Searching for Spring

Good morning, my blogging friends! I'm happy to say that our internet is back up and running. An old, deteriorated cable was to blame for our troubles. And so I'm seated at my desk this morning. I've been working from a laptop for so long, the big screen of my desktop computer seemed impossibly large. Our grocery shopping is done and all the RV bedding, quilts, and towels are washed. Just our dirty clothes remain, and then I can safely say we're back to our usual routine.

When we had the groceries put away yesterday, I started in on the laundry, and then took a little walk around. It was time to survey what was ready for spring, and what had been damaged by cold winter temperatures. I was surprised we didn't have more crocus coming up. These were planted just two years ago. I planted dozens of bulbs. Only a few have made an appearance this year. I'm hoping the critters didn't eat them.

The daffodils are just beginning to open. This one is farthest along, but not ready to stand up straight and tall yet.

While we were down in our little town of Newberg, I noticed the flowering plums are beginning to open. Ours are usually a couple of weeks behind because of our elevation, but they are getting close too. You can see some of the petals peeking out through the buds.

Heather is blooming. We planted the heather since it is one of the few things to bloom in winter.

Both pots of poppies have lots of greenery. I inspected these for a while, but I don't see any signs of buds yet. They'll be along. I'll keep watching.

The star magnolia is beginning to bud out.

I noticed new growth on four of the five peonies. I suspect the fifth one also has growth, but I would have to dig around in the dead leaves to find it.

The daylilies have made an appearance.

These are the dead stalks of the echinacea. I kind of like how they look.

The little mystery mini iris have appeared in another of the whiskey barrels. I never planted any of these, and now they are growing in two of the planters. What gives? I can only think the squirrels plant these as their apology for the damage they do in the rest of the garden.

The daphne is going to open soon. It blooms, and blooms, and blooms in spring, and it is very fragrant.

During a cold winter, its foliage gets burned pretty severely, but it doesn't seem to affect the plant or its flowers at all.

The lilacs are budding out.

And the rhododendrons.

My biggest reason for being out was to replace the bird feeders. Picking up bird seed was one of our tasks yesterday, and now the birds can enjoy their steady supply of seed again. I was only out for about ten minutes, but I noticed a bird at the feeder when I was back in the house. Sorry for this blurry image. I was shooting from some distance away and through a window.

My friend, Judy, refers to this kind of a bird as an LBJ (little brown job).

Okay, so laundry was going. Groceries were put away. Birds were fed. Anything else? I couldn't think of anything, and so I felt free to head into the sewing room. Things were pretty well organized. I had a stack of five quilt tops that needed backings, and so I did that first. I really don't like making backs, and so I try to make them right away when I finish a quilt. I don't want quilt tops with no backs stacking up...which they were threatening to do. These were all tops I finished while we were traveling.

Smitty was ready to be back in the sewing room too. He was here to help out. He takes his payment in catnip, thank you.

First, a back for the Broken Hearts scrappy quilt from bonus triangles.

I bought enough of this red and white fabric to make a back for this quilt. No seams required.

Also, the Posies quilt. I purchased the border fabric specifically for this back, but there's a little on the front too.

And again...no seams required. I have enough of this leftover to make another quilt.

Okay, so then I was going to make a back from a fabric I purchased specifically for Dancing Chickens and Flying Pigs. Sorry for this terrible picture. 

I'm a little flummoxed by this quilt. You might remember when I finished it off, I had to piece together the borders because there was a mistake in the pattern, and I'd cut them too short. Okay, and so when I purchased this backing fabric...

I purchased the amount listed on the pattern. The quilt was supposed to end up at 48 x 60, but mine ends at 58 x 58. And all of that to say that I don't have enough fabric to make a back without piecing some other fabric into it. So, the size discrepancy has me confused, but it doesn't matter. I went searching through my stash looking for something I could use. Nothing appealed to me, and so this one isn't finished. I put that chicken fabric into my stash. I'll use it for something else, and look for another one for the Dancing Chickens and Flying Pigs.

Okay, but moving on to Grandma's Thimbles, I had enough of the red thimble fabric to make a back for this quilt.

You might remember when I found this red thimble fabric on sale at Roxy's Quilt Shop in Bullhead City, Arizona. This is the second quilt I've made from it.

I feel as if I've gotten my money's worth out of this purchase, and I still have about a yard left from it. And, thankfully, no seams required for the back of Grandma's Thimbles.

Finally, I was ready to make a back for the City Bank quilt, which I'm now calling Strips & Stripes.

Some time ago, I purchased this fabric for the back. I just liked it. I had to sew one seam to finish off the back for this one.

Here's where Smitty's help was invaluable...or unvaluable. Take your pick.

Okay, and with all the backs finished, I could get back to doing "regular" sewing. I'm starting the process of making a quilt top from February's inchies. I'm still not sure how I'm going to finish this off, but I'm making "blocks" for now. I'm cutting each inchy 1/4 inch from the edge of the border stitching, using a pinking blade in my rotary cutter.

Then, I knew I had a spool of this #3 Perle cotton left over from yet another inchy quilt. 

I used it to hand quilt the first one.

And then, I turned to the pile of 4-inch felt squares I purchased last year to repair my wool hat.

I first tried using a glue stick to stick them to the square.

Eyeballing it only, I stuck the trimmed inchy to the felt.

Then, I used the Perle cotton to make a tiny cross-stitch in each corner.

The glue stick didn't work very well, and so I used pins for the rest.

It's a little tedious doing this, and so I've set a goal to do 7 per day. I should be able to finish them by Thursday at that pace. Here are the seven I did yesterday.

And I was getting tired of sewing by then. I had just one more task to have all my travel sewing complete. I needed to hang the "Never Enough Cats" quilt in the second floor of the Mewseum.

Okay, and that was the end of my sewing day.

I cooked dinner in the kitchen for the first time since returning home. Of course, I had in mind to try a recipe I'd found while we were traveling. It was a bit much to attempt in the RV, but I wanted to try it right away when we got home. This is Skillet Coq au Vin for two...a Betty Crocker recipe. I've made the full-up version of Coq au Vin in my Dutch oven before. It's a delicious dish, but quite a process. This took about an hour, but it wasn't difficult. There was some browning, but not a lot of chopping. I knew it was going to make a delicious sauce, and so I served it atop mashed potatoes. This was delicious. I'd definitely do it again.

Okay, and so that was my day...a busy day, but I was happy to be back sewing and cooking and trying new recipes again. Today, I'll finish up the laundry, but most of the day will be spent sewing. Our weather has turned to our familiar gray again, and we're expecting temperatures below freezing. Sounds like sewing weather to me.