Friday, September 14, 2012

Article

A few weeks ago I received the latest copy of the Canadian Quilter. And there I was ,looking right at my self. I knew that there would be an article and I had been asked to send in some pictures of quilts. I decided to send some of the ones I never have entered in shows It also has the speech I gave while accepting my "Canadian Teacher of the Year " award. I did not like that at all. I can talk, but I'm not a writer. Behind the magazine you see a small piece of applique I have been working on.This was last month's block, from my self imposed block of the month project. Yesterday we started with the soybean harvest. It was a beautiful day, better then today. We had lots of rain with more in the forecast. These flowers I only know by the name "naked Ladies" Thye are different. Early in the spring the leaves pop out of the ground. Then everything disappears and about mid September the flowers show up till frost. They give some welcome color to the fall garden. When we moved here not quite 4 years ago I planted a Mountain Ash. But that was not very successful . The tree did very poorly and in the summer we pulled the tree out. And the hole was still there. That is till last Saturday. It seems like I do my gardening early in the year, then do less during the hottest part of the year, but as soon as we have cooler days I'm back at it. We decided we wanted an oak tree. Last Friday I went to a plant sale in Moorefield and picked up some perenials and a small Catalpa tree. It is a fast grower and for me it was just right. But when I came home hubby was not a happy camper. He did help me digging the holes for my plants ( the 2 I wanted ended up in 4 times as many!) And I was back on my way to the tree farm near Yatton. It is a beautriful place with hundreds or more likely thousands of trees . I found my oak tree, but did not think I could take it home with the truck ( it is over 5 meters) We went back on Saturday and did manage to bring it back. The hole was ready and with lots of pulling and pushing we did get it in the hole. Just in time. Once the stakes were in, a heavy rain came down. And my pride and joy in the front of the house! This elephant ear started as a very small bulb this spring. It was one of the small bulblets from last year's plant. I potted it up in mid March and planted it in this spot at the end of May. The shrub that was there was not doing well and I put this plant there for this year, till I know what I want to replace it with. Next week will be busy for me. Monday morning at 9.30 I will give a trunk show at the Busy Hands Quilters Guild in CAmbridge. Then on Wednesday I will drive up to Buckhorn, where I will teach my landscape workshop for the Buckhorn Quilters Guild Then it is on to Trenton, where I will teach the same workshop for the Trent Valley Quilters Guild on Friday. Then it will be back home.

Thursday, September 06, 2012

Fall landscape....finished

This wall hanging was started 2 years ago. After the hand applique I did quilting with the machine, using only a batting, but no back. That way the machine could knot the ends. Yes I felt lazy!
That's how far as it got and it was put in a drawer.
While talking to a friend I was advised , that if I ever wanted to put it in a quilt show, it would be better to have some quilting showing on the back, not just a plain piece of fabric.
That's when I wondered if the quilt as you go method would work.
I put a back behind the applique and did some more quilting
I squared the center piece, and sewed the first border pieces on in a flip as you go method and put batting in between.
This I quilted with a small pebble design.
Back to squaring the piece. For the second border I had to change it somewhat.
I wanted mitered corners in the front and those I sewed down by hand.
Then it was back to quilting the second border in a straight design. I find this makes the piece lay flat.
The mitered corners worked well, what does not alway happen to me. Then the binding and sleeve and I was done!!!
And just in time. A new month was coming up and a new applique block was waiting for me.
For the long week-end we decided to go for a visit to the Paris Fair. Laurence had heard good things about the fair and once I saw , that there would be a Frisian Horse Show on the Saturday afternoon I was ready to go.
One o'clock came, but no horses. When I asked I found out, that the show had been cancelled ,but nobody had bothered to change it on their Web Site.
These birds made up for it. The barn owl and great horned owl were featured on a Birds of Prey program and it was excellent.
Maybe this would be something for a future quilt.
This coming week I will have a trunk show at the guild in Fergus at 7.30 p.m. at the Royal Canadian Legion, 500 Blair Street. Fergus.