Yes… I’ve been messing around on Facebook Marketplace again…

Last week, I took an extended lunch from work, and Dave and I headed out to Petrolia, a town about 30 minutes from us. I had a mission. There was an antique store there that had something advertised on Marketplace that I wanted very badly…

As you know, I have a lovely little sun porch. (Well, its kind of a mess right now, but it will be lovely). But the furniture I had on it, while serviceable, wasn’t quite what I wanted. I wanted something I could lounge about on…put my feet up and knit, or work away on my lap top.

I’ve been looking at modular patio sets all winter… and boy howdy, are they expensive. (Not to mention, they all look alike… so plain and BORING!)

So I started trawling Marketplace, and that’s when I got an AMAZING idea. I love my bamboo rocker which lives on the porch – why not try to find some used pieces to go with that? I started checking Marketplace every few days for things that might work. There was a surprising amount of bamboo/wicker/rattan furniture out there, but nothing that tickled my fancy (and some if it is still VERY expensive). Until there was.

Excuse the mess around it (the porch becomes somewhat of a storage area in the winter) but isn’t it great? Can’t you just see a gnome quilt draped across it? The porch will get cleaned up soon, and when the danger of frost is gone, my plants will be back out there. I think it’s going to be the perfect place to relax this summer

And yes… within five minutes, it got the official seal of approval

Looks like I’m going to have to share.

After we got it in the truck, Dave spied a thrift store across the street, so we popped on over. Dave didn’t find anything he needed, but I did.

I don’t know why, I just had to have these pillows for my bed. I think they will look even nicer when I have a proper headboard behind them.

Rupert, however, wants to know why one ginger cat on the bed isn’t enough.

Playing in the garden is still weeks off, but it was finally time to start my seeds indoors!!!!! Two Sundays ago, I got to it!

I might have bought waaaaay more seeds than I can start inside, but that’s okay. All of this is a little bit of an experiment, so if this fails, or doesn’t go well, I can start some other stuff outside when the weather is warmer.

This is my first time using little peat discs. They are very neat, just add water and they puff right up.

I had 180 little discs, so I split them into groups of 12, and planted two types of Columbine, Beard Tongue, Oriental Poppies, Shasta Daisies, Cupid’s Dart, Blanket Flower, Astilbe, Lupin, Sweet William, Black Eyed Susans, Malva, Penstamon, Delphinium, and Potentilla.

Everything was placed in my little DIY grow station.

And by the following Thursday…

I already had sprouts on three of the trays! (Black-Eyed Susans, Lupin, and Malva).

And then another week later…

Almost everything is sprouted! The only thing that hasn’t is a tray of seeds I took from plants I had at the townhouse. I’ll give them a little more time, but I’m so pleased with the progress already.

I have two desks in my office (one for work computer, one for personal) and I was in need of a second chair for the second desk. I found one really cheap at our favourite used store (where we got our awesome lighting)

Apparently it was a really good buy. It got the triple-cat seal of approval!

Or quilt…

The second block of Blockheads was released last week, and Burton and carved out a little time on Tuesday to get it done.

This one came together quite quickly and like Burton, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. Now you may notice that the background in this one is black, while our first one was white.

And you’re right. We’ve decided to alternate the background on our blocks between black and white. When put all together, we should get a fabulous mod checkerboard effect!

Of course, we’ve got a lot more blocks to go until we get to that point.

In an effort to get on top of my health, I’ve been trying to walk more. Every day if I can. It’s something I’ve tried in the past, but it never really stuck.

Where were used to live… well, it wasn’t the most pleasant place for a walk. It was safe enough, but traffic made it quite noisy, and it was mostly just bland suburbia. Not much to look at.

Now this town is small, only about 2,500 people, but it is old (you can read a little history here), and especially being new, there is lots to look at and discover.

To help keep me motivated, I’m staring my own Walk-about Wednesday. Every day I’ll post a picture or two, or something interesting from my weekly walks.

If this is something you’d like to do… feel free to add Walk-about Wednesday to your blog! I’d love to discover the places you like to walk too!

So without further ado….

The picture doesn’t do it justice, but around the corner from us, a house has very nice big pond. I’ve driven by a dozen times, but never noticed the pond. It wasn’t untilI was going by on two feet that I heard the water from their little bucket waterfall. (almost in the centre of the pic beside the goose)

Dave and I really want to put in a pond here -unfortunately, it’s not high on our priority list, but it’s something to dream about one day.

That same house had a cat in their garden made from old scrap. It took me a moment to realize the body was an old fan! I just love scrap art!

And this always makes me giggle when I see it. One whole block has brand new sidewalk (within the last year or two) and on one slap, there’s these wee foot prints, embedded for all time! They are too big to be a squirrel, so I’m guessing probably a raccoon.

That was fun! Thanks for checking them out. I can’t wait to see what next week’s walks bring!

And this wasn’t found on walk, but in my own back yard!

I have snow drops!!! Well… snow drop.. .there’s just one. But I suspect I’ll be finding more in the next week or so!

Tiny Needle Tuesday is here and I have progress to show!

It’s not as much progress as II might have planned on – that quilt top ate up a lot of time. Still, progress is progress…

And now my little Queen Bee has a couple flowers beside her, and is happily encased in her border. There’s still lots more to do, but I’m not in a terrible hurry to get this one finished. I’m just thoroughly enjoying the process.

In addition to the baby cardigan, I wanted to make my coworker a quilt to welcome her impending arrival. So when Dave asked me what I planned for my weekend, I told him I was spending it in the sewing studio, and wasn’t coming out!

And other than taking him out for lunch on Saturday after he did the brakes on Dory, I was true to my word.

I’ve had a particular panel for ages, and I thought it was time to put it to good use.

As you can see, Burton agreed. It’s a horizontal panel, which makes it a little more of a challenge to work with. I could have cut it apart, I suppose, but I decided to use it as is.

But I needed to make some geese.

Eighty-four geese to be exact!

They attached quite nicely together, and then to the panel. If you’re paying attention, you’ll notice that’s only 42 geese…. Before I got to the other 42, I had to make some stars.

Fourteen friendship stars in total. They were strung together, and the attached to the rest of the geese. And then all that was put together…

To create one fantastic quilt top, if I do say so myself!

Mother nature continues to play games with us in terms of weather, but there’s still signs that Spring is truly on your way, if you look hard enough.

Spring thing#1

One of the houses on the way to the post office (in the dead centre of town) has two Maple trees on their front lawn. And I’m guessing they are sugar maples, because they are both tapped! Pretty smart if you ask me – Maple syrup is worth a mint!

I’m guessing with just two trees, it’s only for personal use, not commercial aspirations, but still! My Grandpa used to tap his trees when we were kids. He had a bit fire pit outside and he’d have the sap boiling over it to make his syrup.

Spring thing #2

Although Cardinals are not necessarily Spring bird (they are here all year round), their mating calls are certainly a sign of spring. And boy-howdy, are they getting busy out there. This lady came by for a snack the other day – probably to refuel for another long day of being wooed.

Spring thing #3

More and more green things are popping up in the bulb box. The tulips (far left) are biggest, and I need to take the fencing off before they get much bigger.

Ah spring… how I love you so!

The time has come…you can get your hands on this beautiful quilt!

“Home is Where the Cat Is!” Quilt Raffle

DRAW will be held Sunday, April 10, 2022

OPEN TO CANADIANS AND AMERICANS!

The quilt is 64″ x 72″(small twin/large lap-size quilt)

Top and backing are 100% cotton. Inside batting is 80/20 cotton/polyester. Machine wash and dry

NOTE: I will mail this quilt to the winner anywhere in the US or Canada, so Americans and Canadians can play along. Americans, please message Natalie @ Bee Meadow Farm (info@beemeadowfarm.com) for Paypal transfer info!

TICKETS are 1 for $2, or 3 for $5, or 8 for $10 or 20 for $20, and anything over $20 is $1 per ticket.

All proceeds to the foster felines and rescue animals of Bee Meadow Farm!

When you pay for your tickets, Natalie will send you your ticket numbers (tickets are virtual – She will record your numbers with your name on an Excel spreadsheet.) On the day of the raffle, the winning ticket number will be chosen by a random number generator, and the winner will be notified by email or PM the day of the draw.

E-TRANSFERS can be sent to: info@beemeadowfarm.com

Make sure you include your email address in a message with the EFT – sometimes the e-transfers come from a bank email address that she can’t reply to. You will save Natlalie a lot of time and effort by including your email address.

Natalie is running the raffle, so if you have any questions – reach out to her at info@beemeadowfarm.com

Here’s to my favourite April Fool!