Anything floral

It does not happen often, or let's say almost never, that we get a delivery from the flower shop here on the farm, but on Monday,before 8 in the morning, this arrangement was delivered . It was a thank-you from Shawn and Emily. It was a very nice gesture. It has some long lasting flowers,including orchids, so we should be able to enjoy it for some time. We have had a lot of rain during the last weeks and everything is very lush. No brown grass this year. And keep the lawnmower handy!! This year I planted scarlet runner beans on each side of the old seed drill and you can see them grow bigger daily. Next year I will try perennial sweet peas.
I love begonias and keep the bulbs from year to year. These are some of the smaller bulbs that keep on blooming.
Now to some blooms inside. In a few weeks we have to attend a wedding and I know, that the prefered gift is money. So I made this card to hold the bills. The back ground is hand made paper from Ten Thousand Villages. I bought a big sheet and used most of it for last years Christmas cards.This small piece was left. The center is hand dyed. The rose is made with shaded wired ribbon. The leaves I have had for years and never found a use for them. The narrow ribbon is held in place with beads.
Next week I should have at least 2 projects finished. It all depends on the weather.
The wheat harvest has started. Yesterday was a beautiful day and a lot of combining got done, but this morning it was back to showers. As I look out the window I can see the sun. Let's hope we get a few nice days.

Mount Forest Quilt Show

The Four Corners Quilters Guild in Mount Forest, is 10 years old and they had their second quilt show last week. I had given 2 trunkshows ( one was in April in a snow storm with a very small group present). After that I taught 2 workshops. Last month the president Betty phoned to let me know, that they had 20 finished small landscapes and they liked to do something special. She came by last week to pick up 3 of my wall hangings, the milk can that goes with the farm quilt and the matching picture. I went over on Thursday evening and it was a lovely show. It is not often that you see so many projects finished after a workshop. There were also 2 pansy quilts. The show was very well organized and hung. I love the smaller shows. That way I can pay better attention to the quilts. At a big show I loose track after the first 100. Here are Doreen's pansies. She framed hers behind glass.
What a novel way to frame a landscape. This one is by June. She folded fabric and tacked the corners.
Quite a few were framed behind glass.This is Audry's winter wonderland
A wooden frame also adds to it. This one is also by a June.
All in all a very succesfull show.
What a difference a week can make. Last week we were wanting some rain and oh boy, did we get rain. Almost every day it is coming down. The combine is ready to start in the wheat, but that will not happen this week anymore. And yes, the corn in front of the house must be 10 feet tall. We cannot see the mailbox anymore.
This morning I took the Postcard quilt ( must get a better name!Any ideas?) to church. I needed 3 large tables to be able to square it. It was a big job, but with some help it came all together and the quilt is ready for the binding and sleeve.Then only a few smaller details and I can ship it of to the Relief Sale Committee. Always a good feeling to get it done.
My new workshop is ready to get quilted .And yesterday I got a brain wave for a new 2 day one. Again with orchids and sashiko, but a completely different design. This time it will be 4 different lady slippers.
And finally a thank you to Olga, who let me know that the moth in last week blog is a cecropia. I hope to see more and then in better shape.

Back to normal

It is back to the two of us. The newlyweds came back late on Thursday and left, with the dog, on Friday. I had a scare on Thursday evening. I had tied the dog up outside, but when I looked out the window the rope was there, but without a dog attached. Since these dogs(bassett hounds) are known to follow a scent and forget where they came from, I just knew he was gone. But luck was with me. He had eaten all our dog's food and was playing on the front lawn. Boy was I glad. Now he is back home on the ranch in Alberta. When I asked Shawn if they wanted something for the guests to sign at the wedding,they decided on a big pillow. I made this top with 1/2 inch strips.In the center is a picture of the couple taken 2 days before the wedding. That is just temporary. As soon as I get a good wedding picture I will print it on a piece of fabric and finish the pillow. Not all the spots were filled. I wanted every person to have a spot, but most couples put their names in one. I do think that just about everyone signed. On Saturday morning we left for a few days for the cottage of friends. On the way I made Laurence stop at the quilt store in Cookstown. I needed fabric for the binding of a quilt and I had not been able to find it. I have run into that problem before. The quilts for the relief sale usually take over a year or more from start to finish and go through all kinds of changes and in this case I had used all the fabric for the double strips in the center. But luck was with me. I found the fabric and this collection of John Deere fabric on sale. It will make a nice quilt for some farm boy, young or old.
Yesterday I found this moth all tangled up in a window of the shed. I carefully took it outside where it slowly took of after a few minutes. It was huge( see my finger) but not in good condition. I have never seen one before and do not know the name.
Today I finally had some time to start a new piece. I like to make 2 new workshops, one with shaded wired ribbon and another one with orchids surrounded by sashiko. It is always good to have some handwork going.
The weather has been good. Right now it is hot and our corn is getting taller by the day. A few more days and we not be able to see the road anymore. We will be surrounded by tall corn till at least October.

Wedding day

Saturday was the big day and what a glorious day it was. The weather was perfect, not to hot and not too cold. As usual there was a lot of confusion to get everything ready in time. I got back from the hair dresser in time to have our pictures taken on the bride's parent's farm. Everything worked out great. The biggest problem later was that the pillow for the ring bearer was forgotten. A quick turn around by the bridesmaids to retrieve it,took care of that. After a beautiful church service we moved to the farm, where a great meal was waiting for us Here are the newlyweds in front of the white fence, surrounded by canola fields. These were specially seeded for this occasion and bloomed just the right time. The mother of the bride had pictures taken at her wedding in front of a white fence, so to keep with the tradition this white fence was put up. Later pictures were taken right at sunset.
The tent was beautifully decorated with trees and flowers.
Shawn had told me, that he wanted their quilt in the tent, so we put it up early in the morning. I had a plastic sheet along, but that was not needed.
Once it was dark there were fireworks, a surprise for most of us. The couple left soon after for their honeymoon. This afternoon they returned for a short visit. Tomorrow afternoon we will bring them to the airport in Kitchener from were they will fly back to Calgary.
We had a busy time here at home. All the people got along fine, but the 3 dogs decided that they did not really like each other, so we had to watch them.
Slowly during the week, our company left and now it is only us and Abner. He will depart tomorrow.

And this is about as energetic as we all feel here at Lauren Farms.Tony and my brother Wiebren took lots of pictures, but they did things with this computer I have not been able to figure out, so I hope to have more pictures next time.

Boys .....and their toys

The first guests have arrived. Little Abner here came all the way from Calgary and seemed to have enjoyed his first plane ride. He will be here on and of for the next 2 weeks. He must be one of the easiest dogs to keep. Yesterday the tent went up, so last night we had to have a look. It should hold about 300 people for the reception on Saturday evening. A lot of decorating will be done yet.
On to the toys. Both the bride and groom's families are farmers.It seems like every time there is a "farm" wedding there are pictures of the couple and wedding party with big tractors, combines or whatever. The bride made it a point, that this would not happen at her wedding.
But when the guys found out, that there was some extra room under the tent, the word " tractor" came up. Now you have to realize, that a farmer often is attracted to one color of tractor be it red, green or yellow.
The bride's family has "RED" equipment. For Shawn that would not do since we are "GREEN and YELLOW" people.

So this morning one of our antique tractors was hauled out of the shed. It needed to be washed and waxed, a job my brother was willing to tackle. He came all the way from Holland for a wedding and here he is put to work!!!Tomorrow The tractor will be loaded on a trailer and trucked to the tent.
Right now it is not too busy here, but that will change by tomorrow. By Friday we will have 7 extra people and 2 extra dogs, so it will be a busy place. But it all will work out. The weather promises to be great, warm and sunny. Tonight there is a shower for Shawn and Emily at church and the wedding rehearsal is tomorrow evening.

Getting so close.....

The wedding is just over 1 week away and things are starting to get busy. It looks as if we will have 7 guests and 2 guest dogs. How that last one will work out with our dog will be interesting. The first ones, my brother and his wife from Holland will be here Saturday. Mowing lawn gives me lots of time for thinking and it dawned on my ,that my big purse would not do for the wedding. I made this small purse with stuff I had at home. It does not show the colors well. In reality it is much darker.
Two days ago there was a phone call. There will be a ring bearer, but there was no pillow and if I could make "something simple" My friend Lois to the rescue. She had a small pillow form, a piece of cream dupioni silk, cord the make piping ( I chickened out and did without) and 2 buttons that I could cover.
The bridesmaids will wear brown ,so it had to be cream and brown. By last night it looked like the picture above.

By supper time today it looked like this. There will be a button in the center with brown ribbon to tie the rings to. This was all stuff I had around. But it did nothing for my cleaned up room. All my boxes with embellishments, ribbons and beads are all over and this will have to be cleaned up before long. I have been busy cooking and most of the food for next week is ready. The reception will be in a big tent on the bride's parents farm, so there will be lots of things to do before the big day. So I might not be back till after the big day, but I will have pictures then

Once upon a time

Once upon a time there was a little girl, who loved to help her mother in the garden. Whatever had to be done,be it seeding, weeding or watering she was up for the challenge. As she grew older, that slowly changed and she had more important things on her mind. Then when she went to university and started to work in a garden centre for the summer, she let me know ,that gardening definitely was NOT her thing.
Now let's go forward 10 years. This little girl is all grown up and married. She lives with her husband in a house with both a front and a back yard. And in a few years they have been able to change a piece of lawn into a beautiful garden.
Now she is loves gardening again and it shows. And that is not all. How come her orchids are blooming better than mine? Despite her lack of care as she claims?
On the home front things are getting done. The garage doors have been painted.
The next thing on my long list, the installation of stones around one of the flowerbeds was completed today, thanks to the local CO-OP. It's not what you think. I had muddled around putting a few stones in their place each day, as many as my old back let me do. But this afternoon hubby had some extra time. He needed more fertilizer and he had to wait for the delivery. I must have been a sorry sight and he wondered if I needed some help. With him digging and me putting the stones in the right place we finished before supper. The clean-up will have to wait till tomorrow.
After a visit by our accountant in the morning, it will be of to the last guild meeting for the year.

Home again

Hard to believe, that I have been home for a few days already. Quilt Canada is over for another year. We left very early on Sunday morning for Toronto and flew from there to St. John's, New Foundland. I had never been there, but I hope to go back. My "super-volunteer" waited for me at the airport and took me to the residence. By that time it was way past lunch, but Verna took me to Tim Horton's for a quick bite. Supper was spend with some other girls from my guild. After supper I found out just how steep the hills are. On Monday I had signed up for the "Bird Island Tour " 3 bus loads full of quilters ,all warmly dressed, were taken to the boats . So far so good. As long as we stayed close to the shore I felt fine, but once out in the open, I started to think that this had not been a good idea. I became seasick and except for the picture of the lonely iceberg, I just sat, waiting for it all to be over. Once back on shore I could not wait to get back to my room. The afternoon was spend sleeping. By supper time I felt like eating again and with some of the other teachers we found a place not far from campus. Tuesday was for a lecture in the morning and going to the merchand mall and shows in the afternoon. Awards for the Juried Show were announced in the evening. There were some incredible quilts, but not picture taking was allowed.
Than it was back to work. All 3 workshops( 1 two day and 2 one day) were full with 20 students. I had done quite a bit of work beforehand and that came in handy. The girls were great and came from all over the country, from the North West Territories to New Foundland and one lonely American. I forgot to take pictures till the 3nd day and could not resist taking this one The workshop sample is on the table. The one shown was an extra one, also with sunflowers, I had made some years ago.
Here we are hard at work. For both of the one day workshops we used shaded wired ribbon. Since it is not easy to get at times I provided the ribbon. Any leftover at the end of the day, could be bought. And as you can see here, the ribbon sold like the proverbial hot cakes.
But it was not all work. In the evenings all delegates and teachers ( about 600) were bussed to the Convention Center for supper. There were some long waits, but the food was worth it.
By Friday the four of us ( Nancy Bergman, Helen Marshall from New Zealand, me and Penny Berends) decided to have a quiet supper. We asked the cab driver for the best fish in town and we ended up at "Ches's and yes it was very good. We even got a certificate as first time visitors.

And all to soon it was Sunday morning and it was all over. We left a cool St. John's and came to a sweltering Toronto. And I brought the needed rain home with me!. All in all it was a great week. My hat of to the organizing committee. They did a tremendous job. A thank- you also to Verna and Donna, my 2 volunteers, who were ready to do whatever had to be done. Verna even took me after the workshop on Friday to Signal Hill, so I could prove to Laurence I really had been there.

Now it is back to work. Less than 4 weeks till the wedding. We will have guests from Holland and out west, so I'm busy cleaning and weeding. Even have to do some painting. All my things have been put away and the quilt room has been cleaned up. No more applique till after the wedding!

Getting ready

Only 4 more days and I will be on my way to St. John's, New Foundland. All my teaching things are ready, but I discovered, that a carry-on with the maximum of 22 pounds only holds part of it. By the time I found this out, it was too late to send it away, but I'am lucky again. I will be traveling with 4 friends from our guild and one of the girls had decided to go without carry-on and she has gracefully offered to take my second one. Another lesson learned. Blast-of time will be 5 a.m on Sunday. Laurence will drive me to Waterloo, where I will be meeting the others. I'm busy getting meals ready for hubby. Here out in the country it is not quite as easy to go to town for a meal. Usually that also means a general clean-up and that all takes too much time, so home made meals it will be.The weather has not been the greatest, very windy and cold. We even had some frost last night, but most of my plants survived. When I did some weeding last night I found this young robbin following me. I quickly got my camera, but by that time it was not interested anymore and hopped/flew away. I did get some quilt related work done. The sashiko on this piece I did last year as a practice piece. And it sat in the corner till I decided I needed some practice in machine quilting. Finished putting the binding on today. Another one, similar, but with sashiko cranes will be next.
It is only a little over 5 weeks till the wdding of our son, so there will be no big projects till after the big day.
I will be away all of next week, so it will be close to 2 weeks before I will be back. But by then I sould have lots of news and pictures to share.

Back home again

Last week I spend a few days on Manitoulin Island. To get there was fun. First a sunny drive to Tobermory and then on the ferry. The Chi Chemaun has 2 levels and I ended up on the top. It was a little nerve wrecking to drive up the ramp. twice as bad to drive down, but everything went well. The first person I met on the boat was a member of my guild, who was born on the island and who has still a lot of family there. And...I found out, that I would be staying at her cousin's place. It's a small world. Would this not make a beautiful landscape. This lighthouse is on Flowerpot Island, well known for its orchids. It was a little early for that yet. Next year I'm invited back to the guild and then I will go when the ochids on the island are in bloom,we hope.
The trunkshow and workshop went very well and I had a great time staying at Vivian.

She showed me around the island and that's where I found this lighthouse. All in all a very enjoyable time.
Now it is back to getting ready for my trip to St. John's for Quilt Canada. All 3 of my workshops are full and that means making 60 kits. I'm almost ready. I will travel with 4 other members of my guild, and each promised to take some of my "stuff" along,m so I did not have to send anything ahead. Yesterday was guild meeting. I picked up the quilted postcard quilt and was able to show that one. The finishing will have to wait till after the wedding. I also took along the Mariner Compass quilt. I finally got the binding sewn down. For some reason it was very hard on my fingers. Might have to do with the piping. There was more fabric you had to sew through. Outside it is cold. My annuals are still in their little pots in the garage. But better weather is in the forecast. In the meantime I enjoy my orchids inside.

Spring colors

One year, when Jeanette worked in a garden centre, she came home with a small crab apple tree for mother's day. For the next few years it grew and bloomed. As the years passed it continued to grow, but quit blooming. So last year I got tough and trimmed about halve of the branches. And would't you know...... right now it blooms profusely and has thousands of pale pink flowers. That with the yellow, red and mauve tulips and multi colored pansies makes for a cheery look outside. 2 sides of the mariner compass quilt have the binding sewn on. I never got used to using a thimbel and with the piping and the binding on this quilt I find it very tough going. My fingers turned raw and started to bleed, what is not good with a quilt with white pieces. I folded it up and put it away for a few days. My goal is still to finish it before our guild meeting next week.
Instead I worked on my block for our guild challenge. We received the 2 fabrics on the left and were told to make a 12 inch block with a 2 inch border out of the dark fabric. The back had to be a dark flannel and it should be hand or machine quilted. We were not to cut it to size. That would be done later. I like this block so well, that I'm thinking of using something similar for a new quilt for the guest room.

But first I will be gone for a few days. The car is packed and tomorrow morning I will drive to Tobermory and take the ferry to Manitoulin Island. Tomorrow evening I will give a trunkshow for the guild and then on Friday a workshop. Saturday I will be home again.

Now I just hope I will not get sea sick. I always worry about that since I was deadly ill during a crossing from Hoek van Holland to Dover in my younger days.

Lost

Somewhere in my travels I bought the Piping Hot Binding Tool. I never needed to use it,but it always hung in the same spot. Finally, last week, I took it down to read the instructions. I did read them carefully and then the bag disappeared. Nowhere to be found, so the likely culprit was our visitor for the week, Bernie, the Bernese Mountain dog. But looking in her eyes I changed my mind. She could not have! But I wanted to use it, but where to find another one?I started to phone the local quilt stores, but nobody had it.
Then I remembered where I had bought it. A quick look on the computer gave me a phone number and I was in business. The lady has a business out of her home and she just happened to have one more of these tools. And she lives in Guelph. And better yet, I had to take the dog back to the rightfull owners that day and would drive right through town. So I was back in business. I made the piping, what was a breeze. And this morning I took the quilt to church. I used 4 large tables to lay it flat and the squaring of the quilt was done in no time. This afternoon I sewed the piping on first and now I'm working on the binding.
And I have to say, that it is easier than I expected. The handwork will take some time, because it is a large quilt. And I have no worries about it not being ready for the wedding. A good feeling!The second set of socks is finished. They fit me just right. But who ordered these colors?
And the lost still has not been found.

Finishing projects

Blogger has made life hard for me the last few days. Either the pictures won't load up or everything disappears. So I will give it another try.
Yesterday morning I got a call, that he Mariner Compass quilt was ready for pick-up. Somebody had to go for parts to Elmira anyway, so I picked it up right away. And I'm very pleased. The quilting is very well done. All it needs is a binding. I managed to buy a piece of red batik, what matches and that will be used for piping. Then the binding will be green. I have never tried piping, but I did get a tool and I will give it a try. I have some time, because the wedding is not till the beginning of July, but it is a large quilt so the hand stitching alone will take some time.
The postcard quilt is all together. It was a tour de force to get it this far, but the worst is behind me. The next step is the marking of the border. Once ready I will take it to my friend Carol's place and she will do the quilting with the help of some guild members. It is not done by any means, but it is getting there. It cannot be folded, so today I will pick up a carpet roll at the local flooring store. It will be wrapped with plastic and then a piece of muslin. This way it is much easier to transport.
When I grew up in the north of Holland it was a sport to go out early in the spring to try and find the first "kievit's egg. The first in the country would be presented to the queen, the second to the provincial official etc. We loved to go out with our long pole. We needed that to jump over the ditches in between the fields. Often we came home soaking wet and guaranteed without eggs. I never did find even one. Till last week.
On Friday I went to the bush to look for flowers. It was a little early for that, but on my way home through an old cornfield I looked down and there it was, not even a foot from my boot. A little hollow with 4 killdeer eggs. Finally I had found my eggs and I did not even have to use my pole to jump the ditches!

A little of this.....

It has been a beautiful week and Laurence is busy planting corn. This is the earliest he has ever done this. Here we are only a few weeks since the snow is gone and I hear muttering about needing rain already. The daffodils are in full bloom and the tulips are up. And winter is forgotten. I have been busy putting the borders on the postcard quilt and it is going better than I expected. The 2 short sides are finished. As you can see I need a large area. The cards are stif, so most of the quilt has to lay flat, while I sew.
I also found out, that 6 inches for one does not seem to be the same as for another. The bottom row of cards was uneven and I finally got brave and cut a small piece of some of the cards and now it looks much better.I hope to be done by the end of the week. Yesterday I was in town and next week I can pick up a large carpet roll at the local flooring center. That will be the only way to transport it.
On Sunday we were invited to Jenny's inlaws to join them for dinner and a visit to the Chinese Orchid Show in Toronto. I have never seen so many orchids in so many shapes and forms. I wish I had taken my "good" camera. And of course there was a merchant's mall. And here it was the same as at a quilt show. Lots of people making lots of purchases. We could not be left behind and came home with some "special"( at least for me) ones. Now I hope that they will grow.
Monday evening was the annual dinner for the Mennonite Relief Sale. Everything for the evening has been donated, from the hall, kitchen to the food. That all for over 700 people. The ticket sales and further donations are used for the expenses for the relief sale. Every dollar made at the sale is turned over to the Mennonite Central Comittee. As usual there were about 30 bedsize quilts hanging around the hall. The top one is the feature quilt for this year. An 80 year old lady embroidered this one and it was hand quilted by her church.
This one was made by children in Sunday School, put together and quilted by members of the church.
The postcard quilt will be at the sale next year. So I do have some time, but it is always nice to get it done way early, so it can be displayed at different places.

Guild meeting

Lately it takes me a whole day to go to our 2 hour guild meeting in the afternoon.This morning I left at 8.30 and did most of my running around before the meeting at 1.30. The rest was done after and I made it home in time to have supper on the table at the regular time. Now that spring is here that is very important.. Hubby is out in the fields as we speak with spring planting just around the corner he claims. And this is what the car looked like. Pansies to pot up for a gift this coming week-end. A big bag of citric acid for the chickens and groceries for us.
Behind the seat the sewing machine, that I had taken in because it made "weird noises". ( it just needed some adjustments), a bag with the orchid quilt, more fabric I needed for the post card quilt and copies to be used in workshops. The rest is on the front seat.
Florence did a very good job in hand quilting the orchid quilt. Part of the quilting was done in sashiko, just as with the crane quilt. I'm very pleased with the result. The binding will have to wait for a while. I'm also planning to put some piping on. Right now I want to finish the postcard quilt far enough to get the rest quilted.
The last few days have been very nice and now I can see all the damage that has been done over the winter. The bunnies have been very busy and eaten a lot of things. Our dog just did not do her job this winter.
Daily new plants pop up. This one, I think called a frittilaria, grows every day by inches.
Now that the weather is nice, it is very hard for me the stay inside and work on quilts. I need to set myself a time line and try to stick to it.