something small

windy

Photoshoot on a windy afternoon. Stargazing with Amy finishes at 28" * 36", quilted with perle cotton on Quilters Dream Request batting using big baptist fan stencil to mark the quilting lines.

The blocks are made of spare parts from a previous quilt: Sizzix stars. They are purposely fragmented with star points swapped between them. Dark on light background and the other way around. Quite playful or chaotic, depending on the observer... 

I think of this as a sketch, wanting to experiment with other colorways and other fabrics than quilting cottons. Another result from emptying out the boxes of pre-cuts, wip's and ufo's. That's the theme of 2016 for me so far...

; )

Happy stitching to all!

five

My latest quilting adventure started with some beautiful field study fabric and a wish to try making Kathy Doughty's Fractured pattern using 2.5" strips WOF.

I pulled out a warm palette to complement Anna Maria Horners Field study from my stash: orange, pink, red purple and gold. Making blocks and putting them up on my design wall I decided my fabric selection didn't work out, so I put some of the blocks and ready cut strips aside. Then I finished the purple fractured top shown in picture 4.

The spare blocks from this first fractured quilt top kept calling me. I put them on my design wall and decided it was half a top worth of pretty blocks. So I pulled more fabric from stash and made the pink fractured quilt top shown in picture 2.

This second fractured top is slowly being hand quilted on wool batting and a voile backing. (see picture 3). It is softer than butter and oh so tempting to work on.... The key for me is to go slow with the hand-quilting. I have spent all my money at the chiropractors office lately. Not fun! I have to find a way to go back to spend my money on fabric instead.

The center 4 patch in the first picture are made from spare parts from the second fractured top. They were just winking at me saying "don't we look pretty? All we need is a few star points from the scrap bin."

So we are down to picture 5. The spare parts from the spare parts formed a figure of five stars. Reminding me to tell you it's been 5 years since I started this blog. Thank you all for making it such a great place to share ideas and inspiration!

Wish you all a great wednesday and hope you will have some pretty spare parts tempting you to get creative! Me, I am trying to go real slow. 5 years is not so long, I do not want to stop quilting and blogging just yet!

; )

friday finish - for the kitchen

In need of some new hot pads, I put together a little set for the kitchen.

Blue and green makes the kitchen look ready for spring...

This is my second set ever made, so it was about time. There's two hot pads (right) and to table-runners of different size. I used my 4" finish hst die set for my Go!Baby cutter. I think it is a nice size block.

I used Warm and Natural cotton batting. The hot pads are big, so I fold them over when I use them. This model (12" square) has been tested out for some time. I like it, so I'll stick to it. Even if my friend made fun of how big they were. She will probably never ever be gifted any hot pads from me, silly girl - don't you think?

I had some lovely fabric in my stash, just waiting to be used for the kitchen. So I made another set, in red... 

A pair of hot pads sounds like a small order.... I guess there's no such thing. 

Now my kitchen looks fresh, and I'm happy.

Wish you all a great weekend!

the misfits

these are the ones

that didn't get to go

trick or treating

with the rest of the bunch from last years Halloween quilt.

why not ...

clean out the drawers

put some old orphan blocks together

be inspired to try some new way to quilt it

why not just play a bit?

god jul ...

... it is time, now...

... the 6 jolly snowmen quilt is finished

... and they are ready to be merry ...

Christmas decorations in this house includes a couple of quilts. My christmas calendar from last year is turned with the back facing forward, the perfect backdrop for the jolly 6...

18" by 27" sitting on top of 27" by 72", my christmas quilt in the narrow series

Now the house is ready for the holidays.

And this happens to be my post # 200!

It's time for me to wish you all Happy Holidays ( God Jul is the norwegian phrase).

Please enjoy time with loved ones, relax and be merry...

; )

friday finish

This week I made another string bag, again using Ayumi's free pattern. It's a bit bigger (12" by 12") and still missing the string...

And there were left over, small scraps to be played with! So I made another small and scrappy improvised chinese coins.

These are fun to make! This is 15" by 15", hand quilted and sits on my coffee table. The lovely, dark chocolate sashing is a few 2.5" strips of thimbleberries found in my LQS. This fabric was dyed through, and I used the solid backside of it.

Funny how a few scraps can be so much fun! Do you save yours, or do you just bin them?

Wish everybody a nice weekend!

small treats for halloween

Yesterday evening we had a great variation of small and big witches and ghosts stopping by for trick or treats. They take pride in having fancy costumes and make-up. And I enjoy seeing them all...

This year I made a few Halloween treats for me:

a little mug mat (above)

a table topper, 26" by 12"

and a little string bag, 10" by 12". This sweet little "treat" was a free pattern designed by the talented and generous Ayumi. Adore her creations! Maybe I need to make a few more. For christmas (instead of a stocking?) or for a dear friends birthday coming up? Or just because its nice to make small treats...

Hope you all had a happy Halloween. And that you all find a safe way to dispose of the left - over candy. That's the tricky part...

(Left over candy is filling out the bag...)

; )