Snowmen, Panama Pyramids, EPP Plus Quilt Pattern Link, Indoor Gardening

We did get lots of snow on Saturday.  

Hubby always gets busy plowing as soon as the wind and snow stops.

And Sunday, just like that, the sun shone and things began to melt. It shows that we really are moving towards spring. The snow was just right for snowman making, an elderly one that needed a stick to help him apparently. Robbie is 9 now; time is definitely moving faster for me. Just look how the snow is reflecting that gorgeous shade of blue.

My indoor garden is doing well considering how little sunlight we get in the house. We don't get to see sunrise or sunset with the positioning of this house. So never direct sunshine in a window, just sometimes on a slant. It's good though that all the windows are quite large.

I also haven't given them any fertilizer. However, I do add a few secret ingredients to their water. To water them (which I never overdo), I've used ash water from the fires, left over coffee water, and leftover water that veggies have been boiled in. These are things I read about using years ago and do seem to benefit a winter garden. I also spritz them regularly with one of those spray bottles. 

Bet you can't guess what that lighter vine in the middle is. It's a pumpkin vine. I tried growing pumpkins back at the farm and all I ever achieved was a pretty vine. Last fall I put a few seeds in a jar to grow over the winter knowing I would enjoy the pretty leaves. And here they are and I do. Such a pretty shade of green. While my outside garden is under mounds of snow, it's enjoyable to coax these contrasting greens  to grow. A small thing, I know. 

 Another small but enjoyable thing is seeing these Panama Pyramids-finally- all in their rows. I had in mind this would be a good RSC project several years ago when it got started. I'm not great at keeping up with it but since there are many green blocks here, I'll share this at the  So Scrappy March Green RSC Linky Party. EPP triangle stitching and now machine stitching the rows together.

My to do list this week includes getting these rows sewn together and hopefully have a flimsy on my hands. Joining the To Do party at Quilt Schmilt this week.

Something I'm eyeing that would be my next EPP project. I watch Kate at The Last Lonely House on YouTube and she started a Plus quilt. Of course I loved it. 

She links to Wild Olive and Mollie's offer of a free template to make the little beach house like pattern that fit together to form a plus. Wild Olive So I just wanted you to know I'm exploring this one to continue my small o obsession with EPP. :D

Another thing I came across that I liked and wanted to share with you. Just in from Japan and available here at Stitched Modern. 100 Ladies Printed Fabric to embroider or colour.  What a neat idea!

Well, I've rambled long enough. Hope your week is off to a good start. 

Happy to link with Quilt Fabrication, Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Creations, Quilts, Art, Floral Friday Foto, Quilting Patchwork Applique and Alycia Quilts.

Scrappy Baskets and Parachutes Applique, Rebecca- the Movie, A Thanksgiving Cactus

I dreamt the other night that I was swimming. It is a recurring dream and the water is what this dream is about. It's an ocean with warm, clear blue-green water. (Nothing like the North Atlantic at home where I grew up). It feels beautiful as I effortlessly swim through it. I'm thinking all the while, this is so wonderful. I'm a much better swimmer in this dream than in real life where what I do barely qualifies as swimming. I've had this same dream very occasionally but going back some 45 years; it is like a visit from an old friend. What it means, anything or nothing, is a mystery to me. But I do love swimming and the old body really benefits and these days it is missing that daily swim very much. Lately I've noticed little aches and stiffness that I do not feel during the summer. 

Anyone care to venture an interpretation??

 After all the hand stitching on very large pieces I've done lately, I feel a need to go small again. Back to Basket Case, the applique scrappy basket project started by Michelle Ridgeway. It felt satisfying to finish a couple of these in an evening and I can see why so many of you stick with small projects these days. 

I also appliqued several more of the Parachutes blocks. This was fun choosing the fabrics, and discovering the Sweet Honey Kisses for Riley Blake fat quarter bundle in the cupboard . It suits this idea of Japanese style stitching as I plan to practice some Sashiko embroidery on the border. Thank you for the comments with suggestions on how to finish these embroidery wise. Learning about new notions/methods/techniques, etc. is important for me. I think I'll set this as my OMG this month.  As this will be another Christmas gift. 

We've decided to have Saturday nights as movie nights; well, actually I decided and Hubby is going along with me. We normally don't watch movies so that's why I'm mentioning this as a thing. The first we watched was  Rebecca, the remake of Daphne DuMaurier's novel on Netflix. When I read this book at 17, I so identified with the young heroine, it was almost painful for me. Lily James does a good job of the role in this version and Kristen Scott Thomas makes a formidable Mrs. Danvers. Do you know this is probably one of the few novels-movies where we never know the name of the protagonist. That clever Daphne.

 The Christmas cactus plant lived outside all summer. I have it indoors now and it is blooming, has been for the last three weeks. This surprised me till I read that if you have a Christmas cactus that blooms in Oct/Nov, it is probably a Thanksgiving cactus. I'd never heard of that. 

And a squirrel had chewed off a good sized sprig which I put in a little water on the window sill. That is blooming as well. 

Well, that's about all the excitement we can take here at the wooden house. I'll leave you today with this photo of Murphy girl lying in front of the fire and also catching some rays from our rarely seen sun this week. She follows the sun around the room so it must feel good to her old bones. 

Oh and then there is this which is well worth a read. 

I know these tiny little things mean a lot to me and my mood when I venture out and about. I try to return them. 

Joining these linky parties...Kathy's Quilts, Quilting is More Fun Than Housework, Life in Pieces, What a Hoot Quilts, Gone Stitchin' and So Scrappy.