

rosehips

 

 

brambles

 

 

The apples on the right are from the hedgerow, the ones on the left are crab apples, which Jennifer gave me.  This afternoon I washed all the fruit thoroughly, then I topped and tailed the rosehips and put them in a large saucepan, along with the crab apples and some of the hedgerow apples and added water.  I put the rest of the hedgerow apples and brambles in another suacepan and again added water.  Then, I left both lots to simmer

 

 

By the end of the afternoon, the first lot was dripping through the jelly bag

 

 

Malcolm, meanwhile, was working on his steps

 

 

The knitting update ....... the socks are finished

 

 

........ and the scarf is almost finished.  I have still to sew in the ends and block it.  I made a couple of mistakes - the first one was missing out a row of the cable ....... I had knitted quite a bit more before I noticed, so I didn't take it back.  Then I forgot to make two of the bobbles - but I simply picked up the stitch and worked the bobbles ..... it just means I have more ends to sew in.  BUT  as I arranged the scarf on the floor to take a photo ........ horrors, another missing bobble!!  I had planned to knit the scarf again in a different colour - maybe I'll just do it without the bobbles!  I can't show you what I am knitting this week, as I am taking part in a swap over at Mousy Brown's and of course I am knitting a little something for my swap partner Alyson.

 

To finish ...... I didn't just bring fruit home.  When I tipped the rosehips into the bowl, a spider appeared!  Don't worry, I rescued it and put it out in the garden!

 

Don't let the bedbugs bite ......

...... although I don't think this one will!  He is called Wegis, and I won the pattern to knit him in a giveaway from Knitting off the Grid.  I have realised that I don't have any yellow in my yarn stash - it's just not a colour that I would normally buy, but I will definitely have to buy a ball to knit Wegis.

 

 

When the post arrived this morning, I was delighted to see an envelope addressed to me (Malcolm gets far more post than me).  Although it didn't have an exotic stamp .......

 

 

....... I knew from this little stamp on the back that the envelope contained something very special

 

 

 Gretel had posted about a lino cut that she had printed, and popped in her Etsy shop ....... one look and I had to have one.  Well, could you resist this charming print of a hare

 

 

As well as the print, Gretel also sent me two of her cards.......

 

 

....... which she has not only signed, but has done delightful  tiny drawings on

 

 

and that's not all ..... there was also another of her lovely cards to accompany the hare and the cards

 

 

When I showed you the start of Malcolm's work to make the new steps for the front garden, I should have shown you this step that he made for the French doors in the back lounge.  The doors have a uPVC sill, which sit on an ugly concrete lintel , and it was awkward to step from the lounge out on to the deck.  I asked if he could make a better step ..... and this is what he came up with (yes, we actually had our afternoon cuppa sitting on the deck!)

 

 

He was working on the frameworks in the garage this afternoon ....... the two pieces of the frame are butted up, but when they are in place, the concrete steps will be in the middle.  One section has to be removable to allow access to a manhole cover for the drains, but Malcolm laid long deckboards on top, just to give you an idea how the steps will look

 

 

On Saturday, I had the stove in the studio lit for the first time this autumn

 

 

so I was cosy while I got on with my sewing.  I prepped more of my hexagons

 

 

and did some more stitching on the 'redwork' block (isn't the lamb exceedingly cute!!)

 

 

On Sunday I continued to work on the 'row' quilt, still stitching in the ditch

 

 

I quilted round the first of the house blocks, and realised that I now had rather a lot of ends to sew in .....

 

 

Fortunately I had recently bought these needles .......

 

 

........ there is a slot in the top that allows the thread to be pulled down into the eye.  This saves a lot of time when you are threading an awful lots of ends (and if these days you need an needle threader!!)

 

 

While Maloclm was sawing, hammering and nailing in the garage this afternoon, I was in the studio sewing.  Fortunately there is a lot of insulation in the wall between the garage and the studio, and combined with my loud music, I couldn't hear him!

 

 

I added the buds to finish this block

 

 

Then I did some more stitching on the fourth block, stitching round the body of the bird

 

 

We have workmen arriving in the morning - come back tomorrow and I'll tell you what they are doing!!

Three soups in one day

No, no, I haven't gone on a weird diet!  We had homemade chicken soup for lunch, then I made two more pots of soup - I like to have lots of soup in the freezer when the weather gets colder.  Yesterday Malcolm had cooked a piece of ham in the slow cooker, with lots of onion, apple and apple juice.  This provided a big pot of stock for the first soup

 

 

Once I had brought the stock up to the boil, I added frozen peas, and simmered the soup for a few minutes until the peas were cooked

 

 

These are the ingredients for the other soup - parsnips, apples, butter, seasoning and chicken stock

 

 

I cooked the parsnips for about five minutes in the butter, added the apple - and an extra ingredient, a teaspoon of ground cumin.

 
 
 

Then I added the seasoning and the stock, and simmered the soup until the parsnip was soft.    Once both soups had cooled, I gave them a quick blitz.  Then I gave Malcolm a little sample of both of them ...... he declared them both to be very good!

 

 

I mentioned that Malcolm had another project for the remodelling of the front garden ........ we have never liked these steps in front of the lounge window (the middle section is actually a door)

 

 

so Malcolm is making new steps to stretch the width of the whole window using decking - this afternoon he has a trial fit of the supporting framework

 

 

The garden is looking good

 

 

except for this rather large weed, which had somehow escaped Malcolm's eagle eye!

 

 

The knitting update - I have finished the socks, except for the Kitchener stitch on the second sock

 

 

I've gone back to the Debbie Bliss book for this chunky scarf

 

 

It's a nice, quick and easy pattern

 

 

To finish ........ this is the bottom of an advert on the side of a van, which I saw in Hawick this morning.  Is the estate agent saying that he is the only independent agent (rather than the property department of a solicitor, which is the more common way of selling houses here) or is he saying that he is the only one who works hard

 

W'otter lot of fun!

When we were going out on Saturday morning, I realised that I didn't have a camera in  my bag, so I picked up my small one, which was next to the door, rather than go back for the big one.  Of course, this guaranteed that there would be a fabulous photo opportunity, which I really needed the big one for!   You have probably guessed from today's title ...... yes, there were two otters playing in the River Teviot.  I had never seen otters before, other than on tv, so it was wonderful to be able to watch them .  Unfortunately, they were so quick to dive again each time they surfaced, that the photos aren't very good .....

 

 

 

 

 

It turned a bit chilly on Saturday afternoon, so Malcolm lit the stove - the first time this autumn

 

 

Yesterday morning we headed over to the village of Eckford for a craft fair.  There were lots of stalls, but as it was so busy I wasn't able to take photos ...... except for this one of the wonderful plate of home baking that we enjoyed with our cuppa (we didn't have any lunch after feasting on the cakes - Malcolm manfully ate both pieces of scone, in support of my efforts to eat less!!)

 

 

I didn't buy any of the crafts on offer (as I make most of them myself) ....... but I did buy this wonderful yarn, from a lady who was selling off some of her stash.  It is pure silk

 

 

 

It is very windy today (the tail end of Hurrican Katia) - you can see that the grass on the verge has been flattened

 

 

The poor horses in the field across the road were thoroughly miserable, standing with their backs to the wind

 

 

The view over to the Mintos was hazy with all the rain in the air

 

 

It was difficult to take photos of the birds today, as the feeders were blowing about - in the end only two photos were usable

 

 

 

On the ground this little sparrow was making his feelings clear, shouting at anyone who would listen!

 

 

Fortunately these roses are sheltered, and have survived the wind

 

 

Monday means the knitting update ...... I have finished the first sock and made a good start on the second

 

 

To finish ....... this is my 800th post!!  So of course that means a little giveaway.  Leave a comment anytime between now and Friday (you can comment every day if you want!) and the random number picker (aka Malcolm) will choose not one, but two winners ..... one in the UK and one abroad.  I have no idea yet what the giveaway will be - I shall have to delve into my various stashes!

The long and winding road

 
On Saturday, I got up at 6.30, wished a sleepy Malcolm a happy birthday (I did offer to make him a cup of tea), got ready and headed off to meet up with 42 other ladies.  Our destination - the autumn quilt show at Harrogate.  Unfortunately, it is a rather long journey from the Borders to Harrogate ....... 3 hours by bus!!  However, it was worth every moment of the journey when we arrived to see the stunning 'best in show' quilt   - I'm always unsure about showing photos of quilts at shows, but this quilt will be featured in every p&q magazine over the next few months, so I don't think it matters if I show it to you here

 

 

There were some fabulous quilts (and one or two not quite so fabulous!) ........ here are a couple that particularly caught my eye

 

 

 

Of course a quilt show doesn't just mean quilts ...... it also means TRADERS!!  So did I buy anything? Yes, of course!!

 

delicious fabrics

 

 

co-ordinated linen

 

 

could this be a future project?

 

 

a replacement for Malcolm's flexible curve which I have lost mislaid

 

Of course you can't spend a whole day away from home without having something to eat!  The catering was excellent, and I really enjoyed my lunch

 

 

Later on I had a little icecream  - mandarin, with little chips of dark chocolate - superb!

 

 

Yesterday morning we went to a local garden centre for breakfast ...... and came home with another owl to add to the collection.  How could I resist this lovely rusty owl!

 

 

Having been worried about the lack of butterflies in the garden this summer ..... suddenly there are lots of them!

 

 

 

 

There have also been more bees about

 

 

 

Meanwhile, in the front garden, there were plenty of birds to watch ....... including the adult robin

 

 

and the young one, who is still just a little bit fluffy!

 

 

I spent most of the afternoon in the studio - I'll show you tomorrow what I have been busy with.  Malcolm was also busy being creative ........ he was going to keep this driftwood sculpture that he made this afternoon to give me for my birthday next month - but he was so pleased with it, he gave it to me before the glue was quite dry!!

 

 

I decided to put it through in the back lounge, beside a wooden and metal sculpture which he gave me for my birthday five years ago (when we had  lived here for a just few weeks)

 

 

The knitting update ....... I haven't had much time to work on the socks (and I had to take back several rows last night after dropping a stitch!)

 

 

To finish ..... it won't be long until I need to light the stove in the studio, so today Malcolm gave it a good clean and polish with 'black lead'

 

 

A little bit of history

On Saturday. on our way to visit Stuart and Alison, we decided to visit the House of the Binns, near Linlithgow.  However, as we were too early, we made a detour to visit Blackness Castle.  We didn't do the tour inside, but we did enjoy walking round the grounds, dwarfed by the vast structure

 

 

 

 

I am sure you will recognise these famous bridges, which can be seen from the castle grounds

 

 

Malcolm spotted this gate, which had been abandoned in a flower bed ......

 

 

....... then I spotted this very late flowering poppy (complete with hover fly)

 

 

Then it was on to the House of the Binns, which is the ancestral home of  Tam Dalyell (pronounced dee-ell)  His family has lived in the house since 1612, although it has been owned by the
National Trust for Scotland since 1944, on condition that the family are allowed to live in it, and if the missing family treasure is ever found, that it is returned to the family!  Tam was very much in evidence during our visit, chatting to the NT ladies and directing a coach driver to his parking space, and because it is still very much a family home, photography was not allowed inside.  However, I was able to take lots of photos outside

 

 

 

 

 

There is a tower on the highest point of the grounds - the views in all directions are stunning

 

 

 

 

This is the view down to the River Forth and Blackness Castle ...... at one time there was a tunnel from the house down to the river, for the occupants to escape their enemies during troubled times

 

 

We had lunch in a garden centre near the House of the Binns on Saturday, where we saw  wonderful stone owls, made with river stones.  Having picked up a small one to look more closely at, I then went to pick up a bigger one ... only to discover that it was so heavy that I needed both hands to lift it!  That owl ended up coming home with us, to add to Malcolm's collection.  He decided to put it in the remodelled front garden .....

 

 

...... where it was soon joined by this big wooden owl, which Malcolm bought in Indonesia (that one was the start of the collection) ........

 

 

...... and this smaller wooden one, which I gave him some years ago

 

 

I had a busy half hour in the kitchen this morning, turning this

 

 

into this

 

 

and this

 

 

into this

 

 

Later on in the studio, I transformed this

 

 

into this

 

 

and I have already started changing the ball of yarn (gorgeous stuff, 45% silk, 55% superwash merino) into these

 

Although it says child's sock, the pattern has been reworked from a vintage one to fit a small adult foot!

ps - I bought the owl on Saturday as an extra present for Malcolm's birthday, which is this Saturday .......... but I will be away all day at the autumn quilt show at Harrogate!  However I have a special dinner (and a bottle of fizz) planned for Friday night, when he will open his presents, so he isn't too upset!!

Did you notice ......

....... that the blog has had a bit of a makeover!  I thought it was time to have a new look - but I can't claim any credit, as I simply used one of the ready made layouts from Typepad.  I will have to reset my default font ..... I think I have the instructions written down in my notebook where I keep a note of things I might need again - it's all a bit technical for me!

After the disappointment of the chicken soup and dumplings last week, I decided to make my own version for dinner tonight.  I started by frying some chicken thighs in a large saucepan

 

 

and once the fat came out .......

 

 

..... I added 3 onions, which I had blitzed in the processor, using the grater attachment

 

 

I let this cook for a while, then added about 6 large carrots which I had also blitzed

 

 

I put the lid on and let the vegetables sweat, to bring out their flavour.  Then I added about 125g of long grain rice

 

 

I added boiling water until the consistency of the soup looked ok (remembering to allow for the rice swelling) and left it to simmer until the rice was cooked

 

 

Later I shredded the chicken (having removed the skin) and put it back in the soup.  Then it was time to make the dumplings.  OK, I admit it - I cheated and used a packet mix ..........

 

 

....... but I did add fresh herbs - basil, thyme and sage

 

 

Once the dumplings were made, I added them carefully to the soup, so that they sat on top

 

 

Twenty minutes later they looked like this

 

 

A delicious bowl of chicken soup and fresh herb dumplings - a quick, easy and economical dinner

 

 

The soup was even more economical to make than usual, as when I did the shopping this morning, I got the carrots half price - why?  Because there was a date on the label saying they had to be displayed until today and eaten by Thursday ...... ridiculous!!

 

 

I also got chantenay carrots (delicious roasted)

 

 

sweet peppers

 

 

and chillies

 

 

It is so annoying to see vegetables with these use by labels ....... the peppers and chillies will need to be used fairly soon (although I could freeze the chillies), but the carrots will keep for weeks.

 

To finish, the knitting update.  Last night I made up the sheep tea cosy, and had fun adding the curls! 

 

 

I put it on our everyday teapot for the photo, but when Malcolm came home, he got the posh teapot out - it filled the cosy out better!

 

Spellcheck!

After Rachel's recent troubles with spelling fuchsia, I have just consulted the dictionary to check the spelling of buddleia (I keep trying to spell it with a double i).  After remarking to Malcolm the other day that I hadn't seen any butterflies on the buddleia ........ I was delighted to see several this afternoon. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The butterflies are much more colourful than the many sparrows in the front garden - but not as entertaining.  The sparrows chatter and squabble, as they devour their food

 

 

 

In the post this morning, there was another parcel from foreign lands - this time Korea!

 

 

Flushed with my successful first purchase on ebay, I had ventured on again, to find a replacement copy of our Martina McBride dvd, which no longer plays properly.  It cost me a quarter of what Amazon were charging!!

 

 

When I read Thimleanna's blog this morning, I had to laugh out loud when I found that Anna was 'screaming' at me about socks - but then, I got quite excited too when I saw them (I hope you don't mind, Anna, that I 'borrowed' your photo!)

 

 

Socks with sheep on them - fabulous!!  The pattern, by Amy Rutter, is available as a free download here (I tried to find out more about Amy, but although the pattern is also available on Ravelry, there didn't seem to be any information about her).

I haven't yet sewn up the sheep tea cosy, but I have been doing a little fun knitting - fingerless mitts in cotton sock yarn. The pattern is by Jane Lithgow - you can find her blog here

 

 

 

And finally I have been given an award!  The lovely Fiona of Raindrops and Daisies very kindly gave me this award yesterday.  Do pop over and visit Fiona - she always has wonderful photos!

 

 

Of course that means that I have to comply with the conditions of the blog ........ first I have to tell you seven things about me

1. I have small feet (good when knitting socks!)

2. I started to learn Russian at school, but the teacher had to retire through ill health, and there wasn't anyone to take over from him

3. I like watching cricket (my Dad played when I was little)

4. I can't touch type, my fingers get in a muddle

5. I was Dux at primary school (I still have my gold medal)

6. I went to elocution lessons when I was litle (I hated it!)

7. I can't do sudoku!

Now I have to pass the award on to seven of my favourite bloggers.  This is always the difficult part, as I don't want to offend anyone by leaving them out!  As I have passed on awards in the past, today I am going to give this one to bloggers that I have recently discovered ...

1. http://bakingandmaking.com/welcome/ - Tracey has a mix of crafts and cooking

2. http://prettybyhand.com/ - Krystine is a wonderful quilter

3. http://pomegranateandchintz.wordpress.com/ - Meredithe is a prolific quilter

4. http://roo925.blogspot.com/ - Holly is very entertaining

5. http://www.lloydsgirl.blogspot.com/ - pat tels wonderful tales of her family

6. http://bragger-bragger.blogspot.com/ - this blog makes me laugh

7. http://prettyfarwest.blogspot.com/ - the delightful Mise has more cushions than me!

 

Do visit these blogs - they are all entertaining and/or informative!

A grand day out!

On Saturday morning, I headed off down the road to Chesters, for the Southdean Show.  I soon had my little table set up in the marquee

 

 

My friend Lorraine had a table laden with all sorts of delicious goodies

 

 

We had some entertainment watching the cask of beer being tapped

 

 

The beer is brewed here in the Borders - 'from plough to pint'.  You can read more here.  I didn't have any - not just because I was driving, but because I just don't like beer!!

 

 

However I couldn't resist the wonderful aromas coming from the barbecue, and had a naughty but nice roll, with a rasher of bacon, a sausage and onions (and brown sauce!!)

 

 

It wasn't just humans who were enjoying the afternoon ...... I could just have popped this little Westie into my backpack and brought him home

 

 

Outside, some brave volunteers were taking turns to hold this beautiful eagle owl.  He is a young one, and probably only half the size of the two that we see at the Waterwheel Cafe

 

 

I did very well with my sales table ....... and then the afternoon got even better when I went in to the hall after the judging of the industrial section.

 

1st and 2nd for the shawl and baby sandals

 

 

2nd and 3rd for the lavender bags

 

 

1st for my lap quilt

 

 

highly commended for the cushion

 

 

2nd for the bunting

 

 

1st for my melon, pear and strawberry jam

 

 

1st for 'best photograpic accident'

 

 

2nd for 'best photographic accident'

 

 

1st for portrait

 

 

3rd for portrait

 

 

1st for 'animal magic'

 

I won two other awards - but they didn't involve any skills!

 

1st for an old gadget - this was my Dad's

 

 

2nd for a photo of me as a baby with my Mum

 

At the end of the afternoon, when the awards were presented ........ I was delighted to receive two trophies!

 

 

 

the photography trophy

 

 

the Industrial trpohy

 

So, altogether, it was indeed a grand day out!!

 

A change of venue

This morning's post brought another exciting parcel from foreign lands .......

 

 

....... if you need another clue, this is the corner of the customs form

 

 

I was very excited to receive the parcel, as it contained the very first thing that I have ever bought on ebay!!  After wrestling with lots of sticky tape and bubble wrap, I finally reached the contents

 

 

Are you scratching your head, wonderfing what it is?  Here it is set up on the edge of the worktable

 

 

It is a ball winder, which winds the yarn from the swift

 

 

This is the start of the ball

 

 

And this is the end result

 

 

I stuck the label back on, so that I know what yarn it is when I use it

 

 

Now we come to the reason for the cake and the change of venue.  We couldn't have our usual Friday afternoon patch'n'chat at Borderland Fabrics, as there was a group visiting the shop, so I offered to host it in my studio.  Of course we can't have Friday afternoon without cake, so I got out my ancient, old M&S book 'Cooking for your Freezer', by Mary Berry.  The cake is so easy to make, even I can do it!!

 

 

You will need 150g of currants, 150g of sultanas, 150g of brown sugar, finely grated rind of 2 oranges, 300ml of hot tea, 275g self raising flower and 1 egg.

Put the fruit, sugar and orange rind in a bowl and pour over the hot tea.  Leave to soak overnight.  Grease and line a 20cm round cake tin with greased greaseproof paper and preheat the oven to 150 degrees C, 300F gas mark 2.

Add the flour and egg to the fruit mixture.  Mix well, turn into the tin, then back for 90 minutes.  Leave to cool on a wire rack

 

Malcolm and I had a slice with our morning cuppa - purely to make sure that it had turned out ok!

 

 

The cake was declared to be very good by my three guests ...... Tricia, who was handquilting her gorgeous sampler quilt

 

 

Katy, busy with tiny foundation-pieced blocks

 

 

Anne S, with yet another of her tiny log cabin squares

 

 

I made a start to machine quilting a baby quilt (I'm supposed to have it finished for next Saturday!)

 

 

 

I've got all my things packed ready for tomorrow's show ....... including the photography cup, which has been on the mantlepiece for the last year.  Wouldn't it be good if it came back home with me!!  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, love Anne