Puppy Love!

These photos were taken on March 24 - based on this week's snowfall, they could have been taken yesterday. :(

There is Life Out There!

The front of my house has brick about five feet up the wall, and with a southern exposure, it gets really warm out there. These little cuties popped up about a week ago, and started flowering about three days after that.

I also got around to doing some winter-sowing. It's not really winter anymore (although it kind of feels like it), so clearly I'm behind schedule. I did a few things like tomatoes, eggplant and peppers to keep in the house until it warms up a bit. I've heard that you can do them outside, but I wanted to guarantee germination. I'm trying to germinate some Hawaiian Chili Peppers - I started some a couple of weeks ago, and so far - nothing. I tried some more using the milk cartons - let's hope these take!

And I'm happy to report that my Hope for Humanity rose appears to have made it through winter. I do love this rose. It's not terribly fragrant, but it's a lovely color and seems to be a reliable bloomer in other people's gardens (I only planted it late last year, so can't really comment on how it does in my garden). If it proves to be a good performer, I'm considering getting another one to put on the other side of the front steps.

Another UFO Completed!

Well, after not touching my sewing machine for nearly a year, I've managed to make some good progress in the last couple of weeks!

This quilt is for a coworker who recently had a baby boy. Her shower is this week, so I had a good solid deadline to spur me along. It's not one of my greater masterpieces, but it turned out pretty cute considering it was started over a year ago with scraps of blue that couldn't seem to find a home.

One Year Ago Today

Sadly, this is not the case in 2013. We're still measuring snow in the ground in feet. :( I'm thinking the crocus are still weeks away.

UFO Finished!

Since bringing the puppy home over a year ago, my sewing machine has been languishing in the office, sad and unused (just like this blog!). But after returning home from Hawai'i, I was motivated to get a few things done. Hoku seems to be fine for an hour or so (and by fine, I mean he isn't whining his head off begging me to play) just laying by the gate.

I started this quilt sometime in Oct/Nov 2011 for a dear friend who was pregnant with her second daughter. Several pieces of the fabric in the star have special meaning - one is a scrap from a pair of PJs, one is part of my friend's dress from sometime in the 80s. The changing pad is made up of the same fabrics in one inch squares.

I used the backing fabric to guide the hand-quilting on the changing pad. The front seemed too busy to be bothered with quilting, so I focused on the back. It seemed an interesting way to tie the front/back together.

The design is based on a free pattern from Moda Bake Shop:
http://www.modabakeshop.com/2012/01/star-light-star-bright-quilt.html