A small Schnibble

Haven't been much sewing lately, but I finished the small X-rated some days ago :o)
I used Moda's "Pure" fabrics.


My plan was to get it quilted this weekend, but since I've got a pretty troubled neck, I'm not able to do any sewing for some days. Boring....:o(
But I'm looking through books and magazines to get some inspiration. I'm not made for sitting with my hands in my lap for too long. Better than watching all the soape operas on TV ;o)

Wish you all a great weekend,
Laila

Some new blocks

I haven't been able to sew much the last two weeks, been knocked out by some ugly cold that's going around. But I'm finally getting much better, and happy that I'm slowly finding my sewing mojo again :o) Hope it will last for a looong time now!
During these two weeks, I've been spending some time with my laptop, 'googleing', 'facebooking' and visiting blogs. Haven't left so many comments, but really enjoyed some eye candy :o) I finally got to trace some of the stitcheries from Bronwyn Hayes' BOM. It's just so cute! The Catalicious BOM quilt. Go check it out :o)
I had to order some DMC threads to get this started, so I made a call to Quiltegården, and they sent me the ones I needed in the mail :o)


Not much of a progress, but I'll get there :o)



I've been playing with my new fabrics this weekend, and today I finished some more blocks on the Schnibble quilt I am making. I'm working on "Short story", the large one. I just had to order the fabrics from the new Moda line, BLISS. It is gorgeous!!!


I didn't follow the pattern from the book well enough, and the blocks are not the same size as in the original quilt, my blocks turned out a little bit smaller (Because I didn't read the pattern good enough... guess my mind tricked me a bit. Well... that's what I want to think anyway...).

We've had some lovely Autumn weather the last days, and last night the temperatures got below 0!!! Winter will come soon, and then it will be Christmas. I'm not at all prepared for that! But I guess I don't have a choise... Better get to figure out some Christmas presents soon :o)

Wish you all a great and creative week,
Laila

A little bit of this and a little bit of that

I was supposed to write a blog post last weekend, but time just flies...
Last weekend I managed to do a little progress on my Schnibble quilt. My sewing room floor is still occupied with this quilt layout, so I guess I'll have finish it soon...
It's really not so much work left, since all the pieces are already cut out. It's just me, struggling with some "low charged batteries".



I also got to piece together a row of flying geese last weekend. I used it in a class I teached at Quiltegården earlier this week. I made the block for this evening class a while ago, so I didn't need to prepare so much.
It was my very first class, and I was sooo excited!
I've met most of the ladies earlier, and it was so fun with such patient students!

A lovely lady from Seattle, Denice, came by to see what we where up to, and it was fun to have a 'drop-in student' :o)

This is the two half sircles that makes the flying geese sircle:

At the bottom picture, you can see what came home with me from Quiltegården that night :o) Some lovely fabrics, and a Japaneese book with lots of gorgeous patterns!

A couple of weeks back, our furball Fabian got so sick that I had to go to the Vet with him. Poor thing was loaded with fever, and didn't want to eat or drink anything. The Vet thought it was an infection caused by some cat fight he've been through, so we went home with some medicine that should make him well. The medicine didn't show its work until the fourth day, and then he finally got rid of the fever and started drinking some water on his own. Before that I had to feed him water against his will, but I had to so he wouldn't get dehydrated.
He is now gaining some weight and looking shiny and 'himself' again :o)


Like I told you in the previous post, we've got Autumn here now. I took some photos early one morning, and the mist had just left the ground with lots of spider webs loaded with water pearls. You should have seen the sight! It was so special! It almost looked like the webs where frozen!


I also took some photos while me and Hubby went for a walk later that day. The colors haven't changed too much yet, but I will definitely take my camera with me when I go for a walk again soon. It changes so fast!


I wish you all a great weekend, wehter you're sewing or enjoying your weekend outside :o)
Laila

My new quilt and OPAM report

Time flies, and suddenly we have to welcome Autumn here. The leaves are changing colors and they've already started to fall from the trees. I like the Autumn because of the colors, and it's cozy to light lots of candles around me in the evenings. It's a bit cold and it's raining a lot, but that means I can spend more time in my sewing room from now on and not feeling guilty about staying inside more :o)

I've been sewing just a little bit, and I've got only one finish for August OPAM. But I finished my secret quilt, and I'm working on the quilting now :o)

I cannot make up my mind about the quilting, so I can make the cubes stand out as much as possible. but I am quilting in the ditch along the light areas now, and we'll see what I decide for the rest. I haven't used any pattern, so I just designed it myself using the 60 degree ruler.
The quilt is made from fabrics I've already got in my stash, so it feels great to do some stash busting :o) It also have a scrappy look, and I love that!
The quilt will be used to teach a class later this Autumn, and when the class is over the quilt will be delivered to it's new ower, my oldest son. Finally he will get his first quilt!!!

Remember the cupboard me and Hubby worked on earlier this Summer? We finished the painting a while ago, and he also changed the glasses in the doors, with some that looks a bit old and they remind me of quilt blocks ;o) Nice :o)

Guess I'll have to get back to the quilting again :o)

Wish you all a great and creative week,
Laila

A little purse/pencil case

I did finally finish my little make up purse (or maybe I can call it a pencil case?)
I finished this sweet little purse the other day, but haven't got to make any blog posts yet ;o)
So now I've got at least one finished project for OPAM this month :o)

I think it's really cute, and I am going to keep this one. But it was so fun to make, so I know I'll be making some more :o) Perfect for presents!
I did hand piece the blocks on the front, and both back and front are hand quilted. It was a little tricky to sew around the curved edges since I'm not used to sew like this, but the book explained well how to :o) LOTS of great 'how to' photos!
It's a book by Yoko Saito called "Les Lecons de Patchwork" Lecon 1.
It contains a lot of great projects, mostly small ones but also a beautiful larger quilt.

I'm also working on an other Schnibble quilt. I did cut all the pieces this weekend, so it's just sewing for a while now :o)
It's the small X-rate I'm working on, and I'm using the rest of the fabrics from the fabrics I bought a while ago. You know, the "Pure" fabrics. I just love these colors!!!
I'm still waiting for the line of fabric to come in yards, so I can finish my first Schnibble quilt :o)

I've been hand quilting a bit lately too, but it's been hot lately, and it's impossible for me to sit outside in the sun quilting. Swetty fingers are no good!!!
But I look forward to get some more progress on the hand quilting project again soon.

Wish you all a great and creative week,
Laila

Some sewing :o)

I've been hooked on the Schnibble-mania going around. These quilts are sooo fun to make, and they are fast to make too!
I bought the new fabric line called "Pure" at Fatquartershop to make one of these. The only thing is... they don't come in yards yet... But the main part of the quilt is done, and I've cut all the bits for the outer border, so now I just have to wait a while so I can get the light border fabric, backing and fabric for the binding. Really look forward to finish this!
No finishes for July Opam for me, but hopefully I will have some this month. Fingers crossed!


Earlier I told you about working on a secret project. Well here it is. This is a photo during the hand basting, that took more than 8 hours to do... But I got to start on the hand quilting late last night, and I made some progress today too :o)
It's a wallhanging from one of the Japaneese books I've got. I've been planning to make this for some years, and I finally made it!
Guess I'll be using some hours on the hand quilting, but this one is really going to have "the look" I want :o)

A photo before the basting:


I really like the Japaneese fabrics with their special, kind of dusty, color tones. After I learned a few tricks by Yoko Saito when I attended her class, I liked these projects even more.
When I was at Quiltegården a while ago, I bought one of Yoko Saito's books that has some really great projects. One of the projects are a little purse I want to make. Haven't got to finish it yet, but wanted to show you how it looks while I'm working on one of the two sides. I'm not following the pattern, and I made mine with blocks like the ones we learned at Yoko Saito's class. The blocks (I call them Happy blocks) are hand sewn, and I am working on the hand quilting. Almost there ;o) This will be such a cute purse :o) Will try to finish it during the week that comes.

Wish you a great new and creative week, with lots of sewing ;o)
Laila

Cutting some strips

I've been cutting a lot of strips from some of my Japanese fabrics today. I am making some blocks by hand like the ones I learned at the class with Yoko Saito. They are for a project from the book by Yoko Saito, the one I bought at Quiltegården the other day. The project in the book are not made with the same blocks, but I thought I should add a 'personal touch' on it ;o) I'll show a picture later, when I get some progress done.
The strips are made for both regular quilting fabric, and the ones with structure. I really love these taupe ones!
You can see how the blocks looks like, lying next to the strips ;o)

The project is a little toiletry purse, and it's just sooo cute! Look forward to finish the two pieces I need to make for the two sides of it!

A little eye-candy:
This is a flower from my mom's garden. One of the most beautiful flowers I know!
It's called 'Blå valmuesøster' in Norwegian, and it's english name is 'Himalayan blue Poppy'.

Wish you all a great Sunday evening,
Laila

Shopping and some new stuff :o)

Yesterday I went downtown, shopping at Quiltegården. My favorite quilt shop :o) It's been a while since I last time, so it was so good to see Siw again. I did spend a few hours looking at fabrics and stuff, and had a nice chat with Siw over a cup of tea :o) I took a few photos while I was there, and this is just a few yummy ones ;o)

Lots of inspiration, and candy for the eye...
Yummy fabrics, beautiful quilts and LOTS of lovely threads! I love variengated threads, and among several embroidery threads, Siw has got the hand dyed threads from Cottage Garden and the Cosmo Seasons variengated thread from Lecien. There are also a lot of gorgeous ribbons in her shop. Wish I could put the whole shop in a shopping bag and take it home with me :o)






I brought some treasures home with me. A pattern of some gorgeous needle pillows by Leanne Beasley, some fabrics, ribbons, purple (of course purple) variengated thread and a really great book by Yoko Saito.



I just had to trace and start on one of the stitcheries from Leanne's pattern last night. And I also traced two of them for my mum, so finally I got her to try stitching :o)

I haven't got time to do many stitches today, since last night Hubby finished the shelves he was making for me.
The other night he got to put the shelves over my cutting table up on the wall, and yesterday he came home with the shelves he built for me, to have under the cutting table. Now I'm able to organize my strips and pieces in bins so they will be easier to use :o)
I've been working the whole day sorting stuff in my sewing room, so now it's tidy at one corner of the room ;o) Tomorrow I will continue organize the rest of the stuff :o)


These three books came in the mail today, and I cannot wait to make some of the quilts in this books!!! Inpired by Kvilstina, I just had to have the Schnibbles book ;o) And I definitely reccomend all three books!

But first of all, I'm going to make a project from the Yoko Saito book. I'll post a picture when I've got started ;o) Just have to finish tidying the sewing room first :o)

I'm still here!

I've been neglecting my blog for so long, but I've finally got some of the urge for doing some creative work back, and feel like posting some stuff again :o)
I've started on an other 'Precious things' bag. It's nice to enjoy some sewing again!
This one is going to be a gift for a friend of mine ;o)


Some weeks ago, I got three little treasures. It's three gorgeous timbles. I got two of them from my mom from her little trip to Sweden, and one from a kind colleague from work.
I guess this is a start of my timble collection :o)


It's my second week of the Summer Holidays, and so far the weather has not been too good. It's been too many days with rain, so me and Hubby figured we could finally start the painting some of our furniture. It's an old cupboard we got from Hubby's parents about 15yrs ago, and it's not so nice looking anymore. But some paint can really do wonders!


We rubbed the whole thing, and we're painting it white. It will need to be painted with four layers till we get the paint looking nice, and we're done with two already :o) It looks great already! I'm so excited to finsish it, it looks so empty in our living room without it.

I'm off to do some sewing in my sewing room now, so I can get some progress done.
I'm working on the 'secret project', but I'm almost there, and will show you pics when I finish it ;o)



Wish you all a great day, and happy sewing,
Laila

Opam report, June

Yessss! I made it! I finished my 'Precious things' bag, so now I have one finish for the OPAM this month :o)

Funny how these little finishes makes me happy. I guess it's good for your selfesteem to finish up things you've started, even the smallest things, right?
It sure feels good to finally have some sewing time again ;o)

Happy sewing,

Laila

A few photos

I am trying to learn a few things about my new camera, and a thing or two about how to capture interesting photos. The more I learn, the more I realize I don't know...
But I try to play with my camera anyway, and I hope to get to understand some more as I go.
The other day we had a heavy thunderstorm with lots of rain. When the bad weather was gone, I took my camera with me outside. I love to look at the raindrops that is left on flowers and things. This is some of the photos I captured:








No sewing stuff in this post, but I am trying to get some time in my sewing room today, so I will write about it in a later post ;o)

Wish you all a wonderful day :o)

Laila

Another secret project ;o)

I've been doing a lot of cutting for a new quilt lately. This is my secret project number two ;o) Last weekend I got to start piecing, and I'm so excited to see the quilt is 'growing' :o) I have no pattern to follow, so I just do whatever I think looks good! I will show you the whole quilt when it's finished, but a little sneakpeek:


I will be working on this quilt this weekend too, and I look forward to get to the part when I can attach the borders!!! I will have a challenge when I get to the quilting, since I haven't figured out that part yet. I've used mostly my Japaneese fabrics, and it will be a quilt for a boy. This quilt is perfect for scraps, and you know how I love srap quilts :o)

I finished the stitchery for the 'Precious things' bag I started working on a whie ago, and I got to attach the stitchery to the front of the bag too. I'll get back to it when I finish my secret project :o)


It's raining and it's cold here, even if it's almost Midsummer... too bad, but I will spend the weekend in my sewing room, so I don't let it bother me. But it would be great with some sun and warmer weather, so I hope this Summer will not go by with only weather like we're having these days!

I have a day off work today, so I'll get back to my sewing room to make some progress ;o)

Have a great weekend,
Laila

Inspiration

I haven't done much in my sewing room lately, like I thought I would. I have so many projects to finish, but with no energy to work on them and a neck not working with me these days, the projects have to wait. But I've been looking for inspiration among a lot of great blogs. I've discovered several ones I've bookmarked, and I thought I would share some of them with you.
Stash Manicure by Jantine and her friends, they are having a stash manicure challange you might want to join.
Magnolia Bay Quilts by Kim, she is the author of Scrap-Basket Surprises. The pattern for the "Kitchen Sink" quilt I am working on is from that book. Kim makes some really beautiful quilts!!!
Cotton Way by Bonnie, and her daughter's blog Siplify, is also two blogs I really wanna follow. Yummy colors and patterns!!!
Hope you allso will find some inspiration, like I did. Enjoy the blog-hopping :o)


One of my all time favorite flowers are 'forget-me-nots'. Since I was a little girl I have picked these for my mom every Spring. This one is from my mom's garden. I didn't pick it, just captured it in a photo this time :o)

Happy sewing,
Laila

May OPAM report and some new fabrics :o)

I've managed to finish only one project this month. But one is better than none, right?
"Lappeløper" design by Annaka in greens and turquoise :o)

I think it's sad that it's been so little time to sew for a long time, but I'm going to make some progress from now on. I hope to get some more time for blogging too, since it's too long between my posts. I've been both busy and tired, and I hope to get my "batteries charged" soon. I just need to get my shoulders down to where they belong ;o)

I've been sewing some this weekend, and here is a sneak peek from the project I've been working on. It's a "secret project", so I cannot show you the whole picture yet, but I will in a few days ;o)


I went down to Quiltegården at Friday, and I couldn't resist some of the temptations Siw is having in her shop. The only thing I really needed, was some blades for my fabric cutter, but I ended up bying some fabrics and a pattern, too ;o)


Yummy stuff :o) I've already started working on the stitchery for the largest sewing bag, and I will use these two fabrics for the bag. It will be so nice :o)

Happy sewing,
Laila

A beautiful day :o)

It's been such a beautiful day today! Hubby, our two youngest and I had a great time with my brother and his kids today. We took a walk through the forrest to a place we've been going to since me and my brother where kids. The little lake was still covered with ice, but since we brought our fishing gear, we tried to catch some fish. We didn't get any fish, but we enjoyed the day by the fire, drinking coffeè and grilling hot dogs on the fire. It was so cozy! I love days like this! This is what I call quality time!

Piece and quiet... that is so nice. And to sit by the fire chatting and laughing... Love it!

I've bought myself a new toy, a Nikon camera, and of course I had to take some photos :o) I'm not used to this type of camera, so I've been playing some with it these days, and also went to a little "photo safari" with my oldest son yesterday. He has been teaching me a lot, and he is still patient when I come to get advice about "good photos".

When we got home today, I was so tired and just wanted to take a nap, but I figured out I should do some progress on the table runner I've been working on instead. I'm so glad I did!
I got to finish the applique part, so now the only thing missing, is the binding :o)


Think I'll leave that till tomorrow. Now I really have to jump to bed! With that overdose of fresh air, I cannot stay awake any longer :o) Tired, but oh! so happy :o)

Wish you all a great Sunday, and happy sewing :o)
Laila

Finally some sewing!

I haven't got the time, or energy... to make any progress in my sewing room for the longest time. I just cannot figure out how the last three weeks could pass by so fast!
So much "have to"-stuff, and no "want to"-stuff... and some migraine in between :o(
I've really been missing to do something creative!

Today I got some hours I could spend in my sewing room, and I got to piece together a table runner. I did cut the pieces a long time ago, and they have been lying on the floor in my sewing room just waiting for mee to get the time.
It's another "Lappeløper", and I'm going to applique a blue flower on it, but first I have to finish the quilting. I did trace the lines, so it's ready for quilting now :o)


It feels good to finally get back to my sewing machine again, and I hope to finish this table runner in a few days.


A couple of weeks ago, I had a visit from Sølvi. We had a great time making kits we brought to our quilt guild meeting last week. Even if the sun was shining, we spend some hours indoors, spreading all the fabrics we've got for the care quilts around, and made a lot of beautiful kits. I think we made 28!



Some of them left the quilt guild meeting with some of the ladies who wanted to help us make some care quilts, and some ended up with me and Sølvi. I hope to have time to work on a few of them soon. I've already got some ready for quilting, so I think I'll start with them.
You can see the care quilts already donated at the care quilts blog "Tepper til St.Olav".
This is all of the kits we brought:

Sølvi is busy spreading them out on the table :o)

We had a great speach by Hanne Schneider at our quilt guild meeting, and I'll share some photos in a later post about that :o) Now it's time for me to jump to bed. I'm off to work tomorrow, and have to get up early.
To all of you that left a comment on my latest post, thank you! I'm sorry I haven't got the time to reply! But I will in a few days ;o)

Happy sewing,
Laila

Work in slow progress

Things are going a bit slow with me these days, but progress is progress, right?
I've finished a few more blocks for the "Kitchen Sink" quilt. I really like the way they turn out!

I have a day off work tomorrow, and hope to do some more blocks between some house work. I've decided to arrange the blocks a bit different than in the pattern, and that's why I've been sewing four blocks together to make the finished block. It's a lot of piecing and ironing, but it's so worth it! Look forward to figure out the two fabrics I'll need for the two borders :o)

The Spring is finally here now, and so much of the snow has melted during the last two weeks. Nice!
I am looking forward to be able to sit out on the porch a lot more, and just to feel the sun warming :O)

Happy sewing,
Laila

A new scrap quilt

I had a day off work Friday, and most of the time I spend in my sewing room, I did a lot of cutting. I actually cut pieces for the whole quilt I'm going to make. I bought this book a while ago:

Just searching randomly on the internet after scrap quilt patterns, I spotted the book at Soft expressions' web page. The nice thing about this page, is that they show the content of the books, so you know what patterns you will find inside :O) I think that's great!

The funny thing is, I dicovered the quilt I wanted to make from this book, the day before my book arrived, at Wendy's blog, "Snippets of a Quilter". The pattern is called "Kitchen Sink", and I just love these blocks! So many possibilities with this pattern!
I am still sewing the pieces for the blocks, guess I'm half way or something.


This is how it looks so far:

I've several more colors that is not yet finished, but I think it looks great already :o)
The blocks are set on point in the pattern, but you can also just sew them together in rows like in my layout. I havent made up my mind about that yet, I have to finish the blocks first. I've cut more pieces of fabric than required, since I want the quilt a bit larger.
This is one of my favorite patterns till now, and this pattern must be a perfect one for the care quilts I am planning to make :o)