frayed at the edge

Drink, drink, drink

You will remember that some weeks ago I started making sloe gin, then added Turkish Delight vodka and limoncello.  Yesterday afternoon I bottled them using the smart bottles that I got here.  First was the vodka - I poured it through a fine nylon sieve, to remove the few lumps of Turkish Delight which hadn't dissolved

 

Then it was the turn of the limoncello - I have kept the slivers of lemon peel, as they will be good added to other drinks

 

and lastly the sloe gin ....

 

Malcolm recently saw a suggestion for using the sloes after making the gin - adding them to port, so that is what I did!

 

We are sacrificing giving a bottle of each one to Stuart and Alison, so today I added some labels, pretty ribbon and gift tags

 

Also today, I got organised to ice the cake

 

The first stage was to heat some of the apricot jam to brush over the cake, which I would normally do in a small saucepan ...... but there was a slight problem as Malcolm was cleaning the cooker

 

so instead I zapped it in the microwave and soon the cake was glazed with the jam

 

Oh the joys of rready-rolled icing - open the packet, unroll it, and pop it on the cake

 

Then it only took another minute to add Lorraine's wonderful marzipan fruits and some ribbon (I don't like marzipan, so I don't cover the cake with it before icing it, and instead add the marzipan fruits for Malcolm!)

 

Over the last few weeks, Malcolm has been decorating the bathroom, just doing a little bit every afternoon (except for the final coat of emulsion, which I did, as I make a better job of it!).  I kept forgetting to take photos along the  way .... so here is the reveal

the cactus on the windowsill are actually candles!

 

I only noticed the plant when I put the photos on the computer - it should be on the side of the bath!

 

a smart new shower curtain

 

I forgot to get a piece of red ribbon for the wreath wall hanging, so I have used this gold one instead .... but I have attached it with a tiny gold safety pin so that I can change it

 

I forgot all about the knitting update yesterday.  The scarf is now finished - but I forgot to take a photo of it (I'm not doing very well, am I!!)  I am having a break from knitting until after the New Year - instead I am finishing prepping my hexagons.  I can't start stitching them until they are all prepped and I can lay out the pattern, so I want to get them done!

ps - the little bits of Turkish Delight from the vodka weren't wasted - we had them with some icecream for pudding last night ..... delicious!!

Not so co-operative!

It's just as well that Lorraine and I had our day out yesterday, as this was the scene that greeted me this morning

 

The sky was so leaden and full of snow that the view looked black and white

 

Despite the heavy snow ......

 

...... the birds were still busy feeding - you can see snow on the tit's tail

 

The poor robin was not his usual chirpy self

 

But these two sparrows looked content to sit in the snow covered bush

 

 

The sheep just kept on eating!

 

 

Now for some colour!  One of the tiny orchids had just started to flower - you can see the much smaller flower on the left, compared to the large flowers of the other one

 

Because of the weather, I missed this afternoon's patch'n'chat, so, sorry, but there is no Friday cake to drool over!  I also didn't manage to take a better photo of the fabric I bought yesterday, as the light was so poor all day. 

 This is the  last of the wallhangings - I know you have seen the tree several times, but this is to show that it is finished!

 

I spent quite a lot of time this afternoon sorting through a large batch of my many, many photos, putting them into folders and transferring them to my external hard drive for safe keeping.  While I was busy, Malcolm pointed out the colour in the sky - I was so lazy I simply lifted the camera and pointed it out of the window!

 

 

 

There are changes afoot for Shadow Shot Sunday - I should be able to tell you in tomorrow's post what is happening, when I will also show you the last of the photos from Melrose Abbey.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, love Anne

Looking both ways

On Sunday we went to the Waterwheel Cafe for a cuppa, which of course meant we also went to see the owls.  They are awkward things - as soon as you get close, they turn their heads right round the other way   

Malcolm went round the other side to get them to turn back towards me

 

 

Yesterday morning, when I went to Hawick for the usual grocery shopping, I also had some things to do in town, so I left the car in the supermarket car park and walked across the footbridge over the River Teviot.  I was hoping to see the heron, but he wasn't there.  But there were several gulls like this one......

 

....... and one lonely duck!

 

However, when I walked on over to the River Slitrig, I found the heron that patrols that stretch of the river sitting on the bank

 

 

Just inches from the heron, this male blackbird was poking happily through the grass

 

After lunch, I went out for a walk.  I didn't have to go far before meeting my first ewe ...... she just stood watching me until I took the photo and walked on

 

In the field beyond the church were these wonderful ewes with their striking faces

 

 

At the start of the year I had to climb over a fence and struggle through bushes to take photos of the Jacob's sheep, but it was a bit easier yesterday with the long lens

 

 

I walked on round to the other field where there are sometimes more Jacob's sheep, and found that not only were the Jacobs there, but also this ewe .........

 

........ the old donkey

 

...... and a goose!

 

This next photo is for Rachel and Sarah, just to show that I'm not completely biased against cats - this one crossed my path as I walked back home

 

There are still a lot of apples on the trees in one of the neighbour's orchard ....

 

The only things that stops me jumping over the low wall to pick some? ........ it is a long way down on the other side!!

 

To finish, another of the Christmas wallhangings - Santa and Rudolph

 

All the fun of the fair!

On Saturday morning, Malcolm headed off into Hawick as usual and I packed all my goodies in the car and headed down the road the Southdean Village Hall.  There was a moment or two of panic when I saw the size of my table - how would I ever fit everything on it!  I wasn't the only one with that concern, but the idea of the organisers was to have lots of small tables to provide a wide variety, rather than just a few large tables.  Eventually most things were squeezed on

 

with the bargain basket on a chair in front of the table

 

Then I realised that the bunches of dried lavender were still in a poly bag - oops ...... so that meant another photo!

 

My friend Lorraine had the table next to me  - and she sensibly had brought an extra little table to add to the front to give her more display space for her wonderful, cakes, jam, chutneys, liqueuers ...

 

..... and her fabulous marzipan fruits

 

So how did it go?  Quite well ...... of course I would have liked to have sold more, but I did sell a reasonable amount (and then spent a large part of what I had made buying something for Malcolm's Christmas!)  There is still rather a lot in the bargain basket, but the rest of the stuff is now packed into one box (except for the painted pine cones - I only sold one packet of them!)

 

And I may just have bought something for myself ....... well, could you have resisted this!  It's only about two inches tall - I think I will put it in a little box frame

 

Yesterday we went to Melrose, as we had a voucher for free entry to Melrose Abbey.  You can read about the Abbey here and here.  Although there was a chilly wind, the sun was shining and the sky was a brilliant blue.  Most of the photos will be appearing in future Shadow Shot Sundays, but here is a little taste

 

 

Back home, by the time I had tidied away the leftovers from the fair, I just had time to do a little bit of sewing.  You might have noticed that I didn't do my Farmer's Wife blocks last week, so I thought I had better get one done!

 

Then a quick fmq ....... a little bit of background filler

 

...... and back to basics with a little bit of stippling - I love this variegated thread

 

Now to the knitting update.  I have finished one sock .....

 

..... but haven't done the heel on the other one, as I knitted (yet) another pair of Cranford mitts.  I finished them on Friday morning, just in time to take them to patch'n'chat to give to my friend Jane - sorry, i forgot to take a photo!  I have also finally made a start to the Glimpse scarf.  Although it looks complicated, it is fairly simple to knit.  The blue edge at the top is the provisional cast-on.  This will be the centre of the scarf.  After knitting the first half, I'll pick up the stitches from the cast-on edge and knit the second half

 

To finish, two photos which I took on the way home yesterday.  The first one isn't too clear, as I was pointing the camera towards the sun .......

 

....... but in this second one you can see that it is a shepherdess, complete with crook and two sheepdogs!

 

If you are on a diet ......

..... look away now!  We went up to Galashiels this morning, as Malcolm wanted to go to B&Q to buy more insulation for the loft - he has gradually been adding an extra layer, which is a big job as, because it is a single storey house, we have a lot of loft!!  Once that was purchased, and we had done a little bit of shopping, we had to decide where to go for lunch.  We could have had a delightful burger from the van which is always parked in B&Q's carpark ......

 

or we could have visited a certain well known fast-food chain (if you torture me I will admit that I am partial to a Big Mac ....... in fact you don't have to torture me, just tickle my feet!!)

 

However, good taste prevailed, and we went to Lochcarron, where we had the most wonderful Thai chicken soup, with cheese and onion bread

 

Back home, I quickly put the shopping away, before heading put for knit'n'natter ..... but I did take a moment to take aphoto of the new pots of herbs that I had bought for the kitchen windowsill ......

 

...... and yet another photo of this fabulous orchid

 

When I was in Kelso for knit'n'natter, I bought this month's Good Food magazine.  It was in a package which contained this calendar ......

 

....... and a recipe card for a choclate cheesecake, which I won't be tempted to make as it made with white chocolate, which I really don't like!

 

I hadn't yet decided what to knit with my lovely laceweight yarn, after frogging the shawl I had started, but then I saw this pretty scarf.  The pattern does look a little bit complicated, so I may just knit a little swatch first!

 

A silly photo to finish!  I took this first thing this morning through the back bedroom window.  It may look as if the sheep is standing on top of the wall, but really it is in the field behind the house!

Gingerbread family

Yesterday I mentioned that I had bought some ready made gingerbread pastry - you may have thought I had just made that up ........ but it is true!

 

I have a set of cutters to make an entire gingerbread family ......

 

...... but I also have this set, which has all sorts of shapes, which is probably what I'll use, having been inspired by this post from Rattling on...

 

It was a hard decision to pick one of my new hot chocolates this morning, but I finally settled on the Rocky Road.  It was delicious ..... dark and rich, but not too sweet.  Do you like Malcolm's coffee mug - I bought it for him some years ago.  When you drink all the coffee, there is a heart on the bottom!

 

Every so often, my bathroom door hinges start squeaking.  I like to have a quick and easy way to do things - so this fits the bill!  It only takes seconds to oil the hinges and there is no smell

 

At patch'n'chat this afternoon, Cath was working on a small quilt which she is making to go across the bottom of the bed in her guest bedroom.  I love the colours - autumn shades are definitely my favourites

 

Now that we are well into November, we are allowed to mention Christmas!  Pam was working on some bright Christmas stockings

 

And now for the best bit of Friday posts ...... the cake.  Annette has been unwell, so she hadn't baked this week.  But we had the next-best thing - cakes from local firm Border Meringues.  First there was lemon drizzle cake, one of my favourites ..... absolutely yummy

 

Then there was an unusual orange and chocolate cake.  I had of course to eat a piece of this one as well, solely so that I could tell you about it!  It was enjoyable, but not as good as the lemon drizzle. 

 

I'll be busy tomorrow making things for my sales table (chocolate could be involved!), then on Sunday I'm off to have a day with like minded crafty folk at a Woolgathering ... I missed the last one, so it will be good to catch up with what the others have been doing.  Whatever you are doing, I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne

I might get married again ......

.....if I can go to the wedding in this!

 

If you too would like to get married in style, then the websites are helpfully displayed on the horsebox!

 

There was another reason for thinking about weddings - we were in the historic town of Gretna, which has a long and colourful history of slightly unusual wedding ceremonies.  Do click on the link - it is fascinating reading!

However we were there for a very different reason - we had gone to do some Christmas shopping at Gretna Gateway shopping centre.  However, before we could start shopping, we had to make the most of several excellent photo opportunities.  As we drove in to the car park, we saw some wonderful cattle in the adjoining field

 

Then there was all this wonderful old farm machinery

 

When we left Gretna, we crossed into England for a few miles ....... but soon we were back on the right road!

 

We stopped in Langholm for a cuppa, where Malcolm spotted this old sign painted on the wall of a hotel

 

Of course I can't show you the presents that we bought, but I can show you what I succumbed to ........ when we do the housework on Friday mornings, we have a mid-morning cuppa.  I make a cappuchino (I'm not sure that's the correct spelling!) for Malcolm, amd I have a proper hot chocolate made with milk.  There were all sorts of flavours, so it took me some time to decide which ones to buy (although the white chocolate ones were ruled out immediately, as I really don't like white chocolate!)

 

I also bought the lovely shopping bag.  I now have so many re-usable shopping bags in the boot of my car, I hardly have enough  room to put the shopping in!

Friday round-up

When I was doing the housework this morning, I moved the orchids off the kitchen windowsill so that I could clean it, which reminded me that I haven't yet shown you the latest ones to flower!  We have one wall painted a dark red in the kitchen, which provided the perfect backdrop  for the photos .......

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I filled the bird feeders this morning, it wasn't long before the tits were tucking in

 

 

 

Then the bully boy sparrows turned up!

 

 

The Friday cake at patch'n'chat was a delicious spiced tealoaf - most of us spread some butter on it, for an extra treat!

 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend - I will be busy sewing!!  Love, Anne

 

 

In a tangle!

Unlike Rachel, who showed off gleaming locks in this post, my hair was looking less than happy this morning!

 

The problem?  My hairdryer had been a bit poorly recently, refusing to blow at its usual rate.  I asked Malcolm to have a look at it - he took it apart, couldn't find what the problem was ...... then simply couldn't get it to fit back together!  So until I can buy a new one, I'll have to make do with my travel one ...... which is just a little bit small and underpowered

 

However, some time later my hair was finally dry and straight again (it only curls when it gets longer!)

 

As the sun was shining, we popped over to Jedburgh, and had a walk round the town before lunch.  This acer was a blaze of colour against the blue sky

 

Can you just picure the two of us rattling around our country roads on these two fabulous machines - perhaps we could hire ourselves out to move sheep to other filelds, or bring the cows in for milking

 

I had to drag Malcolm away from this pile of logs, before he tried to stuff them in his pockets to take home!

 

Malcolm spotted this carving above the library door

 

The restoration work on the fountain has finally finished

 

Back home, Malcolm was pottering about the garden while I was in the studio.  He stuck his head in the door and shouted for me to come quickly and bring the camera.  There was a wonderful rainbow .... this is it as seen from the back garden

 

and this from the front

 

I am going to a workshop on Saturday, so I thought I ought to organise the rather long list of requirements

 

I looked out my workshop bag .......

 

it has a pocket at the back for the cutting mat and ruler

 

and two zipped plastic pockets which are held in place with velcro

 

I also cleaned the sewing machine and stowed it away in its case, so everything is ready for Saturday morning ....... I'll be out on Friday evening, which is why I'm getting organised early (I'll tell you all about the evening out and the workshop is tomorrow). 

 

I have started the prep for the next Baltimore block - ok, I have to admit that I have put the Hawaiian block aside, as it will have to be needleturned, which is my least favourite method of applique!

 

ps - I have done my Farmer's Wife blocks for this week, I'll show them to you tomorrow!

Blame the one-click!!

You know that I bought Malcolm a Kindle for our Silver Wedding.  He is really pleased with it - although he does still read 'real' books.  Then we bought one for Stuart as a combined birthday/Christmas present ..... and he really loves it!  My friends Anne S. and Tricia also love theirs.  So when I got an email from Amazon telling me that they were launching a new, cheaper Kindle ........

 

Yes, that one-click button did the deed, and this arrived in the post this morning

 

It's smaller and lighter than Malcolm's and can hold fewer books - but I really don't think that's a problem, as it has the capacity to store 1,400!

Friday of course means cake at patch'n'chat, but we had to make do with shop bought cakes, as Annette is away on holiday!  Still, we all tucked in to the choice of fruit loaf .......

 

....... and Swiss roll - I don't know when I last had a piece of Swiss roll!

 

I'm off to play with my Kindle get on with my knitting!  I hope you all have a good weekend, love Anne