a "Little" goes a long way

Hooray!  Our scattered bunches of snow-in-summer have bloomed.

The magnolias, too, are magnificent...and they haven't even reached their peak yet!

And other beauties...

At home, it's all bouquets, all the time.  Bringing the outside in is a concept much celebrated around here.

I love seeing all the new growth.

Speaking of new growth, how much fatter can this cat get?

Clotilde is so sweet and she's got me wrapped around her paw. I love seeing her little face when I'm working outside.  I am never out for more than a minute or two before hearing her little meow.  Although she impedes my progress by wrapping herself around first one ankle and then the other, I wouldn't have it any other way. 

I'm also feeding a feral cat I've named Blackavar (from Watership Down).

At first he refused to come onto the deck until I'd closed the doors, but now he comes running when I bring food.  He still won't come too close, and thanks me with a series of growls and hisses, but he's definitely coming around.

The newest arrival is Rook.  I originally chose a Finnish (or Danish?) word for spirit (or smoke?) that rhymed with rook, but I kept forgetting it, so Rook stuck.  She's very friendly, but only comes at night.  She seems well-fed.  I wonder if she has a home?

I've been working on my quilt in my free time, and recently splurged for a new fabric collection.  It's called Little by Jenny Lumelsky.  I chose my five favorite prints from the line and ordered a yard each.  It's the most I've ever spent on yardage ($16/yard!) but the patterns are so dreamy that it made the decision easy.  Birds, deer, and rabbits?  All in that peach color that I like so much, with navy accents?  Sold, sold, and sold. 

I got an extra yard of the center blue fabric, since the color is an element of each print.  I'm also going to look for the perfect ivory white shade (Maybe Moda Bella Ivory?) to stretch this project even further.  Six to eight yards of fabric are needed for a full size bed, so I just need a yard or so of ivory (and the perfect pattern!) and I'll be ready to go!  After all, it's about time for a new quilt around here.

Have a great week! 

Chartreuse is loose!

It's almost peony time!  The trees coming down last year destroyed the huge bank of peonies I'd planted, but I still have four or five on the other side of the driveway.

There's actually a bit of debate over the ants/peony bud phenomenon.  Anyone who's ever had a peony knows that the buds are covered with ants for days before they open up, and then they're gone. The prevailing thought seems to be that nectar is produced by the buds, which draw the ants, which assist in the opening of the bud.  But - there's no definitive proof.

Deer got all of my muscari (grape hyacinth) this year...sigh!  I had a ton in Indiana and loved to pick them in the spring.

I did manage to save one lone white stalk from the pointy, venomous teeth of the local deer.

Camellias are shot...

...but the Japanese maple is in full color.  Love the white dogwood behind it.

We've got a few late-season azaleas nodding over the driveway, too.

One of my favorite plant colors is chartreuse...enter euphorbia, achemillia mollis, 'Envy' zinnias, etc. Most of the early spring growth is this color.  LOVE it!

I let a woody vine come all the way up the support on the sunroom and start to wrap around our porch railing.  It doesn't flower, but I love the leaves.

Remember how this was a bumper year for acorns?  Well, now we have millions of seedlings coming up everywhere!

Sometimes you can root out the whole acorn, but sometimes you just get the stem.  Fingers crossed that removing the leafy growth is enough to kill them.  We haven't had much time to weed and we'll have a forest here in a few months if we don't get them all up.

Not much time today, so I'll close and say - have a great week!

Green & Bear It

Despite a recent cold snap, I'm seeing more and more green every day.

The yard is an absolute riot of color.  I love seeing all the different shades of pink, even though I have not traditionally liked pink flowers (except for peonies...swoon!).

I'm still out picking...

...and making my bouquets.

The robins keep me company while I gather!

I take note of all the spring growth.  Every day, a little more progress on sprouting out.

I've been bringing some spring into the house, too, and not just the flowers.  I changed all the fabrics to light-colored ones...

...made up some little 'nests' with ceramic eggs I bought years ago...

...and set out, here and there, some of the needlework that belonged to Todd's grandma.

So cheerful and spring-like...and I've added to the visual inspiration this pair of 'vintage' embroidered strawberry pillow shams from Garnet Hill...snagged at a thrift store for a dollar!

I've been very, very slowly working on my quilt.  I have random stars everywhere.

Making this particular quilt was a spontaneous decision, and one that I'm regretting a little.  I miss paper piecing.  Also, I wish I would've ordered a coordinated fat quarter bundle so that the overall appearance would be more cohesive.  All the fabric I used came from my stash, so it's very random.  I have learned some valuable lessons, though...pressing seams to the side instead of open creates more accurate points.  And, since this is my first time making HST (half-square triangles), I've been able to experiment and find a really accurate way to square them up.  So even if this quilt isn't as beloved as my other two, I'm glad that I made it.

Meanwhile, we'll just continue to enjoy the sun, the flowers, and the birds, and keep an eye on future spring developments!

Have a great week!