frayed at the edge

Sewing!

You may have thought that with all the other stuff going on, that I haven't been doing any sewing!  But I have been working very hard on my Aunts' Quilt, to make sure that I had this month's stage finished.  I started by trimming the applique blocks

 

but you will have to wait until next Friday to see the full report!  The little elephant stitchery is finished

 

and I have made a good start to the next one

 

yesterday I sent Malcolm up into the loft to retrieve two pieces of furniture for me.  First, this half-moon piecrust table, which belonged to my Mum and Dad.  I can vaguely remember them buying it when I was little, so it must be at least 50 years old!

 

I am going to paint it with this Annie Sloan chalk paint, and bring it over to use as a hall table in the flat

 

we had this little chair in the hall of the Victorian house which we lived in, in the 90s.  It was the time of paint effects and stencilling.  I think Malcolm used a stencil for the basic design, then embellished it.  But it too is going to be painted with the chalk paint, and will go in the guest bedroom at the flat.  While I am painting it, Malcolm will recover the seat.  There is a tale to tell about the fabric that is on it at the moment, but I will have to look out the relevant photos to go with the story

this cupboard is now in my studio, another paint effect and stencil job

 

I painted the cupboard in the paler paint, then sponged it with the darker one.  I then stencilled it - even stencilling rosebuds on the handles

I also painted the inside of the cupboard!

 

I wasn't at patch'n'chat this afternoon, as we came over to Berwick.  For a change, we came via Duns, and popped into the Garden Centre for a cuppa.  So there is still a Friday cake ....... the most wonderful scone, filled with blueberry Eton Mess

 

for those of you who may not know, Eton Mess is broken up meringue, mixed with fresh cream

 

the forecast is good for tomorrow, so we are looking forward to the Seaside Festival

 

I hope you have a good weekend, love Anne

We finally get to Sunday!

On Sunday morning, we headed back over the Border to visit Coldingham Priory ...... or rather the remains of the Priory.  However the parish church .....

 

........ is built on the site of the Priory

 

this board (click on the photo to enlarge it) .......

 

....... explains what these relics are

 

around the site of the Priory are paving stones with messages carved into them

 

I always get a lump in my throat when I see these old gravestones

 

this old gravestone has had a new plaque put on it

 

and this War Grave is particularly sad, that the sailor's family wouldn't have known that their loved one had been buried in Coldingham

 

when we walked by to the car, I spotted this pillar box beside the car park.  It is from the reign of George VI, the Queen's father

 

from Coldingham, we went on to St Abbs for a cuppa.  While Malcolm was placing our order, I was admiring the little table setting

 

I was given a plain, ordinary white cup and saucer with my tea, but as happened the last time we were there, Malcolm was given this stylish cup and saucer with his coffee

 

after our cuppa, we had a potter down to the harbour, where the tide was well and truly out

these boats in the inner harbour would have a long wait until they were afloat again

 

of course I had to take a photo of this boat!

 

we had a hunt on the shoreline for shells and seaglass, but I was distracted by this crab claw

 

this was the first crab I have found with blue pincers

 

 

when we walked back to the car, I was glad that this enormous gull was sitting on someone else's car!

 

on the way home, we stopped to have a look round number four

 

the gallery is filled with all sorts of art works, and as we wandered round oohing and aahing, I had a good idea!  I have been stumped as to what to give Malcolm for his birthday this year ...... so I told him to pick something, which he was delighted to do.  However, as it isn't his birthday until the 3rd of September, you will have to wait to see what he chose.  However, I can show you a general shot of all the loveliness on offer

 

back at the flat, the poor swans were discombobulated again, as yet another boat came into the dock

 

to finish ...... our lovely neighbour (the shoe shop owner) popped in this afternoon to give me a bunch of sweet peas, which she had just picked from her garden.  I wish we had smell-o-blog, as their scent is lovely.  I put them in my favourite little vase, which I bought when we were living in Indonesia, so it is about seventeen years old

The rest of the weekend

When we went for our walk on Saturday afternoon, we saw lots of fruit in the hedgerows

raspberries

 

brambles

 

rosehips

 

at first we thought this was a small apple

 

but after Malcolm cut it in half and we saw the single stone, I realised that it was a greengage

 

on our walk on the beach, we encountered dead crabs in three sizes

small

 

medium

 

large

 

this seagull was keeping an eye on what was going on on the beach

 

and of course we have to have a photo of the lighthouse

 

there were lots of boats about

 

as we walked back to the flat, the pilot boat came out of the dock at a great rate of knots

 

looking round, we saw this large ship heading in

 

by the time we got to the flat, the ship was passing the lighthouse

 

and was soon heading for the dock

 

we held our breath as it came through the opening

 

but the pilot looked quite relaxed

 

the poor swans didn't know where to go, to avoid the ship and the pilot boat, swimming back and forward, and in and out of the dock

 

 

after our walk, we were in need of sustenance ....... these are bought scones, but they were very good, and the blackcurrant jelly was delicious

 

I missed seeing the spectacular full moon on Friday, but it still looked good on Saturday.  The first two photos are from earlier in the evening, then the last one is from bedtime

 

oh dear, today's heading is "the rest of the weekend", but that is only Saturday, so you will have to come back tomorrow to find out what we did on Sunday!!  Here is a sneak peek

 

hooray, an email arrived about a minute ago from Catherine, translating the cartoon (thank you Catherine!)

why did you say "muuuu" like that just now?

 

I was trying out my new language

A veritable pot pourri of a weekend

I was very busy in the kitchen at home on Saturday, and then equally busy in the studio, but I will tell you about that tomorrow.  Instead, I will start with what we have been doing in Berwick, both yesterday and today.  When we arrived yesterday, we went out for a walk round the town

old chimneys

 

who needs a cliff when you can use chimneys!

 

a different view of the lighthouse

 

a pigeon on the old walls

 

more old walls

 

did the English defenders fire on the pesky Scots invaders from here?

 

windpower

 

horsepower!

 

looking down the High Street ...... then looking up at the buildings

 

 

 

the window of the new dental practice

 

of course after all that walking we needed sustenance

a tasty cheese scone

 

and a delicious toasted teacake 

 

and back at the flat, the swans were waiting in the dock for us

 

this morning, we were helping to set up this exhibition

 

I have two pieces in it - my "Sunset Over the Bay" wallhanging, and a little canvas with a driftwood and seaglass boat (which you can just see perched on the radiator on the left)

 

Malcolm was helping with things involving large ladders

 

while I was assigned this wall to pin up some schoolchildren's work

 

after I had pinned up all my pieces

 

I helped Malcolm to hang these paintings of the lighthouse

 

while on the other side of the room, there was some discussion about the positioning of my wallhanging

 

all too soon it was time for us to head off for some lunch, and on the way out I picked up this card, illustrated by local author Cara Lockhart Smith

 

this side shows you where the Watchtower Gallery is (bottom left), should you be able to come to the exhibition

 

while this side shows the wider area

 

we had a rather indulgent lunch.  Malcolm's didn't win any points for presentation, but it was exceedingly tasty ...... homemade corned beef pie, with rather a lot of beans

 

while I had a delicious Coronation chicken panini 

 

we had lunch at Marshall's, and popped into the outlet shop afterwards for a quick look round.  I was very glad that we did, as I got the bargain of the year (if not the decade!!)  A super warm jacket, which will be good for walking on the beach in the winter

 

it has an extra detachable bit inside, which when fastened grips round the hips to stop the wind blowing in

 

I wouldn't have paid the original price, although I may have paid the outlet price ........

 

......... but all I paid was £19!!!

Delete, delete, delete!

On Saturday afternoon, while Malcolm was out, I caught up on some way-overdue housekeeping on my laptop.  First was my "favourites" list, where I have all the blogs I read, the on-line shops I use, a few YouTube music videos and some quilting tutorials.  A lot of things were deleted, and the list was reorganised into categories ...... a good job done!  Next, I sorted out my photos.  I take lots of photos, and I always mean to keep on top of things, putting them into the appropriate folders, and deleting those which were taken for the blog and don't need to be kept.  So I won't have to wade through dozens of daily folders to find the photos for today's post, after a very serious amount of delete, delete delete!!

I made some honey butter on Saturday - I first encountered this when we were in Australia last year, but only made it once when we got back home, but for some reason I remembered about it on Saturday.  There was just enough honey left in the jar .......

....... to beat into some softened butter

 

the delicious honey butter was spread on toasted teacakes to have with our afternoon cuppa

 

 

you can see that the lifeboat was travelling at speed - but this was on the way back to the lifeboat station, not on the way out to a rescue!

 

I have lots of photos from what we did yesterday morning, so I will save them for tomorrow, and instead show you what happened in the afternoon.  First, we went for a walk on the beach - there were two little boats flying along on the stiff breeze

we made a new friend

 

of course there has to be a photo of the lighthouse

 

and Bamburgh Castle away in the distance

 

a little clump of beach detritus

 

most of the groynes have been covered up as the sand has shifted over the winter

 

but the little bit left exposed provided me with two arty photos

 

after our walk, we headed along to the old bridge to wait for the float parade.  We could see over to "Reaper", which had its sail raised, as the wind had dropped

 

we had a little while to wait for the parade to appear, so we succumbed to temptation

 

at last the parade appeared, led for some reason by a police riot van!!

 

later in the afternoon, there was a flurry of activity on "Reaper", as the sail was lowered and secured

 

then she swung round

 

and headed round the channel and out to sea

 

and to finish ...... on Saturday afternoon the swans suddenly took off at a great rate of knots, heading out of the dock

 

what had spooked them?  A crowd of rowdy canoeists!

 

 

 

The Salmon Queen

Yesterday evening we walked along to the old bridge, to wait for the arrival of this year's Salmon Queen.  Her approach was heralded by the skirl of the pipes

 

with all the crush of people, I only managed a quick snap as she went past

 

then a view of her back as she got out of her boat (which had been towed behind a car!)

 

it was hard to take photos of all the people up on the stage, as the light was behind them, so these are the best of a poor bunch!  First, Lauren, the outgoing Queen

 

this woman with the fantastic hat is the High Sheriff of Northumberland

 

and this, of course, is the Mayor of Berwick, whom we met last month at the craft fair

 

and the most important person of the evening, the new Queen Shannon

 

after speeches by the two dignitaries and the two Queens, we were led in prayer by this chap - being Scottish I would call him a minister

 

we then walked the few yards to the War Memorial, where the minister again spoke, and the lone piper played a lament

 

Queen Shannon then prepared to lay a wreath, as the dignitaries looked on

 

with the solemn part of the evening over, the pipe band struck up a cheery tune

 

there was a big lad on the big drum

 

and a wee lad, who looked as if he might be his brother, on a much smaller drum!

 

as we left, we saw the High Sheriff chatting to some spectators

 

I wonder if she had a donut before she went home!!

 

in a comment on yesterday's post, Julia mentioned that her son would be fishing today near the old bridge.  As I walked along to the Gallery this morning to do my stewarding at the exhibition, I saw these men on the river, so I hope one of them is Julia's son

 

when I got to the Gallery, I was delighted to see the finished exhibition

 

when we arrived yesterday,  Reaper was moored at the quayside across the river

 

we went to see the ship after lunch today. I stayed on deck, declining to climb down the ladder to see below-decks, so Malcolm took these photos.  He said it was quite cramped, and that there was also a strong smell of diesel (fuel) which makes me feel sick, so I was glad I had stayed in the sunshine

 

 

these are my photos from on deck

 

then I took this one from the old bridge as we walked home

 

to finish ...... when I looked out the window after dinner tonight, a line of geese was heading out of the dock

 

within minutes, the remaining geese, who were still playing with the swans, hastily raced after the others

 

apart from this dozy one!!

When we arrived at the flat ........

........ late this afternoon, there were so many swans (and a few geese) in the dock, that I had to take three photos to include all of them!

 

we came over today because of this ......

 

...... so hopefully I will have lots of photos to share with you tomorrow.  But now, as promised, the progress report on the studio.  Having finished the painting on Tuesday, yesterday I set about putting the furniture into its new arrangement.  I started with the two main units on the back wall.  I bought these some years ago from a wool shop which closed, and they are provide lots of storage space

 

then to the left of them I put my cd/dvd storage units, and my old pine chest of drawers.  I will be able to put my quilting hoops in the spaces

 

on the facing wall, I put the big storage unit in the corner, and the bookcase (yes, it's a Billy bookcase from Ikea!) beside it

 

my plan was for Malcolm to link the two with shelves, but I realised that the shelves could only be as deep as the bookcase, which wasn't deep enough for the storage boxes I planned to put on them.  So I turned the bookcase sideways on - much better

 

I put the tables back in the centre of the room, and by the end of the afternoon, the studio looked like this, as seen from the four corners

 

I have sorted out my (many, many) magazines.  I have kept my favourite Australian, American and Spanish ones (and a few British ones) but I am parting company with the rest.  I gave Maureen a big pile on Tuesday - once she has read them, she will pass them on to the ladies in the Church sewing group that she goes to.  Then I gave another pile to my Lovely Neighbour (the shoe shop owner) - she will pass them on to her Mum.  A third pile went to a charity shop in Hawick this morning, and there is one pile left.  As I restore all my fabrics, threads and craft items to the storage units, I plan to be equally ruthless, and only keep the things I know I will use - the rest can go to the same charity shop (Shelter) that the magazines went to, as I know they will raise much needed money for homeless people.  Some of the stuff was bought in charity shops, so it will be raising money twice!

 

to finish, I thought you might like to see what we had for lunch in the garden centre in Kelso.  We shared a delicious egg mayo and bacon sandwich, and a small bowl of chips

 

Catching up!!

I have been very, very busy since I was last here, so it will take a few days to catch up with what we have been doing.  So here, in no particular order, is a quick snapshot of the last few days!  We arrived home yesterday to a lovely squishy envelope on the doormat, with a pretty envelope inside

 

and inside that envelope was a lovely note from Dawn, saying that when she saw these very cute owl buttons she thought of me, and then bought them for me!  Thank you very much, Dawn!

 

Yesterday morning we went along to the Watchtower Gallery in Berwick, to hand in my three driftwood fish pictures, which  are being included in this exhibition

 

we had offered to help with setting up the exhibition, so we were given this wall to work on

 

which gradually filled up with all sorts of fish/boat/seaside related items

 

there is also an exhibition of artwork at the other end of the large room

 

the Watchtower is a magnificent old building, a wonderful setting for the exhibitions.  Do pop in if you are in the area - and if you pop in this Friday, you'll find me there, doing a stint as a steward

 

we went over to Berwick on Friday, to have a break from the dreaded decorating.  There were hardly any swans about, but when Malcolm went out for a walk, he spotted them all huddled in a corner on the far side of the dock (he also got all three bridges in the photo!)

 

however on Saturday, there were lots of them about

 

 

I suppose I ought to show you some of the decorating!  The biggest job was washing down the ceiling and walls, which were grubby because of the log burning stove.  This is Malcolm finishing the last bit of washing this morning

 

we then covered the carpet with a motley collection of old curtains, shower curtains, towels, and even an old ironing board cover!

while Malcolm did the cutting in, I got busy with the roller.  After much humming and hawing last week, we eventually settled on a light green paint, as I fancied having some colour on the walls, rather than boring white

 

having done the ceiling, Malcolm took this action shot of me starting on the walls.  I always use the roller on a long pole - much easier than using a stepladder

 

by mid-afternoon, I had done the first coat, and this is Malcolm covering the last little bit of white

 

I hope to get the second coat done on Wednesday (I'm having a girly day out with Maureen tomorrow), then we can get the furniture back in place and everything put away.  The lower room will be much quicker to do, as it is much smaller, with a much lower ceiling.

 

last week, it wasn't a squishy envelope that brought a present, but a stout cardboard box.  A gorgeous gift from the Lovely Granny-to-be, to say thank you for the Lovely Baby quilt.  Thank you very much, Granny-to-be ..... the fizz has gone away for a special occasion, and we have only just eaten the last chocolate!

 

and to finish ....... as soon as I saw this little box in a charity shop last week, I had to buy it

 

so of course we had to have boiled eggs for breakfast the next day!!

Would you rather .......

........ have a leisurely paddle in a canoe

 

or go zipping across the water on one of these?

 

my answer is a definite NO to both!  You will only get me on the water on a very big boat!!  The canoes came very briefly into the dock on Saturday, and we saw the man on the jet ski when we were walking on the beach at Bamburgh with Stuart and Alison on Saturday morning

looking up at the castle

 

and down to a feather

 

looking out to the Farne Islands in one direction

 

and Lindisfarne in the other

 

of course, after a long walk on the beach at Bamburgh, the next stop has to be Seahouses for chips.  Stuart and Alison agreed that they are the very best of chips, and taste even better being eaten sitting in the sun beside the sea!

 

and the chips are much too good to share, even with handsome birds! 

 

I spent a lot of time at the weekend jumping out of my seat to take photos of what was going on in the dock.  First we had swans sailing in majestically

 

then the seal popped his head out of the water, with a fish in his mouth!

 

but the fish escaped - you can just see it to the right of the seal

 

then there was the whump, whump, whump of a helicopter.  I snatched a quick shot to make sure I got it before it disappeared

 

but had time to switch to the digital zoom to get a closer shot

 

the lighthouse looked good in the late evening sun

 

the swans were back in the early morning sun

 

look at this thing of beauty ........

 

 ....... it's the lid of the latest addition to my tin collection - and even better it is full of biscuits!

 

to finish ....... we didn't have scones at the weekend, but on the way home we popped in for a cuppa and scones.  A rather crumbly (but delicious) fruit one

 

and an exceedingly cheesy cheese scone.  No, we didn't have the jam on it!

A special day

It was Fathers' Day yesterday, and as Stuart and Alison couldn't visit as they are on holiday, I took Malcolm out for brunch.  I'm showing you the photo of what we had to eat first, as it will take the rest of the post for you to recover from such a big meal (I didn't finish mine!!)

 

now to go back to the start of the weekend.When we arrived at the flat, we made up a small picnic, and headed off to the beach on the far side of the lighthouse.  As we sat eating, we had company.  This enormous seagull crept closer and closer

 

while this crow watched from a fence post

 

on the beach, Malcolm meandered along looking for driftwood, and I looked for things to take photos off

 

 

just the other day I read about building stone stacks on I live, I love, I craft, I am me .... and promptly added building stone stacks to my to-do list.  So on Saturday, I built my first one, topped with a piece of seaglass

 

delighted that it didn't fall over, I then built a shell stack

 

oh dear, I've definitely got the bug, as this morning I built this pebble, seaglass and shell one on my bathroom shelf!!

 

I haven't taken many of my "arty" photos recently, so I put that right over the weekend

 

in contrast to the tiny crab that I found last week, this shell was about 8" across!

 

these two boats were beached by the low tide

 

 

Malcolm spotted these seagull chicks, little fluffy bundles!

 

as we walked across the old bridge, we could see this photographer fiddling about with his tripod and camera (I was getting worried that his tripod would topple over and his camera would end up in the river!).  Then, having got everything set just right. he produced this black cloth and disappeared under it!

 

we can't have a Berwick post without some swans!

 

more geese have appeared

 

the seal popped his head out of the water

 

last week it was a big orange lorry spoiling the view of the dock ........ this weekend it was a beer lorry

 

 

yesterday was the longest day for us in the Northern Hemisphere (yes, it's downhill all the way to Christmas now!).  The sun was just setting at 10 0'clock

 

to finish ...... do you remember the sad tale of our little wisteria, which wouldn't grow and definitely wouldn't flower, no matter how much love we gave it?  Recently Malcolm dug it up, and I gave it to Maureen, to see if it would grow in her garden, as she already has a spectacular one.  She has been sending me regular progress reports, and yesterday she sent me this photo.  The wisteria is still in the plastic bag that Malcolm put it in when he dug it up, and that is sitting in a bucket, waiting for the ground to be prepared for where it will be planted.  Not only has it put out a lot of foliage, it has also flowered!!  We think it didn't flourish in our garden because we are quite high up on our hill - we are about 200 feet higher than Hawick, so we are pleased to see it doing well lower down in Jedburgh!