Cat croissant, anyone?

Here we are in February.

February is always the hardest month for me. Though it’s a short month, it’s almost always cold, grey and dreary. (Though winter this year has been exceptionally grey, it feels).

So in February, flowers in the house are a must for me

Happily, the grocery store always has cut tulips this time of year. I love tulips because they last so long as a cut flower.

And my house plants are doing their best to cheer me up too.

Both of the poinsettias I bought before Christmas are doing quite nicely. The trick with poinsettia is to keep them moist (but don’t drown them) and give them lots of light.

I’m hoping I can keep this pair going to next Christmas. I’ve kept a couple poinsettias till mid-summer… but never past. I’m going to enjoy this challenge.

My light purple violet is still blooming up a storm. I can’t get over how well it’s doing. It’s a very happy little plant.

And remember that aloe that bloomed? We’ll I’ve got another one blooming

This one is a spikier, smaller aloe, but it’s got some pretty big, bold orange flowers. These aloes are certainly happy in the sewing room window.. despite our grey skies!

I’d fallen slightly behind with my blockhead blocks, so I had two to make this weekend instead of just one.

I am absolutely loving these fabrics, especially fussy cutting all the centre bees. And I think the boys agree.

Another block came out today, but as I’m away this week, I’ll hopefully find some time to put it together on the weekend.

His Lordship was back on the job this weekend…

… making sure I met my stitching deadline. And we were successful. Early Sunday night, I put the last of the letters in. The words aren’t part of the pattern, I just winged them and they worked out very well.

I gave it a good soak, and then a press to get all the wrinkles out and framed it up.

And as you read this, I’m either waiting for a plane, on a plane, waiting for another plane, or on the ground in Ottawa – maybe even giving this to the recipient this very moment!

… and to Reward the most noble fluffbutt for all his hard work, we’ve entered him in America’s Favourite pet.

If he wins, he will be featured in Modern Cat magazine! You can vote for him daily, so please do!

Vote here!!! Vote often!

The first prompt for the Stay at Home Round Robin (SAHRR) was released last Monday. It was a signature block.

As signature block is a block with a white space on it that you can literally sign you name on (or put a message on).

It’s frequently used in milestone quilts (for weddings, anniversaries, etc) for friends and families to write a message to the recipient.

There are all types of signature blocks, but they style above is the most common. Now, naturally, I had no use for signatures in my quilt, but the style above can be arranged to make sort of a zigzag border.

I wasn’t loving that idea. But I thought, if you made the signature part a little wider… it’s shaped a little like a leaf… and my fabrics do have a botanical theme. I got out some graph paper and started sketching.

I finally settled on a simple heart, flanked by signature “leaves”

I got the top and bottom borders on and both Lemmy and I thought it was looking pretty good. But when I went to put the sides on, the corners were looking just too big and blank.

I had the “brilliant” idea to put a bigger”leaf”, in a different fabric. And I thought it was all looking good until I got it all on and laid it on the bed to take pictures.

And suddently I no longer had hearts and leaves… I had hearts and rocketships…

Burton thinks it’s absolutely hilarious…. and it is… but it definitely won’t do!

I’m going to do some ripping and rethink those corners. I’ve got a few ideas of what I’ll do instead, but I’m not settled on anything yet. I won’t be able to get to it until the weekend any way.

One thing I am thrilled about is the black background. When I first bought the fabrics and started planning what I might do, I wasn’t planning on using a black background. But then I started looking closer at the fabrics in the collection, and a lot of them are light. If I used a light background, I’d be very limited it how I could use almost half the fat quarter bundle. I made a last minute decision to go with black… and I love how it looks.

So… you lose some… you win some… and next weekend we’ll turn that loss into a win!

All that snow you saw on my garden yesterday… well it’s gone. That pic was take a few days ago. But Thursday, the temps started rising. It’s not super warm ,but it’s stayed above freezing. By yesterday, all that was left was a few lumps of snow here and there.

I took the opportunity to give the inside of Dory a good cleaning on the back drive. While I was working away on that, the boys were out getting some fresh air…

The cats do go outside in when it’s snowy, but they don’t stay out as long. And even though the snow was gone, it was still very wet, so Relic settled in to watching the world go by from the relative dryness of the cat cabana

Lemmy is not quite so fussy…

He was very busy in every corner of the catio

There’s no doubt that he’s the youngest of the bunch. He’s just a very busy boy.

Burton has far more dignity…

A little sniff…

A little stretch

And he retired to the comfort of the sun porch.

And you’re probably wondering where Rupert is…

He’ll come out when it’s actually Spring… none of this false spring for him!

Although my gardens are currently sleeping peacefully under a blanket of snow…

You know I’m already working on big plans for the next season. I’ve already placed a big seed order and it’s already arrived.

In the veg beds, I’m sticking close to what I did last year with snap peas, bush beans, carrots, and cucumbers. I’m going to try to grow some broccoli and leafy greens (spinach and lettuce) as well.

But when it comes to tomatoes, I took your guys advice.

I ordered seeds for yellow cherry tomatoes, to help Dave with the acid issue he has with tomatoes. I don’t normally start my tomatoes from seed, but this will at least keep me from ending up with Roma tomatoes when I was expecting grape tomatoes!

And for my squash, I’m going to try this beauty

It’s called Celebration squash. I had one at Christmas and it was incredibly flavourful. I’m hoping the ones I grow will be just as good!

I also splurged a little on this…

It’s a “Squash Tunnel” and like my old ladder, it’s used to grow squash vertically to save space. But I’m going to keep my squash on my ladder.

On the tunnel I plan to grow…

Baby pumpkins!

And Cucamelons!

But it’s not just veg. Plenty of flower seeds came along for the ride too.

Most are annuals, and I’m debating whether they will go here and there about the existing beds… or whether I want to build a dedicated “Cutting Garden”

Well.. it’s still January so I’ve got at least a few more weeks to make a final decision…

I walked in the bedroom the other day to find Relic in the bed.

This in an of itself is not an unusual occurance. It’s what he’s laying on that’s weird.

That furry blanket below him… he HATES it. Why? I have no idea. I usually sleep with it over top of my quilts in the winter because it’s nice and warm. However, if he comes to bed and it’s on me, he will step around it and go sleep on my pillow, or sit there and stare at me until I move it. Like he literally will not put one paw on it.

I don’t know why… the blanket has never done anything to him. And the other three cats LOVE the furry blanket. It’s weird.

So why was he laying on it now.. had he finally made peace with it’s soft, fluffy existence….?

Not quite. You can see he’s also laying on something else. One of my cotton pajama cardigans to be exact. I’d tossed it on the bed after getting dressed for the day.

In fact, he was so strategically aligned on it, that not one part of him was actually touching the furry blanket. He’s 100% on the cardigan.

What a cat…

With winter (ie snow) finally here, the birds have been very busy at my feeders.

It’s mostly the usual suspects. Cardinals, sparrows, juncos and jays

But there have been a few new visitors.

The finches (in this case, Goldfinches – though there have been red-headed finches as well) aren’t really new, but this is the first time I’ve been able to catch them on film.

And of course, our visitors aren’t just avian either.

Our little squirrel friends are never one to miss a meal!

I’m all about self-imposed deadlines right now…

I want to get my friends Get Well quilt quilted and on the way to her by the end of February. Which means I had to get the top together first.

The layout is pretty straight forward. It’s just the stars laid out in a grid, with more four-patches as the cornerstones.

Simple in theory, but a little harder when you have to work around these two. But eventually – I prevailed.

I normally shy away from pieced borders. They can be a real pain to get the right size… but I had a pile of four-patches leftover, and I wanted to make this one more rectangular than squares so it seemed like a good use of them.

Luckily, both top and bottom went on without much trouble. And now this one is ready for quilting!

I’ve got a gorgeous purple floral for the binding, and this great rich blue for the back! I better make a date with Mom!