frayed at the edge

Give me a kiss ......

...... no, that's not me speaking to Malcolm, but what I imagined one of these calves was saying to the other one, as it licked the other one's face!

 

 

I am starting to think that some of the animals that I pass in the morning know what a camera is, and pose for me - after taking this photo .........

 

 

....... the horse on the left moved over to behind the other horse and put its head over its shoulder

 

 

and this ewe looked straight at the camera - or was she just keeping a beady eye on me, in case I was going to steal her lamb!

 

 

We popped over to Coldstream for lunch today, but I am keeping most of the photos for Shadow Shot Sunday! 

I just managed to capture this butterfly before it flitted away

 

 

This bridge crosses the River Tweed .... the left bank is Scotland, and the right bank is England!

 

 

On the way home, we stopped at the Teviot Smokery and Water Gardens for an icecream, but first we had a lovely walk through the water gardens

 

a beatiful pink water lily .....

 

and a white one

 

 

Malcolm looking mysterious behind a weeping willow

 

This photo isn't as clear as I would have liked ...... but can you see that it is the front of a very large koi carp?

 

 

I have neglected the pink and white Linus blanket since we got back from Woolfest, so I took it with me today, to knit in the car.  I was getting worried that I was going to run out of yarn before I finished it, so I kept working on it when we got home, and cast it off just as Malcolm was dishing up dinner

 

 

How much yarn was left ....... hardly any!!

 

 

Pampering!

All this walking may be good for my health, but it is hard on my poor feet!  However, Malcolm arrived home with this for me today, so my poor little tootsies can have some love and care lavished on them!

 

 

This morning was a bit chilly, and there were little ribbons of mist lingering in the valley

 

 

But there was no mist about when I found my favourite Jacob's sheep were finally in the field next to the road

 

 

 

 

This morning I had the small lens on the camera - so you will have to take my word for it that this is a hare in the middle of the road, not a rabbit!  (much longer ears!)

 

 

There is the promise of more free food in the hedgerow, with the rosehips just starting to ripen

 

 

It was hard not to eat them all myself, but I took the latest crop of raspberries home to share with Malcolm

 

 

I've been busy working on my Baltimore block.  I've stitched all the stems .....

 

 

........ and some of the leaves

 

 

To finish, a flower photo - my wild flower book tells me that this is hedge bindweed - but I much prefer the name that I know it as ...... morning glory!

 

A cool green walk

Yesterday morning, we parked at the Leaderfoot Viaduct, to go for a walk.  After a brief pause to take a quick photo of the magnificent structure.....

 

 

........ we set off along a path we haven't walked before.  There had been some serious tree felling

 

 

Malcolm lingered, admiring the wood!

 

 

Once we had passed the wood, we found ourselves in a heavily wooded, shaded, damp world, with running water on both sides.  There were ferns everywhere .......

 

 

..... some of which were putting out new shoots

 

 

 

There were also fungi growing on a fallen tree

 

 

 

 

I have been busy sewing over the weekend.  I quilted the third chicken wallhanging and added the binding.  Now I just have to sew in all the ends, sew on beads for eyes, and stitch down the binding by hand on the back

 

 

I also did some more prep for the Baltimore quilt, working on a very tricky shape

 

 

I had to cut very carefully round the twirly bit at the bottom, as there is very little fabric between the curves

 

 

It took quite a while to turn in the seam allowances round the curves, so I only got one done.  It's just laid on the background fabric, to see how it looks

 

 

Although I have temporarily halted the knitting project, I do have some knitting to show you - the progress on the baby shawl

 

 

A detail of the pattern

 

 

To finish, a photo of a wild flower I took this morning on my walk.  My wild flower book says it is a field scabious - which is a rather horrid sounding name for such a pretty flower!!

 

Will you please keep still!

For the past few mornings, I have been trying to take a photo of a tree sparrow, which shouts at me as I go past its territory across the road from the church.  Most of the photos have turned out like this .......

 

 

....... because it just won't keep still, but finally, this morning, I managed to take two passable shots

 

 

 

The thistles are now flowering in the verge, with two distinct varieties.  This one has a small flower

 

 

while this is the one which is more familiar

 

 

I took several random photos of flowers this morning, with a vague idea of using the colours in a quilt

 

 

 

 

 

I could also include this beautiful raspberry colour (yes, I ate it!!)

 

 

Just after taking the photo of the raspberry, I had to stand on the verge, out of the way of our neighbour Billy the Farmer, as he came down the hill in his horse transporter (he was very considerate, and is marginally over to the wrong side of the road to pass me!)

 

 

As always for a Friday afternoon, I was at patch'n'chat.  I pinned out the pieces for the next block, and made a start to stitching it (the stray leaf at the bottom is just pinned there out of the way while I stitch the stem on the left)

 

 

And of course (I'm sure that's bad grammar!) we had cake!  Annette is so good to us - we had her wonderful strawberry and fresh cream cupcakes again -delicious!

 

 

 A little silly something to end with ...... I think it's lucky if a black cat crosses your path (but if it's unlucky, then of course I'm not superstitious!!)

 

 

I hope you have a super weekend - no doubt there will be sewing and knitting on the agenda here!!

Love, Anne

I told you there were two!!

I quite often show you photos of the Minto Hills - but because of the angle we see them at, you actually only see one.  But we went for a walk after lunch round a different route ....... and there they were, the two Mintos!

 

 

We also saw Ruberslaw from a different angle

 

 

But to go back to the start of the morning  ........ it was grey and threatening to rain, but as always the roses in the hedgerow provided some lovely colour

 

 

 

When I stopped to take a photo of these two horses, they were both lying down, but one of them stood up, making a much better composition!

 

 

The shorn sheep look comical

 

 

I hope you like animal photos, as here is another one!  A beautiful new horse in the field across the road

 

 

Then during our after-lunch walk ....... well, could you resist this gorgeous beastie?

 

 

....... or this one?

 

 

I am still enjoying playing with the new lens - I didn't have to bend down to take this photo of a tiny feather on the road!

 

 

To finish ....... no, not another animal, but a little sparrow!!

 

 

 

Dear Santa .......

........ I have been a very, very good girl, so please can I have one of these for Christmas?

 

 

The workmen had to bring in the digger today, as they needed to dig a hole big enough for this

 

 

Before they left for the day, they made good use of the hole as overnight storage for the spare digger buckets

 

 

While they were busy working, we went for a walk up the bridle path ...... we were delighted to come across this foal

 

 

The flies are very bad this year, and this poor horse was being tormented by them - if you click on the photo to enlarge it you will see them clustered round its eye and on its mane

 

 

Fortunately we weren't bothered with flies when we were out for a walk by the river yesterday morning

 

 

We were a bit surprised to see this lily growing on the river bank ..........

 

 

........ and even more suprised to see the remains of a motorbike in the river!

 

 

I spent quite a lot of time in the studio on both Saturday and Sunday..  I have a growing pile of things which are part done, so I thought I would make a determined effort to get them finished.  First off the pile was the third of the four chicken wallhangings (the first two are finished).  I layered it, ready to quilt

 

 

Next were the two knitted fronts for cushions, which I finished some time ago.  I got out one of my many sample curtains and took it apart.  I hemmed the two pieces for the back of the cushion and put them on the cutting board, overlapping them so that they formed a square

 

 

then put the knitted panel, backed with cutain lining, on top and pinned all the layers together

 

 

The last stage was to add binding.  One of the cushions is finished, and I just have a little bit of stitching to finish on the second one

 

 

I also finished to cushion which was last week's knitting project.  When I knitted the stripes on the back, I thought it looked a bit boring

 

 

so when I did the front, I knitted the stripes in garter stitch, rather than stocking stitch, to add some texture

 

 

I found some buttons in my stash

 

 

The finished cushion

 

 

I am taking a break from the project for a few weeks, as I want to concentrate on knitting the baby shawl to put into the Southdean show next month, and I also want to spend more time on my Baltimore blocks ........ I'll give you progress report tomorrow!

 

 

 

 

Come on Andy!

I can hardly concentrate on doing today's post, as I am watching Andy Murray playing Rafael Nadal in the semi-final at Wimbledon!!

You may have noticed that there hasn't been a lot of sewing happening recently ....... so yesterday afternoon saw me chained to the work table in the studio, doing more prep work for my Baltimore quilt.  Having cut out the vase and some flowers, I arranged them roughly with some stems on the background fabric

 

 

This is what the block should look like when it's finished

 

I also made another four petals to replace the ones that the freezer paper stuck to ...... and this time I made them in a contrasting fabric

 

 

When we were in Hawick yesterday, Malcolm pointed out this workman ........

 

 

........ and this is where he was working!!

 

 

To finish, I thought I would show you a last lot of photos from our Woolfest trip ........

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oops - nearly forgot the Friday cakes ...... Annette really spoiled us this week, with strawberry and cream cupcakes!

 

 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, love Anne

No wool in sight!

On Saturday, while I was enjoying all things woolly, Malcolm took the small camera and headed for Whitehaven, where he found a great variety of things to take photos of. 

 

the harbour

 

 

an unusual bench!

 

 

quayside sculpture

 

 

spiking the cannon when the Americans tried to invade

 

 

part of a sculpture marking the end of mining

 

 

a plaque, set in a seat, showing the tax due on tobacco imports

 

 

a little bit of history

 

On Sunday, we went into Cockermouth ....... we had hoped to find a coffee shop to have breakfast, but there was nowhere open.  Fortunately, good old Greggs came to the rescue, and we were able to enjoy take-away bacon rolls, sitting on a bench in the street (several people stopped to ask where we had got our food, as they too couldn't find an open cafe!)

In November 2009, Cockermouth suffered dreadful floods ...... Malcolm stood under the mark which shows the flood level - it must have been terrifying for the residents

 

 

We visited Wordsworth House, which was the childhood home of the poet William Wordsworth.  The house didn't actually belong to the Wordsworth family, so it doesn't have personal items, but is furnished in the style of the time when Wordsworth lived there.  My favourite room was the kitchen

 

 

 

The garden was devastated by the floods, but as you can see from the following photos, a lot of very hard work has restored it

 

 

 

 

 

This morning, I was meandering striding along, when I heard very loud munching from the other side of the hedge.  I was a bit concerned that a family of mutant giant sheep had moved in to the field ....... so I was quite relieved when I came to the field gate to see these beauties!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I can see clearly now!

Yes - at last I have my new glasses ....... but more of that later!  Instead, I'll start at the beginning of the day, with some photos from my morning walk

 

another of the scary triffid-like plants

 

 

a slightly ruffled blackbird

 

 

a tranquil early morning scene

 

Back home, I had my breakfast, showered and got dressed up, as I was heading south to meet Rachel for lunch.  I left early to get away from the mayhem in the garden, so I thought I would stop at the Carter Bar (the border between Scotland and England) to take some photos.  That was a big mistake - indeed it was a VERY big mistake, as the place was heaving with tourists ......

 

 

....... these are just two of a row of coaches

 

 

I know this is very unpatriotic, but I did feel sorry for the tourists being subjected to the bagpipes!!  (I think it sounds like a cat being strangled!!)

 

 

But it was worth it to take these photos

 

 

 

There are no photos from lunch with Rachel - probably because we don't want friends and relations saying 'you ate what??!! ...... whatever happened to the healthy eating plan?'.  But we had a lovely time catching up with all the news (don't tell them, but of course we talked about our lovely sons and their gorgeous girlfriends!!).  Then it was out to our cars, to transfer lots and lots of boxes which I had brought for Rachel - if you don't read her blog, do pop over to find out about all the ups and downs of her on again/off again house selling/buying.
On the way home, I decided that I had time to make a rather large detour to Kelso, so that I could pick up my new glasses (the opticians phoned on Monday to say that they were ready).  Malcolm took so long to take this photo, you might notice that my smile is slightly strained!

 

 

The state of the garden when I got home ......

 

 

...... but an ingenious solution was found to look after the beech hedge until it can be replanted!

 

 

ps - I haven't forgotten about Malcolm's day out on Saturday, and also what we did before heading for home on Sunday - I'll tell all tomorrow!!

Woolly thoughts!

Lots and lots to share with you about our few days away - so let's get going!  First of all, our teeny, tiny cottage.  It was part of a converted stable block on a farm.

 

 

The cottage was 'upside down' .... so we went in the door into the bedroom ........

 

 

....... then on up the stairs (past the door to the shower room) to the lounge/kitchen

 

 

 

It was a very cosy, comfortable little cottage - you can find out more about where it was here.  However, we had such a busy time, we didn't spend a lot of time in it.  Of course the main event was Woolfest - we went together on Friday, then I went again on my own on Saturday, as I was meeting friends (more about that later).  On Friday morning we only had a cuppa when we got up, as we knew that we would have the most delicious roll and sausage for breakfast when we got there

 

 

Suitably fortified, we plunged into the sights, sounds (and smells!) of the show floor.  When I reviewed my photos to decide what to include, I realised that on Friday, almost all the photos were of the animals - but I did take a shot of Jenny Pepper's stall (with permission) - lots of gorgeous felty things!

 

 

I tried earlier to make a mosaic of the sheep and alpaca photos, but the whole thing was taking so long, I gave up!!  So here are the individual photos ....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I mentioned that no doubt we would have fish and chips for dinner one night - and that's what we did on Friday ....... we went to Keswick - and tucked into a delicious meal ........

 

 

....... sitting by the lake

 

 

On Saturday morning, Malcolm dropped me off (he went off for a day out ...... and of course he took a camera - more about that later in the week).  I headed to my friend Helen's stall, to have a blether with her and our mutual friend Lizzi.  While we were chatting, someone else joined us ...... and she turned out to be Jill (no blog) from New Zealand, whom I had arranged to meet later in the day!  Jill is originally from Scotland - she still has her accent!  It was lovely to meet someone who until now I have only known through comments and emails.  I then did a spot of shopping, and returned to Helen's stall, where I had arranged to meet my blog friend Emily, who was there with her friend Emma.  They had yet to have breakfast, so we headed off to the restaurant, whre we met another of their friends, Tracey.  While they tucked into breakfast, I was very good and only had a cup of tea!  We had a lovely time chatting and swapping bloggy stories ...... then it was back to shopping!

After a while my feet were complaining, so I went to have a seat and listen to the musical entertainment ..... and had a lovely chat with a super knitter from Yorkshire, named Heather

 

 

Suitably revived, I returned to the fray, and stopped to watch Owen Jones making his wonderful baskets (photo used with permission)

 

 

Ingrid Wagner (fresh from being featured on the cover of Outlandish Knits) was happy to have her photo taken too

 

 

So ...... what did I buy?  I'll tell you tomorrow, as now it's time for the weekly knitting project update!

 

I am delighted with the scarf!

 

 

I've skipped the lavendar bags and baby hat, to do the cushion next!

 

ps, the front garden looks as it it has been invaded by giants moles - I'll explain tomorrow!!