Guild meeting

Last Wednesday was our annual meeting for the WaterlooCounty Quilters Guild. Other years the turn-out is low, but this year it was different. Lots of members and a full program.And of course....the lunch after the program was delicious, as usualOver the years I have had a lot of problems with my back and shoulders Jan and Pat showed in a very humorous way, how doing some carefull choosen exercises can help.I have tried a few of them and indeed ,it helps. Now I will have to remember to do them and .....take the time.I always like to get going on whatever I have in mind, but I might feel better later if I would have taken the time to limber up. During show and tell 5 proud members showed of their finished or almost finished pansy wall hanging, that I had been teaching in April.It is always fun to see how they all look so different. The ladies did a very good job.

Farm sign

For a few days we had computer problems. We tried to fix it ourselves, but seemed to lack the necessary skills, so we had to take it into town. But it is working again. A few things were added and changed and it will take a while for me to catch on to it all. We always have liked the wooden farm signs made by Brenda at www.brenwoodsigns.com.About 15 years ago, when she had not been in business too long, we decided to let her make a sign for our farm. It had to include the farm name and an old John Deere tractor. The 60 on the sign was the first antique tractor my husband bought. At that time I made wheat weavings, using our own wheat, so a few stalks were added. We made room for some scrubs and for quite a few years it looked very good. Slowly the scrubs took over and the sign faded, so last year we took it down. While Brenda repainted the sign we took all the scrubs out with tractor and loader and added some topsoil.Last fall I planted lots of daffodils and transplanted hosta's from around the house. This will be the year for them to show their stuff. If not up to snuf they will come out. Friend of ours, www.floralandhardy.ca, live close by. They have thousands of hosta's in all shapes and sizes for sale and it is almost too easy to go and get some. With all this nice weather it seems that quilting is on the back burner for the time being. I'm working on a pieced bed quilt,but there is not enough done to show you.

Summer

It must be summer. On my daily walk with the dog we met a tractor with a load of fresly baled hay.For me that is the smell of summer. What I do not miss is the work involved.Now that the dairy cows are gone, there is no more mowing, raking, baling and slugging the bales into the haymow. It always seemed to be very hot. What I do miss is the smell of the hay though! Last fall I gave 2 workshops at the guild in Sarnia.While there I was asked if I would consider judging their challenge at a later date. 3 weeks ago a carload of ladies dropped the quilts of and last week they were picked up again. The job was not easy, because ther were a lot of good quilts. 2 of the ladies brought their finished wall hangings along.It is always exciting for me to see. Here Norma Garder is showing her master piece. I do not have many roses. They are too much work and I'm not very succesfull with them. Now scrub roses. That's different. I have 3 varieties of the Explorer Series. All are hardy for our zone 5. And they have gone through some very cold winters. I neve bother to cut them back. Somethimes the rabbits do that for me, but they bloom regardless. Loraine Shaw and her sunflower wallhanging. Both ladies made their own border design. Keep up the good work. This row started with one small rosebush.It seems that a branch will bend down and eventually root. I keep digging these small bushes up and re-plant them .Right now I have another one in a pot ready to find a new home at Jeanette's.

Cows in the meadow

A few months ago I spotted an interesting piece of fabric with cows and chickens in one of my workshops. The owner gave me a small piece and she asked me to try and use it in a small landscape.This small scrap had been on my design wall for a while and yesterday I had the time to play with it.I found enough other fabrics that blended in and this is the result. The oval is 6 by 9 inches.The border is a fabric that goes from light to dark across. By cutting selectively I got the look I wanted. The border is dark at the bottom and lighter at the top. It is not finished yet. I like to applique a piece of old fence on the right and embroider a few stalks of sunflowers behind it. But that will have to wait till a rainy day. I will finish it with some machine quilting and a dark binding.