Another quilt to make

A week ago our son phoned us. He let us know, that he was engaged and that we could expect a wedding next year. Great news!
It will be here in Ontario and they are busy planning.
That also means for me that I will have to make another quilt. At least I have almost a year to get it done. This is a picture of the quilt I made for Jeanette and Tony. It is called Raspberry Parfait and Jeanette saw the pattern in Quilters Newsletter Magazine.I realized that I have not a good digital picture. I tried to scan one in, but it just did not work for me. This one was taken at their shower at our church with grandma inspecting my work.
Shawn and Emily are trying to come up with something they would like.
Last week I spend a few days at the YMCA Center in Orillia. The Ontario Quilting Connection had their bi-annual conference there.

The classes were small, but we had a lot of fun. Here they are working hard on the sashiko pieces.
And the food......great. It was good for my waistline that I did not stay any longer.
Once home again I worked on the farm and appliqued the field in the front. I did not really like, it, but kept on, just in case more would be better. Of course it did not improve . I put it up on the wall last night with the hope that it would look better this morning, but surprise, it looked just as bad. So out came the ripper and I took it all out, even before doing the chores. Now it will stay on the wall, till I have found a better solution.

Plodding on

Only 50 more pieces to applique and the top is finished. It is getting time, because there are other projects to start.Last winter I taught 2 postcard workshops for my guild and as a result 80 cards were made and send to volunteers from the Mennonite Central Committee all over the world. They were asked to put a stamp on the card and pop it in the mail Yesterday I picked up more cards and 50 have come back. I do hope that a few more will return.
I have a few ideas and as soon the farm is done, I will start on that project.
I'm busy getting ready to go up north for a few days. I will be teaching at the Ontario Quilting Connection in Orillia. I was there once before and I enjoyed it very much.
But right now we have another emergency. I broke the top of the kitchen faucet and we cannot find a new one that will fill the hole. For the time being we can manage with a vice grip attached to the broken end, but it is not very handy.Laurence has gone to town, again, to see what he can come up with.

Back to the farm

Wheat weaving is out of my system for the time being, so it is back to the farm quilt. I'm finished with most of the embroidery. The next step was the trees. The trunks were cut out of one varigated brown batik, a lot of fiddly work, but not hard. But how to do the foliage? Solid fabric would be too much and snippits of fabric just did not do it.
So the next to try was thread painting. I had done a little of that before , but only very small pieces.
I did have a good variety of green threads on hand and I found some water soluble stabilizer. I made a few small samples and it seemed to work.
I drew the outline on the stabilizer and starting with the darkest thread I would fill in the bottom, using a zig-zag stitch and later a straight stitch. By using these 5 colors I got the results I wanted. The small holes will let some of the sky through I hope.
Once finished I cut around each shape and put it in luke warm water for 15 minutes. By that time the stabilizer has disappeared and, after drying, I can use the pieces on the quilt.


Most of these pieces I did today, so I have not had time to put them in the water. That's why some of the stabilizer is still showing.
Next up will be the biggest tree and I will use a few different colors for that one.
The front is not done yet.
There will be a fence, small meadow and a ditch.

Wheat weavings

Last week I showed you a picture of the different kinds of wheat I had picked on our farm. This was the week to make something with the wheat.
I was at Jeanette's for the week-end to look after the cat and dog, so I figured I had lots of time. What I did not figure on was the cat. She wanted to eat, play, scratch in the wheat. And when I pulled her away, she seemed to be mad at me for the rest of the week-end.
I did manage to get a few done though.
Starting on the left, the first is a 5 and a 6 braid out of unbearded wheat, The next is a small 3 braid ( that's all I had), than 2 out of bearded winter wheat both with 6 braids, just put together different.
This one is out of barley. The straw was very fine and it was hard to work with, but the result is very nice with those long "beards"
This one is also with 6 braids.
It will take some tender loving care. One drop on the floor and it will not look nice anymore( don't ask me how I know).
The last 2 are out of spring wheat. These are larger, because the straw was longer.
The one on the left is made with a flat 7 braid, the one on the right is a double "modiford" an old name for a heart shaped weaving. This one is also done with 6 braids.
There is some wheat left, but I have put it away. It is out of my system, so it is back to applique. Next week I should have some more to show.I'm working on the trees around the farm.
The trunks are easy, but I have to decide how to do the foliage. Thread painting might be the way to go, but I do not have much experience with that.

Wheat harvest

Last week-end was very busy. We should have been in 2 places at the same time. First there was the yearly antique tractor show in Drayton. Since we lacked the time, only this J.D A got to go. If you have a good look you can see the roses behind the tractor. They have been blooming for over a month now.
We did go to a wedding in Algonquin Park, a 41/2 hour drive up north from here.
The weather was beautiful and still is.
Once home again we had to get to work. The wheat was ready, so was the c0mbine.
After the dew was gone on Monday morning, Laurence started to combine.By now, Wednesday, he is almost finished at home. He usually does some custom work for neighbours next.
This year the yield and the price is good. Most years it is one or the other.
But that was not all the harvesting that got done.
It must be about 25 years ago ,that I saw a small decoration made out of straw. When an evening course was offered at the local High School I took it. I wanted to know more, but could not find any more information. I knew that it was an old English craft, so I send a letter to the Women's Institute in England. They got me into contact with Janet Brewin, a teacher /judge. She has been a very good friend ever since. And so the journey started. She kept me up to date and send me books. I even managed to go to England twice. Once I made it to the Wheat Gathering of England. Then about 1o years ago I developed more problems with my back and shoulders and it got harder to do. Slowly quilting took over.
But I never totally forgot about wheat weaving( in North America) or corn dollies (England)
I usually gather at least a few handfulls of grain. Here you can see this years crop.
There are 2 different kinds of wheat. Winter wheat is planted in the fall, stays in the ground over the winter and is harvested the next summer. Springwheat is planted in the spring and harvested also during the summer, usually a week or so later.
There are also a lot of varieties. Most noticable are the long "hairs" on some. These are called beards.

So starting from the left we have:
winter wheat, beardless
red winter wheat, bearded
winter wheat, bearded
barley, very long beards ( taken from a neighbour's field. Promised them to make something)
spring wheat, bearded. I cut this before it was ripe. It will keep a soft green tinge.
spring wheat, bearded.
This coming week-end I will be at Jenny's and I have everthing ready to make at least one weaving out of each variety. I hope to show you some results next week.

Apples

This week I was able to work some more on the farm. It is all done by hand, so it is slow going. The applique is done and now I will have to start the embroidery. It is hard to do it from only one picture and my memory. This farm was build on clay and over the years the front part sank down in the clay. This type of farm is called the "body,neck and head" farm In the late 50s, early 60s the neck and head were torn down and a new house was build in the same place. I have lots of pictures of this house, but not of the old. Growing up we did not have a camera, so there are not many pictures. And since I was quite young when this all happened, I really have a tough time remembering. But I do know, that my 90 year old mother in Friesland will keep an eye on me and correct me if necessary. She recently moved to a nursing home and found out that there are volunteers available, who can help her get on the Internet.

We had some more rain in the last week. Enough to be unable to combine the wheat. It does not stop the apples on our harvest apple tree from ripening. The big tree stands between the house and barn and is loaded with apples. I do not like to eat them. For me they are not sweet enough , but they make excellent apple sause, so that will be one off my jobs this week.

We will need only a small part of the apples, so a call will go out to the neighbours. It is" Come and pick your own"

Back to work

A few months ago I had started this landscape of my home farm in Holland. Once I got to the roof I had no idea how to continue, so I put it away. This week it was time to give it another try and up to now everything has worked. To get the idea of the clay roof tiles I sewed with the machine narrow rows of blanket stitch. The piece I used was small, but by cutting very carefull I can get all the pieces out. The next step will be the rest of the barn. Around the farm there will be a lot of trees. The foreground will be grass with a small ditch at the front. And I will have to do a lot of embroidery in the windows and doors to make it come more to life.



I finished the second orchid on my other quilt. The result looks o.k., but I think that to applique 6 more orchids around the center will be too busy. Maybe 2 more in the top corners would do it.
Now I have to start looking for orchids, where the flowers hang down in sprays. Smaller flowers might look better. It is a quiet time around here. Laurence is getting the combine ready and by next week we might be able to do a field of wheat.
We did get the rain, mixed with hail. We were lucky to miss the baseball size stones that fell one concession over. There was a lot of damage with windows breaking and dints in cars.
But things are looking green again and I have to get ready to mow the grass.

Garden improvements

Jeanette and Tony decided a few months ago, that the yard at the back of their house could stand some improvements. One would be to put big rough cut blocks along the outside, fill the space with soil and plant a variety of plants, shrubs and small trees.
Since they live in the Niagara region it was easy for them to go to a local quary and select the limestone blocks. On Tuesday over 13 tonnes were delivered and dumped on the front yard.
Since this is not a one man's job, Laurence was asked to come for the day and run the' rented' Bobcat. I had to come along for the extra jobs, that might pop up and do the driving
Since the way in and out of the yard was 48 inches wide and the Bobcat over 42, it was tough to get the , somethimes,even wider blocks in place.
For a while there was extra help.
But it all worked out and by 6 in the afternoon most of the blocks were in place. The left overs were piled neatly along the front to be used in the future.
Now it is up to the younger generation to do the rest of the work.
After a 15 hour day we were home again.
And we were told ,that in 3 weeks the favor will be returned. I have this bare spot, that needs plants and we need to do a lot of mulching.
Today it is back to normal. I hope to finish some of the orchids I'm appliqueing.

Go West

This is the time of year, when it is quiet on our farm. Time to visit our son in Alberta. We found a beautifull country with the Alberta flower, the wild rose, blooming along the fence rows.

A lot of fields looked very wet and while we were there, thunder storms added more water to the saturated soil. That while at home it stayed dry.
We tried to go a different direction each day.So from a drive to the west to see the mountains it was to the museum in Wetaskiwin with all kinds of old cars ( here is the oldest numbered Chevrolet known to be in excistence) to planes to old tractors.
This was very much to Laurence's liking, but the next day I was in for a treat. We had tickets for the rodeo and chuck wagon races in Ponoka.
Lots of horses and lots of fun. This is a lot different than the English style riding I grew up with.
The next day it was to the south to visit the Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller. It was packed, but the dinasaurs are so big that even with that many people there we could see most of the exhibits.



And each evening we would be greeted by little Abner, one of the friendliest puppies I know.
Now it is back to work. From a very wet part of the country we came home to a very dry farm. The once promising looking crops are starting to look stressed. We do hope for some rain soon.
And yes, quilting was not totally forgotten . I managed to visit 3 quilt stores while away and came home with some nice pieces of fabric. But no time for applique right now. It is strawberry time, so this morning I bought my yearly supply to make jam. Whatever is left will go in the freezer.

Yellow rose

I'm not much for roses. They are too much work and I have trouble keeping them over the cold winter here in our area
But I do have a few shrub roses and they seem to thrive under my lack of attention. Even with all the dry weather we are having they bloom in profusion. I do have one rose and I would not do without that one.
In 1996 my family came over to Canada from Holland to celebrate my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. It was a very hectic time. We were still in the dairy business and a week before they all arrived my husband had back surgery. But it all worked out very well.
Lois, a very good friend of mine opened her beautifull garden for a party.Everybody who

had met my parents over in Canada was invited.
Afterwards my parents wanted to give Lois a token of appreciation. When my dad went to the nursery to find a rose bush he stumbled across one with the name of "Friesland" Even with his lack of English, he could understand that word. My whole family has lived there for a long as we can remember. So my dad had to get this yellow rose.
The next day he went back and got one for me.I can still see him planting it, wearing his wooden shoes. He always kept a pair of wooden shoes here and they had to stand, ready for use in the garage.
This rose has survived the cold winters and my (at times)lack of care for 11 years now. This spring it looked like it had not survived, but I was wrong.
Right now it is in full bloom. Each time I pass and see the roses it remembers me of my father, who passed away over 2 years ago.
Lots of things going on right now, so applique sits on the back burner
I made some more orchids. This kind has a frilly lip. At first I had no clue how to approach it, but finally I decided to use shaded wired ribbon and that did the trick.

This time......tractors

According to Laurence you should do things at least once, so on Saturday we went on an "all day, all colored antique tractor run"
This meant ,that we saw other colored tractors than green and yellow. Chores were done by 7 and soon after Laurence left on his J.D 50. A friend drove the J.D 70. I decided to pass and take one of the wagons. My driving skills are not up to par. For my birthday I received a Nikon D40 camera and this was the time to try it out. 88 tractors and 5 wagons left the J.D. dealership in Elmira at 10.30 for a drive through the country side.
Permission had been asked of 17 farmers, most of them Old Order Mennonite to travel through their properties. On most farms we were greeted by the families, some sitting on the front porch to see the parade go by. We travelled along narrow lanes, went through barn yards and even had to drive through a barn, all cleaned up for the occasion.
I had a lot of fun taking pictures, over 200 in total. I would hop from a wagon, take pictures and take the next one.
Laurence was not so lucky. With all these old tractors the speed was too slow for him. To sit on a hot tractor on a hot day was a little too much. 2 police cruisers kept everybody safe on the roads. It was a long day and we did not get back to the dealership till after 6. By 8 we were home where the chores were still waiting. Will we do it again? We have to wait, because the organizers decided that they had enough. To get all the approvals from county and townships had been tough
What about all the pictures? Here are a few of them I'm still working on getting it all organized.

Potlucks, shaped notes and more

Another week with lots of hot, sunny weather. The shrub roses are in full bloom.All during the summer we will see a few roses, but right now they are at their peak. I started with one and I keep getting little shoots, so I keep planting them as I find room. My favorite peony is this pale pink one with a heavenly scent. I think it is a "Sarah Bernhardt" I received a small piece from my mother in law years ago and it has done well. Grandma had a bad fall just over a week ago. She did not break anything, but she had a lot of bruising and is in a lot of pain. On my last visit I took a few of these peonies along to cheer her up.

It has been a busy week-end. On Saturday I taught a workshop, pansies, to a group at Greenwood Quiltery. On my way home I had to stop at the party/potluck for the 15th anniversary of the Two Cylinder Club. As I have written before, my husband is a avid collector of anything John Deere. Just like other times the food was great. I did observe, that it seems that recipes only come family size, so needless to say that there was an over abundance of food.
On Sunday morning we attended a "shaped note" singing in the oldest stone Mennonite church in the area, build in 1840 and recently restored. We sang out of "Harmonica Sacra", a song book first published over 150 years ago. Each note has a shape, that's why the name. We sang in four part harmony with a song leader up front. As usual there were a lot of very good singers and I enjoyed it tremendously. We had to leave during the lunch hour (yes it was a whole day affair) to attend another potluck, this one a family reunion. And this one also had great food, so neatless to say that I better get walking.
With all this going on I did manage to finish my orchid, except for the roots. Still have not found the right color for the roots. I think I have changed my mind. I have 8 orchids drawn around the center, but this will be too busy, so I will do the one in the right hand corner and maybe stop then.

New look

Both Melissa, my friend who looks after this web site, and I decided that it was due for an update. So from highlighting a Waterloo County Farm we are going to a Japanese crane standing a sashiko water. I'm not able to do all this myself ,so I'm just doing what I'm told. Certain parts still have to have some changes, but as time allows, that will come.
I keep on plodding away with my orchids. The sashiko leaves on this one are done. I have to do the roots yet, but have not found the right color thread, a real light grey/green.
After looking all over on the Internet I found green overdyed cotton thread in the thickness and colors I needed. They arrived in 2 days, so no delay there.
The orchid flowers are kind of fiddly, but I hope to get one done a day. There are 8 different orchids, so....if I can get one done every 2 weeks, it should take me about 4 months.
The weather has been changeable the last few days, from hot to very cold. Last night there was even talk about frost, but that did not happen. I did not cover any of my plants. There are just too many.
What really seems to grow fast in this cooler weather is the grass. I will have to start mowing today again or hire some goats or sheep. So....on the machine we go

Roses and orchids

Again a week later. Quilt Festival is over for another year. Last Saturday I went to the Mennonite Relief Sale and had a great day. Even a few sprinkles could not dampen the enthousiasm. The top quilt, an embroidered quilt, went for $11.000.The daughter of the maker bought it. This year there were less quilts, mainly because knotted baby quilts and knitted afghans were sold in the craft tent. And I had my yearly fill of herring on a bun. Nobody wanted to join me, except Jenny's friend Margaret. She had her first taste on a visit to Holland. Good girl!!!
Sunday we had a good rain so now with the heat , everything seems to grow in leaps and bounds. This morning I saw the first roses. I'm not a rose person, too much work, but quite a few years ago I bought a shrub rose in the Explorer series. Very winter hardy and every year new little ones appear around the older bushes, so now I have a whole row along the driving shed. This morning I also spotted the first peonie.
It is back to the triangle and hexagon quilt. I ran into problems with the roof on the farm house, so I have to let that perculate in my head till I come up with a good idea. In the meantime I did get an idea of how to continue with this one. There will be 8 different orchids around the pieced centre. 7 have been drawn up on freezer paper. From there I copy the pattern on the dark blue fabric using a light table and a Clover white pencil. This is the one where you cannot see the line till a few seconds later. I'm planning to do all the leaves in sashiko and applique the different orchids. Now I realize, that my supply of over dyed sashiko thread is almost non existing, so I will have to try and find more.
Seeding and planting are done. Not the yearly chore of "stone picking"
Every time the soil is tilled we have stones from the ice age coming up. The small ones we leave, but anything bigger than a soccer ball has to be removed from the fields. If ever one of that size finds its way into the combine, we would have a big and expensive mess. So with the kids gone it is left to Laurence and me.I have the easy job, driving the tractor, but by the time I figure out how the loader works, most of the stones are picked. Coming from the farm in the Netherlands I did not believe Laurence when he talked about picking stones. I do now and so do the dozen or so European agricultural exchange students we have had over the years.

Quilt Show

It has been a busy week so far. On Monday the quilts for the Ontario Juried Quilt Show were judged and in the evening I got a call, telling me that I had won 2 awards. The official opening was the next day, but I could not attend. At the same time I gave a lecture/trunkshow at the Church Theatre in St. Jacobs. Here you can see me in action. Yes, I did piece a few quilts, but it is not my favorite activity. Afterwards I drove to the RIM Centre and got there in time to hear, that I had also won the Judge's Choice of Bonny Browning. Longevity, or as I call it"The Crane Quilt" received best hand quilting. Since I'm not able to quilt because of back and shoulder problems (I was diagnozed with scholiosis at 4 and have had problems my whole life) I made a choice. I can only spend a small amount of time each day stitching, so I decided to make applique my priority and get the hand quilting done. I do some machine quilting, but only in very short bursts.Back to the quilt.This quilt was different. Part of the quilting is "normal", part is done sashiko style. I asked Florence Moncur from my guild and she was willing to tackle this. She has over 60 years of quilting experience and was up for the challenge. A few times I would get a call, but it all worked out. So this award will go to Florence, here on the right.
My other entry, Winter Breakfast received the award for best small quilt and the judge's choice.
Tuesday evening I did not see much of the show. All I did was talk to all the people I knew. So after my talk in St. Jacobs yesterday I went back and had a good look around. I liked what I saw, lots of quilts from all over.
On my way home I stopped again in St. Jacobs and saw the quilts at the Mennonite Church. Some will go to the Relief Sale on Saturday.
There was also a very good selection of quilts made a by group of 10 friends, who meet weekly.

Now no more quilts till Saturday, when we will be going to the Mennonite Relief Sale in New Hamburg .I cannot miss, because I have to get my yearly fix of herring on a bun!! I think Laurence might come along this year. The weather has been great and all the soybeans have been planted.
My job today will be to mow the lawn.With this warm weather it grows with leaps and bounds and the dandelions are doing very well.

Frisian Farm

It has been a warm, cold and at times wet week. Not good to get the soybeans in the ground, but very good for the lawn. I mowed it at the end of last week and in a few days it looked again like a hay field. But that has been taken care of. Hubby still has problems with is ribs, so I have had to help here and there, more than usual. But I did get some quilt work done. I started on the wall hanging I want to make of our old farm in Friesland. This picture is the only one I have to work with, beside a small colored drawing. The brochure is for cleaning supplies. Nobody knows when it was taken and it was just by coincidence that we found a copy. The farm can be divided in 3 parts, the body where the animals and feed are kept ( in our case it also had the summer and regular kitchens), the"neck" with a hall and the"good" room. The "head" had one small bedroom and a huge room upstairs with the milk cellar below. In my time we used that for the apples out our orchard.
I don't know how old these buildings were, but it was clear in the 50th that the living quarters were slowly sinking in the clay. So in the 60th a new house was build. I have lots of pictures of the new house, but that's not what I want to use.
My first try was very crooked, even worse than the house was. This second try is better. This is only the applique, I will have to do the rest with embroidery.
The coming week will be very busy. The Waterloo Quilt Festival will be all week long. I think I could go to an opening most evenings. I will also give 2 trunkshows at the Church Theatre in St. Jacobs, one Tuesday evening and the other Wednesday afternoon.

Trunkshow

It was early getting up this morning. I had to be in London, Ontario that is, just after nine to give a lecture/trunkshow for the Thames Valley Guild. As you can see it was a "trunk" show. I have made up a list and I tick items of as I put them in the car. This way I'm sure I have everything along
The large quilts are in the suitcase, the larger wallhangings are in a roll and the smaller wall hangings are in the blue binder I made. The smaller items like cards and framed landscapes are in the black bags. It does not take me long to get ready.The trick is to put everything back in the right place when I come home. Usually I'm tired by then and items do not always get back where they should go. Than it is trouble when I have to go away again. It was an uneventfull drive. I did not get lost and arrived more than in time( I'm not a city driver!!). I even had my own parking spot right beside the door. My friend Pat came along for the ride . I promised to take her out for her birthday afterwards. We made it back to Listowel early in the afternoon and had time to visit my mother-in-law and get some groceries. By the time I got home it had started to rain. And we need that, it is very dry here.
On Sunday Laurence and I walked to our 20 acre woodlot at the back of the farm. It was still about one week too early, because all we saw was some dark red trilliums and my favorite, this lonely Jack-in-the-pulpit. If this warm weather keeps up, the white trilliums will be out by the coming Sunday.
Things have been going slow here at Lauren Farms. Laurence had a mishap and hurt his ribs. Coughing, sneezing and laughing almost do him in. This happened just before the corn planting was finished. He did manage to do the rest. I have been helping him as much as I can, but this rain comes at the right time. This will give him some rest.
I started on my next project, the farm house. I finished one side of the house, but realized that the windows were crooked. Now I know that the house was slowly sinking down( the house was replaced in the 60th), but not quite that much. It was not bad, but could be done better, so I ripped it out. I had too, because I had only a small amount of the right fabric and I will have to re-use it. But I did discover a better and easier way of putting the windows in ,so maybe it was a blessing after all. Hope to start again tomorrow.

Sunshine

Who can be in a bad mood with these colorfull pansies looking at you. These were a big surprise. Some of the yellow ones poked up through the snow already. Last year I had a few pansies in my big pots and they must have dropped some seeds. As you can see the pots are still empty.
The weather has been great the last week, but we still can expect frost. Laurence is planting corn and so far it is going well. My job is to stay near a phone and be available in case something has to be brought to the field or some equipment has to be moved, all things I can handle. It also means that I can work on my applique or in the flowerbeds. This coming week-end I hope to go to Jenny's and cash in my gift certificates at Vermeers in Welland,my favorite plant nursery.

This little landscape was another one started during a workshop I gave. I must be doing something wrong, when I take these pictures, because the centre is square, not like it looks in the picture. The purple part has been embroidered and I quilted around the yellow flowers. I will get it quilted on a rainy day.

The hexagons and triangles piece is almost attached to the background, but it will need something more, either a border with cherry blossoms or different orchids. I have to think that one over for a while.

This morning I started on a landscape of our farm in Friesland. The house has lots of windows with very narrow sashing, so it will be a challenge. It has been looking at me for over six months and today was the day. I found fabric for the bricks and found a way to make a fabric look like tiles for the roof. More next week.

Got to go outside. With it warming up outside, the flowers grow, but so do the weeds. It seems to be a never ending job to stay ahead of the weeds, but at least we can try