Happy stitches :-)

A finish!
The stitchery is my own design, and I have made it in to a cushion I am giving as a Christmas gift to someone I am very fond of :-)
Feel welcome to download my design, but please also make sure to read the whole post I am linking to, and respect my copyright - thank you!

Finish # 2 :-)
The stitchery is from Hatched and Patched.

The back side of the heart.
I like the natural colour of the linen, combined with red.

 

Oh Stina - I so enjoyed stitching your little Christmas design today!
Thank you again, for brighten my day!
I could not put it away before it was finished :-)

Friendship isn't a big thing - it's a million little things.

Hanne

A light for joy - Advent time

I have spent the first weekend of Advent in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, with my husband and a group of friends.
We arrived home yesterday afternoon, in time to light the first Advent candle before dropping in a deep chair with our feet up.

I also have 2 Advent calendars to enjoy this year - one from May Britt and one from Bente.

From May Britt I got these cute buttons,

and from Bente, the Lucky Troll and a packet of colour catchers, which I have already put in to use :-)

Over the weekend this cute little packet has arrived too - an Advent gift from Stina - how very exciting :-)
The packet was so beautifully packet it was hard to open it!

Look what was in the packet - the cutest little stitchery, with red embroidery floss, ready to be made, and it is part 1 of a Christmas mystery :-)
Lucky me !! Thank you ever so much Stina!
I am so looking forward to enjoy this lovely stitchery, starting tomorrow morning, with my morning coffee :-)

Tonight we light one candle
we light it for joy
It stands there shining by itself
and we who present are
Tonight we light one candle
we light it for joy.

Hanne

Saturday progress

I did have a rather ambitious to do list in the sewing corner today, but you know, the best laid plans and all that ...... :-)
I have moved the Christmas  stitchery project forward though, and I am planning to make a table topper.
I am not really sure what do to next, border wise, but I will sleep on it until tomorrow.

Learning to live in the present moment is part of the path of joy.

Sarah Ban Breathnach

Hanne

TGIF ! (Thank God It Is Friday!)

It has been a busy week, with a lot of physical work out and not so much sewing.
I have got a new physiotherapist, and I am sore in places I did not even know I have muscles ;-)
Lovely time has also been spent with friends this week.

Some beautiful mother of pearl light mornings has been enjoyed with the morning coffee.
Only a month until winter solstice and more day light again.

Crochet is lovely for sore arms, and another set of napkin rings is done :-)


I recently bought a Japanese crochet book online, and it is as beautiful as the Japanese quilt books :-)
This is a new baby afghan in the making.

I have plans for a full sewing day tomorrow.
I can not tell you all now in the secrecy season!

Friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life.
~Thomas Jefferson~

Hanne

Paying it forward :-)

I feel lucky who can comfort others with my work, and organize my yarn and fabrics at the same time :-)
I get so much joy out of my work, and it is a pleasure to pay it forward to children in need.

These 2 small afghans are to preemie children - sent in today.
I am now out of wool yarn, for now :-)

This afghan is done by Tunisian crochet + crochet border.
Tunisian crochet was hard on my arms, and I liked to to afghan #2, ordinary crochet, the best.

I was planning to stop doing care quilts for good now, but old habits die hard, or something like that ;-)
I still have fabrics suitable for the purpose, so I will keep on keeping on, but stop participating in sew-together meetings, other than in my own local guild. We are a nice group in my guild, meeting a couple of times autumn and spring.

I like the thought of paying it forward, and so like the fact that I can pay it forward anonymously, so no one owes me anything in return, not even a thank you :-)
I like that very much!

I am not out of fabrics in a long long time yet :-)
My beloved Japanese fabrics and Civil War fabrics will not go in to care quilts though.

May the love hidden deep inside your heart
find the love waiting in your dreams.
May the laughter that you find in your tomorrow
wipe away the pain you find in your yesterdays.

Hanne

Sunday progress

A WISP is soon ready for machine quilting!
The logs are cut 1" wide, and the blocks are not foundation paper pieced. A lot of cutting was involved in making these the blocks!
I need to find a backing right now :-)

I bought this pre-printed stitchery from Quiltegården in September. It is a Rosalie Quinlan design. A LOT of details - very fun to stitch :-)

Hanne

I have a plan!

I think it is typical for me - I feel like filling up my finish list before the end of the year.
Christmas is coming soon, and gifts are to be made too.
I have challenged myself to do as many finishes as possible through the next 2 weeks, just for fun - just to give myself a kick in the behind ;-)
Starting yesterday!

Miss Cat wanted to rest on the dinner table the other day, even if she knows it is a big No No.
She was crossed with me, brushing her off the table, and later squeezed her furry self on to the smaller table topper on the side table in the living room - where she is allowed.
Half of her did not fit on the table topper - bummer ;-))

Fast forward to today:
First finish!

We learned this 3 dimensional Bow Tie block on the guild meeting on Tuesday, and I had to give it a try with 6" squares.
This quilt is given as a care quilt through my guild today :-)
If you would like to view the instruction online it is quite similar to this, except I cut all the five squares 6", and not sewing down the red edges, to give the quilt some interest for small hands.

Second finish!
A new batch of 6 napkin rings - now I have 12 :-)
I have had questions about the instructions, but since I do not know the English abbreviations for crochet, I am not able to translate it.
I can give it to you in Norwegian, so you can fix translation yourself :-)
Google translate maybe?

Du trenger:
Plastring, heklegarn 12/3 ( eller tynnere), heklekrok nr, 1. Fyll ringen med fastmasker, 1 sm i 1. fm
1. 6 lm, hopp over 6 fm, 1 fm - gjenta til du har 7 buer
2. 9 fm rundt hver bue
3. 5 lm, 2st 3lm 2st i 5. fm, - gjenta ut omg. 1 3dbst i 1. fm forrige rad
4. 5 lm, 2st 3lm 2 st i lmbuene - gjenta ut omg. 1 3dbst i 1. st forrige rad
5. 5 lm, 2st 4lm 1fm i 2.lm 1lm (picot) 2 st i lmbue, 4 lm 1fm onkr. begge buene fra tidl. omganger, gjenta ut omg, 4 lm, 1 fm i 1. st forrige rad.

If you are a visual learner I guess you can figure out a bit from the photos too :-)

Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars. ~Les Brown

Hanne

This and that - again :-)

Me and my body has not been playing to well together lately, so the arm movements has been small, as well as my stitches.

This is a pram quilt for my grand-nephew :-)

I was working on the binding up to right before Baby J received his gift.
It was not a last minute plan, but it turned out to be last minute stitches anyway ;-)

The quilt has now been slept under - on his grandma's couch and in his pram :-)

The stitchery for the before mentioned star quilt is done - here rinsed, but not yet pressed.

I had to give up knitting recently, due to my bad neck, but I had to give crochet a try again, and it went well (and was fun).
A new scarf - I found the pattern online -

and a matching hat - which I made myself with elements from the scarf, invented as I went along.

A set of napkin rings was fun to make too.

I made dozens of these for sale when I was about 10 years old, and have kept one, from which I could count a pattern.

True silence is the rest of the mind;
it is to the spirit what sleep is to the body,
nourishment and refreshment.
~William Penn

Hanne