Relic and I are desperately awaiting spring. This is the hardest time of the year for me (and him, I think). The days are getting longer, and sunnier… but we are still a full month away from seeing anything remotely exciting in the garden, and longer to be able to dig a new garden and actually plant anything new.

I did buy some seeds to lift my spirits (just sunflowers, nasturtiums and some neat ornamental grass), but that only does so much for you.

But the other day, when I was parking my truck, I noticed something odd lying on the grass by my parking spot. Sadly, the parking lot where I park doesn’t have cameras, and people tend to just toss things. I do my part to try and keep it clean, so I went over to check it out.

Imagine my surprised when I realized it was a little garden fountain shaped like a cauldron. It was full of leaves and frozen water, and I assumed it was tossed because it wasn’t working any more. But I know a guy… and he’s pretty handy – especially with pumps. So I brought it home.

Dave rolled his eyes when I brought it in, but he immediately took it down to his lair to see if he could work his magic.

And magic he worked!

In no time, that little cauldron was bubbling with the sound of water again! And even more exciting… we found it online, and those two little compartments on either side…

…are for plants! Any thoughts on what I should plant in it this spring?

Good morning, sleepyface!

I mentioned the other day that all the geese blocks were done. And that meant it was time to sew them together into a top.

Now I’ve said before that I prefer to make big blocks. That’s not because I particularly dislike making small ones… I just don’t like sewing small ones together. Putting a top together is probably my least favourite part of making a quilt. And when you have small blocks, it take A LOT longer. The geese blocks are 8.5″ square… I knew this one was going to take a while.

And it did. I took me the entire weekend, but it was worth it!

First up was selecting a sashing fabric. The obvious choice would be to do another white on white fabric so it blends in with the background of each block. But for some reason, I was seeing these one with a coloured sashing… yellow in fact. But I was planning on using yellow for the backing, so I had to think of something else. Another somewhat obvious choice would be black… but I didn’t have anything in black with enough yardage.

I did have some navy floral though…

Although it looks more black than navy here, trust me… it is blue! I paired with with white on white cornerstones and it was just the thing to pull all those colourful blocks together.

And as you can see, I also added a yellow border all the way around

That yellow is the same fabric I’ll be using for the backing (I’ve got A LOT of it!). I know yellow is not for everyone, but I love it. And to tie everything up with a nice, neat bow (or binding…), you’ll see that navy fabric used again when this one is quilted.

And incase you’re wondering what happened to my snoopervisors…. it was a nice weekend so Relic was mostly outside. Rupert was sunning himself at the back door, and Burton…

…was squirrel watching…

Last time I was up at Mom’s Dad invited me out to the  shooting range.  Most people don’t expect it of me, but I love shooting.

My dad, grandfather, uncle and brother are all hunters, and I’ve grown up around firearms. Even though it’s not a hobby I’ve pursued, I do love an afternoon of shooting. The only downside… Dad’s club is an outside range. And it’s February. Hands get cold REALLY fast.

I dug through my stash of fingerless gloves and mitts, but everything I had was light and lacy.

Luckily, after casting off the Laguna socks, I had just enough time to whip out a pair of sturdier mitts.

The pattern is my Turner pattern. It’s nothing fancy, but they knit up quick. I had some Stray Cat in “Twilight” that was handy so that’s what I used, even though I’m not normally a blue person. (Though I quite like that particular shade… it’s a blue that really pops).

In a couple of evenings, they were complete, ends sewn in and ready to wear.

And they were perfect for keeping the chill off my hands. Not so bulky that they got in the way, but thick enough to keep me toasty.

Now… I just have to not lose them before the next time I go shooting!

Burton thinks I need to work on my accuracy….

The geese have been completed (more on that another day) and moved into regular rotation. That means I needed a new Leader/Ender project.

Luckily, I had one all lined up.

Mom folllows a lot of other quilters online and one if her favourites is Pat Sloan. Back in January, she started a sew along for a pattern she called Traffic Jam. I had to much on the go at the time, but I knew it would make a fabulous L&E project, so I tucked the idea away.

Mom started earlier and already has her top done:

Sorry I don’t have a better picture, but you can get the idea of it there.

You start by piecing 2.5″ squares into four patches. Unlike Mom (and it seems everyone else in the sew-along), I decided to do my four patches in neutrals (white/biege/light grey). I had tonnes of neutral scraps, so I cut them all up and got them ready for sewing.

Currently, I’m just pairing them up. But it won’t be long until I’m pairing those pairs into four patches. Like the geese, I have no idea how big this one is going to be. I’m just making blocks until I run out of cut fabric. Then I’ll decide!

Taadaa!

When I work monogamously on a pair of socks, they go pretty quick. Even giant man socks.

There’s nothing fancy with this pair. Just a 3-1 rib for the leg, plain vanilla for the foot and a contrasting heel/toe. I like to add the contrast on vanillas for just a little something extra.

This pair was knit in Barn Cat – colourway is Laguna.  It’s not normally something I’d gravitate towards for man socks, but I thought I’d give it a go and it works great.

Sam’s husband is a lot like Dave in that he doesn’t mind being a little adventurous with his socks. And I’m always happy to oblige with a knitting adventure!

 

My love for green and growing things is well-known to all of you. And since it will still be a couple months until I can really get into the garden, all my “growing” energies are focused on my indoor plants.

My collection has grown quite a bit over the last six or so months. Because there’s only a handful of places in the house with adequate light, it was starting to feel like the plants were taking over.

Amazon came to the rescue with a cute little corner shelf  to help tidy up the plants all over Grandma’s table.

Once filled, it completed a happy little plant corner in the dining room.

Of course, that’s not all of the plants in the house….

There are hanging baskets in every corner I could put on in. And there’s this little nook behind Dave’s couch.

And of course, there’s my collection at the back door. All these plants go outside for the summer, but for now, they are crowded where they can get the best light.

Upstairs in my studio, there’s another collection that spend the summer outdoors. But that’s not all…

I even have real plants in my fish tank!

 

With the geese blocks nearing completion, I needed to clear out a project box so I didn’t go over my self-imposed quilts-in-progress limit.

Looking at my list, Spring Blossoms was the one closest to becoming a top, so I decided to focus on it.

One full afternoon saw the last six flower block complete

Another afternoon a few days later saw them sashed and bordered into a completed top.

It’s not even done, and I’m just loving this quilt! And since you can’t see them well in the above picture, here’s another look at those cute little centre birds!

Love them!

I’m hoping to find time to quilt it this weekend. I’ve got the most gorgeous backing fabric for it that works so well with my “early spring” theme

And there’s enough of the pussywillow fabric for binding! Perfection!

He’s so FLUFFY!!!!!!

 

It was a holiday Monday, so I took the opportunity to sneak up to Mom’s and quilt Moon Dance and get it off the to do list!

And I am VERY happy with this one. It’s a nice size – about 64 x 78″; so great for a snuggle on the couch, but also big enough to throw on the bed for an extra bit of warmth on those cold snowy nights. Jenn and my brother live three hours north of us, so they get a lot more of those than we do. (In fact, all the snow you see there has melted … again!)

The pattern is  Quatrefoil and it’s one of my  favourite kinds… simple but looks complicated! My only tip for making this one is to make all your little four patches first. It makes assembling the blocks much more efficient. It’s definitely a pattern I will make again.

Sadly, the darker fabrics in this are not photographing well. Though you can’t see it in the above picutres, there’s a fair amount of purple in the quilt, which is why I used the fabric I did for the sashing.

I had to really mess with the exposure to give you even a hint in the top left and bottom right blocks. This is definitely one that looks much nicer in person.

I had just enough of this fabulous duck egg blue fabric for the backing. I was really keen on being able to use it because it coordinated with one ofthe fabrics I used in the four patches. The other four patch fabric (which was left over from the back of Honey Patch) was used for the binding as well, wrapping everything up with a nice, neat bow!

Now this one is tucked away from furry fiends until March when it will be gifted to the birthday girl!