A finish and some quilting

Haven't joined Blog land for a while (again...) but been doing some progress in my sewing room the last days. I finally finished my "Pie in the sky" quilt last night, and I am pleased with how it turned out.

Not easy to get a good photo of this huge quilt, but with hubby on a chair holding it, this is how it looks like. I'm looking forward to get to quilt this one. I will finish the quilt by the end of February. I bought the backing for it a while ago.

A while ago I quilted a few tops for some other ladies. 

A red with "Popcorn" pantograph and a blue one with "Ebb & Flow" pantograph. They both turned out great!

I also basted a quilt, and this one will be hand quilted by it't owner.

A blue and green quilt, used "Popcorn" pantograph on this one too, and it turned out great with the green thread.

All three ladies where pleased with the quilting, and I leave it up to them to show the whole quilts when they are finished adding the binding. I'll ask for photos when they are done :-)

It's so cold here today, -21 degrees, so I think I'll be spending some time cleaning up my sewing room today. After finishing a huge project like the "Pie in the sky", it really needs some serious cleaning up! But then it's so nice to sit down working on the next project. I have a few smaller things i have been planning to finish, and hope to do so during the weekend. 

Wish you all a great weekend, 
Laila

My two blocks for the Curve it up QAL and some quilting

I finally got to finish my two blocks for the Curve it up QAL, and I have to admit I love these Tula Pink fabrics! 

The first block is the Curn Dash block. 

The second block is the Sawtooth Star block.

Now I really look forward to see the next block Jenny and Helen will come up with! I really love the curved ruler, and think it's so much fun to make these blocks.

I am finally able to show you a quilt I've had in the making for a looong time! The main part of the quilt was finished almost a year ago, but finally got to add the borders and load it up on the longarm frame last weekend. 
This is a BOM designed by Gail Pan and it's called "Berries and Bluebirds". I've made this quilt for my local quilt shop, and when I'm done quilting it will be staying at Quiltegården for a while :o) You can order the pattern over there too :o)

This is a close up of one of the blocks I've been playing with.

I hope I will be able to finish up the quilt very soon, and will post some more photos when I'm done. 
Only the white backgrounds left to finish :o)

Happy sewing,
Laila

Having fun!

I've been having this gorgeous quilt on my frame for a while. Since I've been having a cold the last two weeks, it did slow me down. But now I'm having a lot of fun quilting!

This quilt is made by a lady in my local quilt guild, and every single block is made by hand!!! She usually hand quilt her quilts, but asked me if I could quilt it on my longarm. I'm happy she likes it so far, and have to admit I like it too. Since I'm a newbie still, it takes lots of time, but I hope to start quilting the borders soon. 

It's wool batting, and it gives the quilt a beautiful texture when it's quilted, and I think this pattern will make it soft and not too flat. 

You can do a few things using some homemade paper templates and use a ruler with different curves. I've been looking for some circles to use for patterns like the one in the large triangles, but I was happy to find out the one I have was ok. I use a purple air soluble marking pen, marking only the ends of each "petal".   

I've been having my Wednesday off work, and got some quilting done between housework and other "have to's". Hubby is working out of town again, so I'm able to enjoy some time in my sewing room. 
Yesterday I got to get border fabrics and backing for a quilt I'm hoping to finish up and load on the longarm frame soon. Can't wait to show you :-)

I'm trying to catch up on the blogs I usually read, and I do leave comments when I do have the time to. I guess there will be more blog posts, and time to read blogs now that the Summer is over and I spend more time indoors. 

I'm off to do a few more stitches before I head to bed, see ya!

Happy sewing,
Laila

A finish :-)

Finished Comfort quilt #1 a couple of days ago, and got to take a photo of it today. 

 The owner is happy about how it turned out :-)

A close up of the quilt:

 I used an allover pattern (pantograph) and light grey variegated thread. 


I have been quilting the "Spools" quilt, and today I could start playing on the white background. I love the McTavishing pattern, even if it's sooo difficult to do but I hope to get it look better as I move along. It's the first time I try the So Fine! thread. It will hide some of the threadplay that comes with quilting this background filler, and I hope it hides some of my mistakes as well :-)

I got the idea for the quilting the spools from Kathy, a blog friend of mine. She is a proffesional longarm quilter, and I love her quilting. She suggested to quilt some straight lines across in matching thread to give the texture of thread on a spool. Thanks so much for your advice Kathy :o)

 

Been making some progress

I've been neglecting my blog lately, but I've been sewing between being busy :o)

I finished the quilting on this quilt yesterday, and got to attach the binding. Finished sewing it down by hand early this morning, so another finish for me this month :-)

I used the scraps from this and this quilt, so now there is not much left of the two fatquarter bundles of Bliss and Ruby. I've got two more quilts using the Bliss line from Moda in my UFO bins, so I hope I get to finish them soon. Love these fabrics. Makes me think about Spring and Summer :-) The pattern is "Smokey Mountain Star" by Bonnie Hunter/Quiltville. I've used this pattern before, and I just love it! I know I will use it again, it's fast, easy and I love the scrappy stars:-)

Close up's of the quilting and the gorgeous fabrics:

I've been quilting a few quilts for others during the last two months. The first one is the one I finished last weekend. It's a gorgeous quilt made by Kjersti Johanne and Kirsti. You can read more about the quilt on Kirsti's blog :-)

This quilt is a lovely 36 patch quilt made by Elin T. Grov/Lappetausa, and if you pop over to her blog you can see the whole quilt there. I love it!

Last weekend I decided to cut the fabrics for this month's AYOS quilt "Summer Day". I enlarged the blocks, so I can make a lap quilt using the pattern. I love how it looks so far, and hope to finish it before the month is over. Wish I had more time to sew!

I've been making progress on my "Hana's basket", a design by Gail Pan. It is one of the project from the weekend class with Gail and Helen. I hope to hand quilt this lovely quilt, and I'm looking forward to finish the needleturn applique so I can get to the part where the hand quilting begins :-)

Wish you all a great weekend, and happy sewing :-)

Laila

A nice weekend in my sewing room :o)

I've spent a lot of time in my sewing room this weekend. Been both sewing and quilting :o)
I've made progress on the AYOS quilt, and this is my two blocks for the "I.S.T.H." quilt plus the pieces for the remaining 7 blocks. 
Since "I.S.T.H." means "Insert Snappy Title Here" I thought I should call mine "Starstruck". Fancy name I think :-) 

This is a large wallhanging my mother pieced a while ago. I got to load it on to the longarm frame yesterday, and spent some hours yesterday night, and this morning to finish quilting it. I'm not so good at this custom quilting (yet...) but I try to figure out how I should do things. I really need to figure out how to make the corners with feathers, I'm not so happy about how they turned out. But it looks ok.
I also need to figure out how much I should quilt to "lock the blocks", I think I maybe overdo that...
I want to get a couple of rulers to make those bows more even, since I really want them to be "perfect". But I guess these things looks better as I get more skills, right?

Mom was pretty happy about it, and I know she look forward to add the binding and get it up on the wall.

I got rid of the word verification on my blog, but keep getting these anonymous comments which must be deleted manually in my blog settings, since they end up there in a "trash list". Do you get lots of those? 
I will try to keep the word verification off for a while and see what happens. I must admit I'm having some difficulties with these myself... 


Tomorrow it's our two youngest Hearties' birthday. Our twins are having their 15th birthday tomorrow, and I can't help thinking the time flies sooo fast! 
We'll have a birthday party for them next weekend, but I guess I'll have to make them some yummy chocolate cake or brownies tomorrow :o)


Wish  you all a creative new week!

My first finish this year :o)

Had a day off work today, and I've been stitching down the last two yards of binding on my "Ruffle" quilt. 
When I was finished piecing the top I thought the wide white border looked a bit too wide, but after I was finished with the quilting I ended up thinking it looks nice. The flowers really decorate the border.

A few details:

These fabrics really reminds me of Summer... :o)

Me and the kids are having a whole week off work and school (Winter Holidays) so I hope to get some sewing done during this weekend and next week :o)

Got some things I 'have to' do, and some I 'want to' do ;o)

I've planned to finish my "Winter Blooms", and I guess adding the binding will be done this weekend.

Wish you all a great weekend!

Happy sewing ♥

Laila

A cozy day :o)

A good friend of mine, Anne Lise, came over to my place today so we could enjoy some sewing together. 
She has been working on a gorgeous quilt, "Winter Wonderland", and needed a little help to get started with the star blocks that will be added to the large piece she finished a while ago. She made all the stitcheries by hand. Anne Lise has been sewing for many years, and she has made LOTS of beautiful patchwork projects, but this is her first large quilt.

She needed a little "kick in da' butt" to get started with the star blocks, and the first star block was carefully cut and pieced, and turned out so nice :o) 

It was so nice to enjoy a day with a good friend, and I hope we'll be able to have a day like this again pretty soon ;o)


Yesterday I got to finish quilting the "Ruffles" quilt. And while I was working on the last row, I discovered something really weird... A quilted flower did "hit" every white block perfectly. What are the odds for that, when I didn't at all try to make that happen???  

I added the binding on the quilt before I went to bed last night, and I've been stitching it down by hand today. Half way to a finish now :-) I think the Lime binding will look good, and I'm looking forward to finish it up. Then I can start with adding the binding on my "Winter Blooms". Guess that will be my weekend project ;o)

Happy sewing ♥

Laila

Charity quilt

It's been a while since I quilted any charity quilts, but since I'm going to pay my friend Sølvi a visit tomorrow to deliver the one I quilted early in January, I thought I should finish the quilting on one more:-)
This is a string quilt made by a lady in my local quilt guild. I used a pantograph pattern, and I like the result. It's a busy quilt, so the quilting is a bit hard to see on the photos.

The charity quilts that are donated to our local Hospital, can be seen  at the blog Tepper til St.Olav. LOTS of gorgeous quilts, so pop over to have a look :-)


I'm looking forward to the weekend, and hope I will be able to make some more progress on my sewing projects. I also hope to take my camera and take a trip outside for a long walk. Been spending too much time indoors, and I can feel I could really need a walk... Maybe it will charge some batteries too :-)


Wish you all a great weekend!

Happy sewing ♥

Laila

Sewing and quilting

I figured I could use my "Full House" pillow as a practice piece, so I loaded it up on the longarm frame and tried to practice on some quilting with rulers, and also on the background filler called McTavishing. Haven't finished the pillow yet, but hope to be able to figure out how to finish this piece soon. 

When I started cutting into the fatquartes of Ruby, the fabric line I used for the "Full House" quilt, I also cut several strips 2,5" wide.  I have a pattern of a quilt I really like called "Ruffles", and making this quilt has been on my mind a while. Since the strips where already precut, it was easy peasy to cut alle the pieces I needed to make the blocks for this quilt. 
I've been piecing the blocks together in rows now, and I like it a lot!
It's not colors that I usually use, but they are so fresh, and they give me Summer feelings :o)
Hard to get clear and bright photos inside when it's dark, but you can see how the blocks looks like:

I will be using a pantograph pattern for this quilt, so it will not take so much time to finish it...I hope...

I just want to practice more on my longarm machine, and the custom quilting is really time consuming. This is a quilt that doesn't need all the details of custom quilting since the fabrics are pretty "busy", I think.

I'm feeling a lot better, it seems like the stomach bugs went to bother someone else... Finally!!!

Wish you all a great and creative new week,

Happy sewing ♥

Laila

Winter Blooms

Finished quilting my "Winter Blooms" quilt yesterday. Only a few stitches that needed to be done, so can't tell you why I waited so long... 

Need to find the fabric for the binding now. Hope I'll be able to find the same one like in the smallest border. 
Here are some detail photos:

So happy I was able to take some photos in daylight today. When I don't use the flash on the camera, the quilting shows off better. I made a few mistakes here and there, but it's after all my second custom quilted quilt. Finished is better than perfect, right? 


Wondering what will be next project... Think I'll try to quilt the "Full House" pillow I finished the other day, then work on some of my UFO's. 
Need to chase the stomach bugs away first, so I'll get some energy to make some progress in my sewing room. 


Wish you all a great weekend, and happy sewing :-)
Laila

A little sneak peek

I've finished quilting a quilt today, a Christmas present for someone close ;o) Since I'm not able to show you the whole quilt yet, I thought I should give you a little sneak peek anyway :o)

The quilt is quilted with these cute daisies and loops all over. (And yes, you can see where I had to rip out a seam that was misplaced ;o)
Now I'll be working on the binding, so I guess I'll be enjoying some hand sewing this evening.


Trying not to think about everything that should have been done for Christmas. I have never been so unprepared for the Holidays before, but there's nothing I can do about it other than doing the best I can. 
I haven't got to send any Christmas cards, but I will send greetings on facebook to the ones I keep in contact with, so I figured that will have to do.


Hope you all are having a nice Sunday, and wish you all a great new week!


Happy sewing,
Laila

A visit and some quilting

On Monday this week, I had a great visit of Merete and Matt. Merete is the dealer of Innova longarm quilting machines here in Norway, and Matt is working as a technician at ABM International, the company that is the supplier of Innova longarm quilting machines.
Matt was checking that the machine was working well, and set up right. Thanks to Hubby who helped me set it up, it was not much Matt had to adjust :o)


I'm so happy about the great service from Merete too, and I'm so thankful for having the opportunity to ask her about how to do things on the machine. 

Last week I decided to be tough enough to load up the "Laila's garden" on "Miss Monster", and since Merete gave me some advice the last time she was here about what to quilt on a quilt like this, I just figured I should give it a try. I've been playing around on test-pieces of fabric and thought it was about time I tried to quilt on a 'real quilt'.
I had to rip out many seams in the beginning, but I learned how to use the machine for this custom quilting, every step on the way down the quilt. This is how it looked like when I was finished:

I think I will do some more quilting on the purple inner border, but have to figure out what I want in there first.  It's the very first quilt I've quilted like this, so it's not perfect! But  it's a start, and I think it was so fun to do! I know what I have to do different next time, and will definitely make another top with applique for custom quilting. It's so fun!

I've been practicing the pantograph patterns on several quilts now, and feel a bit comfortable with these. That means I don't use that much time to finish a quilt like I did in the beginning. I'm hoping to finish some more care quilts with these patterns,too, when I'm done with the things I need to do before Christmas. 


I'm trying not to be stressed about all the things that needs to be done or should have been done, I already know I'm not able to bake a lot, clean every spot in my house and so on either way. I plan to do what I can, and I plan to enjoy the days before AND during the Holidays. I think my kids and my Hubby is more happy about having me around smiling than sad and exhausted because I stress about every thing I should have done. It's not worth it, at all...


I was supposed to go on our local quilt guild's meeting tonight, but had to stay home and rest instead. Hope the rest of the ladies have a nice time with gingerbread and gløgg (mulled wine), and I also hope to see some photos from the projects in "show and tell" later :o)


Wish you all a great week, and hope you take time to enjoy some moments during the days before Christmas

A productive weekend

This weekend I finished the quilt for my DS1. I started working on the "Comfort quilt" right away when the issue #3 of Vignette by Leanne Beasley where released back in July. I have been working on it now and then, and since I pieced all the blocks a while ago it didn't take much time to join the blocks into rows, and the rows into a top. I loaded the quilt top on the longarm machine and finished the quilting on Saturday. DS1 told me a while ago which pantograph pattern he wanted me to use, and also which thread he liked the best. Finished the binding late last night, and I was so happy to see how it turned out!
I used wool batting for this, and it's so light! I will definitely use wool batting in quilts later too.

I just couldn't resist taking some photos of the quilt outside in the snow today. It started snowing late last night, and it looked like a Christmas card outside when we woke up this morning :o) I have to admit I like the snow ;o)

I cut most of the pieces for the "Mill Girls" quilt when I joined the quiltalong for this quilt. 

I haven't made any blog posts for a while, so I haven't got to tell about the progress on it. I finished the blocks and did piece them into rows last weekend. Need to cut the large pieces to join the rows, and will be working on the hour glass blocks for the border.

When I was at Quiltegården a month ago, I bought the latest pattern from AnnAKa, and I've been working a little bit on one of the stitcheries the last week. Slow progress since a bug with fever decided to stay for some days. 

So happy to feel better, and looking forward to get back at work tomorrow. 
Wish you all a great new week,
Laila

Still here...

I'm still here, just haven't had the energy to make any blog posts in a while.


A while ago, about three weeks, Merete came to visit me to see how "Miss Monster" is working. She is such a talented longarm quilter, and I'm so thankful for the things she teaches me. She always gives me an advice whenever I need one, and I just can't wait to try the different things I've learned. Time haven't been on my side lately, but I'll get there :o)

After spending some hours at my place, we headed downtown to Quiltegården for a cup of coffee and a chat with the other ladies that where there this evening. Merete had several quilts she had quilted, and you should have seen the gorgeous quilts that all where ready for binding! I didn't take any photos of them, since I guessed the owners would love to show them on their own blogs ;o)


We had a great time knitting, sewing, chatting and drinking coffee. And of course! We had the pleasure of eating the best chocolate cake I've EVER tasted!!! I will for sure ask for the recipe when I meet the lady that baked the yummy stuff!!!
I also met two ladies I haven't seen in a while, and that was so nice to see them again!

We've had some gorgeous experiences when it comes to  sunsets this month. Several days in a row we've been able to look at some really great ones. It's hard to capture with a ordinary camera, but you get the idea, right?

I've been making some progress on my "Mill Girls" quilt, but haven't taken any photos. Will do when I have finished the rows. I have finished all the blocks, 20 that is, and look forward to finish this quilt. I really love how it looks already.

A fever knocked me out late last night and have been keeping me company today, so I wasn't able to go to work, and not much going on in my sewing room either. Hopefully it's better tomorrow, so I'll be able to get back to work, and some sewing in the evening. 

I'm hoping to get started on a couple of Christmas gifts soon, and I'm trying to figure out what to make. I'm a little late, but I know I will at least get some finished by Christmas as long as I can decide what to make. 

Two finished quilts in a week

I am so satisfied with two finished quilts in a week. I would never finish the quilting on these two quilts so fast if I had to quilt them on my domestic sewing machine. I just LOVE the longarm machine, and look forward to finish all my tops in a few months. 


The first photo is a quilt I made for the charity project. I finished the top a while ago, and I'm so glad to be able to deliver the quilt at my local quilt guild meeting next week. I used a pantograph pattern, and I'm pretty satisfied with the result.  

The next quilt is the one I worked on this summer. I used the Bliss line from Moda, and I just love these colors, even if I'm a big fan of the japanese fabrics. This one is also quilted using a pantograph pattern. The loops is not at all perfect, but at least I got a lot of practice. Finished is better than perfect, right?

I've been working on the longarm machine just a little bit this weekend, but I'm hoping to practice some more freemotion quilting as I move on. 


Wish you all a great and creative weekend ♥

Laila

A perfect Sunday

Mr. Winter came knocking on the door yesterday. It's really getting colder, and the temperatures did crawl just below 0 late last night. Today it's changing from rain to snow, and a chilly wind too. I'm so glad I can spend the day indoors. "Miss Monster" and I are dancing with thread today, and I'm having so much fun! A perfect Sunday :o)
I got to finish the quilting on a charity quilt last night, and today I finished charity quilt #2. I'm trying to quilt using a pantograph pattern called scallop grass. Not easy, but as I go I can see I'm making progress. That makes me really happy!

I've got more charity quilts to finish, and I think I'll use the same pattern since I'm slowly getting the hang of it. 


I'm having Merete's advice on my mind all the time, PPP (Practice, Practice, Practice). Hope it will result in some pretty quilting in a while :o)
Wish you all a great Sunday!

Happy sewing ♥

Laila