I do have plenty of progress on my butterfly to show you, but first I want to share a couple pics Mom took of the solar eclipse
Her town was right in the path of totality
The skies were pretty cloudy, but opened up just enough she was able to get those awesome pics.
Our place was outside the path of totality, so it didn’t get completely dark, but it did get quite dim and eerie!
Now – onto the stitching!
I finished up the lightest bits, and started adding the second lightest colour and I’m feeling much better about my choices.
I might be able to finish the rest of the butterfly next weekend, then I’ll be starting on the greenery! This one is going much quicker than I expected.
I’m doing really well with my goal of at least one finished knit each month. So with Wren’s bolero off the needles, I needed to get something new on to have something to finish by the end of April!
So another pair of sock were in order. This is my Undine pattern, a favorite to use with striped yarn.
The yarn is On Your Toes (with Aloe Vera) in Rose Print. I’ve never knit with it before, but I picked this full ball up in a lot of yarn from a thrift store last year.
It’s has your typical “hardwearing” type of sock yarn feel. I’m not quite sure how the Aloe Vera works in it. Is it supposed to help with the wearing? The knitting? Does it wash out?
Have any of you knit with it? What do you think?
Like the socks I made in February, this pair is destined for the gift box. I’m hoping to have several pairs in there by December.
Last week I mentioned my getting back to the red and cream quilt I’m making for myself. I’ve set it aside for so long, you’ve probably forgotten what it looks like, so here’s a refresher.
The pattern is Jubliee and I’m using fabrics from Moda’s French General Line. (This particular line is Bonheur de Jour which translates to Happiness of the Day).
I whipped these two up in a couple hours last weekend, which really means I should be able to put this quilt together fairly quick if I put my nose to the grindstone. With these two, I now have 12 blocks, and I have enough fabric for 16 – so only four more to make!
This one is going to be a close-to-Queen size for MY bed.
Here and there I’ve been able to get out in the garden and do a bit of cleaning. As I said, I’m not cleaning all the stuff on the ground yet. I leave that until it gets warmer so I don’t hurt any overwintering moths, or fireflies, who hibernate in leaf litter, etc.
Mostly, I’ve been trimming down dead stems and such….
Like on this Sedum. The new growth is really robust so it helps to get the old stuff cut away to let in light and air and help the new leaves flourish.
Though it drives Dave crazy, I leave the cuttings in piles on the lawn for about a week or so…
This way nesting birds can come and take their fill of nest-building supplies.
This weekend I plan to plant my spinach seeds.
I’ve got this raised big bed filled and prepped for it. The spinach can grow in here until it gets too hot for the crop. Then I will used this bed as a cutting bed for annual flowers (I’ve got a pile of seeds including snap dragons, zinnias, and sooo much more)
I’ll also be planting some seeds indoors. Last weekend I got my new propagation station set up and ready to go.
And you might be thinking “new??? I thought you built one of those a couple years ago”. You’re right – I did. But after the seeds were done I filled it with house plants (mostly cacti and succulents) and well….. I had no room for seeds.
And this is a very inexpensive way of building a little indoor grow station (“Real” ones can be quite pricy) I got the shelving unit from Canadian Tire for $30 (actually, I think I got it on sale for $25…. but it’s regularly $30). It’s easy to assemble and lightweight so it’s easy to move around, and can be disassembled for storage.
Then I got some grow lights from Amazon for another $30. I buy these particular ones because it’s three separate strips on one control. They attached to the top of the shelf with double sided tape (though they do come with screws if you prefer). Easy Peasy! They have a timer too. There are definitely more expensive lights, and probably better quality, but these get the job done.
So that’s a grow station for $60 instead of $200 or upward for the ready made ones.
This weekend I’ll be starting tomatoes, cantebury bells, Venidium, Sweet peas, Snapdragons, Milkweed and Delphiniums… and maybe some more.
In the meantime, the weather has still be pretty cool (we had snow on and off yesterday) but there’s still new blooms in the garden
The big hyacinths are starting to put on on show. For some reason almost all my big hyacinths are in the catio (that’s on me, since I do all the planting). And that means these ones are in the real danger of being runover by a certain maniac ginger. I’ll have to remember to plant some throughout the other gardens in the fall.
And as for daffodils… things look about the same as last week. I brought a few to enjoy inside…
They were also Lemmy casualties from the catio. And I’ll probably be getting a few more soon. Oh… and like my wee snail?
I picked him up on a whim last year, and I like to move him to random places around the livingroom.
On the long weekend I was determined to spend some time in the studio, because I definitely feel like I have not been spending enough in there lately.
But once I got in there, I just did NOT want to work on anything I already had on the go. There’s only two projects – my red and white star quilt, and the scrappy 16 patches. But I was just not feeling either of them.
So instead – I dived into the stash to start something new.
I came up with a batik Jelly Roll and decided to make some log cabins with some nice solid grey. I only got four cabins done.
But it was just the refresh I needed!
I’m hoping to knock one of the other quilts in progress out this weekend. (Weather depending of course, because there’s lot to do in the garden)
By the weekend, I had the Harriet Bolero off the needles and on the blocking board. And as soon as it was dry, I tied in the ends, and put a button on it.
And voila!
This is the second time I’ve made this pattern and I love it. It’s a sweet, simple, pretty quick knit. It’s DK weight (I used some Fat Cat I had left in the stash). And it’s pretty easy to modify. The first time I made, I made it with long sleeves.
This time, I added a little length and width to make sure the birthday girl doesn’t out too fast.
I found a cute little vintage button in the stash to finish it all off with.
And now the ensemble of Old Navy sundress, and knit bolero are wrapped up for the birthday girl and will be put in the mail today! She should have it by the end of the week!
Even though it was a long weekend, I didn’t get a tonne of stitching done.
I decided to switch things up and work with the lightest colour this time. It looks white in the stitching, but if you look to the floss bobbin at the left, it’s actually a very pale peach. And I’m sure once I get the other shade in there, it won’t look quite so jarring.
And I wanted to share this… last week, Vera shared a snap of the back of her work. Which was immaculate!!!! The back of my work definitely does not look that tidy…
Friday afforded some beautiful, sunny weather. It wasn’t super warm, but with the sun shining down, it was perfect for some physical work out in the garden.
After looking at my seed-starting schedule, I realized it was more important to get some infrastructure in, than clean up any dead plants. Several of my vegetables seeds need to be direct sowed. And a few, like the spinach, should be started before the last frost date, as they are cold weather crops.
That means I had to get some beds ready for them… and that meant expanding Edible Alley!
On the left, we have Cucurbit Corridor with some long cedar beds, and the fabulous squash tunnel I bought earlier this year.
Here we will grow Cucamelons, Baby Pumpkins and an assortment of Gourds. The beds still need to be painted, but it’s not quite warm enough for that. They will be our signature green, of course.
To the right, we have Potager Parlour (pronounced Po-ta-jay).
It’s a collection of upcycled planters that we’ve collected, mostly over winter. I have another tire somewhere, but Dave can’t remember where he put it. If we can’t find it, I have some other large pots I can fill the space with.
Next week (hopefully) I’ll get some mulch to cover the “floor”, just like I did in Edible Alley. And of course, get some soil the fill the beds. Planting season is nigh!
In the past, I’ve not done much decorating for Easter. But I found these guys at the grocery store and thought they would look cute on the antique on top of my treadle sewing machine.
I was hoping to get an Easter Garland for the antique radio from Michaels, but all the ones they had were paper based and would be far too tempting for our favourite ginger paper-muncher. I’ll have to make something for next year.
But this little bun sits on top of the radio for now…
I picked him up from the drug store last year.
And I got this wreath at the dollar store. It came with just the pink eggs and leaves on it but I decided I could dress it up better, so I stripped it right down.
Some dollar store flowers, and a little ribbon helped me transform it and now it’s happily hanging on the front door.
I’m trying to curb my plant buying for a while… but Home Depot had Easter Cacti. They are different than Christmas Cacti – they have a smoother leaf and slightly different flowers. I have a red one that’s about 10 years old – though it hasn’t bloomed in ages. In fact, I almost killed it, but it’s been coming back to life this year.
So when I saw they had pink ones, I thought it would be a nice Easter treat to myself.
Not that I really needed another treat, because I did get myself my annual Easter dress…
Even though the closet is bursting with clothes – but traditions are traditions (or so I tell myself!)
It’s going to be a quiet day here for me and Dave. I might throw a ham in the oven but that’s about it for us. I hope you all have a wonderful Easter, however you are spending it!
