2 more Butterfly Garden units

One unit from block # 7 and one unit from block # 3.

Hanne

OPAM tally for September

2 finishes this month - a makeup purse and a redwork Christmas stocking.

I am making progress on Butterfly Garden, slowly but steady, but I am far from finished yet :-)

Hanne

May Britt is 50 years today!

 

My dear friend May Britt is 50 years today!!

Let’s give her a shower of good wishes - drop by her blog and congratulate her !!

Hugs from Hanne

More small steps

The autumn moves in, into my body and into my house.
This morning I could see that we have had frost during night, and I had to turn on a heater in the living room.

It has been a good day for small arm movements, and as you see I have finished rose # 2 for the Angel Swap.

I have also finished 2 units for the Butterfly Garden quilt, and found a 3rd unit, the heart, in the plastic bag with the pattern. Sort of a bonus, don’t you think ?

Since I learned Lynette’s 2 step stitch I can’t stop doing appliqué, so I pick the appliquéd units first. These are from block # 7.
Block # 3 is not yet done - I guess I should focus on that one first - maybe :-))

Even the furball Rusket is more indoors now than earlier.
She is growing a thicker fur coat these days.

Hanne

Small steps

The first angel swap stitchery is done.
I like it very much, so I think I will make more of this motif :-)
Who is the recipient ? Maybe it is you :-)

The cat and I shared a quilt today, sort of.
First I napped under it, and after she napped on it :-)

Hanne

Many projects going on

I have cut the kit into 1” stripes,

and have started the blocks - these are only half done, lacking 2 rounds to the block.

 
2 more units for the Butterfly Garden quilt are done,

and I have started a rose stitchery for my Angel Swap friend :-)

Some cooking also requires my attention.
This is a batch with a twist on the traditional Norwegian autumn dish mutton in cabbage - this is pork in cabbage.
Meat, cabbage, water, salt and black pepper corns.
Simmer for 2+ hours until the meat is tender. Serve with potatoes

 
Sometimes, but only sometimes, I follow Rusket’s example too, just chilling :-)

Hanne

It’s hard :-)

Yes, it is hard to pull the ribbon and open a beautiful kit!

I bought this kit in Shipshewana in April, 2008, at Lolly’s, and it has pleased my eyes ever since.

But - today is the day, and the ribbon is off, strips cut and blocks started.
These Civil War fabrics are so beautiful - life is good :-)

Hanne

Block # 2 is done

These blocks looks good joined, but still there is a long way to go and many stitches to do.

Here are block #1 and block # 2 joined.

Hanne

Stitch by stitch, unit by unit

10 units done in 10 days - not bad - even if 2 of the units have nothing but a rose fabric in the middle :-)

This is the best part of block # 2 and block # 3.
I will keep the units up on my bedroom door until they are done. They better act as part of the living room decoration for a while :-))

After learning Lynette’s appliqué method I am hooked on appliqué. I have to prep some more blocks for the evening.

22 units down - 59 to go!

Hanne

Never a dull moment :-)

Never a dull moment where quilters, quilts, fabrics and tools are gathered :-)
Dear Jane and Nearly Insane was the subjects, with both the big quilts and smaller quilts as inspiration.

I am so glad Elin could join us on Saturday !

I think some Dear Jane and Nearly Insane quilters were born during the weekend :-)

I am looking forward to meet this group of lovely quilters again !

Hanne

More from the weekend

 
Åse’s beautiful home is filled with quilts - a feast for the eyes :-)
This Jinny Beyer beauty was on my bed.

 
Here is the star quilt from Lappemakeriet in romantic  fabrics. Åse is holding the quilt.


Marie also stayed the weekend at Åse’s, and these ladies was a real treat to spend time with  :-)

Time flies in such good company!


This is a top Åse has pieced from the leftover fabrics from the star quilt.

  
An old friend is residing in this house too - hexagons in every home thanks to Lappemakeriet :-)

 
A gorgeous Christmas table cloth.

Details

Along with being a very skilled quilter Åse also is a great cook. We had the most delicious meals through the weekend.
If I had weighed in at the airport in advance I am sure I would have been charged for overweight on my way home ;-)

Hanne

A busy weekend

Friday I went to Førde, to teach Dear Jane.
Førde is a small town on the west coast, crossing mountains from here, and in an area where there is a lot of wind and weather, compared to where I live.
The first time I travelled by one of these small propeller airplanes I thought it was a little bit scary, but now, when I have travelled with them several times I know that they are very strong little work horses, in all kinds of weather.

I was met by my hostess for the weekend, Åse, and it felt like we had known each other for a long way right away, but isn’t it the way it often is with fellow quilters? :-)

Before we did anything else, on our way from the airport, we stopped by Desiree’s Lappeteknikk.

Desiree has one of the largest Norwegian online shops, and it was a dream to go from room to room there.
My softest spot was in the Japanese room, no doubt :-)

I have shopped with Desiree online many times and she has a very fast and accurate service.

Here is what I found - a large piece of a wonderful tea dyed background fabric, closely related to the rose fabric from my hexagon quilt, a pile of 30 cm pieces, mostly Japanese homespuns, a roll of 5” cuts, full width, Japanese too - and a Bohin white pen with refills and extra pencil coloured refills.

As soon as I have some other projects out of the way, these fabrics will be cut into.
I have a plan :-)

Hanne

Quilter’s Candy :-)

Lappemakeriet has this bonus card system,
and I have saved on my card, so on my way home after doing the sewing on the line class I could pick this cute piles of fabrics.

It feels like having candy - and I still have more to shop from on my bonus card :-)

Hand sewing is great fun

Once prepped, hand sewing is very portable, very accurate and fairly fast work.

I am behind on my star quilt, sort of, and I still have 20 more flowers to do on my hexagon quilt. I have not been lazy lately, but these 2 projects have not had the front seat this past week.
In fact, the star blocks has not been out of the box for a while…… ;-)

I had the pleasure of teaching a mini evening class on the subject of hand piecing on Wednesday last week, in my favourite shop Lappemakeriet.

Both my friends Marit and Siv Hege  attended the class.

Here is a photo of one of the 2 shop owners Anne-Kjersti and me :-)

Hanne

A small finish

I was so lucky to win this pattern and the cool bear button from Tag Along Teddies design in the spring.

However, I do not have room for more wall hangings, so after doing the stitchery I did not know what to use it for.

Now I have turned the stitchery into a necessity purse for my daily drag along tote.

The pattern came with a button, a gift tag and a bookmark - all of them very cute :-)

Hanne

The best invention since sewing thread :-)

 

I have always liked the look of the button hole stitch, but not the process, as I have always found it hard and very time consuming to do the stitch so it will stay in place and look good, with no flipping over.

The day before yesterday I saw Lynette Anderson tutorial on her 2 step stitch and yesterday I had to try it out - with GREAT success :-)
Unit 8 on Butterfly Garden BOM, block #2 done.

And joined to unit 9

Unit 5 on block #2
Straight lines, curves and turns - no sweat - and I am convinced forever!
This is the stitch I will use from now on.

Thanks Lynette :-)

Hanne

Hexagons Galore

Half a quilt is a lot of hexagons, a lot of stitches and a sore fingertip :-)

I still enjoy the process very much, every stitch of it!
I am done with the background flowers for the other half of the quilt, and right now I am only lacking the last 20 focus flowers.

Who would think that I would enjoy hand piecing this much, with my stiff spastic hands ? Not me!
In fact I think my hands improves by hand stitching :-)

Hand work, a cup of hot beverage and a book on CD - life is good !!

Hanne

Butterfly Garden again

 

Block # 2, unit 9 - 10 units down, 71 to go.

The full quilt is 9 blocks, each block made of 9 units = 81 units.
So far I have only block # 1 done.

Again, I am not happy with kit fabric choices compared to the pattern.

Oh well - I just have to play along and get this quilt done, right?
I am sure the quilt will look good once it is done :-)

Hanne

Back to the quilt corner

All guests have now left and it is time to get back to the quilt corner.

First a couple of photos from a down town trip to Oslo with my favourite aunt on Thursday.

It’s the dream we carry that something wonderful shall happen. Olav H. Hauge.
Pavement decoration outside the National Theatre

Quilt inspiration in a book store :-)

Sewing goodies through the window at a jewellery shop.

Get lost - this is MY terrace !!
Should have come with a sound track. A strong Get Lost sound from the furball.

The hexagon quilt closing in of half done - 2 long joining seams and edge fillers missing.

In the box - the rest of the white background flowers done and joined into rows + 3 rows of dark flowers not yet done. The last package with the 8th dark flower row not yet received.

Hanne