Some more sashiko

We have had a very busy week. Shawn and Emily took some  holidays  and we looked after Evelyn for a few days. She is almost 11 months and she is a very busy girl. Since this is our oldest grandchild it is a new experience for us. But by now she has us well trained.
Here she is wearing a pullover , that was knitted by my aunt Ietje in Holland. She made it for Jeanette, when she was a baby. I had kept it in the cedar chest and it came out as new. Now Evelyn is wearing something her great, great aunt knitted.
And yes, we were very tired once she left us.



I have been working on a few small sashiko projects. One workshop I have shows a sashiko border around a panel.
I wanted a few more samples and the first one was this small cloth, used to wrap a present. It shows a bridge with blooming cherry trees.






I added sashiko cherry blossoms to the top and bottom and finished this piece of with a simple pillow style back. It will not get any quilting.








This kimono panel I found in some fabric I received. On the kimono are branches with cherry blossoms.
I planned a border with similar branches with cherry blossoms.
 First I put freezer paper to the size I wanted the border to be.
Next I drew the branches and some of the leaves with pencil.
I was not sure where I wanted the flowers and the easiest for me was to draw a bunch of blooms, cut the out and start putting them on the freezer paper.




These flowers I drew with a heavy magic marker. Once the pattern is finished I will put it on my light table. By making the lines heavy I can see them through my dark blue border fabric and it is easy to draw them with a white pencil or pen. .
I'm almost done and so far my shoulder is o.k. I do take my time though

 

Sewing Day #2

Last week I showed you what we did on our first day. This time Tamara and her daughter Margareth joined us for the day.
The project this time was I Spy quilts. Over the years I have collected prints, from boats to lions to houses to bugs. Earlier in the year I conviced Laurence to help me cut up these fabrics in 5 inch squares and 21/2 inch strips.
Since he was at the cutting anyway we made enough squares for 8 quilts.
Jenny tackled the strips, the rest used squares.
Under the supervision of Jonas and Evelyn we did get a lot done.
Since I take a break from sewing, my job was to keep everybody fed and watered.


At the end of the day the quilt tops were taking shape.
Some will go to the Relief Sale we hope and some will be Smile Quilts to give to children in the hospital.




This is Jeanette's quilt, all ready to be quilted .Both this one and Emily's are being machine quilted as we speak.
The other 2 tops are also ready to go, but will be hand quilted. Margareth's will be hand quilted this coming week and if all works out, it will still make it for this year's Relief Sale.

This has been a fun project. I got to have family and friends here without having to do any sewing.
I'm finally working on some sashiko again. Once I have finished this project I might feel ready to tackle my botanical applique again.
This has been a busy week with our guild meeting on Wednesday and a visit to Toronto to Canada Blooms yesterday.
I love to see all the new plants for the coming year and as always the arrangements are gorgeous.
I did come home with a new helleboris and as soon as the snow is gone it will be planted in a special spot. I also came home with a few new bulbs. '
But looking outside I might be a while yet, before I can start digging. There is still a fair amount of snow on the ground.

Spring is coming

 Inside the flowers are in full bloom,but outside it is cold and snowy, so how do I know, that spring is near?
This morning I got THE call. Our jugs have been filled with fresh maple syrup and we can pick them up.
Laurence will be thrilled. We have been out for a few months. I dropped a large container. Not a good idea! It makes an awful mess to clean up.
Most of my ammarilis bulbs  have finished blooming, but my orchids are doing great.




This winter we had a new visitor at the bird feeder. It is a red bellied woodpecker, a bird I had never seen before. It took a while before she( I think that what it is) was comfortable enough to go to the suet ,but once she had a taste, she was back often.








I'm back to some applique, but this time I try to be smart and do a little at a time. Not being able to do as much as I wanted made for a long winter. Jenny had asked about rag quilts and we decided to
get to gether for a sewing day.
Jenny has done some sewing, even made a quilt, but Emily was new. For somebody to learn about sewing making a rag quilt is a good excercise. While they sewed I looked after the kids. Since at that time they were not mobile yet, it was easy.



At the end of the day they were ready to snip the seams. Both quilts turned out great and are in use all the time.
More next week about our second sewing day.