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

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 :-)

A little May report

I must admit I welcome Spring with open arms. The winter has been too long! It's so great to spend time outside in the garden, and to go hiking in our lovely woods. Love to see the green is covering more and more of the beautiful landscape :o)

This photo is from a hike on 16.th of May. So nice to see the flowers are blooming at this season! 

I have been sewing a little bit, but mostly I have been knitting. I just finished a new Marius sweater in greygreen, white and charcoal. Love how it ended up :) The photos are taken with my phone, so they are not super clear.

I have been working on an old UFO too, and most of the blocks are coming together nicely. Just a few more hours work on this, and I can load it up on my longarm machine and finish the quilt. I will find a pantograph for this, and use a light variengated thread that will blend in. The fabrics are some of my very favorite scrap pieces, and looks great together.

I have also been finishing up some more blocks for the "Blooming Springtime" quilt. I have to admit I just love it already! And it's so fun to be doing some needleturn appliqè again. I will be prepping several of the blocks to make it easier to take with me when I am on the go.

Hope you all will have a great June, with lots of stitching and knitting :o)
Hugs,
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

Some quilting, sewing and knitting

During the Easter Holidays I was home alone for a few days. I spent some hours in my sewing room, and enjoyed some quilting too :o)

I loaded up the "Leavez" quilt and started the quilting. Some piano keys in the sashing, swirls with pearls in the outer border, and some McTavishing in the blue backgrounds behind the leaves. I haven't finished it, so it's still in progress. It's hard to see the quilting while I am working, so need to do the McTavishing with the lights off and I quilt only when it's daylight.

I also made a new toiletry bag/purse made from scraps. To be honest I miscalculated when I cut out the pieces for the lining, so it ended up with the stripes the opposite way, but I think it looks great anyway :o) I just love the Tula Pink fabrics, and I save every scrap piece I have large enough to make something of.

I have also made progress on a sweater I started knitting. It's a pattern from Garnstudio called Diamond rose. I bought this lovely yarn called Lima a while ago, and I just love to knit with it. With larger needles than I've used on my previous projects, this was superfast to make! Soon finished the arms so I can join the whole thing and finish up :oD

Wish you all a great new and creative week :-)
Laila

Cozy Easter Holidays

I have finally found my way back to the sewing room again, and I've had a couple of cozy days sewing blocks for the scrap quilt I'm working on. 

I'm not alone, the furballs are keeping me company :o) I have wrapped two of my unfinished quilts on the longarm frame, and they find their spots as soon as I open the door for them. 

As long as they don't get in my way, I love having them around :o)

 I've made some progress on the scrap quilt since my last post. I have 20 finished blocks, and some more are in the making. I'm taking a break on this one now, since I'm going to start quilting the "Leavez" quilt in the next days or so.

I need to prepare the backing for the quilt, and I'm ready to start quilting. Too tired to start tonight, so I will get on with it tomorrow. Haven't figured out how to quilt it yet, but I will find out as I move along :o)

I'm still knitting, and I have made some progress on one of the jackets for DS2, and I am almost finished the Islender sweater for one of my DIL's. I know she is patiently waiting and looking forward to use it.

 A while ago I finished another Marius sweater. I haven't got to iron it yet, so it looks a little bulky.

Hope you are enjoying your Easter Holidays too, and having some quality time with family and friends. 

Happy Easter!
Laila

Spool quilt progress

I had my Wednesday off work today, and I have spent a few hours in my sewing room. I almost finished all the blocks for my scrappy spool quilt, and I look forward to start the layout and piece the blocks together. I have used the pattern in a book called "Simple strategies for Scrap Quilts", and I plan to make more scrap quilts from this book. I have bought a lot of books with patterns for scrap quilts, but this book is one of my favorites.

I plan to do some progress on the needle turn tonight, and hope to finish the last block for my "Winter Blooms" quilt soon. I have some scraps already cut to use in this quilt, but will have to add some more to get to finish it. 

I have also started to knit on the second arm for a sweater for one of my DIL's and I hope to finish the sweater in a couple of weeks. This is a traditional pattern called "Islender/Islandsgenser" and is a free pattern from Vikinggarn. 

Been quilting a little bit

I finished sewing a quilt called "Kitchen Sink" more than two years ago, and I finally finished quilting it last weekend. I am pretty satisfied with the panto I used, since it kept the blocks in the quilt smooth. I haven't got time to add the binding yet, but hope to do that soon. 

I am still knitting more than I sew. I have to admit that it's easier to do when I have been dealing with some health issues, and the energy level has been too low. Last week I went to the yarn store, and bought some new yarn I haven't tried before and started on a jacket called Fanakofte. I love the blue and white, and I have enjoyed knitting this weekend while watching the Falun world championships.

I also attached the -threads on a pair of Blueberry Waffle Socks I finished a while ago. It's a birthday gift for my MIL.

Wish you all a great new and creative week!

Hugs,

Laila

A finish!

I almost finished this jacket, called Nancy kofte, for my daughter-in-law (to be) for Christmas, but I didn't get time to hide the egdes on the back og the plackets. 

I had to borrow it back and finally finished it up today, and she could have take it home with her :o)  

I am pretty satisfied with the result, it's the first jacket I've ever finished! I have knitted so many sweaters, but never made a jacket with plackets. I'm so happy my daughter-in-law (to be) love it!

I have been practising some longarm quilting, but not in the same groove as I used to be. I hope to get my energy back so I can enjoy some more sewing and quilting :-)

Wish you all a great and creative Sunday! 
Laila

Looking for my sewing mojo!

New year, with lots of new possibilities ... Yeah right! I'm really struggling to find my sewing mojo. Even if my longarm machine is up, I just don't feel like sewing or quilting at all. The stuff to organize is my sewing room is too overwhelming, and I have lost the overview I once had. I have got lot of my things back in place, but I can't seem to find the way to rearrange all of my stash and things to make it work easy. I just don't know where to start...

I've been occupied with a lot of migraines for a long time, and I haven't had the energy to do much sewing either. Tonight I decided to give myself a kick in the butt and cut some large squares and made some half square triangles to make a scrap quilt, just to get started. I managed to make a few, and I will stick with this till I have a finished quilt. Fingers crossed I can do it :o)

I have so many gorgeous japanese fabrics just waiting to be used in something, and a scrap quilt is never wrong!

I have been knitting, as you know... And I managed to finish a few projects for Christmas. This is some of the socks I have been making through the last monts: 

I have started so many projects, but when they get difficult I start on something new. Those who knows me, knows that's just me in a nutshell. This is a pair of mittens I am working on:

I hope to get time to make blog posts more often, since I really miss it! I guess the easy ways to share on Facebook and Instagram makes me think it's almost wasted to write the blog posts, but I like to use my blog as a sort of diary, so I will continue to write.

Wish you all a great new and creative week!

Hugs,

Laila

Knitting projects and new books

This weekend I got to clean up a lot of the mess in my sewing room. Most of the stuff is out of the boxes, and I am trying to sort things and declutter a little bit too. 

I was going to pick fabrics to join Bonnie Hunters new mystery GRAND ILLUSION, but didn't get time to do that. But I will try to figure out what fabrics to use during this week or so. I will try to join even if I am going to be behind on the clues that will come. I need to finish up a lot of Christmas presents, so I will be able to do some sewing after Christmas :o) 

Still need to set up my quilting machine, but since I'm not able to play with it now anyway, I guess it will take a while before it will be set up.

Are you joining the mystery by Bonnie too?

I just bought three of Bonnie Hunters books, and I can feel my sewing mojo is doing the happy dance :o) I found one favorite quilt, and I am so excited to start on it soon!

DS2's girlfriend had her birthday the other day, and I knitted a pair of "Blueberry waffle" socks to her in wool called STERK. It's a super soft sock yarn, and a dream to knit with.

I have also tried to knit mittens in a yarn called Fritidsgarn, it's pure wool perfect for felting. I knitted a couple in different sizes just to try this, since it's the first time I've ever made felted mittens.
They turned out soft and I just love these two colors :o)

I've been in my "knitting bubble" for a while, and I have plans for making some gorgeous mittens with these lovely skeins of yarn:

It's Alpaca yarn, and I am going to try to make a pair of mittens called "Selbu Mini" made by Lillcat design. This is the photo from her webshop, and I have permission to use it by her :o)

 She makes a lot of gorgeous patterns, and you can also find her on Ravelry. 

Wish you all a great and creative week,
Laila

Not much going on...

There is no sewing or quilting going on over here, but I have been doing some knitting. I have been knitting during the months I didn't get to use my sewing room because of the renovations, and I knitted my first sweater. It's a Marius sweater, and I love it! Soft and warm.

I have been working on some secret projects too, but can't tell about them before the Christmas is over :o) Guess a lot of you are working on gifts for Christmas too, so you know ;o)

I really looked forward to get my sewing room back, but I have to admit I have no urge to sew much. I have no energy left to do much sewing, and that's why I haven't been quilting either. The last months have been stressful for me, so I just need to get my shoulders back down and get back to normal again :o)
I really hope I will feel better soon, and get my sewing mojo back again. 

Hugs,
Laila