A little bit of this and a little bit of that...

I have been doing a little bit of knitting, sewing and longarm quilting lately even if I had a big set-back with my health issues the last two weeks. A really nasty cold to top it off is not what I needed right now, but that's just how it goes... I'm just so glad I have my hobbies to keep me occupied :-)

Earlier this month I finished a pair of Blueberry waffle socks and a Strippy Charm pouch for my niece's birthday. I just love the soft blue colors in these socks!

Another pair of Blueberry waffle socks are almost done, and I like the new sock yarn I used for these. It's called Alpakka strømpegarn (alpaca sock yarn) by Sandnesgarn. Super soft and lovely to knit with!

A while ago I ordered a cute pattern from Lori Holt's Etsy shop called "Modern Mugs". I have made a few of the blocks using the Modern minis panel fabrics, and I love the cute sayings on them. I am making this quilt for my little kitchen corner, and hope to finish it up soon.

This weekend I finished a cute block Lori Holt made a Instagram tutorial for, and I think it's just super cute! I have only made the 6" block, but will make the 12" block later too. The larger one is perfect for a pillow cover, and when you love Instagram as much as I do I need to make one, don't you think?

I have been cutting and piecing a few blocks for a new table runner using my happy colored fabrics too, and I hope to get the top done soon so I can load it on the longarm frame and get it quilted. I found a tutorial on Lori Holt's blog for a scrappy happy table runner, and just made the blocks a bit larger than the one in the tutorial. 

I have been longarm quilting several small projects on the same backing, and one of the quilts I have finished is a made by a friend of mine. It's a table runner/wall hanging made by Sølvi. I quilted around every appliquèd piece and added some McTavishing to the background fabric. So happy she like it, and I had so much fun finishing this one! 

I had to set up my old Bernina sewing machine this weekend, since my new Bernina 710 decided to shut down... I guess the CPU will have to be replaced, and I keep my fingers crossed it won't be long till I have it back working. I bought it last summer, so I'm not too happy to send it back so soon for a repair... But hopefully it will be working fine for many years when it comes back from the sewing machine doctor!

Wish you all a great new and creative week!
Hugs,
Laila

Another finish :o)

Just before bedtime last night I managed to finish one more Strippy Charm pouch. A little bit smaller than the other one, and perfect for keeping my pens and pencils!

These fabrics are just so beautiful, and I look forward to play more with them.

Have been working on my blocks for the Bloom quilt this evening, and will try to finish one row before I hit the bed tonight. Only two blocks left before I can piece the blocks together. 

Today it wasn't snowing, and I just had to try capturing some photos outdoors. The light was spectacular, and I wish I had better skills in photography than I have but still learning ;o)

When you live in an older house, icicles from the roof is pretty normal. These are hanging outside my living room window:

The sun is still low for me to see it, but the landscape is so lovely against the light from it behind the hill. 

Happy sewing,
Laila

My finish #1 for 2016

Woke up early to go to the doctor's office today to take some new blood tests. It had been snowing so much during the night and it still was, so  I figured I should delay it till tomorrow. I wouldn't been able to drive more than a couple of yards and get stuck in the snow... 

 I'm so glad my parents live nearby and that my father has a tractor and can help me to get rid of the snow in our parking space, which is way too much work for me. We have a snowblower, but I am not getting near that thing.... Hubby, who is out of town working, can play with that one :-) Too heavy for me.

But bad weather means great sewing weather, so I spent some time in my sewing room after shoveling a lot of snow first.

I cut a few gorgeous fabrics for a new Strippy Charm pouch. I wanted to make a project I could finish, and this is my first finish this year. Yay! 

It turned out so great, and I love the fabrics by Nadra Ridgeway called Bloom and Bliss. Now I am waiting for her new line, and look forward till it hits the quilt shops later this year :-)

You can find the pattern for the Strippy Charm pouch at Moda Bake shop. It's one of my favorite patterns for small purses, and I have made many of them in different sizes. 

Happy sewing,
Laila

Stashbusting

I decided to ignore the clutter that still needs to be organized in my sewing room, and did some piecing instead. I also got to place my mini quilt up on the wall behind my sewing machine. 

And dear quilt inspector Nano was there to supervise my work :-) 

Pouch #1 was finished late last night, and pouch #2 was finished tonight. They are fun and fast to make, and I enjoy trying to make them in different sizes and fabrics. Pouch #2 is perfect for pens and pencils, and the larger one is perfect for make up and stuff.

I'm hoping to get my longarm machine set up soon. It's still in pieces down in the basement. I know I haven't the energy to do any longarm quilting yet, so I'm in no hurry. Perhaps me and hubby will set it up this weekend, but we'll see. We still have a lot of stuff to do in the house, so I don't mind to wait a little bit more. 
It's nice to work on smaller things I manage to finish at this point, then I can sort my larger projects and focus on finishing them in a while.

Hugs,
Laila

I'm sewing again!

I'm finally back in my sewing room, sewing again! Yesterday I couldn't resist cutting a few pieces of fabric and piece together a small purse. I felt like a newbie to be honest, since it's been almost five months since I did this! Been too long without playing with needles and thread!!!

The little red purse was finished yesterday, and the blue and cream one was finished today.

I haven't been able to sew at all the last five months because of some major rebuilding of  the second floor in our house. I never thought it would be such a long term thing, but I'm so glad it's finally coming to an end!  There is still lots of stuff that needs to come out of boxes and bins, and my sewing room isn't at all cleaned up and it's so messy around here. All the clutter, noise and stuff has been very tiring for me, so I have been sooo exhausted the last months. I'm feeling a bit better now that I can relax again, and I will take one day at a time and get my house back to normal again. Can't wait to have everything back in place!

Quilt inspector Suzu is just as happy as I am for finally enjoying som sewing room time :o)

During the months without my sewing room I have been knitting. I've knitted a few things I'll show in a post later when I finish them up. 
This is a photo of a hat I'm working on:

I look forward to hours of cozy stuff during the winter time ahead. And since Christmas is coming soon, I will try to finish up some projects I have in mind for presents. I guess a lot of my sewing friends are in Christmas mode too :o)

Wish you all a nice Sunday!

Hugs,

Laila

Stashbusting!

 I think I am totally addicted to stashbusting these days! I made one more pouch tonight, and made it out of some of my favorite fabrics. Those who knows me, knows this is my favorite color :o) 
I've loved purple since I can remember, and I buy with my eyes when I see fabrics like this in my favorite quilt shops!

I'm not keeping this, I've already gifted it to one of my boys' girlfriend :o) Nothing's like making someone happy :o) 

The nice thing about these small projects, is that you can finish up something in one day (a couple of hours), and when you love making larger quilts like me it's great to feel the satisfaction of a finish.

I can't remember if I've already posted about this next project. It's a quilt I started a long time ago, before we moved to our new home. This quilt is from Elizabeth Hartman's book called "Modern patchwork".

I first spotted this quilt at Instagram, and I totally fell in love with it! You can see which quilt over at Elizabeth's blog. Eyecandy for sure!!!

I am far from a finish, but this is a project I work on now and then between other projects. 

The quilt is called "Honey in space".

I'm using my Tula Pink fabrics for this quilt together with black solid fabric. I love the effect the black gives, and it makes the other fabrics sparkle.

This will for sure be a fun quilt to load up on my longarm frame when I finish it! Have a couple of ideas for the quilting already :o)

The sun came back here in Trondheim, so I'm going to enjoy some gardening and just be out in the sun. I'm already looking forward to the Summer Holidays, and I really hope this Summer will be a nice one! Last year we spent the whole three weeks keeping one of the twins company at the hospital, so we didn't get to barbecue or go on fishing trips at all. Fingers crossed we'll all stay healthy and that the weather will be nice :o) 

Happy quilting,

Laila

Scrappy pouches

My back is not my friend these days, so I haven't been able to do any longarm quilting.

I have spent some time doing some "ordinary" sewing, and I have enjoyed making some scrappy pouches. 

The larger one, I made last night. That one was already pieced, so I just needed to attach the wadding and make the lining and piece it together. One more UFO is out of the UFO bin :o)

The three other pouches I made today. I also made a fourth one using the same scraps, but I sent it home with my SIL before I took a photo of it, and she loved it :o) 

The pattern is the one I found on the Moda Bake Shop blog. It's called Strippy Charm Pouch. I made some pouches back in August 2012, and I just love this pattern since it is perfect for using up those strips that is left from other projects. 

Hope you all will have a great and creative new week, with lots of needles and thread :-)

Happy quilting :o)

Laila