Oh to be a cat!

On the weekend, I plans to finish up the last four blocks for my red quilt. But…. part way through. Dave decided he needed paint so off to the hardware store we went. And then he wanted to stop at the Chinese food restaurant to get an early dinner.

So…

I only managed to get two blocks done instead of four.

I’m still two short, but I couldn’t resist laying them all out on the bed. Once sewn together, I think they will cover the top just perfectly. So I can keep the borders simple. I’m thinking a thin cream border, followed by a wider print border.

We had an absolutely beautiful weekend, so I was back in the garden for much of it – as I had another construction project.

Dave doesn’t usually say much about my garden plans and purchases, but he did raise an eyebrow when Amazon delivered yet another large box…

But I explained to him that the transition from the woodland garden to the backyard needed a little more “structure”. And with that, I took my box outside and got to work. In short order, my structure was complete.

As pretty as it is, I’m not going to share the link because it’s definitely not the most well-made arbour and I don’t recommend purchasing it. If it last more than two years, I’ll be surprised. But, I’m only planning on growing sweet peas up it – and they are annuals, so it won’t harm anything if I have to scrap it eventually. And once the plants on either side grow over the next month, the woodland garden will have proper boundaries.

With that done, I turned my attention to the raspberries. They are starting to sprout nicely.

Last year, they were a big, floppy mess, so I needed to construct something to contain them.

It’s nothing fancy – we got the re-bar stakes with eyelets on them from Princess Auto. I pounded them into the ground, then tied some sting. As the raspberries grow, I’ll hook them inside and everything will be much tidier.

Then it was time to get dirty!

I got the containers in Potager Parlour (mostly) filled. I still need to get a few more bags of soil. I planted my spinach too, so I hope to see some sprouts soon!

You will notice that I don’t have a second tire there.. I did find it (in the garage) but it’s an old tire from the Charger, and Dave has decided he’s sentimentally attached. He didn’t want to see tomatoes growing out of it. No biggie, I had a couple of big pots that happily took its place!

After that, I cleaned the dead stems from the rest of the back gardens (still have to do the front) and burned them in my fire pit (ashes will go in the composter). And I gave the lawn it’s first hair cut and called it a fabulous spring Sunday! I look forward to many more!

I do have plenty of progress on my butterfly to show you, but first I want to share a couple pics Mom took of the solar eclipse

Her town was right in the path of totality

The skies were pretty cloudy, but opened up just enough she was able to get those awesome pics.

Our place was outside the path of totality, so it didn’t get completely dark, but it did get quite dim and eerie!

Now – onto the stitching!

I finished up the lightest bits, and started adding the second lightest colour and I’m feeling much better about my choices.

I might be able to finish the rest of the butterfly next weekend, then I’ll be starting on the greenery! This one is going much quicker than I expected.

I’m doing really well with my goal of at least one finished knit each month. So with Wren’s bolero off the needles, I needed to get something new on to have something to finish by the end of April!

So another pair of sock were in order. This is my Undine pattern, a favorite to use with striped yarn.

The yarn is On Your Toes (with Aloe Vera) in Rose Print. I’ve never knit with it before, but I picked this full ball up in a lot of yarn from a thrift store last year.

It’s has your typical “hardwearing” type of sock yarn feel. I’m not quite sure how the Aloe Vera works in it. Is it supposed to help with the wearing? The knitting? Does it wash out?

Have any of you knit with it? What do you think?

Like the socks I made in February, this pair is destined for the gift box. I’m hoping to have several pairs in there by December.

Last week I mentioned my getting back to the red and cream quilt I’m making for myself. I’ve set it aside for so long, you’ve probably forgotten what it looks like, so here’s a refresher.

The pattern is Jubliee and I’m using fabrics from Moda’s French General Line. (This particular line is Bonheur de Jour which translates to Happiness of the Day).

I whipped these two up in a couple hours last weekend, which really means I should be able to put this quilt together fairly quick if I put my nose to the grindstone. With these two, I now have 12 blocks, and I have enough fabric for 16 – so only four more to make!

This one is going to be a close-to-Queen size for MY bed.

And the boys say I better get cracking because my previous Red and Cream French General quilt on THEIR bed is starting to wear!

Here and there I’ve been able to get out in the garden and do a bit of cleaning. As I said, I’m not cleaning all the stuff on the ground yet. I leave that until it gets warmer so I don’t hurt any overwintering moths, or fireflies, who hibernate in leaf litter, etc.

Mostly, I’ve been trimming down dead stems and such….

Like on this Sedum. The new growth is really robust so it helps to get the old stuff cut away to let in light and air and help the new leaves flourish.

Though it drives Dave crazy, I leave the cuttings in piles on the lawn for about a week or so…

This way nesting birds can come and take their fill of nest-building supplies.

This weekend I plan to plant my spinach seeds.

I’ve got this raised big bed filled and prepped for it. The spinach can grow in here until it gets too hot for the crop. Then I will used this bed as a cutting bed for annual flowers (I’ve got a pile of seeds including snap dragons, zinnias, and sooo much more)

I’ll also be planting some seeds indoors. Last weekend I got my new propagation station set up and ready to go.

And you might be thinking “new??? I thought you built one of those a couple years ago”. You’re right – I did. But after the seeds were done I filled it with house plants (mostly cacti and succulents) and well….. I had no room for seeds.

And this is a very inexpensive way of building a little indoor grow station (“Real” ones can be quite pricy) I got the shelving unit from Canadian Tire for $30 (actually, I think I got it on sale for $25…. but it’s regularly $30). It’s easy to assemble and lightweight so it’s easy to move around, and can be disassembled for storage.

Then I got some grow lights from Amazon for another $30. I buy these particular ones because it’s three separate strips on one control. They attached to the top of the shelf with double sided tape (though they do come with screws if you prefer). Easy Peasy! They have a timer too. There are definitely more expensive lights, and probably better quality, but these get the job done.

So that’s a grow station for $60 instead of $200 or upward for the ready made ones.

This weekend I’ll be starting tomatoes, cantebury bells, Venidium, Sweet peas, Snapdragons, Milkweed and Delphiniums… and maybe some more.

In the meantime, the weather has still be pretty cool (we had snow on and off yesterday) but there’s still new blooms in the garden

The big hyacinths are starting to put on on show. For some reason almost all my big hyacinths are in the catio (that’s on me, since I do all the planting). And that means these ones are in the real danger of being runover by a certain maniac ginger. I’ll have to remember to plant some throughout the other gardens in the fall.

And as for daffodils… things look about the same as last week. I brought a few to enjoy inside…

They were also Lemmy casualties from the catio. And I’ll probably be getting a few more soon. Oh… and like my wee snail?

I picked him up on a whim last year, and I like to move him to random places around the livingroom.

Lemmy has seen things….

On the long weekend I was determined to spend some time in the studio, because I definitely feel like I have not been spending enough in there lately.

But once I got in there, I just did NOT want to work on anything I already had on the go. There’s only two projects – my red and white star quilt, and the scrappy 16 patches. But I was just not feeling either of them.

So instead – I dived into the stash to start something new.

I came up with a batik Jelly Roll and decided to make some log cabins with some nice solid grey. I only got four cabins done.

But it was just the refresh I needed!

I’m hoping to knock one of the other quilts in progress out this weekend. (Weather depending of course, because there’s lot to do in the garden)

By the weekend, I had the Harriet Bolero off the needles and on the blocking board. And as soon as it was dry, I tied in the ends, and put a button on it.

And voila!

This is the second time I’ve made this pattern and I love it. It’s a sweet, simple, pretty quick knit. It’s DK weight (I used some Fat Cat I had left in the stash). And it’s pretty easy to modify. The first time I made, I made it with long sleeves.

This time, I added a little length and width to make sure the birthday girl doesn’t out too fast.

I found a cute little vintage button in the stash to finish it all off with.

And now the ensemble of Old Navy sundress, and knit bolero are wrapped up for the birthday girl and will be put in the mail today! She should have it by the end of the week!