Winter's back broken?

The weather guy said this week that "Winter's back has been broken" it got up to nearly 60'F this week and all the snow melted we finally got to see the lawn (then it snowed again). I'm skeptical. I think God is jerking our chain. It happens every year. I'd like to think we're well on our way to spring but I don't want to get lulled into a false sense of "green". I bet we'll see a lot more sub freezing weather before it's all over. However, I think I am going to start some seeds this weekend. I want to give the peppers and eggplant a head start. My peppers failed miserably last year and although my eggplants were beautiful they never got a chance to bear fruit before frost. So, I shall try again... any who...

Happy Valentines day.

The Seeds Have Arrived!!!

I ordered seeds the last week of December and they arrived on Saturday. Wooo Hoooo! We are sunk in the depths of winter right now so the thought of green growing things is like a faint ray of light in a cold sunless world! Wow- I'm sounding pretty dramatic! I love having 4 distinct seasons but honestly, it has been a really LONG, COLD, SNOWY winter....DH and I can't remember the last time we saw the lawn....and it's only half over. Thank you Mr. Groundhog! Mayor Bloomberg should have bitten you!

To keep busy over the long winter I perused countless seed catalogues and plotted out different garden schemes on graph paper. I also bought a new-ish sewing machine -new to me anyway. It's a Singer 99k that I found on Craig's list. The cabinet that it's housed in matches my old sewing machine cabinet that houses a Singer 66 (that has never worked in the 10 years I have owned it). Both machines were "born" in 1950 the new one in Clydesbank, UK and the old one in Elizabeth, NJ. The new one is actually a 3/4 size model of the old one -it came with a manual!!! I used the maual from the new machine to fix the old machine. So now I have 2 working machines and matching bedside tables.

Since the long winter is still going on I have decided to put the sewing machines to use and I am attempting to make a baby quilt for baby niece Maddie. She can't talk yet so she can't tell me where I have screwed up! My other niece and nephews can talk so they will have to wait til I get better. I have attached a picture of the pieced bit (that's DH hiding behind it). Thus far I have pieced it and made the backing/batting/pieced part sandwich. I am waiting for a walker foot attachement to arrive so I can quilt it and then I will add the edge and Voila! it will be done! It really isn't hard. I just had to follow directions carefully and put my seam ripper to good use several times when things didn't look so hot. Quilting is like pottery: if you screw up and don't fix it, it will only get worse so fix your mistakes and move on. A bit like life I guess.