Back again

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

Spring is in the air

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

Not there yet

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

Baby quilts

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

Back to winter

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

With Internet.....but without transportation

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

Internet....but no pictures

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

Internet....or lack of

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

Postcard Quilt.......delivered

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

New year and new project

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

Year's End

This has been a year of up and downs. My mother passed away the first week of January. Although she was almost 92 years old, she was in reasonably good health. She passed away very suddenly and it came as a big shock to the whole family. It meant a fast trip over Holland for the funeral. Then in the beginning of June I spend a week in St. John's, Newfoundland for Quilt Canada. This was the second time I was teaching and it is always fun, but very tiring. Next came the wedding of Shawn and Emily. It was a big party with a big tent on the front lawn of her parent's farm. Here is a picture of the couple in front of the canola. The whole farm was put in canola and everybody hoped that the weather would cooperate and it would be a sea of yellow around the farm. And it did work out. Right now the couple is back in a cold Alberta. Then in October we were given the opportunity to buy another farm with a big, almost new house. It did not take us long to decide, and 3 weeks ago we moved in. At first it was very strange, but we are starting to get used to it. As you can see, Laurence has been busy putting his collection of farm toys away. And yes, I'm aware that he is, like most farmers, color blind when it comes to farm equipment, is it big or small. Most farmers favor a certain color and in our place it is green and yellow. We had a lovely time over the holidays. First a day with family, then a day with friends. There was lots to eat and we had a lot of fun. For some, it was just too much and they needed a rest. We have had the strangest weather over the last week, from snow to rain the gale force winds to ice. Christmas Day and Boxing Day were fine, but Saturday it started to rain and with the high temperatures the snow and ice disappeared very fast. There were a lot of wet basements. We were fine, because our house stands on a small rise. Then Sunday more hard winds and at times no hydro. But things have improved. The weather is cold, but clear , the hydro is back on and the Internet is working. I'm still sitting in our farm house. With all the repairs there still was no time to hook us up. And yes, it is still cold in here. We did clean the house and it looks like we have the place rented out too.Time to find a warmer place. Wishing everybody out there a very Happy 2009!

Christmas

It is cold in the old house. The computer is still here, so this will be short and sweet. Other years I love to make a lot of floral arrangements, but this year I just did not have the energy . I saw something like this on t.v. and it was easy enough to make a few. I put a round piece of fabric (found at Len's Mills in Hawkesville for a few dollars). I put it around a pint canning jar and puffed it out some. It is held around the rim with an elastic. Most of the greenery is from around here, the carnations I bought. It was fun and easy. I have been working on some sashiko . My plan was to do some piecing in the center, but when I went to the store for more fabric, it was all gone. So my second plan was to use some of the koi fabric I found during our move. It fitted with some sashiko around it. This is the full width of the fabric, about 13 inches I like to put co-ordinating fabric on the back and found a small piece with really small fish in the right color. But this will be it. Tomorrow Jeanette and Tony are coming. I will have to get cleaning and cooking. And then we will have company for Christmas Day and Boxing Day. For both days we will have smaller groups then we used to have. Wishing everybody beautiful Christmas and all the beast for 2009

Papercut blocks

The day we moved it seemed that each a certain role. One of my friends is involved with interior decorating and she walked around with an electric drill to hang things up. Once my Hoosier cabinet was in place she decided that it was the place for my Hindelooper and Workumer pieces. My mother grew up near the town of Hindelopen. This is a small town in the north of Holland with a very distinctive folk art, developed over the centuries. I still remember a room in a grandparents house,full of painted furniture. Now I do not have any large pieces, but over the years I gathered a nice collection of smaller items. They were scattered all over the house, but this looks much better. On the bottom shelf is stoneware from Workum, a town close to Hindelopen. This mostly brown and green pottery has been made for centuries, but a few years ago the factory closed. Over the years my parents would bring smaller pieces over. A few of the larger flower pots have returned to dust, because they do break easily. We are slowly getting used to our new house. But the computer is still at the old house, so while I'm doing this in the cold, hubby is packing the last of his John Deere toys. Tomorrow I'm going to Ikea for 2 more glass fronted book cases. That should do it Than it is up to him to get them all on display. I did have to make a few samples for my new Papercut workshop. I will teach that one in the new year at Greenwood Quiltery. I promise to update my list for the next year soon. At the end of January I will teach 4 workshops for my guild. This will be the start of another quilt for the Mennonite Relief Sale. This time it will be a very traditional one with paper cut-outs. and these samples will be used for the workshops. It's getting too cold here. We hope that we will have our new installation soon.

Finally.....the move

Saturday came with overcast sky but no snow. By 9 the gang was here and the move started. The (clean) cattle trailer came in very handy. While the guys were bringing the big things over, the rest of us put things away. It worked like a charm. By 12.30 most of the furniture was in place and it was time for lunch. provided by my friend Lois. And as is the habit of the lot of farmers, you have to have a good rest after you eat, so it did not take long or all the big chairs and couches were taken. By 3 in the after noon things were in place. We were lucky with the weather. Soon after we were finished,it started to snow. When we went back at 5 to get Riley, our dog, it was nasty on the road. We were worried about her. She has been here on the farm for over 10 years. She never is on a leash and can go where she wants to. Now we are closer to the road, so we have to watch her. I even have her on a leash for our walks. But I have to say, that she is adapting very well. We took Sunday as a day of rest , but by Monday all those boxes around started to bug me. Except for all of Laurence's farm toys, the boxes are empty. This is what the quilt room looks like. It does not show it here, but there is lots of light. In the beginning of the new year I will order cabinets for the wall on the left. Once those are in, it will look less messy. But I drew a small block yesterday and I'm back in the applique business.

What has not moverd is the computer. We have talked to an other Internet provider, but he is very busy. It is not as easy as in the city. So for the time being ,we are keeping it at our old place, where it sits on the floor. And that is a cold floor, so this is enough for today.

Still more moving..... and more snow

On Monday I removed the sheers from the window in my new quilt room. Besides that the walls were painted a much lighter color. What a difference it made. I can see much better . I will still need a light over my table, but another window is not necessary. We are still moving things by the carload. But on Saturday we will have help from friends and all the big items will be moved. All we hope for is decent weather. Then it will be on to the unpacking. Right now I cannot find anything. We needed a measuring tape and we have several, but none are to be found. I took this picture through the window of the room in the previous picture. Still more snow coming down. This afternoon we had a new washer and dryer delivered and we were very glad, when the truck made it back to the road. I made this small quilt a few years ago. It is hand appliqued and to get the greying in the back ground I used netting for the first time.I appliqued a few trees, put netting over that area, appliqued more trees and put another layer of grey netting over the trees. Than I appliqued the rest. It is machine quilted.

Now back to some more packing. Next thing on the list are my "good" dishes. For somebody, who can be clumsy at times , that can be stressfull.

The new phone will be installed on Monday. We will need another Internet provider, who has been phoned, but has not made a appearance yet.

Stuff.....and more stuff

We are still moving. I thought that moving all the toy tractors of Laurence's collection was a big job, but I was wrong. I never realized how much you can stuff into a quilt room. Last week we took a table over and after my workshop last Saturday in Newmarket I dropped the quilts of on my way home. That was the beginning. The problem (or maybe not) is the fact that we are moving to a bigger house with a bigger quilt room. The "big " move is over a week away, but I like to have all the smaller things there by then, so carload by carload we take it over. You might wonder why it is all stacked in the center of the rooms, but next week the walls will be painted a lighter color and this way we can get around. All Laurence keeps saying :Do you really need this????? Who knows, but I might in the future at some point. And we all know what will happen. Once a piece of fabric is gone, you will need it....guaranteed.

Now on to something else. When we were still milking cows, we used to have different agricultural students for the summer or at times longer. Most were from Holland, but one was from Finland and one from France. We had some great times with these young guys. Some we still have contact with. From one of them I received a package yesterday. A few months ago he had send me a card with information about an upcoming quilt show at the Fries Museum in Leeuwarden, close to where I grew up. He send me all the information he could this time. He did not pursue a career in agriculture, but works at the museum in security.

When I left Friesland in 1970 I had never heard of quilts. Things have changed. There are a lot of quilters, even my sister-in-law. After her trip here last summer she found a local group and has been working up a storm, Just today I got pictures of her first finished quilt and some gifts she had made for Sinterklaas. Back to the Quilt Show. It looks to be an amazing show with lots of antique samples. You know what? If I did not have to move I would consider going over.

All for the want of a needle

At a busy time like this I love to knit socks and do sashiko. Both are easy to pick up and work at for a short period of time. Recently I bought 2 new books about sashiko by Susan Briscoe, and both are very good. My eye caught the picture of the koi and since I had just the right overdyed pearl cotton and a new piece of 14 inch wide sashiko fabric I wanted to give it a try. But... where were the needles? I have a small bag where I keep all my sashiko supplies in and it was nowhere to be found. Now most of my quilting things are in boxes, ready for the move, and I was not willing to go through them all. Finally it dawned on me that I usually keep a small piece of fabric with a needle in with the patterns I use for a workshop. And yes, it was there and I have been stitching off and on. Since Monday we have ownership of the new place and we will be moving in the next few weeks with the "big" move in the beginning of December. This is the house before the snow and yes, it is bigger then we really need, but I will have a big room for quilting. This is not a good picture of the room. The sheers will be taken down. Light will be the big issue. There is only one window, but we are considering another window in the wall on the right. There is no overhead lighting. Now I would like to know if anybody has any good ideas about light. What works for you, and what should I stay away from? The walls will be repainted a lighter color and I will make a design wall on the left. It's been a busy week. Jeanette got us tickets to "The Sound of Music" in Toronto last Friday. It was a wonderful show. We stayed overnight and visited the Royal Ontario Museum the next day. After 4 hours, I'd seen enough for one day! On my way home I got a gentle reminder that winter is coming: a dusting of snow made things slippery, but I kept the car on the road. Then Monday, a drive through the snow up to Southampton, with a trunkshow in Owen Sound that evening and a workshop yesterday. Despite the falling snow, almost everybody showed up. Just barely on my way home I ran into a accident with a totalled car, which didn't help my confidence, but the weather got better and I made it back in one piece. Now one more workshop on Saturday in Newmarket and it is over for the year!

Changes

I love it ,when I have another orchid in bl0om now that the weather outside is cold and miserable. I bought this one on sale last winter, after it had bloomed. During the spring it fell on the floor and split in 3 parts. One was very small and has not shown much growth. I gave one away and kept this one. Both bigger ones are blooming or close to it. Now I hope that we can enjoy the flowers for a long time I have been machine quilting some more. The center is done and I did it with the feed dogs up, so basically it is straight sewing. The border will be free motion. Now you might wonder why the quilting frenzy, but...... as you can see I'm packing. Yes, after 34 years here on the farm we are moving in a few weeks. Not far, but it is a move and over the years you can accumulate a lot of "stuff" But I will get a bigger and better room for my quilt making! More next week. Next week Monday I will be in Owensound for a trunk show and the next day for a workshop This time it is Crazy Quilting.

Indian Summer

After our first snow last week, it is back to some beautiful sunny days. It's what we would call "Indian Summer." Usually we need those days to finish the harvest. As of yesterday, all our crops are harvested. A few more days at neighbours' and it is over for another year. Looking back, this has been a good year with decent crops. It is not as if all the field work is done, but if it has to be, that can wait till spring. On Saturday we had a craft/talent day at our church, to show some of the talents that members in our church have. It was fun and very informative. I had a collection of quilts at the end of the room. It is not often that I can see so many hanging. Mine were not the only quilts. My friend Karen is an excellent piecer, whose Dear Jane quilt you can see hanging in the back. Her daughter Kendra helped mother for the day. It is too bad, that I only seem to be able to upload 3 pictures with Picassa at a time. There were some excellent wood workers, a sandal maker and our minister, who makes beautiful Shaker boxes. I could not resists and bought a whole set of 6 made out of cherry wood. I just love them. I made this quilt top a while ago and had enough time this past week to do the machine quilting. It is a Smile Quilt and will be donated to the hospital in Kitchener. At the last count, our guild had donated over 880 quilts to be distributed to seriously sick children. I hope they will bring some sunshine to a sick and often scared child.

A quilt with a story

This is what we woke up to this morning. We knew it was in the forecast, but you never seem to be ready for this.It will all be gone by tomorrow and we hope to be able to continue the corn harvest. About the quilt. Grandma Helmuth lived through the depression and she has been recycling her whole live. When we went through her house to get it ready for the auction we found in the back of a closet a bag with fabric. Jenny went through a collection of carefully cut up blouses, shirts , aprons and skirts in checks and plaids. She decided that she wanted the bag and on the day of the auction it was hers for $2. She did not know, what she wanted to do with them at first,but later decided to make a small quilt for a gift. She carefully cut out patches and sewed them together Then it was my turn to do the machine quilting. The binding has been sewn by machine and I will start the hand sewing on Saturday. That day we have an art and crafts festival at our church, the Listowel Mennonite Church in Listowel. This will be show casing some of the talents of members of the congregation .It is not meant to be a crafts sale, although some participants might have items for sale. I will show a collection of my quilts. Where: Listowel Mennonite Church, Listowel When: Saturday, November 1st from 10 till 3