Back.....again

There have been a few problems with my web site, so it was gone for a few days. But all seems to be back to normal. At the beginning of September I gave a workshop in Orangeville for the Dufferin Piecemakers Quilters Guild.We had a big group of 20, each making their own small landscape. Last Saturday I was back for a second workshop and four ladies showed me their finished landscape. Here you can see Janet, Beckie, Marilyn and Doreen with their projects. Great work! I also took pictures of the individual pieces, but they were too blurry. I better start using a tripod for something that small or get a steadier hand. We have been busy around here.My mother-in-law will move next week to a retirement place in town and her house has been sold,so now we have to get ready for the auction on October 9th. And then there is the harvest. The weather has not co-operated the last few weeks. The soybeans are ready, but we need some warm, sunny days. My plans for the farm quilt have been side tracked. I need to come up with another 2 days workshop. I'm working on that first, but do not have enough ready to show you. I should have more by next week.

Hania State

I grew up on a farm in the north of the Netherlands, in the prvince of Friesland. We lived on an old farm with a kitchen full of old blue tiles. It was a great place for a kid to grow up. The name of Hania State is very old. State means from old a fortified farm and it must have belonged at some point to the Hania family. Around part of the yard was a wide ditch( not on the side you can see on this picture),beside that was a narrow strip of land with another ditch on the other side. On both sides of the 10 meter wide strip were magestic old trees. We were told, that is was a remainder of an old moat. No matter what, it was a great place to play.Over the years I always wanted to make a quilt with the old farm on it, but I never found the time. I also did not have any good pictures, since growing up vere few pictures were taken. But my mother to the rescue. On one of my visits she gave me this advertizing. Where it came from and who took the picture is not known. It is an advertisement for cleanig products and is over 50 years old. But still no colors. Years ago I received this painted milk can as a gift. I took it home full of knitting yarn. I can still feel my back!!!On the front is a painting of the farm. The rest is done in the style of Hindelopen,the town where where my mother grew up. And here is the beginning of my attempt. I drew the farm and had it enlarged. I have copied it onto freezer paper and colored it just a bit. Now I have to decide. Do it all by hand, even the small windows, which will take forever or use some fusing. I know what I like to do, but with everything going on I do not feel I have the time. My mother's 90th birthday is in January and I would like to have something for her to see.

Basket quilt

No,this quilt has not been made by me. This is the latest quilt by my 85 year old mother-in-law.It measures about 50 by 50 inches. The center consists of small squares, 5/8 of an inch before seam allowance. How about that for eye sight at that age. Hilda sewed all the squares together by hand, first 10 in a row and then 10 rows together. Later these small squares were sewn together into long strips. Finally those long strips were sewn together.. Once the border was in place and marked she stuffed some of the flowers in the borders after which she quilted it by hand. It is from my mother-in-law that I learned about quilts. The first time I saw a quilting frame was in her "front"room. When we took over the dairyfarm, grandpa and her moved to the new house build at the corner of the farm. That was over 32 years ago. Ove the years she has helped me with countless projects. We each had our favorite part, for her quilting for me applique and (sometimes)piecing. But that is about to change. Grandma decided that it is time to move to a place where there is more help available. So....we are busy taking her around to see places, trying to set up an auction and trying to sell her house. So you see there is not much time for anything quilt related. It also does not help that I ordered a bushel of peaches. Each year I forget how many peaches there are in a bushel, but most have been canned or made into jam by now. So if this blog does not get updated for a few weeks, you know the reason.

New card

We have been invited to a wedding this coming week-end and I wanted to make a fabric card.First I looked around for the largest envelope I could find, in this case a 6 by 9 inch one and a smaller evelope to stuff something in.Once this far I found a left-over rose from last week's project and I was on my way. The background and leaves are machine quilted on a piece of thick quilt bat. Now how to fasten the small envelope under the rose? First I tacked the top halve of the rose down by hand. The next step was to find a small piece of Velcro. One side is sewn to the back of the rose, the other side to the background of the card. One problem solved. Next I glued another piece of Velcro to the back of the small envelope. It is easy to attach the envelope. Loosen the bottom part of the rose, stick the evelope under the rose and the Velcro will hold it in place. Instead of a binding I used a zigzag stitch around the outside.

Roses

This week I made this small quilt for my, almost, 90 year old mother in Holland. This is the third one in the series and is meant for the summer.I used some off white wired ribbon for the 3D roses. I painted the ribbon with Seta Colors I had on hand.One side is yellow, the other side has some red along the edge. The black and white checkered fabric I put in some left-over dye and it came out this lovely green. I wished I had used the whole meter, instead of a fat quarter. The border is another piece of fabric that I dyed last week. Now I have to find some time to machine quilt it. Then a quick trip to the post office and it will be on its way. I'm thinking of some maple leaves for the fall quilt. But this is August and I forgot how busy we are in good weather. The wheat has been combined here and at the neighbours and the straw is in the barn. I even helped this afternoon driving the tractor, so the job would be done before supper. And then there is the big tree with harvest apples. That means making apple sauce for the freezer.And the(early) sweet corn! We like to take the easy route, so we plant our sweet corn at the outside of one of the fields with a six-row corn planter. The corn is planted in no time, but if we win the yearly battle with the raccoons we have lots of corn, more than we can use. So dear friend Pat came over today and left with a car load and more friends have been contacted. And this is the early variety.....there is more to come.

Canadian Foodgrains Bank

On Saturday morning we went for a quick visit to the farm of Eunice and John Bosomworth near Ayton. They had an "open house" with the proceeds going to the Canadian Foodgrains Bank (www.foodgrainsbank.com).In 1983 a group of churches started this foodgrains bank, so farmers could donate part of their crops for relief. Later the urban churches got involved. Often they would rent a field, pay for the inputs and donate the crops.With the low grain prices a group of churches in the area of Hanover tried something different. They asked if the Bosomworths would be willing to show their extensive collection of (mostly) John Deere tractors and implements and their Norwegian Fjorden Horses. So you can see there was something for both of us. The day was hot and sunny and when we got there the field was already full of parked cars. The horses were very friendly and quiet and took all the business in stride. The collection of tractors was amazing. We had to go from shed to shed. Too bad that the light inside was not very good for taking pictures. And ....it was very hot. We could not stay as long as we wanted. By noon the wheat was dry enough to start combining. Now we are glad we did not waste any time. After a few very hot and humid days we got rain and more rain. We did get our crop of, but only halve of our neighbour's. But it looks promising, the forecast predicts 4 or 5 sunny days. By next week I hope to have a picture of a new landscape. And I hope to get some help in doing a better job with this blog.

Play time before harvest time

Just in case you wonder what my husband is up to while I'm doing quilt related things I have some pictures for you here. For years he has been interested in antique John Deere tractors. Ove the years he bought different ones, some all restored and some in very rough shape. One cost $150 to buy, but an awfull lot more to fix up.Some he likes to use for the small jobs around the farm.So while I was trying to dye fabric last week, he got ready to take some tractors to the yearly show in Drayton, about a 15 minute drive from here.Back to the fabric. I have dyed some fabric before, but never had the idea that I knew what I was doing. So after this dye session I signed up for the Basic Dyeing Workshop at the Quilt University(www.QuiltUniveristy.com). It is a 4 week course and I just finished lesson 3. And I'm learing a lot I will show pictures after the last lesson is done. Laurence usually uses the "new" tractor with the trailer to haul the tractors, including a bulldozer, so he can leave everyting in town. That way the truck is still available. The first job is to wash and polish the tractors. Once at the fair grounds each tractor has its place. This year it was the "Year of the A", so ours was in a line-up with similar tractors. It is a fun week-end, even for me, more of a horse person than a tractor person. But now it is back to work. Yesterday we started the wheat harvest. So far the weather is cooperating, but the sky looks threatening. This also means, that a big part of the summer is over.

Play time before harvest time

Just in case you wonder what my husband is up to while I'm doing quilt related things I have some pictures for you here. For years he has been interested in antique John Deere tractors. Ove the years he bought different ones, some all restored and some in very rough shape. One cost $150 to buy, but an awfull lot more to fix up.Some he likes to use for the small jobs around the farm.So while I was trying to dye fabric last week, he got ready to take some tractors to the yearly show in Drayton, about a 15 minute drive from here.Back to the fabric. I have dyed some fabric before, but never had the idea that I knew what I was doing. So after this dye session I signed up for the Basic Dyeing Workshop at the Quilt University(www.QuiltUniveristy.com). It is a 4 week course and I just finished lesson 3. And I'm learing a lot I will show pictures after the last lesson is done. Laurence usually uses the "new" tractor with the trailer to haul the tractors, including a bulldozer, so he can leave everyting in town. That way the truck is still available. The first job is to wash and polish the tractors. Once at the fair grounds each tractor has its place. This year it was the "Year of the A", so ours was in a line-up with similar tractors. It is a fun week-end, even for me, more of a horse person than a tractor person. But now it is back to work. Yesterday we started the wheat harvest. So far the weather is cooperating, but the sky looks threatening. This also means, that a big part of the summer is over.

Annual Amish Parochial School Auction

On Saturday my husband and I went to the 11th annual Amish Parochial School Auction. I have been to most of them and each year it gets bigger. The auction is held to raise funds for the Amish schools in our area. Each year it is on the farm of another member. It looks to me that there is an awfull lot of work involved. First of all parking, one place for the cars and trucks, another for the horses and buggies. The main auction is in a big field. You name it, you can buy it, from old agricultural implements to childern's wagons to old milk cans and I can go on. In another corner they sell horse related equipment and gear.One tent has all new furniture, another huge tent sells food.Most items are sold on consignment.This is all going on with 6 auctioneers working at the same time.And then there is the quilt tent. Each year about 100 quilts are sold,mostly small wall hangings or queen size quilts. One thing is a shame......the price. A nice, hand quilted, quilt will bring about $400CAn, good if you are a buyer, not so good if you want to make money. And then there is the horse auction. About 250 horses and ponies are sold. This also takes a big field, for the trucks and trailers as well as the wagons to which the horses are tied. At least this year the auction ring had a fence around it. Horses sold ran the gamut from Belgians, to drivers to riding horses. And then there was the miniature donkey, that ended up at the daughter of friends. Young boys have fun riding their ponies around before they are sold. And at the end of the day, what is better than buying a few pies, in our case for the freezer, though we did have a taste at the sale. And what did we come home with? Laurence found a 4 row corn planter in very good shape for $70 and he could not let it go. I could not understand, since we sold one like it, quite a few years ago, because it was "behind the times". I guess he felt nostalgic.I came home with a tree and a scrub. It was a great day. I will be back next year( it helps that it is only 10 minute drive from here)

Bed quilt

At the guild meeting in May we received instructions for making 2 pieced blocks.These blocks were due in June and would be put together and form the quilt for our raffle in 2007. Although not a hard pattern I had problems getting the blocks the right size. So....I decided that I needed some piecing experience. Since the quilt on our bed is about 15 years old and an ugly brown( but still in very good shape), it was time to piece another from scraps that I had on hand. This double nine patch is the result.The piecing is still not great, but it is getting better. Yesterday I took it in to Creative Sisters in Waterloo to have it machine quilted. The wall hanging was started in a workshop by Loraine Roy. It was all done with small cut up pieces of fabric, sprinkled on a background with netting over top to hold it in place. I enjoyed this part, but had trouble when it came to the machine quilting. I don't know how many needles I broke, so part way finished I gave up and put it aside. A year later I found it again and ,with more broken needles, I quilted the rest. Today is a rainy day here in Ontario.But did we ever need the rain! Hubby left early this morning to help with an agricultural meeting, so this was the day to try and dye some fabric. I'm a novice and make lots of mistakes. At times I get more on myself then on the fabric. Right now it is all curing in little baggies. In a few hours we will see if the end results are worth all the work. If it works out I will show a picture of the results next week.

Guild meeting

Last Wednesday was our annual meeting for the WaterlooCounty Quilters Guild. Other years the turn-out is low, but this year it was different. Lots of members and a full program.And of course....the lunch after the program was delicious, as usualOver the years I have had a lot of problems with my back and shoulders Jan and Pat showed in a very humorous way, how doing some carefull choosen exercises can help.I have tried a few of them and indeed ,it helps. Now I will have to remember to do them and .....take the time.I always like to get going on whatever I have in mind, but I might feel better later if I would have taken the time to limber up. During show and tell 5 proud members showed of their finished or almost finished pansy wall hanging, that I had been teaching in April.It is always fun to see how they all look so different. The ladies did a very good job.

Farm sign

For a few days we had computer problems. We tried to fix it ourselves, but seemed to lack the necessary skills, so we had to take it into town. But it is working again. A few things were added and changed and it will take a while for me to catch on to it all. We always have liked the wooden farm signs made by Brenda at www.brenwoodsigns.com.About 15 years ago, when she had not been in business too long, we decided to let her make a sign for our farm. It had to include the farm name and an old John Deere tractor. The 60 on the sign was the first antique tractor my husband bought. At that time I made wheat weavings, using our own wheat, so a few stalks were added. We made room for some scrubs and for quite a few years it looked very good. Slowly the scrubs took over and the sign faded, so last year we took it down. While Brenda repainted the sign we took all the scrubs out with tractor and loader and added some topsoil.Last fall I planted lots of daffodils and transplanted hosta's from around the house. This will be the year for them to show their stuff. If not up to snuf they will come out. Friend of ours, www.floralandhardy.ca, live close by. They have thousands of hosta's in all shapes and sizes for sale and it is almost too easy to go and get some. With all this nice weather it seems that quilting is on the back burner for the time being. I'm working on a pieced bed quilt,but there is not enough done to show you.

Summer

It must be summer. On my daily walk with the dog we met a tractor with a load of fresly baled hay.For me that is the smell of summer. What I do not miss is the work involved.Now that the dairy cows are gone, there is no more mowing, raking, baling and slugging the bales into the haymow. It always seemed to be very hot. What I do miss is the smell of the hay though! Last fall I gave 2 workshops at the guild in Sarnia.While there I was asked if I would consider judging their challenge at a later date. 3 weeks ago a carload of ladies dropped the quilts of and last week they were picked up again. The job was not easy, because ther were a lot of good quilts. 2 of the ladies brought their finished wall hangings along.It is always exciting for me to see. Here Norma Garder is showing her master piece. I do not have many roses. They are too much work and I'm not very succesfull with them. Now scrub roses. That's different. I have 3 varieties of the Explorer Series. All are hardy for our zone 5. And they have gone through some very cold winters. I neve bother to cut them back. Somethimes the rabbits do that for me, but they bloom regardless. Loraine Shaw and her sunflower wallhanging. Both ladies made their own border design. Keep up the good work. This row started with one small rosebush.It seems that a branch will bend down and eventually root. I keep digging these small bushes up and re-plant them .Right now I have another one in a pot ready to find a new home at Jeanette's.

Cows in the meadow

A few months ago I spotted an interesting piece of fabric with cows and chickens in one of my workshops. The owner gave me a small piece and she asked me to try and use it in a small landscape.This small scrap had been on my design wall for a while and yesterday I had the time to play with it.I found enough other fabrics that blended in and this is the result. The oval is 6 by 9 inches.The border is a fabric that goes from light to dark across. By cutting selectively I got the look I wanted. The border is dark at the bottom and lighter at the top. It is not finished yet. I like to applique a piece of old fence on the right and embroider a few stalks of sunflowers behind it. But that will have to wait till a rainy day. I will finish it with some machine quilting and a dark binding.

Mennonite Relief

On Friday evening my husband and I went to the New Hamburg arena to see the quilts. For quite a few years, that was all that there was to do, but more people came out each year, so more activities were added over the last few years. First we had some of each of the 4 food groups, sausage on a bun, French fries, pie and icecream. Duly fortified we walked to the arena.The quilts are hanging on racks, covered with plastic. As you can see, that was necessary. A lot of people could not help themselves and had to touch the different fabrics in the quilt.Right before the quilt is sold, the plastic will come of. The pictures I took inside the arena did not turn out very well. My digital camera is just not good enough.Our quilt A Bird's Eye View is ready to be sold. 2 mattresses have been bolted on a revolving frame and the quilts are displayed on one of the mattresses. While one is sold, a new one is draped over the other side.This was the time we had waited for. Would it all be worthwhile? It was! The quilt, this year's feature, sold for the top price of $11.100 to Carl Hiebert. It were Carl's aerial photographes we had interpreted on the quilt. What an ending of a great project. Right after the sale Carl left for Vancouver. As I enter this he is driving on an old tractor across Canada, stopping along the way to take pictures and to talk to Canadian farmers.He plans to put it all in his new book. A view of the narrow rows with the plastic covered quilts.In total 286 quilts were sold, from crib quilts to king size quilts.Those quils totalled $187.245. If you combine this with the food, craft, other auctions and plant sale, the event raised more than $380.000. This is the highest over the 40 years. Finally I leave you with another picture of the sale. Behind the quilt to be auctioned, you can see the quilt made for the 35th anniversary. A group of local businessmen bought this quilt and donated it back to the committee.Since that time this quilt is hung behind the platform during the sale.

Quilt Festival

For the last week we have had visitors from out west. My mother-in-law will turn 85 later this year and this was the time it suited everybody to come home. It was a busy, but enjoyable time. It is from Hilda Mae that I learned about quilts and over the years she has been a big help.This is also the week of the Waterloo County Quilt Fest and I managed yesterday to see the shows at the RIM Park in Waterloo. This is the first year that most of the shows are under one roof and it will be interesting to see how it will work. One small exhibit was of some of the quilts that Bruce Menary from the Len's Mils Stores has bought over the years at the Mennonite Relief Sale. I organized 2 of the quilts. Both quilts were made by members of the Waterloo Couty Quilters Guild and the Listowel Mennonite Church. The "big" one was sold in 2000 (after getting and honorable mention in the group category in Houston) and brought up $16.000. This is the "little" sister and it was sold in 1999. It was also the top selling quilt and brought $7500. Both quilts have been exibited over the years and still look very good. One of the special exibits was a group of quilts from the province of Alberta. Each year a different province is highlighted. There were some beautiful quilts in the group. Another highlight was the exibit by a group of 10 male quilters. In total there were over 30 quilts. This picture shows the intrance to the group of quilts by Jim Willard. Tomorrow will be the 40th Mennonite Relief Sale in New Hamburg. Between 250 and 300 quilt will be auctioned of, from small crib quilts to extra large bed quilts. The sale starts around 8 and the quilts are only part of the day. There will be a lot of good food and lots of other things to do. The feature quilt, A Bird's Eye View, will be auctioned at 12.30. Later more on this quilt.

Quilt Festival

For the last week we have had visitors from out west. My mother-in-law will turn 85 later this year and this was the time it suited everybody to come home. It was a busy, but enjoyable time. It is from Hilda Mae that I learned about quilts and over the years she has been a big help.This is also the week of the Waterloo County Quilt Fest and I managed yesterday to see the shows at the RIM Park in Waterloo. This is the first year that most of the shows are under one roof and it will be interesting to see how it will work. One small exhibit was of some of the quilts that Bruce Menary from the Len's Mils Stores has bought over the years at the Mennonite Relief Sale. I organized 2 of the quilts. Both quilts were made by members of the Waterloo Couty Quilters Guild and the Listowel Mennonite Church. The "big" one was sold in 2000 (after getting and honorable mention in the group category in Houston) and brought up $16.000. This is the "little" sister and it was sold in 1999. It was also the top selling quilt and brought $7500. Both quilts have been exibited over the years and still look very good. One of the special exibits was a group of quilts from the province of Alberta. Each year a different province is highlighted. There were some beautiful quilts in the group. Another highlight was the exibit by a group of 10 male quilters. In total there were over 30 quilts. This picture shows the intrance to the group of quilts by Jim Willard. Tomorrow will be the 40th Mennonite Relief Sale in New Hamburg. Between 250 and 300 quilt will be auctioned of, from small crib quilts to extra large bed quilts. The sale starts around 8 and the quilts are only part of the day. There will be a lot of good food and lots of other things to do. The feature quilt, A Bird's Eye View, will be auctioned at 12.30. Later more on this quilt.

Cranes

After a day of shopping and a guild meeting I did not have the energy last evening to update this. And besides the weather was beautiful ,so who wants to sit in the house. Today was a different story. Rain all day!. But this meant, that I could work on my applique.This picture shows what was left of my fabric after all 12 cranes were finished. These fabrics were used for the beaks,top of the heads and the legs.The grey was used for the pins in the tailfeathers. And this is the last and biggest crane, still in its working clothes. I will have to add embroidery to set the dark areas off against the dark background. Behind the bird I will applique green weeds, outlined with sashiko. In total I used only 5 different fabrics for all the cranes. This was the main fabric and as you can see I used almost 1 meter. It was the perfect fabric, white with mottled blue and brown areas. By selective cutting the parts I could get the desired effect. But I think 12 cranes will be enough. Time to make another landscape.