Taking a break.

The partly knitted sock has been put away, the sewing machine is back in the cabinet and all the fabric has been put on the shelves. Yes, I have done, what I set out to do. Has it helped my shoulder? Not really. I think ,that it might take longer then I thought and I might need to get somebody to look at it. In the meantime, this blog was supposed to be about quilting and since nothing new happens around here, I have trouble finding things to write about. Don't forget, writing does not come easy to me. So I have made the decission to stop for a while. I might come back once in a while,when I have something newsworthy to talk about. And with a lot of help from a very good friend I will update all the information on this blog. To finish I will show some pictures of the Album Quilt from last week. I took a 10 months class with Rosemary Mahkan and this quilt was the result. I loved every minute of it. We used the different books by Elly Sienkiewicz. Starting with an easy one, we slowly build up to the difficult ones I put in the center. These blocks all have a special meaning for me. I grew up on a dairy farm and yes, I learned how to milk by hand. I do realize, that the conformation of this cow is extremely poor, but that's as good as it gets in fabric. While growing up I spend as much time as possible with our horses. And our favorites were our Frisians, which we drove, rode and showed. This is my first horse, Marietha. It was really hard to leave her behind, but you can't have it all. I have always loved flowers and plants. My mother had gorgeous flowers in the house, not much outside and it must have rubbed of on me. When we moved to the farm, I had a large garden with lots of flowers. Now there are less outside, but it seems that each year there are more inside, especially orchids. On the farm we had a large vegetable garden. We used to pick peas, not by the basket, but by the bushel. We could take them to a peasheller,what helped. We also had a mulberry tree, sour cherries, apple and pear tree. And we had a bigger family. Do I miss all the canning and freezing? Not really. With just the 2 of us, we don't need as much. So I'm down ,but not out. I will be back with new quilt ideas. Some have been floating around in my head for a while now and after a rest I hope to be ready to tackle a new project.

2012

We have had a tough beginning of 2012. On December 28th my mother-in-law passed away. The last few months had been very hard for her. There were the different falls and trips to the emergency room and beside that some other problems. But up till the last few weeks she could not do without her paper. She never had a t.v., but she loved to read her paper from front to back. Since Laurence is her only child living in Ontario, it was up to us to make the arrangements By New Years Eve everybody had arrived from out west. Visitation was on Sunday and the funeral was on a very cold, windy and stormy Monday. It was through grandma that I learned about quilts. The first time I visited her home, there was that large blanket in a frame. I was told, that is was a quilt and she explained, what all was involved.Later, when we had bought the farm and she lived beside us in the corner of the farm, she continued to help me. A few years after grandpa and grandma build their new house, they put on a sunroom. It was there, that grandma would do her quilting. Grandpa would sit beside her, reading the paper. This is my first appliqued quilt and it is one of the quilts grandma quilted for me., all by herself.And what a job she did! Another time I will get back to this quilt. Over the years we helped each other. She loved to quilt, but gladly let me do the piecing for her. After I became a member of our guild, I persuaded Hilda to come with me and for years she would not miss a meeting. It was just in the last few years, that it was getting too much for her. After grandpa passed away 17 years ago, she was all by herself in the house. I would visit daily, but it was the quilting that kept her busy. This summer all her children and most of her grandchildren were here for her 90th birthday. She had looked forward to that for a long time. And she was still very interested in what her grandchildren were up to. She even learned to use an Ipad ( I think thats what it is). Jenny and Tony had been to Scotland and she wanted to see their pictures. It will be different for me. No more trips to the farmhouse in the corner or to town to visit grandma. We will miss her. I have had recurring shoulder problems and I think it is time to give my shoulder a rest. So no more knitting and appliqueing. These mittens were finished last month and they might have something to do with the sore shoulders. Hope some rest will help.

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