A little of this and that...

Happy Easter to all!!  Here's a visit from our local Easter bunny.  Unfortunately the presents he leaves are not candy coated.

On a garden note, my Bleeding Heart Vine, a tropical plant, has just started to bloom!  I was given it as a cutting and rooted it.  This is the first time it's bloomed and is very exciting.  Hopefully I'll be able to keep it going.

Finally, a rough image version of my latest project, a flannel quilt for Mother's Day (May 8th! Don't forget!)

 With the good...

 ...comes the bad.  Yes, that's snow that fell yesterday for about 

a half hour, in April!

 Here's a small update on my garden.  Indoor stuff is growing well.  Almost ready to transplant some of my Zinnias to their own pots.  I'm also hoping to plant spinach into the garden outside by next week.  Snow peas will hopefully be seeded by then too.

Zinnias, in need of transplanting.

Marigolds getting their second leaves.

Yay!  Rosemary finally germinated.  

Romaine and Bibb Lettuce going strong, waiting to be planted outside!

And on another side note, here's another project that I've finished.  It's a lunch bag from YokoMono Studios, this is her Etsy shop page.  She contributed to a book 'Lunch Bags! 25 Handmade sacks and wraps to Sew Today' that's very cute.  With a handy 50% off coupon from JoAnn's, it's become my latest inspiration.

Slightly off track...

Here's some pictures of my first, properly finished quilt.  It's great to have it done, but now I'm just itching to start another one!

Here are some older projects I completed this past winter.  The coffee cozy's came from a Quilts and More magazine, Fall 2010, and were a fun project to make.  Also made great Christmas presents.

Here's a cute little make-up bag from the book 'I Love Patchwork: 21 Irresistible Zakka Projects to Sew' by Rashida Coleman-Hale.  Check out her great blog here.

Here's my very first finished quilt.  This was done as a Christmas present for my mother, made of red flannel and a Christmas bundle I found at JoAnn's.  This was before I tried to learn binding, but it's a cozy lap blanket for my first attempt. : )

Other designs that came with the previously mentioned Coffee Cozy.

Left-over scraps from my first unfinished attempt at quilting that I used to make a neck pillow.  One of my most used projects since I get tension headaches frequently.

More craft projects to come after Easter!  

A few ibuprofen and voila!  The end of day one and this is what we managed to accomplish before the high winds and bad weather started to creep in.

 

 

 

Today is the first nice day to get some actual garden work done!  So far I've been working on seeding things inside, under grow lights and heating pads.  Romaine and Bibb lettuce, Baby Spinich, some fancy two-tone Zinnias, Rosemary and Marigolds.  Most of it has come up so far, only seeded it 5 days ago, so still some time yet before I have to pitch what wasn't sprouted yet.  Below are some before pictures of one of my outdoor gardens.  They are getting a major overhaul this year, converting it from a mostly perennial/annual garden to a perennial/annual-heavey emphasis on vegetable garden.  With temperatures like 79 degrees, hoping for a lot of progress with little sunburn!