There wasn’t a lot of sewing this weekend, but I did manage to finish another block for the blockhead quilt

We’re having a lot of fun with the fussy cutting in this project.

Hey look! A finished sock!

I managed to get the first sock off the needles and the toe sewn up Monday night. I’m hoping to get the second one on the needles tonight. There’s only 8 days left in the month and I would REALLY like to get it done and off by Leap day!

I got a new LED bulb for the task light that sits over my recliner and it’s nice and bright. It’s made working on the butterfly cross stitch MUCH easier.

As you can see, I’ve completed the outline on half of the butterfly. I really want to start putting in all the colours, but I’m going to stick with red for now and do the other side. This is just incase I have to set the project aside for a while – I won’t be lost when I come back trying to figure out which colours I used.

Those of you who have been around for a while know that I’m really good at organizing my space… I’m just not so good at keeping it that way….

This was how it looked after I finished putting the last round on the SAHRR quilt. You can’t see the stuff piled up to the right of the sewing machine, or all the fabric blocking access to the closet (also to the right)

I really needed to get things squared away. A couple hours later….

It’s still a little cluttered, but the piles on the table beside the machine are gone. And I can get to the closet. The real problem is I just have too much fabric. I really need to make more quilts!

And while I’m happy to have a little more room to breathe in here… I’m also a little worried. In a few months, I have to find some space in here for my office computer, when we start renos on my office. It’s going to be a tight squeeze!

Mother Nature continues to play games with my heart.

On Wednesday I had Snowdrops blooming in the warmth of the sun. (This is the earliest I’ve ever had flowers bloom)

And then Thursday….

The snow didn’t end up being as bad as they predicted, but the yard did get a couple inches, and temps have been below freezing since.

Happily, that amazing man of mine surprised me with the most wonderful Valentine’s gift. We don’t normally do much for Valentines – a small token and a card usually. And Dave usually leaves it to the last minute then asks me 10 million times what I want.

So when I came home in mid-January, and he was wrapping something up, and said I couldn’t have it to Valentine’s, I was quite intrigued. (And maybe a little nervous… who was this man???)

Valentine’s finally came and I was able to open it… and he knocked it out of the park!

Basically, and encyclopedia by my favourite Gardening Guru. This book is big and thick! I’m loving it… and it’s keeping me from going too crazy about not being able to get out in the garden.

I can’t even plant my seeds yet. I sat down on Thursday, while the snow blew cold and grey, and took stock of all my packets. I set up a spreadsheet, noting whether they would be sown direct, or started early… and the sow dates for each. And according to my spreadsheet, the earliest I can start anything is the beginning of March – though the bulk needs to be started early April… that’s soooooooo far away!

But that hasn’t stopped me from collecting more things for garden beds. As you may recall, I bought the Squash Tunnel, which will expand the veg garden… and so will these

We picked up this nice tall raised bed at the ReStore. It will be painted our signature green as soon as the weather is warm enough to paint outside.

And this galvanized tub was a nice surprise find at Value Village. It’s about 2′ square and 18″ tall, so it will be a nice size for planting.

I think I may have to sit down with a sketch pad and draw out some new plans before things get too out of hand…

We continue to sew along with the blockheads and have added another block to our collection…

I always say I don’t really love sampler quilts, but then I just keep joining these sew alongs..

Because it is a of fun to see these blocks all come together.

“Why didn’t you enter me to be America’s Favourite Pet?????”

Burton has made the top 15, so now we are onto the top 10. Please continue to vote daily – we really appreciate it!

I had hoped to have the first Jupiter sock off the needles by now, but as you can see, that hasn’t happened. I don’t know what it is, but I find this pattern (Vanilla Latte), knits up very slow. Maybe it’s just me… I’m just moving slow.

Regardless, it’s knitting up well and as long as I have the pair done by the end of the month, I’ll be happy. And sticking to my goal to complete one knit project each month.

Happy Valentines Day!

Found this cute guy at Dollar Tree and had to get him for my front door.

And you know where I found this cute guy! He wants to send you all love today.

Last week he made it to the top 20 of his group in the “America’s Favourite Pet” contest. Now he’s vying for a spot in the top 15… so please keep voting every day! It’s a long contest, but at the end of it, he could be named America’s Favourite pet! How cool would that be?

Stitch by tiny stitch, I’m building a butterfly

And it’s starting to look like an actual butterfly now. I should be a little bit further, but I had to do some ripping at the top of that wing – I had missed a few stitches and things were not lining up. I could have fudged it, but since the other wing is a mirror image, I would have to remember how I fudged it – and I know I’d never be able to remember.

So, I got out the seam ripper and slowly started picking it apart. I lost about an hours worth of work, but it actually when much easier than I thought it would… because those stitches are TINY! Still, I’m enjoying making every one of them!