Round We Go Again

Today I have three more Round We Go blocks to share. Not sure how happy I am with these three blocks. The contrast isn't too god between the blues used in them, and they look kind of washed out... 

This is how nine of the blocks I have made so far look together.

Perhaps they won't look too bad once everything come together...? 

Linking up with Kathy and Slow Sunday Stitching.

Hugs and stitches from Anne Ida

Round We Go Two More Blocks

I'm really enjoying putting together these round blocks. The pieces are quite small, but they are coming together quickly and accurately

These two blocks were quite simple, put together with the bigger pieces in the packs. The "ring" around the center hexagons have been constructed differently, but they came out looking the same ;.)

Hugs and stitches from Anne Ida

Round We Go Twice More

Two more blocks of the Round We Go BOM has come together. These are two similar blocks, it's just the fabrics that are different.

Thinking I should make one more where the twister in the center and the outside circle is dark, and the star points are light...

Linking up with Let's Bee Social over at Lorna's place SewFreshQuilts :-)

Hugs and stitches from Anne Ida

Christmas Greetings substitute

In an earlier post I mentioned I was probably going to substitute a block or two for my Christmas quilt. However, I  wanted it to thematically still would work in a Christmas quilt, and not be too different from the block i changed. So the choice of a Snow Chrystal block wasn't so far fetched:

In my part of Norway there's a bit of a jeopardy if there's snow on Christmas or not, but still there's always the hope of waking up to a white Christmas.

What block did I replace? There's no secret I have a teeny-tiny scare of applique, and of course one of the final two blocks in the original sampler has some applique in it - this is Flower of Christmas:

Picture copy: block from the original 

Christmas Greetings from Elm Creek Manor by Jennifer Chiaverini

Not too different are they?  Just the center that separates these blocks, and I wanted to do a block that had more or less the same overall appearance as the Flower of Christmas.

The Snow Chrystal block is patterned in the Elm Creek pattern books, but the pattern is for a block with lots of Y-seam construction  made from diamonds, triangles and squares. I don't really mind doing Y-seams, but strip-piecing is rather quicker, and since I do own the Rapid Fire Lemoyne star ruler, and have become quite smitten with it (it's not a love-match, though), I decided it would be a good way to go. However, using this method there will be some more seams to cross when quilting...

Hugs and stitches from Anne Ida

Christmas Greetings revisited

Early 2011 I joined a BOM with a yahoo group making quilts from Jennifer Chiaverini's pattern books. The pattern for this BOM was Christmas Greetings from Elm Creek Manor:

I stitched diligently the first few months and made it through six blocks before I completely lost focus. I did try, cutting pieces for blocks ready to stitch, but they lust lay there in their little plastic baggies until our sewing getaway at Lapp-Elisa's in April. After which my tally was 8 blocks.

I still have to make the remaining four blocks (perhaps I'll substitute a couple) as I have decided on a setting for these blocks that's on a 3x4 blocks grid. The setting is also from a Jennifer Chiaverini pattern but it's not the elaborate setting of the original Christmas Greetings quilt. Hopefully I can get this project finished by Christmas as the fabric I ordered for the setting and border arrived last week:

Hugs and stitches from Anne Ida

Christmas Greetings From Elm Creek Manor - September

This weekend I finally found some time to sit down at the sewing machine and finished up some swap blocks (I'll share those later), and I managed to get this month's block of our BOM Christmas Greetings from Elm Creek Manor done - this is Star of Bethlehem:

Anyone remembering the block for April (or scroll down to the next picture *lol*) will see this has the same construction as the Star of the Magi block - but I had some trouble getting this one together - for some reason the points didn't want to line up properly, it turned out a tad on the large side, and there are some strange pressing lines. But at one point I had to say enough is enough, and this was the best it would be, and hopefully I can adjust the setting for the blocks to compensate for the bit it is off size. 

And once I was at it I just had to pull the other blocks out of the drawer and lay them out together just to see what they looked like

Can't believe we're half way though this BOM already - seems like we started just last week!

Happy week, everyone!
Hugs and stitches from 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

First BOM block done

This has been a rather busy week, so there have not been a lot of time for stitching. But a quick post to show I have managed to get the first BOM block all 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

Mailbox goodies and BOM

Today I found an envelope in the mailbox, and it was my prize from Tracey for leaving a comment on her blog for the anniversary of her 100th post! Thank you so much, Tracey!!! I just love this!


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)