My first finish for OPAM, April

I've started so many projects during the few years I've been sewing, and I've got so many UFO's... It's a shame, I know!
I started working on this toiletry purse some months ago, so it's not the oldest UFO, but I finished it late last night :o) Whoowhoo!
To finish a project, big one or small one = satisfaction!!!


It's my own design, but I wasn't too happy about piecing so much by hand on this purse. Unnessesary to do so much hand sewing on a project that is going to be used, instead of hanging on a wall or something. The zipper, binding, and closing of the sides are done by hand, because of the curves. Thought it would be too hard to get nice by using the maschine.

I didn't get to make any progress on my 30's quilt yesterday, but I hope to get to work on it later today. Or maybe I'll dig out an other UFO? Who knows, I work best doing the things I wanna do, there and then, sometimes. I change my mind so quick, I just don't plan too much, I end up doing everything else, anyway. LOL!!! But that's me :o)

Wish you all a great weekend,
Laila

Some new fabrics to play with

I have been adding some new fabrics to my stash. Just couldn't resist to play with some of them today :o)
I've been wanting to make a quilt in 1930's reproduction fabrics for a long time, and now I added enough different ones to start. I am going to add some yellow and orange ones too, but this is the blocks so far:

I haven't decided how to arrange the blocks yet, but I will make some more blocks before I make up my mind. These fabrics makes me think of SPRING :O)

Guess I'll be making some more progress on the quilt tomorrow, so well see how far I will get during the Easter Holidays :o)

HAPPY EASTER TO EVERYONE :O)

LAILA ♥

A cozy Sunday

Today my sister-in-law, Mona, came to my house for some sewing together with me. We had a cozy time, chatting, laughing and a lot of sewing. She did a great job on her table runner. She finished the top, and now she's looking forward to continue with the quilting. She was pretty satisfied with the result herself, too :o)

I was downtown to Quiltegården the other day, had to show Siw the result so far on the purse we started making last weekend when I attended Yoko Saito's class;o) I'm a really slow hand quilter, so it takes time for me to finish this project, I guess... But I'm enjoying these pieceful moments of hand quilting.
But after a couple of days working without a timble on my left hand, my fingers got so sore! I just cannot get used to the timble!
Siw showed me some new stuff she's got in her shop. Instead of a timble you can use a small metallic gadget with a tiny pad of doblesided tape, and you put it on top of the finger you work with from under the quilt, and it worked! I'm quilting faster now :oD
On the right hand you use a little leather gadget instead of a timble, and with these two, it is much easier to hand quilt! Yay! I really found my way to do the hand quilting :o)


I've managed to attach the binding on two care quilts today, so the rest of the evening I will continue working on my hand quilting skills :o)

Wish you all a great Sunday,
Laila

A great weekend in Oslo!

Last weekend Roy (my DS1) and I went to Oslo. We travelled by air plane and train to get there, and we had a great time :o)

We got to Oslo early Saturday, and after checking in at the hotel, we had a little sight seeing.

We was staying at hotel not far from the Norwegian King's castel, so we went for a walk. It' an amazing building with a lot of artful details. The guards that is always guarding the castle is an impressiv sight too, and while we where taking some photos, a little troop came up front. They are not allowed to answer back to people that confronting them, so it's no point asking for the direction ;o)

We went out to have a nice dinner later, and it was so nice to spend some quality time with my son. I think he had a great time too, and since he loves taking photos, he took a lot of them with his own camera:o)

The "mission" this weekend, was the class teached by Yoko Saito on Sunday. I was attending this class, representing my local quilt shop, Quiltegården, and I was so honored when Siw, the owner, asked me to go!

I was so excited, I almost couldn't get any sleep the night before!

We learned some of the techniques she uses when she makes her quilts, and they are so full of details! She makes some stunning projects, and a lot of it is made only by hand!

I've never thought I could do so much piecing by hand, with no marking! And it was so much fun!

I only got to piece two blocks for the beautiful purse, which was the project we worked on. But during the last week, I finished one of the two main pieces for the purse, and I've also started some of the hand quilting ;o)

Yoko Saito teached two classes at the Norwgian quilt quild's annual meeting the same weekend, too. And I know several of the ladies that where so lucky to meet her during this weekend. You can see a lot of phots from the meeting on Hanne and May Britt's blogs.

Ann (the Norwegian designer AnnAKa) and Merete was happily cutting fabric with their 'BIG' fabric scissors. We had a bit of fun because of these scissors :o) But when you're travelling by an air plane, you're not allowed to bring large scissors, so you'll have to get the smallest there is :o)

Ann, Merete and Evy (owner of Artic Quilter quilt shop). Not hard to see that these ladies had fun ;o) We all had our share of "oooh's" and "aaah's".

Even if Yoko didn't speak much English, she was fantastic to tell with her body language and drawings on a board, to make us understand. She had a lady that translated from Japaneese to Norwegian, but we understood most of what Yoko showed without a translation.

Hanne (owner of Lappedilla) with another purse made by Yoko Saito. I got to meet Hanne before the class did begin, and it was so nice to meet her :o)

It was such a great and special weekend for me, and I am left with a lot of new knowlegde and inspiration.

I'll be back with some pics of my project soon ;o)

Happy sewing,

Laila

A new table runner in the making :o)

Remember these ones? My Easter chickens?


I decided to release the pattern ("Påskekos") again, and thought I should make an other one in lighter fabrics. It's not finished, but this is how half of the table runner looks like:

The picture is a bit dark,but... I'm workin on the binding, and will show a new picture when it's finished completely :o)
The pattern is available at Quiltegården, Lappedilla and Lappestua.

Table runner #2

I really fell in love with the new table runner pattern from AnnAKa, so I made one more this weekend!
This time I used fabrics that reminds me of SUMMER...


The table runner is already delivered to it's new owner, my mom :o) She liked it a lot! It's so nice to make someone happy, that makes me happy, too :o)



I've already digged out fabrics for another one from my fabric bins, or to be honest, two more. One will be with pink suares, and one will be with blue ones, a bit lighter than in the first one I made.

It has been lots of snow coming the last days, and it just won't stop snowing. I guess more than half a yard of snow since Friday! It's enough if you ask me... But it's nice to sit inside, in my sewing room, enjoying some nedlework :o)

There are some hidden blocks here and there :o)

I decided to empty my two big scrap bins tonight, and the plan was to sort them into two piles. One with Japaneese fabrics, and one with the rest of my scraps. I haven't looked much through these since long before we moved into our new home two years ago, and I did find some hidden blocks in there... These are some of them:


I don't even remember I had these block, and there are blocks enough for a baby quilt...
Is that because I'm getting old, or is it a sign of too many fabrics and scraps to keep track of... Anyway, it's kind of stashbusting, isn't it?

BTW... I discovered Bronwyn Hayes' blog today. A great blog, and yummy pics ;o)

Happy sewing :o)
Laila

My first finish for March

Had to stay home from work today, since DS2 where sick and had to stay home from school. While he was sleeping a bit longer today, I continued working on the table runner I started this weekend. Just some inches with binding that neede to be done, so I finished that in no time :o)
I love these colors, so I am pretty satisfied with the result. The design is from the Norwegian designer AnnAKa, and got released just a couple of weeks ago. I just love the pattern, and I am planning to make a couple of more variations of this one!

I had to make it a bit shorter than the pattern says, or else it would only fit my dinner table.
I've seen several variations of this table runner, and some of them you can see here:
Sigrun's blog, Anne-Grethe's blog, Marita's blog and Lappestua's blog.
I know many of the Norwegian quilters like the patterns from AnnAKa, and I guess many more of these will turn up around here in Blogland. I think it's great to see the choises of fabrics others make, lots of inspiration :o)

I was going to do som baking after work today, since I'm expecting some ladies over tomorrow evening, but since I had to stay home I did the baking earlier today.
I've never been doing much baking other than for the birthdays and for Christmas.
I do like to bake, but I guess it's because I'm not a "cake-monster" myself, I don't have the urge to make cakes and other stuff. I'm more fan of desserts than cakes.
But the kids LOVES cinnamon buns, and that's what's made today. Not bad for lunch, a couple of cinnamon buns? The kids where digging in, and of corse, I had to have one with my coffeè too, and it was yummy:o)

I'll get the cinnamon buns in the freezer as soon as they are chilled, and then I can warm them up in the oven tomorrow for the ladies. They taste like newly baked then :o)

I'm off to cut some fabrics for a new table runner, and I'll get some more blocks for the quilt I am working on.

A test block

Ordered a book by Judy Martin some time ago, I'm a big fan of her work. Her patterns are just stunning, and I like the way they are explained in her books. Easy to follow, even though some of the patterns are really full of details. I've got almost all of her books, and they are just great! So full of inspiration!
I made a test block from one of the patterns, since I'm looking for a quilt that looks scrappy, and it's ment to be a quilt for a boy.
What do you think? The block mesures 12", so it doesn't take that long to build a top big enough.



I forgot to show you my little table runner made of triangles, just so I can practice my skills on hand quilting.
I got so inspired by Kviltstina's quilt, the one she uses as her blog background. It is a really beautiful quilt. So I had to give it a try :o)
I find it hard to start and stop, attaching the threads. But I guess I'll get there.
I really love to hand quilt, but it takes so much time, so I am only doing that for special quilts. I am thinking of making a miniature quilt one day, with scrappy spools, maybe in some reproduction fabrics. I have bought some few now and then, but I need to build up that stash some more, to get the variations I want.

Im looking forward to the weekend, hopeing to spend some time in the sewing room again. I want to start work on some Easter projects, and I guess that will be my focus project this month.
Happy sewing,
Laila

A touch of spring :o) and OPAM report

I haven't been making any blog post for the longest time. Just been too busy.
This weekend we celebrated our two youngest's 13th birthday. It's funny, I've got only teenagers now! Time flies, too fast!!!

The kids had a week off school, since here in Norway every school have a week vacation every year, the last week of February. Me and Hubby took a week vacation from work, too.
We went to my in-laws place a couple of hours drive from here last Sunday, and spend some days there. It was freezing cold, since we had a period of low temperatures again. So we did spend most of the time in-doors!
I captured this pic when we where on our way home. It's Hurtigruta, wrapped in cold steam! It looked like a ghost ship!


I brought my knitting and some stitchery I could work on while we where there. Got to finish one wool sock, and I got to try one of the multicolored threads I bought earlier at Quiltegården. It's such a beautiful thread!


On Saturday, while waiting for the family to arrive for the kid's birthdayparty, I started cutting some of the fabrics from a jellyroll I bought at Lappedilla. I did see a beautiful quilt at Lappedilla's facebookpage, and just thought it would be perfect for these fabrics! I had no pattern, so I started twisting my brain, and draw one of my own. Fun and easy, and fast to make! I worked some more on it yesterday while waiting for more family to come, and I am almost done with the blocks I managed to cut from the jellyroll. I think I'll have to order one more to make it bigger than a small baby quilt.... But we'll see. I have to finish the ones I am working on first, to see how big it can be with the fabrics I have. Have a lot of the ligth ones left, and I'm thinking about making a border... We'll see :o)

Today it's snowing a little bit, but yesterday was such a beautiful day! A really spring day! The snow melted fast in the sun, and it was warm enough to sit outside on the veranda and drink coffee :o) Springtime:o) I hope the weather stays this way a long time now :o)
It feels so good with some sun now, after a long cold winter.

I have no more finishes for OPAM this month, but I made one, and I am happy about that :o)
I hope to finish some more for March, and I have some focus projects in mind already! But more about that in a later post.
Now it's time for dinner, and maybe some sewing later :o)

A little finish for February :o)

Not much sewing going on here these days, but I got to finish the little toiletry purse I started earlier :o) I finished it last night, and I'm going to give it to my niece today. She's celebrating her 11th birthday today :o) Happy birthday to Mildrid :o)


This one is hand quilted, and I attached the zipper by hand, it was easiest that way since it's so tiny. I liked making this, so nice to do something by hand instead of using the sewing maschine all the time :o)
I will make one for myself too ;o)

I have been working on a "secret project" for some time now, and I hope to work some more of it later this week. It's a lot of work by hand, and it's going to be hand quilted. Cannot wait to show you!
Thanks to all of you leaving comments on my posts, I'm behind replying to e-mails and comments, but I'll get there ;o)
I'm off to a birthday party now, so see ya!

Wish you all a creative weekend,
Laila

I'm hooked!

I got to deliver two of the charity quilts I've been quilting and binding at the meeting for our local quilt guild at Wednesday. Yay! Two more :o)
When I got home, I started prepping one more (I have several more laying in a bin), and I started the quilting last night. I like the pattern I used for the other two, so I ended up using it again :o)

It's not the most difficult pattern to quilt, and it looks nice on the scrappy ones.

The owners of our local quilt shops are members to our local quilt guild too, and they bring some fabrics and other stuff to the meetings, for us to buy :o)
I could not resist to buy some fabrics and thread, and these went home with me:

Beautiful fabrics, and so beautiful threads! Gail Pan told us about this hand dyed thread when she and Leanne where teaching at Quiltegården in Septhember, and finally it's here!
There are several color combinations, and they are just lovely!!! Gail Pan is using them, so pop over at her place, and you can see some of her projects with these threads.
I'm heading down at Quiltegården soon again, to buy some more of them!
I used one in this stitchery Gail gave us, it will be a needle case pretty soon :o)

Happy sewing,
Laila

The Irish Chain is soon ready for quilting!

Today is my day off work, and I headed into my sewing room after the kids went to school this morning. I pieced the last blocs yesterday, and finished the last two rows and pieced them together today! I was afraid the quilt would be too small to be a lap quilt, but with a border it will be a nice sized quilt.


I haven't figured out how to quilt it yet, but I have to buy some batting and backing for it, so I'll have time to think about it. I am wondering if I should buy wool batting for this quilt. I have never used that kind before, and I wonder if it is "hard" to work with. Do any of you used wool batting? What would be your first choice for a lap quilt, and a quilt you want to be warm and soft? The cotton batting I used in my "Purple love" quilt is kind of stiff... Will it get more soft after a trip in the washing maschine? Or will it get softer when it's used some times?

My focus project this week will be to finish the two charity quilts I've been working on. I need to get the two binded, and I have been making binding for one of them today. I hoped to deliver them tonight, at the quilt guild meeting, but I will not be able to finish the binding till then. I'm looking forwar to the meeting tonight, and to meet the other ladies again. We are having one meeting a month, and it's so nice to see what the other ladies have made since last time :o) Lots of inspiration :o)

Happy sewing,
Laila

Focus project this weekend

It's a wonderful day today, with only -5 degrees. The sun is shining, and it looks great with all the snow. Perfect for my two youngest and their snowboards :o) They went with my brother and his boy, to the alpine center just half an hour drive from us. I hope they will have a great day (it's the first time they are going there). Hope they'll take some pics to show me :o)
They have been training at a small apline center near by, so they really looked forward to go to the "big hills" today. Hubby was supposed to go with them too, but his back is still killing him, so he just have to stay home:o( Guess the kids will spend the whole day there, so I'll be having some sewing time today.

My focus project this weekend is a quilt I started on back in June 2009, the pattern was released at Moda Bake Shop, and I just fell in love with it. It's called "Irish chain".
All the "flower" blocks are finished long ago, so it's only the ones between I need to work on. A bit of puzzle work, but fun! I wish I had some of the fabrics used in the original quilt, they are so beautiful! But I found some fabrics similar in colors, and I think they work all right.
I am working with 2" strips, instead of 1,5" like the pattern says. This way it "grows" faster, and I want to make a lap quilt instead of a baby quilt first. I have the same fabrics precut in 1,5" strips too, so I will also make the baby quilt later:o)

Wish you all a great weekend,
Laila

OPAM report :o)

I'm pretty satisfied with my second finish this month, and the quilt are already in use :o)
I finished it earlier this week, but haven't had time to post it. I'm glad I did enlarge the top when I pieced it. It's two rows wider and longer than I first decided, but I thought it had to be larger, and I'm happy with that deciscion! Guess I'll have to take my power naps more often now, right? :o)

My oldest did cut the picture a little too much, so the binding don't show, but in the previous post you can see I used one of the darkest purple. And that fabric is one of my favorites for sure! I just love the colors. I used a grey thread for the quilting, and it's showd up purple when it's near the purple fabrics! Pretty cool!
I have no idea what to do next, but I guess I'll work some more with my other two quilts. We'll see ;o) I'm behind on e-mails and stuff again, so I guess I'll do something with that this weekend before anything else.

It's Hubby's birthday today, and we've had our relatives over for cakes and coffee, and we've had a great evening. The youngest two have a day off school tomorrow (vacation), and I'm having a day off work, so we'll sleep a bit longer and we look forward to have a weekend one day longer than we use to :o) Late breakfast is nice once now and then :o)
Wish you all a great weekend,
Laila

My first finish this year, and an award :o)

This have been a nice weekend. While the kids and Hubby went to have some fun with their snowboard yesterday, I had my sister in law and my niece over for a visit, and a we did some sewing. It's nice to spend some time together like this for us girls :o) My niece is turning 11 yrs next month, and she is working on a little stitchery. She does a great job! Later last night I got to finish the quilting on my "Purple love", and I also attached the bindig! I started the hand stitching on the binding by hand today, and I guess I'll finish the quilt in a few days :o) Whoo whoo! I'm finally going to have my own quilt soon!


We went to eat dinner at my parents place today, and didn't get home until around eight o'clock. Mum and dad made turkey with potatoes and vegetables, and it was soooo good! Yummy! When we got home I started cutting the pieces for a pincushion I've seen over at Polka Dot Pineapple's blog. She makes so many great turtorials, and they are just amazing, and sweet! I didn't follow the pattern all the way, but I got to finish the pincussion in just a couple of hours! Nice! I made it for my mum, just because :o)

This is my first finish this year, so I have at least one finish for OPAM this month ;o) Hope the quilt will be the second. So I better hurry back to some hand stitching before it's time to check up on those bed bugs soon.



I got this nice award from Trollmors hobbykrok on Friday, and it made me both happy and honored :o) Thank you Trollmor :o)
This means I'll have to tell 7 things about myself, and give it to seven others.

1. I just love quilting and patchwork
2. I am working as a secretary at a Health care senter, and I really like my job
3. I love spending time with my family and friends
4. I dream about having a long arm quilting maschine some day, either a Bernina 820, or maybe a Lenni... That would be so nice!
5. I am not too good finishing what I've started, but I'm trying to get better
6. I love to spend the evenings at home, and when the kids and Hubby are busy doing their stuff, I sneak into my sewing room to enjoy some sewing
7. It makes me happy when people around me cherish what I do for them, even the smalles things :o)

I would love to give this award to these 7 bloggers, and I would like to thank them for inspiration and for being a creative source to mee :
Darcie
Lappetausa
Hanne
Sølvi
Lekaquilt
Abyquilt
Mary

I love to make progress!

As usual on Wednesdays, I had a day off work today, and I am so happy the bugs giving me a week with a nasty cold, is starting to move out. No fun when these bugs runs through your system, that means no sewing :o( My voice is coming back as normal too, so now I can hear when I'm talking to myself again :o) Hihi, I tend to do so when I'm working along :o) Crazy, I know!
Since today was a day I felt better, I got to do some work in my sewig room again. It's been too long between the pleasures of doing something creative, so I just kept my eyes shut for housework and "must do" stuff today. And that feels so great! And this is what I've been up to:

The colors are not so good in some of the photos, but... I got to baste and start quilting my "Purple love". And this will be my focus project the rest of the week. I've decided that I'm going to finish it before the weekend is over :o) And I can do it!


I have been playing around earlier, quilting some of the care quilts. I have been practicing some with this pattern, on paper, and found out I the time was right to try on some quilts. I tried to make the "hooks" a bit huge, so the quilt will not feel flat when it's covered by this quilting pattern. Wish I could do a better job on the quilting, but this is the best I can do at this point, and practice makes perfect, right?


These (two) quilts are donated by some other sweet ladies, and I just baste, quilt and make the binding on them. When they are finished, they will be published at Tepper til St.Olav's blog.
Every charity quilt donated and made for kids with long term diseases at out local hospital, is published there. So many lovely quilts, that makes a little difference. I'm happy to be a part of this work, and hope to finish the ones I keep in a bin, between other stuff I'm working on.

I wish you all a great week, and happy sewing!
Laila

Log cabin fun and some other stuff

I got to sew some last weekend, and I got to make progress on the "Rouge River Log Cabin". I finished one big block with one star. I am going to need five more for a twin size, and a lot of blocks for the border, but I'm taking one step at a time. I thought I had enough scraps precut for a lot more than one star block and almost one more, but I figured out really quick it's a lot more cutting needed for this one. I got to to some more cutting done last weekend as well, but I haven't been able to make any progress this week, so hopefully I'll be working more with these blocks soon.


I also want to tell you about a new blog. It's our local quilt guild,Trondheim Quiltelag's blog.
I had a presetation for our quilt guild members about blogging at our meeting last week, and set up the blog so everyone who wanted to know how, could get some tips on how to start. I am looking forward to see the blogs from the other ladies in our quilt guild, and I know some already have set up their blog :o) So fun!!! The member's blogs will be added to the sidebar as they pop up, so check it out :o)


I'm also attending to the OPAM 2010, and I'm looking forward to do this again. I hope to finish at least one project a month, but the main thing is to have fun, and get to know the other participants, and follow their progress and projects. Lots of inspiration :o)

Hope you all are having a great weekend,
Laila

THANK YOU!

When I think back on the year 2009 when it comes to blogging and quilting, I've had so much fun. I've finished UFO's, I've started new projects, and finished those! I did get a bit more urge to finish stuff during 2009, too. But most of all, I've had so much fun!!!
Why? Because of two great women, who used so much of their time on making us a challenge, through the whole year of 2009. I just can imagine the time they've spent every month, checking up on our blogs, to count every finish we''ve had during each month...
I tagged them both (and hope they don't mind) just so you can see who I am talking about ;o)


May Britt and Kris; I really want to thank you both for making One Project A Month 2009, a fun challenge, with lots of ispiration. Both from you and the others who did participate. I am looking forward to OPAM 2010. And I guess it will be a lot of participants this year too.
To May Britt and Kris: have a great and creative year!

Orkut Myspace Thank You Comments & Graphics
Laila

Some progress on stashbusting :o)

The last couple of days I have been cutting some fabrics now and then, just taking it slow now when my neck is getting better from the inflammation. It takes a lot of time to cut fabrics for a large quilt, and I've been cutting for two quilts at the same time, and that means it will take a lot more work to finish the cutting. But as soon as the cutting is done, I'm able to sew for some days :o) Then it's easier to sit down and get something done, too.
I just had to piece some of the pieces together to see how the blocks turned out, and I think I like it! I am trying to use both new and old fabrics, and I think I will have some yards less in my stash when I'm done :o)
The first one is some of the "Bricks and Stepping Stones" by Bonnie.

The next is for the "Scrappy Spools". Aren't they nice? I think every quilter should have a quilt filled with spools :o) I am thinking about making one miniature quilt with spools too, just to have a little quilt to put up on the wall. When I am done with all the tops I have in progress, I guess I will have enough of the ones I can wrap around me to keep warm ;o)

I will try to focus on these quilts now, before I move to another project. But I might work on other UFO's and WISP's as I move along. I tend to get bored when I focus on only one project at a time, because I get so many ideas on the way, I just cannot keep my mind on one thing. I guess some of you agree, and some of you don't. But the main idea for me anyway, is to have fun, do the things I like whenever I want ;o) That's the way it works best for me :o) But I wish I was better with finishing stuff... but I will maybe get better this year? I will definitely try! Hope you all are having fun doing what you like, when you like too:o)