Remember that chunky cardigan I got swindled into making by Dave’s friend…?

Well, I finally started it. It doesn’t look like much, but it’s knit in one piece so that’s the back and two fronts on that needle.

It’s the East Hale cardigan, though I’m modifying it to have buttons, instead of a zipper. It’s a chunky yarn, so in theory, it should knit up fast. But the yarn, as I expected, is horrible! It’s like knitting with thick twine. It itches my hands just in the knitting – to me it’s going to be absolutely unwearable, but it’s what the friend wants so…

I’ve started it now so that even if I can’t work on it steadily, I should be able to finish it in time for fall for him.

Wish me luck!

All the Traffic Jam blocks are done, and I’ll tackle top assembly soon. But in the meantime, I needed another L&E project. Ever since I made Chocolate Covered Pinwheels, I’ve wanted to make another pinwheel quilt.

It was one of my first, and those pinwheels are pretty disastrous! (Still, for a first effort, it was decent, and Dave uses it a lot because it’s nice and long.) I know I can make much nicer pinwheels now.

I mentioned a few weeks ago, that I’ve got a pile of 5″ scraps, and I really needed to start using them. I’ve got a good mix of prints and solids. And two of each is all that’s needed to make a pinwheel block.

So my new L&E project is set. I’m doing the 2-from-1 HST method.

At the end of every sewing session, I’ll grab up the L&Es that are ready to cut.

They will get cut, ironed and trimmed. (This way they don’t pile up and I don’t have a million and one to do all at once.) Then they are put in the basket that hangs from my open scissor drawer, ready for the next sewing session…

… where they will be turned into big, bold, beautiful pinwheels!

Here’s where all my other quilts are at:

• Walk Like a Dinosaur: Still building dino toes
  
• Calico Garden: Just two giant stars left
• Blockhead: Patiently awaiting Wednesday
• Dog Logs II: Building cabins, log by dog
• Rainbow in the dark: Building blue blocks
• Crosstown Traffic: Ready for top assembly!
• Leader and Ender quilt – Spin me right round, baby!

The weather continues on the chilly side… we’ve even had snow, though it’s just been flurries and hasn’t amounted to anything. Still… the spring flowers soldier on!

The White Hyacinth has bloomed completely now

And I was able to get a picture of without any furry photobombers.

Here’s some more of that pretty pink Muscari.

Like so many of you, I’d never seen any colour but purple until I came across the pink bulbs at a fancy garden centre a few years ago. I snapped it up immediatley and have not regretted the purchase. And speaking of purple – take a look at the lower right corner of that picture…

It looks like the purple ones are coming up after all! (Though they look quite blue here).

I found another small patch of it a little further over.

My lilac is reaching for the sky, and though it will still be at least a month before it fills in and blooms, it’s nice to see those flower buds starting!

Here’s hoping next week is just a smidge warmer!

Many amongst my circle have noticed the COVID lockdown is not only affecting them, but their pets as well. The dogs especially seem to be thrown off that their humans are home so much more.

I didn’t think it would affect our cats much. I already worked from home, and wasn’t overly social. Dave did a big chunk of work from home too, and was only actually out of the house three days a week.

And Peno, Relic and Rupert don’t seem to have taken much notice. Peno sleeps on her dining chair all day. Rupert sleeps in the bed all day, and Relic plays in-and-out door games all day – same old same old.

But Burton…. even Dave has noticed that Burton is suckier. He’s always been a social cat – Unless he’s intently squirrel-watching, he’s always in whatever room I am, keeping an eye on me, usually from a comfortable distance.

But lately things have changed.

Every morning around 7 am, he climbs on Dave to wake him up. (He knows climbing on me is no good, I’ll just fall back to sleep). Dave gets up, feeds him, and then the two hang out on the couch while Dave has his morning coffee. An hour or so later, I finally pull myself out of bed.

I’m usually groggy first thing in the morning, so I get out of bed, then stretch out on the couch and play games on my phone while I “wake-up”.

This has been my morning routine since I started working from home over a year ago. Usually, Burton stretches across the back out of couch while I do this. But lately, he’s been a touch more…

…. what’s the word….?

… suffocating!!!

How are your kitties handling the lockdown?

For this FO, we have to go back in time to June of last year…

I had just finished up a cute little top for a baby quilt I called Bear Mountain. I was going to quilt it myself, but the more Mom and I looked at those long side panels, the more we agreed they needed something fancy. So I left it in Mom’s hands.

It took her a few months (about nine)… but…

She finally finished it. And it was well worth the wait. Just look at all the beautiful quilting magic.

My pictures really do not do it justice.

This quilt came together from a charm pack (making up the bear paw blocks), and a few larger pieces from the stash.

The back is a chunk of blue grey flannel from the clearance bin.

And it’s on the back that you can really see Mom’s quilting talents

She really outdid her self on this one!

Two pairs of mittens have been completed to go with the Kitty Cat hats from last week. I used The World’s Simplest Mitten pattern. It’s free AND has all sizes, and weights of yarn! That’s pretty cool.

I was going to wait until I had a box full of mittens to send off, but I think I’m going to send these ones and the hats off now. I’m a little worried the mittens are on the small side. If I send them now, she can let me know if the fit. If they do, I can keep on making more mittens that size. If they are too small, she can pass those ones along, and I can make some bigger ones for the girls in time for next winter!

 

A short while ago, I learned that a good friend is having a really hard time with clinical depression. I knew he had some mental health issues, but until then, I didn’t know just how bad it was.

I’ve made a committment to check in on him more often, but I’m also big on gestures. Having a physical reminder of someone’s care can go a long way. So yeah, you guessed it… he’s getting a quilt!

I sat down the other day with my graph paper and pencil crayons and planned it out.

It’s going to be log cabins – similar to Cabins at Rainbow Camp, but with a few differences. While I am using scraps for the colour sections, I’m limiting it to the colours above (no pink or brown this time), and instead of scrap neutrals for the other side of the block, I’m using solid black.

After planning things out, the next step was to go through the 2.5 strip bin to see what I had for colours. Rainbow Camp had put a good dent in my supply, and many were chopped up for Whirly Geese, I still had a good supply. Or at least I thought I did…

I’m good for greens and blues, but I’ll need a few more purples. Red and yellow supplies are pretty pitiful, but not as bad as orange, which has one lonely little scrap. I’m going to raid Mom’s strip bin (we organize our scraps in a similar fashion), but I’ll probably have to break into some fat quarters and yardage to complete this one. That’s okay though.

In the meantime, I tackled the green blocks. The quilt only needs three of them, so they were easy to whip up in an hour or so.

I love a good log cabin block! Don’t you?

Blue is up next!

Minerva continues to grow

I’m basically just working until the yarn runs out, so it’s hard to say how big it will get. I think I’m about halfway though.

And Burton is inspecting every square to make sure I’ve got them all going in the proper direction.

After my earlier flub up, things are back on track with Calico Garden. I’ve made two more blocks for the top. And I even surprised myself by having enough energy to do the whole process (make HSTS, cut HSTS, iron HSTs, trim HSTs, and assemble blocks) in one day!

I was very, very proud of myself, until I uploaded the pictures…

How on earth did I not notice that the bottom corner on the left hand block is facing the wrong way?????

Oh well, it’s an easy enough fix, and I’ll tackle it when I get ready to make the last two blocks. That’s right…

Just two more blocks and I can start assembling this big beauty. It’s going to have sashing and cornerstones, plus an outer border. This will probably be the biggest quilt I’ve made so far!

This week has really cooled off compared to last week…

But Relic says it’s not bad if you roll around on sun-warmed pavement.

I’m not about to do that, but I did bundle up against the chilly wind to get some pictures of the new blooms for you!

The big double bloom daffies are starting to bloom, and the mini daffs are still going from last week. I expect to see my pink/white ones in a few weeks.

It was nice to see that my pretty purple hyacinth (from neighbour Krista) has spread and I’ll get two blooms this year.

I don’t remember planting this white hyacinth out back (maybe the squirrels brought it). But Relic could not understand why I wanted a photo of it, instead of him.

My pretty pink Muscari (Grape Hyacinth) are blooming. I had some purple ones too, but they don’t seem to be coming up. That’s ok though – I love the pink – it’s not as common as the purple.

In non-bulb plants, it looks like the Dwarf Columbine and Iceland Poppies will bloom soon too.

Looking around the gardens, it looks like I’ve only lost two plants so far this year. There’s no sign of the pink Bleeding Heart. I have a feeling the Chrysanthemum might have shaded it to much last fall. And my Purple Pincushion plant has inexplicably disappeared. That’s a big shock, because it was a very robust plant.

But those are the ups and downs of gardening. Hoping you’re having more ups than downs this Spring!