Focus project this weekend

It's a wonderful day today, with only -5 degrees. The sun is shining, and it looks great with all the snow. Perfect for my two youngest and their snowboards :o) They went with my brother and his boy, to the alpine center just half an hour drive from us. I hope they will have a great day (it's the first time they are going there). Hope they'll take some pics to show me :o)
They have been training at a small apline center near by, so they really looked forward to go to the "big hills" today. Hubby was supposed to go with them too, but his back is still killing him, so he just have to stay home:o( Guess the kids will spend the whole day there, so I'll be having some sewing time today.

My focus project this weekend is a quilt I started on back in June 2009, the pattern was released at Moda Bake Shop, and I just fell in love with it. It's called "Irish chain".
All the "flower" blocks are finished long ago, so it's only the ones between I need to work on. A bit of puzzle work, but fun! I wish I had some of the fabrics used in the original quilt, they are so beautiful! But I found some fabrics similar in colors, and I think they work all right.
I am working with 2" strips, instead of 1,5" like the pattern says. This way it "grows" faster, and I want to make a lap quilt instead of a baby quilt first. I have the same fabrics precut in 1,5" strips too, so I will also make the baby quilt later:o)

Wish you all a great weekend,
Laila

OPAM report :o)

I'm pretty satisfied with my second finish this month, and the quilt are already in use :o)
I finished it earlier this week, but haven't had time to post it. I'm glad I did enlarge the top when I pieced it. It's two rows wider and longer than I first decided, but I thought it had to be larger, and I'm happy with that deciscion! Guess I'll have to take my power naps more often now, right? :o)

My oldest did cut the picture a little too much, so the binding don't show, but in the previous post you can see I used one of the darkest purple. And that fabric is one of my favorites for sure! I just love the colors. I used a grey thread for the quilting, and it's showd up purple when it's near the purple fabrics! Pretty cool!
I have no idea what to do next, but I guess I'll work some more with my other two quilts. We'll see ;o) I'm behind on e-mails and stuff again, so I guess I'll do something with that this weekend before anything else.

It's Hubby's birthday today, and we've had our relatives over for cakes and coffee, and we've had a great evening. The youngest two have a day off school tomorrow (vacation), and I'm having a day off work, so we'll sleep a bit longer and we look forward to have a weekend one day longer than we use to :o) Late breakfast is nice once now and then :o)
Wish you all a great weekend,
Laila

My first finish this year, and an award :o)

This have been a nice weekend. While the kids and Hubby went to have some fun with their snowboard yesterday, I had my sister in law and my niece over for a visit, and a we did some sewing. It's nice to spend some time together like this for us girls :o) My niece is turning 11 yrs next month, and she is working on a little stitchery. She does a great job! Later last night I got to finish the quilting on my "Purple love", and I also attached the bindig! I started the hand stitching on the binding by hand today, and I guess I'll finish the quilt in a few days :o) Whoo whoo! I'm finally going to have my own quilt soon!


We went to eat dinner at my parents place today, and didn't get home until around eight o'clock. Mum and dad made turkey with potatoes and vegetables, and it was soooo good! Yummy! When we got home I started cutting the pieces for a pincushion I've seen over at Polka Dot Pineapple's blog. She makes so many great turtorials, and they are just amazing, and sweet! I didn't follow the pattern all the way, but I got to finish the pincussion in just a couple of hours! Nice! I made it for my mum, just because :o)

This is my first finish this year, so I have at least one finish for OPAM this month ;o) Hope the quilt will be the second. So I better hurry back to some hand stitching before it's time to check up on those bed bugs soon.



I got this nice award from Trollmors hobbykrok on Friday, and it made me both happy and honored :o) Thank you Trollmor :o)
This means I'll have to tell 7 things about myself, and give it to seven others.

1. I just love quilting and patchwork
2. I am working as a secretary at a Health care senter, and I really like my job
3. I love spending time with my family and friends
4. I dream about having a long arm quilting maschine some day, either a Bernina 820, or maybe a Lenni... That would be so nice!
5. I am not too good finishing what I've started, but I'm trying to get better
6. I love to spend the evenings at home, and when the kids and Hubby are busy doing their stuff, I sneak into my sewing room to enjoy some sewing
7. It makes me happy when people around me cherish what I do for them, even the smalles things :o)

I would love to give this award to these 7 bloggers, and I would like to thank them for inspiration and for being a creative source to mee :
Darcie
Lappetausa
Hanne
Sølvi
Lekaquilt
Abyquilt
Mary

I love to make progress!

As usual on Wednesdays, I had a day off work today, and I am so happy the bugs giving me a week with a nasty cold, is starting to move out. No fun when these bugs runs through your system, that means no sewing :o( My voice is coming back as normal too, so now I can hear when I'm talking to myself again :o) Hihi, I tend to do so when I'm working along :o) Crazy, I know!
Since today was a day I felt better, I got to do some work in my sewig room again. It's been too long between the pleasures of doing something creative, so I just kept my eyes shut for housework and "must do" stuff today. And that feels so great! And this is what I've been up to:

The colors are not so good in some of the photos, but... I got to baste and start quilting my "Purple love". And this will be my focus project the rest of the week. I've decided that I'm going to finish it before the weekend is over :o) And I can do it!


I have been playing around earlier, quilting some of the care quilts. I have been practicing some with this pattern, on paper, and found out I the time was right to try on some quilts. I tried to make the "hooks" a bit huge, so the quilt will not feel flat when it's covered by this quilting pattern. Wish I could do a better job on the quilting, but this is the best I can do at this point, and practice makes perfect, right?


These (two) quilts are donated by some other sweet ladies, and I just baste, quilt and make the binding on them. When they are finished, they will be published at Tepper til St.Olav's blog.
Every charity quilt donated and made for kids with long term diseases at out local hospital, is published there. So many lovely quilts, that makes a little difference. I'm happy to be a part of this work, and hope to finish the ones I keep in a bin, between other stuff I'm working on.

I wish you all a great week, and happy sewing!
Laila

Log cabin fun and some other stuff

I got to sew some last weekend, and I got to make progress on the "Rouge River Log Cabin". I finished one big block with one star. I am going to need five more for a twin size, and a lot of blocks for the border, but I'm taking one step at a time. I thought I had enough scraps precut for a lot more than one star block and almost one more, but I figured out really quick it's a lot more cutting needed for this one. I got to to some more cutting done last weekend as well, but I haven't been able to make any progress this week, so hopefully I'll be working more with these blocks soon.


I also want to tell you about a new blog. It's our local quilt guild,Trondheim Quiltelag's blog.
I had a presetation for our quilt guild members about blogging at our meeting last week, and set up the blog so everyone who wanted to know how, could get some tips on how to start. I am looking forward to see the blogs from the other ladies in our quilt guild, and I know some already have set up their blog :o) So fun!!! The member's blogs will be added to the sidebar as they pop up, so check it out :o)


I'm also attending to the OPAM 2010, and I'm looking forward to do this again. I hope to finish at least one project a month, but the main thing is to have fun, and get to know the other participants, and follow their progress and projects. Lots of inspiration :o)

Hope you all are having a great weekend,
Laila

THANK YOU!

When I think back on the year 2009 when it comes to blogging and quilting, I've had so much fun. I've finished UFO's, I've started new projects, and finished those! I did get a bit more urge to finish stuff during 2009, too. But most of all, I've had so much fun!!!
Why? Because of two great women, who used so much of their time on making us a challenge, through the whole year of 2009. I just can imagine the time they've spent every month, checking up on our blogs, to count every finish we''ve had during each month...
I tagged them both (and hope they don't mind) just so you can see who I am talking about ;o)


May Britt and Kris; I really want to thank you both for making One Project A Month 2009, a fun challenge, with lots of ispiration. Both from you and the others who did participate. I am looking forward to OPAM 2010. And I guess it will be a lot of participants this year too.
To May Britt and Kris: have a great and creative year!

Orkut Myspace Thank You Comments & Graphics
Laila

Some progress on stashbusting :o)

The last couple of days I have been cutting some fabrics now and then, just taking it slow now when my neck is getting better from the inflammation. It takes a lot of time to cut fabrics for a large quilt, and I've been cutting for two quilts at the same time, and that means it will take a lot more work to finish the cutting. But as soon as the cutting is done, I'm able to sew for some days :o) Then it's easier to sit down and get something done, too.
I just had to piece some of the pieces together to see how the blocks turned out, and I think I like it! I am trying to use both new and old fabrics, and I think I will have some yards less in my stash when I'm done :o)
The first one is some of the "Bricks and Stepping Stones" by Bonnie.

The next is for the "Scrappy Spools". Aren't they nice? I think every quilter should have a quilt filled with spools :o) I am thinking about making one miniature quilt with spools too, just to have a little quilt to put up on the wall. When I am done with all the tops I have in progress, I guess I will have enough of the ones I can wrap around me to keep warm ;o)

I will try to focus on these quilts now, before I move to another project. But I might work on other UFO's and WISP's as I move along. I tend to get bored when I focus on only one project at a time, because I get so many ideas on the way, I just cannot keep my mind on one thing. I guess some of you agree, and some of you don't. But the main idea for me anyway, is to have fun, do the things I like whenever I want ;o) That's the way it works best for me :o) But I wish I was better with finishing stuff... but I will maybe get better this year? I will definitely try! Hope you all are having fun doing what you like, when you like too:o)