August tally

 

August was busy - 1 week at playing Bridge festival, and the rest, more or less under the covers, with fever and aches. Someone brought with them Covid to the festival - maybe the guy who looked like he had a fever, and who did not cover his mouth when coughing at our card table?
Anyway, as I have a fragile immune system, I was unlucky enough to catch it. I tested positive when we came home. My husband tested positive a few days later. We both have had 5 vaccines.

I think we would have been even sicker without the vaccines. I never discuss vaccines - I believe in them and take them, others may not believe in them, which is their choice. I have had two weeks of antibiotics too, which really took away my energy. 
I am on the road to recovery now, I am happy to say.

I did not turn the sewing machine on before the second last day of August. I so wanted to keep up my at least 1 finish a month, so I did a switcheroo between the green stitchery project and this stitchery project, which was an Advent stitch along in 2023, hosted by em_bea_roidery on Instagram.
I finished it the last day of August.

So as we write September, I have 2 projects (see last post) left to finish in order to reach my challenge goal. I think I can, I think I can 😍
I will just start and see where it takes me!

💖Wishing you a lovely day where you are 💖

Hanne 

August Focus Project(s)

 

Going through the last 3 projects we are doing in the Chookshed Stitchers 2024 Challenge, I really do not know where to start. 
My projects are:

#8 The green Bronwyn Hayes stitchery - make a nice Christmas cushion.
#7 The lovely stitchery from Advent SAL by em-bea-roidery in 2023 - make a candle mat  
#4 Raspberry Tea Quilt, top nearly done. My goal is to quilt it in sections, on my own sewing machine. 
It is a rather big quilt, 69 by 69 inches. I need to find batting, backing, thread, courage and everything....

Deana, our fearless leader in this challenge, draw #3 for August, and since I have already done #3, I can pick and choose.

We are going away for some time this month, so my sewing room time will be limited. 
Therefore I will choose #8 to finish this month, 
and if there are some time and strength left, I will have #4 as my side project. Maybe I can finish it by the end of this challenge that ends by the end of October.

Take care 💕 Have fun!

Hanne

July tally

 

This was my Chookshed Stitchers Challenge priority work for July. 
I am very happy with how these placemats turned out, and my oldest daughter is very pleased with them too. Since we both have been on different summer activities, she has not received them yet, but I have kept her updated with photos. She needed 5 placemats - I made 6 😊

The yarn stash shrinking will be an ongoing activity for a long time. 
I finished my striped socks, for myself, and I made a pair for a young man with far bigger feet than what I have 😀
No adding to my yarn drawer, and I am passing all sales with a smile.

My grandsons, age 3 and 5, think Paw Patrol is super cool.
When visiting in USA before Christmas, I bought 1 yard of fabric with Paw Patrol,
I have had a plan, but it has been procrastinated big time.

It did not take me to long to make 2 bags, suitable for carrying Lego when visiting. They both were very excited, and the little one filled his bag with Lego right away.

 

This table topper / tablecloth has been moved and moved and moved around my sewing room, the top nearly finished, for quite some time (as in years)
I found from some old photos that is was started in 2021.
Well - now it is done, and I am so happy with the result. 
I used my favorite blue fabrics.  
I have used English Paper Piecing. The borders are hand appliqued on, so I did not have to cut of anything.  I have machine quilted in every square + border by sewing machine. 
The last stitch in the binding was yesterday afternoon.

I did not expect to get so much done in July, but summer has been very wet and on the colder side this year. Tourist are coming to Norway for something they call Coldcation, since our climate is so much colder than the rest of the world. Good for those having it to hot - not so good for us who live here........ I wish we could get some warmer weather too, but what can we do, other than making the best of it 😊

Now to find what I will work on in August!

💖 Wishing you a wonderful day where you are 💖

Hanne

July Focus

 

It is a rainy and blustery day, and it is perfect to spend some time in the sewing room. 

This month's focus project in the Chookshed Stitchers Challenge is #1 - and I was already done with #1 in January. 
I've just went through my challenge project list, and I found that I do not have anything there that I am drawn to finishing in July. 
Therefore I picked an Ufo from about 1 year ago. 

I promised my dear daughter #1 a set of placemats..... 
She needs at least 5. 2 are partly done, 3 are not yet started - perfect focus project for this month. They will finish circular and will have bindings. 
Perfect for mindless binding sewing later this month 😁

We are just back from a week on the south coast. Dear husband is going back to work tomorrow, so with a bit of focus I should be able to move both the placemats and these socks forward.
I am shrinking my yarn stash too 😁

💖Wishing you a good day where you are💖

Hanne

June tally

 

The Kingfisher quilt is done and I am so happy with it. 

It has the perfect size for a lap quilt and I use it all the time. 

I did not expect to finish this in June, binding and all. 

                     

I am looking forward to see what project out of 10 Deana draw for us to do in July! 

Without the Chookshed Stitchers Challenge this quilt would not have been done in June. 

It is summer here in Norway. We do have a few days of vacation right now. I have brought knitting and some Sashiko, which both are easy to carry, needing minimal space and very few tools.

Since summer in this part of the world is not very long, we have to take advantage of every day the sun is shining. Doing easy hand work in the sun is so nice!

It has been like forever since I made myself a dress. I saw one that one of my friends have sewn. I was inspired to do one myself and it was great fun.

The fabric is cotton chambray and both the fabric and the pattern come from the Scandinavian store Selfmade.

I will make more garments in the future. I need more dresses and I also have a very nice big shirt pattern  that needs to be used. 

So, even in a life-got-in-the-way-of-creativity month, 2 finishes are great!

I  have not been good at answering comments recently - I do apologize - and hope to catch up soon! 

For the first time every I have brought my computer on vacation. There is a will, there will be a way. 

Take care - wishing you a wonderful day where you are 💗

Hanne

Chookshed Stitchers Challenge - June

 Deana has picked project #10 as June's project. 

This quilt is my #10
It is partly quilted - and it is like a quilt as you go project, with the top and bottom border fabric not yet sewn to the rest. 
I can not promise to finish this quilt this month, but I can promise progress by daily thread(s)

I tried to put some daily threads in in the beginning of the year - it did not work at all. 
I think it will work better this time!

1-2 threads a day, starting today. Go me! 

Did I mention I have several other projects on the sidekick list? 
Well - no idle hands in June - just saying😁

Hanne

May tally

 

I made it! The hexagon top is done 💖
This has been so fun to piece - filled with joy and happy memories!

Together with the small lipstick pouch, I have met my goals, and more,  for May. 

I will machine quilt this top sometime after summer, on my domestic sewing machine. 
I have a plan!

💖Wishing you a lovely day where you are  💖

Hanne

Sunny May days

 

We have had some beautiful sunny days, and I have been sitting out on the veranda knitting. 
My knitting fits nicely in the yellow pouch from April. 

I do have a one knitting at a time rule, and I had to finish a pair of socks for my two grandsons first.

I have been dragging my feet on these socks. I do not enjoy doing embroidery like knitting stitches, which I had to do for these faces. 
I do like the finished socks though, and they were very well received 💖

 

I have started the last 2 rows on the hexagon lap quilt. I have very much enjoyed the process!
Daily thread(s) has really moved this project forward 😍
This top will definitively be finished quite soon - sooner than what I expected. That's something to be happy about.

💗 Have a lovely day where you are 💗

Hanne

First finish in May + Thoughts on Ufos

 

Some time ago I found the pieces for this little pouch in my stuff. It was already traced and I had already done about 10 stitches with dark blue on the waves on the front piece. 

I am not sure why it was put to the side, but I do know it must have been around 2012-2013. 

Was the blue to dark? 

Anyway - I picked the dark blue thread out and started again, and now the little pouch is finished and in daily use, holding my lipstick in my purse.

I think it is cute and it was fun to finish it.

The design is by Natalie Bird / The Birdhouse

The hexagon quilt top is coming along nicely. It is nice to see it grow, and I am working on row 13 - 15 of 17 as we speak. After row 17 there are some gaps in the first and last row that will be filled in with half hexies.
I think I will be able to finish this top through May. That would be lovely.

Something has happened to how I look at my unfinished projects.....
My unfinished projects are unfinished dreams. Some (very few) do not spark joy or creativity anymore, but most of them will be taken care of and finished in one way or the other. 

I have more (many more) stitcheries that will be finished into quilts or other things. Every stitch has brought me joy and comfort, and deserves to be finished. I am very looking forward to work on them.

I like minimalism.
For some minimalism and quilting do not go together, for me they do. I need space to dream, think and create, if you know what I mean. 

I need less unfinished projects, I need less stored fabrics. 
When we lived in a bungalow, we had a lot of storage space. Now we do not have much storage space at all, and I need to keep on adjusting my belongings (read fabrics) accordingly, so my sewing room will be big enough for everything that I own. It is not a big room and it is a guest bed in here too.
I will make more care quilts, that's for sure.

💖 Wishing you a lovey day where you are 💖

Hanne

Feeling a bit crazy - May challenge quilt and more

 

Deana pulled # 5 as this month's Chookshed  Stitchers Challenge. My project # 5 is this big hexagon quilt. It still lacks 8 rows + half hexies on the top and bottom row.

I can promise this will not be finished this month, but I can promise to move it forward, every morning with my morning coffee 💖

I am not to sure spring has come to stay, and in this country we are used to the changing weather in the spring. I had a lovely couple of hours out on the veranda, resting in the sun today, with an audio book on the ear. I had SPF 30 on. It is easy to forget how strong the sun is, after a long and dark winter. 😀

I have been picking some side projects to the hexagons, but found it really hard to chose.

Toy bags for the boys, with Paw Patrol fabric?
Christmas cushion? Absolutely!
Project pouch with stitchery and clear vinyl window?
Kaffe Fassett wool embroidery?
Something else?

It must be the sun and the spring that affect me - I want to do so much!

💖 To much of a good thing can be great, sometimes 💖

Hanne