Busy, busy, busy

Going over my photos from the last 3 weeks I find that I really have get quite a lot done, in spite of life being quite busy outside Quilt Corner.
I know I picked some focus projects in my last post, but I often tend to rebel against my own lists ;-)

2 weeks ago we were away for the weekend, visiting friends, and instead of bringing flowers or wine, I decided to turn this LeMoyne star block into a cushion, embellishing it with one of my precious handmade strawberry buttons.
Our friends were happy about the gift – isn’t that the very best moments, when you can make someone happy by something that has made you happy first – a real win win situation :-)

My friend is a farmer and while she was doing her work indoors, I sat outside the barn in the sun, doing crochet.
I do not have a career as farm hand, but I am very patient if I can keep my hands busy :-)

Lace crochet is fun, and I am looking forward to give this as a gift for someone special!

I am soon running out of these handkerchiefs, and to my knowledge they can not be bought anymore – they are from the early 80s - so I am giving them away with a lot of planning who is getting one, and I am definitively keeping some for myself.

I needed a new toiletry purse for our weekend trip, and this was finished just in time.
I really like it when the both fronts and backs are looking good.

The stitchery has been done for a long time and has been in my Ufo box. It is one of the pre-prints one could buy from Tilda some years back. I like it a lot.

Next finish is this gorgeous table topper from Anni Downs.
I Love her designs and this was very fun to do. Not very fast, but stitchery is again a passion after I had my glasses adjusted recently so I can see better.

 

It is birthday season in my dear husband’s family, and these double yarn, double layer potholders now belongs to my dear sister in law, together with some fun kitchen equipment.
I started crocheting a summer top for myself from this yarn, but it did not turn out the way I wanted. The Turkish yarn was a bit fibery, if you know what I mean. Would not drape the right way in a garment, but was super great for potholders. Again I got to use some of my beloved buttons – these I bought in Canada some years back. Again, win win :-)

Never a dull moment – I’ll be back shortly!

To much of a good thing ?

I know I have said it before and I am saying it again – I have to many started projects here in my Quilt Corner !!
Honestly, I do not like them all that much either, but I will dig in a finish some :-)

I have picked 5 projects that will get priority now in June. I wonder if I can finish at least 4 of them through the rest of June…….

I have so many things I want to do, so many dreams and patterns and fabrics and notions.
I know I have the attention span of a mosquito when it comes to old projects!

Give me strength!

I think my knee is up to some light machine sewing again – let the fun begin !

Hanne

Scraps and life and all that

Life has been giving me some health scraps lately, and as the quilter I am my solution is to make quilt blocks ;-)
Hand piecing is quiet and comforting and let the mind flow in a good way.
Even a troublesome body sort of goes away for the duration.

I also love the way a hand piecing project is so easy to move with me, both indoors and outdoors.
The weather forecast says that the lovely warm weather is leaving now, so it is good to have enjoyed it while it lasted. This year we got summer in April – I hope we get some summer in summer too.

I celebrated my birthday teaching last week, and I was given a wonderful surprise party!
What a treat – the very very best chocolate cake ever – and the birthday song to go with it.
Thank you ever so much you wonderful people – I am very touched :-)

My dear husband is taking me to the theatre and out for fine dining with some friends of ours on Wednesday – it is his birthday gift to me and my birthday gift to him too.
Good moments and happy memories lasts forever!

Time to pull out one of the many Ufos and move it forward.
I enjoyed sorting the pieces and re-starting this one. I know there are a lot of other projects which should have had priority, but this one is my choice for now.

When I started this quilt about 1 year back, I planned to work very organized, using my Log Cabin ruler, pre-cut and sub cut the strips and all that.

Well – my mind does not work like that, and it sort of takes away my creativity to pre-think everything. I am somewhat impressed with those who can work so organized  (or maybe not) – on the other hand I accept myself for who I am and who I am not……
So, I went back to do scrappy my favourite way, scrappy, random in a planned way, as I work along.
It sure put the F back in Fun!
I wonder if more of my Ufos stalled for somewhat the same reason……...Have to look into that as I go along…..

15 blocks done – 20 to go :-)

Hanne

Easter joy and Four Weeks Focus

It has been a wonderful day – Easter vacation and sunshine, and the most gorgeous Easter egg ever from my dear husband.
The Easter egg came as a big surprise!
I can remember telling him that I did not want an egg filled with sweets this year, and he asked what to fill it with then, and I answered: maybe fabrics, with a smile.
After that I forgot all about it, but he did not….. He is a keeper indeed :-)

The weather has been beyond lovely this afternoon and it was a good moment to take a good photo of my 9-patch quilt. I love it and all the memories it gives me – of friendship, love and laughter with friends in Shipshewana, Indiana, USA.
I bought all the fabrics at Lolly’s in Shipshewana on one of my trips there.

We could enjoy the sunshine outdoors for the first time on our veranda this year, and DH served white wine “on the rocks”. He got some cooling rocks for his birthday in March, and they are nice to use.

I have found that it is time to find some focus projects and move them forward over a period of 4 weeks, without starting anything new.
Some hand work, some machine work, something fast, something not fast at all.

I need to put the pedal to the metal – stay tuned for updates!

Hanne

Catching up

It has been a couple of busy weeks here, I have not spent much time in Quilt Corner.
I have spent time with quilt related activities thought, and it has been a nice time.

This quilt came back from Merete, my machine quilter on Sunday, and I love how it turned out.
The sewing down of the binding is on my to-do list for the weekend.

I am aiming at at least 2 finishes this weekend – this purse still needs some work too.
It’s time to dig out a zipper and get at it.

For the last 3 months I have really made an effort about using more than what I buy, all over the house, and the Quilt Corner is no exception.
It is time to cut some more jelly rolls for care quilts. I do not use much fall colours anymore, since we changed the colours in our house from matching brown to matching grey / blue.
One of my guilds is having a sew-together for care quilts this weekend, and I plan to participate tomorrow.
I think I will make a Jelly Roll Race quilt – they are fast and fun. I am not doing a quilt in an hour though, like the instruction says, but I can do it in a couple of hours when I have cut the stripes first. I plan to cut today and sew tomorrow.

A really big advantage about using from what I have and pairing down a bit, is that I find the real treasures – some of them well hidden, like these purple fabrics.
I am really really looking forward to use these fabrics shortly!

Hanne

Olympic challenge training camp

I so enjoy making these blocks from my Life Is Beautiful stitcheries :-)
The blocks above I have finished today, and the blocks below I finished earlier in the week + started doing the quilt as you go method to several blocks.

Now I have blocks in every stage of finish – I have 11 stitcheries of 32 that are not turned into blocks yet.

Hanne

I’m going for gold–I’m going Olympic

I Love a challenge – in fact I thrive on challenges in the Quilt Corner :-)
I am not really the most competitive person, unless I compete with myself, but I am good at challenging myself.

You may remember I made 2 piles of my Ufos at the beginning of the month?
One pile was with bigger projects and one pile was with smaller projects.

It really looks like my passion is with the bigger projects – Yes :-)

So far this month I have finished 1 Ufo from the bigger projects pile (the Buggy Barn heart quilt)  and 4 from the small Ufos pile.

Even if finishing all the small projects seems like a good way to get the Finish count up,
I sort of get stuck with all the big projects at the end of the year.
Well – my plan this year is to alternate and to aim for an average of 1 big finish a month.

The 2014 Winter Olympic is coming up in 18 days, 7. February.
and I found that it is a good thing to challenge myself to some big finishes.

Above is the 5 projects I have picked for myself, aiming for at least 1 big finish and moving the other 4 projects forward before the Olympics ends at 23, February.
Shhhh – whispering in a low voice – maybe I can manage to finish 2 big projects – shhhhh  ;-)

1st Priority is the light blue Life Is Beautiful quilt.

I am officially going in to training camp today,
knowing that all good victories starts with both mental and physical training :-)

Hanne

My new focus project

Even if I am done with my 5 Ufo finishes and now could have started something new,
I still am in finish mode :-)

These beautiful Life Is Beautiful stitchery blocks has been in the box long enough!

Today I have made all the 64 4-patch blocks needed for the background.
They may look randomly put together, but I can tell you that I have been putting some thoughts into them during the day, to make them all look nice.

I am neither doing hand applique, nor machine applique, but with the help of freezer paper, glue stick and liquid glue have done the joining seam from behind, all invisible.
I am happy with the result!

Today I have had good company in May Britt, online, while sewing.
It is fun to sew with someone even if we are not in the same room.

Hanne