Last Minute Bits and Pieces Before Xmas - W/E 21st December 2024

This week, as with most weeks lately, started with a shift at work on Sunday. I was due in from 12 noon until 6pm, so I had a little time to change the bedding in LB's room ready for her coming home later in the day. It was a very busy shift at work, as you might expect this close to Xmas, which was good, as it passed pretty quickly and I was soon on my way home again.

LB arrived home just as I got back from work. It was lovely to see her and catch up on her news over supper. She was full of cold after a busy term at Uni and burning the candle at both ends, so it was good that she'd come home and would get looked after. She was due to start work the following day at the local pet shop, so she retired early to have a shower and an early night.

On Monday, I was up and out to do the weekly shop out of town again this week. I dropped LB off at work on the way as she was running late. I got all of my shopping done and picked up a few extra things for LB while she's home. It was pretty busy out and about, with queues in many shops. I remembered to buy two weeks worth of daily items for the Foodbank, to make up for forgetting the previous week.

I needed to get back a bit earlier as I'd been asked to work an extra shift in the evening, which I'd agreed to. I got back, unpacked the shopping, got ready for work then cooked and ate supper before heading in for 6pm. The traffic was horrendous on the way to work, so I was a little late again, which was annoying.

Work was okay, but I wasn't feeling my best as I had a very sore mouth, due to some ulcers and I was happy to eventually get home.

Tuesday was a bit of a lost day. I went to my usual class at the gym in the morning, which was good, but I still wasn't feeling 100% and eating was very painful, so I didn't do a whole lot for the rest of the day. I emptied the ironing basket whilst watching a couple of Xmas movies and Kirstie's Handmade Christmas on TV. Later, OH and I started watching a new series of Strike too.

On Wednesday, I was determined to do a bit more with my time. I got up, tidied around, sorted some laundry and put some more in the machine. I then walked up to the pharmacy to pick up a regular prescription, pick up a few groceries and post off some Xmas cards. I also dropped in to see LB in the pet shop on the way home and take her some medications for her cold.

When I got back, I did a bit more wrapping of some things that arrived late and did a bit of cleaning in the kitchen. I started with the oven as it was the messiest job, which wasn't too bad, but then progressed to tidy the cupboard of doom (aka the tupperware/preserving jar cupboard) which had been calling out to me for weeks. You know it's time to declutter it when everything falls out when you open the door. 

I also went on to tidy the dog cupboard where we kept our dog paraphenalia. I couldn't bring myself to get rid of much out of there. We really miss her and can't quite believe she's not here with us this Xmas. It made me feel very sad to do this job. Here's my favourite photo of her, that OH printed off for me to put in the tiny frame for my advent calendar:

To cheer myself up, I decided to make some mince pies:

Later, I did a bit of work on my hexi quilt whilst we watched more of Strike.

On Thursday, I got up and decided to have a dummy run of packing my cabin case for our holiday in January. I was interested to see what I could actually get in my small case. I was quite surprised how much I got in there but I haven't yet even looked in the summer clothing bags to see if there's anything there I want to take. I really struggle to pack light.

I then got ready and headed down to the post office to post a final couple of Xmas cards. On the way back, I dropped into the allotment to harvest most of the last of the beetroot in order to pickle it. This was an item on my to do list. I left only tiny beetroot in the ground to see if they'd grow more. If they don't I'll just pickle them whole.  When I got back, I set to pickling and made 3 and a half jars, which will keep me going for a while.

Later, I needed to get ready and go out to work for 5pm. It was a bit of a slow shift on the job I was doing and a few customers were quite rude, which was annoying, but I got through the shift eventually and headed home.

Friday, started with a work out in the gym, probably my last gym work out before Xmas. I've got one more gym class booked on Xmas Eve though, which is good.

LB had a day off on Friday and was heading out to meet some friends and OH was meeting a work colleague and heading out for something to eat, so I found myself home alone in the afternoon, which is quite rare. I lit a nice fire and sat in front of it reading A Christmas Carol from an anthology of Charles Dickens Christmas writings, which I really enjoyed.

On Saturday, I had a lazy day at home chilling. I did do a bit of sorting through all the stuff that accumulates on the kitchen table, with a view to clearing it for our Xmas day meal. This led me to do some end of year financial reckoning, which should make interesting reading once it's been completed at the end of this month.

I desperately want to overhaul my spending in the coming year. I've been way too spendthrift this year and need to cut back on buying stuff and instead concentrate on putting money aside for the future. There isn't really anything that I need or want to buy currently, so I need to focus more on saving money instead of spending it. I'm looking forward to getting back some discipline in the area of personal spending.

I hope you've had a good week and didn't get too frazzled by the rapid approach of the festivities. Thank you for reading my blog this year.

Wishing you and your families the Merriest Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year.

More Free Time and Creating a Cosy Christmas Nook - W/E 14th December 2024 - Part Two

Once again, I'm continuing from my previous post for this week.  Wednesday started in a slow but productive fashion. I got a shower and got ready in a nice leisurely manner, sorting and putting away some laundry as I did so. I then went downstairs and did a few household tasks that I just couldn't face the night before and started another small task on my to do list. This one was to wash and iron some new towels I'd bought, ready for use.

After breakfast, by which time it was nearly lunch time, I headed into the shed to do more work on the sofa. It's almost become part of my daily routine now, but I will be so glad when I've completed it. I was in there nearly 3 hours, listening to Handel's Water Music and Vivaldi's Four Seasons as I worked. I just kept going as I could see the finish line getting closer and I managed to finish attaching all the velcro. At least I can now move onto the next part of the job, which is attaching the other half of the velcro onto the cover, but by machine hopefully, as my fingers are shredded. That was a job for another day.

I was so cold when I eventually got back into the house, that after lunch, I decided to get the last of the foraged fruit out of the freezer and made into jam.  That helped to warm me and the kitchen up and it was another item off my to do list, as I'm trying to free up space in the freezer and we are down to our last two jars of homemade jam. Sadly, I managed to burn the jam, as I forgot about it whilst getting engrossed in another item on the to do list. I managed to save half a jar which tastes okay, but my pan is looking a bit worse for wear.

Anyway, the task that distracted me was to re-organise my Xmas brooch collection which was now too extensive for the board I had pinned it to, so I needed to make a new pin board for it.  Here's a picture of the finished board:

I probably should have used a plainer fabric for this job, as it looks a bit busy, but it will do. I'll know next time when I need to make a bigger one. There's a few gaps which will probably get filled this year, so I may be increasing the size sooner rather than later. Many of them are vintage, but some are not and I have lots of different earrings to match. They are just something I like to collect for fun and wear during the festive season. The vintage ones are getting harder and much more expensive to find these days, but I usually treat myself to at least one each year.

A couple of parcels came today, one was for our holiday in January. I'm having to use a cabin case for the first time ever on a week's holiday, so I needed some bottles to decant my toiletries into and had ordered a set on eBay. It's going to be a real challenge for me to pack so lightly.

In the evening, we retired to the living room, to watch an interesting 3 part series on the Renaissance in Italy, mostly about Michael Angelo. It was very interesting. I continued with my hexi quilt as I watched it.

On Thursday, I was late getting up and still suffering a bit with vertigo, so I decided not to go to the gym. Instead, I decided to get straight on with finishing the sofa cover for the shed. I machine sewed the velcro onto the two pieces of the cover, which took a few hours, as my thread kept snapping and I kept having to re-thread the machine, which was very frustrating. Eventually, I got it finished, fitted onto the sofa and then I took a lint roller to it all to clean it up, before adding soft furnishings.  Here's a picture of how it looked once finished:

Definitely not perfect, as I ran out of velcro, but good enough to get through Xmas. I may tweak a few things in the new year, but for now I just can't face it. I'm happy with the results, but I am not in a hurry to tackle such a large and time consuming project again any time soon. In total, apart from the hours of time I spent on it, it cost me just £25 for materials, which is pretty good to lengthen the life of this sofa.

Here's  a picture with the addition of some soft furnishings and twinkling lights, to make a cosy Christmas nook in the shed:

The rugs were the items I bought from IKEA. They were £9 each and just help to make it feel a bit more cosy and snug.  I just need a rug for the floor now and it's done.

To reward myself for ticking off that mammoth item on the to do list, I didn't do much else for the whole afternoon. I tided a little, did the washing up and worked on my hexi quilt.

On Friday, I was up early and off to the gym for a workout. When I got back, I went to drop off some donations at the charity shop. They'd been clogging up the landing for months, so it was good to finally take them and was another item ticked off the to do list.

I then decided to start cleaning the upstairs of the house as it was a mess. OH had been sanding and painting more of the floorboards upstairs, but had now finished for the time being, so I could finally clean up. I started with the master bedroom and it took me most of the rest of the day. It felt good to get it done though.

On Saturday, I got up early and continued with the cleaning upstairs. We moved LB's furniture back into position in her room, as OH had been painting the floor in her room. I cleaned the bathroom and did some laundry and then had to get ready and go to work for the rest of the day. I was on a long 2 till 11 shift. I was late getting there, as some new roadworks had appeared and had caused gridlock on the route there. It was pretty busy and passed quite quickly though. I also got to leave at 9.30 pm which was a bonus at the end of the week.

More Free Time and an Epic Day Shopping - W/E 14th December 2024 - Part One

This week started with another shift at work on Sunday, but I wasn't due there until 2pm, so I had a bit of time to do some stuff at home first. I decided to start doing some Xmas wrapping for an hour or so. I got a few bits wrapped, but there's still quite a lot to do. I ended up being in a bit of a rush to get ready, have lunch and go to work, but at least I felt like I'd made the most of my time.

Work was busy. I started on one job for an hour and then took over another when a member of staff went off duty. The time passed pretty quickly again today, as the store was pretty full of shoppers. I was glad to leave at the end of the shift. I'm not scheduled to work again until Saturday, but I think the rota is being changed as the needs of the business dictate, so I don't rule out having more shifts added if it's busy this week. As a consequence, I need to make the absolute most of any time I have off and keep making progress with the to do list. 

On Sunday night, OH and I watched the week's episode of Wolf Hall. I combined this with more sewing on my hexi quilt. We're in the process of booking some accommodation in Tenerife in January. We're heading out there to join OH's sister, her husband and OH's mum for a week, which should be a nice break. I'm looking forward to getting away once the festive season is over.

On Monday, I had a completely free day to spend on the weekly shop. Aside from buying the usual groceries, I wanted to pay a visit to IKEA to get a few bits for the shed. The IKEA I visited is about 15 miles away, and is close to a large out of town mall that we used to vist many years ago, before our local one was built. I went there first to take a pair of barrel jeans back to Primark. I decided they weren't for me after purchasing them a couple of weeks ago in our local store. I found a few things to exchange them for, namely a couple of pairs of pants I can wear to work and a couple of gym vests.

Next stop, was IKEA. I hadn't been since the summer when I visited the store with LB to get things for her flat. It was nice to visit at Xmas as the store looked very festive. I do love some of their Xmas designs and couldn't resist getting a few bits in addition to the things I went in for.

I had to visit what used to be called Bargain Corner, but which is now the Re-use and Recycle Store and here I bought a few plain canvas cushion covers in red, green and black which cost £2 each. I'm planning to use the red and green ones to make Xmas cushions. I intend to applique some Xmas patchwork onto these and the black one I'll do the same thing with, but it will be a design that is usable all year round. I also bought a pot of 3 white hyacinths for £2.50, which I thought was reasonable and I also bought some scented tea lights and a few rolls of Xmas wrapping paper. I didn't go mad. I'll post about what I bought for the shed when I get the sofa cover finished and get it looking how I want it.

When I'd finished at IKEA, I went to a nearby Home Bargains for a few household bits and pieces, and then did the weekly shop at the Lidl next door. I finally bought the white amaryllis in a jar, which I'd been eyeing up for a while. (Thanks for the inspiration Marlene) It cost £6.99, but looks so lovely on the kitchen table. It's something I can possibly recreate myself every year. Here's a picture of it alongside the hyacinths:

The Santa wax burner contains some mulled wine wax melts I bought from Home Bargains for 79p and the small red candle was 99p from Lidl. These are great little candles. I bought a green one a few weeks ago, but it has now run out. I find that many candles just don't have a strong enough smell, but these are okay for the money. I look forward to keeping the jars too and using them for tea lights next Xmas. The other green candle on the table is a soy wax candle that I bought from Cancer Research. It has a lovely seasonal cedarwood scent and was a good price for a soy wax candle at less than £5.  The pot containing the hyacinths was also bought from Cancer Research for £3. It's a B&Q one. I already have one this colour and a larger one in grey. I really like them. I will be spreading all of these things out around the house eventually.

Once I'd done the weekly shop, I stopped in at an out of town Cancer Research Superstore on the way home. I hadn't been there for a month, so I really enjoyed having a browse. I bought the two above mentioned items and I also bought some other great things here, including a new with tags black skirt to wear for work for £2, a couple of dresses that I may cut down to make tops for work, which were £5 each, and a lovely green plaid top that was £3. I was so happy with all of the things I bought here. I always find some great items. Here's a picture of the plaid top, which was one of my favourite purchases:

It's so pretty, I look forward to wearing it. In fact, I may make this part of my Xmas day outfit. This was my last stop on what was an epic day shopping. I really enjoyed myself and there is now virtually nothing we need for Xmas, save for fresh food, we're all set. I did completely forget to shop for the foodbank today though, so I may pop to our local supermarket to buy and donate a few bits at some point this week. Only one thing was crossed off the to do list today though, so I need to do better.

On Tuesday, I went to a gym class in the morning. It didn't go as planned as I woke up with a raging bout of vertigo and wasn't feeling too great. I managed the standing up parts of the class, but when it came to the floor exercises, I decided to leave early and come home.  I was determined to make progress with the sofa cover in the afternoon. I spent a couple of very cold hours in the shed continuing to attach the velcro. LB is coming home on Sunday, as she's due to start work in a local shop on Monday, so I want to get it finished by then. Progress is slow, but a little every day should help get it done. I soothed my soul by listening to an amazing production of Handel's Messiah on YouTube. Here's the link if you like this piece of music:

I had hoped to go to see a live production of this in London this Xmas, but sadly all the tickets were sold out. This was well worth a watch though.

Later, I decided to continue with wrapping presents. It took me 3 or 4 hours, but I eventually got all but a couple wrapped up ready to go under the tree.  All that's left to do is find a couple of small gifts for OH's cracker and stocking and then I need to make up a hamperfor OH's mum. I shredded lots of tissue paper in readiness and used some of it to make up a hamper of favourtie foods for OH. It felt very satisfying to get this quite big job done and cross it off my list.

By the time I finished, I wasn't feeling too well. I made some supper and did a few household chores, tidied around upstairs and then went to bed.  Hopefully, I'll feel better and have a more productive day tomorrow.

A Week With Some Free Time - W/E 7th December 2024 - Part 2

Following on from my last post, Thursday this week was another day off. I booked into the gym first thing and took myself off for a good workout.  When I got back, I had wanted to trim the ivy hedge in the front of the house, as it was getting a bit overgrown, but it was a bit wet, so it will have to wait for dryer weather. 

As a consequence, I decided to do some sewing for the rest of the afternoon. There were quite a few sewing jobs on my to do list and I wanted to make some progress with it. I decided to start in the shed, sewing velcro onto the sofa, to hold the new cover in place. 

It takes quite a long time to sew the velcro on the sofa, partly because of the thickness of the fabric and the velcro itself. It takes it's toll on your fingertips. I managed to sew three quarters of the front strip of velcro on before I started to lose the light, so I had to stop for the day. I'd made good progress though.

I then decided to do some other sewing jobs indoors. The first job was to sew a new zip into a jacket I wear to go to the gym. The zip on this jacket broke a week or so ago, so I ordered a new zip and tacked it into place. I just needed to machine stitch the zip in place, which was a fairly quick job.

Once I'd done that I moved on to making another seat cushion for the chair I sit on in the kitchen. I made an Xmas version this time, using blue and green Xmas scraps from my stash. I was pleased with the outcome. Here's a picture:

In the evening, OH and I decided to head to our local mall for our usual yearly Xmas shopping trip. We like to go early in December before it gets too frenzied. I didn't really need to buy anything much, but I did need to try to exchange something I'd bought for LB for a different size. We decided to eat out which made a nice change. We got everything we needed and then had a drink in a bar there before heading home.

Thursday, was a bit more productive in terms of completing things on my to do list. I think I completed 5 or 6 items from the list, which was much better progress.

Friday, was my last day off before going back to work on Saturday, so I really wanted to make the most of it. When I got up the sun was shining and the ground was dry outside, so after breakfast, I decided to do the job I hadn't been able to do the day before, namely trim the front hedge.

It didn't take long and looked so much better. Here's the before:

and after pictures:

I did a bit of a hachet job on the ivy, but it's so resilient and grows back really well. It all looks a lot neater. I also removed quite a bit of moss from the front path and pavement outside the house. I'm not anti-moss, but it can make paths slippery and treacherous in the winter.  It was a quick job, taking little more than an hour. I then re-filled some bird feeders after cleaning them and went in for lunch. Two more items off my list, another bag of leaf mulch to rot down and some ivy trimmings to decorate the house.

After lunch, I went back into the shed and did more work on attaching the velcro to the sofa. I got a bit further with it and am almost half way around. It's going to take quite a bit longer than I thought, maybe I should have bought the stick on velcro for this job. It would have been a lot quicker.

Once the light had gone again, I came indoors as I was getting very cold. When I got back inside, I'd had a delivery of some more vintage ornaments for the tree, that I'd bought on eBay.  These were a lot cheaper than the pine cones. I thought they were going to be glass, but they were in fact plastic.  It didn't detract from their cuteness though and I immediately put them on the tree. Not before taking a photo, of course:

The late afternoon/evening was then spent tackling another item on my to do list, namely the ironing basket, which was full. Later still, after supper, I did a bit financial reconciliation for November and finally did  a bit of work on my hexi quilt. Not as many things ticked off today, only three, but good progress made with others too, which is all good.

On Saturday, I was due at work for 11am, so I couldn't go to the last free gym session of the year, which was a pity. Anyway, work was good. It was fairly busy all afternoon, so the time passed quickly and I was on my way home again. I did drop into Poundland next door for a few bits before heading home. 

We just chilled in the evening and watched a very odd film that OH had recorded. I won't recommend it to anyone, as it was very strange. Whilst watching the film, I did some work on my hexi quilt which made for a very relaxing end to another week.

A Week With Some Free Time - W/E 7th December 2024 - Part One

I started opening my home made advent calendar this week. I keep all the little envelopes in this glass jar on the kitchen table. It's a bit more varied this year, so more of a surprise what I get each day. I'm such a child.

I still had one envelope to fill. I needed to find something small enough that wasn't edible. I had a couple of weeks to do this though, as the envelope was for later in the month. 

On Sunday, my working week began with another 11 till 3pm shift. I was quite tired after being out the night before, but luckily it was a short shift and I was soon home again and able to chill for the rest of the day. 

I got some good news from my Manager today. I put in a cheeky last minute request for leave over Xmas and she's granted it, which is amazing considering I work in retail. I finish on 23rd December for a week, which is a treat. I'm looking forward to a relaxing Xmas at home this year. I will probably be working New Year, but you can't have it all.

Whilst I was at work, OH tidied the inside of the garden room/shed. We'd dumped a lot of stuff in there after tidying the garden and it needed to be put away properly. He created lots more space by doing so and also installed a new bracket to hold LB's bike in a space saving way. Here's a couple of pictures of the storage side of the shed now:

The boxes are mostly archived paperwork for OH's business.

We spent the evening watching our favourite TV series of the moment i.e. Wolf Hall. We've only got one more episode to watch now. We've really enjoyed this series.

On Monday, I was due at work for 2pm. It was my last shift for a few days. I was looking forward to having some free days this week, to make progress on my extensive Xmas to do list. As I was due in earlier than usual, I didn't go out of town to do the weekly shop and instead stayed close to home for a change. I didn't really need a lot this week, but I had a 10% off voucher to use, so I decided to buy some food for the food bank, as I haven't done this in a while. I decided to do what a YouTuber I follow is doing this year and that is to donate one item for every day in December, so I bought 7 items for the first week and I'll do the same each week in the lead up to Xmas.

On my way home, I decided to stop off to get some cheap frames for some Xmas prints I have and when returning to my car I dropped into the charity shop and found the perfect item for my last advent envelope. Here's a picture:

It fits perfectly and can be hung on the tree or stood on a surface. I'm going to find and print a picture of our lovely dog to put in it so that we can remember her at Xmas. The frames I bought were for these vintage style prints of Xmas trees, which are now hung in the shed.

Work was super busy on Monday, probably because there were fewer staff working. I was glad to finish at 6pm and I then spent a while choosing a few bits to buy with my staff xmas gift voucher. I ended up buying a top, some nail varnish in a festive shade and a nail growth serum. The latter was something I've needed for a while.

After not sleeping well on Monday night for some reason, I got up on Tuesday and headed off to my usual class at the gym, which helped to wake me up.  On the way home, I dropped into a local charity shop, one of my favourites, that I haven't visited for over a month, for a little mooch. I was so happy to buy a few vintage tree decorations for 50p for 5. Here's a picture:

I love the colour of the glass baubles.  One needs a top, but I'm hoping I can swap one out with some I already have. The little clip on tree candles are battery operated, but only two of them work. I will still use the one that doesn't as it is so cute. As I'd spent so little, I needed to buy more to use my card, which was the only payment method I had on me, so I bought this Beryl Bainbridge book for £1 and a very pretty British Library Pencil box, which I intend to use as a gift box for £1.50. Only £3 spent in total.

A bit of a burgundy theme going on here.  I then went home and spent the afternoon cleaning and changing around the reception rooms for the winter. Now that has been completed, I can start to put up the tree and some of the decorations.

The car went in for it's MOT on Tuesday and needed £500 worth of work. We've been lucky and had very little done to it in the last 12 years, so it was inevitable that at some point it would need some work. In this instance it was new brake pads and discs.

On Wednesday, I was looking forward to having a full free day to spend at home. The first job on my list was to put up the Xmas tree and some decorations continuing to clean as I did so. I was happy with how the tree turned out. I've reverted to using some old fairy lights that we've had for 20 years, but quite a few bulbs have now died and I'm struggling to find replacements. I also went back to mostly vintage decorations, as we only have a small tree. I indulged recently and bought 7 beautiful vintage frosted pine cone baubles in various colours on eBay. I love them, but they were very expensive. I have a few more vintage decorations yet to arrive in the post, which will be added later.

I then went on to put up various other lights, wreaths, decorations and I decorated a very small tree, which usually goes in LB's room and have put it in the shed. (LB's room is currently out of action whilst OH is working on the floors). Here's a picture;

It's starting to look very festive in the shed now, which is all good, as I'll be spending some time in it, when I get around to finishing the sofa cover. I'll have to wrap up though as it's quite cold in there.

It took me more or less the whole of Wednesday, to get almost all of the decorations done. It felt good to tick it off the list when I'd finished. There's still more cleaning to do, but I'll get around to that as and when.  We're now Xmas ready, decoration wise at least, although I am making super slow progress with my list.

After a busy day, I was tired and couldn't do another thing, so I retired to an armchair, watched some TV and worked on my hexi quilt. Bliss.

Trying to Get Stuff Done - W/E 30th November 2024

The week began as usual with a shift at work. It was a nice short shift though, from 11am until 3pm, which passed pretty uneventfully and allowed me to get home at a reasonable time and eat supper with OH.

OH had continued to do some work in the garden whilst I was at work and this continued into Monday and Tuesday. I made a separate post about garden progress.

On Monday, I headed out to do the weekly shop as usual. I didn't go to many shops this week, just Lidl and Sainsburys. I was back home pretty quickly, as I was due at work for 3pm.

Work was actually a bit different, as I was working on maintaining a different section that I don't work on very often. I was asked to put lots of new stock out too, which I don't very often do, so it made it a bit more interesting. We got to leave half an hour early too.

I wasn't working on Tuesday and Wednesday, so on Tuesday I booked into my usual class at the gym. I did a bit more shuffling and tidying around in the garden in the afternoon.

LB came home late on Tuesday, with her flatmate, after a night out in East London. I got to catch up with her for an hour or so, which did make it a late night, but it was worth it.

I was late getting up the next day, and when we all did eventually get up, OH treated us all to lunch at a local restaurant, which was a nice treat, after which OH and her flatmate headed into Central London to see the Xmas lights and have a mooch around, before going back to their flat.

I didn't really settle to doing much for the rest of the day, save for working on my hexi quilt. I couldn't really put my mind to much else. It's such a busy time in the lead up to Xmas, my head is always so full of different thoughts and ideas of things I want to do.

On Thursday, I was determined to make the most of my time. I'm trying to do something productive every day, no matter how small. I went to the gym first thing and then came back and decided to do some sewing. I'd prepped a few Xmas patchwork cushion covers the previous week and decided to start sewing them together. I almost got one done and I also made a festive curtain for the pantry cupboard in our hallway using some vintage Laura Ashley Xmas fabric from my stash. It was very easy and quick to make and it looked nice in situ. Here's a couple of pictures:

 

I then had some lunch and needed to go to work. I thought I was working from 3pm, but when I got there, my shift had been changed to 5pm, so I came back home. It only takes me 10 minutes to get home and I had things I wanted to do with my time rather than idle the time away waiting to start work. I finished one of the Xmas cushions and then started on a second one, which I almost finished before heading back to work. 

I returned to work and the shift went okay. It was a little slow, but I always try to keep myself busy. We got to leave half and hour early again, which was fine by me. I found out that we're not having an Xmas meal out this year. Instead, we are getting gift vouchers to spend. I'm happy enough about this.  

On Friday morning, I got up and ready and tidied around the bedroom before sitting down to finish the second Xmas patchwork cushion for the shed.  It didn't take long, but I wasn't as happy with it as the first one I made. Anyway, here's a couple of pictures of the two of them:

They're nothing special, but they will make the shed feel a bit more cosy and cheerful this Xmas. LB will probably use it more than anyone, when she comes home for a couple of weeks over the festive period. I'm hoping to get the sofa cover finished in time for Xmas too.

OH took the Xmas decorations down from the loft on Friday morning. I'm not ready to put them up yet, as I need to do some cleaning and move the living room around for the winter. We use the back reception room in winter, as it has a wood burner and is smaller and cosier.

It was nice to get all my Christmas crockery, linen and kitchenware out and start to use it in the lead up to Xmas. I can also start wrapping presents now the Xmas wrapping bag is accessible.

For the rest of the morning, I did a bit of work on my hexi quilt. I was due at work for 2pm, so I couldn't really get stuck into any big jobs. It was payday too and also double discount weekend again for staff, so I decided to go into work early and get a last few gifts and other things we needed for Xmas. I'm just about done with Xmas shopping now and definitely all shopped out. I'm looking forward to spending December getting my home ready for Xmas, having the odd festive outing with OH and not having to brave the shops other than for groceries.

Work on Friday and Saturday was okay. We were given our Xmas gift vouchers at work on Friday night, so I'll no doubt be treating myself to something sometime soon. I finished work at 2pm on Saturday, in time to get ready and then head off to Kent for a 50th birthday party of a cycling buddy of OH.

The party was upstairs at a pizza restaurant, complete with disco and pizza. It was a good party, everyone seemed to be having a really good time.  We caught up with some friends we'd not seen in a year, so it was nice to see them and catch up with their news before driving back to London. It was a nice end to the week.

Tidying the Garden for Winter

Last weekend, we decided to do some work in the garden. The weather wasn't really co-operating, but we decided to go ahead regardless on Saturday afternoon.

We hadn't really done much work in the garden for a while. OH finished the decking outside the back door sometime in late summer and we'd done very little since. The summer was just so busy trying to find a flat for LB, working, etc., I hardly got chance to go out there and it was a real mess whilst the decking was being laid.

Anyway, here's a couple of pictures of what the garden looked like before we started:

 

There were lots of leaves to pick up and bag up to make leaf mould and lots of wood left over from the decking project stacked up. There was also quite a lot of pruning to be done.

I took the decked area close to the house and OH took the far end of the garden. I started off just sweeping up the leaves and cutting back some of the plants in the borders. I didn't clear all of the leaves, as we have a toad that we often find in the border and I wanted to leave him and other creatures some cover.

OH cleared the leaves in the other half and then decided to create a new border down the right hand side of the garden. He moved the hot bin next to the low fence and edged the whole bed with some large thick planks of wood we'd bought a while back.

We decided to remove the second raised bed in this part of the garden.  Having the allotment, we don't really need to grow veg at home too, and we want to build a brick patio in this half of the garden eventually. Creating the border gave us somewhere to put some of the soil from the raised bed, plus it gives me a nice new area to plant up next spring. OH also cleared away all of the wood left from the decking project, so it generally looked a lot tidier.

Here's how he got on:

There's still a lot more to do on this side of the garden. We desperately need to prune the cherry tree right back and a corkscrew hazel on the other side, but once the raised bed is down, this will make these jobs a lot easier. The brick patio might not get done until the spring, but I think it will make this part of the garden look a lot better.

As for my half, here's what it looks like now:

We moved the bench onto the decking in order to create the new border and I like it here for the moment, as it gives us somewhere to sit out with a hot drink on a dry day. I swept up the leaves and pruned a few plants right back and it's looking a whole lot better.

It's amazing the difference a bit of a sweep up and moving a piece of garden furniture can do.

There's still more pruning and tidying to do in this half of the garden too, but I was happy with the progress we both made.

On Sunday and Monday, whilst I was at work, OH did a bit more work in the garden and started to replace the border edging on the left hand side of the garden. It had rotted over time and collapsed. He dismantled the raised bed in order to reuse the sleepers to edge the border. He couldn't quite fully clear the soil from the raised bed, as we didn't have any bags to put the excess soil in. Some went in the newly edged borders and other parts of the garden, but there was still more than we needed.

As a consequence, on Tuesday, OH did a tip run and emptied quite a few bags that could then be filled with the compost and he took most of these to the allotment to put on the plot. The whole of this half of the garden is now covered with plastic, making it easier to walk to the shed and it is also now ready for the patio to be built.

I, in the meantime, transplanted a few plants here and there into the new border and generally tidied around.

Here's a final picture of how it looks now:

There's a few more leaves fallen since we swept up, but such is life. I bought a waterproof cover for the garden bench in view of all the rain we've been getting. It's not particularly attractive, but it was inexpensive and as long as it does it's job, it should prolong the life of the bench.

There are a few more jobs to do before we finally put the garden to bed for the winter, and we hope to do these before the end of the year.

I'll keep you posted with further progress as it happens.

A Visitor, A Day in London for the Xmas Lights and Getting Productive - W/E 23rd November 2024

This week began with a shift at work on Sunday. I was due to work between 11.30am and 6pm. The time passed a little slower today, mainly because of the job I was doing, but the shift went okay.

Our guest came back to our house later in the evening and we got a take out for supper and watched a film on Netflix.

On Monday, we had planned to head into Central London, to see the Xmas lights and check out some of the Xmas shop window displays. Our guest had booked a theatre ticket for herself for the evening. 

We headed into London for 1pm, as there was a gig at Pizza Express Soho, which was part of the London Jazz Festival and OH thought we might enjoy it, so we had lunch there watching the gig. The food was very good and the jazz was great too. We all had a lovely time.

Unfortuately, it rained most of the afternoon, but we didn't let it stop us. We headed to the National Portrait Gallery after the gig, and enjoyed looking at the portraits of the Tudors, which was very pertinent considering we are in the middle of watching Wolf Hall.

We then headed to Covent Garden for a mooch and a drink, before walking to Oxford Street, to check out the Xmas lights and shop windows at Selfridges. In Selfridges, I overheard a mum telling her child that there were only 36 days until Xmas. So exciting.

In all honesty, Oxford Street was slightly disappointing, but Bond Street lights and shop decorations made up for it. The lights on Bond Street were done in conjunction with Chanel this year and some of the decor in the store windows was amazing. Here are a few pics:

We then wandered through the Burlington Arcade  and I stopped to take a photo of the exterior of Fortnum & Mason, whose windows were decorated as advent calendar doors, on the way to Piccadilly Circus where we caught the Tube home, whilst our guest headed off to the theatre.  It was a full on day and we were very glad to get back home and relax. We'd forgotten how exhausting Central London can be.

On Tuesday, I was booked into my usual class in the gym. I hadn't been for a couple of weeks, so I was looking forward to it. I woke up to snow falling, but it was quite wet so it didn't really lay. A pretty sight to see it falling though.

In the afternoon, our guest was heading off to take the Eurostar to catch her flight home to Australia via Paris. I decided to spend the rest of the afternoon watching cheesy Christmas movies and working on my hexi quilt. It had been so busy for the previous couple of weeks, I just needed some down time. I really enjoyed my afternoon/evening and made good progress on the quilt too. Here's an up to date photo of how it currently looks:

There are a few gaps that need filling, but it's getting close to completion. I love the randomness of the  placement of the stars and diamonds. I've really enjoyed making it. I just love quilting with hexies. They are my ultimate favourite shape to work with.

On Wednesday, I needed to go out and do the weekly shop. I headed off out of town as usual and got everything we needed, plus a few extras for Xmas. Joints of lamb were half price at Tesco, so I bought us a shoulder joint for Xmas dinner this year. It will be frozen until the day. I also bought a few other bits of Xmas food which could be put away until needed.

When I got back I had to get ready for a shift at work. LB was thinking about dropping by, as she was on a Uni trip in the East End, but she decided not to bother as she had an important deadline looming. I would have missed her anyway. Hopefully, she'll visit us next week, when she comes over for a friend's birthday.

Work passed quite quickly and without issue. It was a late finish though, as the store was very messy. I had to get the de-icer spray out for the first time this winter, as the window screen was frozen over when I got back to my car.

On Thursday, after sleeping well, I slept in till past 9am and then got up and ready and headed off to the gym for a work out. My weight has been rising a little lately. I've put  a few pounds back on and I'd like to shift it again, but it's proving difficult.

I spent the afternoon pottering at home. I'm in the process of making a homemade advent calendar for myself. I'm making small paper envelopes using a template, wrapping paper and sealing them with small Xmas stickers. I intend to fill each one with a sweet treat or gift. I did the same thing last year, but I'm trying to vary the contents a bit more this year. I've bought a few different things to put in the envelopes, i.e. chocolate coins, chocolate nutcrackers, chocolate mini fingers, maltesers, mini candy canes, etc. I may even throw in the odd piece of Xmas jewellery or beauty/makeup items.  I try to collect a few bits of Xmas jewellery every year to add to my collection.

I also started a new Xmas patchwork project that I saw on Pinterest. It's just a small one and fun to do.

On Friday, I got up after not sleeping well and did a bit of tidying around upstairs.  Lots of things had been moved around due to having a visitor this week, so I needed to put things back in their usual place. I then had a leisurely breakfast and later decided to try to get on and do some more work on the sofa cover for the shed. 

I wasn't looking forward to it, as I knew it would be tricky, but I was off work until Sunday and needed to make the most of my time off. I needed to machine sew the arms of the sofa and it took a little while to get it right, as I had to unpick a few puckers here and there. I eventually got it done though, so now all I need to do is to add the velcro all around the base of the sofa and the base of the cover too. This will take quite a long time, but I have now bought upholstery needles to help me in this task, which should make it easier. Any progress on this project is good.

I then finished the small Xmas project I started the day before. Here's a picture:

It's just a little hanging patchwork Xmas tree. I think I'm going to hang it in the shed along with some battery powered coloured lights that I bought at a charity shop, to give it a bit of a festive feel. I need a couple of cushion covers for the shed. I'm not sure whether to make some or just buy some. I haven't decided yet. It would make sense not to spend any money and to just make some and use up more of my fabric stash.

Saturday, was a chill day this week, as I wasn't working. I got up early and headed off to the gym to the free session for over 50's. It's ending in a couple of weeks and I can't go next week as I'm working, so I need to make the most of the last few sessions. OH came along too and then later when we got back we did some work tidying up the garden for the winter. We needed to clear up lots of leaves and OH wanted to start to do some structural work in the garden. (More in another post)

It's been quite a productive week this week for a change, and quite varied too, largely due to not working very much. Next week, however, I'm scheduled to work a lot more, so there'll be less time for sewing, gardening and other activities.

I hope you've had a productive week.

A Bit of A Week - W/E 16th November 2024

This week started with us continuing our visit to Yorkshire. On Sunday, we had a free day before the funeral on the Monday morning. There was an Xmas Food and Craft Fair at a local farm shop, so we decided to go there and buy a few Xmas gifts. We didn't spend a lot, but made a start on a Food Hamper for OH's mum and I got a couple of very small bits for LB.

We then had a couple of errands to do to buy some flowers for OH's mum and a gift for my sister and her husband, whose 20th Wedding anniversary was a few days away. We'd arranged to meet them at a local pub for something to eat later in the evening.

Once we'd done that we headed to OH's mum's for an hour. We grabbed a sandwich there for lunch before heading to the railway station to pick up LB, who was arriving by train from London. Once we'd picked her up, we went  back to the cottage for an hour or so and then back to her Grandma's until we went out in the evening. 

We spent a lovely couple of hours with my sister and her family later. It was the only night they could get to see LB and they hadn't seen her for a couple of years. It was nice to catch up and it did take our minds off the funeral the following day. 

On Monday, the funeral went very well. It was a beautiful sunny day. OH's mum coped superbly, giving a reading and staying super composed and it was lovely to see so many people from the family, many of whom we'd not seen in years. I think we all had a good day. We did get a bit upset when it came to the Eulogy. I didn't think I would, but I did. I'd probably be more concerned if I didn't.

There was a reception with food after the church and crematorium ceremonies and it was good to get there, have something to eat and drink and be able to relax, knowing that everything had gone well. Later, after everyone had gone, we had to take LB to catch her train back to London, go back to OH's mum's for a while and join a few close family members there, before finally heading back for our last night at the cottage. We had a chill night watching Wolf Hall on TV when we got back, which we have started watching from the first series, as I didn't watch it the first time around. It's very good. I did some work on my hexi quilt too, which was a good way to relax after the events of the day.

On Tuesday morning, we packed up, headed to OH's mum's for a cooked breakfast before setting off back to London. The trip home was a bit longer due to heavy traffic on the M1, but we eventually got home around 5pm and were very pleased to do so. It had been a very busy and eventful few days. We'd felt sad leaving Yorkshire on this occasion. It was a sad feeling knowing that we wouldn't see OH's dad again when we next visited.

When we got home, we unpacked a bit, made something to eat and chilled for the rest of the evening, settling back into our own home. Funerals affect you on so many levels, making you think about so many things; the past, the future, the present. They just really put things into perspective and make you ask yourself questions about your life. It's quite unsettling.

On Wednesday, I needed to be up early, as I had an interview for a job arranged for 10.30 am. Originally, I'd been invited to go for an interview on the day of the funeral, but they had kindly rearranged it for me thankfully. I was a bit nervous getting ready. Although my current job is going okay, this opportunity came up and I found myself applying for it. I was kind of in two minds, but my heart was telling me to go for it and sometimes, you've just got to follow your heart and see where it leads you.

Anyway, I turned up at the interview only to find I was 3 and a half hours early.  The time had been changed, but I'd not been informed. I offered to go off and do my shopping and come back, to give the manager time, as she was busy doing something. I did just that and returned a couple of hours later. 

The interview seemed to go okay, but toward the end, I sensed a change in body language from the Manager. I know there were internal candidates and the job did sound a little intense, so maybe it was for the best.  There are some other jobs coming up there that sound more suitable, but the hours aren't quite as good for me, but I may apply and see what happens. 

I came home and unpacked the shopping. I was a little disappointed, but I think that what's meant for you will come to you and maybe this job just wasn't.

On Thursday, it was nice to finally get a lie in after probably a week of not sleeping too well with everything that was going on. I had a leisurely breakfast and then booked myself into the gym and headed off for a much needed work out, as I'd eaten far too much over the weekend.

I enjoyed my workout and then came home and fully unpacked from the weekend and tidied around upstairs, putting things away that I'd left out when getting ready for the interview the day before. I was due back at work in the evening, so later I got ready and headed off there.

On Friday, I was due at work at 1pm. We'd had a message on Thursday from a relative who was coming to stay on Friday, so the couple of hours I had free in the morning, were spent cleaning the kitchen, whilst OH cleaned the bathroom. I'd prepared a bedroom the day before. I then had to rush off to work, which was a good shift. It passed really quickly and I was back on a job I really enjoy. 

I finished work at 5pm and our young guest had gone off to meet some friends in town, so I decided to have a good look around the store I work in and use my staff discount to buy a few presents. Most of them were for me, although I did get a few for LB. OH tends to buy his own presents for me to give him i.e. cycling gear, so I buy things I want him to give to  me. We both do buy extras ourselves, but the main gifts we choose ourselves.  It just works well this way for us. To be honest though, I don't really want or need much this year. I always struggle to find things to buy for myself. I made a start with a few bits, i.e. a candle, a book, some socks, etc. I didn't spend much though.

We spent the evening watching Wolf Hall and I continued to work on my Hexi quilt, which was relaxing after a very busy day.

On Saturday, my hours were changed to start at 11am, so I wasn't able to go to the free session at the gym, but I did get to finish at 4pm, which was a bonus. Work was okay and passed really quickly. It seemed like Christmas shopping had started proper as it was very busy. It was lovely to get home and just chill for the evening. When I got back, our guest had gone to stay with LB for the night, so OH and I could have a quiet night in watching Wolf Hall as usual. As a consequence, the week ended on  a very chilled note which I was grateful for.

A Chill Week - Week ending 9th November 2024

This week started with a very lazy day at home on Sunday, as I wasn't working. I had a Whats App call with a friend in the morning. She'd moved to Spain 5 years ago and we'd lost touch. It was good to hear her news and I'm happy that she wasn't affected by the tragic recent flooding in parts of the country.

I didn't actually do a lot for the rest of the day. I did do a bit of sewing on both my hexi quilt and the scrappy cushion cover. I didn't complete the latter though. In the evening, OH and I watched the last episode of Jilly Cooper's Rivals on Disney+. It's been quite entertaining. I did love the 80's, despite the politics. We're looking around for something else to watch now.

On Monday, I wasn't working, so I had the whole day to go shopping out of town again and I was out the whole day too. I did some shopping using my staff discount at another store, to buy a few Xmas and birthday presents for LB that I couldn't get in our store. This saved me £11. I did a monthly Home Bargains shop for essentials that we use regularly. Then there was the Lidl and Tesco grocery shopping. I  managed to save £6 at Lidl using a 10% off voucher and then used a couple of Clubcard vouchers I'd been sent at Tesco giving me £8.50 off my shopping there, which all helps at this time of year. 

On Tuesday, I was booked into a class at the gym, so headed there in the morning, which was good. I had another day off on Tuesday and wanted to spend the rest of the day at home. I tried the sofa cover back on the shed sofa to see what it looked like now I've machine stitched it together and made the cushion cover. I was very happy with how it looked.

I continued to work on it, pinning and basteing the hem all around the bottom and doing the same for one of the front pieces. I'm just awaiting delivery of some velcro to securely attach it to the sofa. Then I just need to make the front of the arms which is probably the trickiest bit of the whole thing, as they are an irregular shape. I think I will need to create pattern pieces to do this bit. It has been lovely to have some time to work on this this week and make some progress.

OH, meanwhile, has been working on painting the stairs this week. Here's a picture of how they look for the moment:

We're not sure we're sticking with this colour. It's growing on us, but it was the best of the ones we tried and it does create a lovely matte finish on the stairs, which now feel much more luxurious to tread than bare with bits of nail heads sticking out. While we're waiting for some more paint samples to arrive, he's working on prepping the floor in LB's bedroom, ready to paint that. It's much easier to do that when she's away at uni with most of her stuff.

On Wednesday, I spent the morning doing more sewing. I hemmed the sofa cover on the machine, altered a thrifted skirt and finished my scrappy cushion for the kitchen.  Then it was time to get ready for work.  My velcro arrived today, so when I next have some time I can start to attach it to the hemmed edge of the sofa cover.

Work was okay. I was doing a different job, which was a little slow, so I was glad when the shift finally came to an end.

On Thursday, OH was out all day and I booked myself into the gym and headed off. I had a good gym session and then came home and started to try to make the arm fronts for the sofa cover.  It is a bit tricky, but I'm sure I'll get there eventually. I almost got one pinned in place.

I then had to get ready and go to work for 2pm. I was on a section that I enjoyed today, so the afternoon flew by and before I knew it, it was 6pm and time to go home. It was my last shift for a few days which felt good. It was nice to go home after work and have supper with OH, rather than eating late on my own after a late shift.

I wasn't working on Friday, so I did more work on the sofa cover and got both arms basted to the cover. I now just need to machine sew them into place. I also spent some time packing for our trip to Yorkshire for OH's father's funeral. We were setting off the following day.

On Saturday morning, we decided to go to the gym before setting out on our journey to Yorkshire.  There was a free session at 9.30 am, so we attended that, then went home to get showered, packed up the car and then set off. Our journey there was pretty straightforward with very few hold ups, which was great. We got to OH's mum's house for mid afternoon and stayed for a few hours chatting and catching up on news. She was good and coping very well with everything.

Later, we made our way to the lovely cottage we were staying in, in another village. We were pretty tired by the time we got there and were going to go to the pub for a drink, but decided against it and stayed in instead. Luckily, the owners of the cottage had left us a bottle of Prosecco as a welcome gift, so we made some supper and I had a couple of glasses of that whilst we watched some TV.

It was nice to be back up north, but we were a little apprehensive about the funeral and how everything would be on the day. Only natural I think.

Getting Back My Sewing Mojo

This last month, when I've had a bit of time off work, and now that we're heading into autumn winter and I'm spending more time indoors, I've felt the desire to re-kindle my love of all things sewing, be it hand sewing a patchwork quilt or machine sewing to create a new item of clothing or home furnishing.

It started with doing a bit of work on the sofa cover that I'm making for the sofa we've relocated to our garden shed. I had already pinned and basted part of it, but needed to machine sew it together.

I don't know about anyone else, but when it comes to sewing, I need time. Time to get into a creative mindset, time to do the actual sewing and of course allow time for mistakes and errors which inevitably occur, as they did in this instance. I was happy enough with my progress though, but there's still a lot more to do until it's finished.  Here's a picture of the part of the cover I've done so far, fitted onto the sofa concerned:

I'm pretty happy with progress so far. It's not perfect and the seat cushion needs a bit of an iron, but then it doesn't need to be. If it extends the life of the sofa and makes the shed feel a bit more cosy, than that is good enough for me.

As mentioned in a previous post, I also altered a jacket that I'd thrifted, which was a kind of short, swing mac, which originally had a collar and very large buttons. I decided to unpick and remove the collar to make the jacket collarless, which I much prefer. I didn't take a before picture, but here's a picture of the jacket as it looks now:

It's a couple of sizes too big for me, but I'm happy with how it looks now and I'll probably wear it to work whilst the weather is still mild, as it's easy to throw on.

After watching a few YouTube videos lately, of people altering thrifted clothing and making their own clothing, I'm definitely feeling like I want to get back into sewing my own clothes. There was a time, probably around 10 or so years ago, when I used to make a few items myself and I'd like to get back to it. I had a couple of fabrics and patterns put aside to make and I might start with them when I next get a block of time.

The first is probably going to be this pencil skirt pattern which I'm hoping to make using this lovely plaid fabric that I've had in my stash for a long time. I think it will make a lovely addition to my autumn/winter wardrobe. I used to love wearing skirts, but very rarely reach for them these days, so this might inspire me to wear a skirt a bit more often and they are probably one of the simplest things to make when you are starting out or getting back into sewing.

I've also got a bit of a compulsion to do some more scrappy patchwork projects. I started last week by laying out the pieces for a cushion cover for the kitchen. I've stuck to blues because part of the kitchen is painted blue and we have blue curtains.  

I really enjoy the process of laying out the scraps from my scrap box and using up small bits that are too small to use for much else. What can be more satisfying than making something useful from virtually nothing, that costs nothing but your time and uses what you already have.  My idea of heaven. 

Here's the finished cushion:

I spend a lot of time sat at the kitchen table these days and a cushion on the wooden chair is a necessity. I'm happy with how it turned out. I may now make a Christmas version out of some Xmas scraps.

I'll keep you posted with any sewing progress over the coming weeks.