frayed at the edge

This and that

Jennifer is continuing to make a good recovery after breaking her leg so badly back in March, so yesterday morning we popped down to Morpeth and picked her up, to go out for a cuppa.  We headed to Newbiggin, to try out a new café, only to find it was closed!  However, the second place we went to was definitely open!

 

Malcolm had been here before

 

but Jennifer and I hadn't visited it

 

so we were eager to see if it lived up to Malcolm's description

 

we weren't disappointed, and loved the tiny timers, which told us when our tea was ready to pour

 

the bright sun shining in the window was creating strange shadows on the table!  Jennifer had an excellent cheese scone

 

I had a delicious Mars Bar slice, and for some reason I didn't take a photo of Malcolm's gingerbread

 

back home, Malcolm set about painting the newly-cleaned deck with deck oil

 

by the end of the afternoon, the transformation was amazing!  He is thinking of painting the uprights and the top rails with a bright colour

 

this is my latest orchid, which I bought several weeks ago in the local garden centre for only £5!

 

one of these days I will get round to making an applique quilt with orchids flowers

 

I brought this tiny stapler home from from Indonesia, so I have had it for about 20 years ……. and I have finally got to the last little strip of staples.  I can't remember what the stapler cost, but the box of staples still has the price on it, which works out at about 15 pence!

I am still very busy sewing for my lovely friend Margaret, Queen of Applique, so I won't be here through the week, but I will be back next Saturday, to give you my June report for 6&6 in 2018.  I hope you have a great weekend, love Anne

 

 

 

Very Happy Mail!

 I was somewhat surprised today to receive an envelope in the post with a Guernsey stamp on it, as I don't know anyone there

 

but all was soon explained ...... the envelope contained a card made by one of those companies that you can upload a photo to, and they turn it into a card and send it out for you.  And what a lovely card it is, a thank you for the pink unicorn quilt, from the parents of the gorgeous Jasmine, seen here with her quilt

 

Stuart mentioned recently that two more of his friends are to become fathers soon, so of course that means I get to have fun making baby quilts.  Sue has a sale on at The Quilt Shop (it's only on until next Wednesday, so you will have to get your skates on if you want some excellent bargains)

 

so I bought two bundles of fat quarters - oh my, the quilts are going to be bright!

 

I also succumbed to this batik jelly roll .......

 

over the last few weeks, I have been a bit worried about my Christmas cactus, which has gone a funny purple colour, and looks somewhat limp

 

so imagine my surprise yesterday when I noticed flower buds

 

I am so pleased that it is going to flower, I won't tell it that there are still quite a few weeks to go until Christmas!

 

do you remember I showed you this ivy some months ago.  I had given it to my Dad, not long before he died, so it is about twelve years old.  As you can see it is thriving since Malcolm re-potted it

 

I have always had houseplants, and the current crop are doing well

 

the yucca is still home to my Parliament of owls

 

this one is probably about four times its original size

 

and the rubber plant will soon be touching the ceiling!

 

the orchids haven't been happy since we moved here, although that may be because I have had them for years

 

looking beyond them into the front garden, the dahlias are still flowering

 

this one is quite happy growing in an old coal scuttle

 

this fern has had to be moved to the side of the mantelpiece, because we are lighting the fire in the evenings

 

I also love to have a vase of fresh flowers too - they just somehow find their way into the trolley every few weeks when I do the weekly food shop

 

it's Friday, so that of course means food!  We were in Morpeth yesterday, and decided to have a bite of lunch in The Morpeth Larder

 

Malcolm went up to the counter to order a Coronation chicken sandwich for us to share

 

and when he came back, he had to confess that he couldn't resist adding this excellent cheese scone to the order!

 

to finish, this is yesterday morning's sunrise - spectacular!

 

I will be heading down the road to The Quit Shop tomorrow, to do a class with the lovely Lucie - I am sure it will be fun!  I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne

Positively blooming!

Despite being moved first to the flat, and then to the new house, the orchids are doing well.  The small windowsills at the top end of the kitchen are perfect for them

 

and they are flowering away - if they are unhappy, they promptly drop all their flowers

 

the one on the left has been flowering for months (and now that I have written that, it will drop its flowers!)

 

this is one of two which have put out new flower shoots since we moved in

 

the house is gradually getting sorted out - although after I took this photo yesterday, Malcolm hung one of my big embroideries over the coffee table, so I will need to take another photo

 

we are enjoying having the coal fire burning in the evenings

 

the garden room looks good with lots of pictures on the walls

 

and the gnome brothers and sisters like sharing the couch, instead of being on separate chairs!

 

Stuart and Alison gave us the personalised door mat

 

I hung the four little pictures above our bed simply because there were four nails there!

 

the guest bedroom - with a happy Jemima and Pooh, and their little cushions

 

and there is no escape from the implements of torture!  But look on the dresser ....... there is a little tv, so we can watch the early morning news while we are working away, counteracting the calories from our cakes and scones

 

despite the dark blue tiles, the bathroom is very bright

 

and so out to the Attic.  The downstairs kitchen area is half organised

 

this is the window at the top of the stairs.  The "e" just won't sit up straight, so I think I will have to take it back to the shop where I bought it ......... in Singapore!

 

when we decided to put the black and white rugs in the garden room instead of the pink oriental one, I snaffled it for the Attic.  I also acquired the (very) old kitchen table and chairs, so that when I have friends visiting, we can sit round the pine table, and I won't have to move the sewing machines from the work tables

 

there is a bit of reorganisation to do in the storage units, but I know where most things are!

 

I will be back on Friday with the next update of 17UFOs in 2017 ........ and I actually have a little bit of sewing to share with you, despite all that has been going on this month!

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

Scraps

After making the red and black blocks, I was left with a pile of scraps

 

so I started sewing them together

 

randomly adding bits

 

ending up with this block

 

but now I have scraps of the scraps!

 

today was orchid-watering day (I only water them once every two weeks) and I thought you might like to see which ones are flowering.  This one has only just started to flower 

 

a lovely pale flower with delicate markings

 

this one is darker

 

with much stronger markings

 

this one is a stronger yellow than it looks in the photos

 

the flowers are waxy looking

 

and now a very special treat - a guest photographer!  Stuart recently upgraded his camera (I am very envious) and took it out for a walk on Sunday.  He sent me these three photos, which he was particularly pleased with.  First an arty shot of a pine cone

 

next, an elegant swan

 

this is my favourite - a very sharp image of a robin

 

to finish - there was a bit of a commotion in the kitchen this afternoon, and this is what I found when I went to investigate.  I had left some tubs of home made soup to cool, before I put them in the freezer ........ and Malcolm had somehow knocked a pear out of the fruit bowl into one of the tubs.  As he went to clear up, I was, of course, shouting "leave it until I take a photo"!!

 

Orchid update

When I first bought an orchid, it was relatively expensive, and it was a long time before I bought another one.  However, these days you can buy one for the price of a magazine, and as I haven't been buying many magazines recently, I have treated myself to three new orchids (which together cost less than the first one I bought!)

 

I also recently acquired a new tin for my collection - it was marked down to half-price because the biscuits in it were approaching their sell-by date!

 

we are having a sewing day at Abbey Quilters tomorrow ........ I shall be doing something with these delicious fabrics

 

our Friday cake was delicious - a light apple sponge

 

the forecast is good for tomorrow, which is just typical as I shall be indoors all day!  However Malcolm is going over to the flat, so no doubt he will be on the beach.  I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne

 

Photos from another planet?

We have all been fascinated by the photos of Pluto ......... but did I find a new planet when I was taking photos in the front garden last night?

 

alas no ....... it was just me playing about with the camera settings when taking photos of the sunset!

 

the front garden looked slightly different when I popped out to take some photos this afternoon

 

the cherry tree was given a good taking to, after only producing five cherries last year.  Oh dear, there hasn't been any improvement in this year's crop!

 

this is the beginnings of a quince ..... for the last few years the quince haven't matured, but hopefully they will this year, so we can have some quince jelly

 

I haven't fed my orchids for a while ...... they generally thrive on neglect!  But when I saw the drip feeders on a BOGOF this morning, I thought I would give them a treat!

 

and to finish ...... I bought this bag of salad leaves this morning for tonight's dinner.  As you can see it contains 90g

we had half the bag each - a generous serving.  But according to this panel, a serving is 80g.  You would have to be very fond of salad to eat that much in one sitting - and what would you do with the leftover 10g?

 

 

It may have been snowing on Tuesday .......

........ but today Malcolm cut the grass for the first time this year!  The front garden is looking very neat and tidy

 

this is the first shoot on the Russian vine.  In the summer it is a weekly job to trim it, or the house would vanish beneath its exuberant growth!

 

the leaves of the flowering current are a lovely shade of green

 

the back garden too is looking good

 

the summer house will neeed a good clean, and possibly a repaint, once the weather is better

 

the chair and beehive, which Malcolm made from pallets, will also need a good clean and possibly a repaint too (the beehive is used for storage, we don't keep bees!)

 

we popped into Homebase this morning, as Malcolm had things to buy and had a 15% off everything voucher.  I didn't plan to buy anything, but then I spotted this miniature orchid in a pot, and of course it had to come home with me

 

and to show how tiny it is, here it is with my tallest orchid

 

I also spotted these two boxes, which were half price - and you know a girl can never have too much storage!

 

 

I am having a weekend away from the computer, as it is a holiday weekend for Easter, so I will be back on Tuesday.  I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne

 

 

April showers

When RonnietheFishman was here this morning with his usual selection of delicious fish (Malcolm chose trout fillets today), he told Malcolm that were lambs in the field next to BillytheFarmers house.  We went out for lunch (more of that later) and then did the food shopping on the way home.  As we came up the hill to the house,  we had another April shower, which looked as if it was going to continue for a while.  On our return I threw the shopping into the fridge, freezer and cupboards, wrapped up against the wind and rain, grabbed the camera and headed out.  Fortunately the rain had gone off, so I just had to put up with the cold wind.  Get ready to oooh and aaaah .......

ewe and lamb #11

 

strolling off down the field together

 

but the other lamb#11 has been left behind

 

despite his bleats, his Mum ignores him!

 

this ewe seems to have her own two lambs tucked up beside her, and another two behind her

 

I walked on down to the field where I saw the lambs the other day.  The only ones in range of the camera were these two, who have already learned the first lesson of sheepdom ....... when you see someone with a camera, show them your rear!

 

back up the hill,  I watched as the dopey ewe finally managed to get herself organised to look after both of her lambs (you can just see the other one behind her)

 

I had to give this blackbird a telling-off ...... we have provided him with a posh bird bath with fresh water, and he prefers a muddy puddle!!

 

now, to return to today's lunch.  When I read Amy's blog yesterday evening, she had lovely tales of maple sugaring and maple syrup.  I left her a comment saying that it made me want pancakes, bacon and maple syrup for breakfast, but that I would be having toast and jam.  Then today we went for luch to Pirn House, where the best thing on the menu is French toast, bacon and maple syrup, so that is what I had!

 

while I was out in the cold snapping the lambs, Malcolm lit the stove in the studio for me, so it was cosy when I got back.  He also had put this coal box next to the stove ....... it had been in the summer house.  I will have to clean it!

 

I did some more prep for  Mrs B, then did some stitching on the Aunts' applique block.  You will have to wait until the 15th to see the Aunts' block, but you can see the progress on Mrs B

 

 I also pressed the baby cardi and sewed a button on it.  Now I just have to get organised to send it and the booties to the excited expectant Granny

 

to finish, a little orchid problem.  I notided that the flower stem on this one, on the window sill in the "fitness room" *, had grown sideways between two leaves

 

Malcolm suggested holding the top leaf out of the way, so I fetched a clothes peg to hold the leaf up, and turned the pot round, in the hope the stem will grow up to the light

 

* the fitness room is the posh name for the smallest bedroom, which houses our cross (elliptical) trainer and rowing machine!

The next chapter!

Well that's it , I am no longer middle-aged, I am now officially old!  As of today the government has decreed that I am a pensioner ...... although how I can be one when I am only twenty nine I do not know!  Never mind, Malcolm has cheered me up with a bottle of fizz and a box of posh chocolates!

When I was watering the orchids this morning, I realised that there were two which have flowered since the last report.  The first one is quite small

 

while the second one is quite a bit bigger

 

it has very striking markings

 

this is the one which I bought recently, which is still flowering

 

this one has been flowering for months

 

and it too has striking markings

 

I had neglected my knitting recently, but have now made some more progress on my sock.  I have turned the heel and am now knitting the foot

 

so what was the project I started quilting yesterday?  It's my Baltimore bed runner

 

I quilted most of the first block ........

 

........ with my favourite tiny meander

 

at patch'n'chat today, Kay brought in the beautiful batik quilt which I won in Margaret's auction.  Kay has quilted it beautifully on her longarm machine

 

then of course there was the Friday cake ....... bliss, it was our favourite apple and sultana

 

we haven't made any plans for the weekend , but no doubt scones will appear at some point!  I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne