More sashiko

It has been a very busy week. We did manage to finish combining the white beans, and we started with the soybeans -- but a few days of rain stopped that.

On Wednesday, I took my mother-in-law to the doctor, and after that I made my way to Waterloo to do a bunch of errands. One of my stops was at the local Mandarin Restaurant to pick up some extra coins. They were very gracious and said I could have as many as I needed. The coins were not the same as the ones I had, but it all will work out. In the evening at guild we had a great trunk show by Elizabeth Dillinger from Pickering: she showed us some amazing quilts.

Thursday morning, we woke up with the rain coming down, hard at times. Laurence wanted to go to the Outdoor Farm Show regardless, and he promised me that by the time we got there, the rain would be over. It was not to be. And I can tell you, tempers are not the best when 2 people try to stay dry under a very small umbrella. We did have tickets for a free breakfast, so that was our first stop. And we all received an emergency rain poncho right there!! The day turned out better from that point on. The advantage was that all the sales people had lots of time to talk! We stayed till about 4 in the afternoon; by that time the rain was over. But we were very tired and bed looked pretty good not long after supper.

Lately I have been looking for a Mountain Ash (a tree with lots of red berries). I have a spot picked out already. This morning Laurence went to an antique John Deere auction and I was busy baking for our church potluck tomorrow. At noon he phoned to let me know, that no, he did not buy anything and no he did not have lunch yet and yes, he had stopped at a tree nursery and found a nice tree and no, he did not want to bring it home. I had to inspect it first. After lunch he let me know that the hole had to be dug right then and there. I know enough to jump when that happens. As soon as the weather gets better, he will be way too busy. So the hole is dug and at the beginning of next week I will look at the tree. 

The sashiko blocks are all ready. Nothing has been sewn together yet.  After it is all together I want to make 4 blocks for the corners, then a narrow strip with sashiko on each side. A friend of mine gave me an idea for how to attach the coins with narrow strips of fabric. The last picture shows the front and back of 3 of the blocks. On some of them there is more thread on the back than the front!

On Wednesday I picked up another 20 skeins from Michelle at Kallisti Quilts, just in case. Next week I will have my first trunk show of the season for the Etobicoke Quilters Guild. Then next Saturday a workshop here at my place.

Be careful what you wish for

Last week it was hot and very dry here. Both the corn and soybeans have stopped growing. The white beans were ready to combine, but the pods were almost too dry and would shatter before coming close to the combine. A little rain would help. Well, we got the "little rain" and then some. It has turned cold and rainy. We only managed to combine for part of an afternoon. And now it is wishing for some more sunshine. This is the project I'm working on. Each block has a different hitomezashi ( or one stitch) sashiko design. In this one you can see how an extra row of stitches changes the whole design. It is a lot of fun and it takes a lot of thread. I'm using the "Ultimate Sashiko Source Book" by Susan Briscoe. The flowered fabric a got a while back from Michelle at Kallisti Quilts and it works very well. It has the same design, but in different colors.For the border I'm planning a narrow strip of sashiko with a narrow strip of the patterned fabric on each side. Then a piec of the dark blue. In the corners I will use a different kind of sashiko design. The center of the pieced blocks looked a little dull.Then I remembered that on one of our trips to the Mandarin Restaurant during the Chinese New Year, we each got a big coin. I rummaged through my beads/coins and found 6 of them. Not enough. Yesterday I phoned the restaurant in Kitchener and told them about my project. I was told to come in next time I'm in town and I can get all I need. How about that!Then the next step will be to find a way to attach them to the fabric, but I'm not at that stage yet. In a few days my itinerary will be updated. I will let you know, when that happens. One of the workshops will be here at my house and there are a few spaces left. What: Sashiko for beginners (kit will be supplied) When Saturday, September 25 from 9.30 to 3.30 Where: at my house near Moorefield Interested? You can email me at helmuth@golden.net The next step will be to update my quilts on my blog. While sorting through my quilts I discovered that I could not find a picture of my bird quilt. With the help of dear hubby I took a few new pictures. Here is a close-up of the bluejay. For some reason I liked that bird, maybe because it was hard to get the coloring right?

Older yet

Last Friday we went to the Waterloo County Steam Threshers Reunion. It was close to us and since it was a beautiful day with not too many urgent tasks at hand we decided to go later in the afternoon. A few weeks ago I showed you the old tractors and threshing machines. Here we had 2 steam engines, more than a 100 years old. Both were working.It took a few guys to keep them running with all the wood and water , that was needed. The front one was hooked to a threshing machine. But that was not all. There were lots of old tractors of all colors Inside the big tent I found these Old Order Mennonite ladies quilting. This quilt had pictures of grey tractors on it and would be sold next year. This year's quilt had blue tractors on it and was sold at the end of the auction. It sold for $400 After a tour of all the machinery it was time to eat and eating we did. Not all was healthy, but it tasted great. Early in the evening there was an auction of donated articles and Hubby came home with another J.D toy to add to his collection. All the proceeds of this Reunion will go to the Mennonite Central Committee and the Gospel Echo Prison Ministry. Later in the evening there was a concert by the Gospel Echo group and other local groups, followed by a corn roast. While sitting on the bleachers I saw these girls in their pretty dresses. They are what we call Mexican Mennonites. This group of Mennonites moved early in the last century from Manitoba to Mexico. But since conditions there are very poor they have been coming back to Canada, mostly to Ontario. The women and girls are very recognizable by the bright floral dresses both are wearing. And if you look very close you can see all the pleats. The whole skirt is pleated. I do not know, how it is done, but I was told once that they make the pleats and then put the skirt part in the oven to bake. Never could find out if that is true. These girls were not very interested in the auction, so it did not take long for dad to take them somewhere else. In the spring I saw a beautiful butterfly. I asked Laurence to keep it on the flower, while I got my camera. Well, no luck. He let it fly away. But this week I had more luck. I saw this butterfly on one of my dahlia's and ran in the house to get my camera. And it was still there when I came back. Just this one picture, that's all the time I had. As I said last week. If I have nothing quiltery going on, I start making cards and that did the trick again. I'm working on something new, but have not enough finished to show just yet. Next week I should have something to show.

Selvages

What to do ,when the creative well has dried up? Get out the box of selvages and start making post cards. Most of my fabric is neatly folded in boxes, but I like my selvages all together in a big mess. Then when I need some, I feel like I'm on a treasure hunt. I have collected selvages for quite a few years and now I'm getting more from friends. Next came the box with workshop samples. Each time I teach a workshop, where we make flowers out of wired ribbon, I come home with more samples. These also go in a box. And this box is also overflowing.These 3 cards are the result. I use WonderUnder to put it all together, plus some machine work. Come to think of it, I wonder if there are blue pansies. But that was the only color I had 3 of. Next up was the making of a Christmas Card. Yes, you read it right, a Christmas card. Each year I make 10 to 12 cards. I have done this for years and I have never kept one for myself. After all these years it is harder to come up with a new idea, so when something popped up in my mind, I decided to try it out right away. It has to be doable in not too much time. I had all I needed on hand and managed to make one in the time I allowed myself. Now the finished card and supplies are in a box and will be used on a rainy day. Last year I made cards with a kimono ( to let everybody know how happy I was to go to Japand in January) And I did not keep a card. This small kimono was left over from my last project, see last week, and I made myself this card. This one I will keep! It is too large to send away anyway. We have had a busy week. Last Thursday we picked Shawn and Emily up at the airport. They came to Ontario for the very sudden funeral of Emily's best friend's father. The visitation was on the farm and afterwards we drove up north to near Algonquin Park to stay a few days with friends. We have done this for years and always had good weather. This time I can describe it in 2 words: IT RAINED!

Most of our plans included being outside and had to be changed. We did manage to walk a short trail ,that was just completed. And when we came home on Monday afternoon we discovered , that not one drop of rain had fallen here at home.Next time it will be winter camping in the bush, at least if I can convince Laurence.

On our way home I stopped at the quilt store in Cookstown and found one more piece of corn fabric. I will need a few more, before I can start on my "corn" quilt.

Finially finished

Nothing like being a little on the late side! For our guild show last year the challenge was to make a small wall hanging using a synonym. I came up with this idea, but found out that it was not really a synonym, more of a saying. I put it away and made another quilt. But I never like to leave things unfinished, so a few weeks ago, with nothing better to do, I picked it up again. There are 4 small, folded kimono's in the center. The saying is as follows: something old (top left, made with a piece of vintage Japanese fabric) something new (top right, made out of fabric I just bought) something borrowed ( bottom left, this is the first folded kimono I saw. I received it from my friend Janet from England years ago and I have borrowed it for this quilt) something blue ( bottom right, made out of a blue oriental fabric) The circles are out of a old piece of oriental fabric appliqued on the blue background. The sashiko designs are done by hand. The quilt is machine quilted. And this time I even put a label on the back right away. Most of my quilts still do not have a label, but I promised myself to do better in the future. For years I have tried to grow dahlia's and most of the time they do not get very big and are full of bugs and holes. My aim was always to get one that is dinner plate size. And this year I managed that. The white one in the center is as big as a , smaller size, dinner plate. This afternoon I will cut some of these to take to my mother-in-law. She loves flowers and used to grow all kinds. Now that she is in a retirement home she really misses that. The next best thing is to bring her flowers from my garden.

More farming stuff, just once more

Our wheat harvest was done on Friday afternoon and that made it possible for us to go to the yearly meeting of the "other" antique John Deere" group on the province on Saturday. Here they have some of the machinery working, what really appeals to Laurence. He knew, that there would be a few old combines at work. After some last minutes repairs the 7 combines were all in the field. While I was asked to take some pictures Laurence took a ride on the second combine. With the clouds in the sky and the sunny weather it made for some good picture weather. I was quite impressed with the line-up of these combines, till the next morning. Laurence told me, that I should see what he had found on the Internet. Now that was impressive! The previous day 200 combines harvested wheat, all at the same time, to set a new Guiness Book Record. It happened near Winkler, Manitoba and you can see them in action and learn more about the charity it is for at www.harvestforkids.com. And yes, it is very impressive. If we would have been closer Laurence would have gone, even if he had to drive a few hours. On Sunday evening we went to the Dettweiler Meeting House. This is the oldest, stone church in Waterloo County. It was build in 1855 and has been restored as it was in that era. The small part in the back was added and has washrooms. There is only hydro in that part. Once you go inside, it is as if you were back in the 1800's. Benches all around an old wood stove. At that time the women would sit on one side, the men on the other. The wooden planks coming down from the ceiling have knobs on which to hang your hat. Maybe you have noticed the keyboard on the left. There is no hydro in this part (notice also the lack of light fixtures ) There seem to be a few outlets behind the pulpit. And there is no air conditioning, something we could have used that evening. Even with all the windows wide open it stayed very warm and humid. But the singing was great! I'm almost finished with the quilting on a piece and I hope to have it completely done by next week. This here is an upcoming project. The seedbag Laurence found at an antique mall in Ohio. What was interesting for us was, that the previous night we had stayed at a b and b ,where we saw the same bag. The hostess was the grand daughter of the Yoder, who owned this company. Laurence's orders for me are, that I cannot cut the bag up in pieces. On the right are a few pieces of feed sack fabric. In front are logo's I have cut of Laurence's hats over the years. Right now you cannot do that anymore, because the logo's are embroidered right on the hat. How it will all go together, I have no clue, but I will come up with something.

Not a good day, at least at the start

Yesterday I had to get something at the home farm and while there the young couple, who rent the house offered me a bag of cucumbers. In the winter they had asked Laurence for a patch of ground to have a garden and Laurence had worked up a patch. Now they discovered , that after a week's holidays things had grown more then expected. It was just last Sunday ,that Jenny mentioned, that all the cucumber relish was gone. When we moved a few years ago I had decided not to do any canning and I got rid of my jars and my, mostly too old anyway, spices. Now things have changed and I'am planning to can, besides applesauce, peaches and tomatoes, relish and pickles. So this meant a trip to town to get new spices and some supplies. And since I threw out my old recipes, I also had to look for a new one. Everything was cut up last night, all ready to go first thing this morning. The relish was cooked and bottled. Then when I had a sample, it did not tast like it should. Something had gone wrong.Anyway, this is the first time in almost 40 years, that I could not use my relish. So I will ask for my old recipe from my friend Pat and try it next week again. I was told that there are an over abundance of cucumbers where these came from. So not a good start of my day. Then I tried some machine quilting and could not make that go. I gave up at that point and went to the garden, where I found this lily. I had totally forgotten ,that I had planted it in between some bushes. I bought it for Easter last year and once it quit blooming I had taken it outside. Now that was a nice surprise. And Another pair of socks. The pattern is out of Sock Innovation by Cookie A. Yarn by Socks that rock. A somewhat boring pattern in a very boring color. I was glad, when I was finished. Now it is on to a more challenging pair. The crazy quilt is still on my wall and that's where it will stay for a few weeks, till I have figured out, how to put it together. So far I'm pleased that it all went together.I have made up my mind, that this is more a project for colder days. This afternoon I got another quilt top out. This one I started for our guild challenge last year. Once I found out, that it did not really fit the criteria, I forgot about it. And oh wonders, this time I could get my machine to work. For some reason machine quilting is hard for me. I seem to get really tense and end up with very sore shoulders and back. But so far so good. Later in the afternoon I helped Laurence with bringing the large round straw bales out of the field to the barn. Just like the threshing I talked about last week, this also is much easier. No more handling small bales up in a hot barn! Now it is all done from a tractor seat. Only 2 small fields of spring wheat to combine and this part of the harvest is finished. This has been a great year with a good yield and a great price. It is not often, that you get both. Usually it is one of the other, or both are way down.

Just now a truck drove in and I received another bag of freshly picked cucumbers and green peppers. These were the left over from todays harvest after they had cut up enough for 2 batches of bread and butter pickles. Now this time it will be done right!!

Threshing

Last week at the Amish auction, there were a few acres of old, mostly horse drawn equipment for sale, including these big machines. Can you guess, what they are? Yesterday it came all back to me. It was the yearly Antique John Deere tractor show in Drayton and while we were there one of there threshing machine was in action and I remember how noisy, dirty and dusty it used to be. When we took over from Laurence's father there was one of these old machines up in the barn. I grew up on a dairy farm in Holland, but since we only grew hay I had never been involved with the grain harvest. I was about to get educated. A few weeks after we took over, this machine came out of the barn and was put on the barn hill. The tractor was hooked up with a long belt and this belt turned all the parts in the machine. The long spout blew the straw back to the straw shed and the auger delivered the grain to the grain bin. It was hot and dusty and it took a lot of know-how to keep it all running.After a few years we sold the treshing machine and bought a small combine. This was much better and since then each combine has been bigger and faster and with a.c! We had rain again on Friday and Saturday and Laurence was sure, that the grain was still too wet to start this year's harvest today. But one of our neighbours showed up with a sample and he wanted him to come over right away. 5 minutes later he was gone and he is still combining. The weather for the coming days looks promising, except for Wednesday. With any luck the showers will miss us. I have been busy making apple sauce. We have a large harvest apple tree on the farm. Every other year there is an abundance of apples. This was the off year, but there was enough for everybody. These are the jars, the rest went in the freezer. It looks like a lot, but come next year ,it's all gone. The border has been sewn down on the quilt and I'm in the process of sewing the lace on both sides. I can see the end nearing and it is getting time. I'm just getting slightly tired of the whole thing.

Another busy week

It started on Thursday evening with the Listowel Fair parade. We like to go and watch, since it is a good size parade for the size of town. But this year the weather would not co-operate. Right in the middle of the parade it started to rain, then to pour. But the parade went on! Friday after noon Laurence decided, that we had not seen a play at the Theatre in Blyth and since there were still tickets available we spend an enjoyable evening at the theatre. This brings us to Saturday, the day of the Amish Parochial School Auction. I love going to this sale and each year it is bigger and better. The money raised will be used for their schools. Each year it is on a different farm. This year it was not as close as we are used to, so it took some time to find the place. But once you are close you cannot miss it. It is a good place to meet friends and neighbours. First thing we got was our bidding number. Just to show you how busy it was, we were there by 9 o'clock and we were number 1590.After that Laurence and I split, since we are not interested in the same things. I looked in a few of the tents and watched the local Bernina dealer, quite conservative , trying to sell one of the latest and most expensive embroidery machines to the lady on the right. There was quite a conversation going on. I did not stay around long enough to find out if she made the sale. Next stop was the "Baked Goods" tent. Besides all kind of baking and home made donuts there were hundreds of pies. It was not uncommon to see people walk away with 6,8 or more pies. I guess they freeze alright. It was getting time to walk over to the quilt tent. The first few years, the quilts were sold right outside on a hay wagon, but the last few years there has been a tent. The hay wagon is still there.This year there were 120 quilts, from crib size to king size. This quilt was one of my favorites and brought $700. Most of the quilts are consigned, but at the end of the sale there are quilts that have been donated by the different school districts. The top went for about $700 to $800, but most large quilts sold in the $350 to $500 range. I would have loved to get one, but either the colors or the design did not work for me. I did not last the whole sale. I have never been that hot!. There was a breeze, but only outside. After a lunch of a hamburger, pie and icecream ( you don't think of nutrition) it was time to watch the horse sale. This year there were about 200 horses and ponies. When I came closer I saw this black horse's head, what looked to me like a Frisian. But since there are only a few hunded in the whole country, that was very unlikely. But no, it was a FRISIAN! It was a 5 year old stallion by the name of Piper. He was not there to be sold, but just for show. Later I talked to the owner, who had bought him not that long ago and hoped to use him for breeding purposes. Seeing that horse made my day! By that time Laurence had more than enough and he wanted to go home. That evening he went to the tracor pull in Listowel . I stayed home with the excuse that I had to get food ready for our yearly Sunday School Picnic the next day. You see all these activities and some more beside, took care of most of the week. At times I feel like we are in the tropics right now. The weather is hot and it seems that every few days we have rain or a thunder storm. Laurence is more than ready to start combining the wheat, but it has not been possible. I have a few more pictures, but for some reason I can only upload 4 at a time. The rest will come in a few days.

Pieces of the puzzle

Finally I'm back in the garden. Even pulling weeds feels good. And there are a lot of weeds. I try to take my time and slowly do a little more each day. The flower beds in front of the house look good with lots color. Around the house there are a few empty spots. Today I bought enough plants to fill those spots with some new perennials. The Zehrs store in town is closing its garden center in a few days, so everything was 50% off. I love taking pictures of flowers and bugs. Just now missed out on a butterfly. I was on the phone and by the time I was done, the butterfly had taken off. Another 14 seam treatments and they are all done. It is hard to come up with something new, so there will be a few repeats in there. At the bottom I want to put this picture of my parents in their Frisian costume.I have a few more pictures I can use, but that will depend on how it all comes together. To finish I needed a background for the border. I wanted black velvet, but had no idea where to get some. Friend Elizabeth to the rescue. She mentioned a good quality velvet by the name of DeBall. I had to do some searching, but found out, that it is used in Scottish costumes. So a call to friend Judy, who is involved with a Scottish festival. From her I got an address in Hamilton. I was lucky. They had some in lay-away, but could spare me one metre. Two days later it was delivered. Now to the lace Next week I will show how I want to put it all together, but I would need at least 10 meters of lace, 1/2 inch wide and preferable old. Here friend Lois came to the rescue. When I told her what I'm looking for she mentioned, that she and her husband were going to Northern Michigan for a few days. They love to go hunting for antiques, so she would keep an eye out for lace. A few days later I got a call. She had found an antique store, that specializes in laces. There she found this card with over 15 meters, never used. It was still on the card. When new it had sold for 10ct a yard. That was the last piece of the puzzle! I figure that by the end of the week the seams are finished and I can start to put some flowers or charms on the block with empty space. It well certainly is nice to have good friends!

Heat wave

The last few days have been hot,hot,hot. But I was told it is good growing weather. Laurence has this saying of " corn knee-high by the first of July" If the corn is that high it usually means, that we get a crop. The first picture was taken mid June. We have had a lot of rain ,way to much really, during June, but that small field beside the house did well, as you can see. It is knee high. Now let's go to the next picture. That one is taken on July first. You can barely see Laurence 's head behind the corn stalks. And no, I did not sit down on the job.It was taken straight from the edge of the field. Now I have to admit, that not all of our corn is this tall. And our white beans and soybeans have a tougher time. The wheat is coming on fast. Laurence is all in a panic and he has the combine all apart for " preventive maintenance". Last week was a week I rather forget. I found out, that if you are told to take it easy after surgery, you better listen. I seem to have a hard time doing that ,so I had to slow down again. Besides that I had a nasty intestinal bug. Between the two of them I rather forget the week. But I'm on the mend and back to some applique. This morning I gave myself 5 minutes in the garden, pulling some weeds. So far so good. Despite my lack of care the flowers are doing well. My pots look colorfull and seem to be doing well, as long as they get some water in time. I'm lucky to have a hose long enough to get most watering done. I'm still plodding away with my crazy patches. By now 2/3 of the border has been covered. I even managed to get 16 yards of lace for the border. Or not me, a friend ,who loves to go to antique stores found it for me in Northen Michigan. Can't pick it up just yet, since she is on holidays. So it seems that I have everything to pull it all together. All it will take from now is time. And with this weather it is no hardship to sit in a cool room.