Sock knitting has been on the hold for the last week. A friend in Ottawa has a daughter who will be starting kindergarten in the fall. I’ve been meaning to make her a kitty cat hat forever… and finding out that she’s almost kindergarten age… well I was running out of time!

Dave and I stopped at a Michaels and i let him pick the yarn. It’s Loops and Threads “Soft Classic” in Lotus Blossom.

The pattern, of course, my Seamless Kitty Cat hat pattern.

I made the biggest size, and I’m actually worried it’s going to be a little too big. But she can always grow into it!

And now, I better get back to those socks.

Since about November, Dave and I have been thrifting on the regular. Sarnia offers us a nice little circuit of thrifts shops we can hit weekly as we run our “city” errands (hitting Home Depot, Walmart, and the other bigger stores we don’t have closer to home).

It starts at the ReStore, then to Value Village, then to the Mission Thrift Store, and ending at Talize. It’s a nice way of getting a little exercise in the cold weather… you really have to walk every inch of the stores to find the treasures!

And then of course, there’s the actual treasures! This month we’ve discovered…

It’s missing it’s lid and other accessories – but I don’t actually make fondue so that doesn’t matter! It matches my other pieces, and that’s enough for me. I’m thinking I may just pop a plant in her, and put her on one of the kitchen shelves.

We don’t do a tonne of entertaining – mostly just around Christmas. But over the last couple of years, I’ve come to understand the need for pretty snack dishes. These three pieces match the glaze on some other little dishes I bought early last year. They will be perfect for laying out some dips, crackers, pickles, etc.

Naturally, I’m always on the look out for garden things in the thrift stores.

And faerie garden things are even better. The above twig pieces are a bigger scale than my other faerie garden stuff, so I’m not quite sure where I’ll put them, but I’m sure I’ll find a spot!

This one is more on scale with the pieces I already have. I think the gnome village is going to have to expand this year.

And did you know thrift stores can be a great place to get fabric?

The first piece is 7.5 full yards! Perfect for a quilt backing. The next two pics are both flannel. The centre are two full yard pieces. I’m going to get another yard of something coordinating, and make a fun three-yard Christmas quilt. And the last is just over a yard – perfect for the back of a baby quilt. And I have no shortage of puppy fabric!

This next piece is just over a yard. I think there’s enough that I can use the bottom banner for a valance on the second kitchen window. We just have a blind on it now, and I think it would be a nice compliment to the ones over the window by the sink.

I have lots of chicken fabric in the stash that I can use with the leftover red pieces.

And last… no thrifting trip would be complete without something for the kids…

A cute little treat jar – certainly much nicer than having those little pouches hanging about the kitchen!

I know.

I said I did not need to buy ANY more yarn. That I wasn’t going to buy ANY more yarn.

But then Araignee just happened to mention that Knit Picks brought back Felici! For those that don’t know – Felici is probably my most favorite sock yarn. It’s soft, it wears well and it’s got big fat stripes! And I’d pretty much used up all the Felici I had in my stash.

And then Knit Picks went and DISCONTINUED IT!!! They brought in a new one called Felicini, with skinny stripes. I read a lot of poor reviews for it, but I can’t comment on it one way or another because I never tried it. It just didn’t float my boat.

But then I hear Felici is back! Well you know I just had to go take a look…

And it’s never JUST a look…

I absolutely HAD to get Sanderson (Top Right and Middle Right) (If you know, you know). And I had to get enough for a pair for me and a pair for a special person. And then Cactus Flower (Bottom Right) was just too perfect for me. Silent Film (Top Left) is perfect for Dave – I haven’t made him socks in quite a while.

None of the other colours really spoke to me… but I still needed to spend enough to get free shipping. So a skein of Stroll in Basecamp (Bottom Left) and a skein of Hawthorne in Blackbird (Bottom Middle) came along for the ride. These will probably become socks for Dave and I… but who knows!

Now… I have to resist the urge to cast on that Felici right now! I have other projects to finish!

Almost every day, Burton and I do the same thing…

Around 4 pm, he comes up to my office, and is all sweetness and purring… trying to convince me that he has not been fed in AGES. That he is starving… withering away to just bones… with very little time left.

And pretty much every day, I go down to discover that in fact he HAS been fed…. usually only 10 minutes before.

It was a very productive weekend – on top of sewing, stitching and knitting, I even had time to put a little paint down…

As odd as it may seem, I actually enjoy working on the smaller spaces of the paint-by-number better than the big spaces. They don’t go any faster, but seeing them become something is quite satisfying.

Working my way down the foot of the pink socks, I was really regretting my decision to rib it the whole way…

But I persevered and the first sock is done. As much as it can be a slog, the ribbing is worth it. It makes for a wonderfully fitting sock.

I’m also pleased with my decision to use the mini-skein for the heel and toe. It just adds a little something to this simple sock, don’t you think?

I got in plenty of stitching time this weekend and as a result, block #4 is finished!

And I even got a decent start on block #5!!

Ideally, I’d like to get to a space where I can finish a block each weekend. I’m certainly getting more comfortable with the stitches, so it may happen!

There’s 20 blocks in total so I’ll have some real experience under my belt by the time I’m done them all!

I’d love to get one more quilt top done before the end of the month – and then head to Mom’s in February to do some quilting.

I only have a couple of quilts on the go at the moment – a batik log cabin and this one….

It’s the former Leader/Ender four patches, now turned on point. When last you saw it, I only had four rows together on each side.

I’d hope to finish the whole top on the weekend, but I’d underestimated just how many four patches I’d made. And of course, as each row grows, they take longer to make. Burton and I managed eight rows on Saturday afternoon (four more per side). I have enough four patches left for at least 10 more rows, plus the middle row which will make everything line up right.

I’m hoping we can finish it up next weekend – and then I’ll schedule a date with Mom!

.. or chickadees in this case!

If you’re a regular reader, you’ll know that the Stay At Home Round Robin (SAHRR), which starts each year mid-January, is my favourite sew along.

This week was for making/choosing your centre block. In the past, I’ve made large medallion blocks, but the second year I did it, and last year, I used a panel and it worked so well I decided to do it again.

A couple years ago, Mom and both fell in love with the above panel, so she got us each one, and some coordinating fabrics for it. I decided 2025 was the year I was finally going to put it to use – and what better than in the SAHRR! The panel is 24.5 inches square, so it’s a nice big start to the quilt.

I only have 9 coordinating fat quarters for the line, so I’m probably going to have to get creative. If was thinking, I would have bought more yardage of the two blenders on the far left. I might still be able to get some (or something close) but even if I could… I’m going to be good and not take the plunge. Instead I’m going to go stash diving and see if I can come up with something that works. I already know my one of my grey solid bolts will be perfect for a background fabric, so I’m set there.

Now Burton and I just wait for the first prompt!

***

Here’s a little look back at my previous SAHRR projects…

This one was the first one I participated in, in 2021. I ended up donating it to Mom’s workplace for a raffle fundraiser they were doing (I think it supported the local hospital). It ended up being won by one of Mom’s friends who absolutely cherishes it. She commissioned Mom to make some matching pillows shams because she loved it so much.

This is the one I did in 2022. I donated this one to Natalie and Bee Meadow Farm. She raffled it to help pay for care for her wonderful menagerie.

This is my 2023 project, and I think it’s my absolute favourite! I fell in love with the fabric line (Indigo Cheddar) and it just screamed to be made into something more traditional-looking. Mom did some fancy quilting on it and we put it in the shop. It sold in days.

And the 2024 quilt, of course, was made as a wedding gift for a friend. Once again Mom did some fancy quilting, and added a scalloped border which I just love. That’s something I’ll have to keep in mind for this one!

I believe I said at the start of this month, I was going to try and keep things under control with new additions to the gardens… to rely on what I have… etc.

Well that was before the garden catalogues started arriving…

Now I haven’t bought anything…. yet.

But I have some ideas.

I would like to try a couple new things in the veg garden this year.

The first picture is a “Mini Love” melon. The site called it a “personal size watermelon”. I’m not a fan of watermelon, but Dave is. I think I can find a place for these.

The second picture is another mix of gourds called the “Beetlejuice” mix. I did very well with my galaxy of stars mix last year, so I thought these would be fun to try this year.

Now… in the world of flowers…

I think I can keep this year’s purchases to just seeds… focusing on growing annuals for cutting and to fill in holes like I did last year. The zinnias and bachelors buttons I grew did very nicely – and would have been even better had I not started them so late.

And boy are there some lovely zinnias out there!

I’d also like to try some snap dragons from seed, even though I’ve had no luck in the past.

I’d like to get the really tall ones you can use for cutting.

Same with poppies. I have perennial poppies which do very well, but I’d love some of the more delicate, annual ones.

There are a lot of options out there!

I’m definitely going to do more Cosmos. I have some seed left over…

But I feel like I should add this “Apricotta” to the mix.

And of course I have to grow some sunflowers.

Both Pro-Cut plum and Cherry Rose have caught my eye.

And normally, I buy marigolds, but I have a hard time finding white ones.

I could get some if I started from seed…. and maybe throw in some of this “Strawberry Blonde” mix?

And these aren’t annuals…. but…

I feel like some hollyhocks and Larkspur would feel right at home here.. right?

Of course… before I buy anything, I really should go see what I already have in stock….