More sashiko

It has been a very busy week. We did manage to finish combining the white beans, and we started with the soybeans -- but a few days of rain stopped that.

On Wednesday, I took my mother-in-law to the doctor, and after that I made my way to Waterloo to do a bunch of errands. One of my stops was at the local Mandarin Restaurant to pick up some extra coins. They were very gracious and said I could have as many as I needed. The coins were not the same as the ones I had, but it all will work out. In the evening at guild we had a great trunk show by Elizabeth Dillinger from Pickering: she showed us some amazing quilts.

Thursday morning, we woke up with the rain coming down, hard at times. Laurence wanted to go to the Outdoor Farm Show regardless, and he promised me that by the time we got there, the rain would be over. It was not to be. And I can tell you, tempers are not the best when 2 people try to stay dry under a very small umbrella. We did have tickets for a free breakfast, so that was our first stop. And we all received an emergency rain poncho right there!! The day turned out better from that point on. The advantage was that all the sales people had lots of time to talk! We stayed till about 4 in the afternoon; by that time the rain was over. But we were very tired and bed looked pretty good not long after supper.

Lately I have been looking for a Mountain Ash (a tree with lots of red berries). I have a spot picked out already. This morning Laurence went to an antique John Deere auction and I was busy baking for our church potluck tomorrow. At noon he phoned to let me know, that no, he did not buy anything and no he did not have lunch yet and yes, he had stopped at a tree nursery and found a nice tree and no, he did not want to bring it home. I had to inspect it first. After lunch he let me know that the hole had to be dug right then and there. I know enough to jump when that happens. As soon as the weather gets better, he will be way too busy. So the hole is dug and at the beginning of next week I will look at the tree. 

The sashiko blocks are all ready. Nothing has been sewn together yet.  After it is all together I want to make 4 blocks for the corners, then a narrow strip with sashiko on each side. A friend of mine gave me an idea for how to attach the coins with narrow strips of fabric. The last picture shows the front and back of 3 of the blocks. On some of them there is more thread on the back than the front!

On Wednesday I picked up another 20 skeins from Michelle at Kallisti Quilts, just in case. Next week I will have my first trunk show of the season for the Etobicoke Quilters Guild. Then next Saturday a workshop here at my place.