Although my gardens are currently sleeping peacefully under a blanket of snow…

You know I’m already working on big plans for the next season. I’ve already placed a big seed order and it’s already arrived.

In the veg beds, I’m sticking close to what I did last year with snap peas, bush beans, carrots, and cucumbers. I’m going to try to grow some broccoli and leafy greens (spinach and lettuce) as well.

But when it comes to tomatoes, I took your guys advice.

I ordered seeds for yellow cherry tomatoes, to help Dave with the acid issue he has with tomatoes. I don’t normally start my tomatoes from seed, but this will at least keep me from ending up with Roma tomatoes when I was expecting grape tomatoes!

And for my squash, I’m going to try this beauty

It’s called Celebration squash. I had one at Christmas and it was incredibly flavourful. I’m hoping the ones I grow will be just as good!

I also splurged a little on this…

It’s a “Squash Tunnel” and like my old ladder, it’s used to grow squash vertically to save space. But I’m going to keep my squash on my ladder.

On the tunnel I plan to grow…

Baby pumpkins!

And Cucamelons!

But it’s not just veg. Plenty of flower seeds came along for the ride too.

Most are annuals, and I’m debating whether they will go here and there about the existing beds… or whether I want to build a dedicated “Cutting Garden”

Well.. it’s still January so I’ve got at least a few more weeks to make a final decision…

I walked in the bedroom the other day to find Relic in the bed.

This in an of itself is not an unusual occurance. It’s what he’s laying on that’s weird.

That furry blanket below him… he HATES it. Why? I have no idea. I usually sleep with it over top of my quilts in the winter because it’s nice and warm. However, if he comes to bed and it’s on me, he will step around it and go sleep on my pillow, or sit there and stare at me until I move it. Like he literally will not put one paw on it.

I don’t know why… the blanket has never done anything to him. And the other three cats LOVE the furry blanket. It’s weird.

So why was he laying on it now.. had he finally made peace with it’s soft, fluffy existence….?

Not quite. You can see he’s also laying on something else. One of my cotton pajama cardigans to be exact. I’d tossed it on the bed after getting dressed for the day.

In fact, he was so strategically aligned on it, that not one part of him was actually touching the furry blanket. He’s 100% on the cardigan.

What a cat…

With winter (ie snow) finally here, the birds have been very busy at my feeders.

It’s mostly the usual suspects. Cardinals, sparrows, juncos and jays

But there have been a few new visitors.

The finches (in this case, Goldfinches – though there have been red-headed finches as well) aren’t really new, but this is the first time I’ve been able to catch them on film.

And of course, our visitors aren’t just avian either.

Our little squirrel friends are never one to miss a meal!

I’m all about self-imposed deadlines right now…

I want to get my friends Get Well quilt quilted and on the way to her by the end of February. Which means I had to get the top together first.

The layout is pretty straight forward. It’s just the stars laid out in a grid, with more four-patches as the cornerstones.

Simple in theory, but a little harder when you have to work around these two. But eventually – I prevailed.

I normally shy away from pieced borders. They can be a real pain to get the right size… but I had a pile of four-patches leftover, and I wanted to make this one more rectangular than squares so it seemed like a good use of them.

Luckily, both top and bottom went on without much trouble. And now this one is ready for quilting!

I’ve got a gorgeous purple floral for the binding, and this great rich blue for the back! I better make a date with Mom!

Normally, I knit on the week day evenings, and save the cross stitching for weekend evenings. But Burton and I are switching gears and cross stitching on the weeknights now…

At the end of the month, I’ll be headed to our nation’s capitol (Ottawa). It’s a short trip that will be mix of business and pleasure, but while there, I’m going to be meeting a person I’ve only known through the computer and a video screen (i.e. Zoom).

She’s a wonderful person, and I’d like to take her a little gift, so I’m stitching something up…

One of her favourite things to say when you ask her how her day is “The birds are singing… the sun is shining… it’s going to be a good day! So I spent a few hours looking for the perfect little bird-themed project I could stitch up in just over a week. So far, it’s progressing well, which is great, because my deadline is January 29th. I’m on a plane on the 30th. It’s doable, but I’ve got to keep at it!

And did you see my little needle keeper?

He was a gift from Mom and I love him so much!

With a little help from my perpetual sidekick…

I’ve made some good progress on the Jupiter socks.

I’ve finished the leg, completed the heel and I’m now working my way down the gusset. That said… I have to set this aside for a little while. I’ll explain more tomorrow.

Although I already have an extensive stash… sometimes you just have to buy more fabric….

Especially when that fabric has your favourite colours (pink and green) AND you spirit flower (Dandelions!)

The line is Dandi Duo buy Robin Pickens. And it’s just so perfect, bright and colourful, full of whimsy. I just HAD to have it

I also ordered a little bit of yardage to go with it

I got enough of the round heads for the backing. And the little seeds in flight will be borders/binding. There’s some more yardage of Moda’s Thatched coming – in colours that go with this line.

I plan on making a type of Dresden with the fabrics, but I won’t show you quite yet. I’ve got to get a few quilts off my plate, then I can dive into this one!

My most recent Leader Ender project has moved out of L/E rotation. I still need to make some blocks for it, but it’s not a block that can easily be done as an L/E… so I needed to find a new L/E project!

I looked over at my scrap bins, and my 2.5″ square bin was positively overflowing. So I grabbed it and have been making random four patches.

I don’t know what I’m going to do with them yet. I have a couple ideas, but nothing is firmly decided. One thing that is unescapable…

These little four patches stack up fast!!!!

Fear the roar of the Mighty Sofa Lion!!!!

While I didn’t get the whole top done, I’m happy to share that I got all the stars done for my friends quilt.

And the boys are just thrilled too! And why not… just look at those rich batiks!

They are so much brighter in real life, I wish you could see them. This weekend, I’m taking a day to layout the top and get it all together. Then I’ll make a date for Mom’s so I can get it quilted, bound, and into the hands of my dear friend.