Visit to Baltimore

This quilt was was of the first workshops I offered. In 1995 I became a member of the Waterloo County Quilters Guild and soon after I was asked to teach an applique course. I taught 2 workshops and the result were the 2 first( Baltimore Album) quilts we made for the Mennonite Relief Sale, sold in 1999 and 2000. The last one also was accepted at the IQF in Houston, where it won an honorable mention in the group category. Next I was asked to teach a workshop for Ruffled Elegance , at that time the quilt store in St. Jacobs. This quilt, from about 1997,was the result. The 4 blocks are from one of the books by Elly Sienkiewicz, the border is my own design. The was a 6 month course, one evening a month. I did a lot of 3 dimentional flowers for this one. Except for the binding it is all done by hand. Hand quilted by my mother-in-law Hilda Helmuth. Since then I have taught this workshop a few more times, but it has been retired for quite a while now. The last few weeks I have been finishing some small projects and this animal quilt is one of them. It will go to our guild "Smile Quilt" project and will find a home with a sick child. The doll in the picture is the only doll I ever had. I never really played with it. I was rather in the barn, helping my father. I had lost track of it, till I visited my sister. She had rescueded the doll at some point and taken it home. Now she sits on a chair, upstairs in the hall. And she is fully dressed in a full set of 100% cotton, knitted underwear, made by me during my years in public school. I have no idea, where the dress comes from.

It has been hot here. And we could use some rain. Silly isn't, it was not that long ago and we were complaining about it being too wet. I added a few more plants( could not miss the sale now, could I) to the flower beds and I figure that this is enough for this year.