I mean, how could they not be??? As you can see, I finished the top for Spring Kittens. And I am just smitten!

When I finished the main star blocks, my intention was to just to plain sashing and cornerstones. Then I remembered the Royal Stars quilt and decided the kittens needed more stars too!

I went stash diving and came up with just enough pale, mottled pink for the star points.

For a person who loves pink, I actually didn’t have much in my stash. I was lucky that this one almost perfectly matched the shade in those little butterflies.

Normally, I eschew pastel baby quilts, prefering much bolder shades, but I gotta say…

… I REALLY love how soft and pretty this one is. The fact that it’s covered in kittens certainly doesn’t hurt either.

I had enouch of those cute aqua kittens for a border

As well as binding….

That aqua stripe will be a good backing, when I get around to quilting it. I’m not sure when that will be. We’ve started seriously house-hunting now. Since we are completely priced out of our current area, we are looking about 2 hours away. We are lucky that our jobs allow us to move that far, but it means weekends, for the time being, are given over to fitting in as many showings as we can. Quilting may have to take a back seat until we finally buy something.

As you can see, I’ve got both sleeves done. The body is now joined, and I’ve got a few rows done there. The only thing left is to keep knitting until I decide that it’s long enough. As you know, I usually prefer shorty cardigans, but I’ve got a fair bit of yarn left so I could probably make it longer. I’ll just keep trying it on as I go and stop knitting when it looks good!

The other day, I had a free afternoon, so I finished up the last nine pinwheel blocks.

They were promptly inspected by Burton…

And once they had his approval, they joined the others I had made, giving me 25 blocks in total.

These blocks are all made from scraps. And with this one, I wanted to challenge myself to pair fabrics and patterns that really popped against each other! I’m very pleased with the results and I can’t wait to get them together into a top.

As you can see, Burton is pretty thrilled about them too!

Well… sock.. I guess, since I only have one done.

But isn’t it cute? Such fun cheerful colours! And that little bit of lace to keep it interesting. The pattern is I Smell Snow, and it’s nice and easy to memorize.

As you can see, I’ve done the cuff, heel and toe in plain black to keep the stripes sequence intact, as I normally do with self-stripers.

The second one is already on the needles, and with any luck, I can have it done by next week. Then I can whip off a matching pair of anklets for Rowan well before her birthday.

But I better not jinx myself… the knitting fates are not to be toyed with!

It’s been a fairly rainy week. My head is not happy about that (thank you weather-induced migraines) but the garden certainly is.

Everything is greening up nicely.

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From L-R: Pasque Flower, Lilac, Raspberries.

And of course, there are blooms! The Daffodils continue to dazzle

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Isn’t that multi-coloured one just wild? It was from a big of mixed daffy bulbs from the dollar store! Talk about a gardening score!

The tulips are just starting to appear

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And there are lots more coming.

And the Grape Hyacinths are just poking their little heads out

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You may recall that I have two colours, and those pink ones STILL wow me year after year!

And last, the larger hyacinths are not to be outdone

The foliage might be a bit bunny-munched, but the blooms still smell sweet!

The other day, Mom and I were chatting and quilting, and some how, the conversation turned towards elephants. (I think we were talking about an elephant quilt pattern but I can’t be sure). I told her that I love elephants, and that I have a couple in the house, because grandma always told me that having an elephant with its trunk up is good luck. (Like horsehoes, the luck runs out if the trunk is down)

I, of course, have my Blue Mountain Heffalump, and I have another elephant plant holder, (on which my snake plant resides.) I told her I used to have a white eastern-style elephant that I used as a small plant stand but that I hadn’t seen him in years, and I wasn’t sure what had happened to it.

A few days later, Dave and I were heading out to drop some of his old clothes off a Value Village. I recalled I had a box of knick knacks I’d meaning to donate as well. It was stuff I hadn’t unpacked when we moved here (eight years ago) and it was all still wrapped up in newspaper.

Something told me I better go through it one last time, just to be sure I wasn’t giving anything important away. Can you guess what I found???

I was so happy! I think he’s actually supposed to be a candle holder for those big pillar candles, but I’ve always put a plant on him. I don;t know what happened to the pot I had that went with him, but luckily, I had the perfect sized one kicking around in the basement.

It just needed a little makeover.

Plain white paint was just a little too stark, but, as luck would have it…

…I had a bottle of Champagne Metallic leftover from some long forgotten craft project that was just the perfect shade.

Add a spider plant baby (there’s no shortage of them around here) and the project is complete!

“Are you awake yet? I need food”

Work is progressing on the Silla Cardigan.

The pattern is top down, and it has you work the sleeves before you work the body – which is a first for me. I’m used to working the body first.

As you can see, I’m making decent progress. I probably should be a little further along, but had to order some 7mm dpns for the sleeves. Of course that means I had to order some yarn to come along for the “free shipping” ride.

It’s just some Kroy (FX and Stripes) that was on clearance. It’s hard to pass up sock yarn when it’s less than $12 a pair!

With Rupert’s help, I tackled the second quadrant of the HST quilt

I promise, Rupert is snoopervising from somewhere in that pile of blankets.

I laid the next quadrant out beside the completed one so I could ensure there would be no like fabrics touching. This is the kind of quilt where you can drive yourself batty trying to get fabric placement just perfect. I don’t even really try – I just focus on ensuring no two of the same fabric touch, and call it a day. Some are a little closer together than I like, but I can live it with. Once the whole quilt is together, it won’t be as noticeable anyway.

Despite it’s size, the quadrants go together fairly quick. In just over an hour, I had it together, and sewn to the first quadrant.

And just like that – the top is already half done!

“Just you remember, you couldn’t have done it with my help. Now put the camera away and let me go back to sleep.”

As I hinted at last week, I’ve got a new pair of socks underway. Not that its a great surprise. After casting off Rowan’s itty bitty thunderstruck socks, I decided that it would be fun if she had a pair that matched her sister, as well as her Mom and Dad.

Of course, Paisley’s birthday isn’t until December. But Rowan’s is in June. But if I want to use leftovers from Paisley’s that means I’ve got to get them on (and off) the needles asap!

Taadaa!!!

Yes, once again it’s Felici. This colourway is from last year and it’s called Summer Camp. The pattern is “I Smell Snow” – a freebie on Ravelry. It’s simple, with just a touch of interest to keep things moving. These probably won’t be on the needles very long.

And in an aside, something happened last week that gives me just a little bit of hope that one day I may see that missing shipment from Knit Picks.

Last Tuesday, this showed up in the mail:

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A Christmas card from Vera! As you can see from the post mark – she mailed it on December 1, 2020! It took a full FOUR months to get to me. I had a good giggled when I opened it. The poor postal service must have been having a really hard time – she’s less than an 8 hour drive from me!

So… Merry April Vera! Thanks for the card!