It is Trying

Spring is trying, but I would like to have a word with someone about the snow on Friday and Saturday. It was beautiful and balmy in western Canada, while in the east we got cold and snow.

Today, we are cool (+10) but it is mostly sunny and the birds are out. I took a walk to see if the flowers had survived the cold.

I have little surprises in some spots of my yard.

My tulips need a few more days.

One of my neighbours has some open.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Holland and the end of the war in Europe. The Canadian Tulip Festival was going all out, to put on a show. The Dutch Royal Family sent thousands of tulip bulbs and Princess Margriet, who was born at Ottawa Civic Hospital was planning to visit. Of course, the visit and most of the festival has been cancelled, except on line. If you would like to visit the Festival, you can go here.
https://tulipfestival.ca/

I was exploring my "stuff" and found some blocks. these were made by my quilting friends, a few years ago, as a year long project. I brought them home and never did anything with them. So, I was looking through my stash for some sashing for them.

The colours aren't right. Try to ignore the bright blue comforter.

Too dark, and not enough purple.

Not perfect, but I think I can live with it. It isn't like I can spend an afternoon in a quilt shop, pulling out all the bolts to find the perfect sashing. I think I might need to change the border on the block in the top left. It looks to dark with this fabric.

I will see how it goes.

Faith

Today, I am working on having faith that we will all get through this and come safely out the other side. So, I will show you my acts of faith, for today.

I purchased an update to my Corel photo software, some time ago. I had a really hard time getting it installed, their problem, not mine, so I kind of left it and continued using the old version. Today, I opened it up and used it to process my pictures for the blog. Surprise! After I spent about an hour learning how to use the new features, it is so much easier and quicker that how I was doing it before. I think I still need to practice a bit more, but I learned something new!

Yesterday, I cut branches from my forsythia bush. I bought the bush when it was tiny, about 30 years ago. The poor thing has had a hard life. It has survived ice storms, extreme cold, and even having the city dig it up to fix the water main. It is a symbol to me for how adversity only makes you stronger. Each year, just before Easter, I bring branches in and force them. It has never failed, although it looks questionable, today.

I have been doing a lot of knitting.

I started my Flotini shawl, just as we started staying home. It is easy knitting for TV viewing. it will be perfect for spring evenings.

There will be a lot of ends to weave in, but it is looking very good so far. Not bad for a stash dive.

My friend Cheryl, (aka Grandma Coco), asked if I would be be interested in knitting the Bellevue Mittens. She asked the designer if the pattern could be used as a fundraiser for the Lyndhurst Feral Cat Rescue. I am behind the other knitters, but I don't think we will need mittens much more before October. This is my second try, since the first try went very wrong, very early.  The yarn is Knit Picks Chroma, found hiding in my stash. Of course, it is purple.

Finally, like millions of others, around the world, I am trying to grow my own sourdough starter.

It is kind of like having a fish tank. You feed it every day, and watch to see if it is doing anything. We had signs of life today, bubbles! We might get bread in a couple more weeks.

Snow Day

The city is closed today. Originally we were suppose to get 37 cm of snow but I think since some of it came as rain, we will only get about 15 - 20 cm. The roads are a total mess, and we have been asked to stay home. My kids are working from home, so they didn't bring my little buddy for his grandparent day, today. This was Doug's reaction when I told him.

He looks dismayed.

Outside the world is dull and wet.

However, my dining room conservatory is showing hope of spring.

The amaryllis will flower soon. Beside it, the Christmas cactus is in bloom and that azalea just keeps going. It is a joy to step in there.

Ravelry suggested a pattern to me last week. Although I don't need another knitting pattern, this one sucked me in. It helped that I had the yarn available in my stash. So, I started a spring shawl.

It can be my Lenten project, and I will try to finish it by Easter. The pattern is called Floatini. The grey yarn is a merino and silk light fingering and the hot pink is mohair and silk. How could I not?

Meanwhile, I continue to create order to my sewing space. This week, I added an IKEA storage unit called Trofast. It is sold as toy storage, in the kids section, but I now have two of them to store bits in. This one is entirely for purse hardware and goodies.

The drawers are labelled things like "straps" and "closures". One drawer is still empty. Having dedicated homes for stuff really makes the tidying simpler. On top of it is my cub car/ venturer van from my days as a Venturer Advisor. It won second prize in the beauty category for leaders, at the cub car rally. Of course, like all good minivans it doesn't go very fast. My son took first in his category for speed. I first blogged about it here.

I also placed these drawer organizer boxes on the top of the fabric storage. They are to hold the current WIP so that finished bits don't wander.

I splurged and bought a new ironing board pad and cover (It was $10 at IKEA.) As you can see, I haven't put it on yet.

Busy Doing What?

I feel like I have been rushing around, but I can't really remember what I have been so busy doing. My normally reliable little 18 year old car has recently decided to rest in odd places, so some of my time has been spent waiting for a rescue from my prince in shining newer car. Surprising how long that takes. Sadly, I haven't had my knitting with me either.

I took my sweetie out to buy him a new winter coat, one of those very necessary things in -18C weather. His new coat didn't match his old hat, so I made him a new hat.

This is my quick go to pattern. The pattern is Hats From the Heart. The yarn is Knit Picks Chroma Worsted in Red Velvet. He says it is thicker than his old one. That might be because his old one is four years old.

I taught how to make a Christmas Mug Rug to the church quilters. We had lots of fun, and I will post a picture after I finish mine.

However, I was doing a dive into my stash of Christmas fabric and I found a treasure.

I have a fat quarter pack of Winterkist by Happy Zombie. My research says it is from 2012. I don't remember buying it, nor do I remember what I planned to make. However, I have some new ideas. Looks like fun fabric for snowed in days in January.

Finally, we have been playing with LED lights.

My quilts now have Christmas lights! It is just what they needed since they are in a dark part of the family room. I must get out my Christmas wall hangings and add them to the walls.

Just One Of Those Weeks

On Sunday, I was greeted by this in my dining room.

This gorgeous hibiscus flower thinks it is in the southern hemisphere. You can see the snow from the window behind it.

On Tuesday, a terrible accident occurred.

This is my two week old tablet. It needs a glass screen, but it is too new to be able to buy one in the after market parts sources. Maybe in another few months. Meanwhile, it is shedding bits of glass, so can't be used.  Having it replaced at the authorized repair places costs nearly twice as much as a new tablet. I have no idea how they can justify that.

So I am actually buying a new tablet. And, I am buying one of these :

A pink drop resistant case, because $27 seems like cheap insurance. It will also make the tablet thicker and easier to hold onto.

I started another Retreat Bag, because I love them. This one has a cat theme.

Hello Kitty, purchased on a whim last year, and some music fabric from my stash, that suited, for the handles, make up the outside.

More kitties for the inside, these are also from my stash. The black and white is from a couple of years ago, and the pocket was in my scraps from too long ago to remember.

I figure I need about another hour to finish the bag. I have a Hot Pink zipper for the top.

I attended three funerals in January, so I have decided to knit three baby sweaters in February. I am hoping that will balance things out. Weird, I know. I have the first one started, but I need to get going or won't get all three finished.

More Stash Busting

While I was at quilt retreat in April, I worked on a quilt top from Karen Neary's new book, Quilting Beauties Come in All Shapes and Sizes.

The pattern I chose was called Thistles in the Heather. You can see Karen's version here.

I came home from retreat and fell to an infection that kept me from my sewing room for about 6 weeks (knitting was just easier). This week, I have been trying to sew a bit every day. I managed to finish the top of my version.

My personal challenge was to try to complete the top without buying any additional fabric. I recently realized that the fabric manufacturers are constantly making new lovely fabrics, so using up beautiful fabrics from my current stash will open up room for new lovelies.

While I was working on it at retreat, I wasn't sure the fabrics were working together, but now that it is finished and I can see it in natural light, I quite like the result. Want to see?

I used some of my beloved purples, along with some turquoise and green. All of the fabric was in my stash of batiks that I have been "saving" (hoarding). I think it looks tropical, and will brighten things up next winter. I left off the corner points because I had about 2 inches of the light purple from the outer arches left. This exercise may have taught me to buy larger pieces of fewer fabrics.

I have some different light purple that I think will work for the binding. Now I need to dive into the stash and find a backing. Perhaps I can manage to get this one quilted sooner than my Maritime Beauty, that took me 2 years!

Meanwhile, we have a new foster cat. Meet Mowgli.

He is a lovely 6 month old Fawn Tabby. I told them at the shelter that if he spends much time in the sunroom, he may come back as an Orange Tabby. He is very sweet, though he has an adolescent appetite.