Last, but definitely not least, in my line up of birthday sea creatures is…

Mr. Octopus! If you’ve hung around the blog for any period of time, you’ll know that this little guy is my favourite of Hansi Singh’s patterns. In fact, I’ve made six others, and this seventh one won’t be my last.

It’s an absolutely brilliant little pattern… made even more so by the addition of pipe cleaners in the legs that allow you to curl those tentacles. Like the others, I just used leftover bits of leftover Stray Cat.

And that ends my spate of toy knitting for now…

It’s time for something new!

While you’ve been seeing a lot of snow in my pictures, early in the week the warm air and rain came in and turned the yard into mud city. Wednesday, we finally got some sunshine so I suited Burton up and we joined Relic outside for some fresh air.

As much as I don’t like it, I will never turn Relic into an indoor only cat. He’s never more happy than when we are outside with him.

Rupert came out too… eventually. This is the first time he’s been out this year. He’ll get comfortable again as the weather warms and we are out more often.

We actually didn’t stay out too long. The wind whipped up and scared Burton back inside, but I did get a chance to do a little garden inspection beffore that happened.

Oh be still my heart! Those little bits of green* just make my heart sing!

 

*of course, on Friday it snowed again and all my pretties are covered up for now

So, I know I’m supposed to be on a fabric diet…. but Missouri Star Quilts and their darn daily deals! This one totally wasn’t my fault!

This is the “Tell the Bees” collection and I fell in love with it as soon as it came out. The fat quarter bundles had already sold out, so when MSQ offered up charm packs as their daily deal… I knew I had to get one (or two!). And of course, I had to add a few other things to take advantage of the flat rate shipping.

This “Outdoor Adventure” collection (in FLANNEL!!!) jumped into my cart. Though it’s for my brother’s Birthday quilt, so I don’t feel bad about it at all.

This “Bramble” charm pack has no other purpose other than I like it (and want to make a red/black/white quilt) so I do feel a little guilty about this one. Though it will become a baby blanket for our eventual quilt shop.

But “Knit Together” and

“Rain or shine” were thrown in just because….. because. They will like become quilts for sale at some point, but I already have a pile of small fat quarter sets like these, so I really shouldn’t have bought them.

But then it gets worse….

Because before that order could even arrive, MSQ put up 10″ square set of this gorgeous collection:

“Watercolour Wishes”…. just look at those gorgeous colours! I’ve been coveting this one since it came out, it was just too hard to resist.

And of course, I had to top up to make the most of that shipping…

“Catmosphere” is another one I’ve wanted for ages.

And after I put it in my cart, this gorgeous panel popped up in “suggestions”. I’ve never done a quilt with a panel, so this should be fun.

I added a little bit of this yardage to go with it.

Actually…. looking at most of these fabrics, I don’t have a shopping problem! I have a RAINBOW problem!

The many faces of Burton

Star by star, the Royal star quilt is coming together. Here are two more for the pile.

There’s no rush to complete this quilt, though I would like to get it out of the box, if only to start something new. I figure if I do two blocks a week (I think there are four left), I can finish this one by the end of March. That is soon enough.

I’ve finally decided on a layout.

Just sashing and cornerstones. But there will be a twist. You’re going to love it when you see it! It’s stellar!

As I mentioned earlier this week, Wren’s Seahorse needed a friend or two… so the next night, I knit a…

Nudibranch! For those of you that don’t know, a nudibranch is just a sea slug. A colourful, fancy, poisonous sea slug. They live on coral reefs and come in a crazy amount of styles and colours.

This is another pattern by Hansi Singh, and it was definitely a fun one. Doing all those branchs (or gills) on his back was a bit of a pain…

But he’s not really a nudibranch without them (nudibranch basically means naked gills).

The only change I’d make to this one is my colour selection. I’d used something less contrasty for the last few rows on that ruffled edge. I don’t like the way it curls and shows the purl bumps. Something closer in colour (or a solid colour ruffle) would be nicer.

Now Mr. Nudibranch is hanging out with Mr. Seahorse, and I’ve got needles clicking on one last creature.

The weekend saw me finish up the Spring Blossoms quilt!

And I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! (even though my poor birds are upside down in this picture!).

The block is nice and big (about 16 inches), easy to make, and you don’t need many of them to make a nice big quilt. This one is about 58″ x 76″.

I’d been collecting batik fat quarters for quite a while, and it was nice to use a few of them up. The background fabric is a batik too… a crazy deal I’d gotten on Black Friday two years ago! The birds and matching pussy willow fabric were bought ages ago with no plan, other than to make something special for myself.

I’ve got to show you the whole backing on this one too.

It was another clearance bolt that I got  an insane deal on. I sewed two lengths together along the selvedge and created this gorgeous backing that is a great compliment to the flowers on the front.

Now Relic and I are snuggling with it while we wait out the rest of winter.

I mention that once I finished the Laguna socks, I needed to focus on a birthday present for Wren. Her birthday is near the end of March, and it felt like that was creeping up fast.

I had planned to make her another cardigan, but then I remembered she’s turning three this year. That’s the age when they really start recognizing that birthdays are all about them. A cardigan is nice, but it’s really more of a present for her mom, than her.

Toy knitting has always been a favourite of mine, so I decided to go digging for something cool… something different…

something like a Seahorse!  The pattern is by Hansi Singh. I’ve done a few of her creature knits and they never cease to amaze me. This little guy is no exception.

He’s knit with Stray Cat – just some leftovers I had hanging about. That’s the beauty of toy knitting. They don’t take a lot of yarn – or time. I had this guy done in one evening.

The only modification I made was to add a couple of horns to his head.

Real  seahorses tend to have bumpy heads, and this guy’s was looking a little too smooth.

Were I to make another, I’d only make one other modification. I’d make the tail longer. You can’t tell but there’s a little piece of pipe cleaner in there to help it curl. But there’s not really enough tail to curl much.

But that’s for another time. Right now, Mr. Seahorse needs a few other sea creature friends.

They aren’t the greatest pictures, but I wanted to share with you a little visitor we had the other day.

A teeny little red-headed woodpecker! I see them off and on throughout the year (and hear them all summer-long!), but it’s mostly elsewhere in the survey. It appears they have a few favourite trees and they don’t seem to venture very far.

So it was nice to see this little guy stopping by for a little lunch on a chilly afternoon!

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?