frayed at the edge

Sun, sun, sun!

The weather is still glorious, so instead of using the implements of fitness torture, I headed out the door at 6.40am for a walk.  I was so early the sheep were still lying about in the field across the road

 

but the horse was up and about

 

every few yards there was a pop of colour in the verge

 

and this handsome chap added even more colour

 

this ewe kept an eye on me through the fence

 

while her lamb watched through the gate

 

this dog regularly barks at me

 

but these two sweeties are very well behaved.  They belong to Marion, the owner of the Jacob's sheep.  I remember when she got Jason, on the left ...... and now he is the father of the other gorgeous dog (whose name I can't remember!)

 

after breakfast, I headed out to the studio to do some more work on the Vineyard wallhanging ...... but before I show you what I did, I have to show you these photos, which I forgot to do yesterday.  So with apologies to Charlie, Anne S and Sheila, here is what they did on Sunday (having pestered them to take photos for the blog, I am very embarrassed to have forgotten to put them in yesterday!!)

 

this morning I filled in the rest of the scene and added the borders

 

then added some of the iron-on bias strips

 

I must make the effort to scrub and repaint my chair, which is looking very neglected

 

it sits beside the studio doors.  Do yoy like my heart decoration?  I could lie and say that I made it, but I bought it yesterday in Sainsbury's!

 

at teatime, a collared dove appeared to drink from the bird bath

 

isn't life grand when the sun shines!!

Fun at breakfast!

Thank you for all your commiserations about our disappointment with Woolfest!  Both Gilly and Thimbleanna left comments saying that we weren't the only ones who didn't think it was as good as previous years.  Never mind, after having lunch in Cockermouth and dinner in Keswick, the next meal we had was breakfast at the excellent B&B.  It was the most wonderful breakfast, with sausage, bacon, eggs, mushrooms and toast.  But as well as enjoying the food, we were also entertained by a young Japanese couple ..... we think they were on their honeymoon.  They obviously didn't speak much English ...... and also obviously hadn't encountered a cafetiere of coffee before, as the boy (he looked much, much too young to call him a man) tried to pour it without having depressed the plunger.  Having been a Brownie and a Guide, I performed my good deed for the day, and showed him what to do.  They started breakfast with a bowl of porridge ..... judging by the face-pulling, I don't think they liked it very much.  Then they had smoked salmon and scrambled eggs, which was fine ..... but he had black pudding with his and she had vegetarian sausage ....... I think they had just ticked boxes on the breakfast menu without knowing what it was!

 

After breakfast, we headed to Lower Sizergh Barn.  There is a wonderful farm shop, crafts for sale, some beautiful (but expensive) clothing, and a lovely tearoom where we only had a cuppa, as we were still full from breakfast.  But the best bit was the farm trail ..... we didn't walk round all of it, but look what we found on the stretch we did walk

 

we then went to ........ but I'll tell you that tomorrow, as there are still lots of photos to share with you, and I haven't yet shown you what I bought in this shop in Keswick (well, I did have all that money that I didn't spend on wool!)

first was this wonderful tin

 

which was filled with mint cake

 

the nougat is for Malcolm, as is the bag of milk chocolate orange thins on the left, with dark chocolate mint thins on the right for me

 

you know that I love to get parcels from afar .........

 

....... and just look what was in this one!

 

you can find the shoes here

Somewhat disappointing!

Oh dear, what can I say?  I found this year's Woolfest to be a bit of a disappointment.  We got there early, so we had breakfast before it opened, and being among the first in the door, I was able to take photos without having someone getting in the way

 

some of the stalls which have been there in past years were absent, and some of the new ones just didn't have anything really exciting on offer!  One major improvement on previous years was that the gents toilet had been temporarily designated as a ladies so there wasn't the usual horrendous queue (there was a temporary toilet outside for the men).  But as always, for me, these were the highlight of the morning

 

yes, I did say of the morning, because we left just before lunchtime. We were going to go for a cuppa, but couldn't get a seat in the main restaurant, or out in the marquee, and when we went to the stall in the main hall, we were told we would have to wait ten minutes to get a cup of tea!  So what did I buy ....... I didn't buy any wool, as I kept thinking of all the wool that I have bought in previous years and haven't yet used (I can't believe I was so sensible!) ...... so all that came home with me was this set of exceedingly cute stitch markers

 

we headed off to Cockermouth for a bite of lunch and a stroll round the town, then took the scenic route to Keswick where we had booked a B&B for the night

 

we were delighted to find that the B&B matched up to the images on its website (if you click on bedrooms, then look at bedroom 1, that's ours)

 

we went out for dinner to a small Italian restaurant.  We were so hungry we had aready eaten some of the garlic pizza bread which we shared for a starter, before I thought to take a photo!

 

for his main course Malcolm had a very spicy pasta dish

 

and I had chicken and bacon risotto

 

both meals were delicious ....... and we were so full, we didn't have room for dessert.  We went for a stroll round the town, and I was able to take some photos which I couldn't in the afternoon because it was so busy!

 

we had a busy day on Sunday before heading back home ....... I'll tell you about it tomorrow.

But to finish ........ fanfare and roll of the drums ......... the winner of the little givaway.  Or, winners, because there are two!  They both forgot the same thing, and when you read what it was they forgot, you may think that they should be punished not given a prize!!  Sarah admitted that while under pressure sitting exams, she forgot her mother's birthday, and Meredithe admitted that when planning their first overseas trip, she didn't just forget her mother's birthday, but her 70th birthday!  I have decided to share the Herdie stitchmarkers with them, and there just might be a little something else in the parcels!

 

A bit of a blur

I was at the optician's this morning, for what I thought would be my regular eye check ....... but no, because of my age (!) I needed an extra test, which required havinng drops put in my eyes.  I really don't like having things put in my eyes - I have never tried contact lenses ....... so it didn't help when the optician said it would sting a bit (yes, it did!).  But the main thing was that it left me with blurred vision for the rest of the day.  The good news is that my distance sight has actually improved, and she has tweaked my reading prescription.  I eventually picked a new pair of glasses - but you will have to wait until the 1st of July to see them.

So, to finish off our trip.  On our way home, we stopped at Masson Mills.  But we didn't stop for the shopping (ok, we did have a look round), but for the museum

 

just when it looked as if we were going to have a weekend with no sconnage, we stopped at a coffee and farm shop ........

 

....... and shared a delicious cheese scone

 

when I got up yesterday and looked out the window, I decided to go for a walk, rather than using the implements of keep-fit torture.  Although it was only 6.45, this tractor was already hard at work

 

I just missed getting a photo of this bale as it popped out the back of the baler

 

this Jacob's ewe was keeping an eye on me through the bars of the gate

 

while this one ignored me and went on munching

 

sharing the field with the ewes is this old donkey - I think it is about 30!

 

back home I had breakfast, followed by my usual Wednesday morning soak in the bath (with a book and a mug of hot chocolate).  Then we headed to Old Melrose, where we went on a new walk

 

after his flirtation with stone, Malcolm went back to his first love of wood when he saw this rustic bench

 

we passed Old Melrose House

 

on our way to here

 

back home, I was taking some photos of the poppies in the back garden .......

 

........ when I saw this

 

slightly worried that it was some sort of nasty bug which would bite or sting, I poked it with a stick ...... only to find that it was the outside of a bud, which had fallen into the flower!

 

the hostas are looking wonderful - I much prefer them before they flower

 

well, I think that's me all caught up, except for one last thing from the weekend.  Malcolm saw a book he fancied, but having hummed and hawed he didn't buy it.  Then of course afterwards he wished he had bought it.  So being a loving and caring wife, of course I went online and ordered it for him, and it arrived this morning - he says it's full of all sorts of wondrous stuff about wood (ok, that might not be an accurate quote!!)

Decisions, decisions .......

Oh my, what will we start with, donkeys or sewing?  No contest really, it has to be donkeys (and horses - oh, and sheepies too).  I had a quick walk up the road yesterday, to see if the donkeys were about - they were, but in the far field, so I only managed to snap two of them

 

to make up for that, there were horses in the field across the road

 

there were also some chubby lambs ....... oooh, I'm thinking mint sauce and roast potatoes .......

 

an eight-legged lamb?

 

it's a hard life eating grass all day

 

Malcolm would appear to havve won the battle with the swallows ..... I saw these two starting to build a nest under the neighbours' roof

 

and now for some sewing!  I have been doing more handquilting on the "home is where the heart is" block

 

leaves and assorted twirly bits

 

echoing the curves

 

an assortment of hearts

 

echoing the wings

 

I put the binding on the scrappy strippy/strippy scrappy quilt (maybe I should call it strappy or scrippy?)

 

as there are so many colours in the border and the binding, it didn't really matter what colour thread I used, so I took the opportunity to finish up several reels of thread which just had a few yards on them ..... and for once the bobbin didn't run out with a few inches to go

 

I have to admit that I had a blonde moment, and cut far too much binding!

 

Leanne's House went back up on the design wall to be measured for the borders

 

the first border added

 

and the second

 

it's the last meeting of this session of Abbey Quilters tonight.  It is the AGM followed by a show and tell.  When I was folding Notes of Love to put in my bag ..... OOPS - I haven't embroidered the tiny hearts on the right of the centre panel of the heart!!

 

my sewing was interrupted for a while, when Malcolm appeared with a mid-afternoon treat .......

Warning ...... very cute content!

Suddenly there are lambs everywhere, including in three of the fields across from the house, so of course I have been busy taking photos

 

it wasn't just the ewes and lambs who were enjoying the sunshine ....... the donkeys were out in the field too

 

we went for a walk along the river in Jedburgh yesterday morning.  This rider was trying to get her horse to go into the water ......

 

...... but the horse wouldn't co-operate.  Maybe it had heard that you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink?!

 

this flowering currant is much further on than ours

 

I love the colours of this duck

 

I know you will find it very hard to believe, but I have never been in this shop!!

 

I wonder if anyone would notice if I appeared with a stepladder and acquired this sign?

 

we didn't have a two scone lunch, for the simple reason that the scones were enormous!  This cheese scone was very, very delicious

 

we had a stop on the way home for me to take photos of these black sheep

 

we weren't the only ones tucking into a tasty treat yesterday.  We gave Stuart and Alison a gift voucher for afternoon tea at their local garden centre, for one of their Christmas presents.  Stuart sent me this photo, with a simple caption "yummy"