Anticipation begins ...

These came home with me the other day ...



Several racks of seed are on display at the local superstore, I could not resist. It's unrealistic to think I can do anything with them for several weeks, but just the sight of them releases endorphins. Seeing them on the counter lifts my mood and sparks hope. It's won't be too long now, I figure in another month we'll be getting close.

I must resist the temptation to start them indoors. Every time I've started seed early, I was way too early. After last year's experiment of starting several seeds indoors, I've come to the realization that it's best to wait and plant most of them directly in the soil. 1) Transplanting is a lot of work, 2) I don't think the plants like it, 3) several of them seem to do better without the disruption in their growth. So I don't think there will be much indoor sowing this year. Maybe a few seeds.

The quilt is progressing quicker than I thought it would. The pattern turns out to be somewhat forgiving, much more so than other patterns I've made. The 9 blocks which make up the inner part of the quilt are done. I need to make 16 more for the outside blocks; they will be very similar to these only slight variations because they will be on the edge of the quilt. To my astonishment I'm making approximately 1 block a day, not something I expected. These 9 blocks are not sewn together yet, I simply laid them down on the floor to see how they look...



It snowed all day today--this is the reality in contrast to the visions and dreams of the first few paragraphs above. So I stayed in all day. Ran out of bread so I decided to try a recipe I saw in a vlog I follow on YouTube for some stove top soda bread. It's amazingly simple, and amazingly good! I will be making this recipe frequently I think.

Progress on the new quilt ...

I got all 1200 triangles and squares cut last week and I've started sewing triangles together to make squares... lot's of them.



But before proceeding too far I wanted to construct one sample block to determine if there were any gotchas I need to be aware of when sewing the triangles together. It came out nice and I'm well pleased with it.



I'll be making 25 of these blocks. Each one has 48 pieces in it x 25 blocks = 1200 pieces. Yup, the math works out!

And I keep coming across new projects I'd like to make. Better start a list so I don't forget them all.

I stopped at a local thrift shop this afternoon and found a bag of fabric along with a finished, pieced top all for $15. The top is very attractive and quite well made. It alone is worth hundreds. I wonder who made it? I wonder why it was never finished? One thing's for sure, I'm going to have it finished. It measures 58" square. The fabric is very beautiful.



Oddball weather here lately. Thaws and freezes. Snow and ice. Lot's of ice. Not as much snow. It's February 8th; I figure in 2 months time we'll be greeting spring full heartedly, albeit impatiently. Of course, officially, spring arrives next month but we all know that she and the calendar don't communicate all that well. But I am starting to dream of warm weather and gardens and flowers and bugs. ... I think this year I will build some sort of screen enclosed area on my deck so I can bring the cello outside without getting bitten to death.

At this time of year I look back at pictures I took last summer and it doesn't seem possible that the vegetation could ever be that lush and rampant. These days I can see clearly through the forest tops and beyond to summits behind them. Most certainly not so in the summer.