frayed at the edge

Rain stopped play .......

...... but not at Wimbledon!  I woke up in the early hours to hear heavy rain, and when I got up it was very grey, damp and misty, with just a little bit of drizzle in the air.  So there was no point in taking the camera with me on my walk - I didn't really think you would want photos of low cloud and dripping trees.  However, I did get to play with the new lens a little later on in the morning, trying to capture raindrops landing in a puddle in the front garden!

 

 

 

 

Rain was going to feature in yesterday's post ...... but first, some of the other photos that got left out!  I finished the knitted cushion covers (having finally remembered to buy foam pads for them!)

 

 

I was putting something away in the airing cupboard on Saturday, when I found cushions which I made about ten years ago.  I thought they would be ideal to put on two of the kitchen chairs

 

 

The centres of the cushions were practice pieces for free motion quilting

 

 

 

 

Now to return to the subject of rain.  On Sunday afternoon, it suddenly started to rain.  This was no ordinary rain ...... this was rain of biblical proportions ....... and I was out in the studio!

 

wet,wet,wet

 

 

the rain bouncing on the summerhouse roof!

 

So until the rain went off, I had to stay in the studio ........ but at least I had Bruce Willis to keep me company

 

yes, he did once have hair!!

 

Fortunately I had taken some photos of the front garden before the havoc wreaked by the downpour

 

the climbing rose has just started to flower

 

 

our new peony

 

 

a teeny, tiny alpine

 

 

a bee on the honeysuckle

 

To finish, an update on Malcolm's sore finger!  The awful black bit on his nail has gradually come off - fortunately leaving some nail underneath.  Although the nail is a bit lumpy and bumpy, hopefully over the next few months it will grow ok

 

 

Abandoned!

I had more or less planned today's post ....... but then a very special parcel was delivered!!  I have mentioned that we will celebrate our Silver Wedding at the end of August.  Malcolm got his present from me last week - a Kindle (sorry, I haven't taken a photo, as it's not very exciting to look at!)  My present isn't just for our anniversary, it's also for my birthday and my Christmas ....... a new lens for my camera. As I'm not at all technically minded, I'll just let the photos do tho the talking!

I was so excited, I didn't even go outside - I just took some photos through the lounge window.  The first one shows the garden seen through the existing lens

 

 

This is with the existing lens extended

 

 

Next is the new lens  ........

 

 

......... then with the lens extended

 

 

The next photo had me jumping up and down and sqealing with delight (after putting the camera down!)  This is with digital zoom .......

 

 

The photos were all taken standing in the same place - except for the last one ...... I had to kneel down and lean my elbows on the coffee table to keep the camera steady, as the least movement is hugely magnified!
I don't want to turn into a camera bore, so I'll just show a couple more photos which I took during a quick walk this afternoon

 

I took this 'close-up' from about eight feet away.  I am amazed at the clarity - the apple is only the size of a cherry ...... and did you spot the fly?

 

 

I was leaning on a gate to capture this thistle, which was about six feet away - I love how the background is hazy, and you can see the little bit of spiderweb.

 

Back now to a quick roundup of what should have been the main events of today's post!  As I mentioned on Friday, I took Malcolm out for breakfast yesterday morning

 

absolutely naughty, but very delicious (I couldn't finish mine!)

 

Monday means the knitting update.  On Saturday I pressed the pencil case, and chose a fabric for the lining

 

 

Then yesterday I made it up

 

 

I quite often have a mug of hot chocolate when I'm busy in the studio at the weekend, but on Saturday I forgot to take my mug back into the house, so yesterday I used this mug

 

 

This week's project is one that I have been looking forward to - a lacy scarf

 

 

I have also made a start to the pink blanket for Linus ........

 

 

....... and a baby shawl, which I hope to have finished in time to put into the Southdean Show in August

 

 

To finish, one more photo taken with the new lens.  This is our neighbour's tiny horse (it's about the size of a sheep).  It lives in a paddock way back from the road, so up to now, any photo I took of it wouldn't show what a cute little thing it is!!

 

 

 

 

 

Blurred at the edge

This tale of woe started back in March.  I went to have my routine eye test, and although I was surprised when the optician said that my right eye had changed a great deal (he actually said it had gone from being short sighted to long sighted), I assumed that he knew what he was doing.  The new glasses duly arrived, and after struggling with them for a few days, I decided they just weren't right and took them back.  To shorten a very long story, I got a refund and went to another optician, who completely disagreed with the first optician.  So today I went to collect the new glasses ..... and they have to be sent back, as they have not been given the proper coating ........ aaaargh!! 

On to happier things!  The other day, when I was reading Meredithe's blog, she mentioned the town of Tyabb.  I then had this conversation with Malcolm

me : we went to Tyabb when we had our Melbourne holiday, didn't we

him: yes

me : that's where Magic patch Quilting was

him : if you say so, I don't remember what all the quilting shops you visited were called

So I googled Magic Patch Quilting - up came its entry in Yellow Pages - and yes, it is in Tyabb.  So I left a comment for Meredithe saying I had been in the shop and had bought a kit.  Meredithe replied, asking if I had made the kit ........ well, almost!!

 

I liked the box so much, I kept it!

 

 

I have done all the stitching, but haven't made anything yet!

 

 

a closer look at the friends shopping

 

 

I used French knots for two of the flowers  ........

 

 

and tiny beads for the eyes

 

 

I wonder how much fabric she has in her shoppping bag!

 

I hadn't done any work on my Baltimore block since last Friday, so this afternoon, I stitched and stitched until I finished the petals on the big flower

 

 

Of course I had to have a short break for my cuppa and cake ....

 

 

....... I chose this one with little sugar hearts

 

 

As you enjoyed last week's round-up of sundry photos, I thought I would do the same again this week

 

honeysuckle in the front garden

 

 

an interesting piece of bark and lichen I found the other morning

 

 

this lovely grass escaped the verge mowing

 

 

this is the first foxglove that I've seen in the verge!

 

I hope you all have a great weekend - it's Fathers' Day on Sunday, so I will be taking Malcolm out for a full Scottish breakfast!  Love, Anne

Early to bed and early to rise .......

........ means that you can be out on your tractor at a very early hour

 

 

and these early birds might not be getting the worm, but they are getting a feed of the seeds being planted

 

 

As I trundled up the hill, I realised that I was being watched ........ by some of the bullocks in the field

 

 

 

As soon as I had taken the photos and started to walk on up the road, they ran off to the middle of the field ..... well, given what has happened to them, perhaps they are right to be wary of humans!

 

 

Yesterday, when I didn't have the camera with me, I saw that a little yellow flower, which I think is a vetch (I must get a better book!) had started to flower.  Fine, I thought, I'll get photos tomorrow.  Then - horrors - the verges were cut yesterday afternoon!!

 

 

But fortunately the verges are only cut to the width of the mowing arm on the tractor, so my little yellow flower survived, as it is on a wide stretch

 

 

This thistle also survived - there are hardly any thistles in the verges here this year

 

 

 

Further down the hill, I saw this rose, which will provide rosehips in the autumn

 

 

and also by the autumn, these funny little things will be hawthorn berries

 

 

but before that, these flowers will have turned into raspberries

 

 

I had a little accident this morning when I was taking some mugs back out to the studio - oops

 

 

Fortunately it wasn't my haggis mug

 

 

 

Maybe I'll see a little haggis like this one morning when I'm out for my walk!

 

The rest of being very busy!

When I pottered through to the kitchen on Sunday morning to make breakfast, I immediately reached for the camera!  The angle of the photo makes it look as if the blackbird is feeding the pigeon, although they weren't actually that close ........ and check out that wonderful blue sky (it didn't last long!)

 

 

After breakfast, we headed off to Selkirk, where we were going to see Souter Quilters' exhibition.  But first we went for a walk, and I was rewarded with another postbox to add to my collection

 

 

I was tempted to clean this neglected sign, but I would probably have been arrested for vandalism!

 

 

We still had some time to fill before the exhibition opened, so we went for a look round Sir Walter Scott's courthouse - now a small museum.  After looking round the exhibits, I paused to take photos of the magnificent stained glass window - although unfortunately I had to take the photos through a glass door!  This little notice on the door describes the window and the clock tower where it is situated

 

 

The Battle of Flodden was the worst defeat inflicted on the Scots by the English - you can read more here.  There is a place near us which is called Sorrowless Fields, as the owners were the only local family not to lose someone in the battle

 

 

 

Then it was on to the exhibition - where photography was allowed!

 

a beautiful table centre

 

 

this was Malcolm's favourite

 

 

this was under glass, so not the best of photos

 

 

a vibrant wallhanging .....

 

 

..... a detail of the stitching

 

 

I liked this label!

 

There were lots more quilts, but I would be here for the rest of the evening including them!  Back home, I continued quilting the little Linus quilt.  Unlike the last one, which I quilted with straight lines, I have been 'scribble quilting' this one (I'll show you more in a moment)

 

 

I recently showed you the bud on a flower, which should have flowered some time ago.  Well ....... it finally flowered - just in time to be battered by the wind and rain!

 

 

A lovely yellow iris, which has now been joined by a purple one

 

I had a little bit of quilting to finish this morning, then I trimmed the quilt to size ......

 

 

...... and cut the strips for binding

 

 

I didn't quite finish hand-stitching the binding on the back this afternoon, but I'm sure you won't mind!

 

 

The fleece on the back looks paler in the bright sunshine

 

 

To finish, a last photo from the weekend.  I just had time to snap this vintage car when we passed it on our way home!

 

Mind the gap!

Yes - the flower should have been on the stem, not an inch above it!  I was so busy arranging the petals that I forgot about where it was supposed to go.  So I arranged all the petals again, took another photo ......

 

 

........ then noticed that two petals were lying to the right of the flower.  I put them in place  ........

 

 

........ but I hadn't noticed the petal to the left!  (I just won't mention that I then found another petal on the floor!)  Hower, eventually the petals were all pinned in place, and this afternoon I got half of them stitched

 

 

Once all the flowers are in place, I will do centres for them.  Some will just have circles, but I think for this big flower I will either make a small ruched flower similar to this one

 

 

or a Suffolk puff (yoyo) like this

 

 

I also have to confess a problem with the flower on the left of the block - you will see that at the moment it only has four petals, instead of eight.  That's because I had a problem with the freezer paper - it simply refused to peel off the fabric (maybe I had the iron too hot), so I will have to prep another four petals.

Friday of course means cake - today we had a choice between Selkirk Bannock

 

 

and Annette's delicious tray bake

 

 

To finish, I thought I would show you some photos from through the week, that didn't make it into a post!

 

it was very hazy on Monday morning

 

 

Tuesday's sunset

 

 

on Wednesday I spotted these tiny apples

 

 

and on Thursday, raspberries

 

 

rose buds in the hedgerow this morning

 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, Love Anne

That tastes good!

I'm not talking about my soup and bread that we had for lunch with a friend (more about that later), but about something which was so delicious, these lambs had escaped from the field to eat it

 

 

They were so engrossed in their munching, that they let me get really close to them

 

 

So what was so delicious?  Beech hedge ..... you can see where they have strippped the lower branches.

 

 

The lambs weren't the only ones enjoying the taste of the hedge ....... further down the road, this horse was tucking in too!  (It doesn't have a coat on because of the chilly weather - it's a fly coat)

 

 

So, back to the soup and bread!  I took two lots of soup out of the freezer last night - and couldn't understand why one lot looked brown, rather than red like the other one

 

 

My first thought was that perhaps it had gone bad (depite being in the freezer).  However, common sense prevailed, and reading the labels, I discovered that one lot was 'tomato and veggies', while the other one was 'tomato and roasted veggies'.  I simply stirred the two together!!  I also baked some cheese and onion bread (oh. alright, I confess ........ I put a packet mix into the bread machine and an hour later I had a delicicious loaf!)

 

 

I took these next photos yesterday, but they got bumped down the schedule by Warkworth!  On my walk yesterday, I had a detour down this farm track .......

 

 

........ as I could see these lovely fellows in the field

 

 

As I approached the gate, I saw this rabbit ........

 

 

......... which obviously thought that if it didn't move, I couldn't see it!  It sat there while I took several photos, and only moved when I turned away

 

 

I would have looked in the next field to see the Jacob's sheep ......... but the gap in the hedge that I usually go through to reach the field gate is completely overgrown with stinging nettles!

 

 

After my visitor left, I did some more work on the Baltimore block.  I had arranged the big flower on the right, taken this photo ........ and realised there was slight error

 

 

If you can't spot the error, I'll tell you tomorrow, and show you what else went wrong!!

Real chips!

We very rarely eat chips - if we do have chips at home, they are oven chips ........ ok, but not as good as real chips.  So when we were out for lunch with Jennifer today, we shared a bowl of real, proper, delicious chips (with salt and vinegar, of course!)

 

 

So where did we have this feast?  In this pub in Warkworth .......

 

 

........ and of course we ate more than chips!  I had this delicious stottie, with ham and pickle

 

 

Malcolm and Jennifer both had spicy chicken skewers

 

 

We went for a walk round the town after lunch - and the first sight we saw was somewhat unexpected - a window displaying a knitted Royal Wedding!

 

 

On the river bank, this seagull was happy to pose for a photo ......

 

 

........ but these ducks turned their backs!

 

 

As we came up the footpath from the river, we arrived at the back door of the castle

 

 

The castle must have been an impressive sight before it fell into ruin

 

 

Of course a visit to Warkworth has to include walking over the old bridge

 

 

It's just a pity that the replacement bridge is rather ugly!

 

 

As usual, I didn't just look around me, I also looked up ........ and was rewarded with this striking piece of wrought iron

 

 

There was more wrought iron on these front door steps

 

 

and a beautiful climbing rose round this door and window

 

 

All too soon it was time to head for home - but we did have one more stop to make.  We pass this postbox every time we go to see Jennifer ....... and every time we mean to stop on the way home (as it's on that side of the road).  So finally today, we remembered to stop.  This is the only postbox I have ever seen in a hedge!!

 

 

The first cut is the sweetest!

I went out to the back garden this morning, to decide whether or not to hang the washing out before I went shopping (the answer was 'no', as it was raining!).  I heard a lot of noise coming from the field behind us, and on seeing what was causing the noise, I quickly fetched the camera.  I had missed the hay being cut, but two tractors, with attached machinery, were busy dealing with it

 

this one raked the hay into lines

 

 

then this one gathered up the hay and baled it

 

 

working together, soon the field was full of ....

 

 

neat hay bales

 

After lunch, I tackled a job I have been meaning to do for some time.  The ceramic tiles on  my bathroon floor are textured, and although I mop them regularly, the dirt collects in the  ridges.  So I got out the steam cleaner and the scrubbing brush, and in no time at all the tiles were gleaming again (no photo, much too boring!)

However, while I had the steam cleaner in the bathroom, I decided to tackle another job.  When we bought this house, the bathroom was the only room which had been recently decorated, so we have yet to tackle it.  However, the previous owner had painted blue squares on some of the tiles (very 'Changing Rooms'!) ........

 

 

...... but the paint was starting to peel off some of the squares, revealing patterned tiles underneath

 

 

The half-peeled tiles were annoying me - and when I went to take a photo of an unpeeled square, I discovered that the bottom edge had started to peel!

 

 

I was reluctant to use any kind of chemical paint stripper, but I wondered if I could steam the paint off.  I quickly discovered that the answer was 'yes' - although while some squares came off in one piece, others came off in little bits.  (and my hair started to curl in the steamy atmosphere!)

 

 

Now that we can see the colours in the tiles, we can choose a colour scheme for when we redecorate the bathroom later in the year - the walls are the same blue as the squares and as it is matt paint, it is quite dull.

 

When I was out for my walk this morning, I picked up this tiny conker, which has fallen off the tree just a little bit early.  It is only the size of a large pea - by autumn, it would have been at least the size of a golf ball

 

 

I also picked some grasses and a spray of elder flowers, which I popped into a little bud vase, which I bought years ago in Jakarta

 

 

The last photo is from yesterday morning ....... as I was walking past some trees, I heard a great deal of noise.  Looking up, I just had time to snap this squirrel before it raced off out of sight

 

More fun in the sun!

It was another beautiful morning (although the forecasters are now saying that they got it wrong when they said the hot weather would last until Saturday).  After deciding not to take the camera every morning ....... how could I leave it at home when there are still so many things to take photos of!  After taking lots of photos of the flowers in the verges earlier in the week, today I concentrated on the different grasses

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I came back down the hill, there was a ewe peering through the fence, as if she was keeping an eye out for me!

 

 

In the front garden, this iris is about to flower ....... but it should have flowered months ago!

 

 

Last week I gave my orchids a good talking to, as they have been sitting on the kitchen windowsill, eating me out of house and home, without a flower to show for it (oh, ok, they only get a litle water every now and then)  Thye were told in no uncertain terms that if they didn't pull up their socks and do their job, they were heading for the compost heap.  Well, it worked, and two of them had new flower shoots this morning!

 

 

 

I have finished knitting the cushion cover (although I haven't made it up yet)

 

 

I had enough yarn left to do another one, although I have had to change it slightly, and swap the blue and white yarns in the second one

 

 

Of course Friday means patch'n'chat ....... and that means cake!  This week it was our favourite apple and sultana

 

 

Just in case you haven't had enough of cute animals this week, I'll finish with this beautiful calf - it wandered over to see what this strange woman was doing, stopping in the middle of the road and sticking a camera out of the car window!!  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, love, Anne