Not much has changed in the garden. Temps took a dive mid-week and now they are forecasting snow for the weekend. I’m staying firmly indoors, but that’s doesn’t mean things aren’t blooming!

Do you remember my Firecracker plant?

Well last summer, around the time we moved, it died back for some reason. I’ve been nursing it back to health ever since. And while it’s not as bushy as it once was, it is flowering again

Another plant I’ve been nursing is my Easter Cactus. It’s like a Christmas Cactus, but wit slightly different leaves and flowers. I’ve had it a few years, but this year, something happened and I almost lost it.

About two months ago, I gave it a slightly sunnier spot, and now it’s blooming – in time for Easter too!

And apparently one of my Christmas cacti wanted to get in on the spring celebration too…

There’s just one flower on the whole plant, but hey – I’ll take it. (And here you can see the differences between the Easter and Christmas Cactus)

Elsewhere

One of my spider plants is making babies! I have always loved the little white flowers that precede the new plants.

I picked up this little cream mini rose at the grocery store one day

I’m debating whether this will end up in the garden or not. I guess it will depend on how well the ones already out there come back.

I don;t think I ever showed you this poinsettia I bought at Christmas time.

It was at the grocery store, and was rather sad looking. It had been marked down so I bought it because a) it was cheap and b) I just loved the splattered effect on the flowers.

It’s still a little sad looking all these months later, but it has new growth. I’m hoping I can get it up to full strength by Christmas!

The discounted orchid I bought last month is doing quite nicely. There are still buds to open so I expect flowers on this for a while to come.

And that yellow one STILL has flowers

A few have dropped off – but there’s still three, which makes me happy to no end!

Also making me happy

Two MORE orchids that followed me home from the grocery store this week. I had a little extra money in my pocket, and I just couldn’t decide which coloured I liked best! They now have a home on my vintage radio and Dave hasn’t noticed them yet (or if he has, he hasn’t said anything).

I don’t mind staying inside so much when I have these petaled friends around.

Those of you how have rescued cats can probably relate to this story.

When we first brought Relic in the house, it was almost as if he was trying to be on his best behaviour. He would never jump on counters or tables, get into my yarn, eat my plants… or really get up to any mischief. He certainly wasn’t like Chief Mischief Maker (aka Burton). It was almost as if he was worried we’d get rid of him if he was bad.

Now we’ve had him for a few years now, and more and more, I think we are starting he true personality coming out. He’s still mostly a very good boy, but he’s started getting…. braver. Or at least a little more comfortable with doing whatever he wants.

The other morning, I woke up to find him in my laundry basket. Now this isn’t bad (at least in my view), but it’s something he never would have done before.

I love seeing him make himself more and more at home

I don’t know about you, but for me, March has been a pretty insanely busy month. Not just with work, but a billion things around it. It’s no secret that my crafting keeps me sane, but this month it seems harder and harder to find as much time to devote to it as in the past. I hope it’s just temporary.

The craft that’s taken the biggest hit this month is my knitting. I finished off Hemlock, put a few rows on Dave’s Mom’s Christmas socks but other than that, I’ve not knit a stitch.

That is until the other night. I had some time and decided to get moving on a project that has a deadline.

Earlier this year, I found out that a coworker is expecting her first child in May. Naturally, I’ll be making her a quilt, but she’s a coworker who really appreciates the skill that goes into crafting, so I wanted to knit her something too.

Annoyingly, she’s not finding out the gender. She wants to be surprised, and I respect that… but darn it! I want to know!!!! So… keeping gender-neutral in mind, I decided a simple top-down baby cardigan would be best. (I’m using this pattern)

Because baby will be born in May, there wasn’t much point to making warm woolies in newborn/3 month size. So I skipped up to 6 months, which puts us right in the middle of fall, and pulled out this lovely autumnal-looking yarn. I figure it will work well for boy or girl.

I’m just about ready to split for the body and sleeves, and I quite like how it’s working up so far. I should have enough yarn for a hat and booties too, if I have the time.

Last in the FO quilt parade is my Stay-At-Home-Round-Robin creation.

And it’s quite the unique creation, if I do say so myself. It started with the panel, and was built out round by round. It took a lot of quilt math.

And several different cat-themed fabrics. It finished up at about 64″ x 72″ and it’s all wrapped up with some paw prints, and a lovely cat print backing

This one won’t be going in the shop, I’m afraid. But it has been donated to Bee Meadow Farms for a fundraiser, so you will have a chance to try to win it if you are so inclined. I’ll share the details on how, as soon as the fundraiser starts!

I’m afraid I don’t have much to show for TNT this week. Most of my weekend got eaten up. Friday was very busy work-wise and it spilled into the evening. On Saturday, Dave and I got up and headed to Mom and Dad’s for Christmas in March with the family. As you know, we weren’t able to get together with my brother et al at Christmas, and Saturday was finally a day when every one was free.

It was a great day, but it’s a long drive there and back, and with all the excitement of presents etc, Dave and I were zonked when we finally got home that night. Sunday was slower, but I was focused on binding a quilt (more on that tomorrow). I didn’t actually pick up my cross stitching until about 9 that night. And as a result…

This is all I have to share. Right now it kind of looks like a heart wearing a crown… but obviously, there’s more to come. A lot more.

The pattern is Tudor Bee by The Blue Flower. The part I have stitched is the little bee’s shoulders, and part of her head. Eventually, it will look something like this:

But I’ve got a lot more little x’s to make before I get there!

The finished quilt parade continues, but we have left the ocean and traveled to the farm yard!

The pattern is Flapjacks. It’s free, and it’s another one of those “looks complicated, but totally isn’t” type patterns. I had this one together in an afternoon. It’s just a crib size, but it can easily be made bigger (the pattern has four sizes, so you dont even need to do the math.)

I used these fun, farm-yard prints. Can I just say how much I love those carrots???? I really which I had more of that.

I do have a few fat quarters left…

As well as enough of this cow print for another back. So there will be another farm quilt in the future. Not any time soon, but eventually.

In the meantime, you can stop by the shop if you’re interested in this one. It‘s just waiting for a new home.

Friday night after dinner, Dave asked me if I was able to take him on a Kijiji run. He’d found a deal on a pressure washer (the siding on our house is REALLY in need of a good cleaning) that was only half an hour away.

So we hopped in Dory, hit the bank machine and headed out to the middle of nowhere. As many of you know, you can meet quite a few “characters” through Kijiji. And this particular seller was definitely a “character”.

He’s one of those guys who just collects random things… and EVERYTHING he has is for sale. And he tried to sell it ALL to us.

We ended up there for an hour and a half going through the garage, a couple sheds, a truck trailer and a barn, and by the time we left, the back of my truck was full. We did get the pressure washer, but we also came home with…

A milk can, an old small spoked wheel and an A-frame trellis. These, of course, will all be cleaned up and put in the garden somewhere. He threw in a big roll of landscaping fabric too, which will come in VERY handy. It’s probably enough to cover the catio space, if not more!

Buried deep in his barn, I found this sturdy little wood shelf, which will be perfect for plants when it’s cleaned up. Dave also got a metal cabinet for the garage from the same barn.

But the real prize….

…was this gorgeous ceramic birdbath. I’ve been searching for a decent birdbath for a couple years now. But they are either cheap plastic or glass, and flimsy, or they cost a fortune. This one is sturdy, almost as heavy as my Dad’s concrete bird bath. And all those little “pockets” in the base are there for MORE plants!!!! I can’t wait to find the perfect spot for it!

There was one disappointment though. I made quick friends with this sweet barn girl….

She rode on my shoulder almost the whole time were were there. Kijiji guy said he would totally throw her in with the deal (he had 11 barn cats – all fixed and well cared for). Unfortunately, Dave put the kibosh on it.

Part of me thinks I should have left him there and brought the cat home instead…

I don’t know how it is where you live, but here the weather is a total roller coaster. One day warm, two days cold, snow in the morning, raining by the afternoon. Not unusual for March of course, but I’d love a little more stability.

On the nice days, the cats and I are outside as much as possible.

The cats are mostly just soaking up the sun. I do that too, but I’m also poking around the garden, and looking for signs of life.

More and more bulbs are peaking out in the bulb box, but they are still very small. To be honest, I think I placed the box a little too close to the fence. When I put it down the fall, it got a lot more sun than it does now.

Of course, the ground is still mostly frozen… all the up and down means it hasn’t had a chance to do a really good thaw yet.

Elsewhere, there are small signs of things to come.

Left to right: Sedum, Black-Eyed Susan, and Chysanthemums.

One thing that’s really going gangbusters are these.

Remeber back in the summer I mentioned that the catio ground was full of bulbs….? I was digging them up every time I dug a hole. Well pretty much the ENTIRE catio lawn space is covered in them. I’m pretty sure they are grape hyacinths. I vaguely recall seeing some in bloom when we first looked at the house last year.

Whatever there are – there are literally thousands of them. And they are all going to have to come out, because I’m landscaping that entire space. There’s a lot of digging in my future.

As you know, one of my favourite things about this place was having the ability to create a catio for the kids. It’s still a work in progress, but the cats don’t mind, they are just happy to be able to go in an out as they please.

Especially this one who is always in search of a nice patch of grass to munch. This time of year, all there is are a few tufts of the hardier grasses. The rest of the catio is an unfortunate mudhole (which you can kinda of see above).

And all that in and out has one MAJOR downside

Proper landscaping will help mitigate this, which is one reason why it’s a top priority this year!

Next up in the finished quilt parade is Mermaid’s Delight…

Yes.. yet another ocean themed quilt. Don’t ask me what is up with that, because I really don’t know.

I got these fabrics as a fat quarter bundle at Walmart. I loved the colours and those pretty little mermaids.

The pattern is simple – just squares going round and round, but quilts don’t need to be complicated to be beautiful

I was lucky to find this mermaid flannel for the back. It’s not quite matching in style, but the colours are spot on …

They only had one yard left, but that’s just enough for a small baby quilt.

And this one is in the shop, waiting to swim on in to a new home!