Spring is on it's Way

Saw the first fly of the season while out walking in the pasture. Don't know what it will eat, well maybe I do, there are still horses here.

It looks kind of hairy so it should stay warm

All Gopher trails lead home.

Hard running in this snow, keep falling through.

One Flower Wednesdays

Only green petals this week for the project that is formulating in my mind. I hope it comes together the way I see it.

One of these days the snow will melt away and we can it by the fire outside, and have a picnic on the table.

Bald Eagles

 The Magpies aren't happy to have  this Bald Eagle stealing their food.

 These Bald Eagles have been around for a couple of weeks. I realized they were eating the gophers the neighbour has been shooting lately. The nest is an old hawk one, they look like they are checking it out. Bald Eagles have never nested on our property, they usually like to be around water, maybe this will be our lucky year.

Hoar Frost

With all the fog we've been having lately, it has made for some interesting Hoar Frost.
I don't think I have ever seen it grow so long.

 More icicles than usual too.

I guess you could call this a blanket of snow falling off the roof of my greenhouse.

Yellow

Being a snowy morning with no sunshine these yellows just popped out and caught my attention today.

Icicles

Yesterday I tried to photograph the drips coming off the many icicles hanging on my deck. I was partially successful. Harder to do than I thought.

 

Interesting bubbles inside this icicle

 

Picture in a picture

Yesterdays icicles in the snow this morning.

One Flower Wednesdays

I've been busy making single blue hexagons to add to my pinks and purples for a project I have in mind. Now the plan is finding and cutting up blues that will blend together. Next week greens.

I did get a couple of hexie flowers finished.

Still Snowing

Icicles Bent by Wind

I am always fascinated by how icicles are formed.

 

Brown & White

I have been finding joy in the small bits of colour in my yard this year. We seem to have more snow and it keeps coming. Usually Chinooks come and melt it away, but not this year.

Mac and Horses

Mac running back after a walk, I noticed the horse with it's foot up after I took this picture. 

Snow Drift

The snow drift is as high as the fence. Hope it melts enough to let me into the greenhouse one of these days. Still too cold to plant anyway.

Black & White

Mac is so black his eyes so dark they don't even show up.

Colours

I love the way the colours show up in this photo. There is a big wash tub I use for a planter under all that snow.

Red & White

 Green & White

 There is life under all that snow, and hope for spring yet.

 

One Flower Wednesdays

Got 10 flowers done this week, a couple are from fabric already posted, and the flowery ones look different from each other with the placement of the fabric, I am happy with them.
My husband asked when I was going to start sewing them together? Good question, should get them out and see how they look together. 
I recall someone posting about a calculator to determine how many you need for different sized quilts. Will have to search for that.

What a barren landscape. Winter makes it look so desolate, we don't have trees for miles directly south of us. Our field is pasture, and a mile south is cropland, but there are Poplars and Willows to the left out of camera shot.

Mac Surveying the Countryside

This gopher seems to be waiting for the first spring picnic.
Taken through a window, sorry it is kind of blurry.

Fun time for Mac

Now with the gophers coming out of hibernation, Mac will be getting lots of exercise trying to catch them. Now all he has to do is follow directions - look behind you!

I think spring is finally coming, the temperature has warmed up to above 0C the last couple of days. It is +3C right now and the snow is starting to melt sink down.

One Flower Wednesdays

I didn't make any flowers, but made loads of petals. I have a project in mind using only pinks and purples.

Granddaughter Violet was over Sunday. She was counting my flowers, I told her I was going to make a quilt and she could help with the placement and showed her the small one I made years ago.
She placed the new flowers on the old and said I had to take a picture so I could remember how it looked.

A glimpse into the non sewing side of my sewing room. 
The picture you can see on the gramophone is Rayment's Pelham Ales sign.  My husband's 2nd Great Granfather William Rayment owned the brewery from 1860-1898. It was located in Furneaux Pelham, Herts, England. The funny thing is my husband is a home brewer. He hasn't brewed any beer for awhile but it was pretty good when he did. 

 First Gopher of the year

He managed to find something to sample.  We call them gophers but they are actually Richardson's Ground squirrels. The male comes out of hibernation first and established a territory before the females emerge. I think I should be out there chasing him away before he decides the yard is his. I don't want him and his family eating my garden this summer.

Sun Dog

Next best thing to a rainbow. One of a pair of Sun Dogs yesterday at 5:42 p.m. Makes it look even colder.

While tidying up I found some small hair clips I had somehow collected. Well, I had one of those AH HA moments, use them instead of pins to hold my fabric and paper together while making my hexie flowers. I remember having bought some large ones specially sold for sewing leather. Makes me wonder how much I paid when I could have used some large hair clips from the dollar store?

One Flower Wednesdays

With all the cold weather we have been having I've just wanted to stay inside and sew. Have been busy with my mug rugs during the day, and a bit of hand sewing on them at night. I was surprised when I counted up my hexies - 16 - they sure add up when you work on them most nights.

How does everyone store their hexies? I found that a 2 lb coffee can works great, knew there was a reason I kept saving them.

There is a real mixed bag of fabrics this week.

As promised I made a hexie flower mug rug. I am not completely happy with it, the back is not the neatest but got it done and the front looks pretty good. Will have to try more, now that I know how to put them together better.

At least the snow and cold produces interesting snow drifts. We got one sunny day yesterday, now back to blowing snow today.

-31C Monday, -24 Tuesday & today, -1 Thursday, then colder but only in the minus single digits for next week. Crazy Alberta weather.