Leaping Lizards!

No that's not right.  But leaping amphibians doesn't sound quite right either.  In honour of February 29th - leap year - I made this frog.

 I got the pattern from the Sew Sister's blog.  I remember seeing these frogs made by the grade 7 and 8 students at the school I was at many years ago.  It was a Family Studies project.  I always meant to get the pattern, but you know how it goes.  There is just never a right time.  I don't even know if they still teach Family Studies with all the cuts in education we have had.

But now I have the pattern and I am happy.    I hope my frog is too.  I may put different eyes on him and make him friend to play with.

If It Ain't Broke...

...Don't fix it.
I first heard that saying from a friend's Mom when I was around 10 years old.  It seemed so obvious to me.  Why would you fix anything that wasn't broken?  I don't use that phrase very often, but it seems fitting for this blogger thing that's going on.  Many of you will know what I am talking about.  All I have to say is this...

Hello!  I'm not in my twenties any longer.  It takes me a long time to learn new things.  

I have downloaded Google Chrome and that seems to be working.  It will take me awhile to figure everything out though.  In the meantime I think I will post more often just to get myself familiar with the way things are.

I have been busy with my Orca Bay quilt.  Bonnie Hunter had this quilt on her blog as a mystery quilt last fall.  It seemed like too much work back then.  But once I saw the finished quilts, I was hooked.  I didn't start it until a couple of weeks ago.  I am making it smaller than the original.  These are the blocks I have been working on this morning.

Can you see that little white furry thing in the top right of the photo?  That's Mimi's tail.  She thinks she is hiding from me.   Here she is.

A Finish!

I am having trouble posting on my blog. I get a message that says my browser is no long supported by Blogger.  Has anyone experienced this?  What's the solution?

Snow on Sedum

What a difference a day makes!   Yesterday I took a photo of my little snow drops.

Then last night we had some snow.  Not much, but it is soft and fluffy.  This is how my garden looks today.  My snowdrops are under there somewhere.

It is very beautiful!  We haven't had much snow this year so this winter wonderland looks amazing.  I think we skipped a couple of seasons.  We went from spring directly into winter.  The temperature is above freezing, which means it is packing snow.  I hope to see some snowmen snowpeople (let's keep this politically correct) on front lawns today.  We are supposed to get another couple of centimeters of the white stuff today.  But this isn't going to last a long time.  It will get warmer over the next few days so everything should melt soon.

I love to see snow on trees and branches and especially on my dried sedum heads.  It's the reason why I don't do a lot of cutting back in the fall.   

Carrying On

I have been working like a maniac on a quilt to enter into the Sew Sisters bargain lovers club.  I have to send in a photo by this time next week.  I originally made 48 blocks and sewed them together.  It looked great!  But then I thought of making it a bit bigger so it would fit a twin size bed.  I tried putting a pieced border on it, but just couldn't get it to work out.  So I thought about it a few days and decided to make it the size it is in the magazine. (American Patchwork and Quilting February 2012 issue).  That meant I had to make 24 more blocks.  22 of them were completed by last night.  And because I only had 2 more to go, I decided to sew a row or two onto my flimsy. 

But something didn't look right.  When I studied it more closely I discovered that I had made the last 24 block upside down.  I could have cried.  I will have to unsew and re-sew.  What a drag.  This is the point where I could easily give up and put my project into a bag and call it a UFO.  But I must get it done.  Argggg!  How frustrating!

I went outside to 'cool' off a bit.  And I discovered these little snowdrops poking their heads out of the ground.  We have had a very mild winter, but this is the earliest I have ever seen these come up.  They helped to lift my spirits - a bit anyway.

Mimi is feeling a bit better.  She has been coming to me when I am reading in bed and walking all over me and getting between me and my book so that I can't read.  She purrs and purrs and if I ignore her she taps me politely rudely on my face with her paw claw.  Here is a shot of her sitting on the heating duct.  This is her favourite place lately.

For Valentine's Day

In honour of this day of love I made a little journal quilt.  It measures about 8 by 11.  I heart this quilt and I heart you!

Happy Valentine's Day

Where Has the Time Gone?

I can't believe that it's been over a week since I last posted something.  Time just seems to fly by.  We still haven't had any real winter - no snow and average or above-average temps.  Apparently our resident groundhog did not see his shadow last week, so we will have an early spring.  That's of course, if you believe in rodent prognosticators of the weather.  Just hope it doesn't snow in July!

I made five houses last week and so far I have four more to sew together for this week.   I like this little task, especially when I don't feel much like quilting.

How many people are still doing hexagons?  I decided to start a new hexie project.  (The other hexie projects are now officially UFOs.)  I needed a hand project to do at our weekly mini group meetings.  When I saw one of the other members working on her hexies, I got addicted again.  Not to finish my UFOs.  Oh no!  Of course not!  I started a new one.  This one will be stars with probably some black and white pieces to join them together.l  I haven't got that far yet - still thinking.  I am trying to use up everything that is in my stash.  This is my evening and Tuesday group project.

I also started an applique BOM.  So far I have been able to keep up.  But it's only February.  Two blocks are posted every month.  I am hand appliqueing them, because I enjoy the handwork.  I find it relaxing.

My Christmas cacti are still blooming.  Some even have a lot of little buds on them.  This is my reddish/orange one.  I love it!  Only one flower right now.  It just opened this morning.