I finally carved out some time to finish up the flower blocks for Paisley’s quilt. They still need to be trimmed, but I couldn’t resist auditioning them in the layout.

And Burton was determined I wasn’t going to get a picture without him.

I love the one I made for Rowan, and I think I love this one just as much. Like Rowan’s there will be a thin sashing between all the blocks, and an outer border. I still have to shop for that border, but I’m in no rush. This one doesn’t need to be finished until December.

And now that it’s coming together nicely, I can give it a name… Fleurs en Noir.

Late last week Mom messaged me…

She was looking at another vintage machine on an auction site. She wanted to bid on it, but a) she didn’t really need another machine, and b) it was in Whitby, about two hours drive away. The distance wasn’t a big issue, except for the fact that Dad was busy that day – Mom is not fond of driving on the big highways here. And the drive to Whitby is almost all big highway.

She sent me a link to the auction – the machine was a Singer “Rocketeer”. It’s one she’s wanted for a long time. We don’t see them around here very often, and they usually get snapped up quick!

I told her to bid on it. I wanted an excuse to take Dory on a longer drive and test out a few of her quirks. Pick up day was also the day before Mother’s Day, so we could get lunch and make a day of it.

Mom won the auction, and Saturday morning we hit the road. We had fabulous sunny skies and fairly light traffic. By 4 pm we were back home with a funky machine in a pretty little table!

Mom has named her Jane Jetson.

Now she just has to find some room for her…

 

First – Happy Mama’s Day to all the Mama’s out there – no matter the kind of Mama you are! I spent yesterday with my Mama, and I’ll share our fun in another post.

But for now we’re back in the garden

You may recall, that two years ago, I scoured every Dollarama with in a 20 km radius to get enough stone tiles to edge the Little Bee garden and Butterfly Gardens.

And at first, it looked wonderful. But those stones were just glued onto a thin fabric mesh so after two Winters and some wet Springs…

…things were not looking nearly as spectacular. Not only were they sunk – the weeds and lawn were starting to reclaim them. Throughout the growing season, I tried to keep the weeds down, but it was a losing game. Before I put them down, I really should have laid some sand, and then plastic beneath them. I tried to pull them up to do just that, but after two years, the mesh was falling apart and most of them ripped as I pulled them up. I needed a better solution.

For the last few weeks, I’ve been haunting websites and home improvement stores and weighing my options. In the end, I decided to keep it simple.

Just a simple on-soil black garden edging. I even had enough to edge the fruit garden, which never had an edging before. It’s not fancy, but it’s simple, tidy, and easy to maintain. I need to pick up some soil to back fill a bit.  I’m quite pleased with it and I’m going to pick up some more so I can do the rest of the gardens to match. And if you notice… it gives me about a foot more space all around the garden! Yay! More plants!

I do still have to pull up the stone pathway between the Butterfly and and Butterfly expansion gardens, but I need to get some stepping stones to put in its place…

And the path was occupied at the time anyway.

Finally, it feels like Spring has officially sprung. We’ve had a few dips in temps, and more rain, but still… winter is finally behind us!

The daffodils are blooming like mad

 

These are all small daffies, but they are pretty and plentiful – I just love them.

The tulips are giving them a run for their money

 

All but the light pink one are Parrot Tulips. They are a frilly fancy tulip that come in an amazing array of colours. My bulbs were mixed, so it’s been fun watching them develop.

Both my purple and red Pasque flowers are starting to bloom. Despite their name, they always bloom well past Easter here. No complaints though. They bloom like crazy until about the end of May.

As promised, the Red Dwarf Columbine is covered in blooms. It seems a little smaller this year, but I’ve had the plant for a few year now, so it may be on it’s way out. I noticed it’s reseeded a bit, so I expect we’ll have a few fresher plants when it fills in.

And though it’s leaves are still unfurling, the pink Bleeding Heart is starting to bloom too. In a week or so this one will be covered in flowers and bumblebees! I promise!

 

First, I have to make a correction from last week’s Felines post. While I was spring cleaning, I came across Peno’s adoption record… she’s not 15… she’s 16!!! Sorry old girl, you deserve every year of recognition!

Now onto our regularly scheduled post….

While not the greatest quality, I just had to share this picture with you.

I’ve told you before that Rupert is an EXTREMELY jealous cat. But never so much as in the evenings. Rupert is a cat of routine, and in the evenings, it’s his time to sit on me. Well, this particular evening, I was stretched out on the couch and Relic got there before Rupert. But Rupert is tiny, so there was just enough room for him to squeeze in. That is until Relic and he made eye contact… which is about the moment I snapped this picture!

You can really see the size difference between them here. Relic is 18 lbs, Rupert, 6.5 lbs. They are really at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to cat size, so it makes the difference appear so much more exaggerated.

And you’d think that with Relic being so much bigger, he’d rule the roost. But in truth, about 30 seconds after I snapped the picture, it was Relic who sighed heavily, got up and left to go sit with Dave. Rupert is our little Napoleon.

 

I had hoped to have some nice quilting progress to show you, but these last few days have really gotten away from me.

I don’t recall if I told you, but last summer, our experiment as a one-car household finally ended. Dave found a newer Buick Regal, just like his old one. The old one was pretty well past its best-by date, but since I was working from home, and really only needed a grocery-getter, we decided to keep the old girl on the road for a bit longer. Now if you know anything about me, you know I like small, peppy cars (preferably with pop tops, but I won’t be too picky). The Regal was anything but. Oh she still had some power left in her, but she was a boat! Regardless, she got me from point A to point B without too many problems.

But recently Mom and Dad bought a new Jeep SUV. Previously they had a Ford Escape, and like the Buick, she was still roadworthy. In fact, she had less kms and a better body. So….meet Dory….

Why Dory, you ask… because every time I see the word Escape, this is what goes through my head…

If you haven’t watched Finding Nemo, watch it… you won’t regret it!

So anyway, for the last little while, Dory and I have been having a blast… because not only is she small and peppy… she’s got CARGO SPACE!!!

And she’s really accelerated my Spring cleaning. This was a load of seven boxes of books and some upholstery type fabric I was never going to use. It’s all been donated, giving me a bunch more space in the studio.

After dropping this off, Dory and I hit up Wal-mart and came home with some new shelving to get the rest of what we decided to keep better organized.

Next stop….. garden centre! Stay tuned!

Though the month has still been mostly rainy, whenever the sun shines, I’ve been taking the opportunity to get out and soak it up with the boys. I usually take my current sock project out with me, but to be honest, I don’t get a tonne of knitting done. I spend most of my time untangling Burton’s lead from chairs, the bbq, garden plants… whatever he can find to tangle himself up in.

Still… the sock is progressing.  I’m actually futher than the picture shows. I’ve finished the heel and I’m now working my way down the gusset. I’m going to try to finish the first sock by the end of the weekend.

But of course, that depends on how tangled Burton gets…

 

Cascadas is moving right along. The rows were getting interminably long, but I finally got to the dividing point, and we’re back down to a manageable level.

From here on out, it’s mindless knitting. Perfect for some T.V. knitting.

My old highschool is being torn down to make way for condos, and at the end of the month they are having a big reunion/closing event. It would be nice to have the cardigan done to wear to the party!

After finishing the blocks for Mystic Maze, I decided to get moving on Paisley’s quilt since both quilts use black thread.  The blocks, at least at the beginning, are assembled much the same way…

A lot of snowballing. Then I set to pairing up all the petals. They went together pretty quick, so now I just have to turn them into flowers. That will wait for another day, but I couldn’t resist completing just one before I called it quits.

The black fabric is really going to make these petals POP!

This past week, the rain continued and the temps took a dip. No snow, but some freezing rain and really chilly days. It was enough to slow all the wonderful progress in my gardens.

Still, there has been some progress.

The Parrot Tulips are just starting to show their colour. I planted a bunch of these and they were all mixed, so it’s going to be fun seeing what I get.

The daffodils really do need the sun, but these little ones are trying their best. And if you look closely, there’s too flower heads on each stem. They will be wonderful when they finally open up.

My little Red Columbine is flowering right on schedule, despite the chilly days. This plant is such a trooper. By next week, I should have a picture of it just covered in a mass of red blooms.

The Spanish Thrift (Armeria), Bleeding Heart, and Lily-of-the-Valley are all showing signs of flowers to come.

And last but not least, my Winter Sow jugs are all doing great. With the exception of the Black-Eyed Susans. Those seeds didn’t take at all. But no biggie, I have plenty in the garden already. These will be ready to be transferred from their make-shift green houses to the gardens in a couple of weeks.

In the meantime, this week is supposed to be warmer, and I hope their right…

Rupert and I both need some sun and fresh air!