Mother Nature continues with her mood swings. Last weekend was cold and rainy, but by the start of the week it was warming up again.

It wasn’t quite summer like, but definitely spring vibes – but by Wednesday I was eating a handful of raspberries that managed to ripen.

All the mums in the porch boxes were blooming again.

As was the Lavender Butterfly bush. And check this out…

The Pussy Willow bush has catkins!

I got pictures of a starling in the neighbour’s tree, and it looks like it’s budding up again!

I potted up a bunch of Dwarf Irises for a spring display.. and they’ve already started sprouting!

Did we skip winter all together… and head right into spring?

Well… no. Because BAM! Thursday morning we woke up to snow. It wasn’t sticking, and it was mixed with rain. But it was still snow. Yesterday rained a bone-chilling rain all day. So I suspect the real cold stuff is just around the corner.

That said…

These guys are still standing…. They look cold and little sad…. but they aren’t dead yet!

Relic… that’s not how you’re supposed to sit in the chair…

There was some sewing this weekend… well sort of. I only sewed one block. But I at least got the pieces cut to make the 30 more I will need.

His Lordship finally decided what he wanted to go with the nine patch bees we showed last week. A good ol’ Dizzy Daisy. And while these blocks are exceedingly easy to make, they do require a fair bit of cutting if you are doing them in any number. I need 31 daisies total. As you can see, one is made, but for the remaining 30 I had to cut 120 of the petal fabric, 120 of the centre fabric, and 240 of the background fabric.

After that, I just didn’t have the energy to make any more blocks. I’m hoping to sneak in an evening this week to get started on them. If not, it will be a weekend job.

This will give you an idea of the layout we are going for. Alternating bee/flower blocks, with black sashing and yellow corner stones. I think it’s going to look just perfect when its together.

It seems not even Walmart is safe for me when it comes to crafty temptations… We went there to get a few odds and ends the other week and I came home with this guy…

Because apparently I needed another thing to add to the ‘to-paint’ pile. As he has a bit of an expiry date (with Christmas approaching and all), I decided to get started on him this weekend.

Naturally, Lemmy had to be part of this process as well. We don’t sit at the table often, so I think he gets really excited when we do. And then when I bring out crafty stuff and put it on top – he just loses his mind with excitement.

I managed to keep his paws out of the paint and the process went pretty well. The wood surface is much easier to paint than the molded pots.

It still took all afternoon. And I’m not quite done. The white needs a second coat, and the details need to be lined in. (I got some new paint pens so I’m excited for that part). But, it was more than enough work for the day, so I put it away for next weekend.

When he’s complete, he’ll sit outside beside the front door to welcome guests.

For the latest tiny needle project, I decided to move onto something a little different than cross-stitching. You may remember a post a few months ago where I talked about the embroidery kits mom and I got.

I decided this weekend was the perfect time to get started. the kit comes with everything you need except the fabric you are going to embroider on. The kit suggests denim, but I wanted something a little lighter.

I decided on a solid mid-grey cotton. This is one of the bolts I keep in stock for background fabric with the quilting. As you can see, the kit also comes with the patterns printed on these genius little sticky papers. You just stick them on, stitch over top, then they dissolve away with cold water when you’re done.

Now – I did consider doing a few practice pieces first.. you know… since I’ve never really done any embroidery (the odd stitch face on a stuff doesn’t really count). But this is me, so I decided to dive right in.

Things got off to a pretty good start. My stem stitch could probably use a little work, but it wasn’t bad enough to rip it out, so I kept going. With Lemmy’s help of course!

Soon enough I had all the leaves and stems done and was already moving onto the flowers. Embroidery was definitely going faster than cross stitch!

Then I hit a snag…. the dreaded French Knot. I do have experience with the French Knot because it comes up occasionally in cross stitch. And I have NEVER been good at it. It took me a full half hour just to get these few little knots done.

And they are far from perfect…. and you can see how many more knots I have to do! Sigh…

It was going so well.

It’s going to sit in a time out this week and I’ll try again on the weekend. I will get those knots knotted if it’s the last thing I do!

I needed another knit on the needles so I dug deep into the stash and came up with a ball of Alley Cat BFL.

Back when we closed up the yarn shop, I dyed up the rest of the leftover undyed yarn. I did several balls in mostly solid colours so I could use the for lacework… just like sock above. I’ve called this colour Ancient Oak because it’s close in colour to the leaves as they fall off my neighbours oak tree.

The pattern is Mercury. It’s a pretty easy lace pattern, and it grows pretty quickly. It’s also nice and stretchy – everything you want in a sock.

I’m hoping to have this pair off the needles by the end of the month. I think I can… I think I can…

Here we are in mid November and there are STILL flowers in the garden. The weather has been much cooler, and very wet, but it hasn’t been enough to knock down these hardy ones…

Most of the coneflowers have gone over, except these dark pink ones.

It’s called Ruby Star and it’s reseeded in several places in the garden – and each clump is all still blooming.

Both climbing roses are still in bloom

Chrysler Imperial has one bloom and several buds.

I’d like to say the buds won’t get a chance to bloom, but I’m done making predictions about the garden this year. It does what it wants.

In the summer, we (along with the rear neighbour) cut down the trees along the back property line to put up a new fence. Since then, I’ve noticed a marked drop in the squirrel population in the yard. And the ones that do come around seem much more shy.

When I was taking pictures of the jays, a couple decided to be brave and snatch a peanut or two while I was watching.

I’ve been sad not to see them as much, because I really love the little characters.

With the cold weather returning, I’ve started filling the sunflower seed feeder again. It’s always popular with the squirrels so hopefully they will be coming around more.

The love affair continues…

They’ve moved from the wicker laundry basket, and can now be found almost nightly snuggled in the pink chair.

They certainly are the “odd couple”

As expected, I was able to finish up the second clown barf sock. But you may notice the title… like many of you noted, the yarn didn’t actually look too bad knit up… and Mom said they look like crayon colours… so I give you…

The Crayola socks. Nothing fancy here (as usual). 1-1 rib for 15 rows of cuff. sock math for heel, and 2-2 rib across the top of the foot. Easy peasy. I did end up with yarn left over, but probably only enough to add a 1/2 inch to each cuff.

So now I have another pair of socks for the draw – which is good, because I just noticed a hole in an older pair… sigh… I think next year I may focus on building up my personal sock stash.

But for the next project… I have a couple options… mainly “extra gifts” for Christmas. Stay tuned!