Spring.......finally

What a beautiful day. Finally it is warm enough to be outside without coat or jacket. The daffodils and early tulips are up and any day now we will have the first blooming crocusses. But now that the snow is gone I can see all the damage to the lawn, so next week I will be raking and cleaning up, at least if this weather holds up. It seems that as soon as it gets nice outside I rather be outside than work inside anyway,but less applique will get done. I did manage to make this small wall hanging (24 by 24")of the life cycle of a tulip. I used some of my dyed fabrics and batiks.It is time for warm weather, so I can try to dye some more fabric. I have not much experience with this, so it is always a gamble what the end result will be. All the fabric was fused first.I made up a pattern using pictures I took of my red tulips. Everything, except some embroidery, was done on the machine. Machine quilting seems to get a little easier. Yesterday I received my Quilters Newsletter Magazine and it showed one of my quilts. This time it was the " Springtime in Ontario" It is always neat to see one of your quilts published. Right now that quilt is one of 32 Canadian quilts hanging in the Quilt Museum in Paducah. This show" Canada Uncovered" will be at the museum for the next few months.

Machine work

Not much got done this week! I ended up with a bad cold and a sore throat,but today I finally feel like doing something again. What I did finish, slowly over the last few days, was this quilt for my son. Last fall he let me know, that the quilt I made for him to take to college was in tatters and he would not mind another one to replace it. I decided to make do with what I had on hand and try something different.Try the "quilt as you go" method. This quilt is 93 by 93 inches and there is not one hand stitch in it.With fabrics I had on hand I made the 121/2 inch blocks. 4 were sewn together with strips. These bigger blocks were machine quilted,after which these bigger blocks also were put together using fabric strips. The border pieces were also quilted before they were sewn to the quilt with narrow strips. I learned a lot making this quilt, mostly things that did not work. But what is the most important after all this......he likes it and will take it home after supper. Now it will be back to some hand applique.Four more cranes are waiting to be appliqued and I think I'm ready for them now.

Spring has sprung....or has it?

These tulips were potted up last fall and spend the winter in the 'cool' workshop. Once up I took them in the house and put them in a sunny spot. These are the first tulips to bloom. I took some pictures and hope to make a wallhanging of tulips in different stages. After a few nice days, with most of the snow gone, I found these little snowflakes against the shed.It made me think of spring. But it was too soon. Yesterday winter came back with a vengeance. And wouldn't you know, I had another trunkshow. This one was in Mount Forest, only 35 km from here. At 6 I received a phone call. Conditions were not good around there, but since most of the members were in town, they would have a meeting even if I decided to cancel. My husband looked at me and said: Just ask me if you want me to take you. He took me, all the way down complaining to me that I could have easlily done it myself. But things got worse around town and the trip back was not nice at all. I was glad he came along. Because of the weather the turn-out was low, but we had a good time. Today was our monthly guild meeting.The winds were still howling and there was some drifting snow, but while hubby took a tractor to the Farm Protest in Teviotdale, I set out for Waterloo. And I'm glad I went. Sharon Pederson (www.sharonquilts.com)talked about reversable quilts and machine sashiko. Great program and as usual a very good "show and tell" Right now the wind is still howling outside, but inside I have a little bit of spring right in front of me. http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.photo.gif Add Image

Postcard

This small wallhanging was made for my mother in Holland.I cannot visit with her often, although we talk on the phone weekly. She loves plants and flowers and I hope that these tulips will cheer her up on some of those rainy Dutch days. A few months ago I saw an article in the Quilters Newsletter Magazine that showed how you could make your own postcard. Since I had some extra fused fabric around I decided to make a card ( 4 by 6 inches)and see if it would work. I took a picture of an orchid and made a pattern.The pieces were fused to the bat and machine quilted. I decided to send this card to myself, just to see if it would come back. With Micron pen I wrote the address and signed with my middle name.I glued a stamp, also with an orchid on the back and it was ready for the post office. I had no trouble. The lady in the post office was very interested and hand stamped the card. Three days later it was in our mailbox. So now I like to make a few more and send one to my mother in Holland once in a while. Today I received some good news. Another one of my quilts will be in Quilters Newsletter Magazine. That will be the second one in 2 months.Who would have ever thought, that this might happen!!!

Fun and fast

This coming Sunday I will have all the relatives in driving distance here for dinner. From the 16 there are 8 with a birthday in the second part of February or the first part of March, so I was in need of a few presents. Since my fingers were sore from applique anyway,I decided to make a few quick projects. Since I have not done much fusing, I read Frieda Anderson's book " Fun and Fast Fusies" first. Then with a roll of Wonderunder, batiks and some left over dyed fabric I went to work. This was a big change for me. Instead of working on something for weeks or months it took only hours. The 2 small wallhangings are fused and then machine quilted. The only thing I did by hand is the back of the binding. A 3nd, slightly bigger one, has to be quilted yet. And at last I made a very small ,4 by 6 inches, postcard. I addressed it to myself and this morning I took it into a bigger town( not our own post office),and had it hand cancelled. My husband did not think that something so weird would be allowed, but the lady was very interested and did not ask any questions.Now we wait and see what will happen. I will take a picture once it has arrived "home" again. http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.photo.gif Add Image