frayed at the edge

Making amends!

After yesterday's meagre crop of photos, I thought I ought to try harder today ...... and ended up taking 108!!  Of course a lot of them went into the recycle bin, but here is a selection of the better ones.

 

 

the just-after dawn chorus

 

 

never too old to cuddle mum

 

 

I think this mare is in foal

 

 

I had to consult my birdbook - this is a serin

 

 

I'm coming to get you .... our everlasting sweetpea reaching out for a dead clematis

 

 

a sparrow fledgling

 

 

a female sparrow

 

 

a male sparrow

 

 

I managed to pick this cherry before the birds ate it!

 

 

a swallow showing off its forked tail

 

 

this would be a good address for me!

 

To finish, some beautuful red roses in a neighbour's garden

 

 

 

Disorganised!

Having been out for most of the day, I sat down after dinner to transfer my photos to the laptop, and realised that I hadn't taken anything much today ...... oh dear, let's see what I can do with what I have!

 

It was grey and wet this morning .....

 

 

unlike the same scene yesterday morning .....

 

 

But there was one creature enjoying the wet - this rather long earthworm

 

 

Whereas this lovely grey horse just looked bedraggled and miserable!

 

 

It's not just the rain which wets me on my walk - it's also the drips from the trees.  The water running down the middle of the road is from the trees

 

 

And there is no chance of avoiding the drips at this spot where the trees meet over the road!

 

 

After all that misery, there was only one thing to be done after breakfast ...... a long soak in the bath with a good book and a mug of hot chocolate (and I pinched one of Malcolm's little bite-sized cakes!!)

 

 

ps - note to self. please be more organised tomorrow!

 

 

Please don't breathe on me!

 Recently, I read of a very good recipe on my friend Lee's blog ...... chicken cooked with forty cloves of garlic ...... which Lee had found here.  We decided to make it on Saturday for dinner with Stuart and Alison.  Not only did it sound delicious, but it could also be done in the slow cooker - ideal when you have visitors and don't want to spend hours in the kitchen.  I counted out the forty cloves of garlic ......

 

 

....... and picked the fresh herbs from the pot in the garden - getting soaked in the process in the heavy rain

 

 

While I was doing that, Malcolm browned the chicken ......

 

 

....... then we added the other ingredients and left it to cook

 

 

The result - delicious chicken, with a surprisingly mild garlic flavour.  We served it with dauphinois potatoes and broccoli (sorry, I forgot to take a photo of the complete meal!)

 

 

Stuart and Alison headed off mid-morning yesterday, as they wanted to call in at Ikea on the way home (it was the last day of the summer sale!).  We went out to get the Sunday papers, then went for a cuppa at the Woodside Garden Centre.  We were able to get a table by the window, so that we could watch the birds on the feeders (the window was a bit dirty, so the photos aren't as good as I would have liked)

 

 

 

 

The weather over the weekend was miserable, but it didn't stop the bees balm finally flowering!

 

 

 

 

There's lots of colour in the next photo too - this morning's fruit shopping, freshly washed

 

 

To finish, the knitting update.  I have finished the first quarter of the shawl, and have made good progress on the second one

 

Pampering!

All this walking may be good for my health, but it is hard on my poor feet!  However, Malcolm arrived home with this for me today, so my poor little tootsies can have some love and care lavished on them!

 

 

This morning was a bit chilly, and there were little ribbons of mist lingering in the valley

 

 

But there was no mist about when I found my favourite Jacob's sheep were finally in the field next to the road

 

 

 

 

This morning I had the small lens on the camera - so you will have to take my word for it that this is a hare in the middle of the road, not a rabbit!  (much longer ears!)

 

 

There is the promise of more free food in the hedgerow, with the rosehips just starting to ripen

 

 

It was hard not to eat them all myself, but I took the latest crop of raspberries home to share with Malcolm

 

 

I've been busy working on my Baltimore block.  I've stitched all the stems .....

 

 

........ and some of the leaves

 

 

To finish, a flower photo - my wild flower book tells me that this is hedge bindweed - but I much prefer the name that I know it as ...... morning glory!

 

A cool green walk

Yesterday morning, we parked at the Leaderfoot Viaduct, to go for a walk.  After a brief pause to take a quick photo of the magnificent structure.....

 

 

........ we set off along a path we haven't walked before.  There had been some serious tree felling

 

 

Malcolm lingered, admiring the wood!

 

 

Once we had passed the wood, we found ourselves in a heavily wooded, shaded, damp world, with running water on both sides.  There were ferns everywhere .......

 

 

..... some of which were putting out new shoots

 

 

 

There were also fungi growing on a fallen tree

 

 

 

 

I have been busy sewing over the weekend.  I quilted the third chicken wallhanging and added the binding.  Now I just have to sew in all the ends, sew on beads for eyes, and stitch down the binding by hand on the back

 

 

I also did some more prep for the Baltimore quilt, working on a very tricky shape

 

 

I had to cut very carefully round the twirly bit at the bottom, as there is very little fabric between the curves

 

 

It took quite a while to turn in the seam allowances round the curves, so I only got one done.  It's just laid on the background fabric, to see how it looks

 

 

Although I have temporarily halted the knitting project, I do have some knitting to show you - the progress on the baby shawl

 

 

A detail of the pattern

 

 

To finish, a photo of a wild flower I took this morning on my walk.  My wild flower book says it is a field scabious - which is a rather horrid sounding name for such a pretty flower!!

 

Will you please keep still!

For the past few mornings, I have been trying to take a photo of a tree sparrow, which shouts at me as I go past its territory across the road from the church.  Most of the photos have turned out like this .......

 

 

....... because it just won't keep still, but finally, this morning, I managed to take two passable shots

 

 

 

The thistles are now flowering in the verge, with two distinct varieties.  This one has a small flower

 

 

while this is the one which is more familiar

 

 

I took several random photos of flowers this morning, with a vague idea of using the colours in a quilt

 

 

 

 

 

I could also include this beautiful raspberry colour (yes, I ate it!!)

 

 

Just after taking the photo of the raspberry, I had to stand on the verge, out of the way of our neighbour Billy the Farmer, as he came down the hill in his horse transporter (he was very considerate, and is marginally over to the wrong side of the road to pass me!)

 

 

As always for a Friday afternoon, I was at patch'n'chat.  I pinned out the pieces for the next block, and made a start to stitching it (the stray leaf at the bottom is just pinned there out of the way while I stitch the stem on the left)

 

 

And of course (I'm sure that's bad grammar!) we had cake!  Annette is so good to us - we had her wonderful strawberry and fresh cream cupcakes again -delicious!

 

 

 A little silly something to end with ...... I think it's lucky if a black cat crosses your path (but if it's unlucky, then of course I'm not superstitious!!)

 

 

I hope you have a super weekend - no doubt there will be sewing and knitting on the agenda here!!

Love, Anne

I told you there were two!!

I quite often show you photos of the Minto Hills - but because of the angle we see them at, you actually only see one.  But we went for a walk after lunch round a different route ....... and there they were, the two Mintos!

 

 

We also saw Ruberslaw from a different angle

 

 

But to go back to the start of the morning  ........ it was grey and threatening to rain, but as always the roses in the hedgerow provided some lovely colour

 

 

 

When I stopped to take a photo of these two horses, they were both lying down, but one of them stood up, making a much better composition!

 

 

The shorn sheep look comical

 

 

I hope you like animal photos, as here is another one!  A beautiful new horse in the field across the road

 

 

Then during our after-lunch walk ....... well, could you resist this gorgeous beastie?

 

 

....... or this one?

 

 

I am still enjoying playing with the new lens - I didn't have to bend down to take this photo of a tiny feather on the road!

 

 

To finish ....... no, not another animal, but a little sparrow!!

 

 

 

No wool in sight!

On Saturday, while I was enjoying all things woolly, Malcolm took the small camera and headed for Whitehaven, where he found a great variety of things to take photos of. 

 

the harbour

 

 

an unusual bench!

 

 

quayside sculpture

 

 

spiking the cannon when the Americans tried to invade

 

 

part of a sculpture marking the end of mining

 

 

a plaque, set in a seat, showing the tax due on tobacco imports

 

 

a little bit of history

 

On Sunday, we went into Cockermouth ....... we had hoped to find a coffee shop to have breakfast, but there was nowhere open.  Fortunately, good old Greggs came to the rescue, and we were able to enjoy take-away bacon rolls, sitting on a bench in the street (several people stopped to ask where we had got our food, as they too couldn't find an open cafe!)

In November 2009, Cockermouth suffered dreadful floods ...... Malcolm stood under the mark which shows the flood level - it must have been terrifying for the residents

 

 

We visited Wordsworth House, which was the childhood home of the poet William Wordsworth.  The house didn't actually belong to the Wordsworth family, so it doesn't have personal items, but is furnished in the style of the time when Wordsworth lived there.  My favourite room was the kitchen

 

 

 

The garden was devastated by the floods, but as you can see from the following photos, a lot of very hard work has restored it

 

 

 

 

 

This morning, I was meandering striding along, when I heard very loud munching from the other side of the hedge.  I was a bit concerned that a family of mutant giant sheep had moved in to the field ....... so I was quite relieved when I came to the field gate to see these beauties!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rain stopped play .......

...... but not at Wimbledon!  I woke up in the early hours to hear heavy rain, and when I got up it was very grey, damp and misty, with just a little bit of drizzle in the air.  So there was no point in taking the camera with me on my walk - I didn't really think you would want photos of low cloud and dripping trees.  However, I did get to play with the new lens a little later on in the morning, trying to capture raindrops landing in a puddle in the front garden!

 

 

 

 

Rain was going to feature in yesterday's post ...... but first, some of the other photos that got left out!  I finished the knitted cushion covers (having finally remembered to buy foam pads for them!)

 

 

I was putting something away in the airing cupboard on Saturday, when I found cushions which I made about ten years ago.  I thought they would be ideal to put on two of the kitchen chairs

 

 

The centres of the cushions were practice pieces for free motion quilting

 

 

 

 

Now to return to the subject of rain.  On Sunday afternoon, it suddenly started to rain.  This was no ordinary rain ...... this was rain of biblical proportions ....... and I was out in the studio!

 

wet,wet,wet

 

 

the rain bouncing on the summerhouse roof!

 

So until the rain went off, I had to stay in the studio ........ but at least I had Bruce Willis to keep me company

 

yes, he did once have hair!!

 

Fortunately I had taken some photos of the front garden before the havoc wreaked by the downpour

 

the climbing rose has just started to flower

 

 

our new peony

 

 

a teeny, tiny alpine

 

 

a bee on the honeysuckle

 

To finish, an update on Malcolm's sore finger!  The awful black bit on his nail has gradually come off - fortunately leaving some nail underneath.  Although the nail is a bit lumpy and bumpy, hopefully over the next few months it will grow ok

 

 

Blurred at the edge

This tale of woe started back in March.  I went to have my routine eye test, and although I was surprised when the optician said that my right eye had changed a great deal (he actually said it had gone from being short sighted to long sighted), I assumed that he knew what he was doing.  The new glasses duly arrived, and after struggling with them for a few days, I decided they just weren't right and took them back.  To shorten a very long story, I got a refund and went to another optician, who completely disagreed with the first optician.  So today I went to collect the new glasses ..... and they have to be sent back, as they have not been given the proper coating ........ aaaargh!! 

On to happier things!  The other day, when I was reading Meredithe's blog, she mentioned the town of Tyabb.  I then had this conversation with Malcolm

me : we went to Tyabb when we had our Melbourne holiday, didn't we

him: yes

me : that's where Magic patch Quilting was

him : if you say so, I don't remember what all the quilting shops you visited were called

So I googled Magic Patch Quilting - up came its entry in Yellow Pages - and yes, it is in Tyabb.  So I left a comment for Meredithe saying I had been in the shop and had bought a kit.  Meredithe replied, asking if I had made the kit ........ well, almost!!

 

I liked the box so much, I kept it!

 

 

I have done all the stitching, but haven't made anything yet!

 

 

a closer look at the friends shopping

 

 

I used French knots for two of the flowers  ........

 

 

and tiny beads for the eyes

 

 

I wonder how much fabric she has in her shoppping bag!

 

I hadn't done any work on my Baltimore block since last Friday, so this afternoon, I stitched and stitched until I finished the petals on the big flower

 

 

Of course I had to have a short break for my cuppa and cake ....

 

 

....... I chose this one with little sugar hearts

 

 

As you enjoyed last week's round-up of sundry photos, I thought I would do the same again this week

 

honeysuckle in the front garden

 

 

an interesting piece of bark and lichen I found the other morning

 

 

this lovely grass escaped the verge mowing

 

 

this is the first foxglove that I've seen in the verge!

 

I hope you all have a great weekend - it's Fathers' Day on Sunday, so I will be taking Malcolm out for a full Scottish breakfast!  Love, Anne