Just as with knitting, when you’re quilting, working on one project quite often inspires another. A tweak to a pattern here and there creates something entirely new and exciting.

That’s what happened the other day when I was working on that week’s Blockhead block (which I’ll show in a few days). As I was putting it together, part of it jumped out at me, and I envisioned something entirely different… something just perfect for a charm pack I bought a few months ago….

I’m going to walk you through making a pair of blocks. While you can make singles, these blocks work well in pairs.

For the pair you will need:

Background fabric:

• Two: 2.75 x 9.5 inch
• Six: 2.75 x 5 inch
• Eight: 2.75 inch square

Contrast fabric

• Eight: 2.75 inch square

Charm pack fabric

• Two: 5inch square

When those are cut, you’re going to snowball the bottom corners of each of your charm squares with 2.75 inch background squares.

You will create two flying geese units with two 2.75 x 5″  background rectangles and 2.75 inch contrast squares

You will snowball  one end of the four remaining 2.75″ x 5″ background rectangles with 2.75 contrast squares. Watch your angle on these ones! You need two of each going in opposite directions (see below)

Now you’re starting to see where this is going….

Along with the remaining 2.75 inch background squares, you’ll assemble these six pieces into the cutest little dinosaur footprint!

But we’re not done yet! Quilt blocks are easier to work with when they are square, so you’re going sew on those last 2.75 x 9.5 pieces to do just that. But there’s a twist!

On one foot, you’re going to put it on the top. On the other, you’re going to put it on that bottom.

That way, when you sew them together, you get a staggered, walking effect…

…perfect for stacking on top of other prints to make a dino trail… there’s definitely more to come with these blocks!

 

Our nearest groundhog predicted and early spring, and I’m really hoping he’s right, though his track record is poor (he’s only right 25% of the time, apparently)

While it snowed steadily on groundhog day, by evening it had mostly melted, and the very next day the temps were up to 6 Celsius (about 42F). It was bright and sunny, so on my lunch break, I suited up Burton (in his harness) and we joined Relic outside.

Relic, of course, thought this was just fantastic, and spent most of time wrestling with Burton in the sunshine while I moved some  fall detritus from the gardens and got a peek at what’s going on out there. A lot more than I expected…

Columbine I bought last year is already starting to show… if I remember correctly, this is a lovely dark purple one with a white centre.

I think these are daffodils, though I won’t be certain until they get much bigger.

It’s no surprise the shasta daisies are coming back – I don’t think I could kill these ones with a nuclear strike!

We’ll be well into May before my Lilac blooms, but I’m always happy seeing those first leaf buds.

I’m especially thrilled about this… this is the Peach Dalmatian Foxglove. I’m hit or miss getting them to come back. Candy Mountain has done well, but I’ve never been able to get the peach one to reseed!

Same with the Iceland poppies. Though they are supposed to weather cold temps well (coming from Iceland, afterall), I’ve found them to be a little fussy.

The Lupin was fussy at first, too, but now that it’s established, it thrives.

Not far from the Lupine are the Anemone. I really do need to find them a better spot this year. They get shaded by the Lupin pretty quick.

And the lovely little rosettes of the pink sedum are just starting to show. They are so pretty when they first start sprouting. (And are a great late-season source of pollen for the bees come fall)

In addition to the gardens, I have a pile of potted things… mostly annuals. I don’t bother bringing them inside, I just put the pots up near the house for the winter, and re do them with fresh plants come spring (if needed).

The catnip almost always comes back, so seeing this is no surprise (I keep the catnip in pots so I don’t have cats rolling in my gardens). What is a surprise is this…

Parsley!  It looks like the oregano is going to do the same thing, though it’s not quite as far along as the parsley. Crazy pants!

Of course, now temps are back to hovering around freezing, and we got hit with snow on Thursday so… what happens next is anyone’s guess!

Like Dave’s grandma (who is now home!), our other favourite senior is still hanging in there…

She’s looking a little rough around the edges some days, and we are starting to see signs of kitty dementia (at 17 years old, that’s not uncommon). But she still seems happy and comfortable, and every day she’s still with us is a gift.

I was thrilled to open my mailbox yesterday and discover a package from the lovely Araignee.

I wasn’t going to take part in her latest soap giveaway (I still have a few bars from previous ones, and I think everyone should get a chance at her wonderful soap)… but then she mentioned raspberry, and I caved.

And I’m so glad  I did! I wish there was some way  I could share scent through the computer screen… because it is AH-MAZING! It’s like opening a fresh jar of raspberry jam.

She also sent along a little pot of Key-Lime lip balm (which I have a feeling Dave will steal on me), and a pot of Creamsicle body butter. Creamsicle may be one of my most favourite scents EVER!

And of course, she included one of her fantastic handmade cards. I’ll be using this one for a very cool purpose. I urge you to check out the link and send one along if you can!

Thank you so much, Araignee!

 

Thank you for all your well-wishes for Dave’s grandma. They’ve made some changes to her medication, and as long as she remains stable, she should be able to go home tomorrow.

I managed to get all the blocks done for Jenn’s birthday quilt finally, so I carved some time out to put them all together into a top…

The picture really does NOT do this one justice (I was sewing at night, which I never do). All those pieces that just look solid black, are really purple, dark green, dark blue, and black and full of a mottled floral pattern. I’ll get better pictures when it’s quilted.

Here’s a closer look at the border. I didn’t piece it, it’s printed that way, and it was the perfect way to tie the gold, blues, and purples all together.

For the backing, I’ve got this lovely blue print (bottom) which is a compliment to one of the four patch pieces. The binding is this lovely golden fabric, which was used as the other part of the four patch.

I love it when a quilt comes together!

When I told you Dave’s grandma was home from the hospital, I was actually misinformed. They were running some more tests and discovered she has a couple leaky heart valves. It’s a situation that can be managed mostly with a better diet, but she had some pretty serious swelling in her legs. The doctors want to get the swelling down before they send her home.

We’ve been back to visit with her several times, and as a result…

The Laguna man socks are really moving along. I had a part ball of turquoise Alley Cat hanging around, and it matched pretty well, so I through it in for the heel. I’ll use it for the toes as well, when I get there. Which shouldn’t be too much longer!

Here we are, the beginning of February. I really should be focusing on Jenn’s birthday quilt, but I finally got those 10″ squares cut for the other birthday quilt… and though I don’t have to have that one finished until June, I couldn’t resist getting a start on it and making the first stars.

As I showed you before, I gathered five piles of nine 10″ squares. Each pile makes two blocks using nothing but HSTs. Now you know, I love HSTs – they are easy to make and sooo versatile. But by oh boy, do I hate trimming them to size. And it’s something you absolutely have to do, or your quilt turns out all wonky.

Now as I said, there’s nine 10″ squares, and each square (when paired with a plain white square), gives you eight HSTs…. are you doing the math…?

That’s 72 blocks that need to be trimmed square. SEVENTY-TWO!!! Ugh… but I sucked it up and got down to it.

After what seemed like an eternity, I finally had them all done.

Perfect and square and ready to be sewn together! That didn’t take long at all. Certainly not as long as all that ironing and trimming.

And not long after that, there were two.

They are the exact same fabrics, just mixed up so it looks like a different block. Now according to the tutorial, they should have sashing between them. But I’m kind of liking the secondary patterns that are emerging with no sashing….

It’s looks like I’ll have a decision to make when they are all done (only seven more blocks… or 252 more HSTs to go….)

Relic says… “I have a birthday this year… do I get a quilt?”

I have been working on the poncho… and here’s the proof…

I’ve got it folded over on it’s self to get an idea of how much further I have to go… and as you can see… I’m getting there!

I don’t know how it’s been in your little corner of the world, but we are having one heck of a weird winter. Not only has the temperature been all over the place, we’ve barely had any snow.

It’s not unusual for us not to get much snow in November and December, but come January, we usually get a good dumping or two, and then the temps drop (hello polar vortex) and it sticks around until March.

But not this year. Oh we’ve had a couple decent storms, though they haven’t amounted to more than a five or so inches. And the snow rarely sticks around for longer than three or four days. And we’ve yet to see temps below minus 20 celcius, which is SUPER weird for this area. It’s not that I really want crazy cold days where you go outside and your nostrils stick together because it’s so cold… but it is what I’m used to at this time of year.

Most of our days have been just above or just below freezing. And what we have had a lot of is rain. I’m starting to feel like I’m living in Vancouver (without the cool Pacific views).  I’ve given up trying to keep the floors clean, because if Dave isn’t tracking in wet filth from the garage, Relic is tracking in mud from the backyard.

Anyway, the other day when I was taking picture of the Hamilton socks, I decided Burton could use a little fresh air. So I popped him in his harness and we joined Relic in the yard.

As you can imagine, he was thrilled to have his paws in the garden again. While he got a good sniff of everything, Relic and I checked on all of the flower beds.

Everything is looking pretty good – the roses and raspberries are nice and supple, and there’s a fair bit of green already showing around most of the other perennials (normal whenever we have a warm up – the next frost will kill it off, but it shows the roots are happy).

A few of the bulbs are starting to show signs of life, including this hyacinth, which looks like it’s multiplying nicely. I hope to have a good show of tulips and daffodils this year too, though I’m trying not to get too excited yet. The mild January probably just means we are going to have a rough February and March.

The winter has been so mild, that I had to move the bird feeder to the patio table. The hook it was hanging from just keeps leaning over because the ground is far too soft.

So of course, Mr Squirrel and friends have made a complete mess!!! They aren’t getting any more until they clean all of that up!

And one weird thing I discovered…. remember those cute little stepping stones I got at the dollar store…

I have no idea what they were made of (they felt like a cross between plaster and stone) but this is what they look like after a few months of winter…. WTF???? It’s going to be a fun clean up come spring. Note to self: Go to Home Depot for stepping stones come spring.

What’s winter been like where you are?

 

I would like to used this Friday Felines post to share some cat-related goings on:

Cat-thing the first:

17.25 years ago, when Dave and I first started dating, he assured me he was a cat person. And indeed, he had a cat – our dear departed Mopar.

But what he neglected to stress was that he meant it the singular sense… as in only having one cat at at time. Who does that?

Naturally, over time, I’ve brought him over (or worn him down) to the plural side (which was cemented the day he let Relic in the house when we already had three feline beasties under our roof.)

Now he’s a full-fledged cat Dad, with the mug to prove it!

Thanks Samantha and family!

Cat-thing the second:

A couple weeks ago, Dave and I were searching the house for the source of a weird smell (turns out it was something he was refinishing off-gassing a little). While searching, I came across a milk crate filled with.. well mostly a bunch of crap… little knickknacks and dooddads I’d collected as a child. Most of it got tossed, but one of the things in the crate was a definite keeper.

I made this clock in shop class in Grade 7 (approx 1991). While most of the kids in the class made a plain octagon/hexagon and stained theirs, I of course, had to go a different route. The teacher didn’t have any paint, so I brought it home. Dad dug through the garage and came up with several colours of Tremclad rust paint for me and I got to work, and well… those are the results!

Anyway, I pulled it out of the milk carton, popped in a battery and set it to the right time .And it still works!! He’s now hanging on the wall of my studio… keeping me on time with my work and stitching!

Cat thing the third:

No Friday Feline post would be complete with out an actual feline. So here’s Burton, doing what Burton does best

Being fluffy and cute!