Cherry Blossom Time

It's still a little chilly in the mornings when Eco and I go out for our walk, but it's spring here - lots of flowers in bloom - it's time for colour and fun, so I decided to make these Cherry Blossom Fingerless Gloves:

My favourite colour for the gloves and I love cherry blossom imagery. What else reminds you of spring?

Pretty Flowers

My amaryllis  didn't bloom in time for Christmas, but it did bloom for New Years - and boy did it bloom!! Each stem had 4 big candy cane flowers:

Isn't that just amazing? Now to see if I can keep the bulb and store it until next year. My old bulb - which is about 5 years old, only produced 2 leaves and that's it. So I will have to do some research to see how I can restore it to a flower producing wonder. My parents had one that bloomed every year for 15+ years.

Inspiration

So the other day I saw this picture:

And I immediately thought of my friend Susanne who rides her bike everywhere she goes (she doesn't have a driver's licence). She spends a lot of time on it visiting her elderly mother in the hospital and going to work everyday. I thought it would be fun for her as she's a very "rainbows and unicorns" kinda gal.

I have never seen her bike in person so I asked her to send me a photo and then I set about creating something for her. I changed the bunting to stars as she's a very celestial being.

Here's her newly decorated  bike basket - do you think it's fun? 

I used synthetic yarns so they can stay on in the rain too. Why not? That's the day when you need the most fun and colour - riding in the rain is never fun is it?

Early Spring

It looks like today will be our last sunny day for a while, rain is in the forecast starting tonight, so I thought I'd quickly share some random garden photos.

This is one little sitting area  - it doesn't look like much now, but just wait in a few weeks the clematis and wisteria will fill out and you won't recognize it:

And here's some cheery flowers in my front garden

And some veggie seedlings: 

Flowered Tote Embroidery

Here's the finished flower embroidery that I couldn't show you before because all the pattern transfer lines made it too ugly and confusing to look at:

Believe me, I couldn't wait to get it wet (water soluble marker) and wash away all the blue lines.

It's a simple design, stitched only in straight stitches on the outlines only. I may be interesting to do it again filling more of it in - we'll see, I don't usually like to do the same pattern twice. If you'd like to make one yourself, here's where I got the pattern - and you can learn how to dye your embroidery thread as well. It was because of this post that I decided to use only variegated thread for this project. Oh and the finished tote bag came from Sublime Stitching.

Friday Update

This has been quite a snowy week for us - we're just not used to that around Vancouver. This is one of the few times in a year you'll hear me say that I'll be happy when it starts raining!

Although I seem to have adjusted better to the cold this year - usually I wear gloves at anything less than 6 degrees and this year but this year I'm out playing ball with the dog and it's -6C and it's not so bad. I seem to have a better tolerance this year, which is a good thing because I hate being COLD!

My brother, who lives in our wintry Prairies, taught me to plow a walk path for the dog in the snow. My other dogs would only walk on the path -but being a young, vivacious Labrador uses it sometimes but mostly runs around wherever she likes. That's okay, she's happily having fun retrieving her football from the snow banks with little snow moustaches or snow beards -it's so cute. 

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My neighbour's dog died the other night, apparently it went outside for a bathroom break, came back in the house and sat with her for a bit then hopped out of the chair onto the floor and died. That's freaky! It doesn't sound like it was poisoned or anything like that - they think it was an old age thing, she was an 11 year old Boston Terrier which was a little bit on the fat side (that's how they described her). Still it's disturbing pretty to have your dog die suddenly like that don't you think? I was unsettled by it because I certainly don't want anything to happen to Eco. 

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I'm still testing out the new bread machine, so I made some pretzels. A house favorite. Although the recipe says to let them sit overnight for crispier ones, we found that the day old pretzels weren't very good at all. Good thing we can eat them all within hours of coming out of the machine - especially with some honey + mustard!

I realize I should have been a bit neater and more thorough with my egg wash - they'll look prettier next time.

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This Christmas I was reminded that I should start my amaryllis bulbs in mid-November because I started mine at the beginning of December and it's just bloomed now. It did reward my patience by giving me 4 blooms (with a couple more to follow) That's one hard working bulb!

Muguet de Bois

This past weekend spring and summer finally arrived all at once. And I am convinced that because of our unseasonably cold and rainy spring,  my garden is behind - I'm pretty sure that Lily of the Valley (aka Mugeut de Bois) is supposed to be one of the first spring flowers but mine didn't come out until June 1st.

They have such a pretty smell for such a tiny little flower, too bad they don't last very long.

Snow in April - no foolin'

In all the years I have lived in the Metro Vancouver area, I have never seen snow after St. Patrick's Day. I remember this date very clearly because one year when a cousin was about 4 or 5 years old, he asked for snow on his birthday - March 17th - and all the adults laughed at him and prepared him for the possibility that he wouldn't get his birthday wish - but he did!

However, I have never seen snow as late as April 14th! I just took these photos in my garden, snow on a tulip and snow on a hyacinth.

By the way, now the sun is out and it's almost all gone - it lasted about 2 hours.  Crazy, crazy weather.

We're having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave...

...and I am loving it! I love the hot weather! It was a gorgeous weekend. Saturday I puttered outside and cleaned up one whole area which I'm very proud of and then started to work on another garden area. I also sanded down and painted an old metal patio table - that table has had so many incarnations. This time I sanded off the red, orange and yellow flowers which I painted on a white table top several years ago and painted it blue. I'm not sure if I'll paint or stencil anything on it at this time. I filled five lawn and garden bags with cuttings and weeds and dead flowers as well.

Besides the puttering, and the garden painting, I didn't work on any crafts. Basically I sat in lawn chairs and read books or magazines and enjoyed some cold drinks whenever I got too hot. It was up to 36 degrees C in our backyard - good thing we have lots of shade!   I'd send the dog into the air conditioned house every so often to cool off.

Because of this summer's heat (which I'm not complaining about) and the watering restrictions (which I am complaining about) the garden's not looking so great. Currently the only thing in bloom are the nasturtiums, the Rose of Sharon, some white phlox, some leggy pansies and some wild daisies.

I hope you had a good weekend too.

Oh hey - good Mad Men last night wasn't it. Don was back to being his old self. I loved the scene where he watched Peggy trying on the Faye Miller's wedding ring. And was sad for Joan when she was referred to as 'old and married' for the test group. And poor Allison didn't have a good time with Peggy or Don. Read more here.

Last time I bought groceries, I thought I'd pick up a couple bunches of daffodils as mine weren't quite ready yet - oh boy was I glad that I did - look at this loverly assortment! It's on my desk while I work all day and they sure smell good.

I gotta remember to buy myself flowers more often (if someone else won't).

Also, in case you think I totally slacked off this month - I did finish a pair of socks for my mom. She picked the pattern and the yarn and I think they'll fit her well except maybe the top which is a bit tight - even thought I ripped it out twice. It seems whenever you get this type of stitch pattern it really tightens things up. I hope you don't mind socks that are bit slouchy mom.

That's all I got for now.

A plethora of pictures

Since it's the weekend and you have oodles of time to read blogs (hee hee) I thought I'd share a bunch of things before I walk the dog and then spend a day doing outside chores.

1. I just finished knitting this Baby Kimono. The baby is due in November so it'll be growing in the winter and I figured the kid could wear this on top of his/her onsie. This is a very easy pattern and it knit up really quick - well I was using bulky yarn, but still.

I will also knit a little hat and some booties to go with the gift, baby sex is still TBA.

2. If you saw this in a mail box what would you think? A magazine in an opaque black plastic wrapper? Must be something dirty, right?

WRONG!

It was an issue of MAKE magazine, and whoever ripped open the wrapper must have been disappointed at what they found. I bet their weekend was ruined! Bad people, bad!

I'm just glad the magazine arrived.

3. Before our summer is completely over, I thought I'd share some garden photos. An overview of one of the little gardens with Black Eyed Susans/Rudbeckia, Phlox and some Chinese Lanterns in bloom.

And these two pictures are completely unedited, sometimes I guess you just hit the lighting right. (Or am I completely off base?)

An osteospermum

A marigold

4. If you're thinking about Halloween and crafting (Carol), then you'll want to check out this link for crocheting a skull applique by Vicki Howell. The perfect thing to do while you're sitting in your lawn chair enjoying the last of our summer.

5. And finally, some pictures of my doggie. First, she decides to have a roll in the grass, oh it feels so good to wiggle back and forth.....

...and then, time for some contemplation, back to the days when there were still pears in the tree to pick herself:

And to all of my readers in the Vancouver area, enjoy our continued warmth and sunshine. And to my readers from Texas.... I hope Hurricane Ike spares you and your family!

Little Flowers for Me

When we were in Abbotsford on Saturday (see previous post), there was a 'farmer's market' in a parking lot and inside of a church. Inside was a booth with some lovely celedon pottery. I was intrigued by a little flower holder (as often there are small blooms in my garden that I would like to enjoy but never seem to have the right container). Carol bought a blue one almost right away, but Cynthia and I passed up the booth and continued to look at the other items in the room and then left. One of us mentioned that we'd think about it and then come back later, but soon, we had all turned around and Cynthia and I each purchased one as well. Well at least we spent about 8 minutes thinking about it.

Each holder had a symbolic pattern in the ceramic, I chose fish which meant "wealth, realization of wishes". You can see more here in their gallery.

I just came back from my garden with some fern tips, osteospermum, and a tip from a silver dollar plant. It's nice having some flowers on my desk again.

And finally the rain has stopped and may stay away for a few days which will give my garden a chance to germinate and grow. Is spring finally here?

Where does the time go? (When it's not around here)

For the past week, everyday after work I have been spending 2 to 2 1/2 hours each day in the gardens. Then I clean up, make dinner, eat dinner with JP, clean up and then knit.

On Saturday I walked the dogs, sewed and hemmed (by hand) some pants for the kid, did laundry, gardened for two hours, cleaned up and then went to a family function, then out to dinner and then home.

Sunday (Happy Mother's Day), I walked the dogs, phoned my mum and then we went downtown. Came home, ate dinner, watched the Sopranos, washed dishes and went to bed.

That's it. Where does the time go? My "office" room is a mess. I just don't know what to do. Finally the weather is so gorgeous, who wants to spend time indoors, sorting and decluttering? This afternoon, I may not garden. I may sit in the sun and knit. There is still lots to do in the garden but at least the seeds are in the ground and all the rush jobs are done. Oh who am I kidding? Of course I'll just do one thing, which will lead to another and pretty soon 2 hours are gone again!

Here are some flowery updates - my ornamental cherry has littered my front lawn with blossoms, it almost looks like a bridal scene. This is a very beautiful thing the first few days but usually shortly after that, we get rain and then I have a lawn full of little brown flower balls!

Here's my beautiful azalea bush

And some miniature yellow poppies...

What I have been doing

Well as far as I'm concerned, our first Spring day was Tuesday. It was finally warm enough to go outside in a t-shirt (long sleeved t-shirt though) and enjoy some sun. After work I've been spending about 2-3 hours each day in the garden. I am very behind due to our horrible March and April weather, plus my little vacation two weeks ago (my how time flies!). I decided to concentrate on the front yard first and have tidied up my carport as it's open for all to see.

Here's what is in bloom now:

Ornamental Cherry Tree

Viola

Muscari

Garden critters:

Stellar Jay

Squirrel

I'm working hard on the back yard. Some gardens are going to be deleted. I admit it - I just can't win the battle with my neighbours morning glory. It's too aggressive and fast growing. And some plots no matter what I do - they just keep having too many weeds. I will delete a strawberry patch because of the constant weed situation despite covering the ground with mulch but also because every time I just get a nice big strawberry, and I'm leaving it to ripen on the plant - a stupid slug or snail comes along and gets to it before I do. I so hate that.

But you know what I hate the most? Flower thieves! I found out from my neighbour that another neighbour has been helping themselves to my lilacs. Now you can see from the photo that I have a very nice plant. But what you don't know is that I've been working and pruning this tree for about 3 years before this many blooms could be achieved. These neighbours know me, surely they could knock on my door and ask if they could have some. But they did not. They proudly told my neighbour that they cut a bunch for the house and then some more because their daughter just came out of the hospital and they were going to get a step stool so they could get some more! Now if they had asked me, I would have said yes. But the fact that people are just helping themselves to my flowers is theft. Plain and simple. What do you think?

Notice there are no flowers on the bottom of the bush?

I'm not kidding... it's snowing

This is not an April Fool's joke.... I woke up this morning to snow! In Vancouver? In April? What about that perfect daffodil I took a picture of yesterday? And all the other pretty flowers in the garden - the magnolia, the grape hyacinth, the hyancinth and the primula? All under snow.

And yesterday's daffodil, now looks like this:

Today JP has to drive an hour to the kid's school as he's helping with a field trip to ScienceWorld. aiyee. I hope the weather and traffic improve by then or that will not be a fun bus ride! He called me after he'd been on the road for a bit and asked me if he left a brown bad in a fridge drawer. He did. And I felt bad for him for leaving some of his lunch - then he told me it was my lunch! How sweet!

Top view of the flower arrangement he brought home for me on Friday night because he knew I had a tough day:

April Showers

I managed to get a good walk with the dogs this morning before the rain came. We had fairly good weather last week, so I guess I'm not too upset about the rain today, besides it gave me time to clean out some cabinets in the bathroom - I've got 6 bottles of shampoo, I guess I won't need any until 2008!

I'm feeling rather springy, and looking for some Easter projects, but not finding anything inspiring, so last night I made this little chickie, with a pattern from my head:

Do you think I should give him feet?

Also, I wanted to share this photo of a perfect daffodil in my garden:

The First Day of Spring

... and what do I hear? HAIL! I look out the window and yes, little ice pellets on the first day of spring. See the little chunks of ice in my primulas? Oh oh, does this mean more rain for us? I'm so glad I'm taking a warm vacation in 4 weeks.

Yesterday, JP, the kid and I all ran some errands. But we had to leave the house in the heaviest downpour of the day. Super fast rain! When we got home, the kid pointed to the front of the courtesy car and asked why it was on fire. Well, it wasn't on fire but it was smoking. It turned out to be some antifreeze dripping on the hot block. A blown hose/hose clamp. This is the second time that a Jetta has come to die in our driveway. And how many of you get a courtesy car that's worse than your own car? I take mine to a dealership and get a 1-2 year old car. He takes his to a shop and god know what he'll get. That's a big scary, especially considering the distance he drives.

Happy Spring! Even if it's a wet one!

Sigh...to start the garden again

It's that time of year when there is one dry day in early spring and I put on my rubber boots and walk through my yard. It's a bittersweet moment as I review those plants that made it and those that probably didn't. This is also a tough time for my garden as it's about 9 years old and things are falling down. With all our wet weather, wood rots, so I noticed that a side board has fallen out of this planter, a little fence or two have fallen down and the odd plant post is not longer effective. But this year the worst hit was my pergola. A large accumulation of snow followed by heavy rains caused the wisteria/clematis canopy to break the support horizontal supports and even pulled down the large vertical pole. Here's what it looks like right now after I found some 2 x 4's etc to help it up a bit.

I'd better do something before the plants become active and start to pull the mess in other directions. This well need some serious attention if we are able to walk into and sit -in the pergola this year.

It's a little disheartening to see all the work that needs to be done. Garden magazines don't really talk about how to deal with an aging garden, do they? Also, it looks like the roof is failing on my 12' x 6' garden shed, so I'm thinking that I might just shingle it myself in the next few weeks... before my vacation in.................San Antonio, Texas.

So I took some time to draw a warbler, and to think about happy, chirpy birds.

Here are some happy, fuzzy magnolia blooms. The tree that flowers first and then leaves out:

Happy Valentine's Day

Hello Blog Readers! Wishing you all a Happy Valentine's Day or Happy Emotional Distortion Day, as the announcer on NPR calls it.

I have to gush for just a minute: JP is a fabulous gift giver! He had a large Valentine's bag full of treats for me. He made me the best cup 'o tea and had bought a bunch of Hot Cross Buns for breakfast, he gave me a g-i-ant Hershey's kiss and an In Style magazine. He gave me some presents which I can't tell you about, but they will be enjoyed frequently! And, of course he wrote me a beautiful and wonderful Valentine's card. He's the best gift giver I ever met. He seems to have a talent for buying me presents I didn't know I wanted!

I wish I could give him presents as great as the ones he gives to me. But today I did luck out - I had ordered a book for him in January but when I checked on it two weeks ago, it hadn't even been shipped! I sent them a notice and they said they would send it soon. Their website said it would arrive February 13th to 20th, so I crossed my fingers that it would make it in time. But it was not here yesterday. A checked the website this morning and the ETA had been changed to February 20th! Not fair! So, I gave him a card with a note to say that another gift was coming - but then it arrived in the mail today after all!

And the same thing happened with a Valentine's card my brother sent. He went through all the trouble of having the card sent to the US so it could be postmarked from "Loving, New Mexico", and even had the cutest Hershey's Kisses stamps. I talked to him this morning and he was disappointed it hadn't arrived yet. But then an hour later when the mail came, it was there! Yay! Two for two with Canada Post!


Here's a tea rose from a potted plant JP gave me earlier in the week, isn't it sweet?

Pretty flowers

Here are some flower bulbs from a basket my mum sent me for helping her out, a pretty hyacinth which should be open in a few days: and a pretty tulip, which will probably be open by Friday:

Self portrait of a woolen hat I just knitted for my mum, her specifications:

My dog really doesn't fit in this bed..... silly dog