While I didn’t get the whole top done, I’m happy to share that I got all the stars done for my friends quilt.

And the boys are just thrilled too! And why not… just look at those rich batiks!

They are so much brighter in real life, I wish you could see them. This weekend, I’m taking a day to layout the top and get it all together. Then I’ll make a date for Mom’s so I can get it quilted, bound, and into the hands of my dear friend.

The Stay at Home Round Robin has started up again and once again I’m joining in! To be honest, this is my favourite sew along, and even though I already have a lot of my plate with all my current projects, I just had to be a part.

So far, we just have our centre blocks, and the options for your centre block are completely open. I kept it simple…

I’m working with a panel, that I bordered with plain black fabric to build it out to 12 inches. That gives me a nice number to start with for the first round (which will be announced next Monday.)

I have the fabric line that goes with the panel, and it will be used to build out each round. I bought it to make a wedding quilt for a friend. I wasn’t set on pattern, and then I remembered the SAHRR was coming up and decided it would be the perfect way to make the wedding quilt.

It will ensure it’s a 100% unique gift!

It didn’t take long to fill in all the red on my wee little crab.

In fact, by Saturday morning, he was hanging above the sink in the downstairs bathroom.

And now I need to go find a new project to stitch on….

As expected, the next Blockhead block was released on Wednesday, and I got right to it on Saturday!

The fun of these kinds of sew alongs is deciding how you will interpret the designer’s block with your own fabrics. I decided to keep the fussy cutting theme in the centre like I did in the first block, and did a little more fussy cutting for the centre of those friendship stars.

The designer also did the points of the friendship stars in a print, but I decided ot do them in my background fabric to make the block feel more open, like my first block.

I can’t wait to decide what to do with the third block!

I am an avid follower of the British gardening show Gardener’s World. And I’m super jealous of the fact that Britains get to enjoy flower blooming as early as February (the even occasionally have stuff blooming in December and January!!!)

But this winter… it was feeling like we might just see it in Southern Ontario.

Like many readers in the Eastern half of the U.S., Southern Ontario had been experiencing a very mild winter so far (and apparently the blame is on Mr. El Nino). We had a good dump of snow on Hallowe’en, and a couple of dustings , but nothing that’s lasted more than a couple of days.

And the gardens…

The gardens were pretty darn green! Above is a bunch of the foxglove seedlings I planted in late summer. They are are going to make a fantastic showing this summer. This kills me, because I couldn’t keep foxgloves going at the townhouse… now I’ll be overrun by them if I’m not careful!

It’s not totally surprising that the native plants, like the Sneezeweed and Columbine above can sprout in temps that hover just above freezing.

But the New Dawn Climbing rose has not only kept most of her leaves (as have several of the other roses) but she’s put on some new growth too.

And that bud there, that’s a Honeysuckle bud. I doubt it will bloom – it’s been there since Christmas… but it hasn’t been cold enough to kill it and knock it off.

Like Dee, I have daffodils sprouting. As well as hyacinths, and garlic! I’m very excited about that garlic! It will be mid-summer before I can harvest it though.

There sedum and peonies sprouting, and the pussywillow were putting on buds… it definitely didn’t have a January vibe in the garden this year.

In fact, the only thing that did look January was the Holly bush. I gave it a major chop last summer and it’s rewarded me with MASSES of berries. The sparrows haven’t bothered with it yet, but they will soon.

Of course, this was all until Friday. The temps dropped, the wind picked up and bam!

Winter arrived! Temps are supposed to stay below freezing for at least a week. So I guess I won’t be getting my British garden any time soon…

January is already flying by and I’ve got to get moving on the quilt I’m making for my ill friend. So last weekend, I devoted some time to making some real progress on it.

First, I finished up all the four patches.

About half of these need to be turned into stars, so then I set about making some geese for star legs

After that, I had just enough time to turn one of the four-patches into a completed star, just to see how it would look

Hopefully, as you’re reading this, I’m making progress on the rest of the stars. And who knows… maybe even sewing them into a top!

You may have already seen this on the Bearbottom Facebook page, but I just had to share it again here.

I just happened to walk in and snap this pic at the perfect moment. And it really was just a moment – as soon as I put the camera down, they started in on a full-on wrestling match!

With the socks off the needles, it was time to cast on something new. I don’t want a dismal repeat of last year’s knitting tally, so I’ve committed to finishing one project each month. I’ve already got January down, but a February finish isn’t guaranteed unless I cast on something right away.

I went stash diving and came up with a skein of Knit Pick’s Hawthorne in Jupiter.

Honestly, I don’t even remember buying this yarn. Truth be told, it’s not my colours, and I’m not really fond of speckled yarns. The only reason I can think that I might have bought it was a) it was on sale (I bought a bunch of Knit Picks yarn on sale last year, so that checks) and b) the name – Jupiter is my Ruling Planet in astrology. Whatever the reason, I’m knitting with it now.

Speckles make the yarn very busy, but I didn’t want to do another pair of plain vanilla socks… so I opted for Vanilla Latte. I know a lot of you have knit this pattern, and I’m kind of surprised it’s taken me this long to knit it myself.

This pair is destined for the gift pile. And it won’t be anklets or small… so I guess I better get knitting.

As I mentioned last week, the Moda Blockheads QAL has started back up after a break for the holidays. This year, they split it into two projects – one before the holidays, and one after. Or you could just make all the blocks for one quilt. I opted for the former option, and you saw the results in my red top last week.

With that done and out of the way, I needed to pick some fabric for the next round. That’s always the hardest part of any project – deciding what to use!

In stead of pulling one big fat quarter bundle, I found a small one, and pull a bunch of stash yardage to go with it. I’ve been collecting bee-themed fabric for a while, so I had quite a bit to choose from. It surprised me how much went together so well, even though they are from different companies and lines.

With the fabric decided on, it was time to get working on the first block.

I think it’s just a fantastic start!

And I think the boys agree!

Now to wait for the next block!

First – I wanted to note how many of you also sleep with socks on because they can’t sleep when their feet are cold! I’m glad I’m not the only one. My whole body can be over-heating, but my feet with be a block of ice if they aren’t covered up! And it’s been like that since I was little.

Now… onto business…

Yep – with the holidays out of the way, I’m back in the TNT business. For my first project of the year, I wanted to use a cross-stitch hand towel I’d picked up at a thrift store when I got the potholders. My original intention was to put chickens on it and use it in the kitchen.

But once I brought it out again, I realized it was a little on the small side for kitchen use. It’s much more suited to a bathroom. And the downstairs bathroom just happens to have a towel rack right above the sink. It would be perfect for there.

So… I shifted gears and went on the hunt for crab patterns… why crabs? Because the shower curtain we have in that bathroom has crabs on it… or I should say - had. I’d forgotten that kitten Lemmy had aerated that shower curtain and we replaced it with one with mandala patterns… (I don’t use the downstairs bath to shower, as I have the upstairs one)

Of course, I didn’t remember until after I bought the pattern…

But it was a cute little crab, so I just decided to continue on with it anyway.

Not the best picture, but I got all the black outlining and his little heart cheeks done. I would have gotten more done, but I had to rip out all Friday night’s progress. I’d started him up a little too high and ran out of room for his eyes.

But I’m back on track now, and if the weekend’s stitching goes well, I should have him done and hanging in the bathroom by Monday.