It didn’t get around to stitching until late Sunday night, so I’m afraid the progress is minimal. I got her pet raven done, and the little tree branches underneath done. Here’s a closer look.

He’s a fine looking familiar if I do say so myself!

There wasn’t as much knitting this past week as I would have liked.

But I did get just over a third of the way through the deathflake chart on the second hat. I’m hoping this week brings little more time to sit down with the needles. I’d love to cast this one off by Friday. It’s possible – but I’ll probably have to make a conscious effort to do it.

As they predicted, the temps flew back up and that snow it melting quickly

Though the poor swan is still mostly buried. She got extra snow as that’s where the snowblower dumps it when Dave does the driveway.

But remember how I said roses are tough…

My beautiful Koko Loko emerged from under the snow, fully intact! Most of the roses came through great – with just a handful of stems snapped from the weight of the snow. But snow it pretty insulating, so the cold didn’t seem to bother them much at all.

There’s still several with buds that may or may not get a chance to bloom depending on which way the temps go. I don’t make predictions about the garden much any more – our weather is too wacky.

As I mentioned yesterday, all that snow brings round the bird. They don’t just come for the feeders either…

I leave the seed heads of several garden plants (Globe Thistle on the left, Coneflower on the right) as the birds love them too (especially the finches)

But this has lead to a couple unfortunate casualties this past week. Normally, I cut down all the seeds heads in the catio so the birds aren’t tempted to land in there and linger. But this year I missed some.

On Monday morning, I was awoken by the sound of wings fluttering as Lemmy brought a house sparrow in – alive and apparently unhurt. It got away from him and I was able to shoo it safely out a window. But Thursday afternoon, my attention was drawn by two orange cats streaking by at a furious pace… Furby was following Lemmy, who raced passed me with a bird in his mouth. I finally cornered him in the bedrooom where he’d deposited it under my bed. It was a Junco, and I guess Lemmy had learned from the first round, because this one was dead.

The seed heads have now been cleared from the danger zone but don’t worry – the birds still have many other spots in the garden to feast

If there’s one good thing about the snow….

It brings all the birds to the yard! I’ve been keeping the feeders full so all my feathered friends have the energy they need to weather the cold.

Here are my fave pics from this week.

Goldfinches

Rose Breasted Nut Hatch

Red House Finch

House Sparrows

And of course, the Blue Jays.

The first snow is always a little exciting. There’s still a good amount left, but it’s melting quickly.

But when it started Lemmy was happy to run around like an idiot in the frosty catio. It got a little tougher for him when the snow got heavier. But now that it’s melting, he’s back out there stalking birds and acting the fool

But I think all the snow and cold just might just turn a certain someone into a house cat…

He certainly hasn’t been in a hurry to spend much time out in the cold and the snow.

Since it was snowing on Sunday, his Lordship demanded I get in the studio and get sewing. I still didn’t have my sewing mojo rocking. Some of you had suggested starting a new project to get it going, and I definitely considered it. But the project I want to start requires a lot of thinking… and I just wasn’t up to it.

So I pulled out an old project. I started it back in spring 2024 and never touched it again.

It was the perfect project for me to work on, because it doesn’t require much brain power. I just pulled out random strips from the Jelly Roll, and keep on sewing.

In the end, Burton and I got eight more cabins finished.

When I first started it, I wasn’t too sure about the solid grey. I thought I might have made a mistake with that choice.

But seeing more blocks laid out – I think it works quite well with those pastel batiks.

I’m not sure how big I’ll make it. I guess it depends how many blocks I can get from that Jelly Roll.

On Sunday, we got the snow they called for. You can see my poor roses weren’t very happy about it. I didn’t get a chance to cut any before it snowed.

It was really just a dusting

But definitely enough to put an end to gardening for the year.

And if I didn’t believe it…. Monday made up for it. We don’t normally get a tonne of snow here. We are just outside the snow belt, so the worst of it almost always passes us by.

But… every once in a while, the wind is just right… and we get lake effect snow. It started early Monday afternoon.

By dinner time, the gardens and swan were well on their way to being buried.

Dave snowblowed while I was cooking dinner, and by the time we went to bed, the driveway was all filled in again.

He was up before I was and had it mostly blown out again by the time I pulled myself out of bed.

But my poor swan was completely buried.

In the end, we got close to two feet.

They say it’s supposed to start warming up today, and the snow should be melted by the weekend. But it’s definitely the end of gardening until the spring.

I guess I can focus on indoor projects now.

Because of my weekend trip to the big city, there wasn’t a tonne of time for stitching. But there was enough to give the first witch her body and head. There’s lots to fill in around her, and of course, she needs her other arm. But it’s nice to see her come to life.

I believed I mentioned last week, that on Friday, I was headed to the big city for part of the weekend.

And by big city, I mean this place. Good ol’ Toronto.

I learned a few things from our last jaunt to Toronto, so this time I decided to take a train the whole way – instead of driving half and train for the second half like we did last time.

But this train isn’t like the train we used last time either. Last time we took the GO train – which is basically a commuter train. It’s really just a bigger, fancier bus/subway.

This time, I took the VIA. The VIA train I took runs the Toronto to Windsor corridor, so it’s a smaller scaled-down version of the VIA that does cross-country travel (no sleeper cars etc). It also goes much faster – up to 130km at times – with fewer stops. And happily stops in a town only 15 minutes from here.

So Friday afternoon, Dave dropped me off at the station and soon enough I was zipping along, watching the world go by as I got some knitting done.

I did splurge a little, and went business class. That meant I got free drinks and a cold meal.

A fancy cheese plate with a date square for dessert.

There is a downside though. On Saturday, there are only two train back home – one first thing in the morning, and one just after 5 pm. So I had the choice of getting up before dawn, or having to hang out in the big city by myself for most of the day. Dave was not keen on me taking the second option, so before dawn it was.

I got to Union Station by 6:30 am, and it was practically deserted. So I took some time to enjoy the original part of the station. Quick history – Union Station building began in 1914, and it was officially opened in 1927. They certainly don’t make them like that anymore.

My train was departing at 6:50, so I couldn’t linger too long.

The trip home saw another fancy meal…

… and me getting a good amount of work done on the second deathflake hat.

By the time I hit London (the stop before mine), I was through the ribbing and plain knitting. Now I’m ready to start the colourwork.

So… while it was a quick trip. It cemented one thing. The train is the BEST way to get to Toronto!

You may have seen this on the Bearbottom Facebook page, but I thought I should announce it here too.

We’ve just discovered that due to changes in customs regulations, we are now required to prepay import duties on all U.S. shipments. With the removal of the de minimis limit, every quilt shipped to the U.S. is now subject to a 35% tariff — that’s an additional $35 in fees for every $100 spent. (That’s over $100 extra on a $300 quilt).

Unfortunately, this makes it extremely difficult for us to continue offering fair prices to our American customers. As a result, we’ve made the tough decision to temporarily suspend sales to the U.S. while we explore solutions to make this process more manageable for both us and you.

We are really upset about this… and I’m not sure what the solution is, other than charging the additional money. We don’t sell quilts at a fast and furious pace, but at least 50% of our sales have been our friends south of the border

We’re going to mull it over and decide what to do. In the mean time, here’s a look at Mom’s latest quilt on the frame…

I convinced here to add a little snail in the quilting…

If that doesn’t make you smile today – nothing will!