Saturday 29 March 2008

Spring flowers are arriving daily! I went for breakfast with my friend Rita and then we took her two dogs for a walk along the quay. Here are some tulips that are similar to the original tulips when they were first introduced. I love how these English daisies seem to have developed an Afro with the moisture in the air. Did you notice the double centre on the one red and white blossom on the bottom?
The rhododendrons are blooming, I love their bud formations.
This is a blossom on the same plant, we had some snow yesterday and they would have looked lovely with the dusting.

The Muscari [Grape Hyacinths] are popping up all over the place!

I love the lovely lines the tulips have in their bud form. They look so graceful.
This group look like dad, mom and the children.

Several of the condos along the quay have water features, we have several duck families that come each year to nest. We have a pair that come to our pool to teach the young how to swim. At night you can hear them quacking and flying in to nest.

This is not our pair, but the picture below is the water feature of my condo. The little ducklings climb out of the pool and sun themselves on our brickwork around the pool on sunny days.

The cherry trees are bursting out in colour, and soon the maple will join the party. The heather is a soft purple and the St. John's Wort has been trimmed back, but the yellow blooms will be arriving soon.

Monday 24 March 2008

Spring has arrived here on the west coast of Canada, I put out the wreath I made a few years ago to celebrate the season.Yesterday I went over to my mom's for a second Easter dinner, we had a lovely windy day with blue skies to celebrate. This is a magnolia tree just around the corner from her condo already in full bloom!
On Good Friday I made this quilt from a special little girl named Livvi, the back of the quilt is covered with yellow ducks on a green flannel background.




Saturday 22 March 2008

Saturday morning I went for a walk to see what Spring flowers and trees were in bloom. The pink rhododendrons were a nice Easter surprise. They look so pretty against the blue sky. These pink star flowers were almost like a carpet in one corner of a planter.

My favourite Witch Hazel is starting to show some buds, the spider-like leaves have almost all disappeared.
I spotted these little narcissus flowers that almost look like dandelions, I've never noticed them before.

This weeping Cherry tree is in the courtyard of my condo, the blossoms are just starting to open. We have several of these and they look amazing when they are all open.

This Amaryllis was a Christmas gift from my friend Ethel two years ago, in February I decided to give it some water and see what would happen. What a beautiful plant it is in full bloom.
I wish you all a Happy Easter weekend, may you share it with the ones you love and share happy memories.

Thursday 20 March 2008

Happy First Day of Spring, officially it arrived late last night but I always think of today being the first day. My dad was born on this day and it is a special one for me. I came across this year last weekend. The whole lawn is covered with crocus blossoms, I thought it looked so pretty. What a lovely way to start your spring gardening. I wonder how long it took for the bulbs to spread?

Every now and then you can see a daffodil amongs the white and purple crocuses. I may go back this weekend to see if I can get some more photos if the sun comes out.


Have a Happy Easter this weekend!

Saturday 1 March 2008

Every year our Fraser Valley Quilters' Guild has a preemie workshop, today was that day... Beckie did a wonderful job machine quilting this preemie quilt she made at home before arriving to the workshop.
At the February meeting these scottie dogs were donated to the program. We make quilts for the nursery at B.C. Children's Hospital for premature newborns.
This is my friend Ethel working on a quilt.

Nancy, Carmie and I worked as a team to put this 4 patch quilt together. Notice the scottie dogs and puss in the corner quilts behind their heads.


Susan, Carmie and I worked on this 4 patch quilt together.


Carmie is being watched closely by Susan and Linda as she puts the pedal to the metal on her Juki sewing machine.

Susan, Sandi [that's me] and Carmie with quilt number three from our team that included Nancy.


The fourth quilt we made is this Sweet Dreams, no picture as we didn't get the final border on it before time was called for the day. Nancy cut it out of the same fabric from the 4 patch quilt at the top of this entry. She used an interesting second fabric for a two colour quilt.

Elke is getting a lesson from Tricia on cutting a split 9 patch block. It was a very busy and constructive day once again. Thank you everyone for participating!