A Teeny Tiny OPAM Finish

A small finish is still a finish :-)

It came to mind that today is the last day of July and I had no finishes to my name.
Since I have been faithful to doing the OPAM - One Project A Month - through the first 6 months, I could not fail now, could I ?

For a very long time I have thought about making something to hang on the electrical fuse cupboard in our entrance area - next to the hanging jackets as you see.
Our entrance area is very small, not much more than 1 square meter, so even if the knob hanging is just a 5” square, it will be visible to all that enters our home  :-)
I finished the stitchery last year.

I could have put lavender in the knob hanger, if I had some. I stuffed the knob hanger lightly with poly fill.

Hanne

The day after - sort of

This is my vacation tally - 2,5 stitchery block for the Sunshine Frolics quilt and 5 hexagon flowers for my BOM.

By lunchtime one of the blocks looked like this:

Next progress step:

I did not like how the pink section turned out - it is the pain with kits. I have now changed the darker pink with a light green - looks so much better.

8 down, 1 to go !

Can I finish the last block, the top, borders and all, tomorrow ?
I’ll give it a try :-)

Hanne

A summer week with very little summer weather

- but - we took advantage of the few hours we got!

I got a lot of stitching done though, and I visited my friend Ildri one evening and enjoyed her little quilt shop.

She was in the middle of a project in the middle of her small shop, so it was not convenient to take photos.

I bought some fabrics for finishing my Bunny quilt.

We also enjoyed the last Harry Potter film at the movies.

As always, it is very nice to spend time with family that lives far from us !

Focus projects again

Seeing how successful the last 2 weeks have been, I’ll do an encore of the focus projects :-)

Since it is vacation time and time away from home ahead I have picked 2 hand sewing projects this time.

Moving along from the last 2 weeks is the Sunshine Frolics BOM - now lacking 2,5 blocks of stitchery - and piecing of the last 4 blocks. The piecing will be done by machine though.

Second is the Blomstereng BOM - hexagons, hexagons and more hexagons, by hand.

My goal for the hexagons is to be on schedule when I receive the last package, so I can sign up for the next BOM at New Year without any backlog. 
Lappemakeriet always has the very best BOMs, and yes, I am ever so biased :-))

Have you noticed both these focus projects in fact are BOMs ?
I do have a soft spot for good BOMs, but except or the BOMs from Lappemakeriet I must say I am not to fond of BOM kits.

I have noticed that several shops overseas now sell BOMs as pattern only -  I like that!

I have my eyes on a new BOM, pattern only, from overseas, but will not order it in 2009. If I still have the urge for it in 2010 I will think about it again.

Hanne

Busy hands

Since last week was filled with basket quilt activities I am giving my BOM Sunshine Frolics my best this week.

Here is block # 9 done - Bucket o’ Rabbit

And block # 3 - Happiness Is………..

And block # 6 - Pumpkin Patch.
I finished the stitchery for this one this evening.

As you can see - I am lacking 3 stitcheries and 4 finished blocks.

I’ll prep the next stitchery in a minute :-)

PS. Did I mention that I have seen a glimpse of my basket quilt on the long arm quilter’s frame - on a photo ?
The quilting looks great !

Hanne

A very special meeting

Wednesday my English online friend Caro was spending some hours in our capital Oslo, on her way to a stone carver seminar in Trondheim.

Here we are on the main street Karl Johan.
You can get a glimpse of the Royal castle in the background.

It is always exciting to meet online friends in real life, and meeting Caro was an absolute success and a great pleasure in my book :-)

We walked a bit downtown, visiting some shops, including the hobby shop Panduro, where they also carry some quilting stuff.

We had a great time, and 3 hours went like the wind.

Here we are enjoying a cup of coffee before Caro and her partner had to catch the train to Trondheim, and I had to hurry home to celebrate DD2’s 18th birthday.

I hope  you guys are having a great time with your stone carving, and I hope to meet you again before long, and that we will have more time together then :-)

*************

And happy birthday to you my little big one :-)
On her request we went out to eat Chinese before entertaining family in our home for coffee and cakes.

All in all a day filled with a lot of good things :-)

Hanne

Smaller arm movements

It is nice to do some smaller arm movements too, after working on the big quilt :-)

I have some catching up to do on the Sunshine Frolics BOM.

All the packets have finally arrived now, and that makes it more fun to work on these blocks.

So far I have finished the stitchery for block # 1, # 3, #7,#8 and #9 (above)

I am working on stitchery #6 right now - in the frame above.

Hanne

Done !

Last night I burned the midnight oil to add the borders to this quilt.
Smart ? Not!!
The border fabric is directional, and then you know what happened, right ?
However - I got one side of the borders on, the other side both on and off, and the top and bottom border cut.
Early in the morning, as in before 7 am, I was at it again, and this time with success :-)

 

Here is a mix of Japanese fabrics and CW repros.
I like that mix - the Japanese fabrics soften the CW repros and the CW repros makes a quilt sing :-)

Off to the machine quilter today!
A lovely Judie Rothermel CW repro print for the backing goes well with the mix of Japanese and CW repros on the front.

Anne is doing me the honour of quilting this quilt for me.
She is very skilled and her style is perfect for this quilt.
Anne is one half of MA quilterne -
Merete, who did lovely quilting on my kaleidoscope quilt is the other half.

This basket quilt will be on my teaching schedule this autumn.

I can promise both Anne and Merete more quilting jobs from me before long :-)

Never a dull moment in my quilting corner ………….
I think I will do some stitchery later today though :-)

Hanne

A quick update

These 4 blocks were finished yesterday - the final 4!

This week really has been busy with this quilt and only 2 threads of stitchery has been done early today.

A week and a pile of blocks - does not look that much really.
Only a quilter knows how many hours goes into a quilt.

Here are the 6 piles of different blocks and all the half square triangles waiting to be joined to the blocks.

And here, the blocks cut to size and ready to be joined into 3 rows.

To work, oh bold quilter!

More later - I hope :-)

Hanne

Friday’s work

The 3 last pieced blocks are done, and the 4 appliqué blocks are almost ready for machine appliqué  - only lacking some small elements.

Tomorrow I will do the appliqué and start framing the 21 blocks with square in square technique.
I have found a lovely CW repro shirting for the framing triangles - at Lappemakeriet off course :-)

I am really looking forward to finish this top - I like it very much so far  :-)

Hanne

A busy rainy day

The furball decided it was time to take a R&R day on the couch since it has been a rainy, cold day - lucky cat :-)

My day has been busy working on the basket quilt, and now I have 5 more blocks to my name!
I must admit I am curious about how many blocks I can do tomorrrow.

Yes - I am a bit obsessed by getting this quilt done right now, so now it is baskets only and no stitchery before the blocks are done.
7 more block to go - and still a lot of work joining the blocks and all.

Almost half way there

- with the stitcheries for Sunshine Frolics BOM.

My projects have bred by cell dividing lately - I am sure you know how it is ?? ;-)

Through next week, the Basket quilt and Sunshine Frolics BOM stitchery will get first priority.

I can not and will not promise to not work on anything else, but these 2 projects Will be worked on every day - promise :-)

Hanne

A basket case ?

I am working on a quilt with a masculine touch.

I must admit I am more drawn to lighter colours and stitchery these days, but I am enjoying the process of these blocks too :-)

The blocks finish 5,25”, so they are not very big.*
I think the finished quilt will look good in my living room when it is done :-)

A pleasant task

I have had this on my to do list for a long time - cleaning the thimble display and thimbles.
Today was the day.
DH took the shelf down from the wall and all that was in it was picked out.

This is an antique printers drawer and I had to be careful not to make it wet - if not, I could have rinsed it in the garden with the hose. Very tempting  ;-)

Some knick knack without sentimental value got sorted out and tossed, and the rest went back on the shelf.

Thimble count is 156 on the shelf + one on my mobile phone :-)

We are having the warmest days in nearly 30 years - about 30 C during the days for more than a week.

 

Nothing is like a serving of strawberries, sugar and cream on a warm day :-)

Hanne

Some happy, sunny, busy days - part 3

Thursday we went shopping again !!

First a baby shop with ecological clothes and yarn.
Elin is expecting a grandchild :-)

Next to the baby shop is a yarn shop I have not visited for 20 years.
They are very well stocked in embroidery floss too, so I will be back :-)

They carry all the DMC variegated embroidery floss, as well as linen floss and some pearl cotton :-)

After that we went to Kathrines Quilte Stue downtown Oslo.
Elin looks happy :-)

    

 

I could not pass a few temptations here either, but by now, I feel all shopped out ;-)

A cute little hen ornament from a bargain box.
30 cm fabric, some embroidery floss, a stitchery pattern and a packet of Bronwyn Hayes quilt labels.

         **************

Elin went home on Friday morning, by bus.
She is a lovely lady and a very pleasant person to spend time with, so I hope she will be back before to long  :-)

Hanne

Some happy, sunny, busy days - part 2

After Quiltefryd we headed north again, driving some of the way on the smaller roads instead of the big main road, to enjoy some scenic views.

We had a late lunch date with Anne Ida, at Pannekakehuset ( Pancake House)

Elin showing her quilt in progress before we dug into the pancakes :-)

After a lovely meal we visited the summer exhibition connected to Lappemakeriet. This summer the exhibition is situated at the oven museum nearby.
The name of this summer’s exhibition is Tepper & tøy (quilts and clothes)

Here are some impressions.
I am sorry that my camera was about to cave in to the heath, so all the photos are not very sharp, as the battery was blinking red for flat all the time.

My favourite:
   

 

   

Quilts and old cast iron ovens are a good combination :-)

  

Yes, I have a soft spot for the Le Moyne star, as you know. This beauty is on display outside Lappemakeriet, my favourite shop.
After this photo the battery gave up completely.

After coming home we enjoyed sitting outdoors.

Nearly midnight, 11 pm - and we are not in midnight sun area.
The sun is gone only 4 hours in the middle of the night around mid summer.
You can see the moon in the middle of the photo, just about touching the trees.

  

What I bought at Lappemakeriet:
A box of winter cards, a pattern and a cute pig hanger from the 70 % off bargain table outdoors.
2 x 30 cm pieces of fabrics and 1 meter of ultra thin iron on  batting for stitchery.

Hanne