Backpack - another finish!

My friend Leisha Camden (formerly refered to as my friend K) and I made some bags during the winter 2006-2007, and among our projects were a Jinny Beyer backpack, made from some of the leftovers from this quilt:

But we didn't get any further than making the panels for the back and front before the backpack project ended up in the UFO drawer... sigh! But as I've been in the mood of finishing some projects, I pulled the backpack out, and now it's all done:

The straps are a bit long, so I might shorten them someday... But I'm so happy with it!!! And best of all, I'll be able to actually use it :o)

Happy quilty weekend!
Sincerely, Anne Ida

RR Finished

I didn't want another UFO in my drawer, so I figured I'd finish the RR before it ever ended up in the pile of "things to do". And now it's finished :o) This is how it turned out:

I did a stencil motif in the centre, stitched in the ditch around the "castle wall" and the seminole squares, did some stippling in the light blue in the middle, some echo quilting around the daisies and some meandring in the rest. Fun!

Happy quilting!
Sincerely, Anne Ida

Round Robin

I have participated in a Round Robin on the "Stoffbytteklubben" (fabric swap club), and today I finally found mine in the mail box!!! This is how it turned out:

I made the Castle Wall block in the centre, Gudveig did the seminole border, Kari did the purple with the appliqué flowers, and then Lena did the square in a square border. I'm thinking of quilting it quite simply (some meandring, perhaps) and bind it in some dark blue. It will be a good summer table topper :o)

This is how Lena's RR looked when I sent it to Kari:

This is Kari's with Lena's and my rounds:

And this is Gudveig's once all of us had stitched on it:

They all look very different! This was a fun experience, but I don't think I'll join in something like this again any time soon - too much stress and uncertainties...

Happy Quilting!
Sincerely, Anne Ida

Another Angels Story Weekend

Wohoo! Last night I came home from another wonderful weekend of stitching on the Angels Story quilt along with May Britt, Hanne and Lise, and Bjørg (no blog) for a few hours yesterday. We had such a wonderful time!!!

Hanne and Lise picked me up Saturday morning and we drove up to May Britt's. Almost as soon as we arrived we headed of to the LQS Lille Stasjon - of course we had to spend some money *lol*

When we got back, May Britt served us home made "angel buns" on the veranda, and we spent most of the afternoon there stitching and chatting.

When it got too cold, we moved inside, and kept stitching, chatting and laughing - and of course May Britt's cat, Frida, joined in on the fun.

For supper we had a lovely salmon and pasta - it was soo yummy, May Britt!

Lise is a very speedy stitcher, and she has finished all her angel blocks, so after supper she started cutting the pieces for her quilt, and on Sunday she started piecing a couple of the blocks together:

they look so wonderful! The rest of us stitched some more on our blocks,

and when Bjørg joined in, we had a bit of a display on the living room floor

Angels Galore!!! *lol* Looks great, doesn't it?

May Britt let me go crazy in her drawer of green fabrics to add some variety to my angels quilt - look at this yummy pile I came home with

Thank you so much, May Britt!!! Now I just have to catch up on my blocks...

Thank you ladies for a great weekend!
Hope everyone has a wonderful Monday!
Sincerely, Anne Ida

Not much quilting...

Just stopping by on my way from a few days at the summer house, and on my way to meet the angel stitchers at May Britt's for the weekend. I haven't quilted much lately, so I thought I'd show the finished Pickled Cabbage quilt. If you have followed my blog a while, you know this is the one of the two "Twin Sisters" quilts Rose and I made when I was visiting her in Tasmania in February:

I finished mine a little while back, but haven't showed it here on my blog yet. On my way to the summer house a few days ago I brought it to my parent's house so that it can decorate my bed/their guest bed - I figured it was better used there than in a cupboard in my flat. I'm happy with how it turned out, and it hold such precious memories for me!

Well, I better get some sleep - I'll meet the angel stitchers in the morning, and hopefully I have something to report on Sunday evening :o) I'll leave of this post with a close-up of a Sandefjord rose (been playing with my camera) - named from the city where our summer house is - pretty:

Happy quilting weekend!
Sincerely, Anne Ida

A finish - thanks to quilting friends

My blue couch has now got a brand new red and white cushion! And all I had to contribute was some sewing thread and a pillow form, and of course some fun work :o)

May Britt gave me the fabric for the Two Brown Chickens stitchery pattern by Leanne Beasley already marked, and she also included the embroidery floss. It was quick and really fun to stitch! I decided to make it into a cushion rather than a wall hanging - because a couple of my old cushions are kind of worn out *lol* I framed it with a 1,5" strip of a dark red fabric that Elin got me for a fabric swap a little while back - and look, it has tiny chicken tracks all over it:

I love this fabric, and it's so perfect for this project! The large floral was a present from my SBS friend Shelley -it's the fabric she used this for the backing on her beautiful SBS swap quilt from the 2006 swap (Shelley, I hope you don't mind me linking to your quilt!). I still have some more of the fabrics, so there might be a matching cushion coming sometime in the future...

Thank you so much ladies!
Sincerely, Anne Ida

***

PS! To all you Elm Creek fans out there: Valerie has started a blogring called "Quilts through the pages" for fans of the Elm Creek Quilts series who also enjoy making quilts from the books - I have signed up, Erica has signed up, will you too?

It was about time...

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I think it was about time I made myself a thread catcher :o) It's very simple - no embelishments - but I'm happy with it :o) and anything is better than the plastic bag! ...now I just need to get a new cover on my ironing board...

Hope you have a great quilting week!
Sincerely, Anne Ida

An Angel's Story weekend

This has been a fabulous weekend of good quilting friends and lots of stitching :o) Hanne, May Britt and I went down to visit Inger Lise for the weekend to work on our An Angel's Story quilts. And we got quite a bit done. I thought I'd share some of our lovely memories.

When we arrived Inger Lise met us with fresh strawberries and home made buns on the veranda, they were so yummy! and we enjoyed them, and the sun and some stitching:

Look at her fabulous plates:

Of course we had to inspect her studio - it's fabulous, and I'm so jealous ;o)

When the rain and thunder came over us, we moved into the living room, where we stitched some more and enjoyed some snacks - here we have May Britt and Hanne in intense consentration:

In the evening we enjoyed some lovely chicken before going back to stitching and chatting

Of course we had to layer out our blocks to se how far each of us have gotten :o) May Britt, who has been working on this quilt for quite a while was first - here she is in full action:

Her blocks are so lovely - very warm and welcoming colours - here is just the blocks:

Inger Lise has chosen to use japanese fabrics, which are so pretty, but gives a bit cooler impression:

Hanne's choice is not very far from May Britt's but she is a tiny bit lighter in colours:

Last my two and a half blocks, which are very different - I have chosen to do all the stitching in one colour, and to keep my fabrics mostly green (with a little touch of blue and some pinks)

Thank you ladies for a wonderful weekend!

Hope you enjoyed my little show and tell!
Sincerely, Anne Ida

Elm Creek Samplers

For a long time I have wanted to make "Sarah's Sampler" from Jennifer Chiaverini's first pattern book Elm Creek Quilts - this is the quilt as it appears in the book (picture borrowed from http://www.elmcreek.net/):

(Ok, there are lots more quilts from these books I want to make!! *lol*). If you have read The Quilter's Apprentice you know this is the sampler Sarah makes when she first learn to quilt - and the storyline of the book is connected to each of the blocks in the quilt. But I have held back a bit on starting this one, partly because of the work of the setting but perhaps more because of the size. Then the other night I thought, why not make it as a mini? Ok, so I haven't eliminated the amount of work, but a wall quilt I can find room for :o) So I have drafted the blocks to 4" instead of the 12" in the pattern, and I think it will fit nicely over my desk! Tonight I sewed my first two blocks:

Yet again it's blue and white *lol* Maybe I'll mix in some other colours... I still have lots of small blue scraps, and the white is the cut offs from the baby basket... we'll see how long it lasts.

My heading says samplers, and the reason is that this morning FedEx rang the door bell, and they delivered my SBS! This was a lot sooner than I had expected, but I'm so happy my "baby" safely home again!

This weekend I'll be going to visit Inger Lise along with Hanne and May Britt - we are going to work on our Angel's Story quilts - I guess we are going to have lots of fun, and I hope to have some fun pictures to show when I get back :o)

Happy Quilting!!!
Sincerely, Anne Ida