Just in time for a new month, Burton has a new quilt for his chaise! This one is a little puffier than the others. I’ve been using leftover batting for his quilts, but I didn’t have anything left from our usual, nice stuff big enough for this one. I did have a chunk of the cheap polyester stuff though.

As usual, nothing fancy with the quilting, just some stitch-in-the-ditch around the flowers and the border.

And it certainly adds a nice spring vibe the the corner of the living room.

And it’s 100% Bearbottom approved.

At least… I think that’s his approval face….

After putting it off for eleventy billion other things, I finally started working on the new red and cream quilt for my bed.

It’s just two blocks so far, but it’s a start. All the fabrics are paired, cut and ready to go, so whenever I have a spare hour or so I can sit down and bang out a pair of blocks. There will be 16 in total – 8 opposite pairs.

This one is not a rush, so I’m just going to take my time and enjoy the process.

The answer is, yes… but not much.

That said, both Dave and I have had a slew of appointments this month (don’t ever neglect your health, and ignore issues for a year or two… it really does just make things worse, and the next thing you know you’re seeing a slew specialists and having to visit a doctor every week… and we aren’t even 50 yet!).

Because of all that waiting room time, I’ve managed to almost complete the leg of the second Seascape sock. I’ve got appointments right through to the middle of April (and possibly further depending on test results, etc.) so I might even be able to finish these one off before we see May!

More stitching was completed this weekend with help from the usual suspects

(Burton is between my feet in the second pic, though his black fur is hard to pick out)

I finished the R and made some good progress on the M. I was hoping to get the M done, to be done with the green. And also because every time Dave looked over at, he questioned if it was supposed to say ‘Fart Fresh’. That M would put an end to his stupid jokes.

But soon enough the M will be done and I can move onto the rest of the lettering and the wee hen on the bottom.

April is creeping up, and that means Burton is in need of a new quilt for his chaise.

Easter would be the obvious theme, but as Easter sometimes happens in March, I decided to steer clear of it. Burton and I put our heads together and sketched out some ideas.

Then fabrics were chosen and the next thing you knew…

We had some tulips!

Not long after, we had a small garden

Uh guys…. we can’t see it if you’re laying on it…

Oh dear…. I think this one is going to be very popular…

Eventually, and with the help of some cat treats, I managed to get a cat free picture.

And yes… those are ladybugs around the outside

Aren’t they just the cutest. I got a couple yards of it on one of my spending sprees recently. I couldn’t resist using it on this. Now it just needs quilting and binding… but I’ve got a few days left in the month to do that!

This week has been wonderful with daytime temps above freezing all week. And mostly sunny too! I’m hoping the worst of winter is behind, us, but Mother Nature may still come and give us a swift kick in the pants, so I will be cautious in my optimism.

The Winter Aconite continue to bloom, as cheerful as ever

I found several more clumps, bringing my total to five clumps in the front garden, and two clumps in the driveway garden – which sounds about right for what I remember planting. They should multiply and get better each year.

I’ve got three little clumps of snow drops blooming.

I planted a lot more than just three clumps, but I’ve read that snow drops can be fussy to get going. Once they do though… look out! I can’t wait for these to become more spectacular each year.

I’m a little jealous because my neighbour has some front beds just bursting with blooming crocuses right now. I planted lots but none are in bloom yet. I guess hers are just more established (they get the same amount of sun).

And there’s lots of daffies, tulips, and hyacinths coming up everywhere so even though it’s starting slower than I would like (and it always does), it’s going to be a spectacular spring.

Elsewhere, the pink pussywillows have turned dark grey (as they do – it’s not a surprise). The black pussywillow is just starting to emerge. It doesn’t get as much sun as the pink does. And the regular pussywillow gets even less, so it’s just starting to bud up.

Inside…

The white orchid has finally opened up. It’s so delicate and pretty.

As did this amazing showy one. Sadly, as I was trying to get a picture, I broke off the whole darn bloom stem! GRRRR! I was so upset. I’ll have to try to get this one to bloom again, because it was so darn pretty!

And last…

Did you know Tradescantia (inch plant) blooms??? I had no idea! Apparently Mom did. And so did Samantha. And Krista! Maybe I was the only one. Either way, I was thrilled to find this one (which lives in my bedroom window) blooming away!

The other thing I managed to accomplish last weekend was sowing some seeds!

It’s just vegetables this year. I have flower seeds to sow, but I’m going to try sowing them directly in the garden this year and see if I have better luck than last.

A few of these veggies probably should have been direct-sown (i’m looking at you cucumbers and carrots, and possibly spinach). But gardening is always an ongoing experiment, so we’ll see how this works out. Also… I just didn’t read the directions and sowed all my veggie seeds at once. Well… not all of them. I only did a little tray of each, so I sowed about half of each pack. That way, if this doesn’t work out, I can do some direct sowing as well.

And another little experiment I have going…

Re-growing celery and romaine lettuce from scraps. I started them both in water, and just potted them up. They are both in a nice, bright window so we’ll see how they do. They can go outside when the weather gets a little warmer too.

Let’s talk today about vocal cats.

My original crew (Rupert, Burton, and Relic) are all vocal in their own unique ways.

Rupert like to run around the house like a madman between 10 pm and midnight every night making weird vocalizations. He’s almost always playing by himself, and I’m convinced the noise is just because he like the sound of his own voice.

Burton talks for food. It’s how I’m able to get all those “smiling” pictures with the quilts. He’s telling me to take the damn picture and give him the treats he knows are coming. Occasionally, he will meow just to greet you – if he wakes up from a nap or you walk into the room he’s in. But as he’s gotten older, that’s become less frequent.

Relic is an outdoor talker. He loves to meow at me when I’m outside. It’s usually because I’m on the other side of the catio fence, and he wants to be with me. But he’ll also meow to get my attention inside the catio yard (usually because he wants a scratch). The only other time he tells is when he’s telling one of the other cats to get out of his face, or when you’ve over-stimulated him with the butt scratches.

And I thought they were all pretty vocal cats. But then along came Lemmy:

This isn’t the clearest picture, but I love it because it pretty much sums up most mornings. From almost the moment I get up, Lemmy is following me around, yelling. Not meowing politely…. yelling! Non-stop.

In fact, the only way to stop it is to pick him up. But you can’t hold him. You have to let him balance on your arms. And he only stays there for a few minutes. He inevitably jumps down and usually starts yelling again.

And it’s not just me. He does it to Dave – and Dave’s usually up an full hour or more before me. So before he starts on his tirade with me each morning, he’s almost always done it with Dave as Dave tries to get his coffee and make breakfast. And note, that feeding the cats is the very first thing Dave does in the morning.

But Lemmy also yells to greet us. To tell us he wants to play. He yells as he’s playing. He yells when he’s just sitting, chilling and you happen to walk by. And it’s not new. He’s been a talker from the moment we found him.

In short, Lemmy is the most vocal cat I have ever met in my life. It will be interesting to see if it changes as he grows.

Here it is – that wonderful collaboration between me and Mom

You will recall, this project was made as part of the 2022 Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Instead of making lots of little blocks in each month’s colour, I made one big block for each month (more or less – there are only 10 blocks).

Once the top was done, I handed it off to Mom and she worked her magic.

The pictures don’t do it justice. It’s more amazing in person.

For the back, I used this wild, abstract rainbow print. And I had just enough rainbow stripes left from my gnome quilt to do the binding on this. How I love a stripey binding. Even more so when it’s diagonal!

And this one is a big one – 80 x 88″. I have it listed as a Twin, but it really depends on how much you want it to drop on the sides… this one could easily work well on a Double, possibly even a Queen.

And it’s in the shop now if you want to make it yours!

With Saturday somewhat of a write-off, I really wanted to do something productive with Sunday. I managed a couple somethings, and one of them was catching up on our sew-a-long with the Sewcialites. Burton and I were four blocks behind, and that would never do!

It only took a couple hours to get us caught up again.

And now we have 20 fine blocks with just four more to go. If things go as planned, this one will be sewn into a top before May!

“Things never go as planned – who are you kidding???”