Even though it was a long weekend, I didn’t get a tonne of stitching done.

I decided to switch things up and work with the lightest colour this time. It looks white in the stitching, but if you look to the floss bobbin at the left, it’s actually a very pale peach. And I’m sure once I get the other shade in there, it won’t look quite so jarring.

And I wanted to share this… last week, Vera shared a snap of the back of her work. Which was immaculate!!!! The back of my work definitely does not look that tidy…

Not even remotely!

Friday afforded some beautiful, sunny weather. It wasn’t super warm, but with the sun shining down, it was perfect for some physical work out in the garden.

After looking at my seed-starting schedule, I realized it was more important to get some infrastructure in, than clean up any dead plants. Several of my vegetables seeds need to be direct sowed. And a few, like the spinach, should be started before the last frost date, as they are cold weather crops.

That means I had to get some beds ready for them… and that meant expanding Edible Alley!

On the left, we have Cucurbit Corridor with some long cedar beds, and the fabulous squash tunnel I bought earlier this year.

Here we will grow Cucamelons, Baby Pumpkins and an assortment of Gourds. The beds still need to be painted, but it’s not quite warm enough for that. They will be our signature green, of course.

To the right, we have Potager Parlour (pronounced Po-ta-jay).

It’s a collection of upcycled planters that we’ve collected, mostly over winter. I have another tire somewhere, but Dave can’t remember where he put it. If we can’t find it, I have some other large pots I can fill the space with.

Next week (hopefully) I’ll get some mulch to cover the “floor”, just like I did in Edible Alley. And of course, get some soil the fill the beds. Planting season is nigh!

In the past, I’ve not done much decorating for Easter. But I found these guys at the grocery store and thought they would look cute on the antique on top of my treadle sewing machine.

I was hoping to get an Easter Garland for the antique radio from Michaels, but all the ones they had were paper based and would be far too tempting for our favourite ginger paper-muncher. I’ll have to make something for next year.

But this little bun sits on top of the radio for now…

I picked him up from the drug store last year.

And I got this wreath at the dollar store. It came with just the pink eggs and leaves on it but I decided I could dress it up better, so I stripped it right down.

Some dollar store flowers, and a little ribbon helped me transform it and now it’s happily hanging on the front door.

I’m trying to curb my plant buying for a while… but Home Depot had Easter Cacti. They are different than Christmas Cacti – they have a smoother leaf and slightly different flowers. I have a red one that’s about 10 years old – though it hasn’t bloomed in ages. In fact, I almost killed it, but it’s been coming back to life this year.

So when I saw they had pink ones, I thought it would be a nice Easter treat to myself.

Not that I really needed another treat, because I did get myself my annual Easter dress…

Even though the closet is bursting with clothes – but traditions are traditions (or so I tell myself!)

It’s going to be a quiet day here for me and Dave. I might throw a ham in the oven but that’s about it for us. I hope you all have a wonderful Easter, however you are spending it!

Burton, like me, really wishes Mother Nature would get her crap together…

While we’ve had some sun this week, but it never really got warm. We’ve been waiting all week because several daffodils have been just on the cusp of blooming. But without any real warmth, they’ve been struggling.

But finally…

…. a couple beauties managed it.

I also have several of this little thing…

It’s called Arctic Bells… and yes, it is a daffodil, though a unique one. It’s very tiny. It only stands about three or four inches high. As you can see, the Coronet is very straight, almost looking like a hoop skirt. And it’s rear petals are thin and spider-like. It’s a delicate little bloomer, and one I’m so glad I added to my garden.

Elsewhere…

There’s still a few snowdrops nodding in the cool breeze. And some White Glory of the Snow has bloomed.

A few of the big Hyacinths are poised to take off. We just need it a little warmer.

And the crocuses are still going. The mix was supposed to provide crocuses for two months… and it will be interesting to see if they actually do!

I’m hoping to get a decent day this weekend to get out and do some clean-up. Not the leaves and stuff – they can stay to keep the moths and caterpillars warm for another month or so… but to get some of the dead stems and seedheads cut and tidied away. The birds have cleared them of seeds, so they aren’t needed any more.

This is Rupert.

You guys all know Rupert. Rupert is weird. Rupert has refused to sleep in ANY pet bed I’ve EVER bought for him.

So when I saw this Squishmallow pet bed…

I had to stop myself from buying it… because I knew! Absolutley KNEW he’d never use it.

And then I come in the bedroom the other day, and what do I see?

That is Davey, my Squishmallow shark he’s on top of.

Rupert has decided he’s just the perfect size for a comfy little pet bed. Almost every day, I come in the bedroom and there he is.

So.. am I going to go out and get him that pet bed now? No… because I know he’d still not use it. He’d rather smoosh poor Davey on a daily basis….

I had expected to have a finished Harriet Shrug to show you today…

…but I’m not quite there… Tuesday night, I finished the front/bottom band. But I haven’t had a chance to work on it since. I only have the bands to do on the sleeves (12 rounds each). So they won’t take long – I just actually have to have time to sit down and do them.

With the holiday tomorrow, I won’t get it in the mail by the end of the month. But I WILL have it done for the start of April. I’ve asked the birthday girl’s mom to let her know I haven’t forgotten her – I’m just a little delayed.

She had a fabulous party at a bowling alley, so I’m sure she’s not missing my present too much!

This weekend didn’t see much sewing… just one block made.

It’s the latest block from the Blockhead sew along. I really like this block, and would love to see a whole quilt made out of it.

I’ve put it in the “to-make” queue. It will be a while until I’m able to do it though.. Lemmy and I have a lot more Blockhead blocks to make first…

Burton and I finished up the last of the veining on our butterfly….

And we’ve started on filling in the colour. I’ve gone with a peachy-pink gradient…

I’m four shades in (there are seven in total) and I think some of them are probably too close in shade – because – as you can see here -it’s very hard to tell there’s four different colours there. But I’m too far in to rip out and change them up now. I think it will be fine once I get a few more of the lighter shades in.

I can finally unveil the final quilt from my weekend at Mom’s. It’s taken this long to share it, because I didn’t quilt it. I left it with Mom to work her magic.

And magic she made!

The whole thing is just covered in fancy stitch work, highlighting the simple red and white blocks

She did the most amazing job. I’m sorely tempted to keep this one… but I already have a red and cream quilt in the works for myself (and I really need to get back to it.

So that means this one is in the shop – and it could be yours if you’re so inclined.

I can’t remember if I told you about my latest Leader Ender project, but I’m making four patches out of my 2.5 square scraps. The bin they live in was badly overflowing, and I really needed to start making use of them.

The plan is to put them on point, with a plain block in between – something like the on point version here.

I was really hoping the project would put a good dent in the bin but so far…

I’ve got a good sized tower of four patches… but that bin doesn’t really look any emptier! I guess I’ll just keep making them!