Low volume Plus Quilt and Bloom quilt

On Friday I enjoyed sewing and having a glass of wine and making some plus blocks for the Low volume Plus quilt we planned to make during the Sew Along that started Friday. Since I made this an Event on facebook I could also follow the other ladies' progress and chat a little bit :o)

I am making blocks for a table runner and a quilt, but will focus on finishing the table runner first. This is the layout so far:

The other ladies have also made a lot of progress on their quilts, so be sure to visit their blogs to see their progress on the Plus quilts as well as the other lovely stuff they make. This is the links to their blogs:

Lena Karen Bertheussen - LekaQuilt

Elin Torvik Grov - Lappetausa

Kathy Dahlin Schwartz - Tamarack Shack

Hanne Schneider - Hanne's Quilt Corner

Marica Westberg - Englating

Sølvi Alfnes - Sølvi sin bloggverden

Laila Karlsmoen - Jacobs Quilt

Mona Ragnhildrød - Monas Hobbyblogg

May Britt Dammen - Abyquilt

I have also been doing a lot of needleturn appliquè on the blocks I am making for the Bloom quilt designed by Lori Holt - Bee In My Bonnet. I have 10 blocks finished so far, only 10 to go!
Love working on these blocks, and look forward to start piecing them together when they are all finished. 
Lori's Sew Along is starting on Monday, so there is still lots of time to get the fabrics, plastic templates (Sew Simple Shapes) and the pattern to join the fun! 

Today has not been a very productive day, since Hubby's "manflu" got to me yesterday, and I don't feel so good. I didn't think that sort of cold bug was contagious, but it was... LOL! Hihi :o)
I finished one more block for my Farm Girl Vintage quilt, and I love how it turned out. Can't get enough of these happy colors, and hope to make progress on this quilt between the other projects too. 

Wish you all a great and creative week, and hope it will be filled with time to do things that makes you happy :o)
Hugs,
Laila

Been sewing again

I had so many projects I planned to make for Christmas, but only two handmade presents where finished. One of them is a table runner I made using the Haystack blocks I have been making as a leader & ender project for a while. The pattern for this block are from the Farm Girl Vintage book by Lori Holt. I quilted it with white Aurifil thread, just some simple cross hatching. My mom got this as a Christmas present, and I'm so glad she liked it :-) 

I have seen a lot of cute pin cushions both on Instagram and Pinterest, and yesterday I made one using my Modern minis scraps. The 1,5" scrappy squares makes the cutest little pieces to use for a small project like this :o)

The past days I have been playing with some new fabrics I couldn't resist buying... The new line by Lori Holt "Calico Days". There is a free pattern for a quilt designed by Lori using these fabrics called "Bloom Quilt", and I have been busy cutting the pieces and started to make some of the blocks. Just love how it looks so far, and since I'm out of background fabric, I will continue to cut the rest of the pieces and have them ready till it arrives. 
I am using the white with print from the "Modern Minis" line, since I like it a lot! 
I didn't have the pellon Lori uses for these flowers, so I am using my favorite technique needleturn appliquè. The templates designed by Lori Holt, Sew Simple Shapes, that is needed for making this quilt is perfect for needleturn too :o) 

Lori Holt will have a Sew Along for the "Bloom Quilt" in January, so if you are curious about it and plan to join just pop over to her blog and read about it :o)

Only two more days are left before we welcome a New Year. It's been a busy year, and also a few tough times for me. I hope the new year will be a great year with lots of creativity, less health issues and lots of positive happenings. I also hope to be able to be playing with my longarm quilting machine again soon. 

Wish you all a Happy New Year!

Hugs,
Laila

Blockmania and some other stuff

I have been working on the blocks for my Farmers Wife 1930s quilt since the QAL started in September. So far I have finished 9 of them, but there are still some more to make before I have finished all blocks revealed so far.

I have also been making a few more blocks for my Farm Girl Vintage quilt. I have finished 12 blocks, and a couple is in the making. Love how the blocks turned out so far :o)

 When I ordered my Modern minis fabric bundle there was a couple of panels with super cute prints and sayings on them. This weekend me and my SIL had a sew-together at my place, and while she worked on her project I started making a couple of projects using some of the squares from the Modern Minis panels. I finished one large bag I can use for my knitting projects/sewing projects when I'm "on the road". 

I also made a toiletry bag using the panel squares, and this might end up in the pile of Christmas presents ;o)

It's getting colder, and yesterday I finished attaching the loose threads on the Marius sweater I have made for one of the twins. He chose the colors for the sweater, and I hope it will make him stay warm during the season coming. 

I am almost finished with the sweater for the other twin also, but still a little "brainwork" is needed before it's done. Hope to finish it any day now. Just need a day or two "alone" with a clear head :-)

My new Autumn table runner

Yesterday evening I finished the table runner I've been working on for a few days.  

I made it using the Scrappy maple leaf block pattern from Lori Holt's book Farm

Girl Vintage, and added a simple sashing between and around the blocks.

The photo might be a little blurry, since I captured it with my Samsung tab (and not the best camera on that thing...) but you get the idea ;o)

I love how it turned out, these fabrics are just gorgeous! I will play with some other blocks and thinking about a table runner for winter.... I plan to make one with mittens, that will be a perfect table runner for winter :o)

 I've also finished the two first blocks for the Farmers wife 1930s quilt.

First block is #12 Becky

Second block is #16 Bonnie

I really hope to be able to finish up this sampler quilt during the Sew Along, and I think these fabric will look great in a sampler quilt like this :o)

Happy sewing,
Laila

Miniature blocks

Piecing a few more scrappy leaf blocks this morning, and of course one of my quilt inspectors supervised the progress. Poor Suzu tried to fit into my small scrap bin...  

The miniature leaf blocks are just so cute! And so fun to make! Perfect for bonus hst's and scrappy squares leftovers :o)

Only 7 blocks are finished so far, but I hope to make a few more to make a miniature wall hanging.

I'll need to finish more of the original 6" blocks to have more bonus blocks for the miniature blocks. 

Happy sewing,
Laila

A few new blocks

 I have been sewing a little bit today, and made a couple Scrappy maple leaf blocks from the Farm Girl Vintage book by Lori Holt. I got some leftover hst's so I cut them down to 1,5" and made a small leaf block that only measures 3,5". Perfect for a miniature quilt!

I love miniature quilts, and I have prepped six more blocks ready to be pieced together. Aren't they cute? I think I will make 9 or 12 blocks to make a wallhanging, a perfect autumn quilt :o)

Are you enjoying some sewing today? I hope to finish my blocks during the weekend, been knitting a bit too much lately and need to get back to my sewing room more often. The knitting is sometimes easier to do if I'm tired and don't bother to focus much. I guess that's just typical me :o)

Wish you a great and creative weekend!

Hugs,

Laila

A nice autumn day

It has been a nice sunny autumn day over here today, and the weather report says it's going to be the same weather a few days ahead. When enjoying my coffee out on the veranda I figured I should make an autumn quilt, so I made the "Scrappy Maple Leaf" block from Lori Holt's book "Farm Girl Vintage".

Love this scrappy block, and since I have a lot of precut squares waiting to be used up I will make a few in no time. Hopefully I'll be able to make a few blocks for a cute quilt during the next days. 

Autumn is my favorite season, mostly because of the beautiful colors before the leaves fall off the trees. It also means more time spent in the sewing room when the evenings are getting darker. 

Hugs,

Laila

Some more Farmgirl vintage fun

Yesterday I found a fun tutorial to make a cute pincushion at Lori Holt's blog Bee In My Bonnet. 

I have been making some Apron Springs blocks, and had a stack of bonus blocs to make this pincushion, so it was fast and fun to make. I have seen a lot of these pincushions made by others on Instagram and just love how they all turned out with lots of different fabric and color choices. I will for sure make a few more of these!

Yesterday I also pieced together some of the Haystack blocks I have been working on, and decided to make another small table runner. I used a purple air erasable pen to mark my quilting lines:

Basted it with some basting pins:

Quilted it with Aurifil 40 weight cotton thread:

Clean cut the whole piece and today I attached the binding on by machine and sew it down by hand:

TA DA! A brand new table runner for me :OD Love how it turned out!

I'm on to painting the dresser I will decorate with the table runner. I am painting it with a nice aqua, and these fabrics will look so great on it :oD

I really got my sewing mojo back thanks to making these small projects. I think I got a little bit tired of making only large quilts that I spent weeks and months to finish. I will enjoy some more of these smaller projects during the Summer Holidays, and just have fun making a few things with these happy colors. 

Happy sewing!
Laila

Farmgirl vintage fun

I purchased two of Lori Holt's books last week, and I have been making some blocks from one of them, the "Farmgirl vintage".

I have been making the 6" blocks, and even if some of the pieces are tiny I had fun making them. The book have patterns for both 6" and 12" blocks.

Here are a few of the blocks I started making first:

I bought some new fabrics and added them to the ones I bought years ago. I haven't been making much out of the repro fabrics before, but I just love the colors in Lori's projects, and they are also perfect together with a lot of the fabrics from Bonnie & Camille. I have a soft spot for the aqua fabrics, and they look so great together with the rest. 

You can read more about Lori Holt and her lovely projects on her blog Bee In My Bonnet.

If you are on Instagram you will find lots of great stuff people around the world are making too. Look up #farmgirlvintage and #beeinmybonnet and you will be amazed about the gorgeous stuff people are making!

I love the cherry blokcs, so I figured I should make a small table runner. I haven't made anything smaller in such a long time. Feels really great to make a project that I am able to finish in a few days! And I don't have so many projects around in my home, so this was a perfect project for making something for myself. 

I just did some simple crosshatching on it, and even if it's not perfect I love my new table runner!

Yesterday I picked up my brand new sewing machine at the Post office. A Bernina 710.
I used it to do the quilting on my table runner, and it was so much fun! 

I ordered the sewing machine from a Norwegian web site called symaskiner.no. And it arrived the day after I ordered it! I had contact with the owner via mail a few times to decide which machine I would purchase, and I am so thrilled about the great service! Since I was offered a great prize for this machine, I chose to buy it even if I was supposed to buy a smaller one.

So far I am so satisfied with the new Bernina 710, but I know I have lots to learn using it and customize the settings to fit my sewing style. I hate to read to learn stuff, so I am learning by doing as  I go. And making a few notes to remember. Lots of great tutorials on YouTube too :oD

Wish you all a great weekend!
Hugs,
Laila