Sunday was cold again – with a little bit of snow, though just flurries this time. So it was a good day to spend at the machine.
I banged out another 13 batik log cabins, bringing my total to 25. And I though that would be a good amount. It would make the quilt 60 x 60. But that was until I laid them out….
I do not love that there are half patterns on the side and top. I feel like I need to make 11 more blocks to finish them out. The only problem… I don’t have enough strips left to make that many.
I do have a good collection of batik fabrics… but I’m not sure enough are pastels. But that’s a problem for another day.
Saturday saw me doing a pile of chores I’d been putting off. By the time they were finished – there wasn’t really enough time before dinner to sit down and sew. So I decided to pull out another long-neglected project.
Remember this little lady? Well… she got an hour or so more attention…
Still a long way to go… but bit by bit I get closer to a finish.
It didn’t get around to stitching until late Sunday night, so I’m afraid the progress is minimal. I got her pet raven done, and the little tree branches underneath done. Here’s a closer look.
He’s a fine looking familiar if I do say so myself!
There wasn’t as much knitting this past week as I would have liked.
But I did get just over a third of the way through the deathflake chart on the second hat. I’m hoping this week brings little more time to sit down with the needles. I’d love to cast this one off by Friday. It’s possible – but I’ll probably have to make a conscious effort to do it.
As they predicted, the temps flew back up and that snow it melting quickly
Though the poor swan is still mostly buried. She got extra snow as that’s where the snowblower dumps it when Dave does the driveway.
But remember how I said roses are tough…
My beautiful Koko Loko emerged from under the snow, fully intact! Most of the roses came through great – with just a handful of stems snapped from the weight of the snow. But snow it pretty insulating, so the cold didn’t seem to bother them much at all.
There’s still several with buds that may or may not get a chance to bloom depending on which way the temps go. I don’t make predictions about the garden much any more – our weather is too wacky.
As I mentioned yesterday, all that snow brings round the bird. They don’t just come for the feeders either…
I leave the seed heads of several garden plants (Globe Thistle on the left, Coneflower on the right) as the birds love them too (especially the finches)
But this has lead to a couple unfortunate casualties this past week. Normally, I cut down all the seeds heads in the catio so the birds aren’t tempted to land in there and linger. But this year I missed some.
On Monday morning, I was awoken by the sound of wings fluttering as Lemmy brought a house sparrow in – alive and apparently unhurt. It got away from him and I was able to shoo it safely out a window. But Thursday afternoon, my attention was drawn by two orange cats streaking by at a furious pace… Furby was following Lemmy, who raced passed me with a bird in his mouth. I finally cornered him in the bedrooom where he’d deposited it under my bed. It was a Junco, and I guess Lemmy had learned from the first round, because this one was dead.
The seed heads have now been cleared from the danger zone but don’t worry – the birds still have many other spots in the garden to feast
The first snow is always a little exciting. There’s still a good amount left, but it’s melting quickly.
But when it started Lemmy was happy to run around like an idiot in the frosty catio. It got a little tougher for him when the snow got heavier. But now that it’s melting, he’s back out there stalking birds and acting the fool
But I think all the snow and cold just might just turn a certain someone into a house cat…
He certainly hasn’t been in a hurry to spend much time out in the cold and the snow.
Since it was snowing on Sunday, his Lordship demanded I get in the studio and get sewing. I still didn’t have my sewing mojo rocking. Some of you had suggested starting a new project to get it going, and I definitely considered it. But the project I want to start requires a lot of thinking… and I just wasn’t up to it.
So I pulled out an old project. I started it back in spring 2024 and never touched it again.
It was the perfect project for me to work on, because it doesn’t require much brain power. I just pulled out random strips from the Jelly Roll, and keep on sewing.
In the end, Burton and I got eight more cabins finished.
When I first started it, I wasn’t too sure about the solid grey. I thought I might have made a mistake with that choice.
But seeing more blocks laid out – I think it works quite well with those pastel batiks.
I’m not sure how big I’ll make it. I guess it depends how many blocks I can get from that Jelly Roll.
On Sunday, we got the snow they called for. You can see my poor roses weren’t very happy about it. I didn’t get a chance to cut any before it snowed.
It was really just a dusting
But definitely enough to put an end to gardening for the year.
And if I didn’t believe it…. Monday made up for it. We don’t normally get a tonne of snow here. We are just outside the snow belt, so the worst of it almost always passes us by.
But… every once in a while, the wind is just right… and we get lake effect snow. It started early Monday afternoon.
By dinner time, the gardens and swan were well on their way to being buried.
Dave snowblowed while I was cooking dinner, and by the time we went to bed, the driveway was all filled in again.
He was up before I was and had it mostly blown out again by the time I pulled myself out of bed.
But my poor swan was completely buried.
In the end, we got close to two feet.
They say it’s supposed to start warming up today, and the snow should be melted by the weekend. But it’s definitely the end of gardening until the spring.
Because of my weekend trip to the big city, there wasn’t a tonne of time for stitching. But there was enough to give the first witch her body and head. There’s lots to fill in around her, and of course, she needs her other arm. But it’s nice to see her come to life.
Wandering Cat Studio 