Tuesday, April 11, 2017

The Windows are Open!

Studio window is finally open and the cat is happy. See how she has perked her ear back at me to see if I have something of interest to her to say? She can't be bothered to turn her head to cooperate for a cute photo.

I went for a walk this morning, wearing a thick sweater instead of a winter jacket. Hurrah! The sun is lovely, kiddies are running on the paths of the public garden which is now open. At the moment, Michelle, the beekeeper and I have our hearts in our throats.


The bees in the backyard have taken a hard hit in the last two weeks. There have been two blizzards since March 30. Before then, the bees were coming out for short forays. There was also several sweepings out of dead bees. We would see the bodies on the white snow. I get anxious when I see the dead bees, but this is part of the housecleaning the workers do regularly. Did you know there are worker bees that have the specific duties of mortitians? Find the dead bodies, remove them from the hive, repeat. The last several days, the action at the hive has been invisible. Oh no!


But today, there are around 30 bees moving in and out of the entryways.


The number of recent dead bees is very high. Michelle is coming to see if the hive will recover or not. She might blend this hive with a healthier hive. Fingers crossed that I get to keep a hive in the backyard for another summer.

On the sewing side, yes, I have been doing that, but the excitement around spring is just too good to pass up.

Mid-March, for the first time in 20 years, I had my act together and managed to plant seeds for several flowers,

Nasturtiums

lettuce, white turnips, cipolini onions,

3 pots of fingerlings and 3 pots of potatoes from PEI to be transferred to larger pots in May

6 pots of potatoes and a couple of herbs. Mid-April and some have germinated and need better light and more warmth.


Steve pulled together a growing station for me in the storm porch and the seedlings are looking reasonably happy.

Stash busting -


I knit two scarves for friends of Phoebe's. I don't know why. I needed to get rid of some smaller balls of yarn and decided on scarves and as I knit, I decided Phoebe's friends are too polite to say no thanks to my face.

And sewing - not studio sewing but clothes.


Isn't this a lovely fabric? I meant to get it done by Christmas for chasing away winter gloom. Nope.



It needs the buttons and the hem. I can do that on the inevitable rainy day that ought to happen any time now.

Yes, there has been a bunch of studio work. I have been working on a painting class with Carla Sonheim (link on the sidebar) and damp stretching finished work.


It is a large piece, so I will show it next week with better photos. I hope you are getting a sense of Spring where ever you are and remember to buy both bug spray and sun screen.

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