A little post about gifts given

I love to make gifts for special people in my life, like my two grandaunt children :-)

Sometimes I make the gifts a long time ahead of the gifting day, and forget to blog about them later.

 

It was fun to alter the What's In Your Bag pattern to fit crayons and pens for L and J.

 

A nice professional looking label adds to the overall look too :-)
I love these labels - one "old" and one new, ordered from Sweden.

Before we went to USA in November 2015 I made this new toiletry bag for May Britt,

 

Off course I had to make one for myself too :-)
The stitcheries are from Bronwyn Hayes - Red Brolly.
The rest is my own idea, and I had so much fun with the quilting.

 

These 2 pincushions I made before Christmas 2015 to gift to two of my special friends.
The designs and buttons are from Lynette Anderson.
A quilter can never have to many pincushions, right?

Wishing you a happy day
wherever you are!
Hanne

I love to make gifts!

I love to make gifts - for birthdays, for Christmas or just because :-)

May Britt had celebrated her birthday in the end of September and we were travelling to USA in November 2015.
She had not yet got her present, and I found that the airport was the perfect place to be presented with a surprise gift.

One always need a new toiletry bag when travelling, right?

The stitchery is designed by Bronwyn Hayes - Red Brolly. I have not seen it in any Norwegian shop. When I found Bronwyn Hayes' designs online many years ago, I was smitten with her drawings and I hunted them on Ebay.

May Britt was very surprised - success!

For hostess gifts for our lovely hostesses Debra and Colleen, we decided to make them our traditional Advent Calendar, so they had a special treat to enjoy through December.

We gave 2 gift each to both calendars and above is one of mine - the blue and beige pouch is for Colleen and the red one is for Deb.

I am happy that both Deb and Colleen liked their pouches :-)

Right before our trip I bought these cool name tags. I enjoy using them.

It was also fun to make these 2 pincushions - one for my friend Val - and she got her gift just because, in Shipshewana,
and one for a birthday gift for a special friend here at home.
Designer of stitchery and buttons is Lynette Anderson.

Off course I needed a new toiletry bag for our USA travel too :-)

 One can never have to many toiletry bags, ever!

Wishing  you a wonderful day

 - Hanne

One can never have to many

Especially in summer, one can never have to many pouches - for sewing tools, for toiletries, for computer cords and what not.
Making these was great fun - and I will make more :-)

 

Handles are always handy!

Yes, I am carpet bombing my blog with new posts today :-)

I am recognizing the worst enemy when it comes to my blogging, which is Tomorrow.
Tomorrow is often disturbed by this and that, like trips,  nice visits, being lost in Quilt Corner and having to deal with health issues and  life in general.
My new Tomorrow is Today :-)

Hanne

A girl can not have to many of these!

Since DD2 moved home again after being in New York for 9 months,
we do again feel that the house is not very big.
We all need to be considerate about where we put our things, to not make the rooms to messy.
DD2 needed a toiletry purse that could work as a part of the bathroom decoration.
I was inspired by May Britt's toiletry purses.

A girl can not have to many  zipped purses or drawstring purses!

I have made several for all the members of my family and for myself,
and I am using mine all the time -for sewing stuff, for makeup, for all kinds of necessities,
at home and on the road.

If you look in my daily purse, you will always find more than one.

Do not be surprised if you see me with one of these on my arm too, for my sewing.
May Britt has a challenge going on - if you are quick, you can enter your drawstring purses and other purses too :-)

DD1 forgot some of her makeup at home last time she visited, but since it is stored in one of these cute drawstring purses,made by yours truly, it has been a part of the bathroom decoration since she left. She will be home to get her makeup shortly :-)

PS. Did I mention I do NOT like plastic bags in my sewing room at all………..

The best things in life are quilted!

Hanne

Same pattern, different decor

Another toiletry bag finished.

These are great fun to do - I enjoy using stitcheries in my patchwork products.

The front stitchery is a store bought pattern, preprinted. It was just packed in a plain plastic wrapping and the designer was not mentioned anywhere.

It looks like a Wendy Brigg / Country Friends pattern to me.
I can be wrong, so if you know something about that, please let me know :-)

Busy days

Today school started again, and the family life is slowly adjusting itself to everyday routines.

These last couple of weeks have been fairly busy with everything but sewing activities.
I love summer, if the weather is good, but I also enjoy the autumn and all that it brings.

I am in organize-and-use mood, and from that come the 24 strip blocks that will shortly be joined to a top and in the end be donated to my favourite cause.

Working from true scraps is quite time consuming, but I like the feeling of making something from nothing, if you know what I mean :-)
The blocks are 9,5" include seam allowance.

I think this project can fit the Summer Strip Challenge - I used a lot of 2,5" strips :-)

I have also made this toiletry bag lately, with my own butterfly stitchery design.

The colours of the stitchery are not coming through to well, but you get an impression.
I enjoy making my own stitchery designs and combine them with patchwork - I can see more of that in the near future :-)

Busy weekend

Toiletry purse for dear daughter 2, who left for gospel tent camp very early today.
She has wished for a toiletry purse like this for a long time, so earlier this week I went fabric shopping so she could have it in her favourite colours.
The photos are a little skewed colour wise, but they give you an impression though :-)

We went bling shopping on Friday and had a great time picking out the shoe charms and the purple pearl that embellish the zipper :-)

The Town and City quilt is done, finally !

It looks good, but does not fit anywhere in my house. Long time ago I decided to give this one as a donation to care quilts for children with long term diseases.
That is my plan and I am sticking to it - it just have to come with me to show & tell on August guild meeting first.
The size of the quilt is 50" x 75".

Except for a little piece of grey fabric, all fabrics are from stash, front and backing :-)

Busy Monday

Today's NI block was not on my favourite list - it has inset seams, and by machine they are not very easy.

I know they are supposed to be easy by hand though, but I am not a hand sewing fan really - yet.

This is # 1 of 3 NI blocks with inset seams - the next is fairly like this one, a tad harder, but the last one I am sure I will procrastinate to the last minute. On a scale up to 10, it looks like a 12, 4 x 45 degrees stars + sashing in a 6" block.

My block turned out to my satisfaction though and I am one block closer to be finished :-)

I am about to make myself a new toiletry purse. Not that there is anything wrong with the black one - not at all - it is in use for teaching purposes and I need one to use for sleepovers and travels this spring!
I am teaching bags and purses at the moment, starting today, and I think it is great fun.

Does this woman use red in every item these days ??
I guess I more or less do :-)
I think I get energy from red these days - it is my power colour,
and red makes me smile - red roses, red hearts, red lipstick, red fabrics, redwork.
I did not tell you I found a lovely red thin knitted jacket on sale today ? I think I look very good in red :-)

What is your power colour ?

The baker's child gets no bread

We have a saying here in Norway that goes something like:

The baker's child gets no bread.

In fact, my DH had a very sorry toiletry purse, and he has asked for a new one for a while now.

A couple of years back I made 14 different toiletry purses for Christmas - for godsons, goddaughters, nieces and nephews.

None for my own family though....

• DD1 have one made by me, but it is now to big for her liking.
• DD2 have store bought ones.
• DH had an old store bought one, and the zipper gave in this summer.
• Me - I have an old one from a book club. Functional and boring.

This one is for DH and it is finished today.
He is going on a weekend trip to Denmark by boat today, with a group of friends. I should have been there too, but under the circumstances it is not a good idea.

DD2, the beloved grand-cat and I will rule here at home.

It is not easy to see, but I decorated the black outside by using a twin needle on the sewing machine with 2 different threads - one brown and one brown varigated - and a wavy seam.

It looks cool and male. DH loves it - which is what it is all about, right ? :-)

The pattern is in Norwegian only, so unless you are Norwegian I can not point you in any direction.

I have an idea for a toiletry purse for myself. I have a good one I use for my purse / bag / tote class - which I off course can not use myself, as it would get worn - and I have a couple spin offs in my head.
As long as the creative part of the brain is functional sometimes, I am doing fairly well under the circumstances - I think....

Small projects are very appealing right now, so you will see more quite soon :-)