Another TNT rolls around and I have some progress to show.

I finished the last of the leaves on the right side, and got a decent start on the left side. It feels like I should have more progress for two full evenings of stitching, but it’s amazing how time consuming those little stitches really are. Of all my crafts, I think cross stitch is definitely the most time intensive.

I did run out of the dark grey I am using for the stems. I have nothing even remotely close in my floss stash, so I had to do a small order from a somewhat local shop (It’s an hour away). Hopefully it doesn’t take too long to be fulfilled. In the mean time I can carry on without it.

Jenn’s birthday is on March 17th, so the countdown is officially on!

With February slipping away, I needed to get my Rainbow Scrap Challenge block done.

The colour for February was aqua/teal, and I had a good selection of scrap for it. WIth all my scraps already pulled, I just had to cut some more white fabric. Once that was done, it didn’t take long to make the HSTs.

And of course, the block went together pretty quickly after that.

As I mentioned before, these blocks are 16″, so they are nice and big, meaning I only need to do one each month to get enough for a quilt.

With January and February in the bag, Burton and I are ready for March!

Oh February… the shortest month that still seems to feel interminably long!

It’s way too early to do anything outside, and it’s still too early to plant seeds. But I can dream….

And enjoy the few indoor flowers I have

The two Anthurium I have are doing quite nicely. They soak up the sun coming in the front window. The red one above is actually a dark pink, so I still need to get a real red one for my collection.

Just after Christmas, one of the grocery stores had all their holiday plants on sale, and among them were these two Crown of Thorns plants. They have both done exceedingly well. When I bought them, they were blooming, and after about a month, they dropped their flowers and almost started blooming immediately again. I definitely have to get some more colors of these!.

And my little Kalanchoe just won’t stop blooming. What a difference the grow light makes. I’ve never been able to make one of these rebloom before!

I was so happy with it, that when I saw more on sale at the grocery store I scooped them up.

Pink and white to add to my collection!

On that same trip, I also picked up a little bit of spring.

Both of these lovely potted bulbs were on clearance. There’s still plenty of time to enjoy the blooms, and then I can plant the bulbs in the garden.

This gorgeous double-stem orchid was on clearance too. As my previous two orchids from the early have done so well, I thought why not get another. And speaking of those earlier orchids… the yellow one still has flowers…

Can you believe it?

A trip to a different grocery store had me bringing home this pink jasmine….

It hasn’t bloomed yet, but it’s covered in buds that are sure to burst open any day now!

My weeping pussywillow is turning into a strange alien plant! It looks pretty wild with all these “pollen puffs” hanging off it. The leaves will come in soon (you can see them starting at the base). It will be at least a month before my outdoor pussywillows get catkins, so this is a nice little treat to have in the house.

And last… my poor kid’s meal sunflowers. The one with the nice big leaves totally gave up and died not long after I showed you last. The other one with the little bud…

Well, I give it full points for trying, but I think I’m going to have to stick to growing them outdoors.

My office is on the west side of the house. It also looks out to the large purple Norway Maple in our yard. As I’ve been working away at the day job I’ve noticed several little winged visitors in the tree, and perching from the awning over the window.

The other day, I got the brilliant idea to move my desk so its under the window so I can see them better. (Plus it’s nice to look up from the computer screen and see the outside world… even if it’s just sky and tree branches.)

Then I got the even more brilliant idea that I needed a feeder out there… but being on the second floor… how was I going to manage that?

Well one of the advantages of having old, crappy windows, is that I can just slide the inside panes to the side, and stick a suction cup feeder on the outside of the glass!

It didn’t take long for the visitors to notice the treat.

It’s not a great picture, because they are still a little skittish. This little red house finch was by far the bravest. But I’ve seen some blue jays and sparrows eyeing it up too. Hopefully I can get some better pics for you soon.

Even if I don’t, it’s nice to have my little friends pop by throughout the day!

One of the grocery stores around here gives you the option of paper or reusable cloth bags (if you don’t bring your own). The store is a little pricier than my go-to grocery store, so I don’t shop there often, but whenever I do, I always get the paper bags.

Because how could I not?

The bags are an extra 15 cents a piece on my bill, but I think it’s 15 cents well spent!

(Please ignore the ugly subfloors… one day they will get done… I just can’t say when one day will be.)

When not working, cross stitching, pot painting or sewing… I’m still knitting.

Hemlock ring is now back to being a large blob of knitting. In fact, I’m past where I had to rip back, AND my stitch count is correct! In fact, I’ve only got two or three pattern repeats to go before I’m casting off.

I’d like to think I could have this off the needles by the weekend, but that’s probably too optimistic. It’s a safer bet to say it will be blocking by next weekend. Which is good, because I’m ready to start something new!

The bolt of white fabric finally arrived so the first thing I did was pull out my gnome quilt.

See those little white rectangles between the blocks? That’s all I needed to finish this one off! Six 4.5″ x 8.5″ white rectangles!

Once they were cut, it went together like the wind.

Of course, it needed some borders, but I had plenty of fabric for that!

And taa-daa!!!! It’s now a nice 48″ x 60″. A perfect size for hanging out in the garden with. Because as you may recall – this one is for me!!!

I have lots of fabric left too, so at some point I’ll probably make some matching pillows! It’s perfect patio decor, if you ask me!

For the back I’ve got some fun daisy flannel (shown recently in my post about my Joann score), and way back when I did my last Connecting Threads order, I’d picked up this diagonal rainbow specifically to make binding! I LOVE stripey binding!

It was another weekend of stitchy evenings. As as result I’ve almost completed the right side of the flower wreath. I just have some light green leaves to fill in among the top of that little flower blossom.

The top and bottom don’t have much stitching, so I’m confident with some diligent stitching , I should be able to get this done in a couple more weekends.

Dave is gone to his Grandma’s this weekend, so I may even do a little day-time stitching while he’s gone!

How wild!

For a while now, Mom and I have been talking about making some smaller-ticket items for the shop. One thing we’ve been talking about doing is making some simple placemats.

The other day, I had some time so I grabbed a charm pack from the stash.

It was called Chili Smiles, and I bought it for no other reason than it was darn cute! I had no plans at the time and this seemed like the perfect use for it.

The idea for these placemats is really simple – just six squares sewn together, and then surrounded with a border. It’s the perfect way to show off some really fun fabrics!

And it doesn’t get any more fun than these prints!!!!

I had a few charm squares left, so I put together a little pinwheel for a hot plate holder.

These will all get quilted and bound, and then be ready for the shop sometime next month! Stay tuned!

Yep…. I’ve been dabbling with the pot again… plant pots that is! (not pot plants!)

A little while back I’d messaged Mom that I’d picked up another load of ceramic planters from Dollarama. They carry a particular style we both love. It’s perfect for house plants, and the price is VERY reasonable (between $2.50 and $4 depending on size). And every season or so, they get new colours and patterns in.

Whenever I see new ones, I buy a few, even if I don’t have anything to put in the yet, because I always have something eventually.

Unfortunately, they only go up to a certain size (comparable to a 6″ clay pot), and Mom needed something bigger for a spider plant she had. Lucky for her, I’d also bought a couple big 8″ terra cotta pots at Canadian Tire the same night! I offered to paint one up for her and asked what she wanted on it.

“Quilts hanging on a line,” was her answer.

So I got to work.

Like the gnomes I did recently, this one was fairly detailed. It took several evenings to get it all painted, then another couple for the outlining.

As you can see, I did four different quilts hanging on a line. And all around the rim, I split up into different “fabrics”. I’m pretty pleased with it except for one thing.

For the outlining, I used Pigma brush pens by Sakura. It’s an archival quality ink (it won’t lose its colour), AND it’s supposed to be water and smudge proof. And I’ve found, as long as you let it dry, it is. But, if you look at that quilt with the hearts….. apparently not anymore. My old brush pen was a little on the large side for this level of detail, so I wanted something finer. I made sure to order more just like it, only smaller.

It was great at first, until I turned the pot and started working on the side opposite the hearts. All that smudging is from it resting in my lap while I worked on the other side. And that’s not from touching bare skin where the oils from your skin my interfere with the ink. That’s just from rubbing against my leggings.

I don’t know if they changed their ink or what, but I am not thrilled. I told Mom just to turn that side to the back, because there’s not a whole lot I can do with it now.

I’ve got another pot to paint, and have a very special design in mind for Samantha. I promised her a piece of my mini Monstera, and I thought it would be nice to deliver it in a special pot this spring. Lets hope I can get it done without too much smudgery!