Happy Monday! It’s Sandy logging in from the farm….
Hurray, hurray, the change of season has officially begun: welcome to the months that create the “anticipation of spring”. My childhood friend –who also taught me how to quilt– gave me this name for the time leading up to “real spring”. (I have missed her greatly during this time of Covid. The last time I saw her was in July when we had a socially distanced happy hour at her lovely home.)
I have never asked my friend for the exact dates of the season now known, thanks to her, as the “anticipation of spring”. But today I am hereby proclaiming this official season to run from February 1 – April 1 in honor of my Kindergarten-12 chum, Donny Osmond loving competition, my excellent (and patient!) quilting instructor, and my home décor & landscaping idol! So it shall be.
The dark days of January will fade into memory just a few minutes more each day. I know that there will be snowstorms and drifts to deal with all through February and March and April too, but in my soul, I know that the cold weather won’t last. And that knowledge makes my steps a little bit lighter.
When my son was small we used “the anticipation of spring” season (before we had an official name for it) to design and plan a Spring cake. We made a specially decorated cake to create and eat on the first day of Spring. Although he is in college now, I feel so hopeful today, that I do believe I’ll start planning a surprise spring cake for him to keep the tradition alive. (Alas, as a complicating factor, he has become a vegan…a bit challenging for the baker in me. Does anyone have a great vegan cake recipe to share?)
I realized that I neglected to share the finished Canada quilts for the granddaughters of my dear friend. They finally arrived at their destination a few days after Christmas. I took the quilts to the farm for a few pictures before mailing. These were created using a modified version of Cindy’s Garden Gate Charm quilt (the most popular pattern on our blog). I adore these happy, bright colors! The fabric inspiration is Fiddle Dee Dee by My Sister and Me, supplemented with my scrap squares.scraps from my stash.
Here’s hoping that you have a happy anticipation of spring season!
Beautiful! The quilts displayed outside embody the anticipation of spring!
No help on the vegan cake, but I’m all for spring coming ASAP. I want to go for a walk without having twenty layers to put on first. Those two quilts are so bright and cheerful, I’m sure they will be enjoyed for years to come. I had a serious crush on Donny, too (didn’t we all??).
Oh no — more Donny O competition!
For vegan cakes I just use normal cake recipes and substitute – vegan margarine for butter, soymilk for milk as it has the closest liquid fat ratio to real milk of all the non dairy milks and 1 tablespoon of finely ground flax seed into 3 tablespoons of cold water for each egg. Let the flax mixture rest until it gets gel like. You can also apparently use apple sauce as an egg replacer but I haven’t ever tried this. The flax seeds are brilliant in mudcake.
Thanks for the cake tips, Helen!