I know I recently said that I wasn’t keen on sampler quilts… but…

I just started another one!

This one is for Mom. She’s got a free-motion quilting class coming up. The designer has created a pre-printed panel of something like 20 blocks. But instead of buying the panel, Mom figured out each block and how to put them together. Most of them are pretty basic.

She’s doing hers in solid pastel colours with a white background, and she asked if I would like to make a version too. The class is offering a couple different options for quilting, so if she has two tops, she can try both!

I went through my stash and settled on these small, mostly ditsy prints

I’ve only got four blocks so  far, but like the Blockhead blocks, they are nice for when I don’t have a tonne of time to sit down and sew.

And of course, they are giving me ideas for other blocks for other quilts!

You may or may not recall that I had a small garden table and chairs set up on the patio.

You can see them on the edge of the garden in this panorama I took a few weeks ago. I bought the set at Walmart a few years back. My intention was to get a small bistro set because the patio is small, but this one was such a good price… I thought it might be nice to have the extra space to entertain out there if we chose.

But we never do. In fact, even Dave only sits out back with me on occasion. It’s a sanctuary for me and the cats, but that doesn’t need a big table. With the bbq, table and chairs, potting bench and all the house plants, the patio feels a little crowded. I had just been remarking to neighbour Krista that I was thinking of getting a smaller table and getting rid of this one.

Well, apparently the garden gods heard me, and decided to give me a kick in the pants, because the other morning, Dave and I woke up to this…

Yep… that’s the glass table top shattered all over my patio stones and garden. What happened? We’re not exactly sure. Apparently these tables can explode on their own if it gets hot enough, but I suspect another culprit. The night before I’d forgotten to put down the umbrella. It doesn’t have a base (it’s just a cheapo beach umbrella), and I think it flew up with the wind, and came down just right, on the table top.

Regardless of how it happened, I was obviously getting a new table whether I wanted one or not.

I would have loved to get a little bistro set, but that’s not in the budget right now (most of them are more expensive than the table set that just broke – despite being smaller). With a little sourcing, I found an inexpensive outdoor end table that would work, as well as a new umbrella (slightly posher than my  cheap one).

I shuffled some things around on the patio, and it’s definitely feeling a little less cluttered.

And I’ve got a nice little spot to enjoy a cup of tea (or Coke, as you can see there), do a little knitting, and take in the beauty of my backyard. The umbrella in that location also provides a little extra shade for some of my house plants that don’t enjoy too much sun. So while I had to spend some money I wasn’t really planning on, I’m a pretty happy girl.

It helps that’s this is what I get to look at when I’m sitting out there

The Lupin look fantastic this year, and the Lilac is in full bloom (and scent) now.

The Chives are going gang busters (I really need to thin them out this year!) and the bees just love them. The Globe Alium are in all their glory.  I had five of these big beauties, but some sneaky squirrel came and snapped the top off one of them, so I’m left with four.

The Iceland Poppies (left) are about 1/3 the size of my magnificent Oriental poppies (which have just started to bloom). It’s such a crazy difference. The centre picture is the Iceland Poppy when all the petals fall off – it still looks pretty neat!

My Columbine are all at least a few years old now and looking great. I love Columbine because not only are they native flowers (which means they do well and are perfect for supporting pollinators), they don’t take up at lot of space, despite providing a fantastic show of flowers. I need to get more colours!

Another thing I’d like to get more of are these Coral Bells. Their leaves come in a HUGE variety of colours (from yellow to deep purple). And you get these pretty little blooms! They look fabulous in the fall as all the green starts to fade, AND they love the shade.

And last… the birds or wind must have brought me these bonus wild daisies. Their leaves are different, and the blooms are smaller than my Shasta daisies. These popped up in between my garden cart and the Blue Girl rose. I’ll have to remove them because it’s not an ideal place. But I’ll wait until they are done blooming!

Now excuse me, I have some knitting en plein air  to do!

It’s that time of year again!

Wabbit Season!

Actually we see the buns all year round here, but it’s only about this time of year that we see the babies. They  are all just old enough to leave the nest and start venturing out on their own.

I actually don’t see them all that often, except when a certain someone alerts me to their presence.

If you look closely, you can see a little bunny bum between those pots.

Now Relic is pretty good about the local wildlife. He more or less ignores the birds, squirrels and larger buns. But there’s something about the baby buns he just can’t resist.

It’s fine when they don’t move – but as soon as they run, he wants to give chase. He has caught a few, but fortunately, he doesn’t seem to want to kill them. He always proudly brings them to me, still alive,  for inspection (maybe he wants to keep one as a pet?)

This one figured out that running wasn’t helping his cause, so he found a cool place under the Chives and Lupin to chill for a bit until Relic got bored and wandered away.

Then little bun hopped off to do whatever little buns do.

I’ve done it! I’ve made it through the main body of the East Hale cardigan and have split off the right front (which you can see I’ve started working through already.) Things should move a little faster from here on out. The major slog is over. I still hate this yarn. It still smells. It’s still itchy. But I can see the smallest glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.

Just keep knitting… just keep knitting…

For this quilt, I had a different helper…

Which is odd, because Peno doesn’t pay much attention to me at all. She is 100% Dave’s cat.  How he earned that honour, I have no idea, but that’s how it is.

But when I was working on binding the other night, she hopped right up there and made herself comfortable. She didn’t move until I had to shift the quilt so I could round a corner. Then she gave me stankface and went back to Dave.

Here’s a look at the whole thing without a Peno butt on it. It was commissioned by a friend for a baby due in July. She asked me to make it gender-neutral, but that was surprisingly tricky with the dog theme. So many dog fabrics have blue in them. Plus COVID was just revving up so sourcing fabric from multiple places became tricky. I had some already in my stash, but needed more to make the quilt big enough.

I got some from Walmart (mostly blue-ish), and was able to add a few red and green ones from Lens before it closed! (I’m happy to say it is open again, though I have no extra monies to go play there at the moment).

All those doggy prints make it nice and fun

The fussy-cut centre (or door) squares don’t pop as much as I thought they would in my head, but I’m not going to be too picky. She wanted log cabins (it was the original Dog Logs that inspired the commission), and I had to work with the fabric I had/could get easily.

Flannel backing was tough too. I didn’t have enough of the dog fabric left from the original Dog Logs, but I had this blue piece in the stash. I would have liked to use something other than blue, but … this works. And as you can see, I bound it all with some white-on-black paw prints for a nice bold frame.

And, I’m happy to say that with the exception of Royal Stars, which still doesn’t have  a back, I’m all caught up with my quilting! Now I have to finish some more tops.

Dad’s Father’s Day socks are done. They are pretty much the same as I made before (which Mom accidentally felted), except the heels and toes on this pair are charcoal instead of white).

The yarn is West Yorkshire Spinners Country Birds Prints in BFL (DK weight). It’s a lovely yarn – very soft, and nice to knit with. The only downside is that it’s not superwash (hence the accidental felting). But, as long as you know that, they aren’t that hard to take care of, and so far, all his other pairs are wearing quite nicely.

This particular colourway is Bullfinch, and I love that pop of red with the two shades of grey.

In addition to these socks, I’ve ordered him some solar lights for his garden. They should arrive any day now, so I’m all set for Father’s Day.

Now onto some socks for Dave’s birthday!

Burton helped me finished up the next quilt on my to-quilt list.

Naturally, he fell asleep on the job, but I managed to get it finished anyway.

Like Foxy Baby, this one has some great POP! This time provided by that adorable yellow crab fabric!

And like Foxy Baby, this one isn’t huge (33″ x 38″), but it’s fun!

With sharks, whales, narwhals, clams, starfish, coral… and you can see I changed up the quilting just a little bit. I drew out those meanders so they were long and lean and look a little like ripples on the water.

The back has some nice bright stars on a dark background. It’s not an exact match to the sea theme, but it’s close enough and has some what of a deep sea feel.

Now there’s just one quilt left on my list… Dog Logs II. Stay tuned!

Other than quilting, I haven’t actually been doing much sewing. Part of that is because I was focusing on the garden, but also because right now, I am drowning in quilts. I REALLY need to get my online shop set up and sell some of these babies!

But, every week, I am adding another block to my Moda Blockhead quilt. Now that we are a little less than half way through this project, I can definitely say…. I’m not actually that keen on sampler quilts.

I don’t think I’d mind one that had a theme (like say, all different star blocks), but I think this one is just too all over the place for my liking. The limited colour palette does help tie things together a bit, but it’s just not quite my cup of tea.

Still. It is fun making a new block every week. And some of these I will definitely use again in other quilts. And I am learning some new skills (like making quarter square triangles!)

I wonder what this week’s block will be?!

With the bulk of the “big” work done in the garden, I can now mostly sit back and enjoy the blooms.

Of course there will be daily watering (unless it rains), and some moderate weeding and dead-heading to do. But that’s just easy basic maintenance.

And the end of May brings the bulk of the late spring blooms.

There’s still a few Tulips blooming, though to be honest, I didn’t seem to get too many this year. I think the squirrels may have raided the bulbs over winter. My daffodil yield was low too. Could have been that late cold snap too.

Right now the really big performers are the irises. Those purple/black ones at the side of the house have gone absolutely nuts! I think they’ve enjoyed all our wet weather.

The Chives and Aliums are just getting started. The bees really love these ones. The chive blooms are some-what short-lived, but the Purple Globe Aliums seem to last forever.

The Lily-of-the-Valley doesn’t last terribly long, but it is one of my favourites. It’s nice and established now, and I get more every year. I’ve promised some to neighbour Krista when mine stop blooming.

My lovely white Russian lilac has started to bloom too. Almost all the blooms are at the very top. And it’s gotten so tall! If we ever move from here, I’m going to miss this beauty.

My regular (as opposed to dwarf) Columbine have started to bloom. They don’t get as many flowers as the dwarf version, but they are just as pretty.

Looks like it won’t be too long before I have some strawberries to munch on. You may recall that I have a couple different pots with strawberries. But last year, I also cut off a few runners from the hanging pot, and popped them in the garden. They are doing exceptionally well. I’ll have to beat the bunnies to these though.

I’ll admit, I’ve never been a huge fan of begonias. But this year I seem to have caught begonia fever. I got the ones for the big black pot on my first garden centre trip, but then I realized that I’d forgotten to get anything for my hanging pots out front. They don’t get a lot of sun (just in late evening as its going down), so I’m limited on what I can put in them. I hate impatiens, and I’ve had fuschia two years running. I really wanted a change! Begonias it is! These white ones show up quite nice against the red brick of the house. They have some Million Bells and Trailing Petunia to keep them company.

I’ve also added a few new treasures to the garden this year. This Blue Mountain Pottery Hefalump used to belong to Mom. She’d had it for as long as I can remember (one of my regular chores as a child was to dust him). She gave him to me just before all the COVID drama dropped. I had him with the house plants, but I thought he might like to spent the summer in the garden. He’ll come inside before it gets too cold out for him.

I found this sweet little bird house at the dollar store. I doubt the birds will actually use it, but it looks nice hanging in my lilacs

And now it’s time to put May behind us and see what June brings! Hopefully lots and lots of roses!

 

The morning suffocations continue…

…and throughout the day, he’s never far from my side.