Every year, around this time, I get fed up with winter. This year, the feeling seems to be a bit more intense. I’m not sure why as winter has been pretty much a non-event here this year. At any rate, I’m always ready for gardens and flowers and colour at the end of February, and this year is no different.

One of the things I did this year was to start on my Artist Dates again, right after Christmas. (I anticipated this mood!) As many of you know, one of the elements of the Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron is to take your inner artist on a play date once a week. I tend to fall out of the habit of this, so ensured that I got back to it after the holidays. It always helps, but I always have a lot of inertia about taking the time and getting to it.

A few weeks ago, I made a trek to a quilting store that carries fabrics designed by Kaffe Fassett and Amy Butler. I just love this store and am very glad that it’s not closer to me – I’d be signing over my royalty cheques in advance! It was a beautiful day and I got some wonderful yarn-dyed stripes by KF, which are some of my favorites to work with while quilting.(That’s a big ugly link. I hope it works. If not, go to Westminster Fibres, click on Designer, then Kaffe Fassett, then Wovens. There are more of Amy’s fabrics visible on the Westminster Fibres site, too.)

I have a quilt on the go that is all cheerful chaotic colour and working on that at this time of year is a good things too.

I’m also ready to get out in the garden, get some dirt under my nails, move perennials and rocks, and plant seeds. It’s time for flowers! Since it’s actually a bit early for flowers, I’ll take an artist date to visit a greenhouse somewhere and smell that wet earth. When I lived in Toronto, Allan Gardens was a favorite adventure – look, AG even has a Wiki! I was visiting Calgary once at this time of year and spent a wonderful afternoon at the Devonian Gardens there. (DG has a Wiki, too.) There tend to be a lot of garden shows in my area at this time of year, but I’m less of a fan of those. It seems like I’m paying admission to go shopping – and it’s too early to buy bulbs or plants. (Maybe I should look at the speaker schedule, but I never do.) This year, I’m going to have to hunt around for another greenhouse to visit. I’ll take another day to clean up my pots and sort my seeds, and daydream a bit about this year’s garden.

What about you? Are you ready for spring to arrive? What do you do to get yourself through the last bit of winter?