Guild challenge

Yesterday was the last meeting for our guild. There was only an evening, business meeting and at times there are not too many members attending. Since our guild show is in September the show committee decided to make the challenge due yesterday. It seemd to work. There were lots of people and 20 small quilts. It had to be about an Idiom. I did start on one, but figured out, that it was more a saying then an idiom, so it was back to the drawing board. When I found the piece of fabric with the cows I knew what I was going to make. This is my interpretation of "Wait...till the cows come home" It is fused and machine embroidered/quilted. It was a fun and fast project. There were some amazing quilts and all so very different. The quilts were collected and we will see them again, hanging at the show. The evening was a lot ot fun, with food, doorprizes and then of course the business part. I needed a few cards and today was the day to make them .I love to make these kimono's and made these 2 even a little smaller, so the cards will go into a 6 by 9 inch evelope. The third card is made with 3d flowers I had on hand. Each time I teach a workshop making flowers I keep the samples and somewhere along the line I find a use for them. I like to find something for the back that complements with the front. For the red kimono I found a black and red fabric with goldfish. The card with flowers has pansies on the back and the green kimono has a piece of silk on the back. I seem to be a magnet for "strange" fabrics. Yesterday at the guild meeting I was asked if I could use some Asian fabrics. It turned out to be a big bag full of Japanese silks, silk scarves, a ikat belt with woven fish and some heavy Chinese silks. This green on the back of the card came from one of the pieces.

New winged "friends"

A few years ago I received a folded fabric kimono from my friend Janet. I put it up on my bulletin board and there it stayed. Then a few weeks ago another friend, Tamara, remarked that she thought it was really pretty. At around that time I had to start thinking about a small quilt for the guild challenge. I took the kimono (sorry Janet) apart and found that it was not hard to make. And soon after I had it all planned. Too bad, that later I realized, that it did not fit the criteria for the challenge. I did make another one, that I can show after next week's meeting. But I did not want to forget about this one and I'm back at it. It is the saying "something old ( a piece of vintage silk for one of the kimono's),something new (fabric I just bought), something borrowed ( the pattern from Janet), something blue ( a blue kimono) The white circles will be sashiko. The smaller circles are cut from a piece of oriental fabric and the flying geese are made with vintage shibori. It is all in pieces yet, but it has been fun. We have some new winged friends around. These barn swallows showed up a few weeks ago and made themselves right away at home. First in the garage. We had some arguments and there were mad dashes close to my head, but they backed of. Now their nest is under the eaves, close to the diningroom window. They do make somewhat of a mess and don't like anybody outside on the deck, but it is fun to see the going ons in the nest. The weather has not been great. We did have rain, but it has been cold. All the crops are in the ground, but nothing is growing very fast. We do hope for more sunshine in the next few days. It is always remarkable, that the weeds do keep on growing. Tomorrow will be a weeding day!

Back home

Quilts, orchids, horses, gardening and water buffalo mozzarella pizza, that just about sums it up. I came home Tuesday morning early after an overnight flight from Calgary after a very busy week. Quilt Canada in Saskatoon was great. As usual it was very busy. I taught for 3 days in a beautiful room. It was down in the basement of the hotel, but nobody complained about not having enough light. I had fun, I hope the participants too. The Juried show was a 10 minute walk. I finished at 4 and the show closed at 5, but I did manage to get there and see the quilts. In my eyes it was a very good show and I could have spend more time there. On Friday evening I did my power point presentation, a first for me and there were no equipment failures, my biggest worry. Everything was set up and was ready to go. Since I talked about the quilts I coordinated for the Mennonite Relief Sale I mentioned the one to be sold the next day. I was asked to find out what it went for and announce it at the next day's banquet. I was very happy, when I found out, that it went for $7200, in my eyes a very good price. It was the highest of the day. The quilt went to Bruce Menary, owner of the Len's Mills Stores in our area. Of the 5 quilts I have coordinated he has bought 3. He is a very big supported of the sale!!! After the conference I flew to Calgary and visited Shawn and Emily. The after noon was spend watching Emily at a working cow horse seminar. For most of you it might sound boring, but it was interesting. I grew up riding English Style and never knew anything about Western Riding. I learned new things, sitting in the sun with the Rockies in the back ground, what can be better. Monday we went out to look at plants. Once home there was enough time to plant it all and wrap the tomato plants. More frost was expected. Then the fun was over and it was back to the airport. But first supper where the water buffalo mozzarella pizza came in . When I saw that, I could not resist. It was good, but not any better then regular mozzarella. Then it was direction home. I had a lot of luggage by then. I bet you I was the only one from the conference who came home with a large orchid. During one of my workshops I had a visit from some of the organizers Since I was teaching the orchid workshop, we started to talk about different orchids. Finally I was asked if I had room for a "SMALL" one. Of course, who can refuse. The next day she showed up, laughing, with a huge cattleya. I was not going to say not to something like that and found a way to put it in a carry on. It survived and is looking great. I seemed to have taken the good weather with me to the West. Once back home, it has cleared up and Laurence could finish the seeding, except of the white beans and that will be done today. So it is back to work for me. And when I got home I found another orchid in bloom. For this one I do not have a name,

Saskatoon.....here I come

We have had a busy week. The farm we bought last year and where we live now was badly in need of tile. Winter set in too early last fall, so it had to be done this spring. A lot of small shrubs and trees had to be moved first.A few larger trees will be used for fire wood. It was a lot of work, but it is done and as I write this Laurence is planting soyabeans in the field. This morning we finished picking up all the sticks, roots and tree branches.

I have been working on some smaller projects, one a challenge for the guild ,that has to be done by the next meeting. And this sashiko piece is coming along. The three borders will have to wait till I get home from Quilt Canada in Saskatoon.

That's why I'm doing this earlier. My suitcases are almost packed. I will be teaching Thursday, Friday and Saturday. We had plans for Laurence to come out after the conference and then visit his brother and sister in Saskachewan, but with the late spring that was not possible.

Plans are now for me to fly to Calgary next Sunday. Shawn will pick me up and I will stay at Shawn and Emily's place till late Monday evening and then fly back during the night to London, Ontario that is. I leave you with another orchid. An oncidium according to the label. It is a small one with 1 inch flowers. They are very dainty and have lasted over a month.

Frisian Quilt

Yesterday was our guild meeting and I managed to take both papercut quilt tops along. Here is the "small" one about 70 by 70 inches. Except for 2 blocks I can use for labels and one that did not meet the size requirements all the blocks have been used. One that was not centered I used for making a pillow to keep these 2 tops in. I think the members liked it . Since I did not want to stay for both meetings a friend showed them in the evening and took them home. She also will take them with her to Quilt Canada in Saskatoon next week. I will give a power point presentation there with as subject the quilts I have coordinated for the Mennonite Relief Sale over the years. Those quilts are gone and since I want to be able to show at least something I was in a hurry to get these 2 new ones done. Growing up I in Friesland I never knew what a quilt was. Last fall I learned about a quilt show at the Frisian Museum in Leeuwarden. I also found out, that there were antique quilts around.I would have loved to go, but it did not suit. I did buy the book and in it I found a Frisian quilt made around 1780. The fabrics were the old fashioned Dutch printed cottons. Lately they have been reproduced by DE Haan and Wagemakers from Amsterdam. I had bought some a few years ago, but since they were pricey I waited for a special occasion to use them And this was IT. I make up a pattern and sewed the top together. I barely had enough fabrics, but it all worked out. Here is a close-up of some of the fabrics. Some are very familiar, since they are used in Frisian costumes also. Before coming to Canada I did make my own Frisian costume and the fabric looked something like this, except I got it in the "cheap" store for a few dollars. The quality was far from these fabrics. At that time it was all I could afford. It looked fine. I took it with me to Canada, but after a few years I realized that I had never worn it, so I took it back and gave it away. Now I regret it.

Birds and blooms

Soon after we moved here in December I put my bird feeder out. But no luck. Not a single bird in sight, except the hawk flying over the place. Last week I decided to put the feeder away and after inspection I noticed that the plexi glass sides were upside down and no feed could come out. No wonder the birds did not stay around! After correcting that and a cleaning, I put the feeder back up and in no time the birds arrived. First a flock of gold finches Then my favorite showed up: the gorgeous blue Indigo Bunting. This was the fourth time I have seen one. They usually stay for a few days and then continue their travels north. One evening I saw one rose breasted grosbeak. I have only seen these birds once before. This time 2 more followed. By this time I had my camera out and took pictures through the window. I put one of the feeders closer to the window, but each time I came near, the birds flew away, so no luck there. I had also complained that there were no bulbs out here. I was wrong on that account, also. There are a bunch of red tulips blooming at the side of the house. But no daffodils, so I have to get planting in the fall. I'm gearing up for Saskatoon. My CD with the PowerPoint presentation has been sent off. So has the quilt for the teacher display. The second, smaller Relief Sale quilt has been finished. I have 2 blocks to be used for labels, and one extra that will be used for the pillowcase I want to make to transport these quilts in. I'm working on a wall hanging with alternate blocks of sashiko and appliqued silk circles. One more sashiko block and the center is ready for sewing. The border will be a lot of work. There will be sashiko block design all over.

The Sew and Sews

The first weekend in May means a visit to the Homer Watson Gallery in Doon, near Kitchener. The opening of the yearly quilt show there is the beginning of all the quilt festivities in the area. This year I could not miss it: a small group of friends were asked to show their creations. I met them all over the years at our guild meetings and most have been very supportive of the quilts made for MCC. They call themselves "The Sew and Sews" and meet twice a month. They mainly like to applique and are very good at it! This is the group (pictured: Charlotte, Emily, Brigitte, Hilary, Jeanette, and Marg in the front) which was in our place this winter to start making the difficult center blocks for the papercut quilt. If you have a look at the quilt (I showed a picture a few weeks ago) you will notice the incredible 9 blocks in the center. That is some of their work. The show was hung beautifully and the opening was very well attended. Emily is not only a very good quilter, she makes the most amazing sock puppets. Then she puts them in all kinds of situations. This is the second year she even had a calendar made with the proceeds going to charity. Have a good look at the quilt on the bed. Those are small pieces! The weather has improved and Laurence is almost finished with the corn planting. Then it will be on to the soybeans. More rain is expected. My PowerPoint presentation is ready to be sent to Saskatoon, thanks to the help of some very good friends. When we moved here late last year everything was covered with snow and now I have to wait and see what is in the flowerbeds. There is a long bed with all kinds of roses. Now I never had much to do with roses, because I find them too much work. When spring came it looked like all 25 bushes were dead. Time to dig them up, but wait... do I see some green emerging? Right now all show growth, so for this year I will clean them all up and give them a chance to prove themselves.

Storm

Saturday started out great. I managed to make it to the Regional Meeting of the Hort. Society for the first time. Learned a lot and had a good time. I even won the door prize, a beautiful planter. The sun was still shining when I came home. After a quick change I went to the field to see if I had to help Laurence, who had started to plant corn. He was sure it would rain soon. I came back home, ready to work in the garden. That did not happen. A short time later it got very dark, then a terrible wind came up. Soon after the rain started. Before long the hydro went off. A few minutes later, the beeper started up, letting me know there was an alarm situation in the barn. I couldn't get the car out of the garage, but did manage to start the very old chore truck. In the driving rain I did manage to get to the barn... where Laurence had everything under control. One less worry: I'm totally useless with equipment! By supper time, still no hydro. We went out for supper -- as did all our neighbours! It's a farmer thing: our barns had hydro, thanks to big diesel generators, but nothing at the house. The whole area was without power. Over 40 large poles had to be replaced. Sunday morning we got a small generator from the fellow who rents our farm house. He had power through one of the big generators, large enough to plug in the freezer and fridge and the coffee pot. By late Sunday evening power was restored. Everything was working....except the Internet. It was back to it's old tricks. This afternoon the technician came out and after a few hours he made everything work, but according to him it can be better, so he is coming back with a larger receiver for on top of the roof. This small wall hanging is an old workshop sample. I finished it and will give it to the guild to be used as a door prize. It was another try at getting better at machine quilting. The orchids are doing very well. This pansy orchid is finally blooming. I had no idea what the blooms would look like and it seemed to take forever for them to open up. All the plants for outside planting are in the garage to harden. It will be a few weeks yet before I can plant them. Quilt Canada in Saskatoon is coming closer and I have to get things organized.

Papercuts... and more

Last week my friend Carol came and together we finished the quilt top. I think all but one block came back to me. One was only half-finished, but with reason: the lady broke her wrist and just could not do the rest. That's dedication for you! I'm very pleased with the result. When I showed it to Jenny, she remarked that I had to buy this one for her, when it is auctioned off. She likes this one the best of all of them. I told her that, if she likes it that well, she better start saving. She has a few years. I will take the quilt top with me to Quilt Canada in Saskatoon and then in the fall it will be quilted. I still have enough blocks left to make a large wall hanging with 9 blocks in the center and some triangles in the border. I'm still figuring that one out. Yesterday I had some friends come up to help me with my PowerPoint presentation for Quilt Canada. They made it look soooo easy. I'm waiting for a few more pictures and then I can strike that off my list also. I will be talking about the quilts I have coordinated for the Mennonite Relief Sale in New Hamburg over the years. I hope I can make it interesting. Last week we had some gorgeous days and I spend part of my time in the flowerbeds, deciding what grew where. Some plants I have figured out; for other areas, I have to wait a little longer. But then the weather changed. The last few days have been wet and cold. I love pansies and always buy a tray. I planted most of them in pots and they have not been very happy, especially last evening.You can see the hail in the pot. It did not last long, but the deck was covered with large hail stones. Better weather is predicted for the coming days. I need that. The office here is starting to look like a greenhouse. Callas Cannas, begonias and dahlias have to go out....and soon.

Goodbye to the Postcard Quilt

What a glorious day it was. Time to be out in the garden. This year will be different for me. After 34 years in one place I knew all the plants and their locations. Since we moved last year, early in the winter ,I have no idea what plants are here. All I know that there are about 24 big sedums in the front of the flowerbed and they have to go. A few is o.k. but this is too many. I did dig a few perenials up at the farm. I cannot leave grandma's extra early peonies now, can I! Last Monday was the annual Relief Sale dinner at Bingeman Park in Kitchener. Everything is donated from the hall, food, preparing the food, serving the meal and washing the dishes. Ticket sales and donations usually make up enough to cover the expenses for the relief sale, so 100% of the money made at the sale will go to MCC Other years there are about 26 large quilts hanging around the hall, but this year it was in another building and no quilts could be hung. As the feature quilt for this year, the Postcard Quilt hung on a frame, coming into the hall with 2 more beautiful quilts hanging behind. This year there was no poster. This size did not look right. Instead there were mugs and cards. They did make a special poster for me, so I can hang it with the others. And it was a good bye. During the sale I will be teaching in Saskatoon. Now we look forward to the next project. Next week I hope to show you the finished top. Yesterday was guild meeting and I had a long list of things to do. My powerpoint presentation is coming along, thanks to the work of my friends. I think I have most of the information I will need. Another stop was the greenhouse. I needed my flat of pansies. By now most are either in the garden or in pots in the front of the house. My lilies are doing too well. I should have started them a month later. The biggest are about 18 inches tall and ready to topple over. And it is too early to plant them. For now they have been banned to the back of the garage.

A messy room

The picture on my last entry managed to get through after trying it for I don't know how many times. So let's be bold this time and try 2 pictures. It is way more fun, when you can show what you are doing. My sewing room is getting there, but I have to find place for few more items. At least my design wall is up, minus the grey flannel. I have not been able to find some. I did take the old pieces with me when we moved, but they are discolored and new pieces just would look better.I have been busy squaring the blocks I received for the paper cut quilt. I have not given it a name, so for now we will go by that. I have received almost all the blocks back and will get one more at the next guild meeting( over 70 in total). You see here the work of absolute beginners to very accomplished appliquers. And I'm very impressed. It might not stay this way. I have 10 extra blocks and 4 extra triangles, enough for a large wallhanging. You can see the fabric for the sashing and binding at the bottom. It will have a border( 5 pieces for each side plus 4 corner pieces) , but I will not cut those pieces till the center has been finished. Tomorrow my friend Carol will come to help me with the lay-out. An extra pair of eyes is always better. And if time allows we will start with the sewing. I have to show you my pride and joy. This cattleya orchid has been blooming for over a month. I got it from Jenny for mother's day last year. It had 1 flower, this time it has 5. It was fun to watch the new stem develop till it finally had the flowers.

Another month.....another snow storm

We woke up this morning and snow was blowing across the windows. Laurence had a meeting in Guelph and he left with the car, but later he called and told me, that I better stay home. He had almost gone in the ditch and that with him being a very good driver. The roads had not been plowed and were awfull. So I have been home alone today and I got a lot of things done. The accountant will be here next week and I have some catching up to do in that department. And I squared most of the blocks I received for the next Relief Sale quilt Last week was busy. I was for 2 days in Toronto and had 2 very enjoyable workshops. As usual the lunches alone were enough to want to come back,. And yes, I drove in Toronto and with a few extra twists and turns I managed to make it in time for both the workshops. The next time it will not be quite as scary. Friday I picked up the rest of the blocks in Kitchener and almost all have been returned. And we started the work to change my web site. I hope we get it all arranged in the coming weeks. Also the refusal of Picasa to upload pictures to Blogger. It isn't fun to do this without being able to show pictures. Inside it is a little bit like spring. My begonias are growing almost too fast. The canna's, dahlias and Asiatic lilies are up. I have this problem almost every year. I cannot wait and than I have all these huge plants in the house, ready for transplanting and the weather is not suitable yet. Just got an email from Greenwood Quiltery in Guelph. I will be teaching a workshop there on Saturday, April 18th .It will be an introduction to Sashiko. There are a few spots open. If interested you can phone 1-866-364-2790 I have attached one picture. I just cannot give up.

Back again

I keep adding pictures, but I'm unable to put them on this blog. I'm thinking about re-doing the whole website. But anyway I'm back from my trip to Perth. I left Tuesday with beautiful weather and it was an easy trip. For the second part I just put the car in cruise control and told it to stay in between the lines, well almost that easy. 420km later I was there. The trunkshow went well and I had a very enjoyable 2 day workshop. We started with the orchids. That brought the topic to orchids. And as usal you find out all kinds of things. I knew that there are white lady slippers in the wild up in Bruce County. Last year I found out, when I was on Manitoulin Island, that they have yellow lady slippers there. This time I found out, that in the 1930th somebody planted Showy lady slippers ( white with a pink lip) in a swampy area near Perth. This is now a conservation area and in the spring you can find up to 16.000 orchids in bloom. What a sight that would be!!! The trip home had a few detours. That just meant, that I saw some more of the country side. And I had to stop at the That Bead Lady store in Newmarket. I did come out with a few more things for my crazy quilting workshop. Then on Saturday it was our yearly trip to Jeanette's with the truck. We also had to bring the chainsaw, since a few small trees had to be removed. Once all that work was done, the guys went to the landfill site and the 2 of us went to the Cloud Orchid Greenhouses. They are only open one week-end each month and since this was the week-end I could not let it pass. I did buy a good size lady slipper and a few smaller plants, 2 close to blooming. But this will have to be the end. Even with my big windows I cannot handle more. We have had some nice days and I have been potting up some calla's, dahlia's and canna's.There are lots of shrubs and greenery, but not many flowering plants around here. Tomorrow I will have to get ready for my next trip to the Cock-A-Doodle store in Toronto. I will be teaching there on Wednesday and Thursday. Crazy quilting and small landscape.

Spring is in the air

It has been too long and I cannot even blame the Internet. It has been working well, almost as fast as it was on the farm. But I have had a nasty case of the stomach flue and have been sick for over a week. This is the first day I'm feeling like doing anything again. I did loose some wheight, but there must be easier ways. I have lots of pictures to show, but Picasa will not let me upload them to Blogger. I must have tried 20 times. It is clear I need some more help. While I was sick the cabinets in the quilt room were installed .I could not get interested till this week. They look very good and will hold a lot of "stuff" Next on the list was the installation of the lights. A call to our electrician brought same day service. So now I have lights, a design wall (minus the grey flannel as of yet) and storage! It will take me some time to go through all my boxes before I move them. This is a good time to see what deserves a move or what I can do without. Tomorrow is guild meeting and again it will be a long day. The blocks for the Relief Sale quilt are due, so I need to go to both meetings. I also want to look for the grey flannel and something suitable for the sashing for this quilt. Then Thursday I have to get cracking and get my things organized for next week. On Tuesday I will be driving to Perth (at least 6 hours from here) for a trunkshow and a 2 day workshop. Im looking forward to it now, but still I am glad I have another week to recuperate. The last few days have been spring like. There are 2 things I miss at our new place. There are no birds at the bird feeders. We have one bird, a resident hawk....enough said. And there are no spring flowers here. On the farm I have planted all kinds of spring bulbs over the years and I will be doing that here in the fall. But my orchids make up for it. My cattleya has 5 huge flowers and other plants are showing flower stalks. I will keep on trying to get this picture thing workinbg

Not there yet

It seems that at times you cannot win. That is the case with our Internet. On Friday the technician came out again, climbed on the roof in cold and windy conditions. Our "barbeque" grill was broken. Once that was replaced it seemed to work. At least on my laptop. The other computer still was of most of the time. We were told that we are at the end range of 3 different towers, but they are working on upgrades! Yesterday we had local computer fellow come out. He made it work in the house on both computers, but the only thing not working right now is Blogger. I cannot get pictures loaded from Picassa 3 to Blogger. Must have tried it half a dozen times. So this is again without pictures, but that too will come. I just need some more help. Should be packing for my trunkshow tonight for the Halton Guild in Burlington. Then a second day of my Lady Slipper workshop on Saturday at Greenwood in Guelph. And we heard this morning, that the cupboards for my quilt room will be installed next Thursday. Then the electrician and I can move everything in its place. Will show some pictures as soon as I can figure things out.

Baby quilts

I have been busy making a few baby quilts. Each time I try to upload a picture it won't work. Right now it is early in thge morning and I will give it another try. Usually I make the quilt and send it away, but this time it was picked up right at our place. Baby Vivian and her mother visited us and took the quilt home with them to Nova Scotia. We still have our Internet problems, but it works somewhat better. The weather has been snowy and windy and that might not have helped it either. Better see if this will work. If so a picture of the other quilt will follow

Back to winter

This will be quick. We still have problems with our Internet. It is 95% of, 5 % working. Somebody has to go back on the roof, but the weather is not cooperating. It is back to winter with snow and hard winds I did load 2 pictures up, but as you see, they did not show up. This all has been very frustrating and I hope we will get it all sorted out soon. I better publish this before we loose our connection again. I will be back as soon as this all has been sorted out

With Internet.....but without transportation

Last week we finally were hooked up to the Internet....kind of. Either it worked perfect or not at all. We phoned back to the company on Monday and yesterday the technician came out and put a receiver on the top of the roof. Better...but still no sigar. He came back today and put a bigger receiver on the roof and so far so good. This is as good as it will get I was told. Now to the transportation. Last week hubby skidded through an intersection in town and got hit by another car. The car is in the garage and will be gone for another week or so. Now I can drive the big truck, but that one let us down yesterday. It was the day to take Riley for her yearly check-up at the vet's. Half way there the truck just stopped dead. We had to get the tow truck out. Since there was not enough room for all of us and the dog in the cab, I had the first time experience of driving backwards in the cab of a towed truck with a slobbering dog. Riley thought it was great. I could have done without. So we are down to the old "chore" truck and and that one is not fit to go anywhere,except the barn. It is a job just to get in the door, that with all the tools, shovels and you know what I did get some work done. The koi I found in one of Susan Briscoe's books. I did them in sashiko with an overdyed pearl cotton. I found a small piece of fabric with koi and put that in the center. It is machine quilted. Since this blue fabric was from Japan and only 14 inches wide I ended up with nothing for the binding. I used a piece of striped fabric. I sewed it down on the wrong side and hand sewed it to the front, so I got the right strip showing up front. I'm almost finished with the second baby quilt .More about that next week.

Internet....but no pictures

We finally got Internet yesterday. We phoned another company and in one day later they were here. Since then I have been trying to get pictures on here, but nop success. So this time it will have to be without pictures. Christine wondered how the Postcard quilt came to be, so I will try and answer . This is the 5th quilt I have organized for the Mennonite Relief Sale in New Hamburg. And they all started the same. Something pops up in my mind. Next the question: is it possible to do. The project will have to be for a big group with different skill levels, from beginners to very advanced. Once I think ti over for a long time, I bring it up at a guild meeting. I explainb my idea and ask for interest. If enough members show an interest I will proceed. With the Post card quilt I set up 2 workshops, where I taught making 4 by 6 inch fabric post cards. Everybody interested took an instruction sheet home. They had to make a 4 by 6 inch fabric postcard.It had to show something that MCC (Mennonite Central Committee) is involved with. I received over 80 cards. I took them in to the local office and from there they went to the head office in Pensylvania. From there the staff distributed the cards to volunterrs all over the world. Their instructions were to write a short note on the back, put a stmap on and pop it in the mailbox. We received just over 5o back. During this time I pieced the center of the quilt in the trip-around-the-world pattern. Over that I appliqued the world map, showing where volunteers lived. Next step was to take it to my friend Carol, who hand quilted it. Once the cards were back I sewed them around the center. Next came another strip of piecing with mariner compasses. The final step was the hand quilting of the border. Quilts like this take a long time from idea to finished quilt. Usually I try to get one together every 3 years and they usally end up being the feature quilt, as the Post card quilt will be this year. Next time more pictures

Internet....or lack of

No we have not been sick or been in Florida. After 5 weeks of all kinds of excuses the tech guys finally came out last Thursday to hook us up to the Internet , at least that's what we thought. By supper time it did not work, but they promised to be back later. Well later was Monday, after we told them we were concidering to take everything out. But we were told the new tower was not up to speed, but just wait. We did get some kind of action in the next day or so, but no email or more than a few websites. So this afternoon Laurence took the computer back to the farm. Less than 5 minutes after he phoned, telling me that everything was working there, we got a call. The tech guys had figured it out and everything worked fine. Now what to do. Take it all back or just say forget it and find somebody else. So here I'm again sitting in a cold house, Next time I have more pictures. Last week I taught the first 2 workshops for the guild ( to make the next quilt for the Mennonite Relief Sale). I had 21 and 15 in the class. 2 more workshops on Friday and Saturday, each with about 15. I have to say that the enthousiasm is fantastic.

Postcard Quilt.......delivered

Finally the post card quilt is gone. I took it Friday to Waterloo. It will go to our guild meeting on Wednesday and then it will go the quilt Committee for the Mennonite Relief Sale. Picture taking has been set up. Next time I will show a few of the individual cards. I always love to start on a new project, but I'm also very glad ,when I can take it out of here. Now it is time to think of the next one. The first workshops are scheduled for the coming week. I know, that this is a few days late, but there were reasons. The weather has been very snowy and very,very cold. And since the computer is still on the farm, it is a chore to do this, since we keep the house fairly cold. It will have to change soon. The house has been rented out, so we have to be out of here. The past week was the "farmer's meetings" week for Laurence. He was gone every day with the car. Since I did not relish the thought of getting stuck here with the truck and having to walk home, I just did not bother. But this afternoon he decided to take his snowmobile out for a spin ,so here I am Now it is my week to be gone. First for a trunkshow and a workshop at the Niagara Guild That means ,that I get to stay overnight at Jenny's She even will go with me that evening, the first time a family member will hear me speak. You might wonder about a label. That is coming, but I was asked to keep that of, till after the official pictures are taken of both sides.And you know me and writing anything....... unless I have to it won't happen. I have been busy making a few baby quilts. Or let's say quilts meant for babies. Both aredifferent and do not have the normal baby colors. They are ready for machine quilting.

New year and new project

I'm getting ready for another quilt for the Mennonite Relief Sale. Next week I will show a picture of the fully finished post card quilt that will be sold this year. I need to do the final inspection yet. Now the new project. It will have blocks with paper cut outs. For the background I found a perfect cream colored fabric, 108 inches wide. The washing and drying were very easy, but how to iron the huge piece of fabric. With the help of hubby I got it folded up. By using the ironing board and my big table it did not go too bad. So one step completed. I found the idea I was looking for in one of Elly Sienkiewics books "Papercuts and Plenty" The actual blocks and border will be different ,but I'm looking for this lay-out. I have about 65 guild members signed up in 4 workshops , so I have to have enough kits for each. So far so good. 66 packets are ready. For the patterns, there is a choice. They get one from me, or they can design their own, as long as I have a look at it, to be sure it will fit in with the rest. There are extra blocks, just in case some don't work out. If they are all returned there should also be enough for a small wall hanging. The background is a mottled cream colored regular cotton, but all the other fabrics are batiks. I find that this is easier for needle turn applique. I'm still sitting here in the cold. Still no high speed Internet in the new place. Either it is lack of parts or too busy. In a way it is not too bad. If the weather is not too bad I can walk with the dog over here and since Laurence is here often to work in the shop, he can take us back again.