Saturday 30 June 2007
Eight to go...
I resorted to raw edge appliqué on the E4 – I think it turned out ok. The other patterns are originally foundation paper piecing – not one scrap of paper touched my fabric :o) Now there is only eight more blocks to do, and the SBS top can be sewn together – yey!!! Some of the blocks are suitable for hand piecing, so if I have time I’ll bring them as a carry on project over the summer.
Which brings me to my last announcement tonight: this will (probably) be my last post for a while seeing as I’m leaving for the summer house on Monday and from there to England on Thursday. So I wish you a great couple of weeks and welcome back for news from me in about two weeks time.
Hugs from
Anne Ida
Monday 25 June 2007
Charm packs quilt
In the post I made this morning I promised that I'd share a picture of the quilt I've been working on for the last week. I had no idea this pic would be posted this soon (sorry it's not all that great). Like I said the quilt was a birthday present for a friend, I brought it with me to work today to give it to him in time for his summer holiday, thinking he'd take it with him and open it on his birthday (which is in a month). But this quilt was also a present for his birthday last year (I've had such a guilty conscience about not getting him something that he made me promise to get him a big gift this year to cover both birthdays *lol*), so of course he had to open it right away. And this is it:
A lap quilt, size 54" x 73” made with a gray sofa in mind :o) I'm sure a lot of fabric collectors recognise the fabrics. The centre is made up of Moda fabrics; one charm pack of Cornucopia Print, one pack Cornucopia Plaid (wonderful textures in this one!!!), and one pack Mistletoe Manor Silky Cotton plaids mixed with some gray Lines R Horton wovens set on point using green Yours Truly Holiday as setting triangles. The gray and the green is also used in the borders, and the gray is used for the backing and the binding. I decided to try to tie this rather than quilting it, and I've used dark green floss for that. I'm rather pleased with how it turned out! And I think he was pleased with his "big gift" :o)
Weekend update
Saturday night was the feast of St. John, and true to tradition there was a barbecue. We gathered at the summer house of a friend, a beautiful place by the Oslofjord. Because of the bad weather there was less bon fires than there usually are on this evening, but we had a wonderful evening. The rain eased up long enough for us to get the food done outside (with umbrellas over our heads), but we ate inside, and had a fire going in the fireplace. As a hostess gift i brought some coasters. Didn't have anything to wrap them in, so a ribon had to do...
Thank you Jenny B for the great tutorial! I have seen quite a few bloggers who have made these :o) They are a lot of fun, really easy and look pretty. Making four of them took me aproximately 45 minutes. I think she was pleased with them :o)
Wishing all a great Monday!
Sincerely, Anne Ida
Tuesday 19 June 2007
Change of name...
Sincerely,
Anne Ida
Monday 18 June 2007
Weekend, SBS and A very special gift
I have also spent some time during the last days to stitch some more SBS blocks:
This is I-2 Winding Ways, H-5 Sylvia’s Shooting star, E-5 Handy Andy, D-3 Mother’s Delight, D-5 Square and Star, D-6 Odd Fellow's Patch, and L-4 Bride’s bouquet. The I-2 and L-4 are hand pieced, which was quite enjoyable seeing how well the blocks came together. I actually foundation paper pieced the D-3; and here you see the problem (one of the problems) with me and paper piecing – I get confused and switch the pieces around. What was supposed to be a green star with red beams ended up green/red and green/red… I’m not going to be bothered to do it over – rather think of it as a lesson learned – but I regret that I didn’t make the templates and pieced “regularly”.
Lastly; wonder what the very special gift I mention in the heading is? Well hop over to Nadine’s blog and have a look. I’m participating in this :o)
Have a great week!
Sincerely, Anne
Friday 15 June 2007
Pincushion exchange
I've signed up for the pincushion so far... you can also sign up for a needle keeper exchange, and I'm going to have a think about that one - I actually need one *lol* - but I have no idea so far of what I might be able to make for a swap.
Thursday 14 June 2007
First BOM block done
I'm rather pleased with the way it turned out, and I hope the rest will turn out ok as well - once I get to it :o) I have decided that I'm going to translate all the sayings to Norwegian. This first one was rather straight forward, but I will have to have a think through on some of the others.
Hope you have had a good week!
Sincerely, Anne
Monday 11 June 2007
Mailbox goodies and BOM
There is a small purse made from plastic covered Moda – perfect for those little things you carry around! - Some lovely vintage floral fabric which I will have a think through to find the perfect project to use it. And there is a couple of pieces of fabric with chickens on it – perfect to make a coaster for my tea mug (who have a rooster on one side and a chicken on the other) that I use every day :o) There are also a couple of romantic vintage looking Christmas cards – they will have to be used for a couple of special people…
What have I been up to since my last post, you might wonder… The heat we have been having over the weekend has made me sit outside most of the time I’ve not been at work. And what to do when the heat is heavy over the city and you don't feel like doing all that much? Work on the May block of the BOM I'm doing, of course, seeing as we're almost half way through June *lol* The BOM is Bronwyn Hayes' Polka Dot Girls - a lovely quilt with quite a lot of stitchery. Goal for the next couple of weeks: finish the two blocks I have received before the July block appears in the mail box :o)
These are the first stitcheries I have done in my life (I have done some embroidery before, but nothing like this); and if you think it is madness to attempt a whole quilt at my level of skill (read lack of skill), you might be right :o) And there may be many words to describe my stitching, neat and even is not among them *lol* but hopefully the blocks will have an over all ok appearance.
Have a great week!
Sincerely, Anne
PS! No, I haven't forgotten the SBS - I will try and make a few blocks there as well :o)
Wednesday 6 June 2007
Just couldn’t resist...
After these were done I started flipping through my sewing basket, and all of a sudden the temptation just got to me; I have to see what this quilt might end up looking like: so I pulled the sashing fabric (I bought that a few months ago) and started cutting. This is how far I got:
Rows A, B, and C!!! I still have 21 blocks left to make so there is a long way before I can assemble the whole thing, but there is something about the satisfaction of seeing that it will eventually come together!
By the way; anyone need an orange and red 6” Chinese Coin block??? Some of you have heard that I misplaced that block sometime in December, and haven’t been able to find it since… eventually I made a new one a couple of weeks ago. Well, last night the old one appeared in the sewing basket, along with all the other blocks, looking smug as h… I guess I should have punished it for giving me a hard time by not letting it be a part of my quilt, but I was more pleased with the background fabric I used in that (which I have run out of) than the one I used in the new one, so now it’s sewn in.
Hope you have a great day!
Sincerely, Anne
Sunday 3 June 2007
Busy weekend
We had a wonderful lunch on the beach of the largest lake in this country - Mjøsa - while the professors held a reading from a 16th century chronicle and a lecture on the way of life in the area in the middle ages.
From there we went to what probably must have been one of the most expensive to build of the Norwegian parish churches in the middle ages, and the best preserved of the ones who remain. The church is absolutely beautiful and worth a visit.
We even managed to get in a boat ride to a tiny island in the lake where Norwegian king Håkon Håkonssen built a small fortress in the 1230es. There is not much remaining of the building, but we got an idea of the dimensions from the little there is left.
I did manage to stitch a little on the bus, and about twenty minutes before we were back at the university after our 12 hour trip, I finished a red and white block for Claire and Quilts for Leukaemia. Summer has finally arrived here, and sitting outside and enjoying the sun after breakfast this morning I managed to stitch yet another one:
I had planned on making a dent in the list of remaining SBS blocks today, but with the nice weather, and one of the ladies who were on the excursion yesterday promoting an open air play who had its last day running today, I made my way outside. I met up with a friend down the street and we walked down to the Botanical Garden where this play took place.
The play was part of the celebration of this being the 300 year aniversary of the birth of Swedish sientist Carl von Linné. It was perhaps not the greatest of plays, but it was really enjoyable as a Sunday afternoon entertainment. From the garden we made our way down to the river that runs trough the city and ended up at an outdoors restaurant about half an hours walk from where I live. We had a wonderful meal, and the clocke ticked onto seven before I returned home.
Now, I know at least Butterfly and Rose have been a bit concerned about my SBS; and for them I here document that I actually have stitched an SBS block tonight:
This is the F-2: Fool's Puzzle. I managed to hand stitch the arcs while “watching” one of my favourite films: While you were sleeping. And then I pieced the block together while I had another of my favourite DVDs running: For richer or Poorer. This should make the stitching time about four hours…
Sorry this turned into a rather long post, but this was the short version of a weekend crammed with loads happening :o)
In hope for a good week,
Sincerely, Anne
Friday 1 June 2007
Ahead of schedule
Each set is five blocks, I have made one extra for myself of each. I had already made three sets, and I have one set as a carry around hand piecing project which are about half way done – so I’ll be done with my swap blocks in plenty of time for the deadline :o)
Some of you have made some really sweet remarks of concern about my decision to take a break from the SBS, fearing that it will become a UFO; to that I wish say thank you! –and that I’ll be back to working on it on Sunday, and hopefully I’ll be able to make the list of 26 remaining blocks a little bit shorter :o)
Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend!
Sincerely, Anne