I'm following up to my own post: I put the feeder out two days ago and guess who showed up today; March 1st?? A male rufous hummingbird! Yay! -Katy

I received a great box from Heidi. She made two adorable angel ornaments that are now on my tree. She also included a mix of candy and several packages of seeds. These all came inside a cute holiday box. Heidi also made a card with a poem she wrote inside. I want to share it with everyone. She is a very clever writer. It read Winter Soltice Twas the night before Winter solstice and all through the garden The air was quite cold, the ground starting to harden I had just sat down to a nice cup of tea To look through the seeds I had gotten for free When out on the lawn, there arouse such a clatter I jumped from my chair to see what was the matter The snowflakes were fallin' the wind was a blowin' "My winter sowing containers!!" down the street they were goin I threw on my boots, took off at a run I could already see this was not gonna be fun I collected the containers and tied them up tight So much for seed sorting on this crazy night I put on my PJ's and snuggled to bed While visions of winter sown flowers danced in my head I swear I heard my husband snore as I drifted off to sleep "Happy Winter solstice to all, and don't plant your seeds too deep" Thank you Heidi, I really enjoyed my box and it did bring a smile to my face. Margo

Hi all - I was organizing my patterns over the weekend, and came across the design chart for this piece. But I don't have the color code!!! This is NOT the design that can be found on line currently, unfortunately. This one has flowers and small animals around the outside like a medieval tapestry (think Unicorn tapestries) and the poem, "The Kiss of the sun for warmth, the song of a bird for mirth, one is nearer God's heart in a garden than anywhere else on earth" stiched above and below a cloister design. I am thinking it might have come from Cross Stitch and Country Designs (boy, do I miss that magazine, none of the newer ones seem to have the wealth of really good patterns that one did). Does anyone remember such a design? Do any of you have the design, or have any ideas where I can find it? I don't know who the designed is. Thanks for any help!!

hmmm...I wonder if it IS the E., but because I had given it up as a lost cause, I didn't worry so much that the other plant in the pot (my heuchera) had begun to take over. Maybe if it IS the E in the photo, the reason it could be so small is because the heuchera leaves were blocking out most of their access to sunlight, which might have slowed down its growth process. I'm gonna go ahead and clip back some of the heuchera to allow more sun on the green leaves and see what comes of them. ;-) Thanks!