Finally a finish!

I finally finished my drawstring bag today! I'm doing the Happydance now :o) Been sooo long since my last finish, so it was about time! Now the ladies attending my class can see how it looks like :o)

It's not a small drawstring bag, the height is 36cm and width 31cm. Perfect to bring some stitchery or knitting to go :o)


I'm off to keep working on the "Secret project". I'm looking forward to show you that one :o)


Happy sewing,
Laila

My new project

In October, my local quilt guild is having a weekend with several different classes. I was asked to teach one of them, and if I could make a project about needleturn appliquè. I've been thinking about this project for a long time, and after throwing away my first try, I ended up with this:

It's the needleturn appliquè block I'm going to use in a little bag. A pompadour, like we call it over here. I will have to finish the leaves and the middle of the flowers before I finish the rest of the bag, and quilt it. It's small and pretty simple. Just big enough to get finished in a weekend. 
What do you think? 


Just a couple of ladies have signed up for my class util today, but I hope there will be some more now when they can see the project we're making. I will work on it and get it finished this weekend, so the ladies in my local quilt guild will be able to see the finished project. 


Wish me luck ;o)


Happy sewing,
Laila

I've missed Blogland!

I haven't been making blog posts as often as I wanted to, and I haven't been able to  follow all the lovely blogs I love reading, so often these days. But I guess I'm not the only one, busy with other things... There has been a little bit sewing though. I've finished the block #1 of the "My garden" BOM by Lynette Anderson. I will finish the appliquè on all the blocks when I've finished them all, and decided which fabrics to use. I love the colors of the threads, and I have so many gorgeous japanese fabrics I want to use :o)

One of the reasons I haven't been around much here in Blogland is that I've been doing some rearrangements in my home. I've been doing a bit of painting, and I'm far away from finished! 

I'm painting my dining chairs and table white. They used to be black! I love the way they turned out! Not finished, needs a lot more paint before I'm satisfied.

I've also painted the walls in my living room, too. But cannot make up my mind... I hope to get "the right color" and finish it soon. 

We've also made some changes outside on the back of our home. Hubby is working mostly with help from my dad, my mom and our boys. I think it will look great when we're finished :o)

I'm looking forward to plant some trees and plants when he is done :o)

It's not hard to see the Autumn is near. I like Autumn, with the gorgeous colors it brings. I'm trying to keep my Summer flowers alive, but I guess they've seen better days than this. It's been pouring down the last couple of days, and it's getting colder. Hope the rain will stop, and to be able to get out for a walk with my camera again soon. 

Speaking of taking photos. 

I bought this Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 a little while ago. I wanted to get a camera to have in my purse, and the DSLR  (Nikon D3000) is way to big to bring with me everywhere!

This camera takes great photos, and if you are looking for one which captures great pics without using a DSLR, this is the one I would recomend!!!  It has the coolest auto capture, so if you're not so happy about making all the settings yourself, you just use the intelligent auto setting (IA). It's great to do that sometimes, instead of doing all the thinking yourself ;o)

I'm so satisfied with the photos taken indoors when it's getting dark. Even with no flash, this camera captures good pics! 

I'm not an expert, but just telling you about my own experiences ;o)

Hope to get some sewing done during this week, and hope to stay a lot more here in Blogland from now on ;o)

Hugs ♥

Laila

Giveaway

I think you would love to enter this giveaway, it's just AWESOME!
Pop over to Sew We Quilt/Stash Manicure and check it out!


Good luck to you all :-)
Laila

Back in Blogland again

I'm finally back in Blogland. It's back to work on Monday again, after having three weeks off work. I feel like the three weeks of summer holidays went by so fast!
I got to so some sewing done, but not at all as much as I planned to. I have finished a lot of sewing on the "Comfort quilt". Just a few blocks needs to be cut and pieced. It's looking good so far :o)

I went to Denmark with my family, together with my brother's family. We rented a house in a place called Odsherred, and we had a great time. Since my kids are getting young men busy with their own stuff every day, it was so good to spend some family quality time with them. We went to see different places, and also enjoyed family dinners (bbq),playing games. We spent a lot more time driving than planned, but we had a great time after all :o)


Our furball, Fabian, had to spend the week we where away at a shelter for cats. It's the same place we adopted him from when he was three months old. The poor thing had not been comfortable, and he must have missed us terribly. Not eating much during the time he was there, and not at all interested in the people who worked there.
I've never seen him so happy as when he came home. He was constantly following us around the first two days, must have been so afraid of being left alone. He even followed us into the bathroom. He seems to gain some weight again, and he is more calm now. I will never leave him like that again, so next time we're going on a vacation we will have someone he knows to look after him, poor thing. I'm just glad he's a happy cat again!

We haven't had any great weather at all this summer. Mostly rain and forecast. I've tried to take some summer photos, and since I bought a new lens for my camera, I had to take some walks despite the weather. As long as it's not raining, it's fun to walk around looking for things to capture in a photo.

When I went for a walk the other day, I didn't see only flowers. I found a bunch of four and five leaf clovers too. I've always looking along the roadside when I walk, looking for these. 
Will they bring me any luck? Who knows, but I sure hope so :o)

Last Friday, when we where heading home from Denmark, we got a call from my mom about the bomb in Oslo. We had to drive by Oslo to get home, and she was worried we had to drive through Oslo on our way back to Trondheim. We got to turn on the radio to listen to the news when we got to the boarder of Norway. We heard about the shooting at Utøya outside Oslo, and it was all just so sad. 

It's been a week since the terrible day, and all of the Norwegian people are still in shock and really sad about the terrible things that happened. I have to admit it's almost too much to take in. 

I'm thankful that the people in Norway stay together even more after such a bad incident. 

My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families.

Before you judge, Act. Before you speak, Listen.
 Before you hate, Love. Before you write, Think. 
Before you pray, Forgive. Before you quit, Try.

Wish you all a peaceful weekend,

Laila

A new quilt

I got to buy the issue #3 of Vignette when I visited Quiltegården on Monday. I've seen the gorgeous "Comfort quilt" a while ago at Leanne's blog, and just been waiting for this pattern to hit the quilt shop! It's made in my favorite fabrics, which I've got at a lot of! Of course I had to start making this as fast as I came home!

Got to cut a lot of fabrics for this quilt, and also got to finish some blocks for it already :o)  I will make this quilt for my DS1. I really hope he'll like it as much as I do!

Been sewing for some years now, but never finished a quilt for my boys yet, and I think it's about time I make them a quilt each! It's a bit hard to find fabrics and also patterns that is really "boyish", but the "Comfort quilt" is just perfect! And it's pretty fast to make to, so I might make my three boys a quilt each with this pattern. Got so many gorgeous japanese fabrics to use in a quilt like this, and I think this will be fun and fast to make.

Maybe I'll end up making one for my dear Hubby too :o)

It's great to get to do some sewing now when I have three weeks off work. The weather is not like it should be, so much rain and low temperatures. Think we've had just a couple of days that where really nice the last month or so. I really hope we'll have a lot of sun and warmer weather during the summer holidays. The kids gets a bit bored when they're not able to be outside riding their skateboard, and we usually go to a lake near by to go swimming and sun bathing, it's really not like summer is supposed to be. No fishing trips when it's raining and cold either. Hope it will change, so we'll have a great summer after all.

I've been sewing some more on my "My Garden" quilt, and hope to finish up some more blocks for it soon. It's a beautiful quilt, and I hope to finish some more during the next couple of weeks. I've got so many unfinished projects, but this will be one of the ones I'll work on. It just works best for me to do what I like, when I like. But that's me, you know :o) Enough of "have to's" during the days, so it's nice to make progress with my sewing projects in the way that works for me. They will all be finsihed, when I'm ready for it ;o) No pressure, and I like that.

I hope you all are having a great week, and that you're able to do some of your "want to's" between your "have to's". 

Happy sewing ♥

Laila

Slow progress

There has been a slow progress on my projects lately, but now and then I've spent some time in my sewing room working on a couple of them. I've made some blocks for my "Picnic" quilt, using only reproduction fabrics. I've made 40 blocks so far, so still 40 more to make.
The pattern for this quilt is from Kim Brackett's new book "Scrap-basket Sensations".
Pop over to Kim's blog to read more about the Fat Quarter Shop's Scrap-basket Sensations Quilt club. 

It's been a while since I finished all the blocks for this gorgeous quilt, the "Short story" from the book Schnibbles times two, and I've started to join the rows. They are all ready to be joined together, so not much work left before the borders ;o)

I got a nice little packet in the mail yesterday, Lynette Anderson's BOM "My Garden" arrived!!! Typical me, I didn't get it while my local quilt shop had this for sale... Looking at  all the lovely blocks around on my friend's blogs, I just had to ask around to see if anyone knew where to get it! May Britt (Abyquilt) helped me out, and gave me a hint where to get it, she did find out that Lynette Anderson had a few available over at her webshop! Woohoo!!! The thread used in this BOM was already in my stash, so yesterday I got to trace the nine stitchery patterns and got to start stitching :o) Block #1 is in the making! Me like!!

I will enjoy stitching this between making progress on the other projects during my Summer Holidays, and look forward to add the fabric strips to complete the blocks. The colors in this BOM is just the perfect colors, and I will get to  use lots of my japanese fabrics/scraps in this quilt :o)


The weather here in Trondheim is not too nice today. Forecast and a little rain. A perfect sewing weather, so it's fine by me for a while, but hoping that it will be some sunny days during this summer too. It's been chilly and too much rain until now... 

Wish you all a great and creative weekend ♥

Laila

Progress

I forgot to show the finished quilt top, made with the Bliss line. I thought I would make one big quilt, but made up my mind and made two smaller ones. I've only finished one of them, and the other is almost finished. Just need to add the sashing between the rows. I found the backing piece I need to get it quilted yesterday, so I will finish this in a few days I hope.

I've also made some progress on my stitchery project. The table runner is looking great so far :o)

Got to take a break from all the hand sewing, since it's not so good for my neck and shoulders.

A couple of weeks ago we went to take a walk in the forrest, to a little lake we use to go to, with my brother and his family. We also brought our fishing gear, but we didn't catch any fish this time. But we had a cozy time, eating hot dogs and baked potatoes. Mum and dad joined us later, and their dog Luna was happy to join us too :o)

I love these trips with my family, and I hope we'll have many cozy times like this during this summer.

Since we've been having so much rain and low temperatures till now, I hope the rest of the summer will be much better. We really deserve some more sun, I think :o)

Wish you all a great weekend,

Laila

Some new stuff

Went to Quiltegården yesterday, and some new stuff came home with me. I didn't find the backing fabric I was looking for, so I ended up with some other fabrics instead. The shirtings will be added to my repro's, and I'm planning to use them in a quilt from the "Scrap Basket Sensations" book. Need to figure out which quilt to play with first...

I've been wanting to make the gorgeous table runner from Hatched and Patched, "My angels garden" for a while now. It's just so cute! 

I also bought the paper piece pack kit with templates for one of Sue Dayley's quilts, and will work on this between all of my other projects. Not sure if I will make a quilt as big as hers, but we'll see how many blocks I will end up with. Thought I should give the needles and glue a try to. The needles are long and thin, so I guess they'll be perfect for some needleturn applique too ;o)

I'm so happy that my sewing mojo is "back in business", and it feels great to do some creative stuff again :o)

Happy sewing,

Laila

WOW!

I'm so excited, because my quilt is on Sew I Quilt @ Stash Manicure banner for June!

You can see the whole quilt here. 

I'm so happy! And honored! The banner is just so pretty!!! and it's in my favorite color :o)

You can check out the other beautiful quilts on the banner if you visit "Sew I Quilt", and you can also read the stories behind the quilts. 

Thank you so much, Madam Samm!  

I'm off to my local quilt shop in a minute, and hope to get some fabrics for backing. Guess I will be quilting this weekend :o) 

Happy sewing,
Laila 

Need some inspiration?

I just have to share a link to a blog I found yesterday. A perfect way to use white fabrics with lots of scraps: 

Hyacinth Quilt Design made a block called "Garden Fence", and it's so many variations of this quilt popping up in my head! Her quilt is just GORGEOUS!!! Pop over to her blog and check it out!

Enjoy :o)

I'm off to work some more on my scrap quilt, see ya!

Happy sewing,

Laila

A nice weekend

I've enjoyed some hours in my sewing room this weekend. Yesterday I digged out a care quilt (charity quilt) and got it basted, quilted and also put the binding on. Now it's only sewing the binding on to the back by hand left on this one. The top was donated by a lady in my quilt guild, and I've been having it stored away for quite some time now. 

Was about time I got to finish it! Got a couple of more donated tops to finish up, but I have to do some work on my own quilts in between. I like to work this way. Do what I like, when I feel like... You can see the other care quilts donated at the blog called Tepper til St. Olav, and a picture of the whole quilt above will be added there when it's finished. All the quilts you see in this blog are donated to our local hospital, for children with long term diseases.

Today I worked on a scrap quilt I started back in April this year. I got to finish the sashing between two of the rows, an I hope to add the third row before I turn off the lights in my sewing room tonight. 

It looks small on this photo, but it's huge! It's about 70" wide so far (left to right on the photo). I could add one more row, and it would be big enough as a quilt for a kid, but I think I will add the three more rows I've already pieced, and it will be aprox 70" x 102" (180cm x 260cm) finished. Big enough as a bed quilt :o)

We'll see, haven't made up my mind yet ;o)

Happy sewing,

Laila

"Butterfly dilly bag"

Yay! The "Butterfly dilly bag" is finished! 

I used a purple fabric I got from the same friend that sent me the beautiful thread. A perfect match :o) 

Since the pattern includes two different stitcheries, I placed one on each side of the bag.

I did one thing wrong tough... I didn't think twice before sewing and cutting to make the bottom corners, so the stitcheries ended up a bit further down on the sides than planned... But not too far down, phew...

This is a bit typical me when I'm not paying attention, but I've learned my lesson today!

So... this means I've got one more finish for OPAM this month, so now I've got two finished projects for May. I'm happy about that :o)

Happy sewing, 

Laila

A little stitchery today

Started on a little stitchery today when the migraines that have been around, left today.

It's going to be on the front of a little bag called "Butterfly dilly bag". It's a pattern made by Gail Pan. So cute! I used the hand dyed thread from Cottage garden threads. I got this thread from a good friend, and so happy to finally find a project to use it in! 

And you know me, I LOVE purple :o)

I hope to finish the bag during the weekend, and if the weather is going to be like the weather station says, it's going to be sewing-weather. Rain, rain and rain.

Me and Hubby went to my parents place today while the boys was meeting some of their friends. I took my parents dog Luna with me for a little walk, and since noone else uses the track we went I didn't need a leash for Luna. 

No need to worry about meeting any moose with this "lady" walking along with me :o)

Happy sewing,

Laila

An old UFO came out of the bin today

I've been working on a quilt today, one I started in April 2009. I ripped up the seams I made back then, and rearranged the blocks. I made a quilt in blue and brown using the same pattern. You can see it here if you want to. This time I followed the pattern to make the blocks. I found the pattern over at Mary's blog. It's a double 4patch, a pattern that is easy, fun and quick.

This quilt is for my DS3, and I hope to finish the quilts for all of my three boys this year. One of them are almost finished, the blue and brown double 4patch. Just need a little more quilting on the border... Can't figure out why I haven't finished them yet.... Well, I'm at least on my way to :o)

Now I'm off to bed, so Happy night :o)

Wish you all a great and creative week,

Laila

A finished project!

It's been three weeks since my last post. I haven't been sewing during these three weeks at all, and it was so great to finally spend some time in my sewing room last nigt!

I got to finish the binding on the table runner I  wrote about in my previous blog post.

I simply love purple, the lavender/dusty kind of purple. I've always loved this color, and I'm thrilled there are so many lovely fabrics to get in these colors! And here in Norway, the purple have been popular for about a year, and you can buy a lot of interiour stuff and clothes in this color now. Me like :o)

I hope to be able to work on my sewing projects for a while now, I've really missed my sewing room a lot! 

You know, when "life just happends" and my neck doesn't work with me, I'll get slowed down. I guess we've all had, and will have, sort of "issues" to deal with now and then. Stuff that takes both time and a lot of energy to deal with. That's life, right?

Wish all a great weekend,

Laila

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