Some of you have crocuses blooming already and I am soooo jealous. Our weather has warmed up a touch (just above freezing), and February has been surprisingly sunny, but real blooms are still weeks off for me.

Over in Willow Grove, it’s just the pink pussywillow that’s putting on a show. It’s always the earliest to get catkins of the three willows I have there (white, black, and pink)

The branches are covered in catkins and are starting to turn dark grey (which is normal). When the weather gets warm enough for the bees to emerge, these will produce a load of pollen and be one of their first food sources available.

Both the white and black pussywillows are putting out catkins, but they are always much slower to emerge. I expect they will come into full show in the next few weeks.

You may also recall that I have a weeping pussy willow out front. Last year, it leafed just fine, but didn’t put out any little catkins, which was a big disappointment.

I really had to look, but I did find one the other day! So hopefully this will be sign of more to follow. It’s a pretty spectacular little tree (though not very tall yet), and I think it would be amazing covering in fuzzy catkins.

The snowdrops in the catio yard have recovered from last week’s snow and are doing their best to put on a show.

These should multiply a little every year, and I hope one day, they will be almost like a little carpet in early spring.

In fall, I planted some bulbs over in the woodland garden too – most of which is still covered in leaves (I leave them as long as possible for the moths, fireflies and other critters that over winter in them), but I spied this little snow drop poking out.

I’ve also planted bluebells and other bulbs over there too, most hidden under the leaves.

Hopefully there will be a wonderful spring show in that corner of the yard too.

Elsewhere..

My beautiful Hellebore has made it through the winter and should put on new growth and blooms over the coming weeks.

And there are bulbs of every kind coming up in every single garden. It’s really only a matter of time… but the waiting is so hard sometimes!!!

So many of the quilters in my various quilting Facebook groups, seem to come across thrifted quilt fabric alllllll the time. But it’s super rare for Dave and I to come across any on our thrifty adventures.

So when we finally did on a recent trip… I snapped it all up

That little haul consisted of mostly fat quarters (or pieces very close to fat quarters), as well as an almost complete jelly roll (36 strips instead of the full 42)

They also had this cute little vintage set of drawers

And I thought it would look cute hanging on the wall in the studio.

Naturally, it was all thoroughly inspected and approved by his Lordship.

When the weather is cold, the front window is one of the most popular seats in the house…

It’s a constant rotation of cats throughout the day.

Nothing like a warm, cheerful spot to watch the world go by

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?????”

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