Remember that free charm pack I showed you the other week…? Well with some help from my favourite furry assistant…

it’s now been sewn into a top for a baby blanket…

Meet Sprite’s Garden. A few months ago, Mom showed me an easy way to make stars using charm squares. You simply snowball the corners of four of the 5″ squares with 2.75″ squares, and assemble like a nine patch.  It’s a fun easy technique that gives endless layout options.

I’d picked the solid purple up on clearance, along with this cute chunk of flannel for a back…

As soon as I got the charm pack, I knew it would work well with both. I’m hoping to quilt it this weekend, but we’ll have to see how things go.

As promised, the orange socks flew off the needles… especially for a man-sized pair – just nine days to finish!

And I think they look great. The orange yarn is Lion Brand Sock-Ease. It’s my first time using it, and it feels like its going to be a great, hard-wearing yarn. I used some leftover Alley Cat in Milk Chocolate for cuffs, heels and toes. I originally thought the yarn would stripe, which is why I added the complementing yarn, but its really more of a loose variegation.  Still, I think the contrast looks nice.

With that, there’s another Christmas present off the list. And time to get another one on the needles!

The super secret quilt project was completed so quickly, it barely spent any time in a project box. That meant I could start something new…

I give you Honey Patch.  These little four patch within a four-patch blocks will be part of a lap quilt. The mini four patches are from a charm pack I bought ages ago. The cream and gold fabric is from a kit I bought. I wasn’t a fan of the pattern in the kit, but the fabrics were gorgeous!

Now I just have to decide what I want to use for sashing and corner stones.

Here’s where the rest of my projects are at:

• Time to sew: I finally got some more blocks done – details to come
• Honey Patch: As you see above.
• Sprite’s Garden: A new project you’ll see soon.
• Leader & Ender Rainbow Nine Patches: Down to the last few blocks… this won’t be an L&E project for long.

Another Saturday is here and this time it’s Rupert’s turn to take you around the garden

Despite what this picture shows, Rupert is probably the most active when outside. He’s always on the hunt for birds, or squirrels, or bugs.

I recently put some seed in a feeder under the lilac and the birds have been enjoying it regularly. The other evening, one cheeky sparrow must not have noticed the cats in the yard. But Rupert certainly saw the sparrow. By the time he got to the feeder, sparrow was long gone. Rupert spent a good 10 minutes under the feeder, crying and wondering where his snack went.

And despite his activity, he still likes to take time to stop and smell the roses…

As expected, White Lightning is the first to bloom. The roses are pretty behind compared to last spring. The others have buds, but they won’t bloom for another week or so.

Both of my poppies have bloomed with HUGE paper-like flowers. They are just gorgeous.

All of the other irises are finished for the year, but this little blue Dutch Iris made a late appearance. I bought a bag of these from the dollar store a couple of years ago, and this is the only one that’s ever come up.

It’s Dianthan season again! They are just getting started, but soon these little plants will be covered in bright blooms!

And my favourite part of June has begun! It’s strawberry season!!! These berries aren’t ginormous, but they are much bigger than the ones I’ve grown before. I will definitely sitck with the hanging pots from now on.

“You are mistaken madam… this is my seat, not yours….”

With the ankle socks off the needles, I needed another pair on….

And as you can see – they won’t be on for much longer either!  They are man-sized, but just plain vanilla. I needed something I could knit easily at the trailer. As a result, I flew through the first one and I’m well on my way to finishing the second one.

I’m liking this monogamy thing… should we take bets on how long it will last?

The FO train keeps a-rollin’….

While I quilted Mystic Maze a week or so ago, I wasn’t able to finish up the binding until this week. But now it’s all sewn down and it completes another wonderful quilt.

It’s a very simple pattern that looks complex thanks to a mix of vibrant, jewel-tone batiks, whimsical cat fabrics and sturdy, solid black. The finished quilt is a good size too – almost 70″ square.

The purple border and backing fabric aren’t batik, but a 108″ wide backing fabric that looks surprisingly close to some of the batiks in the quilt. It was a no-brainer to use it.  I did my usual loops for quilting, but this one has something a little extra… though it’s hard to see. The thread is a variegated blue-purple. Sadly, the camera doesn’t show it well – but it looks pretty cool in real life.

And with that, the year is almost half over and I’ve already completed 12 quilts! Amazing!