Signs of Spring and other nice Surprises

What a crazy winter it's been! For us on Canada's west coast, we've had the warmest winter on record--temperatures above freezing since mid-December and no snow. Not good news for the Winter Olympics which open here tomorrow. I'm sure they'd love to have some of the white stuff that the midwest and east coast are "enjoying". I saw these crocuses poking their heads up last weekend--a sure sign that spring is on its way!
Another nice surprise--last week I answered my doorbell to find two Korean women who had seen my "Country Quilts" sign on the front porch. They are in Canada while their children attend school here. Though they spoke little English and I speak no Korean, they wanted to learn about quilting so I invited them in and showed them around. There's something about quilting that transcends all language barriers! One of the ladies, Olivia (shown below with me), wants to learn how to quilt so we had our first lesson yesterday.

This is the quilt pattern I'm teaching her (To Everything There is a Season). She's used to cutting with scissors and sewing by hand so it was fun to show her how to use a rotary cutter and sew by machine. I prefer designing to teaching but she was so enthusiastic and eager, it was a great experience. We worked on the Spring block together and she'll work on the other season blocks at home and then come back for Lesson #2.