frayed at the edge

Mending

As all my sewing for the exhibition is finished, I thought perhaps I ought to deal with a bit of mending.  This is my absolutely favourite skirt, although it isn't perhaps shown to its best advantage on the mannequin, who is somewhat smaller and skinnier than me (the skirt is pinned at the back so it doesn't fall off!)

 

I like the skirt so much, I bought it in another colour - and that strange thing is, they both needed a little repair in the same place, where the lining was coming away from the base of the zip

 

however, I decided to give up on repairing this cardigan - it keeps coming apart at the seams (a little aside, if I hadn't call the blog "frayed at the edge", I would have called it "coming apart at the seams"!).  So it will now be up-cycled/recycled/transformed into something wonderful

 

for some reason, I keep my mending in the scrap basket,  so once the skirts were repaired, I pulled out this pile of fabrics, and decided to have a bit of fun

 

having cut random strips, I stitched them together

 

then having pressed the seams, I put the piece on the cutting mat, lining up a seam with the 45° line, then used two rulers to make sure that my first cut would give me a 6" square

 

the first square

 

I cut across the rest of the piece, then cross cut to give me these squares

 

then with a bit of reworking of the trimmings

 

I ended up with nine squares

 

I had several strips left - would there be enough for sashing?

 

yes!  All I have to do now is decide what to do with the block!

 

I won't be here again until Monday, as I will be so busy tomorrow helping to set up the exhibition , and then helping out in the kitchen all day Friday (and Saturday).  And just in case I don't have enough to do, Stuart and Alison and their friends The Yates are coming to stay for the weekend!  So I think by Sunday afternoon, when they head off, I will be lying down in a darkened room for a rest, emerging in time to enjoy a chilled glass of white wine before dinner!

Sand between my toes!

 I know that I promised you some sewing for today, but that has been bumped to tomorrow!  Instead, join us on the beach for some blue skies, sunshine and fun

 

this is the busiest we have seen the beach, in the two years that we have had the flat

 

Malcolm was wondering why this little dog was sitting so attentively beside him ......... then his owner called over that he was waiting for Malcolm to throw a stone for him, which he obligingly did

 

I didn't throw a stone, so I was ignored

 

gnarly wood, rusty metal and deep shadows - all you need in a photo (well, perhaps Tom Hiddleston might improve it!?)

 

I wasn't really looking for any, but you can't help but pick up sea glass when you see it

 

we walked up on to the promenade, and headed to the café

 

and enjoyed a cuppa sitting in the sun

 

oops ....... when we walked back along the beach the tide had come in, which meant that Malcolm had to scramble over the rocks

 

but I just took my shoes off!

 

do you think it's cold?

 

just slightly chilly?

 

yes it was ....... but it is the first time in many, many years that I have gone for a paddle!

 

while Malcolm had the camera, he decided to take a couple of arty photos

 

he couldn't decide which he preferred, so I have included both of them

 

when I got the camera back, I had an arty moment as well

 

I prefer getting in close for my arty photos

 

as I did with ........

 

........ these two delicate dandelion clocks

 

perhaps if we had more grass I might have pinched this mower, left on a trailer at the side of the road!  (not that I cut the grass any more, since Malcolm retired he has taken over as head gardener)

 

back at the flat, there were dozens of swans in the dock - so many that I couldn't get them all in the photo

A very busy weekend!

It's all systems go, getting everything ready for this weekend's exhibition, but I took some time off yesterday morning, and we went for a walk along the river in Hawick.  We stopped to read this new sign .......

 

....... but during the winter floods they didn't need a gauge to know how deep the river was - it was halfway up the building!

 

the first stretch of the walk was on a broad swathe of grass

 

there is something appealing about thistles ....... as long as you don't grasp them!

 

the roots of these fallen trees are about eight feet tall

 

Malcolm looking out over at the river at the old cauld, which has fallen further into disrepair

 

the water that is diverted into the side channel runs much faster, and in the past would have operated mill machinery

 

I don't mind crossing bridges like this one ....... sturdy, well-built, and most of all ..... low!

 

this is detritus from the floods, trapped by trees on the river bank

 

if I had been standing in this spot when the river was high enough to leave this tangle of leaves and grass, the water would have been up to my chin!

 

now ducks are getting in on the act, showing me their bottoms!

 

we had noticed this car as we drove along past the rugby club, to park to go on our walk, so we stopped on the way back to take a photo.  Why is there a tyre on top of the car?  We have no idea ........ a drunken prank perhaps?

 

the next stop, of course, was for a cuppa and sconnage.  A tasty fruit scone

 

and a very delicious cheese one

 

we laughed when we saw the inside of the lid of the little jar of jam

 

we arrived just as the morning cuppa crowd was leaving, and before the lunch crowd was in, so I was able to take a photo.  I love all the old chairs painted in different colours and covered with different fabrics

 

back home I got the two tray bakes out of the fridge  that I made on Saturday for the exhibition - the entry fee includes refreshments

 

I cut them up and divided them between two containers for the two days ........ and there are plenty of trimmings left over for us!

 

when Malcolm made dinner last night, he was so pleased with it he asked me to take a photo for the blog!  He always makes delicious gravy, but this one was even tastier, as he added a dollop of Maureen's excellent red currant and port jelly

 

hooray, my new car arrived this morning!  Fortunately the transporter driver was able to turn into one of the neighbour's yard, to unload the new car, and load up the old one

 

and here it is, my lovely car (it's a Ford Ecosport, for those of you interested in such things).  I haven't driven it yet, as I didn't want to drive it to Kelso for Monday sewing - I would rather wait and have time to familiarise myself with the controls before I drive it.  But Malcolm had a little drive in it this afternoon, and he said it is very nice to drive

 

I'll be back tomorrow with some sewing!

Fetching in Marigolds!

Malcolm caught me this morning having a bit of a clean and tidy in the kitchen!  (my apron says "a balanced life - a glass of wine in each hand")

 

so I thought I would have a bit of a tidy on the blog as well, and catch up with some photos lingering in the unpublished folder, starting with these photos of a sunset earlier in the week

 

I always think of skies like these as "Old Testament" skies

 

that you see in old paintings with the hand of God reaching down to man, or angels and  saints in heaven

 

the camera was still on the sunset setting when I took this photo the next morning, but it turned out ok ........ a rather dishevelled finch sitting on the bird table

 

it's always exciting when post arrives from abroad

 

and even more exciting when (almost) naked men are involved!!

 

oh my, what a dilemma, ogle the men, or appreciate the lovely quilts!

 

but unless you buy your own copy, you will have to wait until next year, when I will show you each month's photo in turn

 

as we walked along the path to the front door this afternoon, I paused to take some photos.  The climbing rose has a touch of pink on the outside of the buds

 

but once the bud opens, the rose is creamy white

 

my bargain supermarket fuchsias are flowering well

 

surviving the heavy rain showers

 

a few weeks ago, I noticed this little self-seeded tree growing in the back garden, so Malcolm dug it up and put it in a pot - it has grown about six inches since then

 

this afternoon, we popped over to Border Meringues in Jedburgh for a cuppa and cake.  I love the eclectic collection of china for my tea

 

Malcolm had a date crispie

 

and I had a piece of meringue roulade - I thought it might be slightly less calorific than lemon meringue pie!!

 

I was grumbling away to myself this morning ....... time wasted dealing with the problem with the phone......... the beautiful silver bangles that Malcolm was going to give me for our Pearl Wedding Anniversary next month were sold out......... my gorgeous new car, which should have been delivered this morning, won't now be delivered until Monday ..........

then I though of all the families mourning the loss of their loved ones in Nice ....... and my grumbles really didn't matter anymore.  I hope there is a pit in the deepest darkest horrors of Hell for this murdering terrorist, and all those like him, who want to destroy our way of life.......

 

But the best thing to do, in the face of these horrors, is to live our lives to the full, so I will wish you all the best of weekends, love Anne

A knitting report!

I thought I ought to get a bit more work done on the various bits of knitting that will be entered in the Jedburgh Flower Show in September, so I started yesterday by clearing one of my sewing tables, and covering with a heatproof pad

 

this is the rubber-backed stuff that your Granny protected her beautifully French-polished dining table with.  I used a sticky roller to remove stray bits of thread

 

first, I pinned out a tiny matinee jacket

 

covered it with a piece of white cotton fabric

 

and gave it a gentle steam press

 

then I did the same with a much bigger white matinee jacket

 

the white and pink baby blanket, pinned out and pressed in the same way (I also did the cream blanket, but I forgot to take a photo of it!_

 

these little shoes needed to have their little ankle straps added

 

the first one done

 

I had a hunt through my button drawer (what, doesn't everyone have a button drawer?) and found these little ones

 

but I didn't think they looked right, so I tipped out this jar

 

and found these two tiny heart buttons - perfect

 

in the same jar, I found these dark pink ones for the white jacket

 

and these paler ones for the turquoise jacket.  I followed the pattern, which instructs you to sew the buttons on the top band, and then use press studs to hold the front together - it's a bit of a faff and next time I will do normal button holes

 

one of the garments on the schedule is a snood, so I had a look through my stash and found this delicious Noro yarn which has been in my stash for several years, so it must be about time to use it

 

in contrast, the navy yarn is a cheap and cheerful supermarket buy, but it has a lovely glossy finish

 

in my knitting basket, there is also this tangle of pieces, which will become a hooded child's jacket

 

I made a start to the first snood last night - it is much darker than this - my camera just doesn't like taking photos of blue things!

 

so, on to this morning, and waiting in for the telephone engineer.  I thought I would make good use of my unexpected morning at home, and first I did they ironing.  Then I prepped some strawberries and measured out the same weight in jam sugar

 

I zapped the strawberries for several minutes

 

until they were starting to soften and give up their juice

 

then I stirred in the sugar

 

and zapped them some more, until setting point was reached

 

using a jam funnel makes it so much easier to fill the jars

 

four jars of delicious homemade strawberry jam, which will be eaten in no time at all

 

now, I could lie and say that I also whipped up a quick batch of scones ...... or I could tell the truth and say that I bought them in the garden centre some weeks ago and popped them in the freezer!  They were defrosted in time for our afternoon cuppa (sadly there was no cream in the fridge!)

 

but what about the engineer, I hear you cry!  Well he didn't turn up (short pause to put more money in the swear box!!).  But the phone is working again.  How?  Malcolm did some research online, went and bought a specialist tool in the local diy store (such a specialist tool it cost him 23p) and checked out the wiring in the various sockets.  He found a wire that seemed to be wrongly attached, removed it ........and the phone has been working since.  Hooray for practical husbands, and a great big raspberry for TalkTalk!!

On our way back ........

........ to Berwick from North Berwick, we had a small detour to East Linton, to visit Preston Mill and the Phantassie Doocot.   I wonder if you will say the same as us, when you see the mill building?

 

well, did you say - oh, that's like Hagrid's house in the Harry Potter films?!

 

 

I don't think there is a straight wall anywhere

 

and the roof sit at all angles too

 

wheat, barley and oats, which would have been milled in years past

 

oh what a shame, I was denied the chance to go up these treacherous looking stairs!

 

the water wheel still works

 

you can just see the water pouring off the bottom

 

part of the mechanism which controls the flow of water from the mill lade to the wheel

 

inside the mill, there were interesting bits of old machinery

 

looking through to the working bits - I declined to go up the narrow steep stairs to see more of the machinery

 

while I was waiting for Malcolm to come back down, I felt that someone, or something, was watching me!

 

we walked across the river

 

on a nice sturdy bridge

 

to our left, potatoes as far as we could see

 

with poppies growing at the field edge

 

on our right , cauliflowers

 

a squad of pickers following the slow moving tractor

 

there were lots of gooseberries in the hedgerow

 

but we decided not to sit on the bench

 

in case there were some prickly thistles underneath

 

at the top of the field, the Phantassie Doocot (the first link tells you about the Doocot, as well as the mill)

 

I have never seen one this shape

 

with its unusual roof

 

approaching from this side, you wouldn't know what it is

 

we came back to the mill on a different path

 

to views of the mill reflected in the mill pond

 

 

Bankrupt!!

Oh my, the phone woes continue!   Briefly we can receive calls and use the broadband, but we can't make calls.  We spent (literally) hours on the (mobile) phone and online, trying to get it sorted.  When I got to the point of shouting at people, Malcolm would take over, and vice versa ........ and at one time I was on the landline (they had phoned me) and Malcolm was on the mobile.  An engineer was supposed to visit this morning ........ and I'm not going to bore you with the rest of the sorry tale, but I am now bankrupt from putting money in the swear box!!

 

So, on with yesterday's post!  On Saturday, we took a run back up over the Border to North Berwick.  There were lots of little boats in the harbour

 

and all sorts of boats out on the water - paddling

sailing

 

motoring out to their yacht

 

but I turned down Malcolm's offer of a trip on this boat and not just because it meant getting dressed up in very unflattering yellow and blue survival suits

 

now that's my kind of boat - I would quite happily sit in it watching the world go by, safe on dry land

 

I also declined to cross this bridge and go up the rickety stairs

 

but I was happy with the view from where I was, looking out at the Bass Rock

 

and this view is for Anne Lee - yes, Anne, the sun always shines on Fife!!

 

it would have been nice to sit at one of these quirky tables, made with lobster pots, but we thought lobster was just a little bit too fancy for Saturday lunch

 

so instead we headed to the Seabird Centre, pausing on the way in to admire the sculptures

 

we sat outside on the balcony to have our lunch, watched by this cheeky chappy

 

traditional lentil soup, with bread and butter - delicious

 

there was someone else keeping an eye on us as we ate

 

his beak would have made short work of the bread!

 

our next stop was at the remains of the old church

 

the front of the porch

 

and the back

 

the remains of an old gravestone

 

you can just make out some of the words

 

I was rather startled by this little green man

 

before I realised that he was a sculpture

 

the next two photos are for my mad quilting friends The Squealers, perhaps you can guess where they live

 

as for the name of this street, you can just imagine the road-naming committee sitting having a great discussion as to what to call it ....... then settling for the obvious  (if you can't read the sign, it says ........ Bank Street!)

 

rather worn tiles in the entrance to a shop - a quilting design perhaps?

 

we walked back along the beach ........ it is addictive, picking up interesting bits and bobs

 

what a lovely seat - if only I could have one like this in the garden

 

another little green man

 

click on the photo to enlarge it, to help read the plaque

 

and of course we have to finish with the wonderful Andy, who played the most amazing tennis to win his second Wimbledon title - I didn't need to shout at him at all!!

 

it's mine, all mine!!

Spontaneous combustion!!

I have just spent the last seventeen centuries* on the phone to my phone/broadband provider, and my head is in danger of bursting into flames!!  So no post tonight, and hopefully it will all be sorted out for tomorrow!!

 

* ok, that was an exaggeration, it was only fourteen centuries!!

Jumping about!

Usually I put the photos into the post more or less in the order I have taken them, but there isn't really any order to them today.  I managed to snatch this shot last night of a water skier going at a great rate of knots down the river

 

then when we went for a walk out to the lighthouse this afternoon, we saw someone whizzing along in a sand yacht

 

he was going at quite a speed, turning back and forward

 

there were some men fishing in the river

 

but it didn't look as if they had caught anything

 

thank you to these two men, who provide scale for this shot of the lighthouse

 

if you don't like snails, skip over the next three photos!  Malcolm spotted this beauty on top of a wall

 

then this one nestled in a little hollow in the stonework

 

that's my little fingernail, to show you this size of this one

 

I had just taken this photo of the railway bridge through the new bridge, when Malcolm pointed it out - great minds etc!

 

it was rather breezy out on the breakwater, and it took five attempts before I got the heron in focus, as I couldn't hold the camera steady

 

now, I think you know by now that we like our food, so we were delighted to pick up these two bargains when we were shopping this morning - beautiful wild salmon

 

and our favourite cut of steaks

 

the three steaks are so big that each one will feed both of us, and the salmon divided up into 6 portions ..... so six special meals for less than £18 - all tucked away in the freezer

 

at the end of our walk this afternoon, we were going to go here for  cuppa ........ but it is just a little place, and there wasn't a free table

 

so instead we went here

 

Malcolm tucked into a large hunk of light-as-air banana loaf

 

while I had a piece of Twix and Crunchie chocolate delight ....... there is no more needs to be said about it, the name says it all

 

a little footnote - after doing the shopping this morning, we popped into the Garden Centre for a cuppa ........ Malcolm had a fully-stamped loyalty card, so was due a free cup of coffee.  We were enjoying our cuppas and reading the papers, when a lady approached the table and said "excuse me, are you the lady who writes the blog, frayed at the edge?"  She introduced herself as a reader, who occasionally leaves a comment ........ so Julia, if you are reading this, it was lovely to meet you!!

Raonic has just beaten Federer, so Andy Murray is about to start his semi-final ....... I think I may have no voice left by bedtime!  Then of course, if Andy goes through to the final on Sunday, I have to go through it all again.  And then finally, the football, which seems to have being going on since the beginning of time, ends on Sunday evening, and life can get back to normal.  Whether you are watching the sport, or locking yourself in a darkened room to avoid it, have a good weekend, love Anne

All sorts!

 We came over to the flat at lunchtime, to find there was a ship in the dock

 

it was being loaded with what we think is rape seed

 

I want one of these!!

 

after lunch, we headed for the beach.  The sun was shining, and there was a queue at the ice cream van!

 

the holidaymakers were making the most of the better weather

 

with this brave chap actually going for a swim in the chilly water

 

blue sky!

 

although it was still hazy looking into the distance at Bamburgh Castle

 

and there was enough wind offshore for this yacht

 

oh dear, there is no escape from crabs on the beach!

 

after a good long walk, we enjoyed a cuppa sitting in the sunshine, watching the world go by

 

although we both enjoy cooking, sometimes it is nice to let someone else do all the hard work, so this morning we popped into a well known supermarket, and bought one of their "meal deals".  All this for £10!

 

did I hear you say you wanted a close-up of the pudding?

 

after tucking into the short ribs, which we had with mashed potato, we shared a tart with some fresh strawberries.  The food was delicious, and we couldn't have cooked it and bought a bottle of wine for £10 (we might just open the wine later when we are watching the other football semi-final).  I was hoarse last night shouting at Andy Murray, who put us through torment before he won, and cheering on Wales, but to no avail, as they were beaten

 

we had just finished dinner, when there was activity in the dock, and the pilot boat headed out

 

followed by the ship

 

the swans were glad to have the dock to themselves again!