Storm

Saturday started out great. I managed to make it to the Regional Meeting of the Hort. Society for the first time. Learned a lot and had a good time. I even won the door prize, a beautiful planter. The sun was still shining when I came home. After a quick change I went to the field to see if I had to help Laurence, who had started to plant corn. He was sure it would rain soon. I came back home, ready to work in the garden. That did not happen. A short time later it got very dark, then a terrible wind came up. Soon after the rain started. Before long the hydro went off. A few minutes later, the beeper started up, letting me know there was an alarm situation in the barn. I couldn't get the car out of the garage, but did manage to start the very old chore truck. In the driving rain I did manage to get to the barn... where Laurence had everything under control. One less worry: I'm totally useless with equipment! By supper time, still no hydro. We went out for supper -- as did all our neighbours! It's a farmer thing: our barns had hydro, thanks to big diesel generators, but nothing at the house. The whole area was without power. Over 40 large poles had to be replaced. Sunday morning we got a small generator from the fellow who rents our farm house. He had power through one of the big generators, large enough to plug in the freezer and fridge and the coffee pot. By late Sunday evening power was restored. Everything was working....except the Internet. It was back to it's old tricks. This afternoon the technician came out and after a few hours he made everything work, but according to him it can be better, so he is coming back with a larger receiver for on top of the roof. This small wall hanging is an old workshop sample. I finished it and will give it to the guild to be used as a door prize. It was another try at getting better at machine quilting. The orchids are doing very well. This pansy orchid is finally blooming. I had no idea what the blooms would look like and it seemed to take forever for them to open up. All the plants for outside planting are in the garage to harden. It will be a few weeks yet before I can plant them. Quilt Canada in Saskatoon is coming closer and I have to get things organized.

Papercuts... and more

Last week my friend Carol came and together we finished the quilt top. I think all but one block came back to me. One was only half-finished, but with reason: the lady broke her wrist and just could not do the rest. That's dedication for you! I'm very pleased with the result. When I showed it to Jenny, she remarked that I had to buy this one for her, when it is auctioned off. She likes this one the best of all of them. I told her that, if she likes it that well, she better start saving. She has a few years. I will take the quilt top with me to Quilt Canada in Saskatoon and then in the fall it will be quilted. I still have enough blocks left to make a large wall hanging with 9 blocks in the center and some triangles in the border. I'm still figuring that one out. Yesterday I had some friends come up to help me with my PowerPoint presentation for Quilt Canada. They made it look soooo easy. I'm waiting for a few more pictures and then I can strike that off my list also. I will be talking about the quilts I have coordinated for the Mennonite Relief Sale in New Hamburg over the years. I hope I can make it interesting. Last week we had some gorgeous days and I spend part of my time in the flowerbeds, deciding what grew where. Some plants I have figured out; for other areas, I have to wait a little longer. But then the weather changed. The last few days have been wet and cold. I love pansies and always buy a tray. I planted most of them in pots and they have not been very happy, especially last evening.You can see the hail in the pot. It did not last long, but the deck was covered with large hail stones. Better weather is predicted for the coming days. I need that. The office here is starting to look like a greenhouse. Callas Cannas, begonias and dahlias have to go out....and soon.

Goodbye to the Postcard Quilt

What a glorious day it was. Time to be out in the garden. This year will be different for me. After 34 years in one place I knew all the plants and their locations. Since we moved last year, early in the winter ,I have no idea what plants are here. All I know that there are about 24 big sedums in the front of the flowerbed and they have to go. A few is o.k. but this is too many. I did dig a few perenials up at the farm. I cannot leave grandma's extra early peonies now, can I! Last Monday was the annual Relief Sale dinner at Bingeman Park in Kitchener. Everything is donated from the hall, food, preparing the food, serving the meal and washing the dishes. Ticket sales and donations usually make up enough to cover the expenses for the relief sale, so 100% of the money made at the sale will go to MCC Other years there are about 26 large quilts hanging around the hall, but this year it was in another building and no quilts could be hung. As the feature quilt for this year, the Postcard Quilt hung on a frame, coming into the hall with 2 more beautiful quilts hanging behind. This year there was no poster. This size did not look right. Instead there were mugs and cards. They did make a special poster for me, so I can hang it with the others. And it was a good bye. During the sale I will be teaching in Saskatoon. Now we look forward to the next project. Next week I hope to show you the finished top. Yesterday was guild meeting and I had a long list of things to do. My powerpoint presentation is coming along, thanks to the work of my friends. I think I have most of the information I will need. Another stop was the greenhouse. I needed my flat of pansies. By now most are either in the garden or in pots in the front of the house. My lilies are doing too well. I should have started them a month later. The biggest are about 18 inches tall and ready to topple over. And it is too early to plant them. For now they have been banned to the back of the garage.

A messy room

The picture on my last entry managed to get through after trying it for I don't know how many times. So let's be bold this time and try 2 pictures. It is way more fun, when you can show what you are doing. My sewing room is getting there, but I have to find place for few more items. At least my design wall is up, minus the grey flannel. I have not been able to find some. I did take the old pieces with me when we moved, but they are discolored and new pieces just would look better.I have been busy squaring the blocks I received for the paper cut quilt. I have not given it a name, so for now we will go by that. I have received almost all the blocks back and will get one more at the next guild meeting( over 70 in total). You see here the work of absolute beginners to very accomplished appliquers. And I'm very impressed. It might not stay this way. I have 10 extra blocks and 4 extra triangles, enough for a large wallhanging. You can see the fabric for the sashing and binding at the bottom. It will have a border( 5 pieces for each side plus 4 corner pieces) , but I will not cut those pieces till the center has been finished. Tomorrow my friend Carol will come to help me with the lay-out. An extra pair of eyes is always better. And if time allows we will start with the sewing. I have to show you my pride and joy. This cattleya orchid has been blooming for over a month. I got it from Jenny for mother's day last year. It had 1 flower, this time it has 5. It was fun to watch the new stem develop till it finally had the flowers.

Another month.....another snow storm

We woke up this morning and snow was blowing across the windows. Laurence had a meeting in Guelph and he left with the car, but later he called and told me, that I better stay home. He had almost gone in the ditch and that with him being a very good driver. The roads had not been plowed and were awfull. So I have been home alone today and I got a lot of things done. The accountant will be here next week and I have some catching up to do in that department. And I squared most of the blocks I received for the next Relief Sale quilt Last week was busy. I was for 2 days in Toronto and had 2 very enjoyable workshops. As usual the lunches alone were enough to want to come back,. And yes, I drove in Toronto and with a few extra twists and turns I managed to make it in time for both the workshops. The next time it will not be quite as scary. Friday I picked up the rest of the blocks in Kitchener and almost all have been returned. And we started the work to change my web site. I hope we get it all arranged in the coming weeks. Also the refusal of Picasa to upload pictures to Blogger. It isn't fun to do this without being able to show pictures. Inside it is a little bit like spring. My begonias are growing almost too fast. The canna's, dahlias and Asiatic lilies are up. I have this problem almost every year. I cannot wait and than I have all these huge plants in the house, ready for transplanting and the weather is not suitable yet. Just got an email from Greenwood Quiltery in Guelph. I will be teaching a workshop there on Saturday, April 18th .It will be an introduction to Sashiko. There are a few spots open. If interested you can phone 1-866-364-2790 I have attached one picture. I just cannot give up.