Well, May Britt published a tutorial for making pin cusions on Friday, and I had to try. :) The first one - I figured after finishing it - I made wrong.. so I had to make another one.. (but it was so fun to make, so I really didn't mind.)

I used 1" squares and three different fabrics I almost never use (they're not really matching anything.. except black) and it looks very.. funky? Atleast very 70's. :)

The first one I made, I used three of the Japanese fabrics I got for my birthday (also 1" squares). It looks like a ball, but it's so cute! Even my BF thinks it's cute. :)

And, as a treat, here is a picture of one of the dragons I bought a couple of years ago when we were on vacation in England (London, to be precise). I found this little stubborn guy in a small crafts shop somewhere around the markets in Camden Town. I love dragons, especially gothic looking, and this one's one of my very special favorites. :)

I went on a short trip to Katrine's today, originally looking for two DMC colors, but, alas, I managed to find some more stuff that just "had to" come home with me.. Strange, isn't it..


I found the two colors I needed (almost ran out in the middle of a stitchery - crisis!), and three unbleached fabrics with small prints (the bottom one has small retro-almost 70's-circles, the middle one has small hearts, and the top one small stars). Can't wait to use them. :)


Then I found a HUGE stash (pile) of bolts of Japanese fabrics they hadn't had time to price even. But I got the permission to go through them and see if there were any I "needed". I chose these three - more a brown-yellow-tone - with a small project in mind combined with some fabrics I got for my birthday (see picture further down).


The day before my birthday our apartment was full of people - mom and dad came down from Trysil, my grandmother came with them, my sister came over, and grandma's middle sister (my great aunt) came too. Grandma has really fallen for one of my rats, Swiffer (the brown one with curly fur), and just had to open the cage and let them come out and play for a while. :) Nice to see that not all members of my family runs and hides or screams when they see them (not that there are that many who do so, but most are very sceptical..).


My birthday present from grandma and grandpa: a box with many blue-and-grey-toned fabrics and a pattern from Angels in Disguise. :) These are the fabrics I'm thinking of combinding with the Japanese ones I bought today. Could be interesting..


I got a new sewing bag from Jacob (the family parrot) and my parents (my mom made it). My mom had originally made one for her self, but I asked if she could make one for me too, I really liked the bright glowing orange colors!




I managed to finish the blue snowman (the pattern that May Britt made)! The picture is a bit dark, but it's not easy to get good pictures and natural light in the middle of the night.. :/ It's cute, very very cute, IRL. I've used small shiny glass beads for snow flakes here and there (you can barely see them in the pic.. *argh*).


And I finished the Valentine's quilt! :D (And forgot to flip the picture before I put it up here.. *bah*). I finished it by sewing on small glass hearts in black and red here and there - and a small metal heart with the words "Made with love" engraved. Pearls can be so decorative in small wallhangings. :)



I finished the alphabet wallhanging too. :) Two small metal butterfly pearls made a nice extra touch on the yellow border with butterflies and flowers. :)

And I've made this garden angel from a stamp my mom bought at Panduro. Even my BF thinks it's very cute. :) Three small metal flowers in pink, yellow and blue gives it a nice finish.

I like using pearls, beads or buttons in my quilts/stitcheries/works. I think it adds a personal touch - and, just my luck, there are a couple of very nice bead stores here in Oslo. The stops there can be quite expensive some times, but I think it's worth it.

The sky is bright blue today, about 15 celsius in the shades, a little wind, but as long as you walk in the sun it's nice to be outside. It annoys me a little that I didn't manage to get "the secret thing" to Trysil this weekend, but it's really not that important. (I bet you're curious now, mom ;p)

Clearance at GrandMa's house

My grandmother has decided to only buy fabric for what she sews - and not because she likes the fabric or "might" use it for something, and so she cleaned out her fabric collection and sent a HUGE bag full of fabrics to my parents house, saying that I should pick out what I wanted. And so I did.


This is a picture of what I brought with me home. It's about a third of the bag. The rest my mother kept - and some we might send down to my BF's mother (she's also sewing alot). Mystery mail is always fun to both send and receive. Some time ago I had to go to the post office to collect a parcel which didn't fit into our miniature size mailbox (really.. you could barely fit a book in there..) and I poundered on and on about what it could be and who could've sent it. It turned out that it was the price from this contest I'd entered a couple months earlier (and completely forgot all about) and not some weird conspiracy to trick me. :) I still have the LED-light pen, the towel and the watch I got from that contest - not to mention the incredible cute metal boxes they were in. They were all from the movie Cars (Disney/Pixar).

Now I think I'm going to blow my nose (yes, another cold has taken hold..) and then try to see if I can get the back piece cut and ready for the spring quilt (What Color Is Spring - Bareroots). Maybe..

Gifts from San Fransisco.

My BF went on a school trip to San Fransisco, and came back with a couple of gifts. :)

First, a package of Pirate Adhesive Bandages (or plaster). :) The box also included a Free Treasure Inside - a mini pirate duckie! :D



And a bag of one of my favorite american sweets - Twizzlers! :D

And finally, a t-shirt from San Fransisco's Japan Town, made by an old japanese man. :) The print is a picture of a panda and a duck, and the text reads "Crouching Panda - Peeking Duck" - a spoof of a film title (the film was Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, very good film, btw).


There were some other gifts too, but they're being saved for my birthday.