Another table runner

I haven't been sewing at all during the Easter Holidays, but I got to enjoy some time with my family, and I've been knitting a little bit.

We've had some lovely days during the Holidays, and it was so nice to spend some time outside in the sun again! Spring is really showing off, and almost all of the snow are gone now. FINALLY! 

Got time to cut some fabrics for a table runner I've had on my mind for a long time. I think it's about a year since I bought the fabrics for it! 

You know I love purple, so purple it is :o) The top is finished, so now I will start basting and quilting.

This is table runner #4 from the same AnnAKa pattern. The first one I finished in March last year, and I love this pattern.

I'm having a day off work today, and between the usual "house-stuff" I'm enjoying some time in my sewing room. I digged out a couple of UFO's the other day, and I hope to make some progress on at least one of them before this week is coming to an end.

Have a great Wednesday,

Laila

Been sewing this weekend

I got to spend a lot of time in my sewing room this weekend. The quilt I'm working on is almost finished, and I love these happy colors. I'm a big fan of "dusty" prints, but I love to make some quilts with brighter fabrics now and then. Reminds me of the Summer we are soon about to welcome :o) The "Bliss" line from Moda is just gorgous, and since I had so much fabric left after making the block for my Schnibble quilt some months ago, I figured I should make a Summer quilt. I got to see a beautiful quilt made by Merete a while ago, and started cutting fabrics after I got home from Quiltegården on Tuesday. I got to buy the white fabric for background that day, and I love how it's turning out! 

Since I had to pick it up from the floor so I could clean up some of the threads and dust from the floor, I only got to take a photo while the rows are folded together tonight. I'm half way to a finished top, so I'll take a photo of the whole thing in a few days. This quilt are really a stashbuster :o)

I also started a couple of  Easter projects like the hearts in my previous post. Just love these cuties :o)

I'm pretty tired and ready to jump to bed, so they have to wait till tomorrow, so I can finish them up.

Wish you all a great and creative new week, 

Laila

Easter project

Having a day off work today, so I got to spend a few hours in my sewing room. The plan was to continue on the quilt I've been working on the last days, but figured I should make a little Easter project instead. The pattern is from a book I bought in 2004 (I usually mark my books with my name and year they are purchased).
I've been wanting to make this project for so long, and it was so fun to make! 

A cute little Easter decoration :o) Can't figure out why I waited so long to make this!
I hope to make a couple of the other projects from the same book during the Easter holidays. It brings out the Spring feeling, working on projects like this :o)


It's nice to have the sewing mojo back again, and hope it will stay for a while again. 
Will show some photos of the quilt I'm working on in the next blog post ;o)


Happy sewing,
Laila





 
 

Some new projects

Not much sewing going on, but I started a couple of new knitting projects. I've been knitting since I was a little girl, and I've always been very fascinated by the traditonal knitted Selbuvotter/Selbu mittens and gloves.

I bought a couple of books a while ago with patterns for some gorgeous mittens:

 The one called "Selbuvotten" is translated from a book called "Biography of a Knitting tradition" by Terri Shea, so the book is also written in English for those of you who are interested in knitting, and read only English.

When I'm not able to, or just don't feel like, doing any sewing projects, I ususally have a knitting project (or five) I work on. It's just as easy as stitcheries to keep in my purse :o)

Inspired by the gorgeous mittens I did see over at Mormors verden made with multicolored yarn, I just had to buy some new yarn and try this.  These two pairs are both made from the same pattern, but the one with multicolored yarn are smaller, because the yarn is a bit thinner than the ones in black and white. 

I have been knitting a lot of socks with similar patterns like these, and I'm not so good at knitting thumbs yet... You can see there is no thumbs on the two pairs, but I hope to get on with them this weekend. Been so long since I knitted mittens, so I forgot how to make the thumbs look neat ;o)  I'll just have to give it a try :o)

The day before yesterday, Hubby bought me roses. He knows my favorite color is dusty purple, and he spoted these gorgeous roses and just had to buy them. It's a bit hard to get the real color right, even if I brought them outside and didn't use the flash on my camera, but I think it's pretty close:

The roses are in the same colors as my favorite table runner I have on my dinner table.

I have no clue what the name of the roses is, but if you do I really want to know :o)

It's looking more like Spring these days, as the snow is melting fast, and the temperatures are staying around 5 to 10 degrees depending on if the sun is shining or not. I'm looking forward to the beautiful season we have ahed, and hope to get to spend more time outside again. It's been a long winter, and it's so nice to have a lot more daylight again.

I have no special plans for this weekend, and I'm just going to catch up on a few things between doing some "have to's". 

Wish you all a great weekend,

Laila

A small progress

Some weeks ago I bought the book "Miss Rosie's spice of life" by Carrie Nelson. I just fell in love with this beautiful scrap quilt called "Raise the roof" when I read the book. I started cutting fabrics for the quilt a while ago, and started making some of the blocks during the last week or so. 
I had a day off work today, and thought I would finish a lot of blocs, but just got to make four...
But a small progress is still progress :o)

I wish I did cut many more different fabrics, feel like the blocks are too much alike, but I just plan to continue and  see how it looks in the end. Maybe I'll make some new blocks if it doesn't look good enough. 

Hope to continue making blocks during the rest of the week, but I have to go shopping first. I'm almost out of sewing thread, so I have to get more before I'm able to sew more. I have a lot of different thread, but not the light one. I like to use light sewing thread when I do the piecing, especially when I'm dealing with the light fabrics. Don't want it to show through.

Happy sewing,
Laila

I'm still here!

I've been taking a little blog break. Not because I wanted, but when "life just happends", and my health is not very cooperative, there is not much sewing going on. 

The migraines and most of the neck pain are gone now, and it's feels so much better!

I know it's something I will have to deal with every now and then, but it's making me a bit sad when it "steals" so many hours and days of my time. 

For those of you who doesn't know me, I'm having a neck injury because of a whiplash accident years ago. This makes me unable to work as much as I should, and of course it means I'm not able to sew as much I would like to. But to be honest, sewing is my own sort of therapy to keep my motivation up, and it feels so good to be able to do something creative. I have several friends who are in the same situation like me, and find joy and therapy in sewing or other crafts. Sometimes people doesn't understand how I am able to sew, but I can't just sit down with my hands in my lap, can I? I would go crazy if that should happen! 

The other day I got to finish up a little project I've had in the making for sooo long. Just the zipper that needed to be attached, so it didn't take that long to finish it either. That means I've got a little finish for OPAM too this month :o)

It's a little toiletry purse from AnnAKa's pattern called "Stor og liten" (Big and small).

I haven't spent much time in my sewing room this month, but hopefully it will be some hours in there this weekend. I've got a few plans, so we'll see. I really hope my sewing mojo is coming back to me again soon. I hate to not have the energy or urge to sew. But that's life. I have to many projects in the making, so it's not easy to pick which one to work on, but I just have to make up my mind and just go ahead :o) 

Wish you all a great and creative weekend,

Laila

I WON!

I have been followong the blog tour and give aways that was about Kim Brackett's new book "Scrap-basket Sensations". Yesterday Brown Quilts announced the winner of the 10.th day of the blog tour. And I was the winner of the book! I had to read it three times to belive it! I'm sooo excited! This book was on top of my wish list, but since I'm working on two of the quilts from her earlier book, "Scap-basket Surprises", I decided to wait to order it till these two quilts where finished. But now I'll get my own autographed copy! Ain't that cool?

I digged out my "Kitchen Sink" from my WISP bin the other day, and I have to admit I got inspired to do so when reading about the new book. 

Yesterday I finished piecing the last two rows on my "Kitchen Sink"!

I'm not sure what fabrics to use for borders yet, but hopefully I'll figure it out soon. Really wanna finish this top and get it ready for quilting. 

I love how it turned out so far!

I made the quilt a bit larger than the original. I will use wool batting, and been thinking about hand quilting it. But then again, it might not be finished for such a long time if I do hand quilt it...

We'll see. Got some time to figure that out :o)

I'm going to clean up my sewing room today, it looks like a mess after spending time in there the last days. I love to clean up after every project. I get more motivated when I do so, and it gets pretty dusty when I've been cutting and sewing for some days. 

Wish you all a great and creative day ♥

Laila

Kitchen Sink update

I've been playing with the blocks for the "Kitchen Sink" quilt I started working on a while ago. I haven't been sewing so much for a long time, and it was so nice to work with this one again. I think this is one of my favorite scrap quilts ever, and I'm pretty satisfied with the result so far. Sort of what I imagined in the beginning :o) I've been looking for a brown fabric for the triangles for so long, and didn't find any I really liked. But I figured out I should give the blue one a try, and I don't regret that. I think it fits pretty well with the rest of the fabrics, and all of them are reproductions fabrics I've been collecting over the last year or so.

The photo is a bit dark, but I'll take a better one in daylight during the weekend ;o)

When I made the post on my blog about starting to make this quilt, I got an e-mail from Kari Veslum (no blog). She recognized the quilt I worked on when she read my blog post. She told me she had made this one also, and thought it was fun to find it on my blog too. She sent me a photo of her quilt, and it is gorgeous!

Don't you think Kari's quilt looks great? 

I think it is fun to hear about others who did make, or are making the same quilts as I am. We can inspire eachother, and see the different variations in colorways others did choose. I know she gave this away as a Birthday present, and that she is making one for her self too. I really hope to see that one too :o)

I've had a day off work today, and just enjoyed some time in my sewing room and a few other things I haven't got the time to do for so long. I decided to have a day off the "have-to's" too. I think I really needed that. It feels so good to be doing something for me, without feeling guilty and selfish. I usually do feel selfish when I neglect housework and doing other stuff a mom have to do every day. It just "charge my batteries" sometimes :o) We all need to do that now and then.

The kids are having a week off school next week, the Winter Holidays, and I have a week off work too. I hope to do some sewing, and doing some cozy stuff with the kids. Maybe bake some cinnamonbuns or something, and do stuff we don't have time to do when  the days are filled with school and work.

I'm looking forward to just enjoy some quality time with them :o)

Last weekend my Hubby bought me some lovely white roses (my favorite) for the Mother's day. Tried to shoot a close up, but I'm not a good photographer... But I liked this photo anyway :

Wish you all a great and creative weekend ♥

Laila

Had a great weekend :o)

Last weekend, I attented Anne-Pia Godske Rasmussen's class at Quiltegården.

Anne-Pia is a well known designer, and her last book "Flowerpower Patchwork" is a really great book, with lots of gorgeous patterns and projects. She told us how to do every project from the book, and she showed the projects step-by-step, so it was so easy to see what she talked about. Thank you, Anne-Pia, for a lovely and inspiring weekend!

I wanted to make the knitting bag from the book, and I bought some gorgeous fabrics to play with :o)

Anne-Pia's bag is on the left side of the photo, and mine on the right side. I didn't finish mine at the class, but finished it the day after.

My knitting bag is already stuffed with knitting pins and patterns that I've got stored in plastic bags till now. Think I'll make another one too, so I can have one to take with me too. I like to work on some easy projects when I'm taking knitting or sewing with me when I am on a visit or meeting, and the ones with more complicated patterns stay's home :o)

I took some photos on the first day of the class, but forgot to take some of the Anne-Pia's projects, and photos from the second day :o(

This is some of the ones I did take :

You can visit these blogs to see more photos from the class:

Merete's blog

Quiltegården's blog

 Thanks so much to Anne Mari and Liv Guri, who took care of our lunch, coffee and tea this weekend. They made us some yummy waffles, and Anne Mari made homemade bread for us too :o) We're pretty spoiled when we attend the weekend classes at Quiltegården ;o)

Earlier this month, I got the "Winter Blooms" back from Merete, who did the most gorgeous quilting on it. Finished the binding on it, and it's now on display at Quiltegården :o) Some close up's:

Happy sewing ♥Laila

A new top is finished

In November last year, we where a group of ladies from our local quilt guild who met for a sew-along to work on charity quilts. I had cut a lot of pieces to make a quilt from a pattern I did see over at Mary's blog. One of the other ladies brought the same pattern, too! Her quilt was turning out so great too :o)

I managed to piece all the blocks that evening, but they've been in a box since then....

Some days ago I started to piece them together in rows, and yesterday I started working on the border. I wantet to make the border a little easier than in Mary's pattern, but I still wanted the bricks to be surrounded by the white fabrics... Some thinking later, I came up with this:

I'm pretty satisfied with the result, and I hope to get to quilt it soon, and binding it. Here is a close up on the fabrics:

These fabrics have been in my stash for so long, and I'm glad I found a project to use them in. They are all from the same fabric line except the white one,  but I cannot remember the name of it... 

I hope to sew some more later this weekend, but since a cold is heading my way, I will find some stitchery to work on, and make myself a big mug of Tea and stay under a blanket for the rest of this day :o)

Hope you are having a great weekend, 

Hugs ♥
Laila

The "Secret Quilt" is called Cottage Charm :o)

Today is the day I'm allowed to show you the secret project I have been working on the last month or so!!!! 

Siw, owner of Quiltegården, asked me to make this quilt, and of course I couldn't resist saying "yes" :o) I started in the middle of December, and it was so exciting to see the quilt growing.

A lot of sewing on the machine, and appliquè by hand, it turned into this:

Then it had to take a trip to Merete, she was going to quilt it on her longarm quilting machine. She gave me a couple of sneak peeks along the way, and it looked gorgeous!

She turned it into this:

Awesome, right? She did such an amazing job, and you can see some more close up photo's over at Merete's blog :o)

The quilt is on display at Fr.Jørgensen's exhibition stand on the Gave & Interiørmessa (Spring Market) which opened early today and will be open during the weekend, so that's why we couldn't show you the quilt before ;o)

The quilt is promoting the new fabric line from RJR fabrics, and the pattern is a 6 month BOM with these fabrics. Quiltegården in Trondheim are going to have it in the shop, so give them a call, or an e-mail if you are interested :o) 

I couldn't resist using the extra pieces I had left from the first table runner I made a week ago. I turned it into a similar table runner, and I gave it to my mom yesterday. The only thing different from the first one, is the quilting. This is only my second finish this year, but hope to finish some more projects next month:o)

Happy sewing,
Laila

A new table runner for me :o)

Yesterday I had my day off work, and I started making a table runner I've had in my mind for a while. My inspiration was a quilt one of my fellow members in my quilt guild made some time ago. I liked the simplicity of it, but yet it was so cute! Hers was hand quilted, but I quilted mine in the ditch using my sewing machine.
Fast and easy one. Just had to do something for myself for a change :o)

It's made from 3,5" squares (you'll need 21). Strips in white are 1,5" x 3,5" (you'll need 18), 1,5" x 27,5" (you'll nedd 4) and 1,5" x 13,5 " (you'll need 2). I pieced it in rows and pieced the rows together with two of the 1,5" x 27,5" strips, and then added the two left along each side. Then I added the two strips at the shortest ends.

Nice to have a table runner with some Spring feeling even if it's lots of snow outside, and it's still snowing a bit.
My two youngest boys have been sick with the flu bug for a week now, and today I'm not feeling too good. Just hope it's not the flu bug that got me, and that the coughing and headache will pass by quick! Don't have the time to be sick now. Too much to do!
I'm off to have a cup of hot tea and some rest, and hopefully I can get back to work tomorrow, and that I'll will get some sewing done this weekend.


Happy sewing,
Laila

Been sewing

I managed to finish the "Secret quilt" on Thursday, and it's off to quilting now!!! So excited to see it after it's quilted!!!. Merete Ellingsen are the one who will be doing the quilting. She is such a talented quilter, and I hope to make a quilt of my own to send her way soon :o)
Sorry I cannot show you photo's of it yet, but soon... ;0)

I've been only working on the "Secret quilt" for more than a month now, and it was a bit weird to find time to something totally new... Hard to pick one project to work on, there are too many to choose from... But I'm gonna stick to the plan about finishing something for every new project, so maybe the pile of UFO' will be a bit smaller this year. I really hope so!
I ended up cutting more fabric for the "Mocha Swirl" quilt I started working on together with Gail Pan, when we started a little sew-a-long on Facebook. She finished hers a while ago (PS! She is a speed-sewer!!!), and mine was not half way yet, but some more blocks where added today :o)
And more is in the making. This is some of the blocks so far:


I've used mostly from my Japaneese fabrics, but some are other fabrics. Some where scraps from fabrics I bought when I first started to make quilts, and some are fabrics I've bought not long ago. I love to do stashbustin, but there seems to be more stash when I'm done... At least a lot of 2,5" strips :o) This pattern is from the "Scrap Basket Surprises" book. It's a great book with lots of easy but awesome patterns. Will continue working on the "Kitchen Sink" when I'm done with this one, so I have some stuff going on... :o)

Wish you all a great new week,

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy New Year! Isn't it great to sort of reset, and start on scratch with all the plans and project that didn't happen last year? I've already made a lot of plans, and some of my New Year's resolutions includes getting some more of my UFO's and WISP's out their bins and boxes, and finish more projects than last year. I am going to update my list for every UFO/WISP so I can get an overview of them. I've got lists in several notebooks, and that is not working. So the list on my sidebar will be a long one one...

I am planning to finish a UFO/WISP for each new project I start with this year. Wanna join me on that? Maybe I'll make a blogbutton for this, if several of you wanna join me :o)

There will also be a sew-along on my blog soon. Cannot wait to give you the details, but I know you'll love it, so keep checking up on me ;o) It will be so fun!

During the Christmas Holidays I got to do some progress on the "Secret quilt" I'm working on. It's a gorgeous quilt, and I will give you a couple of sneek peeks when I've been working some more on it ;o)

I also started on a little chrochet project. It's going to be a small table runner for my cupboard when it's finished. Just loved the purple yarn I bought last week.


A while ago I left a comment on Mona's blog, and this is what I got from her in the mail just a couple of days before Christmas:

Thanks a lot, Mona! Love your gift!!!
I like the “Random Acts of Kindness” philosophy currently traveling around blogs under the title of “Pay it Forward.”

Pay it forward rules:

I will send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange, and who make the same pledge on their own blogs. I don’t know what that gift will be yet, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward.

When I was shopping for gifts before Christmas, I found this frame in a shop called "Black & White":

I just totally fell in love with it! I haven't got to print photo's of my three boys yet, but I will do so really soon. Ain't it gorgeous?

Wish you all a great week,
Hugs ♥
Laila

The last OPAM report this year

I have finished only one project in December. I can only show you a little bit of it, since it haven't been delivered to it's new owner yet ;o)

I have finished only 14 projects this year, I made 28 projects last year, so I hope next year will be a year with a lot of finishes.
I really hope Peg and Kris will continue OPAM next year, too. It's been fun to have joined it for the last two years, and sort of a "kick in tha butt" for me ;o)

A big thank you to Peg and Kris for doing all the hard work, I know they've been spending a lot of their time making this possible for us ladies.

I have been busy working on a quilt I have to finish before middle of January. I'm not allowed to show you a sneak peak yet ;o)

I've already made some plans for projects in 2011. New year, a fresh start.

I wish you all a Happy New Year!



Hugs ♥
Laila

Then the Holidays are here, and even if it might be stressful and busy to get prepared for it, I love Christmas. I keep telling myself I did my best this year too, even if I forgot to send several of the already written Christmas cards, didn't get to bake all the Christmas cookies like I use to do every year and I didn't get to make any hand made gifts this year either. But I think what really matters is that I can be with my loved ones and be grateful for the things I got to do. I have wished my friends either by e-mail or to their facebook profile, Merry Christmas, that's sort of an ok substitute for the cards I didn't get to send, right?
I think we sometimes ask too much from ourselves to do "all the right things" and forget to enjoy the small but important moments in our lives... am I wrong?

I wish you all a Merry Christmas, may your Christmas be a warm and cozy one.
Hugs ♥
Laila

Woowhoo! The top is finished!

I'm soooo happy and pretty satisfied, I finished the top of the quilt I've been working on for Quiltegården lately! The "Winter blooms" by Gail Pan. Isn't it gorgeous? I love the colors and the design, and have really enjoyed working on this quilt! I'll deliver it to Siw at Quiltegården tomorrow, and off to quilting it goes :o) I look forward to see it quilted!
All of the fabrics I've used is from Quiltegården, so if you want to make this quilt in the same fabrics just go to their blog and find their e-mail or phone number to order it. The pattern is sold separately, too :o)

I am going to finish a few projects the next days, and also start on a new project. But more about that later ;o)

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,

I've been busy ;o)

I've been busy lately, but I've had so much fun!
Last week (Thursday) I finished my class at Quiltegården about how to use the 60 degree ruler to make the quilt with cubes. To teach classes is totaly new to me, but with such patient and nice students I had a great time :o) Thank you ladies, and thank you Siw for asking me to do this!
I brought my camera this time, and here is some photos from the last evening :

I missed Hanne-Kristine's quilt, but I'm sure you'll soon see her progress if you check up on her blog :O)

Siw, the owner of Quiltegården, busy - but always helpful and smiling :o)

This is the goodies that came home with me from the shop:


What also came home with me, was a huge pile of gorgeous fabrics and Gail Pan's new pattern called "Winter blooms". I asked Siw if I could help her to make it for her shop. So when it's finished, you'll be able to see it there :o)
I've been having so much fun making the blocks for the quilt, and I'm almost finished with the needleturn appliquè! I'm really looking forward to put the blocks together!
This is the blocks I've finished:


This is the block I prepped this mornig, and I'm almost finished!


Siw at Quiltegården have the bundles of these fabrics ready with the pattern if you would like to make this quilt with these fabrics (most of them are the same ones that Gail used in the original quilt). Anyone wanna join me? Please let me know if you are making this quilt, I would love to see it :o)

I'm having a week off work, and I am spending most of the days just doing things I want to. That's what Holidays are for, right?
I will try to get some Christmas presents done, but also work on other things I've planned to finish. Anyway, I'm just enjoying these pieceful mornings that starts with coffeè and sewing.