With the sudden shift to warm (or rather hot) weather, the garden has kept me pretty busy. I couldn’t do much outside last year, so I am even more determined this year. And since apparently I don’t have enough to do already, a bird or squirrel hid some sunflower seeds in my lettuce bed over the winter, and they sprouted. I guess I could just dig them up and throw them on the compost, but that’s not me. I replanted them all, hoping for some beautiful sunflowers later this summer. And when I checked the lettuce bed again this morning, another bunch had sprouted… a never-ending story, apparently. I might be running out of space for sunflowers soon.

One of the best garden ideas I ever had was planting asparagus. Most of you are probably only familiar with green asparagus, but in parts of Europe, especially Germany, it is all about white asparagus. I don’t think I was even aware that green asparagus existed until a class trip to France when I was about sixteen. Every year between late April and late June is Spargel Season, and everyone loses their mind and eats as much asparagus as they can. White and green asparagus are actually the same plant – you just have to shield the spears from light as they break through the ground and dig them up quickly before they can change colour.

Since we can’t really get white asparagus here, I started some plants from seeds in 2021. You need a lot of patience to give the plant time to develop a stable root system and can’t expect to harvest for a few years. Last year we had so much asparagus that I was sick of it before the season was even over. But that was last year, and this year I was very excited to see the first spear break through the ground on Easter Sunday. Because of the warm weather in early April, we harvested about a pound and a half in the first week alone and have had a steady supply of asparagus coming in since then. Yum!

Anyway, I try to squeeze in some sewing every day, but somehow it feels like I never really finish anything. I am not sure what I am doing, but I do know that I end up at the quilt shop on a regular basis to purchase more fabric that I really do need for specific projects – and yet somehow finished projects are few and far between 😉 In any case, I finished six simple little mug rugs this week, made from two mini charm packs that I think I won at the guild quite a while ago.

They were older fabric lines – one was “Little Black Dress 2”, the other “Autumn Elegance”. Both were not really my colours. There isn’t really any colour in the Little Black Dress line, and the fall colours of Autumn Elegance are too warm and muted for my taste. But I hate having stuff lying around that I don’t use, and I was thinking of giving the mini charm packs away before deciding to just turn them into mug rugs. Simple piecing, quilted with diagonal lines, even the binding done completely by machine. They didn’t take long at all, and I don’t hate them 🙂 No, seriously, there is nothing wrong with them, they are just not my colours.

I donate most of my quilts to the Ann Davis Transition Society here in Chilliwack, and I will just add these mug rugs when I do another drop-off. While you can’t wrap anyone in a mug rug, they are still nice to have as a decoration – or to put some cookies on! 🙂

I was too lazy to load the mug rugs onto the longarm and quilted them on my domestic machine. I am so spoiled by the longarm – even straight line quilting with my Pfaff’s IDF doesn’t compare to Millie. Next time I think I will spend the time to get them on the frame – it is well worth the effort because it makes the quilting so much easier.