New Fabric

One of the best things about of visiting a quilt show (besides the quilts, quilters and meeting up with friends) is the pleasure of shopping at the merchants' mall. One of the shops at the Ailsa Craig Community Quilt Festival was Den Haan & Wagenmakers. They ran out of fabric mid-week because so many of us were thrilled to have the rare opportunity to buy their traditional Dutch reproduction fabrics, actually printed in The Netherlands.

Aren't they gorgeous? This might be my favourite:

This one is beautiful too:

And then there's this fabric in more traditional Dutch colours:

It's a good thing I didn't have to choose just one! Along with the fabric, I bought a Dutch Windmills pattern that will be fun to make. In the meantime, I'll enjoy just looking at them.

Enjoy your day,

Judy Ann

Dutch Quilts!

Every once in a while a quilt show comes along that takes my breath away. That's the case this week with the quilts of The Netherlands at the Ailsa Craig Community Quilt Festival . These quilts will delight, challenge, amaze, amuse and inspire you. The Dutch women are wonderful—so friendly, knowledgeable and willing to answer questions (in English!) about patterns and techniques. The organizing committee has thought of everything so you can be sure of an enjoyable visit. And make sure you have some pie in the cafe. Yum!

Enjoy your day,

Judy Ann

Teeny Tiny Library

As part of my half-time job at the London Public Library , I work at the teeny tiny Glanworth branch, located in the sweet village of Glanworth, Ontario. I'm not sure if it is the smallest library around, but it is difficult to believe there is one any smaller! It's about the size of most people's kitchen or dining room, and has electricity, but no bathroom or running water. It is only open four hours per week, but those hours are busy and fun. Glanworth patrons are the best! Here are a couple of photos of the little library, this week made lovelier by colourful tulips and crab apple blossoms.

Every Saturday morning from 10 until noon, I have a craft ready for kids to make. I had better come up with something good for this weekend!

Enjoy your day,

Judy Ann

Point Pelee

My hubby and I took a play day on Monday to go to Point Pelee for the spring bird migration. It was an amazing day! I don't know my birds, but Jeff (and many experts there) sure do. We saw countless species including at least a dozen different warblers. One of my favourites (and the most plentiful) was the perfect little Yellow Warbler.

See what happened when I tried to photograph it? All I got was a yellow blur as the wee warbler kept flitting from branch to twig to stem.

I finally managed to get a couple of shots, not really good, but at least not blurred! 

Trees, rooted to the spot, are so much easier to photograph;-) These marsh-side willows are absolutely gorgeous in their bright green spring foliage.

Enjoy your day,

Judy Ann

Try again!

A strange thing happened with my blog post from Thursday, May 12th: it disappeared! So, I'm going to try again.

My sister, Mary, is hosting a fundraiser for Sjogren's research to be held in Akron, Ohio on May 18th. I've made a baby quilt for the silent auction part of the event. The pattern is called "Get to the Point" from Linda Bartlett at Quilts and Calicos in Exeter, Ontario, always a fun and irresistible shop to visit. This photo shows the top stitched together but not yet trimmed.

This rather washed-out photo shows the quilt top trimmed and the "flipper" border in place.

Here the outer border is attached and the quilt is sandwiched, basted along the outside edge and pinned all over, ready to be machine quilted. I like doodling all over the quilt with swirls, hearts and loops.

I like scrappy bindings!

I was so excited (and in a hurry as usual) to be finished the quilt that I forgot to take any photos! I'm glad my sister took a couple for me. Mary's cat, Sadie, really likes the quilt and I'm very happy to report that Mary really likes it too!

Whenever I make a quilt, I always stitch in a little love.

It would be really fun to know who ends up with this quilt. My hope is that they know that it was made with a joyful heart.

All the best,

Judy Ann

My Mom

My mom is an amazing woman. She raised eight kids, helped Dad run our home farm, always had large vegetable and flower gardens, and cooked, baked, sewed, crocheted and knitted for us too. Life hasn't always been kind to her but you would never know—she's cheerful and full of life and love, still mothering us all. We're so lucky to have her in our lives. And I'm lucky enough to have the sweetest mom-in-law ever too!

All the best,

Judy Ann

Early-Morning Sunshine

It has been a long time since we've had a bright, sunny morning. One of my favourite summery scenes is seeing early-morning sunshine slanting across the verandah as I walk down the stairs.

Stepping out onto the verandah is lovely too. I wonder if I'll have a chance to sit out here today?

Enjoy your day,

Judy Ann

Scrappy binding

I know a scrappy binding doesn't suit all quilts, but it is my favourite for most of the quilts I make. I'm enjoying just looking at the variety of fabrics in this binding. I hope to stitch it onto a baby quilt in the next day or two.

All the best,

Judy Ann

Rainy morning baking

It's a rainy, cool first-day-of-May morning here. There were rotten bananas on the counter and buttermilk in the fridge so it seemed like a perfect time to bake banana bread. Mm-m, it's never better than hot from the oven, is it? I used my mom's recipe:

1  3/4 cups all-purpose flour (I use part whole wheat flour)

1  1/4 cups sugar

1  tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

2 eggs

2 -3 ripe bananas (1 cup)

1/2  cup vegetable oil

1/4  cup plus 1 tbsp. buttermilk

1  tsp. vanilla 

1  cup chopped walnuts (I toast them in the toaster oven at 300 F for about 5 minutes and allow them to cool.) 

In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. In another bowl, combine eggs, bananas, oil, buttermilk and vanilla; add to flour mixture, stirring until combined. Stir in nuts. Pour into a greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pan (I line the bottom with waxed paper) and smooth the top. Bake at 325 F for about 1 hour and 20 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes, then remove from pan and enjoy! (I usually double this recipe to make three smaller 8 x 4 inch loaves. Bake for about 1 hour.)

Happy Baking and Happy May,

Judy Ann