Thursday, August 17, 2023
Monday, August 14, 2023
Saturday, August 05, 2023
The Festival of Quilts 2023
It’s fun to see your works and your name up on the wall ik the exhibition hall. 🥰
And mom’s quilts too. 🤩
And mom’s quilts too. 🤩
Sunday, July 30, 2023
Saturday, July 29, 2023
Oh the possibilities you have..
I _could_ have done many things.. tidying the house… watering the plants.. packing… sewing.. prepping epp… reading.. but right now I’ll stick to knitting and listening to the radio in a quiet, empty house… which is quite nice, if I may say so.
Thursday, July 27, 2023
Monday, July 24, 2023
Friday, July 21, 2023
A short summary of a long month
It's been quiet from my part of the internet this past month. Not that nothing's happened - but we've been travelling. This year we decided to take the kids to the United States to meet family there, and we were gone for 4 weeks - the longest vacation any of us have had in forever.
School finished 16.06. and the following Sunday we boarded the first plane going from Oslo to Amsterdam. Suitcases packed, passports and charges readily available. The second flight took us from Amsterdam to Minneapolis - an 8 hours and 11 minutes flight. Arriving in Minneapolis, we picked up our rental car (Dodge Durango) and started our journey north.
It takes about 4 hours ++ to drive from Minneapolis and up to the farm where we stayed with the family. And since everything is big and far from everything in the US, the car got to go some miles while we were there. A good half hour to get to the nearest store to buy food. A couple of miles from the old farmhouse where we stayed and up to the main farm (where they had internet).
Trying to fit as much as possible of experiences into these short weeks we were there, the first week was used to get used to a new country and to get to know the area where we stayed. The second week we started the grand ol' road trip - travelling from north in MN, down to SD, through SD and to the east entrance to Yellowstone. We spent two days exploring the park, trying to see as many of the main attractions (well, hot springs, mud volcanoes, animals, etc.) before we exited through the north entrance and started driving east again. Had a short stop in Fargo Saturday afternoon before driving the final 2,5 hours back to the farm. *phew*
The Grand Prismatic was impressive, even seen from the side (there's a path to climb up and see it from above, but we didn't go there).
Our third week in the US kicked off with the 4th of July parade Sunday July 2nd, and the kids had a blast! The parade is full of people and organisations and buisnesses and floats, each handing out candy for the kids that have come to watch. Both kids came back with a huge bag of candy each - and a couple of ice pops too.
4th of July was celebrated with a barbecue in the afternoon, and when the sun came down we went into town and found a place near the lake. It was time for fireworks!
The weekend following the 4th of July the four of us packed our bags and drove back down to Minneapolis for an oval weekend (Saturday - Tuesday) away from the farm. We stayed two nights at the Great Wolf Lodge, which was a huge hotel with a lot of entertainment for the kids - and a pool area competative to Lalandia in Denmark.
We visited an outlet mall one day, the Mall of America another day (and managed to spend the entire days in both locations). The last night we spent in a small microtel around the corner (considerably less expensive than the logde). Drove back up north on Tuesday, but stopped by SeaQuest on the way through Minneapolis.
The last three days were spent shopping the final items from our lists (yes, the suitcases were more or less empty when we arrived) and getting everything packed.
Spent an afternoon on a pantoon on the lake, eating sandwiches and bathing (the kids... the rest of us were too cold), and looking at the sun and sky with the smoke from the canadian forest fires. The sun turned bright red in the early afternoon.
Saturday July 15th we packed the Dodge full of suitcases and people, bid farewell to family and new friends and drove back down to Minneapolis. The first flight left at 21:45 from Minneapolis, and arrived in Amsterdam around 1 o'clock Sunday afternoon. We had a short stay before our last flight left at 2:30 towards Oslo, and arrived back home (home-home) at 18:30 (including fetching our luggage, picking up the car, ordering pizza and picking that up on our way home. A long two days of travel, with an average of 30 minutes of sleep for each person per plane (we don't sleep well while travelling...).
That's the summary of our month's vacation. There are more pictures, stories and experiences to be shared - later. Now I'm preparing my next trip, which will be in a few short weeks. My mom and I are off to the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham again.
Thursday, June 15, 2023
Tuesday, June 13, 2023
Monday, June 05, 2023
Saturday, May 27, 2023
Monday, May 22, 2023
Wednesday, May 17, 2023
Wednesday, May 10, 2023
May arrived..
And so did my sewing mojo!
It seems I cannot not think about sewing and quilting these days - longing for a few hours or a day to just sew.
I have a (mental) list of projects that make my fingers itch - and I hope I'll be able to get startet on or finish a couple of them shortly.
Spring has sprung, and the world around us is turning more and more green. Met A on her way home from school the other day, and took a picture of these hvitveis (anemone nemorosa). They're a lovely sign of spring around here - A loves to pick them on her way home, unfortunetly they don't last very long after being picked..
For quite some time now I've been a subscriber to a quilty box of goodies from the USA. So far I've more or less stashed away both patterns and fabrics (and used the notions), and not made many of the projects. Some because I didn't immediately love the pattern (or the fabric), others because I loved the fabric too much (to consider cutting it up into tiny pieces). But these things are not meant to be hoarded and saved forever. So! I decided to make a smaller version of a scrappy tablerunner made with foundation paper piecing (which is quite an unknown territory for me, sewing wise).
These vintage kites came together pretty fast - and then waited patiently for the borders.
And continuing in the fpp-line, here's my first snail trail-block. (I wanted to save this fabric for epp and focuscutting, but honestly, I should really just use the fabric and enjoy the process - it's more rewarding than putting it away in a drawer.) There are pieces with adorable mermaids in this line, but I've cut and prepped the pieces to make the rest of these blocks.
For some reason I tidied up in my sewing area and managed to put a pattern + template for a pouch in a very clever place, I have no idea where it can be.. which is no fun. I've been testing my skills on new techniques lately, and I really wanted to make one of these pouches - but the pattern scared me a bit, and for a very long time. But now I feel like I might actually manage it. Funny how one's self confidence suddenly rises when a seemingly difficult task is completed.
Monday, May 08, 2023
Saturday, April 22, 2023
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