frayed at the edge

The waiting is finally over!!

Woo hoo, we finally got our keys today - we had a longer than usual wait for the sale to go through as the sellers were having a new house built, and wanted to give themselves extra time to allow for the build being delayed.  So off we went to Berwick after lunch and collected the keys.  Slight trepidation as we unlocked the door - would we still like the flat?  There was no need to worry, as soon as we stepped into the lounge, which was flooded with light (despite it being a dull afternoon), we knew that we had made the right choice.  I took photos from the four corners of the open plan lounge/kitchen

 

it was hard to take a photo of the master bedroom - it is bigger than it looks here, and you can see that there is a good sized wardrobe on the right

 

yes, it's me again, popping up in a reflection ....... this time in the ensuite shower room mirror

 

this will be the guest bedroom - have you spotted that I will have lots of curtain-making to do?

 

I am looking forward to having a long soak in the luxurious bathroom

 

and, of course, there are the views to enjoy.  First, looking out to sea

 

then, over to the town

 

later in the afternoon, the swans put on a show for us, swimming into the harbour

 

we'll be heading back over tomorrow, but we won't be staying the night ......... as we have yet to buy a bed!!

I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne

 

 

Fly little birdies, fly!

When I went out to the studio this morning to get my stuff for work, I saw six little swallows sitting on the fence.  I quickly fetched the camera, thinking they would probably be gone by the time I came back out of the house, but they were still there

 

four on the right ........

 

........ and two on the left

 

I had just crept in to take this closer shot when the parents appeared and chased them off the fence into the air - a reluctant one got a swipe of a wing to encourage it!  Soon they were all swooping round the garden - much too fast to take aphoto!

 

I got to Jedburgh earlier than usual, so I spent a few minutes taking photos of the Abbey in the sun

 

as always I organised the room ready for the students arriving

 

the sun was streaming in the window, making it hard to take a photo of the table (complete with my cuppa!)

 

of course it didn't take long for the usual chaos to appear!

 

I have been asked to teach more classes, so I suggested doing a Christmas wallhanging in November.  Yesterday I got out some of my many Christmas patterns looking for inspiration

 

I decided I would have an applique Father Christmas with borders, so I drew a rough outline (stop laughing, you know I can't draw!!) ..........

 

......... I gave the sketch to Malcolm and asked him to draw a proper version

 

while Malcolm watches the football, I have been watching either Ricky Tim's tv shows, or Craftsy classes, and it has made me realise how much I have neglected my free motion quillting recently.  This is serious, as you really need to do it regularly.  So yesterday I made up a little calico sandwich and popped it in a quilting hoop.  I had barely started when ...... oops, the thread shredded and fankled.  It was my own fault, as I hadn't changed the needle

 

it's hard to get back into a free-flowing rhythm - more practice is definitely required!

 

we will be on tenterhooks tomorrow morning, waiting to hear from our solicitor in Berwick that the purchase of the flat has been completed.  As soon as we hear we will go over to pick up the keys.  All being well there may just be a photo or two in tomorrow's post!!

Blog fodder

I remarked to Malcolm last night that we hadn't visited any old churches recently.  Then this morning I mentioned that I needed to take photos for the blog today ........ so a short time later, there we were at an old church, with lots of opportunities to stock up on blog fodder!!  I didn't notice at the time that we were reflected on the sign

 

there was a squad of men cutting the grass when we arrived, so the air was full of the wonderful scent of newly-mown grass as we walked round the church

 

a lot of the old headstones are very worn .........

 

........ you can just make out the date on this one

 

the bottom half of this one tells a sad tale (click on the photo to enlarge it)

 

this funny little one is so worn, it's hard to tell what is the front and what is the back

 

we saw several dates over doors as we walked round

 

there were several doors like this, halfway up the building ........

 

......... whereas this little window was at ground level, where you would expect the doors to be!

 

another unintended reflection!

 

Malcolm spotted this rusty old wheelbarrow, resting against a gnarly old tree

 

click on the photo to enlarge it, so that you can read the inscription on the bell

 

we decided that the sundial was telling us that it was time for lunch!

 

we headed to Pirn House Interiors ......... Malcolm had a roast beef, tomato and horseradish sandwich

 

and I had French toast, bacon and maple syrup.  But no sharing today, as I don't like tomato and horseradish!!  (but I did give Malcolm a taste)

 

to finish, one last little headstone, which has an angel holding a skull and thigh bone!

 

 

A special weekend

Saturday morning saw us on the road bright and early, heading for Larbert to spend some time with Stuart and Alison.  Of course a journey of any length needs a stop for fortification, so we called into the Mayshade Garden Centre for a cuppa.  We may also have shared one of their delicious taster plates

 

in the afternoon, we headed to The Helix, which lies between Falkirk and Grangemouth.  You can read about it here and here.  We had a very pleasant walk round the first part of the development, pausing to admire this swan

 

it was hard to take photos of this water feature without having children getting gloriously wet in the frame, as they ran back and forward through the jets of water

 

 

I was fascinated with the ever-changing coloured lights shining through the water ........

 

but had to drag myself away to continue our walk.  It's hard to believe that until recently this was post-industrial wasteland

 

having walked round the first part of the development, we made our way to see the main purpose of our visit, passing the swan again, who had found a friend

 

then, there they were, dominating the skyline ....... the Kelpies

 

for once I didn't need Malcolm in a photo to give the scale, as there were large crowds walking round the magnificent sculptures

 

I didn't realise until I looked at the photos later, that the little girl looked as if she was about to be eaten!

 

I took quite a lot of photos ....... here are just a few

 

For dinner on Saturday, Stuart had booked a table at The Tea House.  As it was a lovely evening, we walked there, which took about 50 minutes.  I liked the tiny carafes that our wine was served in

 

the food was delicious, but I only took photos of my dishes.  I started with salt and pepper ribs

 

followed by salt and chilli seabass - very, very delicious!

 

the portions were very generous, and none of us had room for dessert ........ not even lemon meringue pie could tempt us!  When the bill was brought, there were sweeties with it.  The others promptly ate theirs, but I brought mine home to take a photo of it!

 

Sunday morning was glorious and we had breakfast out on the deck - that's a year since Malcolm and Stuart built it.  Then we headed for home ....... with a detour to Ikea.  Yes, we had meatballs for lunch, and yes, we bought tealights!

In one of those strange little coincidences in life, I spotted this in the paper this morning .......

 

I did do some sewing last night, and hopefully will get more done tomorrow, so that I will have a sewing update for you!

Living on a grand scale : part 2

We enjoyed our leisurely stroll round the grounds, which led us to the plant centre.  We stopped to admire this wonderful topiary

 

this cardoon was about 6 feet tall ......

 

it is a relation of the globe artichoke

 

as the castle is so big, I am sure they could spare this little building for me!

 

I could quite happily have pottered round the castle for an hour or two, finding interesting angle for taking photos

 

we discovered that we had something in common with the castle ........ way back in the 90s, Malcolm made fences like this for our garden.  I shall have to see if I can unearth some photos

 

some more looking up .....

 

when we had a look round the gift shop, I found Malcolm engrossed in this book.  I knew he wouldn't buy it, but once back home would wish that he had ....... so I took it out of his hands and bought it for him!

 

look at this one - something else to do with his collection of wine corks!

 

there is a saying that an Englishman's home is his castle, so we can claim to live in a castle ........ it just isn't as grand as this one!

 

it's Thusday, so that means I was working this morning ......... although doing something I enjoy doesn't seem like work!  This week our blocks were Dresden plate, and a wreath.  I've just looked back through my photos from the weekend, and don't have one of the prep for the Dresden plate.  This is my sample, to show them how it all goes together.  It is a straightforward block to stitch

 

 

The wreath is more complicated, as it has three separate elements.  First, making bias strips for the circle

making the first 45 degree cut

 

cutting 1" strips

 

 

using the bias tape maker

 

the second element is making the leaves using freezer paper

 

then the third one is making the flowers

 

I then used my beam compass to mark the circle for the wreath

 

the first stages pinned in place

 

after the students arrive, it doesn't take long for the table to descend into chaos, causing frequent cries throughout the morning of where's my fabric/ruler/pins/pencil etc!

 

to finish, two action shots

Jo-an  cutting her bias strips

 

Jane using the bias tape maker

 

Living on a grand scale

This morning we headed over to Kelso, as we had a BOGOF voucher for entry to Floors Castle.  But first we fortified ourselves with an early lunch.  I had lentil soup

 

and Malcolm had cauliflower soup

 

you probably noticed that we also had a scone with the soup -  delicious!  When our cuppas arrived, there was an extra little treat - a tiny meringue

 

then it was on to Floors, which is the largest inhabited castle in Scotland.  Photography isn't allowed inside the castle, so if you get the chance, do visit to see the grandeur, spendour and opulence ...... and that's just in the very small portion that the public gets to see.  The castle is very grand

 

much too big to get in a single photo

 

I took quite a lot of photos of the roof!

 

wouldn't it be nice to live in a house (ok, castle) with a view like this from the drawing/sitting room window

 

we had a pleasant (if hot!) stroll round the grounds.  This bird was too far away for me to see what it was, but looking at the photo, I think it is a thrush

 

perhaps I should seek help for my tractor fixation!

 

this parterre garden was created for the Millenium.  The design incorporates the initials of the Duke and Duchess, but there wasn't a convenient stepladder for me to stand on, to look down on the design to show that

 

you aren't allowed to walk on the grass to have a closer look, but we could see one of the "M"s, which signify the Millenium

 

I still have lots of photos to share with you, which I will save for tomorrow, and will finish with photos I took yesterday evening.  First Mr Blackbird had a good splash in the birdbath ........

 

then Mrs Blackbird tried to splash even more!

 

Ill-gotten gains

The harbour at Eyemouth is dominated by Gunsgreen House, which was built by John Nisbet, using money made from smuggling!  We didn't have time to explore it yesterday, but have put it on the to-see list for another day

 

as we walked along the harbour, we wondered what a group of people were looking at in the water.  I edged my way in, and just had time to take one photo of this big fat seal before it disappeared under the water

 

there were lots of seagulls about

 

this might be a young one, but it was enormous!

 

I rather liked this old car, but as the driver was just getting out of it, I didn't like to take any more photos

 

just look at the blue sky ....... bliss!!

 

while Malcolm was watching the World Cup over the weekend, I was multi-tasking.  First, I was watching some Crafsty classes and some Ricky Tims tv shows on my laptop (using headphones).  Second, I was paying a little bit of attention to the football.  Third, I was drinking a glass of wine.  And fourth, I was prepping an awful lot of plain hexies for Mrs Billings

 

I had already stitched these three coloured pyramids together

 

they will be alternated with plain ones round the quilt, to form the final border

 

I have two photos to choose between for the "to finish" spot.  Should I show you the heron that I saw this morning when I was in Hawick?  I saw him as I meandered strolled walked  briskly over the footbridge where the Teviot meets the Slitrig

 

or would you like this tractor, which was sitting unattended in the field behind the house?  I did think about taking it for a spin round the field, but I would have had to climb on to our neighbours' wall, which is about five feet high, then climb over a fence, which you can't really see in the photo. So I settled for leaning on the garden gate and admiring it!!

A day at the seaside

We popped over to Berwick this morning, as we had to lodge our funds for the purchase of our holiday home with our solicitor, ready for the completion of the purchase on the 27th.  Having done that, we headed for a new cafe .......

....... and sampled a cheese scone - it passed our rigorous inspection with flying colours!

 

the service was very good, and we were given an extra plate for our shared scone - we'll definitely go back there!

 

when we were walking across the old bridge, we spotted this man in the water.  He didn't seem to be trying to progress against the current, but rather he was holding his position

 

I had just taken this photo of the heron .......

 

........ when it took off

 

I was delighted when it landed much closer, then posed prettily

 

as it was a lovely day, we decided to go to Eyemouth for lunch.  It was very enjoyable sharing a fish supper ......

 

sitting in the sun, looking out to sea

 

I'll tell you about the rest of our trip tomorrow, and I'll also have the usual sewing update.

 

Quincentenial celebrations

This weekend saw the end of this year's Hawick Common Riding.  It was a special one this year, as it is the 500th anniversary of the capture of the English Flag

 

to mark this special anniversary, another statue has been unveiled on the High Street (I took the photos this morning when there was no-one around)

 

on Saturday morning, we joined a very large crowd on the High Street, as dozens and dozens of horses and riders went past

 

and bringing up the rear, a very important vehicle!

 

if I were to have a horse, it would be one of these cuties, rather than the real thing!

 

yesterday morning we went for a walk at Harestanes.  It was enjoyable walking in the dappled shade, then in  patches of sunlight

this wonderful rhododendron was reflected on the pond

 

a glimpse of a lovely house through the trees

 

and as always I looked up

 

we popped into the visitor centre

and treated ourselves to one of our famous two-scone lunches, a delicious cheese scone for main course, and a fruit one for pudding (for new readers, we share the scones, we don't eat two each!)

 

I'll be back tomorrow with a sewing update, but to finish ................. we had a very heavy shower this afternoon, which caused the birdbath to overflow

A gentle stroll

In deference to my (much improved) knee, we went for a short walk in Melrose yesterday.  After the mild winter, the verges are looking lush

 

this is a tiny wild rose

 

the thistle will turn purple as the summer goes on

 

although the river is very low, it still roared over the rocks

 

what a stunning laburnum

 

I like the way the fly-hood is shaped to cover the horse's ears

 

I remembered to look up

 

although it was only a short walk, I still had need of half a scone!

 

I spotted this poppy in the back garden this morning.  It has split from the bottom .......

 

....... instead of from the top like this one

 

I gave it a helping hand

 

this poppy opened the other day - just in time to be rained on!

 

the smallest clematis is flowering

 

a dainty aquilegia

 

the osteospermums love the sun

 

this wisteria was tiny when we moved here, and over the last almost eight years, it has hardly grown.  We have pruned it, moved it, spoken nicely to it, threatened it with the compost bin ...... all to no avail

 

I'll be back tomorrow with a sewing update ....... here is a little sneak peek