Countdown to Christmas 2022: spring has sprung, bring on the longer days! Thread 2.

[NoWordForFluffy]

Here we go...thread 2.

@crazybaubles needs to do her thing on the last thread. Bruce, Bruce, we want Bruce!

I may have a look at Redactle. I play Wordle and Heardle every evening.

puss I'm sad to say I think DH has fallen out of the romantic presents phase now. He was amazing at it for a long time (like the HP play tickets) but the last 2 years my presents have been nice but a bit predictable and / or sensible things for the house.

Dreaming having the journey as part of the trip sounds like a lovely plan.
I don't think we'd have time to do it that way but a big train holiday is on our 'to do' list. DH wants to do one that goes through the rockies.

I'm just getting ready to go food shopping, then home to do some housework before leaving to go out for a meal that DH booked while he was away which he thought was at 1:30 but is actually at 3:30 and now they're full and can't change it

Dreaming we looked at getting the sleeper from Paris to Rome but ended up travelling to Lake Garda instead. I spent ages on the Seat61 websitee* looking at all the possibilities.

Crazy did he think it said 13:30?! Will still be nice to go out, you'll be hungry by then

Ds still isn't home, he must be having a good time. I need to hang the washing out. Might have a nap later...

Crazy some old friends did this Canadian Rockies trip. They absolutely loved every minute.

217

Morning!

Puss, I'd love to go on that train. Canada is definitely on my list of places to go to!

We watched Hot Fuzz last night well, it was on in the background while I stitched! as there's very little on TV these days. I do love that and Shaun of the Dead! 😁

Alloment today. It's all about the weeding today. I shall wield my hoe, I think. Off with their heads!

fluffy I'd love it too, but DH won't fly now so that's that I guess.😭 We should have done it years ago, but put it off. He thought it would be a fab trip (with an extended trip, maybe flight transfers to New York and Washington) for after he retired. What a stupid thing to do.🤦‍♀️

Can you sail / use trains? Might be feasible (if slower!).

I'm not going across the Atlantic on a boat. I've seen Titanic and I can't swim 😹
and unlike 70 the thought of being trapped on a boat for a week would drive me stir crazy

You can fly. DH can sail! 🤣

pussycat you just need to make sure you are right next to the lifeboats shouting Women and Children First .

The days at sea were lovely , loads to ocupy us .
I'd love to go to Boston but by boat it would take weeks

Our next Big Holiday ( whenever that is) I'd like to go back to Rome , DH wants to go to Pompeii and I'd like to go to Tuscany . So a Cruise/Italy/Cruise home

puss that trip looks amazing!
We have a tentative plan for Canada next summer (Montreal, Toronto, Banff, Jasper National Park) but not the train trip though because it's £££.

Agree with Fluffy though, you could fly and your DH could sail and meet you there?

DH & I agree we want to travel as much as we can when we can because we've both had aunties & uncles who have worked hard, made plans to see the world in the their retirement then been unable to because of illness etc.

Maybe you could try a mini 3 day cruise to see how you'd cope? The ships are so big it's easy to forget you're at sea especially if you have a waiter who remembers your favourite cocktail and hands you one every time your glass is empty 🥴

I'm just in from doing some bits in the garden. Exciting stuff - my Christmas tree has some growth buds popping up all over the place 🎄 and my strawberries are coming along. Just need some netting and a frame now to keep the birds away.
I've also re-potted my chillis, peppers, sunflowers and the little cactus I bought a while ago.🤞🏼they come back to life!

I fancy a Norwegian fjords cruise. Otherwise it doesn't massively appeal.

I did some weeding today. Still loads to go! 😱😭 My spuds are fully covered now too.

My chillies have almost all been eaten, Crazy. It's disappointing.

It took DH a few years to convince me to try a cruise but I really enjoyed it.
I wouldn't do one every year but it is a nice mix of relaxation and busy days and if you pick the right company, it can be as formal (or not) as you like.

Were your chillis outside Fluffy? Mine are still living on the conservatory windowsill because they still seem so small.
I have no idea how you handle an allotment - I get flustered and worried about the handful of plants I'm trying to keep alive at home!

216

Afternoon!

We have sports day today, so I've taken a half day to watch. I'm glad I have my fleece with me as it's sunny but there's a stiff breeze which is chilly!

Speaking of chillies, they're in the greenhouse, Crazy. No room indoors. Or windowsill with sufficient light!

Crazy most of the other people on our cruise were seasoned travellers , 10/20 cruises under their belts , some much more .

Formal Nights were serious affairs , some men in tuxedoes and the women in very glamorous proper evening gowns .
DH wore a suit , waistcoat and bowtie , ( plus other clothes ) I was in long black dress ( rather than LittleBlackDress) .
There were 3 Formal Nights over 2 weeks .

It'll be a couple of years at least till we do it again, maybe our 30th . WA .

By the end of the Bank Holiday we should (fingers crossed ) have our bedroom decorated and new furniture ( hoorah!) it's been a l-o-n-g time in the offing .

Looking at the weather forecast the next two weeks are pretty chilly so will have to accommodate my tomatoes and chillies inside a while longer. Thankfully we still haven’t go round to putting furniture in our conservatory so plenty of space in there.

I have never been on a cruise and like fluffy they don’t appeal apart from a fjords one.

i follow Seat61 on Facebook Woolly and will definitely use the website when we eventually book. You can get discounts with some companies if you mention Seat 61.

well done on the redecorating 70! I am going to start stripping the wallpaper from DH’s office tomorrow. DS’ new bed arrives today so need to build that and his new curtains have just been dispatched so his room will be largely ready (at least sleepable in) by the end of the week. Still want to get some more decorative bits but no rush on those.

215 - will be under 200 soon!

How was sports day Fluffy?

70 which cruise company did you go with?
We did P&O which was quite formal and Thomsons which was the opposite.
I quite like getting dressed up a bit but not every evening (and we avoided the Captains dinner like the plague).

I had the most awful migraine last night which I just couldn't shift. I ended skipping tea and going to bed with ear plugs in and DH bringing me new cold eye masks every so often until I fell asleep at 8pm.
🤞🏼 I've seen it off properly now as I feel better. Bloody hormones!

Dreaming are you using your conservatory as a greenhouse? DH feels like that's what I'm doing.
I have small pots with peppers in, a big trough and pot of chilli plants, plus 3 big pots with a sunflower in each on the windowsills and a mint plant, a small cactus and usually Clive (the big cactus) but he's temporarily in the kitchen. Oops.

I meant to ask, does anyone here make quilts? I really like the traditional American style ones but was considering attempting a Christmas one (purely because I got over excited when I got my sewing machine and bought lots of Christmas fabric in a sale).
I can barely use the machine though so I have a lot to learn - on top of attempting to knit which I'm still not great at!
Anyway, any tips welcome!

Yes the conservatory is a greenhouse right now crazy 😆the windowsill has many little pots of chillies and peppers on and then the floor is covered in grobags of tomatoes.

we don’t plan to use it properly until next year as we want to put a proper roof on it so it can be used year round. At that point I will have to fork out for an actual greenhouse.

I know nothing about quilts but I have a new sewing machine and want to learn how to make cushions

My FIL had a solid roof put into his conservatory dreaming. It's made a world of difference and they use the room every day now.
We are sticking with ours for now as planning to take the whole thing down and replace with a double storey extension in the next year or 2.

What sewing machine did you go for?

I fell down a Pinterest and Instagram Christmas quilt black hole this morning and have a million ideas spinning in my head....

I actually got mine free crazy as I volunteered to make tote bags for the Council as part of their recycling scheme. I did 50 hours and then the machine was mine. It is this one www.brothermachines.com/show_product.asp?id=2457

I've tried a bit of quilting Crazy and quilted the edges of the advent calendar I made for DD1 last year. It's not so bad if you just want straight lines and can sew in a straight line but the gorgeous quilts that I covet on Instagram and Pinterest tend to have free motion quilting with little shapes and spirals and I don't think I'll ever be able to do that. I think if I ever make a work of art style quilt then I'll send it off to be professionally done.

I've got DS's old thin single duvet and I'm toying with the idea of using it as the wadding in a Christmas quilt as I think it's thin enough to go through my sewing machine.

That machine looks very fancy dreaming! Mine is a basic beginners John Lewis one, nowhere near as good!

woolly I think a lot of the fancy ones are done by people who have better sewing machines and a lot more experience than me.
I'm happy to attempt a square one although a friends dad makes some fancy things that are amazing - I'm hoping for a quilted Christmas tree skirt from him at some point so I'd maybe ask him if I wanted something nicer.

I did see when I was lost in the black hole looking at quilts that some of the vintage American ones are hand sewn 😳 and I can't even begin to imagine how they went about it or how many hundreds of hours they must have taken!