Two finished quilts in a week

I am so satisfied with two finished quilts in a week. I would never finish the quilting on these two quilts so fast if I had to quilt them on my domestic sewing machine. I just LOVE the longarm machine, and look forward to finish all my tops in a few months. 


The first photo is a quilt I made for the charity project. I finished the top a while ago, and I'm so glad to be able to deliver the quilt at my local quilt guild meeting next week. I used a pantograph pattern, and I'm pretty satisfied with the result.  

The next quilt is the one I worked on this summer. I used the Bliss line from Moda, and I just love these colors, even if I'm a big fan of the japanese fabrics. This one is also quilted using a pantograph pattern. The loops is not at all perfect, but at least I got a lot of practice. Finished is better than perfect, right?

I've been working on the longarm machine just a little bit this weekend, but I'm hoping to practice some more freemotion quilting as I move on. 


Wish you all a great and creative weekend ♥

Laila

Progress on "Mill Girls"

Hubby and the two youngest spent the weekend at my in-law's, and I've enjoyed being  able to spend a lot of time in my sewing room. It's nice to be "home alone" now and then, and be able to do a lot of stuff without thinking about meals at the right hour, housework and so on... Just charging the batteries and do whatever I like to. But it was sooo good to have them back tonight. I don't need more than a weekend "off".


I finished the block #8 for the "Mill Girls" quilt before I headed to bed late last night. I like the result, and hope to finish the 20 blocks soon.

I made one mistake though... can you see it? I guess I was staying up too late last night ;o) I'll correct the mistake when I continue working on the rest of the blocks, but I will have a little break a few days. Need to practice some longarm quilting, and I hope to do some progress on my oldest son's quilt next week and finish the quilting on more charity quilts.
We're not supposed to do a fast progress on the "Mill Girls" quilt, so I'll put the blocks away for a few days without feeling guilty.


Haven't been sewing at all today, but I've done some housework and laundry beside doing a little knitting. I'm making a shawl using a free pattern by DROPS. I haven't taken any photo of it, but you can find the free pattern here: 


Norwegian: Garnstudio.com
American: Garnstudio.com


Wish all of you a great new week, 
Laila

Two of the blocks for the Mill Girls quilt are finished

Like I told you in my previous post, I'm attending a quilt-along for the gorgeous "Mill Girls" quilt on a Yahoo group called SBS and other Elm Creek quilts. Today is the first day of the quilt-along. I'm so excited to work on this beautiful quilt, and I do look forward to get to see all the different quilts the ladies will be making. Yesterday I got to cut some more fabrics, and I also got to play with some of the hourglass blocks, and pieced some of them. Today I finished a nice little pile of them, and I think they look pretty good :o) A lot more to finish, but I'm looking forward to get a lot of sewing done this weekend. 

Finished two of the blocks, and I like the way the fabrics looks together. I just love these japanese fabrics! And they work so well with a lot of other fabrics too. I'm very pleased to do some stashbusting, a lot of these fabrics where bought long ago and some recently :o)

I'm looking forward to make them all, it's 20 blocks we need for this quilt, and get to quilt it on the longarm machine. 

Wish all the other ladies good luck on their "Mill Girls" quilt!
Happy Sewing,
Laila

Did my first attempt on a tutorial

I'm attending a quilt along for the gorgeous "Mill Girls" quilt on a Yahoo group called SBS and other Elm Creek quilts. It's a quilt from Jennifer Chiaverini's "More Elm Creek Quilts" pattern book.

I think the sign up is still open, but if you have questions about it you can check up on Anne Ida's blog or ask to join the group on Yahoo.

These are the fabrics I'll use in my quilt. I think I will add some brown fabrics too, but well see.  

Since the "Mill Girls" quilt include a lot of hourglass blocks, I thought I should make a tutorial about how to make these without any clean cutting after they are pieced. Hope you'll like it and find it helpful :o)

You'll find the tutorial by clicking on the "Tutorial" tab on top of my blog.

Today I got a package in my mailbox. The coffee jar and a bumper sticker I ordered, arrived :o) I just had to put the bumper sticker on my longarm machine, I think it belong there ;o)

I ordered the jar and sticker from Lena at "Bare maa ha det".

 It's getting late, so I'll jump to bed pretty soon. Tomorrow I'll cut some more fabrics for the "Mill Girls" quilt, and maybe make a block so I can see how it will turn out with the fabrics I chose.


Happy sewing,
Laila

A perfect Sunday

Mr. Winter came knocking on the door yesterday. It's really getting colder, and the temperatures did crawl just below 0 late last night. Today it's changing from rain to snow, and a chilly wind too. I'm so glad I can spend the day indoors. "Miss Monster" and I are dancing with thread today, and I'm having so much fun! A perfect Sunday :o)
I got to finish the quilting on a charity quilt last night, and today I finished charity quilt #2. I'm trying to quilt using a pantograph pattern called scallop grass. Not easy, but as I go I can see I'm making progress. That makes me really happy!

I've got more charity quilts to finish, and I think I'll use the same pattern since I'm slowly getting the hang of it. 


I'm having Merete's advice on my mind all the time, PPP (Practice, Practice, Practice). Hope it will result in some pretty quilting in a while :o)
Wish you all a great Sunday!

Happy sewing ♥

Laila

Practice makes perfect...

I'm still trying to make friends with "Miss Monster". I'm trying to figure out things as I go. I'm not going to use the patterns I've been trying to make on real quilts yet, but I really hope to work out something that I manage well in a while. 


This is the last pattern I tried. It's not at all perfect, but I'm getting there one step at a time. This is like learning to ride a bicycle for the first time, and everyone knows how that goes the first lap :o)

I'm thinking that it will be fun to use this pattern i a quilt soon, I really like it, so with some adjustments and more practice it will look ok.

Happy sewing ♥

Laila

One more charity quilt

Wow! I'm posting two days in a row! Not weeks between, like I've been doing for a long time :o)


I got to quilt one more of the charity quilts today. It's similar to the one I finished yesterday, and I quilted loops on this one too. Not so advanced, but since I'm a newbie with this longarm quilting thing, I'm happy to get them looking ok :o)

Hope to get to practice more, and learn some new patterns I can use, and manage. It's fun, but also difficult to  get it like I want it. Practice makes perfect, right? Hope "Miss Monster" and me will be good friends :o)
Just hope my neck and shoulders like this quilting method better than the freemotion quilting on my Bernina.


Are you living in Norway, and interested to learn more about the Innova longarm quilting machine and frames, you can ask Merete Ellingsen about it.  She is the dealer of Innova here in Norway. She has been so helpful to me, and I'm so glad I can call her when I have questions about "Miss Monster".

Happy sewing ♥

Laila

Dreams come true if you let them

Ever since I started quilting, I've been dreaming of a long arm quilting machine. I've tried to do free motion quilting on my Bernina, but it's no good for my neck and shoulders. Small project works well, but all the larger quilts are stored away in bins, just waiting to get quilted...


Three weeks ago I ordered an Innova long arm quilting machine with an 8' frame. 
Merete Ellingsen, who is a very talented proffesional long arm quilter and dealer for Innova, helped me out. She is the first person in Norway using this machine, and I can't wait to learn a trick or two from her :o) 
I'm so thankful for her help, and I didn't need to wait long before it arrived either. It came early Friday morning to Trondheim! Several weeks faster than I thought! Whoohoo!!!
Hubby picked it up after work, so I shouldn't have to wait util Monday to get it delivered on my door. 
A couple of hours after midnight, we had build the frame and attached all the pieces that came in bags and boxes, and placed the machine on top of the frame :o) 

It was quite easy to follow the manual to build this frame, all the bags where labeled, so it was easy to use the right parts at the right places :o)


Isn't she gorgeous? 

I call her "Miss Monster", and she is SEW HOT! 
I got to practice for the first time earlier today, and I LOVE  this machine already :o)
After a few hours of practice, I loaded a quilt top on to the frame, and I think I used a couple of hours quilting it, instead of using many, many hours basting the quilt on the floor using about hundred pins or so...


This is a charity quilt made by an other lady in my local quilt guild, and I have one more I hope to finish tomorrow :o) 

I hope to spend a lot of time with her, and I just cannot wait to finish up all the quilts I have almost finished! 


I finished the main part of the "secret quilt" last weekend, but I cannot show you yet, because I have to wait for fabrics for the borders. But I can assure you, IT IS GORGEOUS! I'm so excited to show you!


Earlier this week I finally got to finish some more blocks on the "Comfort quilt" I've been working on this Summer. I've finished four big blocks, and almost every small block are done too. Can't wait to get this one quilted with "Miss Monster" :o) 

I wish you all a great Sunday, and hope you're enjoying some time with needle and thread too :o)
Laila

I'm still here!

I've been totally neglecting my blog (again) for a while. I haven't felt like doing much sewing since I've been bothered by a nasty cold the last two weeks, and it's been stealing all my energy. I think every second person I know, have had this long lasting cold, so I guess it's a typical Fall-thing.


The other day I got to put the binding on a table runner I made before Christmas last year. Since I didn't get to finish it back then, I put it in one of my UFO-bins. It's nice to dig out a UFO that don't need much work before it's totally finished :o)
I finished sewing the binding by hand last night, and it's all wrapped up ready to be given as a present to someone in my family later today, as a wedding present :o) 
I've made several table runners like this, and I have to admit it's one of my favorite patterns. 

I'm so happy to tell you that my mom finally fell in love with patchwork, and she has made some lovely blocks from a pattern called "Britt-Lisa's blomsterkurver" made by AnnAKa.
She is almost finished with a pillow (needs quilting) and the stitcheries for a table runner. Looks great, right?

I think it's so fun that she is into patchwork, too. I think she's addicted already :o) 


It's a beautiful Autumn day today, the sun really makes the Autumn colors sparkle. I wish I was feeling better, so I could do a little photo-walk today, but I guess I have to take it easy a couple of days more. Running on low batteries, would make it a very short trip anyway. 
I will try to do a little progress on the secret quilt I'm working on instead. Hand sewing is a nice and easy thing to enjoy on a day like this :o)


Wish you all a great weekend!
Hugs ♥
Laila

Some knitting for tiny babies

There has been not much sewing going on here for a while, since the migraines decided to stay for several days this time. But since I'm feeling better, I hope to enjoy some hours in my sewing room the next days. I've been knitting a little bit though. I'm just not made for sitting with my hands in my lap, even if the headaches are bothering me.
So many of my quilter friends are attending something called Amandaprosjektet. It's a project everyone in Norway can attend by knitting tiny mittens, socks, hats and blankets for premature infants. Since I am a knitter too, I wanted to attend this project. I've finished a little hat, a pair of mittens and I'm working on a baby blanket.

My twins where born three weeks before they where supposed to be born, but since they both where around 3 kilos, they didn't need much special care like many too early born babies. I remember how small they where, and that most of the clothes I had bought for them where too big for a long time. It's a nice thing to be able to make a little difference for those who aren't so lucky like us. 
My mom are knitting for the project too, and I'm looking forward to deliver the things we're making in a little while.
 I've got some of my friends to start too, so there will be some more knitting during the Autumn and winter that comes along soon :o)


I'm lucky to have a handyman in "da house" :o) I've seen a lot of shelfs I like here and there on the internet. Yesterday Hubby started making me one. He finished it today, and came home with this:

He started to paint it this evening, and it's looking so great! Just a couple of strokes more of white paint, and he can add the mirror on the back and get it up on the wall.

There will be added some pegs on the bottom of it when it's finished. I'm thrilled! It looks just like I wanted it to be! Woowhoo! Just trying to figure out what's going to be his next project ;o) 


See you soon, 
Laila

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