narrow it down...

Thank you for your input on the layout dilemma! So many options, so many paths to follow...

Here's a little update on the progress. First I started testing out and rejecting several solids. Deciding they were a bit dull for the scale of this courthouse steps block.

Then I decided to go for a light, "blonde" palette, using the white design elements to bind it all together. After more digging through stash, I settled for these two stripes. With the limitation of my usual 1/2 yrd cuts, I needed something more and another vintage linen piece was added.

(For some reason, it hurts to use my 1/2 yrd cuts of the stripes all in one go. How silly is that? I guess it means a good stripe is hard to find? I must start buying them in whole yrds?)

So this is how my design wall looks today. I think I'll leave it for now and see if I am still happy about this layout tomorrow.

I find that time can be an important ingredient in the process. One that often is scarce... Do you have the patience to leave your wip for some time, to see if you still like it? Or do you just make a quick decision and move on?

quilt festival - fall 2010

It's time for the very popular Bloggers Quilt Festival. Thank you so much Amy for hosting this event for the 4th time!

I want to share a quilt that I recently finished. It is a wall quilt, and it started out with some "blueberry fool blocks" that I received in a swap with my friend Clare. Lovely palette of blues...

I started playing with them, forming them into a medallion. Adding some solids and a star.

By then the top reminded me of a norwegian winter landscape: snow and crisp, blue shadows...

So, I added a phrase from a favorite norwegian singer, Anne Grete Preus (in my translation it will say something like: the sun sits low on the horizon, under the tall sky).

The letters are inspired by Tonya.

The quilt is long and narrow, 30" by 60", fitting for a wall hanging.

I had a lot of fun quilting by hand, creating different textures.

Sometimes its fun to start playing with some fabric and see where it takes you. Trusting yourself to create as you go... Trying not to put on a lot of pressure.

Thank you for your visit! And please, enjoy more beautiful and special quilts at the festival here.

winter blues

A little swap with Clare made these pretty "Blueberry Fool" blocks appear in my mailbox last week. Lots of lovely blue.

It has been a long winter. The snow is still around. (coldest, longest winter in 30 years in these necks of the wood). Feeling a bit of winter blues...

So I started playing, improv style.

Shaping a medallion.

Adding some letters - lyrics from an old song favorite by Anne Grete Preus:

lav sol (the sun is low)

høy himmel (the sky is high)

Adding the star.

The letters are 7" high. The full top is about 30" * 60":

I had a lot of fun, Clare. Practicing for my Lazy Gal Liberated Amish 2010 Get Together quilt.

Happy sharing, swapping, sewing and playing...

; )

... and 12

So this is it: the wall quilt with 24 jolly little faces. No more teasing.

I started working on this in september - october, thinking about adding the numbers from 1 to 24 and a little ring to attach little gifties on each block. But there's no children living in this house, and I wanted to keep this for myself ; ) ...

So, now I get to see all the jolly little faces greeting me for breakfast every morning of december - not a bad deal!

This fabric is T'is the season by Debbie Taylor-Kerman (Henry Glass Fabrics). I think it is last years collection. The fabric itself is quite busy, but so fun to fuzzy cut. Not sure its still available, but the idea would work well with other cute prints. From my last posts, it's easy to tell I have been playing a lot with fussy-cutting this print in different ways.

So, last picture, all 24 of them ...

... and that's it. I promise!

improv top

The improv top is coming together. I am thinking about calling it "There's always two sides..." Just because...

It was intended as a lap quilt, a gift for somebody who will be 40 next year. So there is 40 strips or candles lined up. Then I decided to add the solid squares. And at some point I figured out it was the new wall quilt for the dining room I had been wanting for a long time. All that pretty aqua and a bit of sunny yellow:

I am going to add some white both to the top and bottom to complete the design and make it a good length for the wall. The finished size will be 60" * 85". All the white will look nice quilted with straight lines, something like this.

There is still enough time to make the gift. I have a finished quilt top that might work. Or I could go back to one of the two patterns that was a mixed inspiration for this improv top. I like them both...

show and tell

Early layout and some help rearranging the patches for Kattelatte aka Cats in my garden.

This quilt was started back in 2008 and blogged about here. It has been a slow process, on and off, and was finished this spring / summer.

Cats in my garden uses a mix of thrifted clothes: linen trousers, cotton shirts and silk kimonos, with some homespun from my stash as well. It uses 6" squares from my batting scraps, and is handpieced together like english paper piecing. The batting is not removed, but stays. I used a double cotton sheet for backing, and folded it to the front as a binding / finish. The quilt is handquilted. Some of the blocks are sewn by machine.

The colors of the quilt is inspired by the colors of our two cats: Mars and Venus, as is the title.

Butterflies made of vintage kimono silk and silk brocade as in a norwegian national costume...

Bumble bees from shirttails...

Cats faces made of thrifted linen trousers and gifted mother of pearl buttons...

The quilt measures about 70" * 82". It is used as a wall quilt for our dining room or living room, and hung by curtain gliders. I am quite happy with the final result, warm and cosy colors adds a nice atmosphere to the room.

I had fun finding fabric for this quilt. And I want to play some more. If you want to be inspired too, take a look at this great reclaimed clothing quilt-a-long for inspiration. I think I will be on the hunt for cotton shirts now!

december

is not so far away?

Have had to slow down on sewing for a couple of weeks due to a very stiff neck. No sewing, no reading, no computer, seeing the chiropractor and getting some more exercise has been the recipe around here. I am feeling better, and have dusted off the sewing machine, try to take it slow and easy with lots of breaks.

The scrappy christmas swap got me started thinking about christmas, and then a new quilt has been brewing in my mind:

This jolly family has been fussy cut and framed, waiting to be part of a bigger family portrait or advent calendar if you like.

As I said, slow and easy on the sewing. I am taking breaks. Next step, they will all be framed in white, and I can start playing with the layout.

This sweetie has been out, playing in the rain. It seems like summer is over for now. More time indoors, more sewing. (Or not - must not get too carried away, or I will be back to no sewing at all ; ( that would be a shame)

So, wish you all a nice weekend. Take care and enjoy sewing if you can!

happy 4th of july!

pink peonies

I have blogged about this quilt earlier. And now it's finished - my Pink Peonies is up on my bedroom wall as my indoor summer garden. The first picture show how it is hung in the curtain slider solution with clips, real easy - no hanging sleeve.

I quilted this on machine in straight rows, 1.5" apart, with stitch length 4.5. It is 27" by 60" with a bleached, white cotton batting. Very happy with how it turned out.

Hope you all have some pretty flowers to look at, indoor or outdoor...

improv top

Good morning - sunshine ...

Come on ...

Hurry up!

Some know how to enjoy an indoor garden. And some can't wait to get outside to the real thing...

I have started making improv blocks. My first attempt is these simple box in a box squares. I wanted to make an indoor garden, and looked trough my scraps and stash for big flower prints and fussy cut them into rectangles of different shapes. Arranging them on my design wall quilt, I wasn't happy until I made them square. I centered them and lined them up i 9 inch blocks. The solid is a Kona Snow. This top is now 27" by 72" and will be a wallhanging: "Peonies".

The quilt is inspired by this beauty.

Next on my list is to try some improv wonky log cabins. But for now, I'll just enjoy some of the beautiful sunny Sunday ; )

Enjoy your weekend...

hipp hipp hurra ...

Today is the national day of Norway, with childrens parades, schoolband and national flags - it's all red, blue and white today.... Last nights national victory of Eurovision Song Contest with the song Fairytale makes the smiles even wider!!!

I am quilting my stars and stripes by hand, and am happy with the way it goes .... So I am off to the celebrations.

Happy sewing!

stars

Two different quilts with stars I am working on in parallel. Same theme, different technique and size. The above is all handsewing, handquilting, the one below is machine piecing and quilting. Star constellations are the inspiration for the choice of quilting. In both quilts I have used straight lines drawn by chalk pencil as the basis for the quilting. Still works i progress, both. I have posted about the handstitched blocks earlier.
I am sure this is not the end of my fascination of stars, love them....

Finished County Fair

Thank you all for giving me some good ideas on how to quilt this one! In the end I went for vertical straight lines. Lots of them...

The quilt is around 40" by 60", maschine quilted with cotton batting. Looking through my stash, I found this 30's flowery pink backing, and I think it really complements the top.

Wish I had better light for this picture...

One morning we woke up to a lot of snow. It's quite special to see snow resting on branches like this around here. Very peaceful, love it!

Another somebody resting peacefully. She's been on antibiotics since before christmas, and needs her rest to recover...

Wish you all a peaceful wekend, either you are busy og just taking it easy - take care!