Saturday, October 30, 2021
Thursday, October 28, 2021
The October guild meeting
Last Monday it was time for another guild meeting - and now there's only one left before Christmas!
I didn't bring a huge pile of finished projects this time, but I managed to bring along two that I had completed since the last meeting. One of these was a stitchery for Easter - a bunny with tthe words God påske (Happy Easter). I made the stitchery back in the summer of 2012, when we went to Denmark with my sister, her daughter and our mum. About time it was finished, you might say! (I'll take a photo and post it soon, as I didn't get a photo during the meeting.)
My other fiished project, was a Christmas/winter stitchery, which I actually bought during my first ever meeting in the guild (when they were visited by a quilt shop)!
This first picture is taken by a guild member, and was posted on the FB-page for the guild.
And here's a more close-up picture.
The stitchery is a pattern from Kathy Schmitz called Snow Sampler and I stitched it on a white background with silver glitter - in a nice, dusty-blue colour DMC thread. The border and binding is a piece of blue fabric I found in my stash, and I suspect it might be a fabric from Jinny Beyer - which found it's way to me from my great-aunt.
I quilted this in a grid pattern, and afterwards I thought why not add a little more sparkle? So in each cross on the bloe border I sewed on a small glass bead (clear, with silver center). It looks really good IRL, and is so, so hard to photograph - so you'll just have to take my word for it.
I'm working on a couple of other projects too - sewing that is - but these past few weeks have brought very little crafting time, so there's only been a stitch added here and there, except from the weekly blocks made in the #focuscuttingsewalong on IG.
Even my knitting has been slow these past weeks! Ever since I finished the Flax Sweater (which I'm wearing in the first picture) I seem to have been having difficulties in starting a new, big project. So I've been knitting cloths instead (which I usually knit when we're driving long distance). And now there are three almost four new cloths finished. Which is good, because there are a couple in use that are really ready for retirement (or the bin).
I have yarn and pattern for two pretty large projects (one sweater and one shawl) ready - I just need to wind the yarn - so it's not like I'm missing supplies, I just need time to wind down and have some quiet time.
Wednesday, October 27, 2021
Sunday, October 24, 2021
Thursday, October 21, 2021
September guild meeting
The quilting guild is back to their mothly meetings, and for the September meeting I brought with me some of the projects I've completed during these months in lockdown.
First off are two baking cloths (to help the dough rise or keep tortillas warm during taco dinners - which is what we use ours for the most). The stitchery is the same on both, just completed in different colours. The pattern is from Northern Quilts - Bake bake kake - and is one of their older patterns. I've made several of these baking cloths, and it's a pattern I keep coming back to. Great for gifts too!
I stitched these during our Summer vacation - when I craved something to make, that also was easy to pick up and put down - and nothing screams easy as following a line with a needle and thread, not having to think about changing colours or organizing which part goes with what colour.
The blue and yellow one is stitched with a deep blue colour - and the green one with a variegated green thread.
The next project up, is a really old one. I had to search my mom's old blog to find out exactly when I started working on it, and I found a picture of me basting this before starting the hand quilting. My mom's post is dated august 2008.
I've picked this project up and put it away so many times during these 13 years, considering the process further - or if I should just unpick everyting and start anew. Well, back in January it resurfaced, and I once again pondered on wether I should finish it or unpick the quilting I had done. And I decided to finish it!
Working from home, with a numerous amount of TEAMS-meetings I decided to try to quilt one thread a day and see how it went. Well, it took be approximately one month (and that without daily threads of quilting) and suddenly it was done!
I wrote the date of our wedding in the little sign under the big tree, and it now hangs on the wall next to our bedroom door.
The panel, backing and binding came from Keepsake Quilting, back in 2008. My uncle went to Seattle for work, and offered to retrieve an order for my mom and I if we had it delivered to his hotel. Well, ofcourse we couldn't say no to that!
The panel, backing and binding came from Keepsake Quilting, back in 2008. My uncle went to Seattle for work, and offered to retrieve an order for my mom and I if we had it delivered to his hotel. Well, ofcourse we couldn't say no to that!
Next up is a project from a Sew Sampler Box - a subscription box from Fat Quarter Shop. This particular project came in the February 2020 box - Lucky Charm.
The box included the pattern, fabric (charm pack) and acrylic template to use for this project. Originally, the table runner is HUGE! (by Norwegian standards) so I decided to make a smaller one, to fit our table, and I also changed the colours around a little, to make it more suitable for our 17th of May celebrations and to match our flag.
I still have quite a bit of fabric left from this project, so I could make another one - but I've also considered making this in, for instance, Halloween fabric or Christmas fabric. But it was a fun and quite easy project!
Next up are my projects from the #100hexies100days sewalong on Instagram. The rule is to create a hexagon (baste or glue) fitting the week's theme for 100 days - resulting in a nice pile of 100 hexies with different fabrics and focuscutted images. This was a fun one! And my first year participating (mom's participated the last three years, I think?).
But what to do with 100 hexagons? I tried sewing them all together, resulting in a pretty large hexagon, with some weird bits sticking out.. so removed the odd bits and rearranged a little - and here are my finished projects!
The large hexagon is currently on my living room table, and the smaller one is used as a mug rug. I have slight regrest not making the mug rug just plain and square, but it does look fun and great (at least if you don't look to close at the binding...). Finished is better than perfect!
Lastly, I brought with me my #fussycuttingsewalong project from 2019. The sewalong has renamed itself to #focuscuttingsewalong now, but the basis is still the same - one block a week, according to a given theme and instructions. In 2019 the shape was 6-point star, and this is my starry quilt - finally finished!
I love the way the dark grey (charcol) make the colours in the stars pop!
For 2020, the shape was houses - and now in 2021 we're working with half hexagons. If you're ever on Instagram, I'd like to recommend checking out the hashtag #focuscuttingsewalong to see the current directions/themes and to see what the participants are working on.
Next week it's time for another guild meeting, and I have a couple of finished projects to bring along - together with our homework for the meeting (we were all given an assignment to prepare a couple of blocks). We'll be given instructions on how to cut these blocks into smaller blocks again, and then it's time to play! Hopefully I'll remember to bring everything needed for the meeting..
***
I had an idea to bring all my UFO's up into the light again, and have 2022 be the year of finishing what you started by finding, naming and listing all the projects I've begun and stored - and not yet finished. Perhaps, by putting them in the spotlight, my drawer of works in snaily-slow speed will be finished. I think there are some good ones in there, and I know that there are at least a couple which could be finished quite quickly - and others again that will require some effort. The question is, will I persevere this time? Or will it start off with good intentions, and then slowly just fade back into the drawers..
Saturday, October 16, 2021
This is my block for week 41 of the #focuscuttingsewalong hosted by @naomialicec 🧶 Cosy - sectios. 🧣 I chose to focuscut the scarves from these little snowmen, thinking of the wonderful wool I’m looking forward to knit woth this fall/winter. @varbitt @stulenstrikkgarn @lillerilledesign_ @trulyhooked 🧶 One of these skeins are destined to become a scarf/shawl, another a sweater, one has become a finished project - and one is currently without a plan, but I’m searching for the perfect pattern. 🥰
Monday, October 11, 2021
This is my block for week 40 of the #focuscuttingsewalong hosted by @naomialicec 🧶 Nothing quite as cozy as wooly wool mittens knitted in slightly itchy wool yarn 🐑 Bring it on, Winter - I’m ready! (Mitten pattern #speedyselbumittens by @skeindeer white yarn #lettlopi blue yarn handspun by me woth fibre from @rentoppspinn 💙)
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