Little bit of sewing going on

I've tried to be patient waiting for some sewing time during the last weeks, and I have digged out a few UFO's and tried to focus on a few projects to play with the last days. I'm working so much slower than I am used to, and it's not so fun when I'm used to get a lot done... I am not focused enough to work on one thing, so I just have to continue to jump from project to project just to get the feeling of doing something useful :-)

I digged out a stitchery I started a couple of years ago from the UFO bin, and will try to finish it to make the table runner it's a part of. I love snowmen, and this is the cutest table runner!

A little while ago I got a package in the mail from my dear friend Kathy in Canada. She sent me some lovely quilty stuff, and a mini quilt kit was one of them. It's a mini quilt designed by Thimbleblossoms/Camille Roskelley and it's called "Norway". Isn't it just gorgeous?

I have trouble sleeping because of the medicine I'm on, so last night I figured I should get some sewing done instead of walking around like a zombie going crazy. I managed to finish the whole quilt during the night, and this is the result. Isn't it gorgeous?

I will quilt and bind it as soon as I can, and use it as a wall hanging. It measures 12,75", so it's perfect to put up on a wall :-)

I'm so glad to be feeling a little bit better even if it's taking way much longer than I thought, and I really hope to get back to my longarm quilting machine again soon too. 
I'm still behind with the Christmas stuff, but the kids and Hubby will help me out to get most of it done in time.
We'll make it simple but cozy, and no stress will be involved. I'm just looking forward to enjoy the Holidays with my family, and that's all that matters to me. I don't care that some of the Christmas decorations will stay in their bins, and that no cakes and cookies will be homemade. We'll buy candy and cookies at the store and enjoy our Christmas anyway :-) 

Happy sewing,
Laila

Still progress in my sewing room

It's been nice to spend some time in my sewing room the last week. 

I have been cutting a lot of fabrics and have enjoyed working with the repro's. 

I have a few more pieces for the new table runner I am working on, and I will need three large blocs to make it. One block is finished, and number two is in progress. Hope to finish it today. 

These are some of my precut pieces, and they are all so cute😊

Yesterday I had a lot of Happy mail. I got my fatquarter bundle of Lori Holt's new line, and also a nice parcel from Australia arrived!
I ordered some stuff from Helen Stubbings, and I have been excited to start this cute project:

New stitchery needles and the threads to make this also arrived with the pattern, so of corse I had to start one right away! Super fast when I didn't need to trace the pattern on to the fabric, since it comes with iron on transfers 😊

I have to admit I needen some "me time"these days, without explaining too much about that... Life happends, and sometimes everyone needs a little "time-out" to get the batteries charged.
We are having our Summer Holidays back here, and while Hubby is working on the house with stuff I can't help with and the kids are doing their stuff, I am sewing as much as I can when the weather is rainy and cold. 
We've been working a little in the garden too, but no fun when it rains...

I'm off to clean up a bit in my sewing room before dinner, so I can continue where I left 

Happy sewing!
Laila

Some new stuff

Spring finally came around, and I have been doing some gardening again. Cutting back some of the blackcurrant bushes and getting rid of old leafs and grass. The two furballs, Nano and Suzu, have been following my every move and they are super happy to be playing outside in the warmer weather. Funny how some sun and warmer weather can make both animals and people happier :o) 

Big changes happened lately, and long story short; I had to leave my job because of my health issues, so now I will have to stay on a sick leave until I can join a job training program to see if there is a job out there for me. It's so sad to leave your colleagues through 25 years, but I try to do the best out of the days I'm staying home. I'm so happy I have my hobbies, and that I'm able to keep my focus on something positive. Quilting, knitting and sewing is therapy, right? At least I feel better when I can do something creative.

Earlier this month the Norwegian designer Bente Tufte came to our quilt guild meeting and talked about her quilting life and the patterns she has made. She uses a lot of stitcheries in her projects, and I bought a pattern called "Løper med broderi"/"Table runner with stitcheries". I just fell in love with the lovely table runner she made, so I have started mine. Almost finished the stitcheries, and I am soon ready to quilt some simple quilting on it before I finish the binding. 

If you want to see more of Bente Tufte's work, you can visit my local quilt guild's blog.

It's no secret I love Gail Pan's work. I ordered the book she released a while ago, and started a stitchery for a gorgeous pillow from the book. I'm using a variegated thread, so I don't need to worry about thread changing :o) Love it!

I've been knitting almost every night when watching TV with Hubby. I just finished attaching the threads on three pairs of Blueberry waffle socks. The white pair is already delivered to it's new owner, my dear Mum :-) The others will be kept in a bin, so I have some presents ready for upcoming birthdays/Christmas.

When our local quilt guild are having meetings, my local quilt shop Quiltegården has a nice selection of stuff from the shop for us to buy. I bought this book by Lori Holt after seeing shopowner Siw's gorgeous table runner made from one of the patterns in the book.

One of the blocks I finished looks like this:

I love these fabrics, and I hope to make a table runner for my dining room table using them.

I have also tried out the twister ruler. I haven't tried this before, so I had to make a test block:

My plan is to make several blocks for a table runner using these. Love how it came out!

No UFO's in this post, but I will be making progress on them when I'm finished quilting the quilt on my longarm:

I had to get more thread, since the cone I had was way to small to cover the blue areas.... It's great to have longarm quilting friends to ask when that happens. I'm super happy my friend (you know who you are :o)...) is sending me a cone of the same color, so I can finish it up. Almost half way there.....

Wish you all a great and creative weekend that is just around the corner ;o)

Hugs,

Laila

UFO challenge

As you know, I have been organizing my sewing room for many weeks. Slowly I get things sorted, and I get an overview. I have been looking through the boxes with unfinished projects, and I thought I should post some of them here on my blog. I know I have a lot more UFO's, but these are the ones I picked out this time. I know I am the Queen of UFO's, and some of you might be shocked over how many I have... But as long as I am having fun, and I do finish stuff now and then, I don't care about what other people think. I must admit I wish I finished one project at a time, but that just doesn't work for me ;o)

I have been challenged on Facebook to show my finished projects several times, but I thought it would be fun to challenge my friends here in Blogland to show your UFO's... Anyone out there want to join me? Just for fun? 

 In the first collage you can see the three blocks of a quilt called "Dancing with the stars",
the finished rows of "Millgirls quilt", "Dreamweaver" designed by Tula pink, a quilt made from a pattern by Anni Downs and a table runner also designed by Anni Downs.

 In the second collage you can see the 9patch quilt I started last spring, some of the blocks for "Winter Blooms" designed by Gail Pan, blocs for a quilt from Kim Bracett's book, an hexagon quilt in Tula Pink fabrics, a BOM from Gail Pan and stithery and table runner from Helen Stubbings' patterns.

In the third collage you can see the start of a larger log cabin quilt designed by Judy Martin, "Bricks and stepping stones" designed by Bonnie Hunter, two new blocks I made the other day for a scrap quilt ispired by my friend Sølvi, a spool quilt from a scrap quilt book and some blocks for a new "Comfort quilt" designed by Leanne Beasley.

Some of these UFO's are years old, and some are new, but they are all projects I hope to finish this year. I hope to enjoy a lot more time in my sewing room soon. 

I have been going to a neurologist for a while and after taking a sleep test he required, he figured out that I have RLS (restless legs syndrome). This can be the main reason I am so tired and feel like no energy, since it can cause severe nightly sleep. When you sleep bad for months the body just says STOP, so now I really keep my fingers crossed that the medicine he gave me will help. 
Just hope to be "back on track" again soon, and looking forward to follow my friends here in Blogland :o)

Big hugs,
Laila

Something new...again :o)

Had my day off work today, and wanted to start on a project I've had on my mind for a long time. Back in April I attended a weekend class with Gail Pan and Helen Stubbings. Helen did teach some of us her technique to make faux appliquè. She calls it Colorquè. In her book "Faux Appliquè" is the most gorgeous quilt. It's made of nine blocks and a border using this technique. I got to trace four blocks, and I got to add colors to one of the blocks. I think it looks good so far :o)

I've started to stitch the outlines with the thread I bought from Helen when I ordered the color pencils and textile medium from her website Hugs'n Kisses. This will be a project I will be working on during the winter. I'm really looking forward to quilt this one! 

I got some nice mail today too! I ordered the Quick Curve Ruler and a pattern from Lappemor. The ruler and the pattern is made by Jenny, owner of Sew Kind of Wonderful. Jenny has two blogs I've been following for a while, and she is such a great longarm quilter too! I just love the different quilts she's made using this ruler, and I really wanted to make one of these quilts so I could play with "Miss Monster" on it. I love traditional quilts, but I also love the modern quilts, with different quilting patterns. 

I watched Jenny's videos on Youtube, and decided to try the ruler tonight. 

First attempt failed.... I was not paying attention to the size of the pieces. Second attempt was perfect, until I cut the block an inch too small... *sigh*

Lesson learned...

Third attempt did not fail, and I got half a block looking almost perfect  :o) Yep, I'm doing the happy dance :o) I've NEVER pieced a curved seam before, so I'm proud of myself (even if I used such a long time sewing those two seams...).

I'm using white cotton for background, and will use a lot of different scraps/fatquarters I've got stashed. Hope to at least make the other half of the block tomorrow. 

I'm almost finished quilting the panel quilt. I spend too much time wondering and thinking about how to quilt the different spaces. But think I've got some ideas to finish up with. Will post a photo of it in my next blog post. 

Happy sewing,

Laila

More about the weekend class

All of us had such a great time during the weekend. I met a lot of ladies from classes we attended together a while ago, but I also met several of the ladies I know only from Blogland. So nice to meet them in person!

This is some photos of the "busy bees" :o)

Quiltegården had lots of yummy fabrics, notions, patterns and thread we cold buy. I felt like a hoarder after this weekend, but I've got a lot of plans for the yummy stuff that came home with me :o)




Gail wanted to get a photo outside while it was snowing. I think both Gail and Helen liked the snow :o) And I can understand that, it looked pretty nostalgic when the snow was falling outside. Even if us locals wanted less off it ;o)

Unni got to finish her scissor holder, and it looked so pretty! She's such a talented lady, and her hand quilting skills is to die for!

Both me and Unni fell for the project Helen brought, which wasn't on the agenda for this weekend, but she helped us prep the gorgous block with birds and leaves, and did show us how she made it. A couple of the other ladies also wanted to try this, and we loved it! Something different, and most of all so fun!

This is Unni and me, very focused on playing whit the coloring pencils. We laughed a lot about it, since we felt like a couple of kids :o) But we had so much fun! And the result was so pretty!

Somebody joked about making angels in the snow, and when Borghild jumped into the snow and made a snow angel Gail was suddenly jumping in too, and made her snow angel :o)

Of course Helen had to make hers too:-)

Thank you so much Gail and Helen, this was such a nice weekend! Thank you so much for the inspiration you left me! I really hope to see you again :o)

This is how one of my projects look after I finished the stitching around the colored leaves and birds. So pretty!

I'll post more about the progress on the other projects I started this weekend  in my next post :o)

Christmas gifts and something new

Hope you all had some nice and cozy days with family and friends, and that the Holidays did bring joy and also some nice surprises :o)
I've had a great Christmas evening with my family, and we had a lovely dinner with desserts and lots of nice presents for both the kids and us grown ups.


I made only two of the Christmas presents this year. One quilt for my parents, and one for my Hubby's parents. 
The first one is a quilt I made starting in December, and finished the last stitches just the day before Christmas Eve. It's made from a pattern designed by Anni Downs, from the book "Some kind of wonderful", and the quilt is called "Snuggle quilt".
It's quilted on my longarm machine with a pantograph pattern called "Daisies Galore". 

(click on the photos to make them larger)

The next one is a quilt I started piecing in june 2008.
It's called "My blue heaven" and a design by Bonnie Hunter,  I found the pattern over on her web page. 
I finally got to quilt this large quilt when I got my longarm machine, and it's quilted with a pantograph pattern called "Quirky".

Today we did celebrate my mom's birthday. We where supposed to go to my parents place for dinner, but the storm last night cut the power to their house so we made dinner at our place instead. We had a lovely meal, and coffeè with desserts after. I've had lots of quality time with my family during the Holidays, and that's what Christmas is about :o)


The day before Christmas, an envelope with a pattern I waited for, arrived. It's a table runner with snowmen. I just adore snowmen, they are sooo cute! This is a pattern I ordered from Kathrine's quiltestue a while ago, but since she was sold out I had to wait till she got it back in stock again. I traced the motif on to cotton fabric today before the dinner party started, and I am now ready to start stitching. I guess it woun't be finished until next winter, but that's fine by me :o)

Aren't these just super cute? It's been a while since I made a pattern with snowmen, and I will enjoy every stitch :o)

The new year is only days away, and I've already made plans for what to finish and what to start working on the next months. I've got some exciting events next year, and I can't hardly wait! 
I'll write more about that in a later post. Got to check up on those bed bugs now, off to work tomorrow.


Wish you all a great new week, and happy sewing to those of you who have time to enjoy working with needle and thread :-)


Laila

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

I'm still here!

I've been totally neglecting my blog (again) for a while. I haven't felt like doing much sewing since I've been bothered by a nasty cold the last two weeks, and it's been stealing all my energy. I think every second person I know, have had this long lasting cold, so I guess it's a typical Fall-thing.


The other day I got to put the binding on a table runner I made before Christmas last year. Since I didn't get to finish it back then, I put it in one of my UFO-bins. It's nice to dig out a UFO that don't need much work before it's totally finished :o)
I finished sewing the binding by hand last night, and it's all wrapped up ready to be given as a present to someone in my family later today, as a wedding present :o) 
I've made several table runners like this, and I have to admit it's one of my favorite patterns. 

I'm so happy to tell you that my mom finally fell in love with patchwork, and she has made some lovely blocks from a pattern called "Britt-Lisa's blomsterkurver" made by AnnAKa.
She is almost finished with a pillow (needs quilting) and the stitcheries for a table runner. Looks great, right?

I think it's so fun that she is into patchwork, too. I think she's addicted already :o) 


It's a beautiful Autumn day today, the sun really makes the Autumn colors sparkle. I wish I was feeling better, so I could do a little photo-walk today, but I guess I have to take it easy a couple of days more. Running on low batteries, would make it a very short trip anyway. 
I will try to do a little progress on the secret quilt I'm working on instead. Hand sewing is a nice and easy thing to enjoy on a day like this :o)


Wish you all a great weekend!
Hugs ♥
Laila

Slow progress

There has been a slow progress on my projects lately, but now and then I've spent some time in my sewing room working on a couple of them. I've made some blocks for my "Picnic" quilt, using only reproduction fabrics. I've made 40 blocks so far, so still 40 more to make.
The pattern for this quilt is from Kim Brackett's new book "Scrap-basket Sensations".
Pop over to Kim's blog to read more about the Fat Quarter Shop's Scrap-basket Sensations Quilt club. 

It's been a while since I finished all the blocks for this gorgeous quilt, the "Short story" from the book Schnibbles times two, and I've started to join the rows. They are all ready to be joined together, so not much work left before the borders ;o)

I got a nice little packet in the mail yesterday, Lynette Anderson's BOM "My Garden" arrived!!! Typical me, I didn't get it while my local quilt shop had this for sale... Looking at  all the lovely blocks around on my friend's blogs, I just had to ask around to see if anyone knew where to get it! May Britt (Abyquilt) helped me out, and gave me a hint where to get it, she did find out that Lynette Anderson had a few available over at her webshop! Woohoo!!! The thread used in this BOM was already in my stash, so yesterday I got to trace the nine stitchery patterns and got to start stitching :o) Block #1 is in the making! Me like!!

I will enjoy stitching this between making progress on the other projects during my Summer Holidays, and look forward to add the fabric strips to complete the blocks. The colors in this BOM is just the perfect colors, and I will get to  use lots of my japanese fabrics/scraps in this quilt :o)


The weather here in Trondheim is not too nice today. Forecast and a little rain. A perfect sewing weather, so it's fine by me for a while, but hoping that it will be some sunny days during this summer too. It's been chilly and too much rain until now... 

Wish you all a great and creative weekend ♥

Laila

Progress

I forgot to show the finished quilt top, made with the Bliss line. I thought I would make one big quilt, but made up my mind and made two smaller ones. I've only finished one of them, and the other is almost finished. Just need to add the sashing between the rows. I found the backing piece I need to get it quilted yesterday, so I will finish this in a few days I hope.

I've also made some progress on my stitchery project. The table runner is looking great so far :o)

Got to take a break from all the hand sewing, since it's not so good for my neck and shoulders.

A couple of weeks ago we went to take a walk in the forrest, to a little lake we use to go to, with my brother and his family. We also brought our fishing gear, but we didn't catch any fish this time. But we had a cozy time, eating hot dogs and baked potatoes. Mum and dad joined us later, and their dog Luna was happy to join us too :o)

I love these trips with my family, and I hope we'll have many cozy times like this during this summer.

Since we've been having so much rain and low temperatures till now, I hope the rest of the summer will be much better. We really deserve some more sun, I think :o)

Wish you all a great weekend,

Laila

"Butterfly dilly bag"

Yay! The "Butterfly dilly bag" is finished! 

I used a purple fabric I got from the same friend that sent me the beautiful thread. A perfect match :o) 

Since the pattern includes two different stitcheries, I placed one on each side of the bag.

I did one thing wrong tough... I didn't think twice before sewing and cutting to make the bottom corners, so the stitcheries ended up a bit further down on the sides than planned... But not too far down, phew...

This is a bit typical me when I'm not paying attention, but I've learned my lesson today!

So... this means I've got one more finish for OPAM this month, so now I've got two finished projects for May. I'm happy about that :o)

Happy sewing, 

Laila

A little stitchery today

Started on a little stitchery today when the migraines that have been around, left today.

It's going to be on the front of a little bag called "Butterfly dilly bag". It's a pattern made by Gail Pan. So cute! I used the hand dyed thread from Cottage garden threads. I got this thread from a good friend, and so happy to finally find a project to use it in! 

And you know me, I LOVE purple :o)

I hope to finish the bag during the weekend, and if the weather is going to be like the weather station says, it's going to be sewing-weather. Rain, rain and rain.

Me and Hubby went to my parents place today while the boys was meeting some of their friends. I took my parents dog Luna with me for a little walk, and since noone else uses the track we went I didn't need a leash for Luna. 

No need to worry about meeting any moose with this "lady" walking along with me :o)

Happy sewing,

Laila

Some progress :o)

I've been making some progress on the "Winter Blooms" quilt. I was going to finish it this weekend, but that didn't happen... But the night is still young, so I will get some progress before I jump to bed. I think it looks great!


I went downtown to Quiltegården last Friday, and this is the treasures that just had to come home with me:Some gorgeous fabrics, more thread, and a Jelly roll I've already made plans for ;o)
I also get to meet one of the girls I met at Gail and Leanne's class in September 2009.
Berit has a blog too, so pop over to say "Hi" :o) It was so nice to meet her again! You should have seen the lovely Christmas stockings she had made!!! I hope she'll share them on her blog when she gets back home ;o)
We had a great time shopping at Quiltegården, and a cozy lunch afterwards. Sølvi joined us too, and I was so sad when I didn't get to spend more time with the girls. Hope it's not too long till next time :-)

The last time I was teaching my class at Quiltegården, I forgot a bag of my stuff. Among the stuff I left there (I'm a messy head, if you haven't figured that out already...), was the front piece of my version of Gail Pan's bag "Heart of the home backpack". I guess the ones of you who knows me, can see it's a bit typically me, purple and all ;-)
Actually, I started working on the stitchery long ago. I finished it in November 2009, so it's been a WISP for more than a year!
But you can get the idea how it's going to turn out now?


I am going to focus on the "Winter Blooms" quilt now, so I hope to get it finished in a couple of days. Then I will make a few Christmas presents I've got on my mind. Christmas is right around the corner, and not much time left to finish up some stuff...

There is a great Giveaway happening over at Anne Lise's blog, so go pay her a visit :o)

Wish you all a great new week,