Wednesday, March 08, 2023
Thursday, March 02, 2023
Two no-longer-UFO's - and a crown.
The March quilt guild meeting was this Tuesday, and for once I brought with me some finished projects!
First off was my "The Story of My Day" by Anni Downs of Hatched & Patched.
This has been a project that has been in and out of time-out for the past year. I made all the stitcheries pretty fast - and spent a lot of time figuring out how to put it all together. I started with a scrappy border using a bunch of mini charm packs I had, but didn't think that worked. Ripped back to start.. So I added a border around each stitchery alternating in blue and grey, and decided to add a square of light and brown fabric here and there (in a pattern) to make the mini charm squares fit better with these new borders. Well, that obviously didn't work... Ripping again.. Tried again.. Left it for a while to see if I felt happy with my choice.. Considered adding the title as a side border, but before I came as far as to try that I ripped it all back to the beginning. Found some yellow bubbly fabric that I felt went well with both the borders in grey and blue and with the colours of the stitcheries (and the background fabrics, of course). Ok, that worked. Now what?
My mom gave me a pretty large piece of blue fabric with small white swirls. I auditioned this together with a couple more alternatives here on the blog, and the swirly blue won! I think it looks pretty good!
Unfortunetly there wasn't enough of the blue fabric for the binding, so after I quilted it (I've just recently started to manage the whole stippling quilting/wandering/wiggly path thingy) I set it aside again for a couple of days while I thought about the binding. I pulled out 2-3 alternatives (yellow, grey, blue) and decided to use the same blue fabric as the inner borders around the stitcheries. It looks pretty good - and another of my started projects have been crossed off the list. *yay*
The second quilt I brought with me for show and tell, was "Cat'o'lantern" from one of Fat Quarter Shop's seasonal specialities boxes - the "spooky box".
Cutting and sewing the cat was like a dream. The pattern was well-written and the instructions clear. The result? Wonderful!
I debated wether to quilt it using the glow-in-the-dark thread that came with the box, but felt a bit unsure of how the thread would appear in the darker parts of the quilt.. so! As with "The Story of My Day" it was finished by stippling quilting (what is the correct word for this?) using a grey multicoloured thread. The binding is a black IKEA cotton fabric. I do like a dark binding on my quilts.
So that's another started project crossed off the list! *yay again*
We've had a birthday in the family! A is now 8 years old and I don't understand where the time went..
I had to go to the office on the morning of her birthday, so I decided to leave a little surprice for her at home. In kindergarden they make cardboard crowns for the kids for their birthdays. Last year hubby and A made a cardboard crown together, but for some reason a crown was never brought up this year. So I decided to try and see if I could make her one without her noticing.. TwoTinyMakes have a trio of patterns for epp crowns which are just genious. I used the pattern for the big crown, choosing colours and prints I thought A would like (which I also liked, haha) and finished it the night before. I added a glass bead on top of each point - otherwise the pattern is as the pattern is written.
She loved it! It even went with her to school! (It's a bit big, but there's an elastic in the back which can be modified slightly so that it fits better now - but still able to adapt to size as she grows older.)
Maybe I'll add some more glass beads for next year..
Wednesday, March 01, 2023
Monday, February 27, 2023
A summary of the last two weeks
Last September the quilt guild planned a weekend of sewing together (sy-sammen) and decided to bring my sewing machine with me, to get some things started and finished. Well... I couldn't for the life of me find my sewing machine bag! So annoying.. So, I ended up bringing with me a bunch of prepping, drawing and cutting for the first day - and the second day I brought my sewing machine in a bag from the Festival of Quilts (merchendise from my first visit back in 2017, a jute bag). Well, it worked, the sewing machine fitted almost like a glove (but carrying the thing was a pain in the...).
So! Come February 2023 and the next weekend is getting near - and I still have not found the bag. I have turned the attic upside down, looked in every box and closet. Considered if I had lent it to someone... or if it had been thrown out during one of our cleaning sprees..
I brought with me epp and prepping, again, but still a little pissed about the missing bag..
And then, hubby goes to Spain and I'm spending an evening scrolling, looking for alternatives and possibilites of buying a new one (yikes, those things are expensive!), when I just get the whole "this is insane" and "I know I have one" - leading me to return to the attic for another round of searching.
And what would you know, in the back - the completely opposite end of the attic from where all the other bags and suitcases are stored - wedged between the wall and a cardboard box (not mine), partly underneat the boxes from some kind of Nintendo system - and no less than 4 (yes..) chess boards, a tiny part of my sewing machine bag is desperately trying to get my attention!
*yay!* It literally took me 6 months to find it, but now I'm ready for my guilds next sewing arrangement!
For Christmas my mom made A a wallhanging of a unicorn from Elizabeth Hartman (Lisa the unicorn) and I've been thinking about how to hang the quilt in A's room. Normally I'd use a board or a piece of wood and two hooks, but seeing as she often changes her mind about where and what to hang, I didn't want to put too many holes in the walls. Cue our latest visit to the used stuff store (OMA).
They had two (I regret not buying the second one too) cast iron things for hanging traditionally woven wall pieces, and the size was just PERFECT for A's unicorn!
I've also bought new socks.. because I thought they were funny - and because they matched a sticker I got from Fox and Cactus.
Just waiting for Winter to end so that I can stop wearing wooly socks again..
Monday, February 20, 2023
Thursday, February 09, 2023
My first block for the kaleidoscope epp sewalong hosted by @emilydoesepp and thr @stepbysteppc ❤️ January’s theme is Sense of Place. Living in Norway - and making a block for January - more or less mean snow.. So here are some skiers out in the snow (one even fell) surrounded by iceblue snowflakes. ❄️ ##sbyskalsal Apologies in advance for the spamming of blocks following this one.. 😇 I had to wait a little extra for my templates and paper, but now I’m ready!
Wednesday, February 08, 2023
A Finish on a Tuesday
My mom and I have been exchanging Advent calendars for a few years now. In a smaller scale, considering that we only prepare parcels for each of the Sundays in Advent. In these parcels we include things that we think the other one would like - being a pattern, fabric, sewing notions, hand cream - or parts to make a project.
I don't remember when, exactly, but mom included the the background fabric, the readymade shapes and a description of how to join the shapes into this heart. I think the pattern was called Chrysanthemum Heart. (One quick google check later and yes, the pattern is called Chrysanthemum Heart.)
This kinda disappeared between ongoing and new projects for quite some time, until last year, when I created the list of all projects in my drawer of waiting. Just after Christmas I decided that now's the time, and seeing as my mom made hers with fabric from Tula Pink, that I too would do the same.
I couldn't resist the skull in the heart, it fitted almost precisely in the shape too!
I've done very simple quilting: once around the heart, and then three times around the outside of the big heart approximately 1/4 inch apart, in three different colour quilting thread (blue, pink and purple).
On the back I used the Jen Kingwell fabric that I won in the last quilt guild meeting. (Very happy with using something so soon after acquiring it, and there's not much left either!) And the binding is some leftover binding from my Nebula (also Tula Pink). To make it nice and squishy I filled it with two pillows that appeared mysteriously when I was finding the Christmas runners and decorations.
Another project crossed off the list! *yaaaay*
Sunday, February 05, 2023
Friday, February 03, 2023
Random pictures and happenings in our home.
The January meeting of the quilt guild was an inspiring one. We had a visitor, telling us about her quilting life and journey - and she brought with her so many gorgeous quilts!
And, for the second time in my three years as a member, I won in the lottery! Two beautiful, large pieces of fabric (the floral one is from Jen Kingwell).
There's been a long period of greyness around here lately. It is very tiring, especially when it's dark when you go to work - and almost just as dark when you get home again. The snow (appearing and disappearing as the temperature swing and the rain comes and goes) makes it a little lighter, and the sun is finally lenghtening it's appearance a little bit more each day.
Right across the road from my bus stop, there are some birches. In the summer they're green and glorious, in the fall they light up with everchangeing colours - and in the winter they look something like the photo above. Now, this picture is in black and white. Mostly because the streetlights here are of a shade of orange, tinting everything you try to photograph containing white with a hint of orange.
I like photographing trees. Here are some on the side of the road as we're out driving. It was really freezing that day..
On our way home from school one day, the sun shone warmly, giving almost a feeling of spring.
You can see the snow and ice starting to melt on the branches.
I'm not often wearing seemingly glow-in-the-dark protective gear at work, but sometimes I have to. To be honest, this was the second time in my ten years working there I had to wear protective gear. We were visiting the construction site of another project, which was fun and interesting.
At home we've finally hung the kids' baptism plates (containing information of their birth dates, time of day/night, weight, length and time of baptism). The bottom one is A's, the middle one is P's and the top one is mine. There's no picture on my plate, but a sketching of a mother and baby.
Ending this post, I'm including a picture from the Disney film Robin Hood, which appeared on one of the social media platforms that I use. It is just incredible. I mean, just look at that face! (Not to mention his arms..)
Ending this post, I'm including a picture from the Disney film Robin Hood, which appeared on one of the social media platforms that I use. It is just incredible. I mean, just look at that face! (Not to mention his arms..)
February is here! I hope January was kind to you and that February will bring you inspiration and crafty goodness.
Wednesday, February 01, 2023
Tuesday, January 31, 2023
Halloween 2022 - Revisited
Apparently I had prepared a post right after Halloween 2022, but never got around to post it. So! Let's revisit the ghostly day/month.
👻
I've gotten hooked on knitting socks (I guess it's taken over as the tagalong-project instead of dishcloths) and fun yarn means fun knitting!
I mean, just look at these colours? (There's even two Christmas-themed yarns in the bottom picture.)
Acid green, glow-in-the-dark orange, candy stripes and glitter, oh my!
I've mostly been knitting short socks (half-socks?) which gets done pretty swiftly!
Updated from January 2023: The purple yarn with glitter in the top picture and the Christmas yarn with glitter in the bottom picture is "knitted up" into four pairs of socks.
💀
I ordered some new (compared to the antique ghostly fabric I have in my stash) Halloween-fabric after receiving a coupon from a store. Look at those yummies! (And these are just six of them, there's still three unused.)
These were used in one of the blocks for the #focuscuttingsewalong on Instagram. The shape for 2022 was kites, which - when sewn together like this - turns into a hexagon.
Speaking of kites.. Last summer whilst visiting my mom we came upon a box with a epp-project with - you guessed it - kites. These ones were to be joined into triangles. I have no idea how long it's been on pause, but I brought it with me home and started to finish it. Very cute, delicate colours and soft fabric.
🎃
This is Halloween, this is Halloween..
Our faithful windowmonster reappeared this year too! (Hubby made him, I think, the first Halloween we lived in this house, and it's still going strong.) I like to hang him up behind our blinds, so that when the light in the kitchen is on, he hangs around and looks both cute and scary.
And like every year there were pumpkins! This year it was hubby and A who designed and carved them. They do look pretty cool with their lights in the darkness of the October nights.
The rest of our entrance, with bats, another pumpkin and a little ghost.
As long as the porchlight is on, and the clock is past 5 PM, there's an almost constant stream of dressed up kids (and their parents) riniging our doorbell. (We've thought about counting the kids, but you'd really have to be more than one person at home to do so, and one of us i usually out trick or treating with one or both of the kids.)
Thursday, January 26, 2023
Tuesday, January 24, 2023
Almost embarrased to reveal - A new finished object
As the headline says, I'm a little bit embarrassed by the thought of how long this project has been on hold.. I actually had to do a little digging in my blog archive (thank sewing for that!) to fin the exact year, but I knew it was before my eldest was born (he's thirteen this year).
*dig* *dig* *dig* *scroll* *scroll* *scroll*
Aha!
In May 2007 I posted that I was finished with the stitchery! I started working on the borders, but about halfway through it came to a halt. Don't ask me why...
So, the pattern is from Angels in Disguise, and I think it's called "Wash day" - but I'll have to see if I can find the pattern to confirm this.. I tried to see if AiD is still around, but I cannot seem to find much news about them. A blogpost from 2010, and some random patterns here and there.
I had begun sewing on a checkered border in yellow and red (dark burgundry, with some kind of flowers printed on), and there hadn't been much change since it was put away. (How peculiar..)
Anyway, I'd had some sense when putting it away to keep the left over fabric I'd started to use on the borders with the stitchery - meaning that it was really not a big job left when it came back into the light.
And here we are - January 2023. 5 years and 8 months 15 years and 8 months later. It is done! Borders sewn on. Quilted. Bound. Labelled. Finished!
Another project crossed off on my list, and we're ready for a new (old) one.
Friday, January 20, 2023
Friday, January 13, 2023
Thursday, January 12, 2023
2023 has begun (and a little ending from 2022)
With 2022 ending, my blocks for the #focuscuttingsewalong from Instagram has been sewn together (notice the two lonely blocks at the bottom). I used triangles in dark blue between each block, and I have to figure out a solution to join these two blocks with the other ones. And then, how to finish the top (and then! quilt and bind it). This year's sewalong started a couple of weeks ago, and this year we are playing with honeycombs.
My Christmas Day cast-on (I finished a scarf on Christmas Eve) was the "Slow Shawl". I'm using the yarn I got in the 2021 Advent Calendar from Værbitt. Here's the first four colours knitted up. I'm using approximately half of each skein (mini skeins) for the beginning, and I'll see how far I get with that strategy before I decide to use the rest of the yarn too. It's finally making sense, after a few (many..) repetitions and increases, and I can now more or less knit it by memory (with the help of a ton of stitchmarkers). The yarn is Finull, which is 100% wooly wool. Very nice to work with.
Two of the first finished projects for 2023 were these project bags from previous years from the Norwegian quilting association (NQF) from Bergen and Tromsø. These kits were my mom's, but she'd had them stored for quite some time, so I asked if I could make them. I'd like to make them again, perhaps with another stitchery (or with a motif fabric). The front one was fun to make, but the one in the back was way easier to make.
Last year we upgraded our Christmas tree - from a 140 cm one to a 180 (I think) cm one. Finally we were able to get some air between our ornaments! And Hubby brought out some of the ornaments he got when he was little. It's a fun mix of vintage and old ornaments, handmade ornaments - and ornaments made by the kids in kindergarden or at school.
We spent New Years Eve home just the four of us. None of us changed into pretty clothes, but kept the comfy clothes on. (A little unusual, but quite nice.) We met up with some neighbours to see some fireworks earlier in the evening, and both kids stayed up until midnight to watch the big fireworks go up. This was A's fist time staying up this late - and shen enjoyed herself very much.
Just before Christmas my Nebula returned from the quilter. I sent it to Lappemor, and Anne Heidi did a wonderful job quilting it. It's so enormously huge it's covering our entire floor!
I even signed the label and sewn it on the back. I had to go back in my photo archive to see when I made the first block - it was back in January 2021 - and the last stitch of the binding was sewn December 11th 2022. I'm now ready for a new Tula Pink BOM - I've signed up for the Queen of Diamonds, starting Summer 2023.
Around Christmas, small projects, stitcheries and decorations seem to appear all over our house. This is a section of the dresser in our hallway. I love to swap the mini quilts and stitcheries on this board. Sometimes I'll add postcards or photos.
The first weekend in January brought a ton of snow to our little corner of the world. On Thursday they cancelled all of the buses around in our area - and we shuffled snow three times! And Friday came with even more snow and shuffling. The roads were not prepped when the time came to pick up A from school, so I waded up there (snow up to my ancles) and we both waded home.
A managed to build a tine snowman family (we had to buy carrots for the first time in ages). Unfortunetly, the very next day the rain melted the snowmen and only the carrots remain.
I'm continuing my plan from 2022 to finish as many started projects as possible, and have copied my list of projects over to my new planner. I'm happy to report that more than one of these projects are now completed. *yay*
This is my block for week 1 of the #focuscuttingsewalong hosted by @naomialicec 🐝 2023 - the year of the honeycomb. 🍯 Hello! My name is Tonje, and I live in Norway. 🙋🏻♀️ I work as a document manager, and have a background as a librarian. I’ve been crafting, sewing and knitting since forever. 🤔 Love movies, TV-series, books and music 🥰 This is my 5th year participating in the sewalong. 🗓️
Wednesday, January 11, 2023
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