Getting so close.....

The wedding is just over 1 week away and things are starting to get busy. It looks as if we will have 7 guests and 2 guest dogs. How that last one will work out with our dog will be interesting. The first ones, my brother and his wife from Holland will be here Saturday. Mowing lawn gives me lots of time for thinking and it dawned on my ,that my big purse would not do for the wedding. I made this small purse with stuff I had at home. It does not show the colors well. In reality it is much darker.
Two days ago there was a phone call. There will be a ring bearer, but there was no pillow and if I could make "something simple" My friend Lois to the rescue. She had a small pillow form, a piece of cream dupioni silk, cord the make piping ( I chickened out and did without) and 2 buttons that I could cover.
The bridesmaids will wear brown ,so it had to be cream and brown. By last night it looked like the picture above.

By supper time today it looked like this. There will be a button in the center with brown ribbon to tie the rings to. This was all stuff I had around. But it did nothing for my cleaned up room. All my boxes with embellishments, ribbons and beads are all over and this will have to be cleaned up before long. I have been busy cooking and most of the food for next week is ready. The reception will be in a big tent on the bride's parents farm, so there will be lots of things to do before the big day. So I might not be back till after the big day, but I will have pictures then

Once upon a time

Once upon a time there was a little girl, who loved to help her mother in the garden. Whatever had to be done,be it seeding, weeding or watering she was up for the challenge. As she grew older, that slowly changed and she had more important things on her mind. Then when she went to university and started to work in a garden centre for the summer, she let me know ,that gardening definitely was NOT her thing.
Now let's go forward 10 years. This little girl is all grown up and married. She lives with her husband in a house with both a front and a back yard. And in a few years they have been able to change a piece of lawn into a beautiful garden.
Now she is loves gardening again and it shows. And that is not all. How come her orchids are blooming better than mine? Despite her lack of care as she claims?
On the home front things are getting done. The garage doors have been painted.
The next thing on my long list, the installation of stones around one of the flowerbeds was completed today, thanks to the local CO-OP. It's not what you think. I had muddled around putting a few stones in their place each day, as many as my old back let me do. But this afternoon hubby had some extra time. He needed more fertilizer and he had to wait for the delivery. I must have been a sorry sight and he wondered if I needed some help. With him digging and me putting the stones in the right place we finished before supper. The clean-up will have to wait till tomorrow.
After a visit by our accountant in the morning, it will be of to the last guild meeting for the year.

Home again

Hard to believe, that I have been home for a few days already. Quilt Canada is over for another year. We left very early on Sunday morning for Toronto and flew from there to St. John's, New Foundland. I had never been there, but I hope to go back. My "super-volunteer" waited for me at the airport and took me to the residence. By that time it was way past lunch, but Verna took me to Tim Horton's for a quick bite. Supper was spend with some other girls from my guild. After supper I found out just how steep the hills are. On Monday I had signed up for the "Bird Island Tour " 3 bus loads full of quilters ,all warmly dressed, were taken to the boats . So far so good. As long as we stayed close to the shore I felt fine, but once out in the open, I started to think that this had not been a good idea. I became seasick and except for the picture of the lonely iceberg, I just sat, waiting for it all to be over. Once back on shore I could not wait to get back to my room. The afternoon was spend sleeping. By supper time I felt like eating again and with some of the other teachers we found a place not far from campus. Tuesday was for a lecture in the morning and going to the merchand mall and shows in the afternoon. Awards for the Juried Show were announced in the evening. There were some incredible quilts, but not picture taking was allowed.
Than it was back to work. All 3 workshops( 1 two day and 2 one day) were full with 20 students. I had done quite a bit of work beforehand and that came in handy. The girls were great and came from all over the country, from the North West Territories to New Foundland and one lonely American. I forgot to take pictures till the 3nd day and could not resist taking this one The workshop sample is on the table. The one shown was an extra one, also with sunflowers, I had made some years ago.
Here we are hard at work. For both of the one day workshops we used shaded wired ribbon. Since it is not easy to get at times I provided the ribbon. Any leftover at the end of the day, could be bought. And as you can see here, the ribbon sold like the proverbial hot cakes.
But it was not all work. In the evenings all delegates and teachers ( about 600) were bussed to the Convention Center for supper. There were some long waits, but the food was worth it.
By Friday the four of us ( Nancy Bergman, Helen Marshall from New Zealand, me and Penny Berends) decided to have a quiet supper. We asked the cab driver for the best fish in town and we ended up at "Ches's and yes it was very good. We even got a certificate as first time visitors.

And all to soon it was Sunday morning and it was all over. We left a cool St. John's and came to a sweltering Toronto. And I brought the needed rain home with me!. All in all it was a great week. My hat of to the organizing committee. They did a tremendous job. A thank- you also to Verna and Donna, my 2 volunteers, who were ready to do whatever had to be done. Verna even took me after the workshop on Friday to Signal Hill, so I could prove to Laurence I really had been there.

Now it is back to work. Less than 4 weeks till the wedding. We will have guests from Holland and out west, so I'm busy cleaning and weeding. Even have to do some painting. All my things have been put away and the quilt room has been cleaned up. No more applique till after the wedding!