3D flowers

Snow and more snow! Looking outside it is all white. Although not yet a blizzard, it is blowing snow across the window. And the coming days will stay cold we are told. This old oval frame I got from Laurence's aunt, but I had to promise her to fill it with something"nice" The year was 1994 and I had just started with my first appliqued, Baltimore Album style quilt. I had never used the wired ribbon and after looking through my first Elly Sienkiewicz book I found this block, perfect for trying out all the new techniques.The basket is made with ribbon. that had the wire taken out. The leaves have been hand appliqued after which I had sewn the roses on. By now it looks a little dated and I have a new idea for the frame. I also added 2 more small kimono quilts. Both have different sashiko at the side. The pink kimono is made with a vintage piece of silk and some of my hand dyed fabric. On the side are 2 small crest designs. The second one has a black background The fabric for this kimono was given to me by a workshop participant in Peterborough. She had seen my other samples and wanted to make one herself. The next day she came with 2 pieces of fabric, all sewn together, but the size was wrong and without a machine we could not make it work.She decided, that I should have a go with this fabric. I gave her the right dimentions and she went home with the promise to try again. I think that with these 4 samples I have enough. Looking outside you do not get the idea that it soon will be spring. Most years I have potted my begonias up by now and looked at my other bulbs. Most years I also run into problems with bulbs growing too fast here in the house. So this year I'm taking it slow. I did start some seeds, but they are very slow coming up. Now last evening I heard of a solution. It was the monthly meeting of our horticutural society and one of the members mentioned, that she starts her seeds in the oven with just the light on and the door open a few inches. Coming home I got my boxes of seed , put them on a tray and put them in the oven. They are not up yet, but I keep a close watch!

About boots and bogs

For as long as I have lived on the farm in Canada I had a pair of rubber boots. They never fit too well, were cold in the winter and did not look that good either. In Holland we never had boots, only klompen or wooden shoes. But these boots kept you clean and dry, at least most of the time. Then last year Jenny showed up with really nice boots. They had everything the others did not have. They looked great, were very warm and fitted just right. Last week I got my own pair of Bogs for my birthday. They fit so well, that I can even put them on to go for a walk. Now the next question: Shall they be used for the chores or.... shall I go back to the "other" ones. Just like my dad. He had klompen for the barn, which were plain wood and not painted and then a pair, usually black, for going to town. Another pair of socks have been finished. The yarn I got from Jeanette after they had been in San Francisco. The pattern is, again, by Cookie A. I wished I would have used other yarn for this pattern. It was fairly difficult and the pattern does not show up well. Last Saturday we celebrated 4 birthdays, including mine.Since Tony's parents are moving to a smaller place I was the recipient for 5 more orchids, including this lady slipper. I have 2 others, but neither has ever bloomed. I'm up to around 30 orchids now and this has to be it. There is no more room in the windows. Tuesday and Wednesday I was at the Eire Shore Quilters Guild and all was well. The weather was good ,excpet for some rain, but that's better then snow. I had a very enjoyable time and I hope that the ladies will show me later some of the crazy quilt blocks they worked so hard on. I did not get much stitching done in the last few days. The wall hanging below I made a few years ago. The pattern was in the AQS magazine. It is the frist time I made something with the raw edges showing. It was a new experience and I prefer to tuck the edges under I found out. It is machine quilted. The peice for the mountains I made kept for just such an occasion. It was dyed by Micky Lawler and I had bought it when we were in Vermont, years ago. Something happend here with the letters and I have no clue as how to change that with my limited knowledge of the computer. Better quit before I do more damage.

About cards and monkeys

There are 4 birthdays to celebrate in the first week of March around here. We will get together in a few days time and I needed another card. We were invited to celebrate the Chinese New Year with Tony's parents, but due to bad weather we missed that. Since this is the year of the rabbit I thought it would be nice to make a suitable card. Lots of ideas on the Internet and with lots of selvedges in the bin, I came up with this idea. For the rabbit I used WonderUnder, quick and easy. My poor sock monkey was in need of a hat and some finishing touches. I had bought some red yarn and made a cap, which was too small. The next one was better, but finally with my 3nd try I did it right. I just kept on going, so by now I have caps for Jenny , Lois and for my second, yet to be made, sock monkey. Here it is putting a few stitches in my new quilt. I have done a lot of boring, putting together by hand, work on this wall hanging. And there is more to do. I always seem to be making cards. I just like making small projects during the evening. The 3 cards below will be gone by next week. The fabric circles come from a piece of Japanese fabric. The top one has a few leaves put on with again WonderUnder. The bottom 2 have a few sashiko stitches added. I zigzagged around the edges. Next week I will be in Kingsville, near Leamington at the Erie Shore Quilters Guild . Tuesday evening I will give my trunkshow and then on Wednesday I will give a workshop. We will be making a crazy quilt block. This means, that I might not get back to this till later on in the week. Today was a miserable day with sleet and rain. More is expected for the coming days. I did buy some seeds today, but looking out of the window I might be a little bit on the optimistic side.

Finally!!!

I have been trying since last Thursday to upload these pictures, but no matter what I tried, it did not happen. Tonight I gave it one more try and oh wonders it worked. My catleya is blooming again.When I got it for mother's Day I was told, that it was hard to get to bloom again, so I did not have much hope. But this is the fourth time it has flowers and I love the scent. Not so Laurence, who cannot appreciate it. Last week I spend the first part in Peterborough, where I taught a 2 day workshop, Orchids in a pot. Then on Wednesday I gave a trunk show in the morning. All in all a very good experience. I had a great group to work with and my stay at Ruth's place was very enjoyable. I was back on the farm and could take a long walk out in the bush. Even the drive both ways was better then I expected. While I was there I got a call. My uncle, my only relative in Canada, for as long as I have been here, passed away on Sunday, at the age of 95.It was at my uncle and aunt's place, that I ended up ,when I emigrated to Canada. It were my cousins, who started me on my path to speak proper "Canadian" with lots of joking. Thursday was spend in Guelph for the visitation and funeral service. On Friday my friend Lois and I made it to the Horticulture Show in Stratford. Just what we needed, a whiff of things to come. On Saturday we picked up Shawn at the airport in Toronto. We drove down in the rain and came back in snow and in very poor driving conditions. He will start his new job this coming week. Things will be a little different here for the coming weeks. Emily is still out in Alberta and she will stay there till the house has been sold. Shawn will stay with us as long as necessary. But it is good to have him around. We have not seen too much of him these last few years. No wonder I did not get much done quilt wise. I did finish this small wall hanging a few weeks ago. The kimono I had on hand. I found a piece of matching dyed fabric and then finished with a strip of sashiko in a matching thread color. This is number 2 in what I hope will be a monthly series.Last fall I taught a 1/2 day workshop at the Grey County Museum and I had put the pattern and samples away. I did come across the bag and have put it together. The flowers are made with shaded wired ribbon. The leaves are fussy cut out of another leaf fabric. Simple, but fun to make.