Christmas Decorations

A busy weekend, partly spent outside, and partly in. We lifted the gladioli, which have been flowering since October. They hadn't really stopped, and we cut some of the flowers quite recently—but the snowfall has stopped them in their tracks, and I wanted to get them lifted as soon as possible, as they're not meant to be left out over the winter. As such, the thaw (the soil's no longer frozen, which helps!) was an opportunity. They're not looking in bad shape, considering they've been lifted before having a chance to die back naturally (one is meant to leave them for six weeks after flowering, to all the foliage to yellow and wither—but that would put us in mid-January).

Last year, we lifted them in mid November. Hopefully, they'll go into dormancy safely, and I can tidy them up (trim off the rest of the leaves, and extraneous roots), before putting them somewhere cold and dry until the spring.

After a general tidy-up (more leaves into the leaf-bin, some trimming, and the like), we came in, and have been making some Christmas decorations. We picked up some festive fabric while visiting friends. Some has been cut into two tablecloths (for the dining room), which will need hemming. Another piece has been edged with some red & gold holly print fabric, for a kitchen tablecloth, and several pieces of green & gold holly print have turned into runners to go along the windowsills. We had a few of these from previous years, to brighten the windows and complement the other decorations, and now have a complete set. Few bits still need doing (hems on tablecloths, mainly!), and I have a plan for some table-mats, but they'll all have to wait.