Pincushion exchange part 2, and a request for help!

Today I was at the post office and picked up my pincushion from Suze:

It is absolutely adorable! And I love the colours and the cute buttons :o) I think it will find its way into the tin i keep my bits and pieces for hand piecing (nice way to replace the scrap of fabric I keep in there for my pins and needles in now *lol*). The lovely lady also included a tin of tea (that will be perfect for little bits and bobs later) and a refridgerator magnet :o)

And seeing as we both now have received our pincushions I thought I' show you a picture of this one I made for her.

The scrunchy thing in the back is an elastic wrist band - and it's filled with rice to give it some texture and weight so as to make it stay put :o)

And now for the request for HELP! Please! For some time now I have had trouble accessing Nadine's blog. I can read her posts, and I can click on the header of each post so that I can read all the comments. BUT I CAN'T LEAVE HER A COMMENT, OR CLICK ON ANY OF THE LINKS IN HER SIDE BAR! Is it just me who have this problem? Have you had a similar problem and figured out a way to solve it? Any idea what's causing it and what I can do about it? Nadine is such a lovely lady, and I'd love to be able to comment on her blog!

Sincerely,
Anne Ida

I’m back… And found lots of goodies in the mail!

K and I have had a great week at the summer house; relaxing, playing card games, enjoying the weather and eating lots of good food. We rode our bikes everyday, I thought I’d share some photos of one of the places we rode to, Tønsberg tønne (The barrel of Tonsberg), a land mark set up to prevent boats/ships stranding on the rocks. It’s a lovely route to bike ride to a beach, and then a short walk through the woods:

We also managed to stitch a bit, I worked on my Polka Dot Girls BOM, K did some cross stitch (sorry, but didn’t get a pic of it).

Coming home I found some lovely blocks with bright coloured fantasy flowers on black in the mail box from two of my swap partners, aren’t they great?

And last night – coming home from a Hens night for a friend – I found this in the mail from lovely Nadine at Friendship Threads – she was my partner for SweetP’s stitchery swap:

Isn’t it perfect? I LOVE Bronwyn Hayes’ designs and Nadine has done such a wonderful job! She picked one of my absolute favourite motives, and her stitching is so great, and I love how she has set it. She even made a perfect stitched label on the back! She also included a hanger and some fabric for a hanging sleeve! – and I have figured out where to hang it :o) I have a green recliner chair in my living room, a spot for reading and hand stitching, and this will be perfect on the wall over it! THANK YOU so much, Nadine!

In exited sincerity,
Anne Ida

I'm off...

...to the summer house for a week with my friend K. I'll leave you with a picture of my Mom and Dad picking wild strawberries down there last summer:

I will miss all you blogging friends, and I look forward to catching up with you when I return! Hope you will have a great week! - and gets lots of sewing done :o)

Sincerely,
Anne Ida

Todays mailbox goodies +++

I'm sort of stressed because I'm on a deadline for a report and for a chapter, so what do I do? I shop online and I blog :o) On Friday I started to look over what I had left of fabric for the borders of my SBS, I figured I should supply a bit. I knew I could get some more of the Moda fabrics I had used from WebFabrics; and while I was at it I ordered a "few" other FQs as well. they arrived in my mailbox today!

I guess I went a bit crazy on the FQs - only 2-3 of these are going into the SBS borders...

Monday night after I had finished the sashings on my SBS I celebrated by taking a virtitual shopping trip to Anne Heidi's wonderful quilt shop: Lappemor. Do take a browse in there; you are sure to find lots and lots of temptations :o) The goodies I ordered there and a surprise arrived in my mail today as well - really speedy delivery and great service!

I am so looking forward to begin on these stitcheries! They are for Christmas, and if I begin now, perhaps I might get them done?

Oh yes, and I pulled some fabric i THINK i will use for the Four Seasons Quilt Swap Autumn quilt:

Earlier this week I was notified by Butterfly and by May K. that they have nominated me for Rockin' girl blogger. Thank you so much ladies! I'm honored!

I know I'm supposed to nominate other Rockin' girl bloggers now, but I have no idea whom to single out of all the wonderful blogers out there, so if you read this, please consider yourself nominated!

Sincerely,
Anne Ida

All sashed up

When I came to work this morning I was met at the main entrence by the janitor and security; saying that there was no electricity in the building, and that it wasn't expected back untill between four and ten tonight. Needless to say nothing much to do there, so I went home again and had a half efficient work day on my lap top, an early dinner, and finishing touches on the sashings for my SBS:

While doing the sashings I really have seen that my skill have improved over the time I have worked on this, and it's rather fun to see :o) Unfortunately was some of the early blocks so poorly made that they were impossible to make them fit, and I had to do them over; I have ripped out stitches and re-made five blocks - not too bad out of 140.

Next will be the the borders - they will probably take quite some time to do. And I need to work on some small projects for a while - my arms and shoulders need a rest (they ache like mad at the moment), and my sanity need to see something get finished within reasonable time *lol* Perfect for this will be the project for the Four Seasons Quilt Swap, and I thing I will start thinking of what to make for Chookyblue's Christmas Swap! I'm signed up! Are you? :)

Sincerely,
Anne Ida

Is it just me...?

I’m so thrilled with all the sweet comments on me finishing my SBS blocks! Thank you so much, everyone!!! I have tried to reply to those who have registered e-mails, and to the rest I hope you read this thank you!!!

Over the last couple of nights I’ve been working on sashing the blocks, and Rose and I have put our heads together to work out the borders. I’m soo pleased with what we have come up with! Thank you for helping me, Rose! The borders will take quite a lot of time and work, though, so don’t expect pictures of a finished quilt top in the nearest future :o)

Now over to something I need to get off my chest (sorry Cindy, you have heard this already); I had a strange experience at work today. Like I said, we have been planning the borders for my SBS, and I went into the printer room to pick up a sketch for a border block. The girl in the next office was there and had picked up my page. When I entered she looked at me and asked if I was quilting (a q not expected among my colleagues!). Happy that someone actually came up with such a direct question, and apparently understanding what that drawing actually was for, I said yes and asked what relationship she had to quilting - and if she is a quilter! Know what she replied? "Yes, she had been doing a bit of quilting back when it was FASHIONABLE!" This is a woman my age – around 30! Is it just me who gets offended by comments like this? Have you ever had someone throw something like that at you? I was so taken aback that I didn’t get to ask her what she meant by it, and what time she supposed that quilting had been fashionable? I have not seen as many quilters around as I do now! My comfort is that she can’t have enjoyed it very much (even though I can’t see why not!) seeing as she has let what she thinks of as a fashion trend steer her to it/away from it! I just feel a bit hurt! Like someone has just kicked my pet, or something…

Anyway, a post without a picture is boring, so I figured I show you the quilt I have hanging over my bed - a quilt that is about 50" square:

Some Norwegians who read the magazine Familien might recognize this, seeing as it was a pattern in the summer 2001 issue. My whole family was at the summer house that summer. I was going to go to summer school in Cambridge in July and August, and the evening before my flight my Mom came up to me and showed me the pattern for this quilt. Need I say more? Luckily I had brought some fabric with me - don't remember what I had intended to use it for! That night I sat in dim light on my bunk bed cutting out the pieces for the Dresden Plates - using scissors, this was before I bought my first rotary cutter! I had all of them cut by morning and in a plastic bag ready to take with me. Somehow I managed to stitch together all nine of them in the five and a half weeks I spent in England (English Paper Piecing, of course!); sitting in the beautiful garden behind Pepys library with a group of squirrels running around me - a lovely memory :o) Finishing the quilt on the other hand, took me... uh-hum... five years... It was a flimsy from the winter 2001 until the summer 2006! Who says I don't finish my UFO's..?? *lol*

Sincerely,
Anne Ida

The final three

Nine months ago today (on the 4th of November (Rose: I checked the date)), I made my first two Sylvia’s Bridal Sampler blocks; A3: Shoo-Fly and L7: Lemoyne Star. I had just finished sewing together the top of my Autumn Star quilt, and felt I needed to do something “small” - *LOL*. Today I made the last two of the 140 blocks of the sampler. In the picture you see:

G6: Grace’s Friendship (which I did on thursday), G2: Oklahoma Dogwood, and G5: Mariner's Compass.

These are the blocks I have been dreading all along; small and narrow points, appliqué of “strange” shapes, I bit the dust and foundation paper pieced the G2 and G5, and cut a corner on the G6 with using Vliesofix and buttonhole stitched on the machine.

Happy thoughts from
Anne Ida

Bright fantasy flowers, part 2 + Four Seasons Quilt Swap

Finally I managed to get my second set of Bright Fantasy Flowers on Black-blocks done:

Hopefully they'll get in the mail tomorrow :o) I think they turned out ok, and I've always loved the combination of black and purple, and wanted to use it for this swap. This purple fabric has been in my stash forever - no idea when or where I bought it, but I still love it (sound familiar?). These blocks were easier to draw up than the previous set (see below), but turned out to be a lot harder to appliqué. If I ever say I'm going to make something like these again, please remind me to make sharp points at the intersections between the pettals!?!

And call me crazy, but even before I finished with my obligations for this swap, I signed up for another! This is the Four Seasons Quilt Swap, where we swap miniature quilts, one for each season of the year. The sign-up for the first one (Autumn!) is on August 18th, check it out! I think it is going to be FUN!!!

Sincerely,
Anne Ida

Blocks

It has been a few days since my previous post, and I don't have all that much to show for for this time. This weekend I spent at the summer house with my family; relaxing, playing cards, and enjoying some good food :o) I also managed to stitch up a couple more SBS blocks:

This is G-9: Modern Tulip and I-10: Rocky Road to Dublin -I've almost got them all done now... and am contamplating what to do for borders once I've pieced them together.

I have started on the second set of Bright flowers on black-blocks, seeing as I was able to buy some more Vliesofix on Monday. But I haven't stitched around the shapes yet, so I'll keep them for myself for a little while longer, and show you a picture of them as soon as they are done. Instead I'll show you a picture of the first blocks I have received in the swap. These lovely blocks are from Nina and fell into my mailbox on Monday. Aren't they pretty?

Hope you are having a productive day!
Sincerely, Anne Ida