As I mentioned last week, the Moda Blockheads QAL has started back up after a break for the holidays. This year, they split it into two projects – one before the holidays, and one after. Or you could just make all the blocks for one quilt. I opted for the former option, and you saw the results in my red top last week.

With that done and out of the way, I needed to pick some fabric for the next round. That’s always the hardest part of any project – deciding what to use!

In stead of pulling one big fat quarter bundle, I found a small one, and pull a bunch of stash yardage to go with it. I’ve been collecting bee-themed fabric for a while, so I had quite a bit to choose from. It surprised me how much went together so well, even though they are from different companies and lines.

With the fabric decided on, it was time to get working on the first block.

I think it’s just a fantastic start!

And I think the boys agree!

Now to wait for the next block!

First – I wanted to note how many of you also sleep with socks on because they can’t sleep when their feet are cold! I’m glad I’m not the only one. My whole body can be over-heating, but my feet with be a block of ice if they aren’t covered up! And it’s been like that since I was little.

Now… onto business…

Yep – with the holidays out of the way, I’m back in the TNT business. For my first project of the year, I wanted to use a cross-stitch hand towel I’d picked up at a thrift store when I got the potholders. My original intention was to put chickens on it and use it in the kitchen.

But once I brought it out again, I realized it was a little on the small side for kitchen use. It’s much more suited to a bathroom. And the downstairs bathroom just happens to have a towel rack right above the sink. It would be perfect for there.

So… I shifted gears and went on the hunt for crab patterns… why crabs? Because the shower curtain we have in that bathroom has crabs on it… or I should say - had. I’d forgotten that kitten Lemmy had aerated that shower curtain and we replaced it with one with mandala patterns… (I don’t use the downstairs bath to shower, as I have the upstairs one)

Of course, I didn’t remember until after I bought the pattern…

But it was a cute little crab, so I just decided to continue on with it anyway.

Not the best picture, but I got all the black outlining and his little heart cheeks done. I would have gotten more done, but I had to rip out all Friday night’s progress. I’d started him up a little too high and ran out of room for his eyes.

But I’m back on track now, and if the weekend’s stitching goes well, I should have him done and hanging in the bathroom by Monday.

And they are done!

As expected, I wrapped them up quickly late last week. Of course, ankle socks never take too long, and I have small feet so socks for me always go quickly.

As mentioned, the yarn is Felici in Punch Bug (a colour from a couple years ago). It’s kind of a dingy rainbow and I love it. I used some stroll for the heels and toes so I didn’t break up the stripe sequence (plus it looks cool).

The socks are pretty much vanilla – cast on 60 stitches (as mentioned, I have small feet), work 2-2 ribbing for the cuff then plain knitting and basic sock math for the rest.

As much as I love making fancy socks, this is my favourite type of sock for me. My feet get cold very easy, so I have to wear socks in the evenings (And usually slippers too). And I wear the socks to bed. But inevitably, in the middle of the night, I wake up and my feet are too hot! So I have to be able to slide the socks off, half asleep with just my toes. And I’ve discovered, through much trial and error, that this style of sock works best for that! (and if you’re wondering why I don’t just take my socks off before I get into bed… because they will get too cold before I fall asleep, and then I can’t fall asleep! I don’t know why – but they do!)

There will be more socks like this for me soon….

Because I just had to retire one of my most favourite pairs (they were about 10 years old, so I’m not too sad)

My Christmas gift from Dave this year was a gift card for my favourite nursery in this area. And I couldn’t wait to go spend it.

In spring, summer and fall, they have a whole host of annuals, perennials, trees and shrubs, but this time of year, it’s just the house plants. But that’s just fine because they have an amazing selection of house plants.

This time around, I came home with just three.

The one on the left is a Cebu Blue Pothos, and the one on the right is a Heart Leaf Philodendron. Both are trailing, viney plants – which are my favourite. I do have to put some more hooks in the ceiling now though…

And I decided on a Lucky Jade for my Lucky Cat. I had a Jade before – Sam’s mom gave me a beautiful 60 year old Jade. Sadly, kitten Burton used the trunk as a scratching post and I didn’t notice until it was too late. I had some cuttings from it, but they died off last year, as I had them in a bad spot that didn’t get enough light.

I think it was a good choice!

But the nursery doesn’t just sell plants… it has a HUGE garden/home décor section. I’ve been wanting a Green Man for my garden for a while now…

This isn’t a Green Man, it’s Bacchus (Greek God of a good time), but it’s a similar idea. I figure when I finally find my Green Man, he can hang out with Bacchus.

Another thing I’ve wanted is a tricycle planter. Most I see are vintage bamboo and they are CRAZY prices.

This one is metal, and has a lovely verdigris finish which isn’t showing up in the pictures. I’m just debating on whether it will go outside in the Spring or stay in the house.

And last… all the Christmas stuff was on Sale, including all the Christmas Gnomes….

But this one was Green and Brown, making him (at least to me) a year-round gnome! He now lives in my Monstera and I think he looks right at home!

Spring is a long way off, but my indoor plants are doing their best to keep my cheer up.

Two of my violets are blooming

This is one of the Home Depot rescues. This is the second time it’s bloomed this year.

This pretty purple one is much older. I moved several of my older violets to the front window, and these are very happy there. This one will have blooming friends soon.

And this funky Aloe is blooming again.

Every winter it sends up this super long bloom spike. And shortly after, out come these pretty bell shaped blooms.

That’s all that’s in flower now… but Dave gave me a gift certificate to my favourite local nursery for Christmas, so maybe I’ll have to take a trip down there and see what THEY have in bloom!

You may now take a moment to bask in Burton’s magnificence…

The second half of the Blockhead Sew Along started yesterday. But before it did, I wanted to clear out the first half – at least the sewing of it.

I took a couple afternoons before the new year to put the top together.

Naturally, the boys were right in the thick of it. Here’s a look at it sans helpers

In keeping with the theme of the blocks, I kept the layout simple. Just sashing and bold corner stones (rid with a micro-dot). Then I added a pretty red floral border.

This one was a lot of fun to make. I challenged myself to make each block with only two fabrics (a light and a dark) and the background. And at times, it was VERY tricky. But I managed it. And seeing all the blocks together, it was well worth it.

I have this gorgeous red bias plaid for the backing, and more of the floral for binding. I probably won’t get to Mom’s until February to quilt it, but I’m happy to have it off the to-sew pile for now!

One of my traditions is, after all the hustle and bustle of Christmas is out of the way, to start a little knitting project that’s just for me.

That’s usually because I’ve spent the months before Christmas working on gift projects. While there wasn’t as much gift knitting in 2023, I still felt I deserved to knit myself a little treat.

A little pair of anklets from a leftover ball of Felici. The colour is Punch Bug, and I originally used it to make Miss Pee a pair of fingerless gloves.

I’m using some black Stroll for heels and toes so I don’t have to break up the striping sequence. Interestingly… the stripes match up just perfect between the socks – and that’s not something I made happen. I don’t mind mis-matched stripes, but it’s fun that these ones matched all on their own.

I’ve just started down the gusset of the second sock, and since these are for me, the foot isn’t very long. I hope to have an FO post for you next week.

You will recall, that back in October, I gifted best friend Samantha and her husband with a quilt for their 25th wedding anniversary.

That quilt was made with a lot of snowballing (sewing squares on corners and cutting away the excess). The cutoff pieces were too big to throw away, so as I was working, I sewed all the cut off bits together and tossed them in a tub, to be used up at a later date.

That later date came after Christmas. I set to work trimming them up all up for HSTs.

The result was a nice-sized pile of 2.5″ HSTs.

Then it was simply a matter of sewing those HSTs together….

I took a couple afternoons, sewing a few rows together each time. And before long…

…I had a nice little top, perfect for a cat! Or in this case, a dog…

As this one will be quilted for Sam’s beagle, Calibre. (Sorry Burton!)

2023 is behind us now.

I won’t say I accomplished everything I wanted to, but it was a good, busy year:

• One of my goals was to get the windows put in… and we did! That took the majority of our reno money for the year. And the unexpected insulation and drying up of the basement too the rest (and then some)
• When it came to the gardens, I knocked both my planned projects (creating the veg beds and my woodland garden) off my list. I also added the arbor, the garden down the other side of the walk, the garden down the side of the driveway walk, a garden down the far side of the front, and a small garden on the outside of the fence.
• I didn’t get the inside of the sun porch painted, so that’s one of my first projects for the spring.

Moving on to this new year, there are several things I’d like to accomplish:

• With the windows done, we are finally able to move on to updating the rest of the rooms in the house. Two of the easiest are my office, and Dave’s spare room (right beside my office), so we are going to tackle them. Other than moving a door and taking down part of a wall to expand my office into the current hall space, the rooms really just need new drywall and floors. In theory, we should have both done by the end of the summer.
• Dave’s garage is in desperate need new garage doors. It needed it when we bought the place, and they haven’t gotten any better.
• It’s a smaller project, but I’d like to give my front and side doors a refresh. They are nice heavy steel doors, and they are in good shape. They just need a facelift. They are currently red, and I’d like to paint them our signature green to match the rest of the white/green theme of our house.
• And as mentioned above, I need to get the inside of the sunporch painted. It could use a new floor to, but that can wait if it has to.
• For the gardens, I’m going to try to behave this year. I expanded them quite a bit last year. They will probably expand a little more (I have all those clearance plants in one of the raised beds still) but I’m not going to go too crazy. I think the focus will be on moving things around, and tweaking here and there as opposed to adding ALL THE PLANTS.
• For knitting, I am still a little sad about my dismal showing in 2023. So… the new plan is at least one project a month. That will give me 12 by the end of the year, and I think that’s a respectable, doable goal.
• For quilting… I bought A LOT of fabric in 2023!!!! So 2024 is the year to try to put a dent in that stash. As noted in my wrap up post – I have three more quilts to make for Burton, and I want to bang out a pile of baby quilts! I also have several gift quilts planned, so it’s going to be a busy quilty year!