Not feeling guilty anymore

A few years ago my Mum and I painted the sunroom at the summer house, and I threw out some fake flowers that hung between the windows. I have never really liked them, but my Mum claimed they brought colour to the room. As the bag went into the trash I told her I'd sew something for her to hang there instead. Well.... better late than never... We measured the areas earlier this summer and I Tuesday night started piecing some whirligig and pinwheel blocks I have been thinking about trying for a long time. Today I stitched down the last of the bindings:



They are a bit crooked, and they need a wash and a press before they are hung, but I think they turned out pretty cute - I'll see if I can get a pic once they are up between the windows. And those blocks are strip pieced and very quick and fun to make, so I have a feeling there are more of them in stall for the future, but perhaps a bit bigger than 3.25" ;o)

Finishing off this post with some pics I took on my hike to Kolsåstoppen this afternoon:

Hugs and stitches from Anne Ida

Cherries and a block

So have I actually done any sewing lately? Not much I have to admit... My dear friend had a birthday in the end of July, and she wanted something with cherries. Since it's summer I decided to make her a summery table topper:



Very simply double four patches in some fruity colours. Turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself ;o)

And I have cut into my precious stash of Elm Creek Cross-Country Quilters fabrics. Three blocks have been cut, but only one is stitched (still need to be pressed):

I do have a vague idea of what this will become, but since it's hand appliqué, it will take time and I might change my mind many times yet ;o)

Hugs and stitches from Anne Ida

Chimney Sweep

The 4th Another Little Quilt Swap is approaching it's end, with quilts being sent and received. I know the little pink and grey quilt I made has reached Carol safely, and while I was away at summer break my little quilt from Lisa arrived. The whole neighbourhood probably heard me scream with delight when I opened the parcel and saw this gorgeous little Chimney Sweep quilt



I am absolutely thrilled! It is sooo perfect! No wonder Lisa calls herself Miniaturequilter! She really has a talent for working with tiny little pieces, each of the blocks finish at 3.25" - with those squares finishing 3/4"!

In the parcel there were some other goodies - some very cute reproduction charms, some blue FQs that will be great in my DJ, a lovely appliqué tea towel, stickers and cards

Thank you so much, Lisa!!

Hugs and stitches from Anne Ida

A Special Project

A few monts ago I mentioned a special project going on, that I really couldn't share... well, now it has been handed over, and I can talk freely. In the wake of the Sylvia's Bridal Sampler pattern book being published, a couple of us started talking of making a quilt for Jennifer Chiaverini. This has been something we have talked about before, but we hadn't gotten around to doing it, but this time we set a deadline and invited quilting friends from all over the world to join in. In the end a group of us made 14 blocks representing the covers of the first fourteen books in the Elm Creek Quilts novel series (click to enlarge photo)



The blocks were posted to me and I pieced them together into a top which was then sent to Valerie, one of our group members in France for long arm quilting. Val was lucky to meet Jennifer last week to hand over our finished quilt

I have to say, even though this project took time, and was very nervewrecking with blocks being delayed by post, returned to maker by the postal service, people getting ill etc. it was a wonderful experience working with talented quilters from all over the world. It was a thrill each time I got an envelope in the mail, and could admire another little piece of art!

Thank you girls for a fun and inspiring time!!

Hugs and stitches from Anne Ida

Progress, binding and a colourful beauty

I sewed and sewed last night and by the time I went to bed my head was spinning, my neck and shoulders were feeling stiff and sore, but I was HAPPY because I had all 399 units (that includes the separating squares) for the Smokey Mountain Stars quilt done and laid out in labelled piles ready to be sewn into rows. Here's a picture of how it looked when I still had about a handful of blocks to make



I love the look of it so far!! And I hope my Aunt will be pleased with it (if not, I'm definitely keeping it *lol*).

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I'm turtle sitting for a friend of mine at the moment, and when I was waiting for one of the turtles eating, I saw she had a table runner I made her years ago on her coffee table (ok, she doesn't drink coffee...)



This was among my early production, and I started looking at what I had done. There isn't a border on this runner; rather it has a very wide binding, sewed on in four separate sections. Actually I love the look of it! Why don't I ever do bindings like this anymore? Perhaps I should?

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Oh, and my post header said a "colourful beauty" - have a look at this big boy:



This is my friend's largest one. Isn't he gorgeous? Warm browns, lemon yellow, dark pine green and that bright red stripe! Oh, and look at that foot ;o)

Hugs and stitches from Anne Ida

Dresses, shirts and scraps

My Aunt has cleared out some cupboards, and she sent a couple of huge cardboard boxes with cotton dresses, shirts and scraps home with me, asking if I could make a quilt for their bed. Over the last days I have washed, cut, pressed and sewed. There's still lots to sort through (not everything is salvagable) and a lot more sewing to do, but something is starting to take form. This is what's currently on my desk next to Bernie:



A small test layout:

Recognize it? I have followed Bonnie Hunter's pattern for the "Smokey Mountain Stars" quilt, but I need to enlarge it to fit a queen size bed - think a grid of 9x10 stars pluss borders should do the trick...

Hugs and stitches from Anne Ida

Bindings

I have spent a few days at my family's summer house, and before leaving I wrapped up the quilting on my two 'smallish' tabletoppers so that I could bring the bindings with me as hand work while I was away. And they are both FINISHED!

The Decadent Victorian didn't make it all the way home with me, as my Mum insisted it would look great on their coffee table *lol*:



I had a lot of fun playing with quilting shapes on this one - lots and lots of curvy lines, not a single one of them actually a perfect curve:



The Plan C was simply stippled in the centre - I think that suits the scrappy look of it - and the borders are crosshatched.



And have a look at the binding. Do you have one of these?

I got the idea from someone's blog - sorry I don't remember which one any longer. They are leftover bindingstrips from all projects I have bound using 2.25" strips, and work wonderful when binding completely scrappy projects.

Stay creative and have a lovely weekend!

Hugs and stitches from Anne Ida

Plan C

My leaders and enders sewing has resulted in a lot of little blocks representing a small part of what's living in my scrap box:



Recognize the 20-patches made from 1.5" squares? Something will come of them before too long, I hope! And the bag of blues I have some vague plans of using with my scrappy stars... I have no plans for the green and cream four patches yet, and those multi-coloured four patches...



Ten blocks in each of those piles... In my eager reading of the Schnibbles book I saw the squares in the Plan C quilt were cut 2" - the same as the pieces in those four patces - quilt nearly half done! So I started cutting: the white came from stash and the pieces for the star points came from the larger pieces in my scrap box. After a few hours playing with Bernie we have this:



My first official Schnibble! I changed the border, though. In the original there's a piano key border with four patches in the corners, but I wanted to save myself some cutting. Turned out pretty good :o) So much fun playing with scraps!! What to do with the rest of them? More Schnibbles?

Have a lovely weekend!
Hugs and stitches from Anne Ida

Ehhh... tablerunner???

A few years ago a friend of mine set a rule that I had to finish one of my unfinished projects whenever I started a new. Well, I haven't been really good keeping this up, but figured I'd do a small finish since I started the Decadent Victorian table topper. If you by chance have been reading my list of WISPs you might have seen the note of a "Pinwheel tablerunner". How long this has been laying around I'm not really sure... somewhere between 3 and 6 years.

It was only a pile of HST units and a 30cm piece of fabric in my project bag, but the pinwheels came together pretty smoothly, and the borders were attached without problem:



Then I got to thinking... This is a size that doesn't fit any of my tables... What will I do with it once it's done? Ok, I'll quilt it and worry about that another time... The important thing is that I'll finish it! But once quilted I was still feeling a bit apprehencive about the size... what to do? what to do? Ah-ha!!:



Cute, cute, cute!! And best of all: FINISHED!!!! It is very simple with two medium size pockets inside, and just a strap and a button to keep it closed. I got to use one of the many buttons I walked away with after last week's house clearing:



And on the stash busting front, this is all that's left of the contents of the project bag, and will go into the 2" strips and squares box:

Hugs and stitches from Anne Ida