Cumbria here we come!

Well - we are ready for the off again - the van is packed with summer clothes, winter clothes and walking boots........not that I am planning to walk up and down fells.......but himself likes a walk!

We are hoping to leave here about 9am in the morning but first He has an exam to get over! he is sitting an accountancy exam this evening - no I don't know why he's doing it! because he can I suppose!

I don't know how long it will take us to get to our destination as we will stop when the driver gets tired and start again when he has rested - no he doesn't let me drive him! and I have never towed the van!..........If we were not towing it would take about 4 1/2 hours at approx 70mph - with the van - who knows?

Mrs Bilbo I will phone you when we have arrived at our destination to let you know we are safe and well and perhaps to make arrangements for Thursday - OK? I'm really looking forward to seeing what you have been doing to that garden of yours, and to meeting your other half againand of course 'the Hairy one'.

Quilts and visits and gardens

I just had to show you these photos - Jackie came with her other grandchild Louey, they stayed while he had his lunch and played for a while - now htey have gone to meet up with Jackies other grandson to go to the park and play on th swings. I haven't see Louey for a month and he has grown so much and is much more steady on his feet.

This morning, before I did anything else I finished sewing on the hanging sleeve to 'Swan Song' aka 'that Purple thing' ! It has now been washed in cold water to remove the blue marking and is under covers on the patio drying. Himself thought it would dry quicker if I removed the top sheet - NO! I don't want the birds pooping on it!

It is a lovely warm day - not too sunny and the patio slabs are warm.

While waiting for the quilt to dry I took a look at the garden - lots of the flowers I have previously shown have gone over. The rain spoilt most of them, but look what nature has done - others are opening! The hollyhocks must have loved all that rain because they have grown so much in a week. These ones are a pale yellow - so pale they are almost white. I used to have such a lot of hollyhocks all sorts of colours from seeds I purloined from a garden near to the university that my niece went to in Watford. Over the years the others have died off but I still have some of the original seed so I may try planting them again.

Yesterday we went to see how our youngest daughters new extension is getting on - as you can see they nearly have the roof on - so no more fear of water invasion! It was such a lovely afternoon that we had tea in the garden and just as we were about to start more visitors arrived - my Eldest daughter, her daughter and grandson! The littlies have a whale of a time playing together - There is a large trampoile in the garden, a large shed (as a wendy house) and this large climbing frame, swings and slide ! Emily's

hair is so fine that when she sat to put her shoes on again after jumping around for a while, it all stuck to the netting surrounding the trampoline.

The garden has a load of rubbish still to be cleared from the build - the old walls were being moved to a skip but I think that this weekend will see Brian using his car and trailer to move stuff to the local tip . On Sunday the new walls are to be painted to match the rest of the house (magnolia) and I expect we will all be involved in that as the scaffolding is coming down next week and the painting will be easier if it's not done from a ladder!

Sunshine at last

What a difference a bit of sunshine does to us! i was really depressed on Tuesday when it di nothing but rain all day, but yesterday and again this morning the sun is shining and I feel better!

I have finished sewing on the binding on 'the purple thing' now renamed 'Swan Song' as I think this will be the last quilt I hand quilt - my fingers are so painful today after sewing the binding on and I still have a hanging sleeve to do and a label. I had hoped that I might wash the quilt today but I think it will have to be tomorrow as I have to go and have my eyes tested this morning, so don't really have the time it needs to do a good job.

Yesterday we managed to clean the rest of the outside of the caravan - it was really dirty after two trips away and we are off again next week - going to see a friend! so must make sure it's looking smart! VBG. Now to get the vaccie inside and then restock the fridge etc and we will we ready to go on Wednesday - 320 miles will take us about 7 - 8 hours I think. The AA say that the journey should take 5:30 hours but that is for a car and with no stops, a caravan is not allowed to go over 60 mph so it will take longer just for the journey and Himself needs to stop every 2 hours or so. We hope to leave about 9am (after the neighbours have all gone to work so that we have room to manouver the van) and arrive at our destination approx 4pm.

Really looking forward to this trip - we have found a nice camp site on the opposite side of the valley to our friend in a place called Brigham nr Cockermouth. It is an adult only site and is on the site of a farm fisheries - so should be interesting! Fresh fish for supper? who knows.

Strange things in the compost!

I knew that these were the only things growing in the green house, as they have self sown themselves from last years plants. BUT!

Well! Really! - I went to put the kitchen waste into the compost bin (usually himself's job) and see what I found - I wonder if there will be anything at the bottom of the bin for me?

We have not been doing much in the way of gardening this year - to many trips away! We have managed to keep the grass mown and the weeds pulled but we have not put the greenhouse to use this year - perhaps it's just as well - we had so many tomatos last year that we didn't know what to do with them all - Ok I made soup and pickles and froze some whole (for caseroles) but there are only so many that you can manage to eat.

I have been doing so much sewing that the tops of my fingers are quite sore but I have at last finished the quilting and am now nearly finished putting the binding on ( I have sewn the hanging sleeve in with the binding this time) now for a label and it is ready for festival of Quilts in August! (this is another reason for not having grown any veg). I must now chose a fine day and wash the quilt to remove all the blue marker pen - when that is done I will take another photo and show you all how it looks.