African quilt

Just over a week ago I took this small quilt to our guild. My idea was to show it and see if there would be any interest in making another quilt for the Mennonite Relief Sale.
It always helps to have something to show.
I think there will be another quilt.
About 50 hands went up. We will not start this project till the fall, but at least I know, that I better get my act together and come up with a more concrete plan.
This small quilt will be, once cut back 16 by 20 inches, The final quilt will consist of small quilts, sewn together with the quilt as you go method.At least that's the idea for now.
The small batik pieces I found in a craft boutique in Nairobi. They were stuck to a  piece of paper and sold as cards.

This necklace I received from one of the Massaai ladies, when we were up in the hills. When I went through my pictures I even have a picture of one of the ladies holding it in her hand.
 The 2 border pieces come from a large piece of fabric I was given. Since the border should be around 3 inches, it was the perfect size and color.







The necklace on the left I bought at the same place, where I got the other one. Wherever we went, the woman would put a cloth on the ground and on that display their ware. Some of the beadwork was incredible.
And their hands were never idle. While talking and listening they would be working on their beadwork.
The buttons at the bottom are bone buttons I had bought a few years ago.
They were just what was needed to finish this project.




Now it is back to making things for the grandkids. Evelyn's birthday is coming up and she can use a small fabric book, Jonas was in need of more bibs. I had made one of these touchy-feely quilts for Evelyn and now there was a request from Jeanette. It took me longer to find the blocks I had cut out already than to make it. It has been put in the washer and gone through the dryer, so I know it will be able to stand the use/misuse it will get.
We finally have a sunny day. Here it is almost May and none of the crops have been planted yet. It looked like the coming week might be different, but the forecast now shows showers/rain for the forseeable future.
I did get some of the flowerbeds cleaned up. Most of the plants seem to have made it through the winter and it looks like I will not have to get too many new plants.

Weather woes

We have had a different week behind us.
Last Wednesday I left for Toronto early in the afternoon. I do not like driving in the city, but I was invited to give a trunkshow at the Yorkshire Rose Quilters Guild.
The ladies were very accomodating and told me to come early, so I would miss rush hour. I arrived in the city during a downpour, but did manage to find the right address. Margaret, born in Friesland, and I got along great. She even drove my car to the church, where there was a parking space right in front of the Danfort Mennonite Church. Moving my things inside was easy. Afterwards I followed Anne through a large part of Toronto.
After a good night I left with only a dusting of snow. That got worse as soon as I was on the road.
I did make it home through snow, sleet, freezing rain, ice pellets and yes even some sun.
Was I ever glad to be home!
At bed time the weather did not seem to be too bad. When we woke up at 4 in the morning the power was of. That means a quick trip to the barn to check on the generator. And ....everything was covered with ice. Yes, that is an orchid in front of the window. Not much to see.
Laurence did make it back.When we got up at 7 the power was still out and there was still more ice. Time to put the generator at home on. For years the barns would have power during an outing, but never the house. When we moved here I was sure to get it set up for a generator. After we had one, it promptly got stolen ,when Laurence took it to start the combine.

But the one we have here now needs a tractor with loader to move.
And that was our live for the next few days. Laurence was kept busy moving fuel. By Friday afternoon the ice was gone, but it took till Monday afternoon to get power again. It had hit a very large arrea and a lot of hydro poles had broken.
We managed just fine. The generator cannot handle the heating system so even with the fireplace and a small heater it was a tad on the cold side. But you can always add an extra jacket.




But it did run the sewing machine.
Tomorrow at our guild meeting I want to introduce a new project I have in mind. For this I wanted a make a small quilt out of my African fabrics.
The 3 small batiks I found on our last day in Nairobi. They were pasted on a piece of paper and were sold as postcards. The buttons are made out of bone, the necklace out of beads and bone.
 Although the weather has improved, it still does not feel spring like.

Cherry blossoms

 I have been trying to get this done, but Blogger has changed again and I'm unable to do it the way I want to.
So this time it will be short and sweet.
The top of this wall hanging is finished. It started with a panel . Since the kimono had small cherry blossoms I decided to bring these out in the border.
I used a creamy sashiko thread. The high lights are a overdyed pearl cotton .When I started I had no idea how much it would take, but I did have enough, but just barely
There was about 4 inches left!
One of these years I will learn to figure things out before starting a project.


The next step will be the  machine quilting, but that will have to wait till my shoulder feels better.
Last week I had a very good time at the guild in Dunnville. I was looking forward to it so much, that I managed to show up a day to early. I felt awfully stupid. This has never happened in all of my almost 20 years of teaching.
But ....I stayed at Jeanette's place and so I could enjoy our grandson one extra day. The trunk show went well and we had a lot of fun during the workshop.
Now it is tomorrow to the Yorkshire Rose Guild in Toronto for a trunk show.
 Just before Christmas this cactus was in full bloom. Once finished it ended upstairs in a window, where it was promtly forgotten. Once in a long while I would water it.
To my surprise buds appeared a few weeks ago and now it is in full bloom. I guess they thrive on neglect.
Almost all the snow has gone and now I can see how much work the flowerbeds need.
As soon as the weather will warm up, I will spend my time outside.
Waiting for that I have started another project, more about that the next time.