On one of recent shopping adventures, I got some new sheets for the bed. I’m not exactly sure how his Lordship feels about it though….

I guess he just doesn’t get as excited about new sheets as I do…

There was no sewing this weekend. Saturday, as you saw, I spent having a flora/feline adventure. Sunday, I spent most of it doing some re-arranging and spring cleaning (more on that tomorrow). When I was done, there was still a couple of hours left before dinner, so I decided to get a little work done on my paint-by-number. It’s been sadly neglected for at least a month or more.

I am, however, very pleased with the progress I was able to make in those two hours. I’ve only got the flowers left to do, and I got through about 1/3 of the shades of pink they require. If I can put a couple hours in on it every week.. I should be able to finish it in decent time!

The ginger twins were once again on the job this weekend.

And with their help, Block 8 is now out of the hoop, washed and ironed.

Well, it could use a little more ironing, but you get the idea here. Two more blocks and I reach half way!

I am happy to report, I’ve made some very good progress on the first pair of the wedding socks.

I decided to start with the groom’s pair. That way, if I run short on time, I can do the bride’s pair as a pair of shorty socks.

But, as you can see, I’m already around the heel and onto the gusset of the first sock. If I can keep this pace up, I won’t have to worry about not making my deadline.

Of course, I don’t want to jinx myself… so I’m just going to go back to those stitches.

I do love my pretty blue neighbours!

It’s that time of year when we are all on Mother Nature’s rollercoaster – whether we like it or not!

One day warm and sunny, the next, freezing and snowing. Depsite the ups and downs, most of the snow has melted from the yard and gardens. The ground is still really frozen, but there are lots of little bits of green poking up.

Even some of the perennials are showing signs of life… like my beloved yarrow.

But for now, the most exciting thing in the yard is still the pink pussywillow.

It’s really showing off this year. It hasn’t been warm enough yet for the bees to visit… but this coming weeks forecast is looking pretty good… I miss my little buzzing friends!

He’s the King of the Castle and all the other cats are dirty rascals!!!

Even though February flew by much fast than normal, its still killing me that I can’t do anything in the garden.

And I know… I said I wasn’t going to do anything BUT direct sowing for seeds this year. But you all know I’m a liar. I’ve had some moderate success with winter sowing. In January, I started saving and jugs/plastic containers I thought I could use. By last weekend, I had three water jugs, a salad green container, another miscellaneous clear container and a cat treat container. It would have to do.

I spent a couple hours on Saturday afternoon prepping the contaniners, filling them with soil, planting seeds and sealing them up. In the end I planted Canterbury Bells, Lupins, Chinese Lanterns, Wallflower, Snapdragons, and Hollyhocks.

The majority of my failure with Winter Sow has been when the containers got knocked over from the wind, or the cats, or once, memorable – from the leaf blower of the maintenance guys at the townhouse (they got a good scolding for that!).

I’ve tucked these ones down between some of the pots in Potager Parlour so hopefully they will be more secure than in previous years.

Potager Parlor will also be expanding when the snow melts. I’ve been collecting large pots all winter, and I recently picked this up from Giant Tiger.

A sturdy little raised bed with greenhouse lid! I’m hoping this will help my with my spinach and lettuce. I’ve always waited until our last frost date to plant them (third week of May), but then soon after temps get so hot the spinach and lettuce just bolts! I’m hoping this will work like a cold frame and I can plant them earlier, giving more time to grow and get a harvest before the sweltering weather kicks in.

Now its just time for Mother Nature to cooperate.

I am terribly behind on the Stay-At-Home-Round-Robin. All the prompts have been released, but still only had the first two done (which I combined into one round)

The next prompt was stars. After much pondering, Burton and I decide to go with Friendship Stars because they were easy to make at six inches, the same size as the previous round’s blocks.

We made 18 in total, and arranged then in the same way as the previous round….

Just on the opposite corners.

Here’s a closer look…

Now there are three prompts left: Slice Block, Kite Block, and Half Log block. To be honest, I’m not really feeling any of those, so I’m thinking I might go rogue for the next round…

It appears the boys are all for that idea!