Sashiko

This has been a busy week. I was gone for a few days to give a workshop and a trunkshow and once home again we had the accountant here to go over the farm books. But that's all over for the time being. It does not look like it is Good Friday outside. We have snow again and it is cold and windy. I have to go out for my walk yet, but I will wait till Laurence goes up the road to do the chores. He can take me with him and I can walk home with the wind in my back.
This week I have finished my hexagons with sashiko. Everything has been basted unto paper and now I will have to sew it all together by hand. That will have to wait till I come back from the next set of workshops/trunkshows next week.
I ended up with 2 extra pieces of sashiko. The one was not big enough and the other I cut out on the wrong angle. So I made these 2 cards, using some Japanese looking fabric I had on hand. The cards are about 5 by 8 inches.
Next week I will be gone for 4 days, so this might not get updated till I will be back. I hope to have some pictures of warmer weather and blooming daffodils.
To everybody I wish you a wonderful time at Easter.

Swans

We have had a few great days with warm weather.Now that the snow is gone I can see the lawn again and it will need a good raking as soon as it dries of some. After a long winter I want to get out there and work, but I tend to forget ,that we will get some frosty days yet. But I did pot up my begonias and some calla's. Yesterday I found the first crocusses and had to take this picture.
Yesterday morning my husband came in the house with the news, that he had seen a group of swans at the back of one of our farms.For my birthday he gave me a new camera ( the old digital one was not good enough to take pictures for quilt show entrees) and this was the time to try it out, even if I do not have a zoom lens.

I quickly put on my rubber boots and off it was . We had to walk from the front of the farm, since it is still very wet. And as usual, I'm about 20 feet in front, trotting through the mud.
He was smarter and walked on the other side of the trees along the lane. I had not figured on the swans seeing me, but it happened and off they went. But I did get his picture. Last night I heard, that the swans had moved over one concession, but when I checked it out this morning, they were gone, most likely on their way north.
Next time I better be in less of a rush and think before I head out.
On the quilt front it is more of the same. I'm still working on my small hexagons with sashiko. And besides that I have to get ready for workshops.
I have updated my itinerary and you can find it on the right side of this blog.

Triangles and hexagons

It looks like winter might be on the way out. A few days ago I took this picture of the first snowdrops in the melting snow. I also found out, that the ground is still very wet!!!Years ago I planted some in a protected area, close to the driving shed.And every year they are the first to bloom.

Back to quilting. I have alway admired the quilts made by Kitty Pippen. I have browsed through her book Quilting with Japanese Fabric and decided that it was time to make use of my very limited stash of old oriental fabric. I specifically liked the quilts with equilateral triangles. After a good look I put the book away and started on my own.I made myself 2 rules: the quilt had to be at least 40 by 40 inches and I could only use the fabric I had on hand. The last meant some creative cutting, but I managed. The first step was to find equilateral graph paper, that I could download. I still did not get it, so I cut every piece out of paper and put it on my design wall. Next step was to cut all the pieces and hand baste them on paper, the old English way. The triangles are 71/2, 5 and 21/2 inches and the sides of the hexagonds are also 21/2 inches. The fabric I used are 2 small pieces of kimono silk and a dark blue batik with irisses for the large triangles, 3 small pieces of katazome for the medium ones and a Chinese shibori for the small triangles

The fabric of the hexagons is a plain indigo blue cotton, used for sashiko. I'm using a Dover book :Japanese Design Motifs for the crest designs. Since this book has over 4000 different ones I have no worry about ever running out of designs. The last picture shows you a small piece, that is ready to be whip stitched together, also done by hand.

Workshops and trunk shows

This week I found the time to machine quilt this small Irish landscape. I received the picture from a student in one of my landscape workshops. She wondered if I could try and do something with it. It took a long time and a lot of small pieces(about 200) ,but finally it is finished.
It is hand appliqued and machine quilted and the width is 191/4 inches and the height is 22 inches
The center is 81/2 by 12 inches.
My teaching schedule has not been updated for a long time, but that does not mean, that I do not go away anymore. This web site will be updated soon, but in the meantime I will post the dates for my trunkshows and workshops till the end of April By then I hope to have it all changed.

Tonight: Trunkshow at the Hamilton Quilter's Guild Hamilton

March 31st: Jack-in-the-pulpit, hand applique, suitable for beginners
Greenwood Quiltery Guelph
1-866-364-2790

April 3 and 4:Kawartha Quiltmakers Guild, Peterborough
Trunkshow
Workshop: Small landscape, all levels

April 10: Kincardine Sunset Quilters, Kincardine
Workshop: landscape with machine embellishments

April 11th:Haliburton Highlands Quilters Guild, Haliburton
Trunkshow

April 12 and 13: Pine Tree Quilter's Guild of Muskoka, Bracebridge
Trunkshow
Workshop:sashiko

Stormy weather

Another week, another snow storm. Yesterday morning Laurence left early to go to a meeting in London, Ontario that is. When I had to go into town an hour later I discovered that the conditions were very poor. I did manage to turn around and looking at the tops of the trees and the hydro wires I kept the truck on the middle of the road and made it home. Fortunately nobody else was on the road at that time. I asked Laurence to stay in town, but it did not look too bad down there, so he started out. Things got worse fast and after 8 hours driving through whipping snow he had to stop in a town 15km for here for the night. And a cold night it was ,down to -26C. When my mother-in-law quit driving she gave me a very heavy blanket, that she carried in her car for years.It did come in handy last night. By midnight the storm was over, but no roads were plowed till early this morning. And who drove in at 7 this morning, hungry, cold and sleepy, but dear hubby. On his way he saw a propane truck on its side and a small car, stuck in the middle of the road. The snowplow had just gone around it. No time to stop for that till later. Now a day later, it is beautiful and sunny out, but still cold. In the meantime everything went well at home. We have a generator, so power was no problem and than we have a trusty old wood stove.
Every time I give a workshop where we make 3d flowers I drop my samples in a box. Last week I looked in the box and found about a dozen roses. I needed a few gifts and found the right pattern in Romancing with Ribbons, a book by Elly Sienkiewicz. First I made the 2 pillows, both to be given away. Next came the 2 small quilts. This fall our guild will have their bi-annual show and we were asked to make small quilts, not more that 15 by 15 inches , for the silent auction. Since I had all the stuff out anyway, it did not take me long the make these 2. The rest of the flowers went back in the box for now.And yes, the quilts are square.My picture taking can stand some improvement.
Today it is back to some machine quilting.

Finished......finally

Yesterday I went to Kitchener and delivered the postcards to the MCC office (see last weeks blog) My goal has been reached. I wanted around 80 and with the cards directly delivered to the office I have even more. Now the travel will start, first to the head office in Akron and than all over the world. It will be interesting to see how long it will take for the first one to come back and how many will find their way back to Kitchener.Last week I finally managed to finish my (12 inch)crazy quilt block.It took way longer than I expected. I had started out with this big idea of a quilt with 12 blocks. Soon it came down to 6 and later I thought that 4 with a border would just look right. For the time being it will be just this one.It is fun to do , but since it seems to be hard on my shoulders and back I will tackle some other projects first. All the "stuff" has been put away.Yesterday I stopped in at my favorite framer in St. Jacobs and he quickly made a mat for the block. This way I can see what it looks like at the right size
I also brought in the 8 inch block I had made for a workshop. I had put it in a shadowbox without a mat and he quickly put a double mat in. It makes it look much better.

My Landscape Quilts

Living in the country, I am often inspired by the beautiful countryside. My landscape quilts attempt to capture the beauty of the natural world around us.

Landscape Quilts
1. Waterloo County
2. Abandoned
3. Irish Seascape
4. Let It Snow
5. Threatening Skies
6. Evergreens
7. Hills
8. Cliffs
9. Fenceposts
10. Beach

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Waterloo County
by Renske Helmuth
(20” x 26")
Hand appliquéd, hand embroidered and machine quilted.

Over the years, I have coordinated quilts for the Mennonite Relief Sale. The latest quilt, "A Bird's Eye View: Interpreting the Aerial Photography of Carl Hiebert", was made in 2005 by members of the Waterloo County Quilters Guild and the Listowel Mennonite Church.

I talked to Carl Hiebert and got his permission to use the pictures from his books. After I had the initial idea, I wanted to try it myself first, to know how difficult a project like that would be. I looked through Carl's books to find the photograph that would be the most challenging to interpret in fabric. This wall hanging is the result.

The hardest part was making the pattern. In a painting or drawing there are limitless possibilities; but when you are working with fabric, the pieces have to be big enough to appliqué! Once the master pattern was constructed, I started the hand appliqué, working from top to bottom. The final result was machine quilted.

After making this piece, I was convinced that it was possible to come up with a quilt based on Carl's photography and that's how "A Bird's Eye View" came about. Here's a detail shot from this quilt:

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Abandoned
by Renske Helmuth
(22.5 "x 20")
Hand appliqué and machine embroidery/quilting

This quilt portrays what is happening all over the country: where there were once thriving farms, there are now weeds and abandoned buildings. The few remaining farms are getting bigger and bigger. In this prairie scene the buildings are gone, except for some grain bins: the last sign that once a family tried to make a living here.

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Irish Seascape
by Renske Helmuth
(24"x18")
Hand appliqué and a minimal amount of machine quilting

A member of my quilt guild showed me a picture of a painting that her mother got as a gift in Ireland. She wanted to make a small quilt out of it, but did not know how to go about it. I took her picture with a promise to give it a try. The hardest part was making the pattern. With a painting you have limitless possibilities with your brush strokes, but working with fabric you have to make the pieces big enough so it is workable.

Once the pattern was made and some more fabric had been bought it was time to go at it. The actual appliqué did go fast. I would like to mount this landscape at some point, but for now I have put a border around it. It has been machine quilted, just enough to hold the layers together.

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Let It Snow
by Renske Helmuth
(center is 7-3/4"x4-3/4")
Hand appliqué and machine embroidery.

The inspiration for this landscape came from an old postcard I received years ago.

It took a while to find the right blue fabrics, but it was a fun piece to make -- even the countless French knots for snow!

 

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Threatening skies
by Renske Helmuth
(center is 7.5"x6")
Hand appliqué and machine embroidery.

I made this small piece for a Christmas gift. After the appliqué and embroidery I took it in and had it mounted behind glass. Framing shows one of these small pieces of really well: the drawback is that they are hard to transport to workshops and trunk shows!

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Evergreens
by Renske Helmuth
(center is 9"x7")
Hand appliqué and machine embroidery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Hills
by Renske Helmuth 2002
(4"x6")

 

 

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Cliffs
Renske Helmuth
2001
(3.5"x6.5")

I like to frame miniature landscapes and also make scenic greeting cards.

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Fenceposts
Renske Helmuth
2004
(13"x 11")
Hand appliqué

 

 

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Beach
Renske Helmuth
2003
(7"x5")
Hand appliqué

 

 

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Contact

Contact Renske Helmuth

6833 Wellington Road 9
R.R.3 Moorefield ON
Canada N0G 2K0

Tel: 519/343-5312

Email me at helmuth@golden.net

Teaching and lecture fee schedule available upon request.

More postcards

Yesterday was guild meeting and it was good to see so many friends again. I had missed the last meeting, because of illness. As usual there was a big show-and-tell and the program was very interesting. This time I had to stay for both the afternoon and the evening, because it was time to collect all the postcards for our next Relief Sale Quilt. This will be the 5th quilt I coordinate for the Mennonite Relief Sale in New Hamburg with the help of members of the Waterloo County Quilters Guild and the Listowel Mennonite Church.

The first step this time was the making of postcards. Each card must portray something of the work that MCC is involved in all over the world. I hoped to get about 80 postcards and by last evening I had 73 with a few straglers being delivered to the office. Here are pictures of some of them.In the next few days I will check them all out to see if the return address is on etc. Then early next week I will bring them to the MCC office in Kitchener. From there they will be distributed to volunteers all over the world. They are asked to fill in their name and country on the back. There is even some room for a small note. Then the cards will have to be taken to the local post office, where a stamp has to be put on with a little extra glue. After hand-cancelling the cards, they can be put in the mail. And then we wait and wait .....
I hope to have most cards back by the end of the summer.
I have an idea about how to continue.I do want to make a two-sided quilt, so we can see both sides of the cards.Has anybody ever attempted this? Or has anybody any ideas? I have some ideas myself, but somebody else might have a better idea. If so,please let me know.
It would be nice to have the quilt done for some shows next spring. It would be sold in the spring of 2009.
A few days ago I got good news. I have been selected to teach at Quilt Canada in 2008 in New Foundland. I have never been there, but always wanted to, so....this is great.

Embellishments

Still winter here with lots of snow and very low temperatures. I just came in from my daily walk and the woodstove feels great. But it looks pretty with the sun shining.
Our son left Thursday morning for Calgary and by Sunday evening he had arrived. He only had snow for the first few hours and after that it was clear sailing. Now he has to get used to his new surroundings and his new job.
I did manage to put the binding on the crane quilt. I like to enter it in a few shows, so no pictures yet.

I have been working on the embellishings of my crazy quilt block. It is a slow process, but most of the time it's fun. I do know, that I will stop after this one block, do something else and than try another block later.I'm working in the living room right now. Living in an old farm house has it's problems in cold weather. Finally it got even too cold for me upstairs with all the strong winds, so all the little baggies and boxes with "stuff" were moved downstairs.No used to put on a heater,since I'm up and down all the time.
I just hope that Laurence does not sit on a pin or needle. This has happened in the past.Let's say, it's not appreciated.
Saturday I will be teaching for the Dufferin County Quilters Guild in Orangeville.
This will be day 2 of the "Victorian Bouquet"
It had to be cancelled in December, because I was sick.
Next week is our guild meeting and all the postcards for the MCC project are due.
I hope to get lots. Right now I have 25 and I hope to end up with at least 60 to 70

Go west, young man

It was not that long ago, that I complained ( just a little) about a green Christmas. Well, winter has come with snow squalls, very hard winds and very low temperatures. For a few days more roads were closed, that open. And right in the middle of this, our son decided to move to Alberta, over 3000 kilometers from here. He was planning to move in the midle of April, but he got a promising job and was asked to come as soon as posslible. So tomorrow is blast-of time. I'm glad that 2 0f his friends have decided to come with him for the ride. All 3 of them are used to the big trucks and big equipment, so I wonder how it will work with these 3 tall guys in a Jimmy, pulling a U-Haul trailer. It will be quite different for us. Shawn moved to the house on our farm next door about 10 years ago, far enough not to be in each others hair, but close enough be able to help each other. I don't know how many evenings the big truck would come in the lane, just when supper was put on the table. But he has been a big help for us over the years and we will miss having him close.
Not much I can say. I was only 23 when I emigrated by myself to Canada, never giving it much thought about what my parents though of it all. Though the first years were hard at times I have never regretted making this move. So I hope that it will all work out for Shawn in Alberta.
Back to some quilting. Another hour and the binding will be on the crane quilt. Since I'm planning to put it in some shows I will keep it under wraps for the time being.
These pictures are of the first block of my next crazy quilt. In the center you can see a picture of my father in late thirties. The patterned fabric is from a reproduction line of Dutch fabric used in the different costumes. The wider laces I found on my trip to Friesland. The narrow ones and the old sigarette silks are from my friend Janet in England.
The sewing is done, now all the embroidery yet.

I will be teaching crazy quilting this coming Saturday at

Greenwood Quiltery in Guelph.
275 Woolwich Street
Guelph.
tel 519-822-2790

Award-winning Quilts

The Critter Quilt

 
2003
(55”x 55”)
Hand-appliquéd by Renske Helmuth.
Hand-quilted by Minerva Clemmer.

The blocks in the center of this quilt were inspired by the botanical appliqués of Ellen Heck. Birds and borders were designed by Renske Helmuth.

Cover Quilt: The Canadian Quilter Newsletter (Fall 2004)

Awards:

• 2004 Quilt Canada National Juried Show -- Best Traditional Wall Hanging; President's Award for Excellence in Appliqué; and Viewer's Choice Award
• 2004 World Quilt Show Grand Rapids, Michigan -honorable mention – Traditional
• 2003 Ontario Juried show -Viewer's Choice Award

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Springtime in Ontario

 
2001
(50” x 42”)
Renske Helmuth
Hand-quilted by Minerva Clemmer

Awards:

• 2003 World Quilt Competition (Lansing Michigan) -1st place of Country Canada
• 2002 Quilt Canada National Juried Show (Edmonton, Alberta) -winner in the Traditional Large category
• 2001 Ontario Juried Show (Kitchener, Ontario) -first prize and viewer's choice
• 2001 Waterloo County Quilters' Guild quilt show -Viewer's Choice
• 2000 International Quilt Festival (Houston, Texas) -honorable mention in the 2-person category

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A Garden Bouquet of Flowers

 
1998
(72” x 72")
Renske Helmuth

Awards:

• 1999 International Quilt Festival (Houston, Texas) -3rd place large traditional appliqué category
• 2001 Ontario Juried Show (Kitchener, Ontario) -honorable mention in the large category

More fabric

Yesterday we packed up the cat and the dog and deliverd them back home to our daughter and son-in-law. The cat had made herself at home right away, with the dog it took longer. But now I miss them. It is mighty quiet. But both were glad to be back home again, the owners as well as their pets.
This picture shows some of the old laces I picked up in Friesland. The 3 pieces at the top are very finely crocheted and are at the bottom part of a small cap. Most of the other pieces belong to the bigger cap that goes over the gold part ( for those interested google "oorijzer" or "floddermuts") both Dutch words. This bottom part is a 1 meter long strip, that is washed, starched heavily and than put into a cripper to make "wavy" Once set, it is sewn back to a top part.
Some of these pieces had been stashed away for a long time and were almost brown.
I noticed that my sister-in-law in Friesland put some of these laces in simmering water on the stove. I wanted to be sure, that any left-over starch would be gone, so I did the same thing and it worked very well. I did not want it to get very white, but a creamy color and it worked just dandy. Now I'm working on my first crazy quilt block. More on that next week.
Jeanette had found a quilt store in Hawai and found out that Hawaian quilting is very interesting. She bought books and lots of fabric. I was told, that the books are for me to look at, since she wants to make her own quilt, but she gave me lots of beautiful fabric to keep.
Another project. At times I have a feeling, that I have enough projects to keep me buzy for the rest of my life.

At work again

It feels good to be finally back at work again. I did not do anything fabric related for over 1 month. Now, with workshops coming up I have to settle down and get organized. We still have company as you can see. This means lots of walks in the cold. We are finally getting used to each other. One more week and she will have to return to her owners.
On Saturday I have another "Postcard" workshop for my guild. The first one was in December. I missed that one, because I had the flue. I hope to do better with this one. Since the samples for the last one were all Christmas related I had to come up with something new. These 5 cards are my new patterns.
I will teach in the morning and in the afternoon we will talk about the cards we will make for the next Mennonite Relief Sale quilt. The first step for that one is making cards showing something to do with the work of MCC.

On FEBRUARY 3nd And MARCH 10th I will teach a 2-day workshop for the Waterloo County Quilters Guild. The workshop will be at the Community Center in Mannheim, Ontario that is.I will teach this pot with orchids, surrounded by a sashiko border. There are still a few spots open. So..... if you would be interested in joining us, you contact me at helmuth@golden.net

Home again

On Monday I arrived home again after a very good few weeks. I spend a lot of time with my mother and celebrated her 90th birthday with family and relatives on my last day there. It was fun to meet some cousins I had not seen for a long time. I did not come home with a lot of pictures I dropped my camera with as a result that most did not turn out.
But I do have these of a bridge in the north of Friesland with skaters.

Every so often, when there is lots of ice there is the "elf steden tocht" , the race/tour along the 11 historical cities of the province. The total length is about 200 kilometer. The first race was in 1909 and the last one 10 years ago. This bridge is a salute to all the participants over the last century. The picture of skaters is made up of small blue tiles with pictures of skaters over the years.
I found one square of a woman, who had done the tour in 1909.Her picture showed her when she was older in her Frisian costume.
My father skated the race 3 times in 1941,1942 and 1943, still on the old type wooden skates with iron runners, and we are in the process of getting a tile for my father in his memory. And yes, I did visit the Rijksmuseum with my cousin, saw all the flowerstalls along the water (and wished I could have taken all those lovely flowers home with me)
And the horses. Black horse everywhere. When I was still at home, over 35 years ago, not many people were riding on Frisian horses. When I went with my brother to a dressage show, about halve were black. And the quality.....amazing.
And I did something fabric related. In my quest to get things for my next crazy quilt project, I asked around for old laces. And I was very successfull, later more on this subject.
Once home again, it was back to the familiar.I promtly got the flue again and spend a few days in bed.Then I very graciously gave it to my husband, who is feeling downright sick today
And we did get some visitors. Our daughter and son-in-law have gone to the sunny south and we are looking after their cat, who spends most of her time up on the showerstall and their dog, Berni, who had a lonely few days, but is getting used to us.
AS you can see, never a dull moment on the farm

A New Year

Here we have a new year and lots of things going on. Tomorrow this time I will be on my way to Holland. We will celebrate my mother's 90th birthday. And I cannot miss that. Besides spending a lot of time with my mother I have a few other things on the calendar. One of my cousins and I will visit the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and my brother will take me to the Friesian Museum. Everything is diferent, when you do not have a car. I used to go with the train for 5 years to college. Since living in Canada I have never been on a train, except when I'm over for a visit, so I do not mind taking the train.
And I'm lucky enough to be able to go to the Friesian Horse Show on January 12th. That will bring back a lot of good memories.
But I had to be sure to finish a few projects. This is the 81/2 inch block for my Crazy Quilt Block workshop. I put it in a shadow box, what looks great, but did not photograph well.
A few months ago I finished the applique on my crane quilt. Most of the quilting has been done by my friend Florence. Part of the quilting is done in sashiko style. Once I'm back some more quilting lines have to be added. This crane is about 7 inches tall and consists of about 75 pieces. The white pieces are all out of one mottled fabric.
Since I will not have a computer for the next 2 weeks, this will not be updated till I will be back.

Crazy quilt blocks

We had a few wonderful days over the holidays with family and friends.It was busy with lots of talking and laughing. And ....of course eating. And we did have a green Christmas. We even saw a few stragly pansies sticking up in the garden. Now all is quiet again and it is time to go back to work. Joan, owner of Greenwood Quiltery, the quilt store in Guelph, asked me to teach a workshop in Crazy Quilt embroidery. So out came this small wallhanging I made a few years ago. The center is 12 inches and I used embroidery, silk ribbon embroidery,charms and beads. This was a bigger size than we wanted, so right now I'm working on a smaller, 81/2 inch block I hope to have ready in a few days. I realized that over the last few years I had gathered a good collection of ribbons, beads, charms and laces. This came in very handy.
My goal is to make a horse themed crazy quilt. Last fall I received from my mother all the old ribbons our family won with our Frisian horses.
And I feel like I finally can manage to put some old pictures on fabric, using our printer. The only thing I would like are a few sigarette silks with horses( preferable black) If anybody would know, where there are some available, please let me know.
I figure on making 12 12inch blocks with a border. This would be a long time project with a block at a time approach. I'm sure other things will crop up from time to time.

It's starting to look like Christmas

Not outside!!! It looks like we might have a green Christmas for the first time in over 20 years. The weather is great, cool and sunny, but it is just not what we are used to here in the snowbelt area of Ontario, Canada. But we have a few days yet, still time to change.
So we have to get that Christmas feeling inside. I like to get a real tree and this year it ended up being taller than I expected, only 3 inches from the ceiling. Another tradition I have is making arrangements. I go around our farms and cut cedar, pine, boxwood, redwood, and some other scrubs.I did buy a few things like eucalyptus This year I cut less of everything and made 8 arrangements in different sizes in the kitchen. Other years a friend will come over and we have to take over the (heated ) workshop.
Some of these arrangements are meant for the neighbours.
They know that if the container is returned during the year, it will be filled up for the next year.
Tonight I have to get groceries and I will buy some carnations to stick here and there.
About 10 days ago I send 10 fabric postcards, the ones with the snowmen, to Holland, England, California and locally. I had them hand-cancelled at the local postoffice and I have heard from most recipients.And .....all came over in good shape.
The coming days will be busy with getting ready for family to come home.
I do find that with only the two of us at home, that I can get away with less baking. But then this week-end we will have family and friends over for dinner for three days in a row, different ones every day,so a trip to town is necessary. Maybe more then one trip.
Wishing everybody a very Merry Christmas.

Straw figures

B.Q, or better before quilting I worked a lot with wheat straw. This is a very ancient craft. I found my first book in England, where it is called "corn dolly making". It is confusing, because what we call grain in Canada is called corn in England, while what we call corn is called maize over there. Anyway, one of our crops is wheat and since we have a test plot anyway, it was easy for me to get a variety of wheat, dark, light, bearded ( bearded wheat has long hairs) or not. I would cut it by hand, dry it and "clean" the wheat. This means that only the stem with the head would be left. This would be stored till needed. Till about 10 years ago I made hundreds of items. Problems with hands and shoulders made it harder. Before you can work with the straw it has to be soaked,after which it is pliable enough to handle. It also means, that you have to finish the project before the straw dries out.
So it got too much to do the bigger projects. Applique was much easier. Whenever I had trouble, I could stop and proceed later. I have not stopped completely though. Every year I pick a few handfull of wheat. And when I need a small present it is fun to whip something up. My fingers still seem to know how to make the braids.
One year I decided to start the work on a Nativity scene. That year I made these 5 figures. The plan was to make a few every year. That did not happen and these are the only ones I have.
They are about 12 inches tall and usually they come out of the box for Christmas.
When the tree is not too big, one of the angels stars on top of the tree. Not this year. I managed to buy a tree that hit the ceiling!

More of the same

One more workshop and it would be all over for the year.
But.....more of the same. On Friday I finished making all the samples to show the different stages of making a fabric postcard. In the afternoon I got everything together. Even my voice was not too bad.
But it was not to be. That night the stomach flue hit me me. Needless to say I did not make it to the workshop.
Since the room and lunch had been ordered the group decided to go though with it. Laurence made a mad dash to Kitchener after the chores with all the supplies and I went back to bed for the next 3 days.
This workshop was for my own guild.I'm organizing another quilt for the Mennonite Relief Sale and this one involves the making and sending of fabric postcards. At the last meeting I met members, who had never made one, so an informal list was made for people interested in a workshop. When that list was over 20 we decided we better do something about it, so a workshop was organized. In total over 40 members signed up. A second one has been added for late January.For that one I will make some other samples.
Since all my stuff was shipped to the workshop on Saturday I could not work on anything here at home once I felt a little bit better. Yesterday I retrieved my things and even got some Christmas shopping done.
These snowmen are meant for sending to family and friends overseas, so it is more than time to finish them and hit the post office.

New project

This past week has not been very productive. By the time Wednesday was over I was sick with laryngitis (oh, was the house ever quiet). That was followed by a dry, hacking cough and later my eyes were infected. So for the first time I had to cancel a trunkshow and a workshop because of illness. I hope that will not happen too often. About 2 weeks ago I was asked to come up with a small project for teaching at a local store. The owner really liked my "Springtime in Ontario" quilt, so I took a look at the Jack-in-the-pulpit block and came up with this design. It should fit, because the workshop is not till next the spring. Still have one workshop to do on Saturday. My voice is not in good shape yet, but we have a few more days.