Front cover

The latest number of the member magazine for the Norwegian Quilter's Association arrived last week and I just have to share - my Loyal Union Sampler is on the cover:

I'm so proud! And it's relly fun that both my large Elm Creek Quilts samplers have made the front cover of the publication of our national guild - no. 4/2011 and no. 4/2013 are looking good together, aren't they?

And of course someone jus had to be in the picture - wondering what his twolegs are up to

Can you believe we have lived together for just over four years now? He is such a little sweetie and just a part of the house ;-)
Hugs and stitches from Anne Ida

Tropical Midnight

Not much sewing or quilting happening here these days, but I figured that I wouldn't leave my blog for dead for too long - so I decided to share this old 20.5" square mini:



It was made from a kit, back in the days when I didn't have much of a stash. You wouldn't think it's from my early quilting days when looking at the label on the back, which says finished 16. sept. 2006 (wish I had a date for when I finished the top... guessing is was sometime in 2001).

This was, ehh... my earliest attempt at hand quilting, and I brought it with me everywhere, but only made a couple of stitches every now and then. In the end I got soooo sick of it! And I ripped every quilting stitch out, sat down at the sewing machine and had the whole thing quilted and bound in a few hours. The machine quilting is wobbly and uneaven, but in this case finished was way better than perfect *lol*

These days it hangs in my bedroom, on the wall next to the window - out of sunlight to hopefully keep that black from turning grey.

Wishing everyone a wonderful and creative weekend!
Hugs and stitches from
Anne Ida &

Bag and blocks

My friend Leisha Camden had her birthday in mid October, but she spent the day in Egypt, so her birthday pressie from me was only handed over today. She spotted a pattern for this make-up bag with an elephant on it before Christmas last year, and I found she expected an elephant-pressie... Well, she didn't get one then, but I did make her one now:

It is a fair size bag that will hold some books and stuff, or might come in handy for shopping (in stead of those non-environment friendly plastic bags). And for the elephant tail I had some fun with a star stud, a bead and a rusty bell :o)

***

Anyone remember this post? While looking through some old post last night, I found that I haven't shared the remaining blocks for this mini quilt - they were all done this summer!

They have been laying on the sideboard in the living room since I finished them, in hope that I'll work some more on this version of Sarah's Sampler. I still have to put the top together and figure out how I'm going to quilt it, but having all the blocks finished is a start. I'm still putting off those tiny pieces for the garden maze setting and the twisted border - this will have to be done over a peaceful weekend when I'm in a great mood and have no stiff neck!!!

Hope you all have had a great weekend!
Sincerely, Anne Ida

B-day pressie

The evenings this last week has been busy stitching on a birthday present quilt. My Aunt turned 60 early this summer, and my Uncle will be 60 in the spring, so this weekend they celebrated their 120 years! Of course I had to make them a quilt :o) A one block repeat lap size quilt:

The pattern is "Pink Lemonade" from Eleanor Burn's book "Quilts Through the Seasons" - supposedly a quilt in a day... depends on how you define "day" - I estimate to have used 24 efficient work hours on this one since I made the first cut, till the last stitch was in the label.

The quilting is just some over all swirls (think you can see it if you enlarge the photo), that were a lot of fun to do! I'm very pleased with this one, and I think they were as well!

Hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend!
Sincerely, Anne Ida

Disappearing 9-patch

We had some really hot weather last week, so on Tuesday I packed my bags and went to the summer house for a few days to get some air. The weekend I spent with my sister, including a trip to the summer exhibit at LQS - Lappemakeriet. So that's the reason no one has heard from me lately, I have a list of e-mails I need to answer, and according to Bloglines I have over 400 new posts to read, so it might take me some time to get through them all, so please have patience with me.

I don't have much quilty news, but I do have another finish! A while back there was a block exchange on Stoffbytteklubben; we swapped 12" nine patch blocks in blues, greens and creams. All in all 30 blocks made by Astri, Elin, Kari, Karin and myself:

Sunday before I left, I cut my pile up and pieced the top together and layered it. And on Monday night I quilted it with some large meandring. I finished the binding at the summer house and left the quilt down there to be used and enjoyed through the autumn.

Oh, and I just have to share this little cutie - my sis and I came across him/her near the river on our way home from the LQS - isn't he adorable? And sooo tiny and perfect:

Oh, and my shopping at the LQS? I was a pretty good girl and only got a few things:

Happy quilting!
Sincerely, Anne Ida

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

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

The quilt on the back of the chair

I had some questions about the quilt in the picture in my last post - the one hanging over the back of the green chair. And when it comes to share my quilts, I'm not difficult :o)

This is one I made the summer 2002 (I think...), and while I still was a student I kept it at my office at the University - to take outside on those wonderful summer days when reading could be done outside or when an afternoon in the park was an ending to a day of studying - afterwards it has been to different parks, beaches and trips. It has been in the washing machine more times than I remember, and the batting is wearing thin and the fabric is wrinkled, but I love it! I found the pattern in this Norwegian book by Grete Gulliksen Moe and Kirsten Vistnes from 2000 (first published 1988/1990):

I also had a question on how it was constructed, so I have made up a couple of blocks and taken pictures as I went along. This is for two mirrored blocks.

I started of by piecing together strips of fabric – I used FQs, so I made two short sets, you can make them wof:

Clean cut four squares – mine were 10" square, and cross cut the squares:

Rearrange the pieces:

Piece them together – I pieced the triangles into HST units and then pieced them together as a four patch:

My blocks turned out 12 3/4" squares. I have a bit of a cold, and feel mostly like getting to bed (but I had to do some sewing tonight - therefore these two blocks), so that is my excuse for not being too focused when stitching the pieces together – got a couple of them the wrong way around on the light block:

I don't think I'll bother to fix it...? I'm going to make these into a cushion by sewing a purple border on them and perhaps a button in the centre, and will let the light block be the back :o)
Enjoy your strip piecing adventure!

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

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)

#2 Show and tell of finished projects

Well, as I wrote two days ago I have been planning to keep up with my show and tell, seeing as I haven't been able to do much sewing lately. In a posting on an e-mail group I'm part of, one of the ladies linked to a picture of a beautiful quilt she had just finished, and that reminded me: I have made a version of that excact same lap quilt! I just don't think that much about it, seeing it every day where it hangs on the back of my sofa :o)

I made this the summer 2002, and seeing as each section is finished with batting and quilting before it's put together, it was a great project for evenings on the veranda at the summer house. Each square is consistent of four squares stitced togeter. The squares are then "twisted" in the same maner you do when you make traditional cathedral window blocks before you stitch the last seam, leaving an opening to turn the block. But instead of folding it around a separate piece of fabric like a cathedral window block, you insert a piece of batting, stitch it closed and quilt it.

After all the pieces are done, they are joined toghether. I did all the prep-work of stitching the squares together by machine - then I brought the wole project down to the summer house, sat on the veranda in the evenings and turned them, added the batting, and closed the seams. Then I brought the squares home with me and quilted them on the machine, and then sewed them all together.

I have stitched mine together by hand using an invisible slip stitch, she has used machine and decorative emboydery seams (I hope she don't mind me linking to her webshots album!). As you can se the effect is rather different :o)

It was a lot of fun to do, and it was also fun to se the difference of the outcome - and they are both different from the original pattern in the book "Kreative lappeideer" ("Creative patchwork ideas") by the very talented Norwegian quilter Lise Bergene.

Frogs and turtles

I have been thinking of showing some of my finished projects as a break from all the WIP pictures I have been posting lately, and here is my first "show and tell". I was reading Su Bee's blog the other day, and noticed she had posted a picture of a frog quilt. I have made a quilt with frogs on it. My friend turned 30 last year, and a couple of months before her birthday she found an ad for the "Over by the pond" pattern by Erin Wilcox in a quilting magazine that was laying on my bathroom floor (yes, I read in the bathroom - mostly cartoons and quilting books and magazines... weird? I know!). She came out with the magazine in her hand, looking at me and just said: "You know I have a birthday coming up?". So I took the hint, ordered the pattern, and started stitching - this is how it turned out:



As you can see I have made quite a few alterations from the original lay out; it's landscape rather than portrait seeing as she wanted it on the wall over her aquarium, she is more into turtles than frogs so there is one more turtle and one less frog... She contributed to her own present with the wooden turtle buttons and the small black pearls used as turtle eyes. It was a lot of fun, but at times very frustrating to make (I'm not a huge fan of paper piecing and all the blocks are PP) and it only took a month after her birthday before it was finished *LOL*.