Goldblum Boom

Although it will be 70 degrees here by Wednesday, it's been cold, and we recently had snow flurries.  Very light...just enough to fill up the spiderwebs that have started appearing in the garden.

The flakes were so light that they themselves were caught suspended in the debris, looking like a tiny snowstorm frozen in time.  

Even with a couple of deep-freeze days, I wasn't worried about our bulbs, and they're continuing to grow with no issues.  Inside, growth has been even better.  I have to pull out my old Jeff Goldblum meme...

...because despite my many mistakes, my ranuculus are doing just fine.  Last year, I left them in the field too long.  Then, after finally digging them up, I left them out to dry for FAR too long...weeks!...and in a freezing cold barn.  I finally brought them in, soaked them, but without much hope.  They were desiccated and gnarled, but I went ahead and stuck them in my cold, dark attic anyway.  Two weeks later...LIFE!!

Ditto with my sweet peas.  After a couple of weeks in the attic, they're up and looking great!  

My little indoor grow area is quite crowded now.

Soon it will be warm enough to move out to my barn potting area!

I'm seeing so much more activity outside now, too.  Every day, herons stalk the bank of our front pond, looking for (and catching!) small fish and frogs.

A group of turkey vultures played a game of tag on a nearby hill.

After a mini-hibernation in February, the muskrats are bustling about, repairing their eroded roof.

I, too, have been gathering materials.  As my physical therapy draws to a close, I'm starting to dabble in quilting again.  I cut my Tilda fabric, layered with Kona Cotton Snow, into 1 3/4" strips.

The next step is sewing these colored strips into rows, alternating with white...

...and then cross-cutting these strips into 1 3/4" sections.

These will be mixed up in a random assortment (more random than this!) and sewn into blocks...

...and then the blocks will be joined and make up the final quilt top, like this one from Red Pepper Quilts.

This method is SO much quicker and easier than sewing each tiny square together.  In just a few minutes, I have a finished block!

I love the scrappiness of of the Red Pepper quilt, and I've worried that there's not enough color variety in my Tilda fabric...but I've got plenty of scrappy quilts, and I love the cohesiveness of this color line.  We'll see how it goes!  

I'll continue to work on this as the season progresses and time allows.  It's going to be very busy here soon between work and the growing season duties.  In just one month, the garden will be fully awake!  I like to look to past years for clues...

photo from mid-April 2019

photo from mid-April 2020

photo from mid-April 2021

I can't wait.  Have a great week!