Summer

Summer is finally here.We had a hot one today with temperatures around 30C. With the rain we had last week the crops are growing very well, but so do the weeds. I was all set to edge all the flowerbeds with the shovel, when I heard from a friend ,that there is something called a flowerdbed edger you can rent. What a life saver! We rented it for 1/2 day and with Laurence running it, we went around all the beds in no time. Next time we will wait till the soil is drier. I had to clean the mud out quite regularly. But it did the job. The pots in front of the house look good. Now I realize that the colors are not all coordinated, but during the move I lost the tags and so had no clue what color the begonia's would be. Next year better. At last count there are 25 rose bushes that have survived the winter. The first ones are blooming including this pale pink shrub rose. I really did not want to look after this many roses, but looking at all the different colored buds I might change my mind yet. At last count there are 21 orchids in the house, including these 2. Where they all came from, don't ask. Last evening was our horticulture meeting and the speaker, Gerald Swan, is an expert in growing orchids. I learned a lot. The one on the right I took home from Jenny on Sunday . It did not look good with brown leaves all over. I took it along last evening and was told what to do. Gerald even transplanted it for me in a larger pot. Now it will go in the windowsill above the sink and I just hope it will show some green growth soon. The one on the left I won!!!! The speaker brought 4 orchids for door prices and since I had the first number, I could take one of them home. It is another lady slipper with the name of "Transvaal" I saw a picture in one of the speaker's books and it has beautiful brown flowers. With all this weeding and cleaning in the garden not much applique is getting done. I'm working on 3 smaller project and should have something to show next week.

Guild challenge

Yesterday was the last meeting for our guild. There was only an evening, business meeting and at times there are not too many members attending. Since our guild show is in September the show committee decided to make the challenge due yesterday. It seemd to work. There were lots of people and 20 small quilts. It had to be about an Idiom. I did start on one, but figured out, that it was more a saying then an idiom, so it was back to the drawing board. When I found the piece of fabric with the cows I knew what I was going to make. This is my interpretation of "Wait...till the cows come home" It is fused and machine embroidered/quilted. It was a fun and fast project. There were some amazing quilts and all so very different. The quilts were collected and we will see them again, hanging at the show. The evening was a lot ot fun, with food, doorprizes and then of course the business part. I needed a few cards and today was the day to make them .I love to make these kimono's and made these 2 even a little smaller, so the cards will go into a 6 by 9 inch evelope. The third card is made with 3d flowers I had on hand. Each time I teach a workshop making flowers I keep the samples and somewhere along the line I find a use for them. I like to find something for the back that complements with the front. For the red kimono I found a black and red fabric with goldfish. The card with flowers has pansies on the back and the green kimono has a piece of silk on the back. I seem to be a magnet for "strange" fabrics. Yesterday at the guild meeting I was asked if I could use some Asian fabrics. It turned out to be a big bag full of Japanese silks, silk scarves, a ikat belt with woven fish and some heavy Chinese silks. This green on the back of the card came from one of the pieces.

New winged "friends"

A few years ago I received a folded fabric kimono from my friend Janet. I put it up on my bulletin board and there it stayed. Then a few weeks ago another friend, Tamara, remarked that she thought it was really pretty. At around that time I had to start thinking about a small quilt for the guild challenge. I took the kimono (sorry Janet) apart and found that it was not hard to make. And soon after I had it all planned. Too bad, that later I realized, that it did not fit the criteria for the challenge. I did make another one, that I can show after next week's meeting. But I did not want to forget about this one and I'm back at it. It is the saying "something old ( a piece of vintage silk for one of the kimono's),something new (fabric I just bought), something borrowed ( the pattern from Janet), something blue ( a blue kimono) The white circles will be sashiko. The smaller circles are cut from a piece of oriental fabric and the flying geese are made with vintage shibori. It is all in pieces yet, but it has been fun. We have some new winged friends around. These barn swallows showed up a few weeks ago and made themselves right away at home. First in the garage. We had some arguments and there were mad dashes close to my head, but they backed of. Now their nest is under the eaves, close to the diningroom window. They do make somewhat of a mess and don't like anybody outside on the deck, but it is fun to see the going ons in the nest. The weather has not been great. We did have rain, but it has been cold. All the crops are in the ground, but nothing is growing very fast. We do hope for more sunshine in the next few days. It is always remarkable, that the weeds do keep on growing. Tomorrow will be a weeding day!

Back home

Quilts, orchids, horses, gardening and water buffalo mozzarella pizza, that just about sums it up. I came home Tuesday morning early after an overnight flight from Calgary after a very busy week. Quilt Canada in Saskatoon was great. As usual it was very busy. I taught for 3 days in a beautiful room. It was down in the basement of the hotel, but nobody complained about not having enough light. I had fun, I hope the participants too. The Juried show was a 10 minute walk. I finished at 4 and the show closed at 5, but I did manage to get there and see the quilts. In my eyes it was a very good show and I could have spend more time there. On Friday evening I did my power point presentation, a first for me and there were no equipment failures, my biggest worry. Everything was set up and was ready to go. Since I talked about the quilts I coordinated for the Mennonite Relief Sale I mentioned the one to be sold the next day. I was asked to find out what it went for and announce it at the next day's banquet. I was very happy, when I found out, that it went for $7200, in my eyes a very good price. It was the highest of the day. The quilt went to Bruce Menary, owner of the Len's Mills Stores in our area. Of the 5 quilts I have coordinated he has bought 3. He is a very big supported of the sale!!! After the conference I flew to Calgary and visited Shawn and Emily. The after noon was spend watching Emily at a working cow horse seminar. For most of you it might sound boring, but it was interesting. I grew up riding English Style and never knew anything about Western Riding. I learned new things, sitting in the sun with the Rockies in the back ground, what can be better. Monday we went out to look at plants. Once home there was enough time to plant it all and wrap the tomato plants. More frost was expected. Then the fun was over and it was back to the airport. But first supper where the water buffalo mozzarella pizza came in . When I saw that, I could not resist. It was good, but not any better then regular mozzarella. Then it was direction home. I had a lot of luggage by then. I bet you I was the only one from the conference who came home with a large orchid. During one of my workshops I had a visit from some of the organizers Since I was teaching the orchid workshop, we started to talk about different orchids. Finally I was asked if I had room for a "SMALL" one. Of course, who can refuse. The next day she showed up, laughing, with a huge cattleya. I was not going to say not to something like that and found a way to put it in a carry on. It survived and is looking great. I seemed to have taken the good weather with me to the West. Once back home, it has cleared up and Laurence could finish the seeding, except of the white beans and that will be done today. So it is back to work for me. And when I got home I found another orchid in bloom. For this one I do not have a name,