precious

Photoshoot on a foggy day with cows for company:

my tagpoppin' quilt finished at 67" * 67". The beautifully and detailed quilting is by Marianne Engeset Nybølet at KarmaQuilts using thin cotton batting.

This quilt has a multilayered story: 

• fabric is a mix of collected fabric that was gifted to me by a dear and generous friend, LeeAnn; and shirts we both found while tag popping together in Ballard, Seattle. Happy days!
• layout is inspired by the find of a viking brooche in a little creek bordering the farm were my grandmother grew up
• the quilting is Mariannes skilful interpretations of my memories ot his special place. 
• these pictures are taken on this same location, now a family summer house on a small island on the west coast of Norway.

So happy with how this homage to my grandmother turned out. It holds a lot of good memories and connections for me.

tag poppin' in ballard

My latest quilt top on the design wall, in the process of being put together.

This is my third time sewing with reclaimed shirts. I think they are a bit more challenging to use than quilting cotton, as they vary in weight and weave. So I went with simple shapes.

I also wanted to make them a bit big to show off the pretty fabrics that are generously gifted from a dear friends stash and joyfully selected on a memorable day of tag poppin' in Ballard, Seattle.
Happy memories in each square of fabric!

The colors is a hommage to LeeAnn's stash and love of a beautiful warm palette. I always admire her way of choosing colors.

The design is simple, 9 patches measures 7.5" finished size.  The medallion / trip around the world variation is inspired by a golden brooch from viking times found in a creek near my grandmothers childhood home. A true fairytale that is now exhibited in the archeological museum in my home town Stavanger. As a stark contrast my grandmother was one of 5 girls raised by their mother with no such luxury. They learned to make do and mend. My grandmother was an excellent cook and a seamstress.  And I was lucky enough to spend time with her and my grandfather in the summertime with my siblings and cousins, completely spoilt on homemade bread and cake, fish from the fjords and fresh vegetables from their patch. This spring we have been spending a lot of time refreshing the gardens of this place, her childhood home, chopping down trees and clearing brush.

Visiting LeeAnn I was privileged to see and touch her quilts and quilts of her good friends in the Rebels quilt group. The softness of those quilts made from recycled shirts are just wonderful!

For me, so many happy things come together in this simple quilt top. tag poppin' in ballard is 67.5" square and I will spend some time wondering about adding a border or not.

The mystery of the struggle accessing my blog and uploading pictures are still not completely solved. It seems like our service provider might not be consistent in providing stable lines. Hopefully there will be more posts this summer. The weather is only good for indoor activities right now...

; )