Another week..

Yup, another week has passed, and sadly (or, well, yes, maybe) most of my time and energy has been spent on my " I actually get paid for this"-job then on the things I'd like to do (like sewing and playing WoW, watching moves - and cleaning my warderobe - well, I've atleast _started_ on the last one, but it needs some more attention I guess..).

Anyway, I took a trip up to Kathrine's Quiltestue last Saturday, and came out with a couple of patterns (ofcourse..). I didn't know that Bareroots had come with mini-patterns! Cute! :D Two of them had to come with me home.. I'm thinkin Christmas presents.. maybe.. hmm..

And I found a new (I think) appliqué pattern, also by Bareroots, I just had to have. It's been a while since I've been doing any appliqué now, so I'm looking forward to making parts of this pattern. Isn't it cute?


Well, I returned yesterday - was only supposed to buy some silk thread, but these three fabrics just called my name. ;) You know the feeling, I bet. I don't know why, but they just really kinda felt like "me", and even though I'm not _quite_ sure what to use them for right now, I think that answer will come soon enough.


On Friday I got the silk threads for the second stitchery BOM from Jordbærstedet too - the pattern/print and the fabrics arrived on Tuesday, sent by my mother who'd picked them up when she was in Trondheim last weekend. I'm not going to show you the pattern/print just yet, I'm thinking of finishing my idea first - and then showing you the result. :)


I've been working on a small Tilda-stitchery too lately. This one is in need of some borders, but until I find the "perfect" fabric, it'll have to wait. :) But it turned out pretty good.


I've finished (I think - I'm considering the need for more quilting atm, but not quite sure yet) the table runner I bought in the States this summer, with the wool appliqué. It turned out nicely, I think, and I'm sure this is a keeper.


Also, 11 months (almost to the date) after starting, this "little" piece of work is finally done! It's the Bareroots wallhanging "What color is spring?" - a mix of both patchwork and stitchery. I just love it! But I think it's going to be a while until (or if) I make another one.. Lots and lots of work.. Martin (dearest BF) is being kind and holding it up for me (so that I won't have to risk my health and balancing on a chair in order to get a good picture). Now it only needs a good and available wallspace, wherever that might be.. but, this one is also a "keeper". Definitly. The 11 months speak for themselves..

Oh, why are the weeks so long (or the days at work so long and the nights at home so short) and the weekends so short? I feel like I'm never able to do or finish all the things I want to.. :/

*iiih*

*over-tired and high on popcorn, candy and "Shrek the third"*


But, then again...

*iiih*

My picture is on the Stitchery club's photopages! (The stitchery club arranged by Jordbærstedet - a store in Trondheim, btw.) Anyway, they have started this over-6-months-stitchery-club where you get one printed fabric, 4 FQ's and - if you want - a matching pack of silken threads. And you can make whatever you want from this pack - the pattern is printed, so just follow the dots and lines. They challenge you to take a picture of the result and send it to them, and they will select a winner of.. I haven't really figured that one out yet.. but might find out soon... The deadline for this first one is on September 15th.

I finished my pillow last Tuesday, took a picture on Wednesday, and now it's on their pages (well, the pages are for "members only", but I'll put it in here - coz, I'm kinda proud. I mean.. it's pink.. well, not completely pink, but, hey, I'm really not a pink person.. There is a reason why I need a flashlight to find clothes in my dresser in the morning.. *giggles*

Well, here it is - what do you think? (Never mind the crooked seams here and there - my first attempt of machine quilting a pillowcase..)

Finally, a few pictures.

Well, here they are - a few of the closer to 400 pictures we took during our 3 week trip to the States.

This is a picture taken while we were flying over Greenland - my oh my, that was COLD! We almost froze to death inside the plane.. but the view was beautiful. A little foggy picture, but, hey, I wasn't going to climb out of the plane to clean it's windows, so just bare with me on this one.


We managed to spend an evening at Medieval Times in Los Angeles - it was soooo fun! Two hours with show and food (not that I think any of us really realized what we were eating, the show was so exciting). I don't really like horses that much (find them quite scary actually) but from a distance, they were very pretty. :) We cheered for the knight in black and white, and I think our side of the arena managed to out-cheer most of the other knights' supporters pretty good. "We" won actually, but our noble knight was slayed by the traitor.. :( *sob*


Ah, Las Vegas.. *smiles* So incredible fake but also a lot of fun and oo's and aa's. :) Tons of lights, thousands of people of all ages (although the picture you often see in the movies, of elderly ladies with buckets filled with quarters is kinda wrong.. most machines only takes bills these days, and they pay out in small tickets instead of cash - you have to exchange your ticket in a machine in order to get cash). This is from outside the Bellagio - I guess you've seen this marvellous fountain before, if you've seen movies like "Ocean's Eleven" with Brad Pitt and George Clooney. A very pretty sight, I must say, the fountain that is. ;)


Did you know, that behind - or inside - the Mirage, there is a small zoo? ;) Yup, there is. With tigers and lions - and this little sleepy fellow. Some of them are late Sigfried and Roy-employees, but now they get to lay in the shade and rest most of the day. Very cool to be like 2 meters from this fellow - not that it looks like he cared much. ;)

I got a new camera earlier this week - a Nikon D40. It's a mirror reflex camera (?) - not quite what I had in mind, but it was either that or some pocket-size camera (which I already had), and I kinda wanted a "real" camera.

This is a picture of Igor - I think she's telling me off for disturbing her mischiefs. ;) My very first rat-tongue-picture! (Kinda inside-info, I guess, my rat-owning friends know what I'm talking about.) ;)


We had to go to IKEA last weekend. Our DVD-shelves were getting overfilled, plus there was this workbench-idea of ours.. Well, this is what the shelves look like now - we bought two of the skinny-looking ones in the middle, those are really for CDs, but if you adjust the shelves, they fit quite well for DVDs too.

Ah, yes, the workbench. Well, here it is. :) We're missing the pieces with the drawers, but they didn't have them in at the time (it really bugs me when that happens...), so there will be some more things added to the bench some time later (about 2-3 weeks from now I think). But it looks good, and it's a nice place to sit and work on stuff.

I (or we, since we both bought one) managed to find a new work-bag whilst in L.A. We visited Skeletons in the Closet, a giftshop located in the coroner's office. A very cool place, and run by a very very nice lady. :) There was supposed to be one in Las Vegas too, but we didn't find it and were too tired to make the biggest efford I think.. maybe next time. But the bag is cool - big and nice. Those who know me, knows how much I like the CSI-series (preferably the Las Vegas-series, but Miami isn't all that bad either).

Ah, well, this is Igor again. I guess she's trying to tell me that enough is enough - for this time. ;)

Anxiously awaiting..

a work bench? *haha*

No, not really, but I'm kinda lazy at the moment (long days at work, little energy for things not related to archiving and trying to stay awake for as long as I have to - new job-related issues, I guess) and since I'm lazy - and just finished clearing out quite a bit from the kitchen (or the place where we work on projects most of the time - me cutting, ironing and sewing and BF drawing, glue-ing and other things) I'm not quite feeling like dragging all my sewing stuff out from wherever they may be at the moment, mess up the kitchen table - only to have it cleaned up and tidy again in a couple of days.. Inspiration is not exactly the issue either, I've got tons of ideas and stuff I want to do/make, just take a look at some of the patterns I brought with me from the US, it's just that BF and I have decided to exchange our kitchen dining table (our.. like in "the houseowner put it there before we moved in and said we could use it") for a work bench. more practical - or atleast we imagine it will be.

Careful planning has been put into this, and on Saturday we're off to IKEA to buy everything we need - and my parents are going to meet us there and help us move the goods back to our apartment. The only not-so-good thing about this work bench is that it is white.. but I think we can either paint it or find/make something big enough to cover it. *hmm*

Sorry about not writing about our vacation yet, but I'm not really feeling like going through it all again so soon. Not in a bad way, but the trip was long, eventful and kinda energy consuming, so right now it's just very nice to just relax and be "at home". But, sooner or later it will come - anyways, you've all seen the goodies I bought, and that was, quite frankly, what you were interested in, right? ;p Come to think about it.. we need to sort our pictures - which ones to print out and which ones to toss..

Shoppingspree!!! :D

I decided to take pictures of my moments of insanity in quilting shops according to the shops we visited. *phew* And I think I got it right. ;)

First place I managed to stop, was at Jo Anne's in LA (they were moving to another place, I think, so everything, at the time we were there, were off 20% and would've been more had we come the next week). A nice little collection of fabrics and tools, don't you think?


The next stop I managed to make, was in Bemidji - waiting for the brothers to get out from the cinema (our movie ended an hour before their) ended up in a short stop by Wal-Mart. The last time I was there - four years ago - they had a huge pile of fabrics and supplies, too bad this year it was almost nothing.. :/ But managed to find some cute charms and finally some pins. :)


Last Monday, BF's mother and father (the father being the driver) and I took a round-trip to some "known only by word of others"-quilt stores in the Bemidji-area. The first stop was at the very cozy and small Willow Wood Market (a little hard to find when you're not familiar in the southern parts of the Bemidji-area - we stayed at Grandma's farm up north, closer to Blackduck) but really worth the trip. :) She made a lot of combinations using both cotton fabrics and wool felt. I bought a kit to make a tablerunner, and can't wait to try it.


The next stop was at another "known only by the words of other"-store called Emily's Country Cottage - and I must say I loved it! An entire town house, with attic and basement, lots of small rooms and corners crammed with fabrics, patterns, gifts, cookie cutters, candles, buttons, and and and.. you just have to see it for yourselves. ;)


Another stop by Jo Anne's - this time in the Paul Bunjan-mall or Bemidji Mall, I really don't remember what it was called, everybody just called it "the mall". A small package of 5 FQ with vintage japanese kimonoprint (or that's what it looks like to me, and is what I inted to make from them) had to come along, with some yellow. The green and the red FQ are chinese - aren't they pretty? ;) BF really likes the green one.


I had to go back to the Emily's Country Cottage-house when I saw that BF's mother had managed to find a FQ of a fabric I bought 30cm/14inches of a couple of years ago while living in Tønsberg. I loved that fabric, and could never understand why I didn't by more of it. Well, now I have a yard, and the name of the creator, the fabric no and everything needed to find it again. ;)

Emily's Country Cottage actually had two stores in Bemidji - the big house and a little cozy shop near the mall. Well, of course I had to stop by both. *giggles*


And look what waited for me in the mail when I came home!!!
On the left is the first package in the stitchery club hosted by Jordbærstedet (I think it's full.. sorry..) with a preprinted pattern, four FQs and four silken threads to match. I've just started working on it.. not quite sure what it will become yet..
Also, my pincushion from Anja had arrived! Isn't it gorgeous? Shaped like a suitcase, and it even has a small rat on the back. :D
And I got a package from Helen over at Honey Bunch Quilting, a couple of NZ fabrics and a cute quiltcard. If you ever need another box of pins, let me know. ;)


And I even managed to get some new books. ;) The two on the top are the same as shown in Jacobs Quilt.

On the bottom are two of the books I bought in the US; a book about the civil war and quilters, and a second book about the Elm Creek Quilters (I've just been over at Amazon.com and ordered three more books in this series - hooked?).

In addition to all of this, we've come home with more books, a CD, a bunch of movies, clothes and funny t-shirts. :) But I think this was what most of you would be interested in seeing, am I right? ;)

Jetlag..

Yup, finally back home again.

Thee planes, four airports, 11 hours and some bad airplane-food later (not to mention _no_ sleep on the flight over, much thanks to the kid next to me who kicked in his sleep - while sitting on his sleeping mother's lap - and the fact that we were sitting as far back as possible on the longest part of the journey, right next to the bathroom - thank you plenty, all you middle-of-the-night-bathroomusers who taps their hands on and shakes the seats while they're waiting to go in..). But, other then that, and some not really so much fun experiences here and there, we've had a great vacation. Now to overcome jetlag until tomorrow morning, when I'm returning to work (I wish I had another week to sleep... I keep falling asleep today - I think about taking pictures of things we've bought or packages I've received in the mail, and then I fall asleep..).

No worries, though, a bigger and better update - with pictures - will come soon. Okay, May Britt? ;)

Mamma: you could always post some pictures of your presents. ;)

Vigdis: I'm glad you liked them - and you and mamma should really join us on a trip once. ;)

Our bags are packed!

Tomorrow we're off - and won't be back for close to three weeks. :)

We're off to the States, two weeks in California/Los Angeles/San Fransisco/Las Vegas and there abouts, and a week in Minnesota/Bemidji/Black Duck/Tenstrike. We'll be flying over Iceland, with a short stop in Reykjavik. Of course, quilt shops are on my list of things I want to do, but there will be more - oh yes, lots more.. The batteries for the cameras are charged, and notebooks prepared.

See you all when we return! And have a nice summer/vacation/sewing time!

Happy 4th! and a little work done.

Each year, on the Sunday closest to the 4th of July, the ACCN (..I think..) arranges a gathering for all Norwegian-Americans in Frognerparken in Oslo. Last year I went with my BF's family, but since half of them already are in the States, and the other half is working hard and preparing for vacation, I went up there with my sister. The weather looked very unstable, but it was HOT! and actually very nice.


After a couple of hours, my sister had been introduced to both Sloppy Joe's and Rice Crispy Squares - and we decided to go home. But it was fun! :)
I found a pattern in one of my books - Lapper til hygge og nytte, by Grete Gulliksen Moe - for a triangle bag, and I knew I had to try it.


It was really simple and fun - and I cheated a little.. oops.. but for a first try, I think it came out well. :)

Also, I've made a small stitchery picture (stitchery-in-a-wooden-frame) from a pattern by Tilda. A bit too "pink" for my taste, but kinda cute too. :) Right now it hangs on a small space between out hall and the livingroom, waiting to know it's destiny - a keeper or a gift... hmm..


I prepared the Bareroots stitchery Folk Art Patches (the small stitchery, not the big quilt or the pillow) tonight - I needed something to do because I don't feel tired and don't want to sleep yet - but when I had cut the background, drawn the pattern and made the border, I found that the scraps of batting that I had left, would be like a jigsaw puzzle if I wanted to use what I had now.. so right now the stitchery is laying on the table, waiting for my parents to pick me up tomorrow and stop by Lille Stasjon (the store where my mother works) so that I can pick up some more batting. Annoying, but I won't be able to do any more work until I have more batting.. *argh*

I got a really nice mail from Anja from Germany the other day - my pincushion partner. I can't wait to see what she's made from the challenge, and I really hope she'll like what I made. :)

A New Blogger in the Family

My mother has recently been, hmm.. pushed? into the world of blogging, and has - with the help of May Britt - created her first blog called Jacobs Quilt

Please visit her and say "Hi", I know she'd like that.

I've signed up too!

PincushionExchange

And now I'm playing with ideas for making pincoushins. :) This will be so much fun!

Entertainment in the sudden summer heat - and a new book.

Last week came the summer's heat - perhaps a little faster then most people were expecting. In the mornings the heat was already closing in on or passing 20 degrees celsius - the week before it barely reached 12 when I got up to go to work. Luckily, the place where I work is pretty cool (old building), but the heat outside was almost unpleasant when the time came to go home. Not to mention our furry little friends felt it worst.. Luckily, we have ways of cooling them down. ;)


First, take a caged-in bird bath..

Fill the pool area with water and add some frozen green peas.

Attach to the side of the cage (most effective when there is a small hatch, so that he critters can access the "tub").

Sit back and enjoy your view to pea-diving creatures and lots og chewing.

And, yes, I did mention a new book in the topic field. :) And here it is:

It's a book filled with japanese block designs, appliqué and sashiko designs - and I love it! :D

I mean, who cannot be fascinated when flipping through these pages filled with beautiful pictures, designs, tips and ideas? There's even a separate section about japanese fabrics! (I didn't know there were such differences.. I mean, here they sell japanese fabrics as "japanese fabrics", without separating them into kasuri, shima, yùzen and many other names). Fascinating!

I even recognize certain blocks from my mother's american block books, but with other names. :) Like the Manji - or buddhist symbol - shown on the top right side here - also known as Card Tricks.

I love this book - and can't wait to start working from it - I just need to find just the right fabrics.. Many of the patterns in this book are made with either very bright colors or with shades of blue, black and white. The japanese fabrics I've seen here in Norway just aren't the right ones.. they used to have a lot of blues, but now they're more.. pink-ish.. (I'm not a very huge fan of pink..). Oh well, I can dream about this book for quite some time I think, before I start working, so I have all the time in the world to find just the right fabrics. ;)

Btw, I've started working on the BOM that my mother and two of her friends are working on too - it's called Annie's Calendar Quilt. I can't wait to see them finished - all four of them - and seeing them together. It's fun to see things from the same pattern, but all colored by the creator's way of doing things. The differences can be huge! sometimes.

Tempus Fugit

Or time flies, as they also say.

I'm not sure where the past couple of weeks have gone, but gone they are. June is here! Summer! And it's hot outside (and inside - old buildings keep the heat locked in). Only 6 weeks to go - and we're off on vacation! :D

I've finished the bags I started some time ago - under development pictures can be seen in the last post, and here are the finished results. :)


This is a small shoulder bag, just the right size to hold my wallet, cell phone, keys, and - with good will etc - a bottle of water. Perfect for trips to the movies or downtown.


And this bag is now in use as my work-bag. There are two large pockets inside, large enough to hold my wallet and other necessary things, plus a big space for other things needed for work (my calendar, lunch, etc).


I even managed to quilt and finish this little thing. :)

All that's left of the fabric I got for my birthday, are some pieces of stripes.. so I decided to make my very first striped quilt (?), but I can't seem to be able to decide which version to make..


The "light" version, with four dark parts and five light..


Or the "dark" version, with five dark parts and four light.. *hmmm*


Tomorrow is Monday again - another week at work, and my BF's last exams week. He's been working all through the month of May with this exam, and I really think he might be in need of a break soon.. Good thing it's almost over.. just two more days..

Some progress, I guess.

There has been some progress these last weeks, even though the level of activity here on the blog has been rather.. hm.. unexcisting.

First of all, thank you all of you who were so kind and commented on the previous post (the one concerning May Britt's pin cushin tutorial. You are all too kind. *blush*

When it comes to my birthday (now almost a month ago already.. time flies..) I've been able to do quite some work on the gifts received from my grandparents. :) First it's the stitchery from Angels in Disguise:


I'm basically done with it - just need to find some proper fabrics to use around it, and perhaps add some details (like beads or buttons, I like to add things like that). It was really fun to make, and I think the results came out good. :)


The box of fabrics have ended up somewhat like the picture abowe. 1" sqares sewn together (I think there are about.. *counting* 122 squares in these two pieces all together). I'm playing with the idea of making a bag, but not quite sure what to do.. needs some more time, I think.


This picture shows what I am currently working on. Earlier this year I bought four patterns from Simple Stitchings (Hatched and Patched) but left them in my basket because I didn't quite know what to do with them. Well, last weekend I finally figured it out. I combined the four 3 1/2"*3 1/2" stitchery patterns with fabrics I originally thought of using for stitchery backgrounds into a 9-patch. And I used two fabrics (originally Christmas fabrics, bought at Katrine's some time last year) in light and green (same series and therefore same print) around the edges of the 9-patch. Now I'm almost done with the motifs, but not quite sure if this ends up a pillow case or a small wall quilt. Time will show..


I also received a package in the mail earlier this week. It was from this new hobby club, which had called me, asking if I wanted to be a test member for a while. (I said yes, if there's any doubt.) And on Wednesday I received a box containing starting materials for making cards. The picture above shows some of the box's contents, and I'm anxious to find time and inspiration to experiment. :)

Finally, I found this, well, finished stitchery - which was only missing the "hanging up mechanism" on the back (I don't remember the proper word in English at the moment, but you get the idea, right?). :) As I turned it to look at the back, I noticed my signature, and, oh gosh, it was finished TWO years ago.. Oh well.. Had to do something about that.


The original pattern (which I think belongs to my mother) said to use buttons, but I found these adorable glass beads and wanted to use them instead. There are atleast two stores here in Oslo which sells beads (in glass, metal and plastic) for making jewellery, and I try to visit them regularly to see if there's anything new. :)

The last picture shows the back, the "hanging up mechanism" and my signature. Now I only need to find a wall in need of a friend.. hmm..

Oh, and by the way, our "family" has gotten bigger! A new baby rat had to come home with me last weekend, and now lives happily with the two other rascals in the cage in our living room. For the moment she's called either baby or Pétite (she's sooo small) but the name might change once we see who she really is (she's basically just sleeping or eating now, but when she gets bigger she'll be more active). My BF has a couple of cute pictures on his camera (he bought a new one) but I don't think he's moved them over to his computor yet..

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. :)