Anything floral

It does not happen often, or let's say almost never, that we get a delivery from the flower shop here on the farm, but on Monday,before 8 in the morning, this arrangement was delivered . It was a thank-you from Shawn and Emily. It was a very nice gesture. It has some long lasting flowers,including orchids, so we should be able to enjoy it for some time. We have had a lot of rain during the last weeks and everything is very lush. No brown grass this year. And keep the lawnmower handy!! This year I planted scarlet runner beans on each side of the old seed drill and you can see them grow bigger daily. Next year I will try perennial sweet peas.
I love begonias and keep the bulbs from year to year. These are some of the smaller bulbs that keep on blooming.
Now to some blooms inside. In a few weeks we have to attend a wedding and I know, that the prefered gift is money. So I made this card to hold the bills. The back ground is hand made paper from Ten Thousand Villages. I bought a big sheet and used most of it for last years Christmas cards.This small piece was left. The center is hand dyed. The rose is made with shaded wired ribbon. The leaves I have had for years and never found a use for them. The narrow ribbon is held in place with beads.
Next week I should have at least 2 projects finished. It all depends on the weather.
The wheat harvest has started. Yesterday was a beautiful day and a lot of combining got done, but this morning it was back to showers. As I look out the window I can see the sun. Let's hope we get a few nice days.

Mount Forest Quilt Show

The Four Corners Quilters Guild in Mount Forest, is 10 years old and they had their second quilt show last week. I had given 2 trunkshows ( one was in April in a snow storm with a very small group present). After that I taught 2 workshops. Last month the president Betty phoned to let me know, that they had 20 finished small landscapes and they liked to do something special. She came by last week to pick up 3 of my wall hangings, the milk can that goes with the farm quilt and the matching picture. I went over on Thursday evening and it was a lovely show. It is not often that you see so many projects finished after a workshop. There were also 2 pansy quilts. The show was very well organized and hung. I love the smaller shows. That way I can pay better attention to the quilts. At a big show I loose track after the first 100. Here are Doreen's pansies. She framed hers behind glass.
What a novel way to frame a landscape. This one is by June. She folded fabric and tacked the corners.
Quite a few were framed behind glass.This is Audry's winter wonderland
A wooden frame also adds to it. This one is also by a June.
All in all a very succesfull show.
What a difference a week can make. Last week we were wanting some rain and oh boy, did we get rain. Almost every day it is coming down. The combine is ready to start in the wheat, but that will not happen this week anymore. And yes, the corn in front of the house must be 10 feet tall. We cannot see the mailbox anymore.
This morning I took the Postcard quilt ( must get a better name!Any ideas?) to church. I needed 3 large tables to be able to square it. It was a big job, but with some help it came all together and the quilt is ready for the binding and sleeve.Then only a few smaller details and I can ship it of to the Relief Sale Committee. Always a good feeling to get it done.
My new workshop is ready to get quilted .And yesterday I got a brain wave for a new 2 day one. Again with orchids and sashiko, but a completely different design. This time it will be 4 different lady slippers.
And finally a thank you to Olga, who let me know that the moth in last week blog is a cecropia. I hope to see more and then in better shape.

Back to normal

It is back to the two of us. The newlyweds came back late on Thursday and left, with the dog, on Friday. I had a scare on Thursday evening. I had tied the dog up outside, but when I looked out the window the rope was there, but without a dog attached. Since these dogs(bassett hounds) are known to follow a scent and forget where they came from, I just knew he was gone. But luck was with me. He had eaten all our dog's food and was playing on the front lawn. Boy was I glad. Now he is back home on the ranch in Alberta. When I asked Shawn if they wanted something for the guests to sign at the wedding,they decided on a big pillow. I made this top with 1/2 inch strips.In the center is a picture of the couple taken 2 days before the wedding. That is just temporary. As soon as I get a good wedding picture I will print it on a piece of fabric and finish the pillow. Not all the spots were filled. I wanted every person to have a spot, but most couples put their names in one. I do think that just about everyone signed. On Saturday morning we left for a few days for the cottage of friends. On the way I made Laurence stop at the quilt store in Cookstown. I needed fabric for the binding of a quilt and I had not been able to find it. I have run into that problem before. The quilts for the relief sale usually take over a year or more from start to finish and go through all kinds of changes and in this case I had used all the fabric for the double strips in the center. But luck was with me. I found the fabric and this collection of John Deere fabric on sale. It will make a nice quilt for some farm boy, young or old.
Yesterday I found this moth all tangled up in a window of the shed. I carefully took it outside where it slowly took of after a few minutes. It was huge( see my finger) but not in good condition. I have never seen one before and do not know the name.
Today I finally had some time to start a new piece. I like to make 2 new workshops, one with shaded wired ribbon and another one with orchids surrounded by sashiko. It is always good to have some handwork going.
The weather has been good. Right now it is hot and our corn is getting taller by the day. A few more days and we not be able to see the road anymore. We will be surrounded by tall corn till at least October.

Wedding day

Saturday was the big day and what a glorious day it was. The weather was perfect, not to hot and not too cold. As usual there was a lot of confusion to get everything ready in time. I got back from the hair dresser in time to have our pictures taken on the bride's parent's farm. Everything worked out great. The biggest problem later was that the pillow for the ring bearer was forgotten. A quick turn around by the bridesmaids to retrieve it,took care of that. After a beautiful church service we moved to the farm, where a great meal was waiting for us Here are the newlyweds in front of the white fence, surrounded by canola fields. These were specially seeded for this occasion and bloomed just the right time. The mother of the bride had pictures taken at her wedding in front of a white fence, so to keep with the tradition this white fence was put up. Later pictures were taken right at sunset.
The tent was beautifully decorated with trees and flowers.
Shawn had told me, that he wanted their quilt in the tent, so we put it up early in the morning. I had a plastic sheet along, but that was not needed.
Once it was dark there were fireworks, a surprise for most of us. The couple left soon after for their honeymoon. This afternoon they returned for a short visit. Tomorrow afternoon we will bring them to the airport in Kitchener from were they will fly back to Calgary.
We had a busy time here at home. All the people got along fine, but the 3 dogs decided that they did not really like each other, so we had to watch them.
Slowly during the week, our company left and now it is only us and Abner. He will depart tomorrow.

And this is about as energetic as we all feel here at Lauren Farms.Tony and my brother Wiebren took lots of pictures, but they did things with this computer I have not been able to figure out, so I hope to have more pictures next time.

Boys .....and their toys

The first guests have arrived. Little Abner here came all the way from Calgary and seemed to have enjoyed his first plane ride. He will be here on and of for the next 2 weeks. He must be one of the easiest dogs to keep. Yesterday the tent went up, so last night we had to have a look. It should hold about 300 people for the reception on Saturday evening. A lot of decorating will be done yet.
On to the toys. Both the bride and groom's families are farmers.It seems like every time there is a "farm" wedding there are pictures of the couple and wedding party with big tractors, combines or whatever. The bride made it a point, that this would not happen at her wedding.
But when the guys found out, that there was some extra room under the tent, the word " tractor" came up. Now you have to realize, that a farmer often is attracted to one color of tractor be it red, green or yellow.
The bride's family has "RED" equipment. For Shawn that would not do since we are "GREEN and YELLOW" people.

So this morning one of our antique tractors was hauled out of the shed. It needed to be washed and waxed, a job my brother was willing to tackle. He came all the way from Holland for a wedding and here he is put to work!!!Tomorrow The tractor will be loaded on a trailer and trucked to the tent.
Right now it is not too busy here, but that will change by tomorrow. By Friday we will have 7 extra people and 2 extra dogs, so it will be a busy place. But it all will work out. The weather promises to be great, warm and sunny. Tonight there is a shower for Shawn and Emily at church and the wedding rehearsal is tomorrow evening.