Bloom time

It's the most exciting time of the year in the garden. Almost every day, there's something new to see

The chives have fully opened and they are pretty. Useful and pretty, and I love that!

One of my Oriental Lilies didn't make it, so I found this gorgeous light mauve clematis to fill the corner. I've wanted a Clematis for a long time, so hopefully this is a good spot for it.

It will still be a bit until any of the roses bloom, but we've got another new addition.  When I bought the clematis, I found this one. Ebb Tide is a rose I've been looking for for a while, so  I was thrilled when it turned up at a local garden centre. I expanded the side garden so this beauty could have a nice warm sunny spot.

It's been a few years since I first planted the Lily-of-the-Valley, and it's really doing well now. I'm probably going to have to start splitting it up.

Once of the Columbine in the Sidewalk Garden bloomed, and it's a stunner.

And the Lilac are in full show. And of course, smell absolutely amazing!

The Lupin are blooming. I got this pretty purple one last year too, but the seeds were mixed colours, so I was hoping for something else as well...

... and I got purple again, but with a white base. Oh well.

Three more stars

I had big plans for sewing while I was on vacation, but other than trying out some free motion, I really didn't touch the machine much. I was planning to finish the top of the Dragonfly quilt, but that's a fairly big job and I just never got to it.

Instead, all I have to show are three Disappearing Hourglass Blocks

And they are three very pretty blocks! (I really think Moda is my fav fabric company). These three bring my total count so far to 13 blocks. I'm planning on doing at least 40 blocks, so I've still got quite a ways to go. But star by star, this quilt will be built!

Yarn noodles

Just before vacation started, my 8mm needle came so I cast on again with the Bernat Blanket from Yarn Canada.

I've only knit a couple Feather and Fan repeats, but oh my what a difference! It's still a tricky yarn to keep an even tension on, but it's much nicer to knit on the bigger needle. It's hard to see, but I'm already into the third colour of the stripes. It's a lighter green than the first, but only a shade.

I'm trying to put a full repeat (four rows) on this each night. Hopefully it will grow quickly. It's only a baby blanket, so it doesn't have to be too huge, but I'd like to use up all the yarn (three balls) if I can.

FO: Doodle Pig

Quick note - Blogger isn't sending your comments to my email right now. Please know, I am reading and enjoying them all. Hopefully the issue gets fixed soon.

While on vacation, I took a day to hang out with Mom and get a lesson on free motion quilting. While she will have the big machine in a week or so, I thought it would still be good to learn on a smaller machine, for smaller projects I want to quilt at home.

Mom just happens to have a machine just like mine. So she set me up, gave me a quick demonstration, and let me at it. And let me just say... it's MUCH harder than it looks! I knew it would be tricky at first, but I didn't realize how tricky.

Mom sandwiched me up a few fat quarters to practice on and I covered them in a mess of free motion stitchery.

I got to a point where I was able to keep my stitch length fairly even, though I still struggle with direction and keeping in a pattern. Most of my quilting looks like it was done by a drunk three-year-old.

Still, after a while, I wanted to tackle a "real" project. I'd brought the piggy square and decided to turn it into a pot holder.

From the front it doesn't look too bad, because the stitching mostly disappears.The back is another story.

When I showed it to Dave (who is familiar with Mom's beautiful work) he said "Yep, definitely looks like you were sewing drunk."

I guess I better get some more practice in.

Gotcha Ru-Ru

It certainly doesn't feel like it, but it's been two years since we brought our favourite Ginger Nut home.

That's how he looked when he first arrived and he clearly wasn't amused. He was eight months old and those eight months must have been pretty traumatic for him, because he was not at all thrilled with the prospect of human contact. But little by little he warmed up to us, and has become more relaxed and trusting.

But he definitely remains my little Enigma Cat. Dave says he's just bi-polar. One minute he can be sweet and loving, the next he wants nothing to do with you.

He's also the most jealous cat I've ever met. The easiest way to get Rupert's attention is to pet another cat where he can see you.

Then he's right in there like a dirty sock, looking for his share of loving. He gets along well with both Peno and Burton

But his relationship with Relic is still rocky. Though I often find them sleeping close together...

...Rupert still has to grump at Relic every time they make eye contact. He's definitely a little cat (6lbs  6 oz) with a BIG attitude.

He is an absolute sun worshipper - if there's a sunbeam, he's in it. Sometimes I wonder if it's because of his small size. Maybe he just can't generate enough body heat on his own. He certainly seeks out cuddles much more in the colder months. I think he's just using us for warmth.

And though he frequently looks like Mr. Serious, he's definitely go a playful side. He's obsessed with the red dot - if I so much as jiggle the tin we keep it in, he'll appear from out of no where.And every night between 10 pm and midnight, Ginger Nuts mode kicks in and he starts zooming from one end of the house to the other. He especially loves it when the Fluffer Nutter (Burton) joins him.

While I don't think I'll ever really understand him, I'm happy to have him as part of our home, because he's just so much fun to try to figure out.

Hopping to Grasshopper

There's a place, about 40 minutes from here that I've always wanted to visit, called Grasshopper Imports. It's been there for years, and it's on the way to my brother's, but I've never stopped. My neighbour and friend Krista (Wren's Mom) told me I just had to go, so on Thursday we made a play date and headed off

They have all kinds of textiles and decor from around the world, but we were there for the garden pots and statues.

 They have a whole yardful - at least an acre (or more) in size. Pots and statues of every imaginable type. It was so hard to choose.

In the the end, I got this silly little garden snail. I found a nice little pink lavender bush to fill him with.

You may not know it, but I have a think for chickens, so this lovely little hen came home too. And what better to fill it with than Hens and Chicks?

And I definitely couldn't leave without a cat! So this sweet little Siamese joined us.

The day was hot, and I got a little bit sunburnt, but it was well worth the trip!

Friday Felines

Maybe we should have called him Rollin' Relic...

Bountiful

As mentioned briefly in yesterday's posts, I did manage to the main thing on my vacation to-do list; the gardens.

Though I have a small property (maybe 25-30ft wide by maybe 60ft deep, with a townhouse smack dab in the middle of it), over the last five years, I've managed to cram a lot of gardens into that small space. I have nine garden spaces in total (the Butterfly Garden, the Butterfly Expansion Garden, the Big Bee Garden, the Little Bee Garden, the Berry Garden, the side Garden, the Front Garden, the Tree Garden and the Sidewalk garden), and they all needed to be weeded, top-soiled, and mulched.
It took me two long afternoons to tackle it all, but I managed it and I couldn't be more pleased

Weeding probably took the longest, but it was adding fresh topsoil and mulch that was the hardest part. I probably should have done it all a few weeks earlier when the plants were smaller, but oh well - it's done now and I just love how the mulch looks.

This pic shows the Little Bee garden (foreground) Butterfly and Butterfly  Expansion Gardens, (back and middle) and a bit of the Berry Garden (right). They have to most colour so far because they get the most sun. I also added a few marigolds and snapdragons to perk things up until the blooms really start coming.

The Big Bee Garden, also in the back yard, won't see blooms until mid-june. Then the daisies go crazy.  Soon after the Blue Delphinium and Purple Bachelor Buttons will bloom, followed by the Cupid's Dart, Echinacea, and Black Eyed Susans which last until Fall.

Out front, the Sidewalk Garden, still has some filling out to do. It's the newest garden (dug last year), so it's going to take a bit to catch up to the rest. This year it go a couple new Stonecrops and some Hens and Chicks at the bottom edge, but it's also got Tickseed, Coneflower, Speedwell, Columbine, Pincushion plant, a few Dianthans, Liatis and a couple roses (cream and pale yellow). Sadly, the Cardinal Flower did not pull though, but we'll start seeing real blooms in this garden in the nest month or so.

The front garden is a bit of a mix - the back half of it was well established (I put in orange daylilies the year we moved in), but I expanded it last year, nearly doubling the size. Now it has pink, peach, burgundy, purple, red and yellow daylilies as well as the orange. This year it got and Astible for the shady corner, and has a mishmash of other plants including Campanula, Dianthans and my favorite little Toad Lilies (though they don't bloom until Fall).  Come July, this will be spectacular with all those daylilies in bloom.

Last but not least* the side garden. It's another mixed bag, but a good chunk is Lily-of-the-Valley and the Black Irisies. Both have really multipliedand are putting on a good show this year. But there are Asiatic Lilies too for summer blooms, as well as a Speedwell and a little bit of Bee Balm. And Sedum for fall. But the thing I'm really excited about are the peonies. They will FINALLY bloom this year.

So that's it for the over all picture - here's a close up of some of the newest developments

 My red Iris has bloomed.

 My Oriental Wedding Poppy is finally going to bloom.

 I am not 100%, but while the Peach Dalmatian Foxglove died, I think it might have re-seeded itself. These little guys started popping up in the general vicinity, so I'm going to give them a chance and see what happens. I'll know pretty soon if it is Foxglove. If has a very distinctive leaf.

 The chives are really blooming too. I don't know why, but love chive flowers.

 My strawberry plants died off over the winter, so  I got some new ones and these one have pink flowers!

And back from the dead is the Butterfly Bush. I had given up on it and had shovel in hand to dig it up, and just as pused the end of the spade in, I noticed this little bit of green right at the base of the bush. I've read that in colder climates, they die right back, so maybe our early spring cold snap made her have to work a little harder this year. I'm glad she's still going. She really is a butterfly magnet.

 And the lilacs  are just starting to open. I love how the buds are purple, but the flower in full bloom is pure white. It adds such dimension.

And FINALLY, after three years of waiting, my Shaker's Prayer Siberian Iris has bloomed. Isn't it so pretty? And there are more blooms coming!

*I didn't show you the tree garden (though you can see a bit of it in the Sidewalk Garden picture) - it's very low maintenance, full of creeping sedums. I'll take pictures when the mini-gnomes take up residence for the summer again.

A little bun-venture

Those who know me, know that I am very torn about Relic being a free-range kitty. It's partly because I worry about his own safety, and partly because I know cats can be very hard on the local wildlife.

With Relic, it seemed we had lucked out in that respect. Several times I've seen him sleeping in the patio chair while the birds were at the feeder about three feet away. He never pays them any mind. And he seemed oblivious to the squirrels and occasional bun that came by.

But things changed on Monday. I'd just finished a long day of gardening (more on that later), and was in the house taking a break when I saw Relic strutting up to the back door.  And he was  carrying something....

I knew immediately it was too big to be a mouse. As he got a little closer, my heart sank.

I yelled out "Relic! You JERK! WHAT DID YOU DO???"

He immediately dropped it and came running to me... extremely unrepentant. One might even say proud. I ran to the poor creature and scooped it up.

A wee baby bun. By this time, Dave, who'd heard me yelling at Relic, came to investigate. "Is it dead?" he asked.

"It's still warm, but I think so," I replied. The little thing was so soft, but lifeless in my hands. I sat down in the chair, and stroked it, trying to figure out what I was going to do with it. I didn't want to leave it for Relic or another creature to eat.

Suddenly it gave a little gasp.  Did I imagine it? Was it just the last little bit of air leaving it's lungs. A few seconds later, another gasp....

Then it's wee little nose twitched...

Then the ears...

I searched all over his body and there were no puncture marks. Just a couple wet spots around his scruff where Relic had picked him up.

Then.... "Dave, I can feel his heart beating!!"

Dave went to get a box to put him in, and buy the time he got back, little baby bun was completely back from the dead and trying to hop out of my hands.

Once safely in the box, I gathered up some dandelion and clover for the wee guy to munch on while Dave got Relic in the house.

When Dave came back out, he took one look at my face and said "You know we can't keep him..."

I did know it... but the little guy was just so cute.

Luckily, a bun that size is already out of the nest and on its own. By releasing him, he had just as much chance as if Relic never found him. And it really was best for bun that I let him go...

..so reluctantly,  I set him free. And hopefully he can live a happy little fulfilling bunny life.

Bye-bye baby bun! Fare thee well!

FO: Clarkson

It took just over a month for this shorty pair (that I was sure I'd have done in a couple weeks!), but I'm happy to report that Clarkson is finished! As always, the Twisted Top Cat was a joy to knit with and makes wonderful soft socks. It's got a nice twist on it, so it helps the cables really pop too.

Usually I do a sock with a pattern all the way down the foot, so it was a nice change to just have the simple ribbing. It also makes for a well-fitting sock too.

For now, these will be tucked away until the rest of the ebook is complete. Just four pairs to go!

FO: Pooh Rag

Okay, that's probably not the nicest name for a quilt, but it's accurate so it's the name it's getting.

 It's a rag quilt, and it's covered in Pooh

And some Tigger too.

This little quilt was put together from a kit Mom had kicking around. She asked if I would like to put it together, and it should have been quick easy project. It was fairly quick - just a couple hours, but it was anything but easy. Whoever cut the squares for the kit must have been drunk. Hald of them were crooked, and very few of them were the same size. It also came with pre-clipped edges (needed for the fraying), and they kept getting caught on the foot of the machine. It makes much more sense to clip after it's all sewn together. But I persevered.

The "chenille" between the squares is created by the raw edges, and it gets fluffier and fluffier as the blanket is washed and loved.

This one will be packed off to Natalie at Bee Meadow Farm for her annual silent auction.

That is, if Relic will let me get it packed into a box...