One visit to Joe's Gardens will tell you why... slurp!

February has been unseasonably snow free and sunny. This past week it hit 60 and I'm catching spring fever early. Joe's Garden is prepping the field and will open on March 1 to sell veg and plant starts. Before we know it we will be in the magic season in Bellingham - no place better on earth I tell ya!

I stayed home on Wednesday trying to lick a cold before it got too bad and made place mats, napkins, and a table runner out of some funky fabric. Easy to cut and sew squares and sneezing did not detour my progress. The napkins and the runner are reversible. Oh-so-clever and one-of-a-kind and inspired by Amy Butler's INSTITCHES with fabric from Fourth Corner Quilts. Hurry up spring!

It must have done the trick because I was almost 100% and able to hoof it around Seattle on Saturday. The sky was clear, the mountains were in view, and the company was terrific. Went to an authentic Soul Food brunch at King Fish Cafe, shopped, saw local art, and visited three fun and funky neighborhoods with our local tour guide. We ended up at a Italian bordello-esque inspired eatery and made it home around 11:30. Oh -- found a very bright, raspberry colored, leather handbag that had to come home with me.

OK - this poncho is a beautiful pattern. I love the cable and the yarn that I got at my Dallas friend Paige's knitting store, Passion Knit. I have to say it looks like a garbage bag on me. I think that anyone chesty would feel the same. It needs to lie much flatter against the body. That said, I will wear this with a pair of jeans and my Nocona cowboy boots -- an Ebay find -- with a nubby cigar and look Clint Eastwood-esque.

So I went to see the Good Witch today to get a cut & color. The salon gals thought I needed 'something different'. Glenda shortened it a bit, put in loads of layers and got the big bang going. It's hard to take a picture of yourself trying to get an angle where you can see the layered side/back and fringy bang... with a horrible -- blur the world -- camera.

So sis? What say you? Cool, too 'mod' or a'la 1992 lizard lounge bangs?

Right now I'm finishing up a great poncho -- more like a cool New Mexican serape -- that Paige sent my way. I'm about 3/4 done and hope to wrap it up by the weekend. Photos will follow. (So it's safe for Sweetpea to say "Friends don't let friends wear ponchos." because this is a serape!) In addition I need to finish the mate to a pair of socks from Favorite Socks: 25 Timeless Designs from Interweave. They are an alpaca blend and two strands of yarn are knitted on the sole so it's xtra cushy. And I also have to finish this colorful quilt that I started months ago. The quilt top is finished and it's ready for the long arm quilting machine. I tried to sign up for a class at the local quilt shop in November but they didn't have any classes scheduled until 2008. Then I decided I would see how much it would cost me for someone else to do it -- around $250 for what I want, quilting in the 'ditch'. So I'm waiting for the next class. Hopefully I'll get it done by spring.