Samantha has commissioned me for yet another quilt! It’s another gift, and she didn’t have much of and idea on exactly what she wanted, other than it be dark, but energetic and creative, and have cats.

I scrounged through my stash and came across a couple leftover fat quarters from the collection we used for her Kitty in the Sky with Diamonds quilt. From there I raided mine and Mom’s batik stash and pulled colours that would work with that fabric. This was the result.

The fabrics were all cut into 5″ squares. (And that big cat print had to be fussy cut.). Then I cut eleventy billion 2.5″ squares in plain black – and got to snowballing.

This is just a sample. We’re doing this one approximately queen size, so I’m going to need about 225 blocks. That’s a lot of snowballing, but it’s fun and easy. I’m calling this one Mystic Maze.

While I know this warm up won’t last, I am fervently manifesting spring! I want to get out and play in the dirt.

Since the dirt is still frozen, I’m satisfying my need by getting together my winter sow jugs. If you’ve been around the blog for long, you’ll know I’ve done this two years running… you can read about it here and here.  You can read more about how to winter sow here.

The first year I did it, I had fabulous success. Almost everything I planted thrived. Last year was a bust. While they started to sprout in the jugs, just before mid April, we got a wicked windstorm and the poor jugs got blown all over the place. The delicate seedlings just couldn’t survive.

This year, I’ve tucked the jugs up against the house and guarded them with that big rock the fence guys dug up in the fall

They should be nice and safe there. And what am I growing this year? I’m so glad you asked!

Canterbury Bells, Silver Dollars and Chinese Lanterns are all plants I grew when I was a child. They will be nice additions to the garden. The Iceland poppies are leftover from the first winter sow attempt (I only  plant about half the pack at a time). They’ve done well so it will be nice to have some more. You may remember I have already have purple Lupin (also a winter sow success), but I’d love more colours of it – this yellow just looks so cheerful. And last but not least, the Black-Eyed Susan seeds are actually from my garden. I collected some in late fall with the hopes of growing some for the front garden. Hopefully they will do well and add some much needed late-summer colour to the front yard.

We’ll have to wait until about mid-April before we see any signs of life in the jugs… but you can bet I am counting the days!

We’re experiencing a bit of a warm up, so of course, Relic is driving me crazy with his insistence on going in and out and in and out and in and out.

But I had a break in work yesterday afternoon, so I thought the others might enjoy a bit of fresh air as well. We had to dig Burton’s leash out from under some snow and ice, but once we had it out, he was quite happy to be outside.

Though he’s not entirely sure about the snow. He’s been out in it before but not often. He pretty much sat there with one paw up at all times, until he figured out that there was a dry spot near the door.

And yes, he has put on a little weight over winter – but not as much as it looks. While it was warmer, it was still only just above freezing, so he was all puffed out to keep warm.

Rupert eventually joined us, though he mostly preferred to sit on the door sill and just enjoy the view.

Peno was far too smart to interrupt her 10-hour nap – she’ll wait for real spring. Though there was one other feline in the garden with us…

These poor little catkins will be gone with the next frost, but it still makes me smile to see them. Spring will come… eventually.

 

On the weekend, Dave and I were out and about running errands. We stopped for lunch, and while we were eating, I looked out the window of the restaurant and noticed a Salvation Army Thrift shop across the parking lot.

I don’t know if it’s new, or  if it’s always been there and I never noticed, but I asked Dave if he would mind checking it out. Dave’s always up for a bit of thrifting so we finished our lunch and went over.

Dave didn’t find anything that tickled his fancy, but I sure did!

The lamps are now giving much needed light to our evenings in our living room, but the real score was those bins. Practically brand new, they were only $6 each – they go for about $30 each from Walmart.

And I was in desperate need for something to contain the quickly multiplying fabric stash!

It was hard to get a good shot because my room is so small, but those pink bins, and the tri-colour one contain nothing but quilting fabric – all nice and organized.

Now I just need to clear out some of my  other crafting stuff (mostly jewelry making), and I’ll have the room completely ship-shape.

Oh – and you may have noticed something else in that first picture

I didn’t really need them  but they were far too cute to pass by… I do so love thrifting!

After finishing up the Daddio top, and almost finishing the Purrfect Petals top, I was itching to do some smaller piecing.

My sewing room/studio/office is very small, so when I’m finalizing a top the pieces are larger and I have to use my ironing board. The room is so small I have to set it up the hall outside the room. It means a lot of getting up and down – not to mention Dave tramping back and forth through my space whenever he needs to use the washroom, or get something from his studio.

When I’m just working on blocks, I have a smaller, portable ironing board that fits nicely on my table right beside the machine. Everything is in one space and it’s just more efficient.

So efficient that I was able to finish up the first five fancy blocks of Cat Fancy in just a few hours.

These are definitely the most complicated block I’ve attempted, and the most complicated of this quilt. So that means the hard part it out of the way and I can breathe a little bit easier. The rest is just modified nine-patches and sashing – and everything is already cut, so it should be smooth sailing from here on out!

Huzzah!

My Sunday Swing socks are done! It was a fun, easy pattern that knit up quick. And it’s one I probably would have passed over if it wasn’t for the KAL. It’s a neat little lacy twist that works well with most busy yarns – including this one!

I used our Barn Cat in “Bird on a Wire”. I’ve got another skein left, and as mentioned before, I think I’d like to use it for a pair of man socks. It’s certainly been a nice bright spot in our grey, dreary winter! (Though as I write this, the sun is shining and the snow we got overnight is melting quickly. Mr. Cardinal is singing and it gives me hope that spring may eventually come!)

Now this pair will be tucked away until mid-March when they will be gifted to the birthday girl! Thanks to Dee and Vera for hosting the KAL! I’ve got to go find another pair of socks to cast on now!

It’s a long weekend here in Canada (and for some our of friends south of the border), and it’ll be no surprise I’ve made it as crafty as possible.

I kicked it off with completing the Go Daddio top. There’s a lot going on in this one, but I love it. With all the craziness of the scrappy pinwheels, I kept the borders simple – a nice thin white line as a palette cleanser, then those pretty strawberries which were leftover from the back of Dave’s Grandma’s quilt.

I’ve got a nice plain blue for the back, but I’m going to have to hunt up something for the binding – I’m thinking a nice red or green to match those strawberries.

It’s not a huge quilt, but a good size for couch cuddles. It’s been a fantastic use of all those scraps!

 

With all the sewing around here, I bet you’re ready for a little knitting. Well here it is!

That pile of yarn spaghetti is a half completed Calendula shawl. I actually expected to a a little further along by now, but there have been a couple of hiccups. First, I realized I read the pattern wrong and did way too many short rows. It might have been nicer with a bigger, deeper garter section, but I probably would have run out of yarn. So I had to pretty much rip out and start all over.

Then the other morning,  I came down to this:

I believe it was a form of protest. This little Ginger Nut.

Likes to lay on my outstretched legs in the evenings. However, when I’m knitting, I’m sitting up – which means no leg cushions for Mr. Ru.  So now there’s a little less knitting each evening to make sure he gets properly snuggled.Even so, I’m well into the leaf lace and loving it. There are beads in there, though you can’t see them – they are almost the same colour as the yarn. I’ll get better pics eventually, but in reality, they won’t do much more than add a touch of sparkle to it.

 

We got another round of snow, followed by freezing rain earlier in the week. And while us work-from-homers don’t get snow days, since the people still in the office do, it means I usually don’t have as much work to do.

So I took advantage of the brief moment of quiet and worked on the Purrfect Petals quilt. It didn’t take long to get all the flowers together. (This quilt really is a good one for beginners – sews up fast and easy and looks great!) Since that didn’t take much time, I figured I’d just push through and put them all together.

By dinner time my garden was complete! It’s not quite a completed top though – I plan to do one more coloured border around it. When I ordered the thread to finish Sam’s quilt, I added a yard of fabric from this line to my cart. It should arrive sometime this week.

I am cheating a little and taking it out of its box a little early (normally I don’t do that until the top is complete). I have a new project I really want to start. (More on that soon).

Burton says: “Rowan doesn’t need a quilt, but I think I do! Look how well I match!”

A little post-Valentine love for you…

They don’t do this often, but Rupert is the only cat she’ll allow to snuggle with her.