More posies

This is a brand new wall hanging. Last fall I was asked for a short workshop up in Grey County and we came up with the idea of making some 3d flowers using shaded wired ribbon. I taught how to make the rose, pansy and lily-in-the-valley and included a pattern ,that could be used to make a small quilt. I still had the pattern and the flowers and that's as far as it got. Till a few weeks ago. I was looking for a small project and this was it. The oval was done with reverse applique. Next came the leaves and stems, followed the flowers. I always like to set a center of with a small strip in a contrasting color. Here it is a 1 inch wide strip. folded double and sewn on the right side of the center, before I sewed the border on. It is machine quilted. And now that I'm looking at my old quilts I realize, that my memory is not as good as I thought it was. Most of my quilts do not have a label and to be honest I have forgotten when they were made. I'm doing better and everything finished this year has at the minimum my name and year on the back. I bought the large African panel last year at Quilt Canada in Calgary and the smaller ones this year in London. I do have some African fabrics and a bunch of buttons, but have not yet figured out how to put it all together. It would be something completely different for me to try. Later,after some contemplating! Laurence started to combine the wheat on Tuesday, but it was still too high in moisture. Then we finally got some rain, not as much as the people around us, but with this dry weather every little bit helps. Family will start arriving on Tuesday. Grandma is looking forward to having all her kids and grandkids together for the big event. I have been doing some extra cooking and baking early in the morning to miss the heat. And as of this morning we have a new upright freezer! After cleaning out the chestfreezer a few weeks ago we decided that we are getting too old for that job and needed a change. I store most of my quilts on one of the spare beds. Now with all the family coming they will have to be put away for a while. My plan is to take pictures of the older ones before they are put away, at least if the weather cooperates and I can find some help.

Tulips

In 2 weeks we will have all of Laurence's siblings and families here for grandma's 90th birthday.This means a lot of cleaning up and getting ready.Yesterday I took a stack of quilts of one of the spare beds and I realized that I have used a lot of flowers and plants in my quilts. This one "Tulips" I made about 6 years ago. It shows the life cycle of the tulip. The blue fabric in the border I love and every scrap has been used up. The center piece I dyed myself, the rest are fabrics I bought. The flowers and leaves have been fused to the back ground.I machine quilted all around the flowers and leaves. The roots are twisted, silk ribbon, fastened with a few stitches. The back ground and border are machine quilted. Up to now it has been stored with the rest of my quilts,but it will be displayed for the next few months. The weather has been very, very hot and will be even hotter tomorrow, up to 37C. We are not used to that here up in Canada. And we could use some rain. The wheat is almost ready to combine and the fields are looking very good. We were gone up to Algonquin Park for a few days and coming back on Monday we saw field after field of wheat. One more small kimono piece. This will be the last one for a while. The small pieces to the sides are left overs from my pot with tulips quilt, still a work in progress, and are vintage pieces of Japanese fabrics.

I also finished my last "smile" quilt. This one is meant for an older child. I found the center fabric a few years ago and I combined it with strips of fabric I had dyed myself. It is displayed on the spinning wheel I have from my mother. One of my goals is to learn how to spin and maybe weave. But that means less time for quilting and that is goin g slow enough right now as it is.

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.

Ribbon flowers

Heart with 3d flowers. This is a real oldy from about 2000. I never did put a label on the back and at that time I thought I would remember the when and were. Now I realize with about 60 to 70 quilts plus around, that it is not quite that easy. This quilt is made with scraps of shaded wired ribbon. The pansies and rose at the bottom are made with 1/2 inch wide ribbon and the fuschia's with different widths. I had just finished my Baltimore Album quilt and had put the left-overs of the ribbon in a small bag. Once full it was time to make something and this was the result. The center is a small piece of kitchen curtain I had found. The leaves are hand appliqued, but it is machine quilted, one of my first attempts. I have al ways liked to work with this wired ribbon. The colors are very bright and with the wire in the ribbon you can get a flower very fast. Lately I have not used it quite as much, but I'm still making flowers to put on my cards. That with a background of selvages gives a nice look. My newest piece. I did not get much done over the last few weeks. My arms and shoulders bugged me and I took a short break. But now I'm at it again, but very slowly. This is another small kimono with selvages and a small sashiko piece. There is one more in the works and that will be it. For this piece I used some of my Japanese selvages. We have been busy around here. 4 weeks from tomorrow will be Laurence's mother's 90th birthday and all his sisters and brother and their families will come home. It will be a very full house. I want the place to look nice and I have been spending a lot of time in my flower beds. By now even the mulching is done. 2 things I worried about, cleaning out the freezer and the mulching and both have been done ahead of schedule. Laurence decided one day to help me with the freezer and whatever you have planned for the day, forget about it. You know, that this help will be a one time deal! We did decide after, that it might be time to get an upright one. But all the work will be worth it. Grandma has not seen all her kids together in five years and is looking forward to every minute of it.

First installment

Last week I wrote about featuring a different quilt each week, mostly older ones and in no particular order. This one just happened to be at the top of the heap. The title of this one is Winter Breakfast and was finished in 2006. For years I wanted to make a quilt with birds, but it had to be birds that I had seen at one of our bird feeders. One was missing, the cardinal. Than one Sunday morning there he was, sitting on a railing and watching what went on inside of the house. I quickly took some pictures and that was the start of this quilt. All these birds are from our area. The pine boughs and seeds are embroidered by hand. The applique is also done by hand. The feeder tube has 1 or 2 layers of netting over the applique to give it a more glass/plastic like look. The hand quilting was done by my mother-in-law Hilda Helmuth. When I started to make quilts I used to use the cheapest fabric I could find for the back. Now I have changed my mind and I try to find co-ordinating fabric for the back. For this quilt I was very lucky to find matching fabric with chickadees for the back just before it would be quilted. This quilt was at the National Juried show in Ottawa. With no chores and all the field work caught up we decided to take a break and go away for a few days. Laurence always wanted to take the ferry to Pellee Island so on Monday morning we drove to Leamington and took the ferry to the island. We stayed overnight and the next day took another, smaller ferry from the island to Sandusky in Ohio. From there we drove to Archbold. We wanted to visit the Sauder Village.We had been there before, but always to late in the day to make a visit worthwhile. The village has some excellent craft people and I came home with a beautfiful big hand woven basket. And there is even a quilt store.This time I did not find anything I needed or wanted. From there we drove to Shipshewana in Indiana where you have 2 very good quilt stores. And yes, I found some have to have fabrics there. We made it back last night and today was catch-up day. The lawn needed mowing and the flowers needed some care, but that's been looked after. Even my new fabric has been washed and ironed!

New plan

Summer is on the way and things are growing fast. We have had enough rain and some heat and the flowerbeds are a riot of color. This small iris I bought on sale last year and this was the first flower. I love the color. This climbing rose did well last year. The year before I cut it all back in the fall and it took a year to get over my mistake. Last fall I did nothing and just cut back the dead branches this spring and there are lots of blooms already. I took most of my orchids outside and put them in the gazebo,, where they can get light but are out of the sun. Not sure this will work, but I hope it will. The blooming ones are still inside, including this one. This is the fourth time it blooms and I love the color. But now something else. Before I went on my trip to the Ottawa area I had some trouble with my forearms. I did not think much of it, but by the time I came back the pain was worse. Now I'm told it is tendonitis and I have to take it easy till the pain is gone. Now how do you take it easy at this time of the year? All of Laurence's siblings and family will come here at the beginning of August for grandma's 90th birthday and I like to have the place look kind of decent. My plan is to take care of the house and gardens as well as I can and let the quilting part go for a while till my arms feel better. But I did come up with a plan. When putting my quilts back on the bed, where they are stored I realized that for most of them I do not even have a picture, especially the older ones. And to my shame I have to admit, that unless the quilt went to a show, no labels either! On Friday my camera will return and I will start taking pictures of all my quilts. Each week I will high light one with a short story. And I will continue to talk about anything worthwhile that happens around here.

Home again

It has been 2 weeks since my latest update and a lot has happened. I was gone for 9 days, teaching 5 workshops and giving a trunk show. First up was Perth. I had been there before, teaching a 2 day workshop with orchids.This year the plan was for me to go and see the showy lady slippers at the Purdon Conservation Area, but I was too early. Instead my host Heather took me to the garden of a friend, where we found these 2 yellow lady slippers and this jack-in-the-pulpit. We have these in our bush, but I don't think it is the same kind. These were bigger. After a few wonderful days it was of to Ottawa for 2 one day workshops and a trunk show. My host Lois drove me all over Ottawa one evening to show me all the important places. Monday was my day of ( at least till the trunkshow in the evening ) and Ann, very graciously offered to go with me to the Museum of Civilization. Lois had shown me how to drive there from her place, but to be honest I chickened out. Just don't like city driving. I loved the museum. I only saw a small part and will have to go back. Tuesday morning I had a beautiful drive to Renfrew. I missed all the rain and hard wind on my travels. The next 2 days were very hot and I was impressed with the hard work, that the ladies put in with all the hot air coming in. My host Susan is also a member of the guild in Pembroke. This guild just happen to have their year end meeting, with a catered supper the first evening I was there and what a great evening it was! I stayed at a beautiful place out near Eganville with lots of colorful flowerbeds. That made me think that I better get home and clean my flowerbeds. From there it was the best to drive home through Algonquin Park. Friends of ours live near the park. I decided to stop in just to say hi. Doris was on her way out to a lunch/lecture. She wanted me to come along, but all the tickets had been sold. It just so happened, that when she phoned one became available, so it was of to Haliburton. I still had a long way to go and made it home at 8 in the evening. Laurence had been very busy and most of the planting was done. While I had not seen any rain during my trip, they had regular thunderstorms here. I think that is the reason that my potted plants looked so well when I came home. And yes, there were lots of weeds. Now after a week home things are back to normal. The very bare fridge has been restocked, the weeds are gone and the books are up to date. These are all the pictures I took. The last one I took at the church in Perth, where somebody grows the most amazing irisses in all colors. No more pictures till me camera comes back from Scotland. I hope to have time to get some applique done by next week. As I look out the window I notice that the lawn could do with a haircut again.

A great week for quilts!

This is a little early, but tomorrow morning I will be on my way to the Ottawa area for a trunk show and workshops. This was the trip I had planned last year, but had to cancel due to surgery. It looks like my departure here from the farm means a change of weather. The rain has stopped and we have sunny, hot days. Laurence is busy in the fields and I feel a little guilty for leaving him with all the work. Last week was THE big quilt week for me. On Wednesday,while at the National show in the afternoon I was shown a catalogue and there, right on the front was my quilt!On Wednesday evening we had the award ceremony for the National Juried show and my quilt Memories got first in the original traditional category, what made me very happy. This quilt had been a longtime project and it will be one of a kind. On Saturday was the 45th Mennonite Relief Sale in New Hamburg. We went over on Friday evening, since Laurence had other things to do on Saturday. The quilts can all be seen that evening. They hang over metal frames and are all covered with plastic. On the left is our quilt Plain and Fancy, which was the feature quilt this year. Saturday the quilt auction starts at 8.30. I went early to meet some of the Dutch quilters ,who had the quilt show in Ailsa Craig. Not all could make it, some had a booth to attend to and others had to teach. But if you want to see quilt being sold...this is the place to be. On the first picture of the sale you can see the quilts hanging on the frames on the right. On the left they are still working on making strawberry pies. Strawberries are flown in from California , cleaned, washed ans hulled and used to make pies. The line-up is long and well over a 1000 are sold each year. In the second picture everything has been cleaned up already.Our quilt was the feature this year and sold as number 150. And I'm very happy to tell you that it brought up the top price of the day at $9000. In total the quilts brought up about $120.000. Saturday evening I had an invitation to the banquet held in honor of the Dutch quilters in Ailsa Craig and it was lovely . Some of the food was as I can remember from home, some was Canadian, but it all was delicious. The last days I spend getting ready for my workshops. The kids have moved out. The moving truck came yesterday and they are in their own place. Even Abner, the basset, is gone, so it is very quiet around here today. Will be back late next week.

Of dogs and quilts

Meet our new house guest, Abner the bassett. Shawn and Emily came back to Ontario very early Wednesday morning with the dog. They will stay here with us till their furniture arrives. They have found a place close by that they can rent till they find a house they like. It all seems to work out. The weather has not improved. Rain and more rain. Now the forecast is, that next week it will be sunny and hot. Better keep our fingfers crossed! The only sunny day this past week was Sunday. That was the day of the airing of the quilts in Ailsa Craig. The morning started out wet and later cloudy, but by early afternoon it was warm and sunny. We made it by mid afternoon and while Laurence was of doing something else I wandered through town to see the quilts. It is a fun way to display quilts,even if they were blowing in the breeze. Most were of a traditional design, but I found this one hanging on a white picket fence and it clearly had been influenced by the work of John Willard. Later I found out, that it was started in a workshop by John. My trunkshow started at 4.30 and I was very relieved, when I found out I could do it in English. The potluck after was very good with a lot of great food. I was too busy eating to take pictures. On Wednesday I went back to see the show and meet some of the Dutch quilters. The quilts were beautiful with quilts in all shapes and sizes.And it was very busy. By that time you could call it already a success I think. I did spend some of my money at the 2 Dutch quilt stores, who had booths there. I loved the red, blue and white fabric Maaike Bakker brought over and I have used the fabrics from DeHaan and Wagemakers before. Both places were doing very well as far as I could see. From there it was to Quilt Canada in London to the opening of the National Juried show. More about that next time. Tomorrow is the Relief Sale in New Hamburg and the feature quilt is Plain and Fancy. Let's hope that the weather will change and we will have sunshine. Our soybeans are still in the bags and it will take a few warm and sunny days before we can get back on the land. Behind the house the lawn looks like a pasture. It has been too wet to mow and with this cool and wet weather the grass just keeps on growing.

Rain, rain go away

With over 8 inches of rain in just over a week we are not amused! Today was a gorgeous day, but at the back of the house it was too wet to mow the lawn. And it looks like by the time things have dried out, we can expect more rain. We have all our corn in the ground and here and there it is coming up. But all the soybeans are still in the bags. By now Laurence has everything fixed, oiled, greased and whatever else has to be done and he is running out of jobs. Maybe I can get him to do some garden work. At least I can try. But I forgot,tomorrow there is a large auction close by with lots of old John Deere tractors. Nothing can compete with that! I was asked for instructions for the small kimono and as I made this one I wrote down all the steps. But in the end I did not have the right measurements, so I have to try again. The outline of the rabbit I found on the Internet. Since it is the year of the rabbit I used it to make a card for a friend. This time I did some sashiko stitching. The edges have not been finished. I want to use a green thread and there is not enough left. But it is on my ever getting longer list of things to look for at next weeks merchantès mall at Quilt Canada in London. I hope to go on Wednesday ( with the way the weather looks I should not have any difficulties!) This is what I do when I am bored in the evening. I get some scraps out and make cards. They come in handy as gifts.The top one has a small piece of vintage silk fabric and I did some sashiko on the right. The bottom one has sashiko at the top and some very old shibori at the bottom. I love the little tulips. One more to go. Below is a picture of my first orchid. I bought it about 8 years ago and I knew nothing about them. All I knew is, that I loved the orchids I had seen in California and I had to have one. It bloomed faithfully for a few years and then it started to look tough, so tough that by the time we were moving 2 winters ago I left it on the farm in an unheated kitchen. A few months later the leaves were still green. I took it home,it deserved a second chance. And here we are. The flowers are huge and a beautiful color. The leaves are better, but still nothing to brag about. In a few days I will meet the Dutch Quilters, who have arrived in Ailsa Craig. I will give a trunk show on Sunday afternoon, in Dutch. At least I will try. When I speak to my family in Holland it is always in Frisian and my Dutch is very rusty. I will have lots of news next time around.

Weeds....and me

I hate twitch grass! As soon as the flower beds start to look nice I can see the shoots coming up. And I have learned over the years, that ignoring it just makes it worse. So the last few days have been spend pulling as many weeds as I could find. I feel like I'm ahead of the game, if only for a short time. We have been very busy outside. The corn has all been planted and as soon as we have a sunny day again we will start with the soybeans and then later the white beans. The daffodils look great this year. I bought 200 bulbs 11/2 years ago and this year they put on quite a show. My plan is to get another 100 this fall.

This morning bright and early I went to Moorefield, where we had the spring sale of our horticultural society. I brought some plants, but came home with more. There are a few empty spots that I can fill up. From now on I just have to stay away from anything to do with garden plants. The beds are full and really I do not need any more work. But it is so much fun!

Quilt related projects will have to wait for some rainy days. But the busy time for shows is coming up, starting tomorrow. In the afternoon is the official opening of the Grand National Show. And then the week after we will have Quilt Canada in Londond ( I took my entry for the National Juried Show in a few days ago) And the Quilt show in Ailsa cRaig with the Dutch quilters. I will be giving a trunk show next Sunday afternoon for the Dutch quilters. That means that it has to be done in Dutch and it has been a while!

I'm getting ready for my trip out east in the beginning of June. More about that later.

My last entry was a while ago, but we had some problems with the computer, lost hydro for most of a day and with Shawn around access is difficult in the evenings.

But by next Thursday ( guild is on Wednesday) I should have lost of quiltery things to show you

Friendly visitor

When we looked out of the front window early yesterday morning we found a very large, wet and dirty, dog looking at us. As soon as I opened the door he decided he had to come inside and it took all my strengh to change his mind and direct him to the garage. He was a very friendly, huge, Saint Bernhard,who seemed to be lost. But he did have an up-to-date tag and all it took was one call to the Municipal Office in Listowel to get the name and phone number of the owner, who happened to live about 5 km from us. If took a few more calls, but by mid morning she came and took the dog along. I like dogs, the bigger the better, and the kids are after us to get another puppy, but we have not decided yet. What difference it makes to have an up-to-date tag on the dog. When Riley took of during a thunderstorm last year, it took a few weeks and some luck to get her back, all because we were too busy ( or too lazy) to put her new tag on her collar. The last week has been rainy. Laurence is anxious to get planting, but it will take at least a few more days. More rain is coming down as we speak. Since there were no chores to do and no planting in the for seeable future we decided to visit Jeanette and Tony for a few days last week. Laurence wanted to go to an auction sale in the area and I helped Jeanette to clean up her flower beds. I had made up a short list of plants I thought I needed and I came home with most of them. Her clematis were at the wrong place and have a better home here and her largest hosta's needed to be divided. A visit to Moire's garden, a garden center in the area, helped to fill in the rest. Everything has been planted. All it needs now is some heat! Yesterday morning I finished the binding on this I Spy quilt and in the afternoon I took it over to the proud grandmother of the baby for who I made it. This morning I cleaned up the quilt room and now there are no more excuses to start on a new project. I also finished another pair of socks. The yarn I bought somewhere on my travels and the pattern is out the book knit.sock.love by Cookie A. This is one of her easier patterns. I like to switch from an easy pattern to a harder one. I never make the same pattern twice if I can help it.