frayed at the edge

A foggy, soggy return!

So, where have we been for the last two weeks?  We have been having a very, very lazy holiday in Portugal, with some lovely sunshine.  Then we arrived back at Newcastle Airport yesterday to nasty fog, and this afternoon it has rained steadily!  We went to Carvoeiro, where we have had several very enjoyable holidays in the past.  We stayed in the same hotel as we did two years ago

 

we spent a lot of time relaxing by the pool

 

and enjoying an occasional glass of wine in the colourful lounge

 

of course we had lots of delicious meals

 

I have dozens of photos still to sort through, but you will have to wait until Friday to see a selection of them.  I have a lot of sewing and knitting to do between now and Christmas, so I am going to blog on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for the next few weeks.

To finish ...... I have mentioned before that walks with Malcolm always seem to involve lots of stairs! 

 

 

Reflections

On Saturday morning, as we walked back over the old bridge, having been out for breakfast, we stopped to look at the wonderful reflections of the other two bridges in the river, which was unusually still

 

then in the afternoon, we drove up the coast to Coldingham, for a walk on the beach....  but first, we sat on this bench to have a picnic lunch

 

looking out at this view

 

with these colourful beach huts to our left

 

and there were some hardy souls surfing!

 

is this some weird creature from the deep?  No, it's just two crab shells

 

I rather liked this beach hut

 

walks with Malcolm somehow always involve lots of stairs!

 

I would have loved to go up this set of stairs, to see the garden on the other side of the gate!

 

of course I had to have some arty photos!  First, of old fence posts

 

then a seed head

 

I'm not quite sure if this qualifies as arty - two teeny, tiny snails on a leaf

 

later on, it was quite misty, but it didn't stop this chap rowing up the river and into the dock

 

I won't be here for just over two weeks, as I am going to have some serious rest and relaxation ...... no sewing, no knitting, no blogging.  Just lots of reading, good food, a glass or two of wine, and hopefully lots of sunshine! 

 

 

I may have been knitting .......

....... since I was seven, but I was intrigued when I saw this article in a knitting magazine, as I had never encountered this stitch before (and yes, that is a man prancing about in a dress!!)

 

so of course it was over to Mr Google, and by good luck I found a class on Craftsy which was half-price.  I watched the first section, then started on my sample piece.  The brioche stitch produces a reversible fabric, and you can do knit or purl brioche ....... it looks the same, it just moves the stitches

 

but having worked a reasonable practice length, I didn't have time to watch the next part of the class to see what came next, so I branched out (groan) and produced a tree!!

 

to which I started to add some leaves

 

but then Malcolm came to the rescue and gave me this book for my birthday (it's Nancy's class that I am watching on Craftsy)

 

as soon as I have mastered all the stitches, this scarf will be first on the to-do list!

 

Malcolm also gave me this fun little kit for my birthday, which I'm looking forward to knitting

 

when we were out for lunch on Wednesday at Harestanes, we spotted this apple tree.  What a waste, all these apples left to rot - yes, they will feed the wildlife, but surely some of them could have been picked and used

 

I had to dissuade Malcolm from attempting to take this impressive log pile home with him!

 

 

for our Friday cake, Annette had recreated one of her Mum's recipes

 

little individual pies which were a cross between a sponge and a pastry ........

 

......... filled with apple - they were delicious, and some of us may have eaten two!!

 

we came over to the flat as soon as I got home from patch'n'chat, and we have had fish and chips for dinner - the perfect start to the weekend!  I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne

 

 

Soldering on!

No, it's not a spelling mistake in the title, I spent yesterday evening having fun with a soldering iron!  Let me explain.  Maureen had asked me some weeks ago if I would like to go with her to a workshop at the Lovatt Gallery.  As I love the beautiful pieces that Linda, the owner of the Gallery, makes, I jumped at the chance.  Lind was quite happy for me to take photos to put on the blog, but as I was using the point and shoot, I had to use the flash, as it doesn't like low light levels, so not the best of photos!  I had to start by making a little drawing of what I wanted to make.  As drawing isn't my strong point, Linda let me see her little catalogue which has line drawings in it, so I was able to produce this very faint sketch.  I also had to decide whether to use the bit of broken wine glass, or the piece of sea-washed china for my base

 

Linda let me use one of her templates, which I drew round on the copper foil

 

having cut the hare out, I turned it over and embossed it, just using a ball point pen.  This is it turned back to the right side

 

then I was let loose with the soldering iron, which was a bit scary!  First I attached the eye with a pin which went through to the back and was soldered in place.  Having wrapped this little chip of china in copper tape, I then soldered it in place.  You can see that the copper has changed colour where it has been heated

 

I had to put little blobs of solder on the ends of the three brass wires, which was very tricky - I had to remind myself to breath, I was concentrating so hard!  Linda wrapped the piece of china for the base with copper wire, ready to solder the hare in place

 

I got so wrapped up in what I was doing, I missed taking photos of a few stages, so we move on to this.  You can see the third brass wire clamped in place ready to solder to the back of the hare

 

the beads for the flowers are from a necklace which Malcolm gave me, which kept breaking.  The next stage is for the hare to be treated to give the copper a verdigris finish, which is done either by Linda or one of her assistants.  I am looking forward to getting him back!!

 

a last little look at him, showing off his whiskers!

All sorts of stitching!

I realised that my sewing has been somewhat lacking in recent posts, so I have rounded up several projects to share with you.  First, I have made yet another new cushion

 

I have still been working on my little stitcheries when we are over at the flat ....... this is, I think, number nineteen

 

and I have almost finished number twenty

 

recently Sandra, our lovely Linus Lady, mentioned that one of the organisations that she passes our quilts to had requested a quilt for a blind child.  Sandra promptly found a volunteer to make one, but it started me thinking about making a quilt for a blind child.  I had a quick play one afternoon in the studio and came up with this idea.  I started by cutting a square of fleece, a square of fabric and a square of thick polyester wadding

 

I used a square shape simply for speed, but you could cut any shape from the fleece for little fingers to feel.  I pinned the three layers together 

 

and stitched round the edge of the fleece

 

I turned the sandwich over and trimmed away the wadding round the square

 

I turned it back over and sandwiched it with a piece of cotton wadding and backing fabric

 

and quilted round the square, which is now raised proud of the background because of the extra wadding.  After I had made this sample, I thought that I could also do blocks incorporating different textured fabrics, as well as different shapes

 

having bought the fabric for the border of my Aunts' Quilt, I thought that I ought to get on with making the bias for the applique which I am going to work on the borders, instead of the scallops on the pattern, which I don't like.  So I looked out the ones I had pressed so far, along with the much greater pile of ones still to be done

 

and in no time at all it was all done

 

and last, but not least .........  I have been working on Mrs Billings

 

I had got bogged down with it, as I don't like hand piecing, but found I couldn't piece the diamonds accurately enough on the machine.  I tried using English paper piecing, and still wasn't happy, so just packed the whole thing away until I decided what to do with it.  Then this week I had a brainwave, and decided to use applique.  This will seem an overly complicated method for some of you, but it suits me, and means I will now make more progress.   This is what I had stitched so far

 

I added the next border, using strips of the background calico and the corner squares

 

then added the next small border

 

this gave me the framework within which I shall applique the diamonds

 

next came another calico border, which will have small squares on point appliqued on it

 

then came a dark purple border, to tie in with the sashing on the hexie flower border

 

I had cut the purple border wider than the pattern said, thinking that I might have to do a bit of adjusting to get it to fit.  But there was a slight problem, as instead of being too big, it fitted exactly ........

 

which means the wider border doesn't line up with the sashing

 

there are two ways I could fix this, one of which involves a lot of unpicking and restitching ......... or I could simply add something over the offending joins, such as the pyramids which will form the last border

 

so now I can sit and happily applique first the diamonds, which are prepped ready to stitch, and the squares, which are all cut out, which I will enjoy much more than all that horrid piecing by hand!!

 

Bridging the gap

When we went for our walk on Sunday, we went the other way round the town, starting off at the bridges

 

 

there were great hordes of seagulls swooping on the water - there must have been a lot of fish for them to feast on

 

but this little gull wasn't interested, sitting quietly on a pile of seaweed

 

as we walked on along the river bank, a heron swooped in and landed just in front of us

 

I wasn't quick enough to capture the moment he caught a fish, but you can see the bulge in his throat as he swallowed it!

 

when we walked along to the ruins of the Castle, I had fun taking arty photos through the windows

 

we turned away from the river, going through this wonderful gate

 

then up this long flight of stairs, which has little bits of handrail to match the gate

 

there were splashes of colour along the way

 

I like the way the twisted handrail is finished off - as if they just wrapped the ends to keep them in place until they came back and finished them off neatly

 

the only place in the world which has been fought over and changed hands more times than Berwick is Jerusalem!

 

Malcolm spotted this big fat pigeon sitting in a tree

 

as we walked on round the old walls, we had a good view over the golf course

 

it was very misty looking out to the lighthouse

 

as we headed back round to our starting point, we could see the poor old wooden pier, which still hasn't been repaired

 

as we walked back over the old bridge, we saw one more little bird, well camouflaged on the seaweed

 

to finish ........what a pity I missed seeing this building being demolished, as no doubt there were big machines involved!

 

I'll be back tomorrow with some sewing!

 

Thoroughly spoiled!

Thank you very much for all your birthday good wishes!  I had a lovely birthday - once I got the boring household chores over with!  As usual I headed off to patch'n'chat, where I handed over my two quilts to Sandra, our lovely Linus Lady

 

the Friday cake was an extra-delicious chocolate, cream  and strawberry confection

 

and Margaret gave me a very, very special present ....... a beautiful block,which I will turn into a wallhanging.  Her work is exquisite, and I had tears in my eyes and a lump in my throat when I opened the parcel and saw what she had made for me

 

Stuart and Alison came for a visit ...... and I never gave a thought to taking photos of the wonderful birthday dinner that Malcolm made.  We started with asparagus and broccoli soup. topped with crumbled blue cheese, then we had the most wonderful rack of lamb ........ which maybe wasn't quite as good as this one which Stuart had when he and Alison dined in a Michelin-starred restaurant in New York last month!!

 

for dessert we had  Malcolm's signature bread and butter pudding, and it was all washed down with a glass or two of fizz.  On Saturday morning, we headed out to Pirn House for breakfast, which we all enjoyed, then Stuart and Alison headed off for a visit to Ikea on their way home.   

 

We came over to the flat yesterday, and I was delighted to see the little table looking so good in the hall

 

do you like the lamp?  Malcolm made it from a biscuit tin after seeing the idea in a magazine

 

this seaside-themed dish was one of Malcolm's birthday present from me

 

taking the photo of the dish reminded me that I had forgotten to show you the  present that I bought for Malcolm some weeks before his birthday ........ aren't these little boats just the cutest things!

 

 

we went for a long walk round the old walls yesterday, and although it was misty, I took lots of photos, which I shall share with you tomorrow.  To finish, two photos of a robin which stayed still as I took the first photo, then turned to face the other way and waited until I had taken the photo before it flew off!

A special day!

Happy (29th) Birthday to me!!

Enjoying the weather!

Usually we go out for lunch on a Wednesday, but yesterday I had to stay at home.  I was expecting a parcel, which I was told that I would have to sign for ......... but when the parcel was delivered, I didn't need to sign, and it would have been left in the garage for me if I had gone out.  Most annoying!  So instead, we went out for lunch today.  It was a lovely day for a drive through our wonderful countryside

 

we went to Pirn House, which of course means that I had the French toast with bacon and maple syrup ...... and Malcolm decided to have it to

 

back home, I had a potter round the garden with the camera.  I don't know what has been wrong with the clematis this year.  Only one of them flowered when it normally does, and we now have two flowering which should have flowered weeks ago

 

and this one has yet to flower

 

we have had a lot of bees in the garden this summer ....... this was a big fat hairy one on the herb pot this afternoon

 

the exceptionally warm weather of the last few days has brought out great clouds of tiny flies.   We are going to have some very well-fed spiders if they eat all these little flies caught in webs all round the garden

 

the warm weather has also meant that the butterflies have been busy on the buddleiia

 

I have finished one of the two little Linus quilts - I just have a bit of the binding left to hand-stitch on the other one

 

this afternoon I made two sheepie cushion covers.  The first one was with the fun fabric I bought last week

 

the second one was with the much more sophisticated fabric which Maureen gave me

 

and I am sure that Anna will enjoy these photos of the real thing!

 

to finish ....... taking scenic photos through the windscreen doesn't always go to plan - especially when your driver whizzes round a bend, and you lose your balance and lean to the side, resulting in this!

 

 

A bit of a failure .......

....... but also a great success!  OK, let's get the failure out of the way.  As you know, we had an apocalyptic, end of the world, super moon, total eclipse of the heart (oops , got carried away with the title of a Bonnie Tyler song!)  I managed to wake up and stagger out into the garden at 3am on Monday (I just hope the neighbours didn't see me).  But despite fiddling and twiddling with camera settings, this is the best photo that I managed - if I had been more organised, I would have had the tripod set up, and would have had a much sharper image

 

but then on Monday evening, we had a stunning sunset, and as my camera has a dedicated sunset setting, these photos are a lot better than the moon failure!

 

at this time of years, large numbers of crows congregate in the field across the road, with some of them sitting on the phone wires

 

then they rose in a great cloud

 

I was slightly concerned as they flew over me (I still get frightened when I see The Birds !!)

 

I don't quite know how I managed to get this effect of beating wings!

 

to end, another failure ........ I don't think we will be making any wine from this year's crop of grapes ..........

 

....... or producing our own oil from these olives, which are the size of pinheads!