Happy Easter Monday! We hope you all had a wonderful Easter Sunday. As normal, it was a nice quiet day for Dave and I.

Mother Nature still has us on her roller coaster, but the garden is starting to come alive

The first daffodils have bloomed!

These ones are called Arctic Bells – they are a minature Hoola-Hoop style and always the first to bloom. They are very small and I REALLY need to find a better spot for them. Unless I go looking for them, they are easy to miss.

But they are so beautiful and pretty! Well worth the searching.

This other early bloomer is also small one called Rip Van Winkle. And it kind of looks like a daffodil and a marigold had a baby. It could also use a better spot. Note to self – always check growing size when ordering bulbs… and then again when planting them!

The crocuses continue to do their thing, with more popping up every day.

I think these striped ones are my favourite. And the bees love them too. The yard is literally alive with buzzing when the sun is shining. There’s not a tonne in bloom yet, so my gardens are a bit of a bee oasis.

The pussywillows are a popular spot too – though if you look closely, you’ll realize that’s not a bee, but a large hover fly!

The Hellebores continue to be stunningly beautiful! I’d love to add one or two more to the collection here.

The Glory of the Snow is also shining bright when the sun shines – and I’ve got new little bunches popping up every day!

With just a few more warm days, the gardens are going to be awash in yellow!

The previous two seed snails are both doing very well – the first set are starting to show “true” leaves…. moving on from sprouts to actual plants.

And, as promised, last weekend, I rolled up another set of snails. But the weather was nice enough to take the mess outside

There, I rolled up 12 more snails containing all my foxglove, snap dragons, marigolds, cosmos (there’s going to be so many cosmos this year!), pumpkins, squash and cucamelons.

They are now happily under the grow lights with the rest of the snails.

While I was at it… I also planted those dahlia I mentioned

Last year, I started my dahlia outside, closer to June. As a result, I didn’t get flowers until almost October! I’m hoping that by starting them almost two months earlier, that will correlate to earlier blooms.

It’s only been a week but we already have sprouts.

And since I know you’re dying to know what dahlia I planted…

We have (L-R) Mango Madness, Edinburgh (Dave picked this one) and Latte Love (a trio which includes Café au Lait, Café au Lait Rose and Café au Lait Royal).

This summer is going to be a knock-out! I can feel it!

A few weeks back, best friend Samantha asked me if I could make her a small pet quilt for her car. She needed something to put on the seat to keep her beagle, Calibre, from getting the seats too dirty.

So last weekend, Burton and I went through our flannel scraps.

You know I love to use flannel for the backs of quilts, and that means I tend to accumulate a fair bit of scraps. I cut most of them into 5″ squares so I can throw together projects like this. You can see though, Burton feels we should be making this for him, not some dirty old dog.

She didn’t need it very big – around 2 ft x 2 ft, so it went together in mere minutes

Samantha is set to come here next weekend, so I’ll take some time this weekend to layer it, give it some quick straight line quilting, and bind it, and have it ready to go for her visit!

It’s Easter weekend here, and as it is for many of you, it’s a long weekend for us! (Four whole days!)

And I’m hoping the weather cooperates so Burton and the boys and I can spend some quality time in the gardens. Don’t you just love our newest addition to the catio?

We found it at a thrift store a few weeks back…

Dave sanded it down and gave it a fresh coat of paint to give it new life. I think the boys are really going to enjoy it!

Saturday, Burton and I set about getting the last of the arrows together.

Well, I did. Burton mostly napped in his bassinet below the ironing board. But he was up and ready for photos by the time the last of them were together!

And clearly he was excited about it!

Now that they are all made, the next step is to sew them into blocks. Big blocks…

… which will look something like this!

They will work out to 16″ finished, and I’ll have 12 of them when I’m done. It’s going to make a nice sized quilt!

Wooo! We made it to April! The weather can only get better from here on out! Furby has been out and about and taking advantage of every moment of sun he can.

And he’s frequently joined by Fryburger who lives across the road. As you can see… they are best buds. Its fun to watch them pal about throughout the neighbourhood.

I hope things can get to that point with the cats inside.

Though I think Rupert and Furby might be getting there.

With the witchy sampler done, I had to find a new project for TNT. I wasn’t really in the mood to jump into another big cross stitch just yet. (though I have one in mind I really want to do). I do have another embroidered quilt kit, but I don’t have the fabric for it. So that was a no go.

I did however, have these:

I’d picked them up at Michaels ages ago, because they were small, cute and cheap. They come with everything you need, including the needles. I decided to start with the bee.

I started it after dinner on Sunday. And by bedtime…

It was done! I do still need to trim it up, but it went way quicker than I expected. I guess I’ll be doing the moth next weekend. And then after that, maybe I’ll start that big cross stitch project!

As predicted, I got the Kroy socks done in short order.

I finished up the toe while watching my favourite gardening show Saturday morning. I took some quick pics and they they were right on my feet because it was a frosty day! The were perfectly toasty and pretty

To recap:

Yarn is Patons Kroy in Midnight Orchid. I knit them over 56 stitches on 2.75 mm needles. And I think that’s the way I’m going to knit Kroy from now on! I think I’ve got a few more skeins in other colours still in the stash, so I’ll have to do another pair soon!

The second set of snails has started to sprout!

There’s still three snails in this batch that have yet to germinate, but I’m sure I’ll be seeing something soon. It’s only been a week since I rolled them up.

And yesterday, I stopped by the dollar store to get some more roasters…

Because I’ve got more seeds to start! The top row were ordered from a place on the East Coast that carries a lot of unusual seeds. I got mostly foxgloves, but also some more poppies. I really hope my poppy experiment works out this year!

The bottom row is from a place I ordered from last year. I was planning on doing another order from them next week, but then I discovered I could get their seeds from one of the local nurseries! I got almost everything I had in my cart, but I forgot the mini watermelons, so I may have to do an order anyway (I don’t recall seeing them at the nursery)

So…while you’re reading this, I’m probably rolling up more snails! And maybe even planting a dahlia or two!

Mother Nature is slowly coming around. We had a couple “warmer” days, and the sun even peeked out just a little. It was enough to open up those crocuses!

And the pink Hellebores are really starting to stand tall

The Glory of the snow is still take it’s time

But the new irises in the front box are starting to open

And while things aren’t moving as fast as I’d like outdoors, it’s okay, because I’ve got flowers indoors.

My mystery orchid finally bloomed. And a you can see, it’s a beautiful rich, deep pink. I’ll have to label this one so I know what it is when it’s not blooming.

And that round little cactus continues to push up new flowers all the time. He’s almost got a full crown! This is the first cactus I’ve ever had that’s bloomed so I have no idea how long it will do this for. I’m going to enjoy it thoroughly while it lasts.