Weekend quilting

Have you seen that Bonnie have posted part 1 and 2 of the Carolina Christmas mystery? When I saw she had posted the first part on Friday, I just had to start cutting and sewing, and around midnight I was done with the first step:
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Fun, fun, fun!! But I had promised myself (and Rose) that I would quilt my Sister's Choice before doing part 2, and seeing Bonnie had said Sunday... well, Bernie and I have quilted like crazy for a couple of days:
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And now the quilting is done:
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The edges still have to be trimmed, and i have to do the binding, but I figure I will cut the binding and piece that in between all of Bonnie's triangles :o)

My friend Leisha Camden had some visitors from Japan over for a couple of days, and I invited them here for dinner last night - whale stew (yummy!), and home made caramel pudding for dessert (even more yummy!!) - and there is a little left over for me tonight - so today is quilting, not cooking!



Enjoy your first Sunday of Advent!
Hugs and stitches from
Anne Ida

Rose's new pattern "Teen Dreams"

Ok, so you know I love Rose's designs! From time to time she gives me little sneak peeks at them while they are in progress ;o) Today she released her new pattern "Teen Dreams" - congratulations, sweetie! This is a gorgeous, funky quilt and two very pretty cushions in one pattern pack - a great pattern for beginners as well as those who are experienced quilters. I have been grumbling a lot about needing new cushions for my sofa - and when she showed me the cushions for this pattern, I just had to do a little pre-release sewing! So a transformation from this:



Ugh!! To this:



Pretty!! As you might see my flowers are a bit different from the pattern - a consequence of getting Bernie to work before I had a chance of getting my hands on Rose's templates. I have a feeling there might be a red-white-black version of the other as well, sooner or later :o)

Btw, Rose is having a giveaway of two copies of the new pattern - so pop over to Threadbare and leave her a comment!

Hugs and stitches from
Anne Ida

This and that

At long last I have finished my scraps sorting project! Puh - hope it never will be this bad again (so she says now *lol*). I have saved squares 1", 1.5", and 2" (need a new box for that one), and in the tub to the far right are squares and strips 2.5".



Three plastic bags of trash - all of it pieces and strips smaller than 1"! In the scrap box were also some left over binding strips. A while back I read on a blog (sorry, can't remember which one) about saving these on a roll, and use them to bind scrap quilts. So taking the writer's advice I have dutifully pieced mine together and rolled them onto a TP tube, but obviously there were some of an older date in the box - they have now been added to the strips on the roll, but still need pressing in the joints before I can roll it up:



I have started some Xmas presents, not sure how much to show here, since I don't really know who will stop by and have a look ;o) But this is what Bernie and I have been doing today - we're about half finished:



And some mail box goodness - my copy of A Quilter's Holiday arrived today!

Looking forward to spending some time at Elm Creek Manor again - but I'll probably save it for the holidays ;o)

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Helen Stubbings is having a new pattern out, a lovely quilt called "Life is Beautiful" - and in honor of it she is having a pattern pack giveaway:

Hugs and stitches from
Anne Ida

It's a mystery

It is a bit of mystery... I have been quilting for over 10 years and never done a mystery quilt! I have watched as mysteries have been solved in blogland, and I have loved a lot of the finished products - whether potholders, table toppers/runners, or quilts. More than once have I thought "Now why didn't I join in and do that?".

Rose and I chatted a bit when Bonnie at Quiltville started the "Double Delight" mystery back in January - Rose went ahead and ended up with a gorgeous quilt, I decided not to do it... How many times have I regretted that decision? So I made a promise to myself and to Rose that the next time Bonnie brought out a mystery, I would join in. Have you seen the announcement? The Carolina Christmas mystery quilt is starting on Friday, November 27th :o)

On a late night of no sleep because of road work (they should have been done by now!!!) I went through my stash and picked out these:



There are lots of smaller pieces here, and I'm not sure how far this is going to get me, but there's more where this came from. The 2.5" strips are from my scrap box! As you can see, except for the red, which I have replaced with blue, I'm going with the same colours as Bonnie. Blue is not a Christmas colour in my book so I'll have to come up with a fitting name for my quilt once I see what becomes of it :o)

Now I know Rose is planning to do this one very scrappy with lots of bits and pieces from old stash, and I know Beth already have her bright and funky fabrics picked out. Anyone else?

Hugs and stitches from
Anne Ida

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Btw. LeKa is having a fabulous giveaway in honor of having more than 30 000 hits on her blog, and passed 200 posts - way to go, girl :o)

New household member

Meet Anton - he is the new member of my household:



He is a very active and very cute little creature I'm sure will bring me lots of smiles in years to come :o) Just look at that adorable little face:

(pic by Leisha Camden)

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And since this is a quilting blog... this is what I have been doing on the quilty front lately:



Chaos - hopefully soon to be order!! I guess it was plain madness to start sorting through that scrap box, but it didn't look like it would be all that much work! Well, at one point i was wondering if the fabric multiplied while I slept at night, sigh!. What I have done is sorting out all pieces larger than 3", and then cutting everything else into squares of 1", 1.5" and 2". The largest box is for strips and squares 2.5". I even found some orphan blocks in there, they now keep other orphans company in my WISP cupboard. The pic is from when I was about half way, and tere is still a couple of nights intensive work in there before I can see the bottom of the box.

Hugs and stitches from
Anne Ida

Shopping and sorting

I have been a bad girl and done some kind of heavy shopping. Some increadibly yummy Elm Creek Quilts fabrics by Red Rooster:



Aren't those browns just like a tasty bar of chocolate, and cream on the side? And the strips at the bottom are a dessert roll of Glacé fabrics from Moda.

I have also picked up a pile of patterns from Fig Tree quilts - all of which I some day want to make. The layout of these patterns is beautiful - each one is printed and stapled together like a little booklet:
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The ones with the heading "Fresh Vintage" are actual booklets, there is the pattern for the quilt on the cover, and a few articles, some yummy recipes, som hints and tips. I have picked fabrics from my stash for a couple of these patterns, so when I have the time... sometime after New Year, perhaps :o)

My Tender Moments quilt is a work in very slow progress, but I have spent some time sorting through the patterns and the blocks I have already made:



They were all crammed together with the fabrics in the archive box (as you see it's stuffed enough with just the fabrics), but are now all in order in a binder, and hopefully it will help me keep track of my progress:



Hope everyone is having an enjoyable and creative week!
Hugs and stitches from
Anne Ida

Another small finish

Yes, I have done some quilting on my Sister's Choice, but it's rather heavy, so it have to be done in small portions. In between I have been doing a bit more stitchery. After I finished the little needlebook, I thought back and found I hadn't done any stitchery since the new year! And the last project I worked on was May Britt's Christmas Challenge for 2008 (yikes!!!). I found it half finished in my sewing basket, so what's a girl to do? FINISH IT!!! Now I have a little red and green heart to hang on the bathroom door in December:

I a lovely evening at Butterfly's last night, and I brought some hand sewing with me. Now I know the natural thing to bring would be another DJ block or two, but being in the stitchery mood, I figured, why not do a bit more work on my Tender Moments? I finished one of the little blocks last night (last stitches done on the train home):

Contrary to Rose's patterns I have decided to do the stitcheries in one colour - picking up my blue focus fabric. I hope this will turn out well :o)

Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend!

Hugs and stitches from
Anne Ida

A small finish

Remember my new year's resolution for 2009? It reads: I'll make what I love... and finish what I start. I solemnly promise I won't add anymore UFO's to my list! 2009 is all about finishing whatever I want to start! Looking at my list of WISPs, there are two quilts I started this year I should finish before we write 2010: the Sugar Camp Quilt and the Sister's Choice. The first is still at the "the blocks are done" stage, and need some serious focusing, but the second should be done in just a few hours work - priority no. 1 over the next evenings!!! I'd also like to finish the Flannel Stars, but this was a project started in 2008 (or was it 2007?), so I won't feel too bad about leaving it for a while ;o)

So even though I have more than enough to keep my fingers busy, I have been needing something I could finish quickly. When I got my hands on the pattern for this little needlebook I just had to make it:
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Cute, right? It's a Gail Pan design, I used my favorite fabrics from the Cross Country Quilter's collection by RedRooster for the cover and pocket - and some Moda for the lining. I'm very happy with it - and can't wait to start using it :o) See the scissors in the second pic - I got them from my friend K for my birthday - aren't they pretty?

Now back to those quilts! Hopefully I can show a large finish soon.
Hugs and stitches from
Anne Ida

Inspiration

Our LQS Kathrine's Quilte Stue sometimes arrange inspiration events, and tonight the talk was by very talented designer Lynette Anderson, visiting all the way from Australia.

She presented a beautiful trunk show, and a power point presentation on her work and inspiration. I did take some pictures at the beginning of the trunk show, but in the end I just let my camera lay still, and just sat back and enjoyed!

I even went home with a door prize! I won a copy of Lynette's new book "Gathering of Crows", and she even signed it for me :o)

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It was a truly inspirational evening, and it was lovely too see so many fellow quilters and quilt bloggers.

Hugs and stitches from
Anne Ida