wordless wednesday

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!

simply sweet

Still in love with the vintage linens, I wanted to share a couple of simple table toppers:

the pastel palette looks so lovely with the sweet tulips

big squares 5.5" finished size...

And this piece I just fell in love with... simple quilting on soft Hobbs Thermore batting.

The third one is the same, just a very lovely print and colors,

simply sweet!

Putting a romantic table topper on, small things can brighten the day!

Happy Valentine Day!

a little red and green...

... to get into the spirit of the season. You may recognize the pattern from Denyse Schmidt's book, it's called Any Way You Slice It. I searched my stash for seasonal colors, some solids and some of Denyse's prints from Greenfield Hill.

The blocks are made loosely based on her templates and in a slightly smaller scale. They end up at 7.5" and are put together into two smaller pieces for the table.

The inspiration was found at LeeAnn and Jolene's .... Now, all I have to do is completing the quilting. Slowly quilting these by hand. Trying to pace myself and rest the arms a bit. No hurry, except the fact that I would love to put these on the table in a weeks time...

; )

Have a nice weekend!

friday finish

Half a year ago, we had a challenge at my quilt guild. We brought a fat quarter of a challenge / ugly fabric, and then swapped. This week we brought the results for show and tell.

I was lucky to get this fun halloween print with witch hats and pumpkins. It was a nice big piece, so I ended up using it for the bars in this coin table runner. The rest of fabric are scraps from my Ghastly spiderweb and a halloween themed charm pack.

The runner ended up 22" * 46".

This chinese coins / bars variation is a fun and versatile pattern, and I have been using it a lot lately. I love to add a bit of asymmetry to the layout.

Wish you all a lovely 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.

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...)

; )

sunny days

Finished my 4th vintage linen quilt for the table: "sunny days" is 22" * 48". All four are simple checkerboard layouts in various color combinations and sizes. Just simple shapes ...

Quite happy to have made some smaller quilts for the table (can tick off one task on my quilting list for 2010). These cheerful vintage prints are bringing summer inside ; )

A little stack of them:

We are enjoying some sunny days, hoping for more to come...

Happy sewing, gardening, or maybe having an outdoor picnic?

; )

sweetie pie

Still enjoying sewing with my swapped vintage linens from Evelyn. I have made another small quilt for my table: sweetie pie is 25" *35". After my happy days, made in cool colors, I wanted to make a similar one using the warm palette. The quilting is small-scale meandering, still using Hobbs 80/20 batting.

And the back (not showing) is a gifted, small scale soft pink fabric my mother-in-law received from one of her friends. Happy to be able to use it! I buy a lot of my fabrics in 1/2 yrds, and it's often a challenge to find good backing for my quilts.

Do you find it easy to pick the backing? Please share any good ideas...

; )

happy days

Just finished hand-stitching the binding down - very late last night. This 30" by 30" Happy Days quilt is a birthday gift to myself ; ) I used Hobbs 80/20 batting and am curious to see how much it will shrink up after washing.

Thank you Evelyn, for providing the vintage sheets - they're so cheerful, just lovely.

We're having a a few red-letter days here in Norway, this week and next, and people are having some extra time off. Wish you all a nice weekend!

springing forward into spring

Today is the start of daylight saving time. Birds are singing outside and spring is finally approaching.

The Spring Fever table cloth is finished at 39" * 39". I used Hobbs fusible cotton batting and a small meander quilting. The fusible batting was a first for me, not sure I will do it again - the batting was so crinkled up in the roll, it was a struggle to get it smoothened out. I ironed the batting to the top and back in one operation. Glad I tried it out in a smaller format. The best part was to skip the pinning or basting.

I love these Narcissus flowers so much - for me speak of Easter holiday, new life, sunny days...

Wish you all a nice holiday!