frayed at the edge

A small pause .........

......... while we move into our new home!  We have lots to do over the next couple of weeks, so I will be taking a short break from blogging - but don't worry, I will be back as soon as possible to tell you all about the house (and more importantly, my new studio!).

For tonight's post, another ship!  When we got up yesterday morning, we saw this ship, which had come into the dock overnight.  As always there was a steady stream of lorries all day loading it, then when we got up this morning it had gone!

 

these photos of the swans swimming round the previous ship in the dock somehow didn't make it into a post!

 

some of them headed out of the dock

 

but others stayed, hoping for spilled seed to eat

 

who is this handsome chap, and where is he going?

 

yes, it is Malcolm walking out to the lighthouse, while I was at home doing the ironing.  But with the aid of the big lens on the camera, I could see him!!

 

I'll be back soon, with stories from the next exciting chapter of our lives!!

An excellent day!

On Saturday I headed over to Kelso, to spend the day with some of the ladies from Abbey Quilters.  As always, it was good to see what everyone was working on.  Elaine was layering up this very pretty scrappy quilt (I might have to add one to my to-do list)

 

Sheila was working on some applique blocks - I love her choice of batik fabrics

 

Ivy's quilt is made with a selection of beautiful Japanese fabrics, and the plain stars really pop

 

Lorraine's little quilt is made with Liberty fabrics (one day I WILL cut up my Liberty fabrics!)  You might not see from the photo, but the white background is also made of lots of little hexies

 

Rineke was very patient as I took photos of the progress on her stack-and-whack (if you google stack and whack you will find lots of info on it).  First, the centre of the quilt

 

then with two plain borders added

 

and a final border of a lovely soft floral fabric, which she said she had bought years ago to make a dress with!

 

this is Liz's scrappy quilt.  It looks very complicated, but using templates to cut the blocks means that only the seams of the squares have to be matched, none of the other seams meet

 

Margaret was working on her latest whimsical block - Little Boy Blue

 

hopefully Margaret will be holding an exhibition of her work in April - planning is in the very early stages.  As soon as I have the details I will let you know ....... I hope lots of you will come along, as it is to raise money for her disabled grandson Harry, to fund his very successful playing of boccia (this is an old newspaper report about Harry)

 

when Stuart mentioned he was going to a formal dinner on Friday night, I of course demanded a photo of him in his kilt, as I know lots of you like to see a handsome young man in a kilt.  Now, you may think this is a photo of him with his girlfriend Alison, but it isn't ..........

 

......... it is a photo of him with his brand-new fiancée Alison (cue much jumping up and down and squealing from his thrilled Mum ....... Malcolm was slightly more sedate in his congratulations!!) 

 

A bit poorly

Hello, my dear peeps.  Since I was last here, I have been struck down with a nasty, awful bout of the flu. I have hardly stirred from my bed since Friday night!  I have coughed so much I'm surprised that my lungs haven't turned inside out!  The last time I had flu was in 1995, the winter after my Mum died.  I sincerely hope it's that long until I have another bout ....... no, actually, I hope I never have another bout!

Hope to back to normal blogging next week, love Anne

On the move

We were out and about in Northumberland again on Saturday, this time visiting Alnwick.  First stop was this imposing old church ......

 

........ which is so big it wouldn't fit in one photo!

 

I assume this sad little headstone marks a child's grave, but there is no inscription on it

 

unlike this one, which tells you in detail of the deceased

 

in days gone by, if you were trying to invade the castle .......

 

if you didn't impale yourself on these vicious railings

 

you would have been bombarded

 

by the defenders from above

 

as we walked on round the town, I rather liked this pile of beer barrels, with their bright stripes

 

a dainty garden gate

 

but why have a door, when you can simply walk round the end of the wall!

 

why is this pub world famous?

 

for a rather scary reason

 

you can just make out one of the dirty bottles

 

there was a delicious aroma of cheese in the air as we passed this shop

 

the castle and gardens are closed for the winter

 

but you can walk past this magnificent gate

 

can you spot the lock, and where the gate opens (you can click on the photo to enlarge it)

 

a detail of one of the birds on the gate

 

and one of the beautiful glass flowers

 

sadly the ice cream kiosk was closed .......

 

we drove on to Bamburgh, and there were the usual problems of taking a photo of the castle from the car - a bump in the road and you get more sky than you want

 

or the car in front won't get out of the way!!

 

when we parked, we found that most of the shops and tearooms were shut ........ but fortunately there was one open, serving the most delicious scone with jam and clotted cream - bliss on a plate!

 

yesterday morning when I got up and looked out the bedroom window, I was rather surprised to see a naval vessel sitting offshore.  It sat there for a while, then sailed off, so I will never know what it was doing there

 

some weeks ago, I teased you with talk of being out and about in Northumberland as part of a BIG project.  So now it is time to reveal some of what we have been up to.  The empty shelves in my studio give a small clue

 

then there are all these boxes sitting in the hall

 

and pictures down from the walls and stacked in the "fitness room"

 

yes, we are moving!!  The house had been on the market for some months, when suddenly, just before Christmas, up popped buyers.  Barring any last minute hiccups, we move out in three weeks' time!!  So where are we going ...... yes, you've guessed, we are moving to Northumberland, where Malcolm was born and grew up.  We have had our offer accepted on a house, but it is very early in the  lengthy process of buying it, so I'll wait until things are further down the line before I tell you about it.  When we move out of this house, everything will go into storage, and we will go and live in the flat - we are fortunate that we have that option, otherwise we would have had to rent a house.  However, I will still be sewing, and I will definitely still be blogging!!  (and working on my 17 in 2017!)

 

 

Exciting times!

We have had a very busy day, working on a top secret project that you will have to wait some weeks to find out about!!  These are the only photos I took all day!

First, a dainty little shortbread star with our morning cuppa

 

Malcolm's lunch - a cheese savoury baguette

 

and my lunch, a coronation chicken baguette

 

no doubt like us, you will be busy over the weekend with preparations for Christmas (I must remember to give the cake its next dose of brandy!)  Have a great weekend, love Anne

Before we see the Happy Mail

we have to pop out into the garden this morning, to admire the clouds

 

with just a faint tinge of pink

 

and a hint of sunshine

 

and now for the Happy Mail.  When we got home last week, there was a parcel for me from one of my lovely long-term readers, Dawn (no blog).  I was delighted to find this owly work bag, which she had sent me for my birthday

 

it is already in use, keeping safe my latest pair of socks for Malcolm

 

next, this beautifully wrapped parcel

 

which contained this gorgeous notebook to add to my collection (perhaps I could use this one to keep track of all my other notebooks?!).  So where did this come from?

 

it is my first purchase from the etsy shop which has just been opened by the delightful Crafty Brownies.  If you haven't already discovered their blog, do head over and have a browse, as they have a variety of super craft tutorials ........ and then visit their lovely new shop which is filled with all sorts of gorgeousness!

 

when I was at the Quilt Show just before we went on holiday, I had intended to by some Christmas themed buttons from the Stitch Witch, to embellish my "Santa Stop Here" wallhanging, but she wasn't there!  So I ordered them online, and they arrived while we were away.  How cute are these little snowmen

 

and the parcels look good under the tree

 

to finish ....... no, these didn't arrive in the post!  I had bought them when I did the food shopping on Monday, and Malcolm assumed that I was going to make some sort of exotic dish with them.  NO!!  They are my seasonal decoration ....... and one day I will get round to making a Hallowe'en quilt with the fabrics I bought a year or two ago!!

 

The big day!

Thank you for all your lovely good wishes for our special day last Monday!  In my last post, I mentioned the statue of the naked man in front of the Registry Office in Winchester.  We were delighted  to see he was still there, although he was rather overshadowed by the large tree behind him

 

I was careful with the angles from which I took the photos, as he is anatomically correct!

 

this is the stairway where we posed for the photo after we were married, and I hoped that I would be able to ask a passer-by to take a photo of us ........ but there was only one man in sight, and he was far to busy with his phone to interrupt

 

we chose this restaurant to go for a celebration lunch, as that is what we did on the big day, rather than a dinner in the evening

 

our lovely waiter was happy to take photos of us saying "cheers" - I couldn't decide which was the better photo, so I have included both of them!

 

we both chose the same meal, starting with the most delicious steak, doused in garlic butter, with excellent chips

 

then the waiter offered us coffee on the house as an anniversary gift ........ I very rarely drink coffee, but it was a lovely gesture, and I did enjoy a cup (then Malcolm drank the rest of mine!)

 

then pudding arrived!  A delectable hot peach crumble, topped with a scoop of ice cream!

 

later, back at the converted coach house where we were staying (more of that tomorrow), we sat out on the little deck in the garden to drink champagne, in the bright sunshine

 

we need more practice taking selfies!!  I balanced the camera on a fence post and set the timer ....... you can't really hold a big camera up on a selfie stick!

 

I would love to tell you that Malcolm gave me this Ferrari for our anniversary ......... but sadly no!  It was parked outside the hotel we stayed in on  the Friday night on our way down to Hampshire, having arrived with a bride in it for one of several weddings which were taking place that day

 

my present to Malcolm (and me) was our week's holiday in Hampshire, and his present to me was this beautiful jewellery.  He did offer to give me pearls, but as I already have some beautiful pearls, I was delighted with this silver bracelet and ring, which is set with a peridot

 

I am slowly sorting out over 800 photos, so I'll be back tomorrow with a few more to share with you.

A very special day!

On Monday we will celebrate our Pearl Wedding Anniversary ........ yes, thirty glorious years!  Here we are looking slightly apprehensive as we set off for the Registry Office in Winchester  (all these years later, I still have the scarf, as it was the first present Malcolm gave me!)

 

our friends Jo and George were our witnesses, and Stuart was delighted that he got to sign the register as well!  We were married by two lady Registrars, who had a box of tissues to hand for our happy tears (only George didn't shed a tear!)

 

posing on the steps of the Registry Office - what you can't see is the statue of a naked man on a horse, which was in front of us!

 

if you are thinking "so she's not a natural blonde" ....... that isn't my natural colour either!!

 

to celebrate our anniversary, we are heading off down to Hampshire tomorrow.  We will be there for a week, having a wonderful trip down memory lane - we lived there for three and a half years, so there are lots of places we want to visit.  Then on Saturday the 3rd (Malcolm's birthday) we head over to Cambridgeshire, where we moved to from Hampshire.  We lived there for eighteen months, although for a large part of that Malcolm was working away from home, so he doesn't have as many memories as I do of our time there.  We will be back home on Monday the 5th, so you will have to do without me until Tuesday the 6th!!  I'm looking forward to sharing our trip with you then!

 

 

 

Not much to report!

I spent the morning doing some housework (boring), then in afternoon at the hairdressers, having my blonde gorgeousness restored (I do enjoyed being pampered!), so I only have a handful of photos to share with you.  As I was moving the orchids off the kitchen windowsill this morning to a) clean the windowsill, and b) water the orchids, I realised that I hadn't done an orchid report for a while.  This little one has just started flowering

 

this very pale one has been flowering for some months now

 

this big one has been flowering for several weeks

 

it has beautiful strong markings on the petals

 

through in the guest bedroom, something strange has happened with this orchid.  At first I thought it was putting out a new flower shoot, but it produced a leaf.  It grew some more, then produced another leaf, and now it is finally producing some flower buds.  In all the time that I have kept orchids (I can't claim to grow them, all I do is water them and occasionally feed them) I have never had one produce a shoot like this

 

in the "fitness room" (aka the smallest bedroom), I have a plant in a basket that I have had for years.  I had it for several years before we moved to Hawick, and that will be ten years ago at the end of the month.  Every summer it puts out a flower spike.  You might think this is reasonably impressive ........ but when we have been on holiday in Portugal, we have seen this plant growing in roadside verges, and reaching heights of eight feet or more!

 

I occasionally mention the implements of torture, which I endure first thing in the morning, to counteract the sconnage and cake consumption.  There is a small television in the room, so that as I trundle along, I can watch the early morning news and weather forecast.  I know that if I didn't get up early to endure the torture, I simply wouldn't do it later in the day, as I would always have an excuse not to do it

A peaceful day!

After all the drama of Tuesday morning, I was quite happy to have some peace and quiet yesterday!  We had a little jaunt to Lauder, where we went for lunch in The Flat Cat.  Perusing the menu, I saw that there was a cheese baguette, but it came with tomato pickle (don't like it).  Then there was one with ham, but it came with wholegrain mustard (don't like it).  So I asked very nicely if I could have ham and cheese......... it did come with a little pot of tomato pickle, which didn't taste too much of tomato!  And the beautifully presented salad must have counted as two of my 5-a-day

 

after lunch we had a stroll round the village - I don't think this bike has been ridden for a while!

 

Malcolm suggested a walk round the churchyard

 

I couldn't decide which was the better of these two photos of the church ........

 

........ so I have included both of them

 

there are all sorts of old gravestones, from small ones almost lost in the grass

 

to vast family plots

 

Malcolm drew my attention to this one ........

 

......... as it mentions Geelong in Australia, which we have visited - perhaps we may have encountered their descendants?

 

I've mentioned before that I think it is sad that a lot of gravestones are gradually being worn away

 

this one is now badly eroded

 

however this one is still clearly legible

 

after our walk round the churchyard, I may have popped into this little shop

 

and I may have come home with this super-cute owl scarf

 

I'll be back tomorrow with lots of sewing - and a bit of knitting!!