Nina In Norway

2009-12-04T04:54:00.000-08:00

...

…….for some reasons I can’t explain

– I know St. Peter won’t call my name…...

But for the future, I'll try to be good.

....I can't promise tho...

...

2009-09-30T06:50:00.000-07:00

OMG

Time flies
There are no excuses for me not bloging. Especially when I have committed to several activities on the Internet that needs blogging.
My life has been on standby, but unfortunately, time did not.

And yes! I do feel guilty and do have a bad conscience.
I have received the most beautiful handembroidered postcard from my seacret angel. It is adorable. Thank you so much.
And I received my Friendship bag witch included delicious cookies. I loved everything about it.

I have done some stitching, unfortunally I cant show you all. But someting I can. I’ll post pictures later tonight when the batteries to my camera are recharged.

What I can show you now, is my Kaffe Fasett Quilt that I completed this month. Liz at Kaktus Quilt did a great job and quilted it on her longarmmachine so it was done and presented at the gathering where the designer him self gave a speech.

This is my OPAM for September. To morrow I might show you next months project. Just kidding...

2009-09-04T04:27:00.000-07:00

58 comments ....

results in 3 gifts + one extra for those who told about my Giveaway at their own blog.
And the winners are.....

One second...
This has been so exciting. I know from my own experience that you find nice blog’s around the Internet by surfing from one blog to another. It gives you a lot of inspiration and ideas. And by doing this I hope I’ve made my self a lot of new friends and that you all will come back to visit, and that my blog can bring you candy for your eyes and inspiration for your hands and heart. You are certainly my source of the kind.

One second gone... :o)

Thanks to all of you who bothered to comment, and to all of you that didn’t.

You are all welcome back.

And the winners are:

Hege

Carmen

Kathy
*
And the extra goes to:

Marit Johanne

Congratulations. Thank you for participating!
This has been so much fun, and it isn’t over yet. Now I am of to purchase surprises’ in Pink, Offwhite and in a varaiety of autumcolours.

Next: I need snailmailadresses :o)

I need to do this more often, and soon it will be Christmas. Just 112 days to go.

And then I came across a beautiful giveaway.

Go check it out at No matter where i go...

2009-09-01T04:41:00.000-07:00

September

Finally my calendar says September. Weather has been like autumn for weeks now. It’s been an odd summer this year. Now it is really September and we can all enjoy sewing, not feeling guilty for doing so. During summer it is not appropriate to hide out in the sewing room.

Today is the set date for my Giveaway. I’ll give it today as well, for signing up. And then, tomorrow, I’ll do the counting on how many…..

Stay tuned :o)

2009-09-01T04:04:00.000-07:00

Giveaway

Siw Hege is having a lovely giveaway. Pop over and join in.

2009-08-31T02:12:00.000-07:00

OPAM – August

I managed to reach the goal for this month as well. I have to admit it is a struggle every month. All I’m into now a day are a secret. I’m preparing my contributions to the swaps I’ve joined this fall. I love secrets, but I am sorry, I can’t show you my work, not yet :o)

But I managed 1 completed project this month as well. Perhaps some of you girls recognise some of the blocs. It is the result of a block-swap at Stoffbytteklubben. It turned out pretty nice in my opinion.

I have also received my 2.5” pieces from another swap. Aren’t they just lovely? I can’t wait for the day to come, when I can play with them in combination with my sewing machine. Wonder what they’ll transform into?

Close to closing day for the sign up, regarding my giveaway. I’m so happy I got new friends by doing this. I was pretty surprised on all the foreign bloggers who found the way to my blog. I love you all.
Soon I’ll do the counting on how many prizes I’ll draw, looking forward to do the announcing of the winners. And then to do the purchasing of the prizes so they fit the recipients. It is just like Christmas :o)

2009-08-12T03:52:00.000-07:00

Status Giveaway ond other work

One week has gone after I posted my anniversary and the appurtenant giveaway.

I got 19 comments so far. I am so thrilled. A couple of more entries and the numbers of winning prizes will increase.

If this continue during the next weeks there will be some nice goodies going to some happy winners next month. I am amused by the variety of choices among the ladies who has entered. That is so inspiring.

Keep coming forward. I love preparing presents.

In the meantime while I wait for the drawing to approach, I am onto some stitching.
My Kaffe Fasett top is completed and is handed in to be quilted at Kaktus Quilts. Can’t wait to get I back.

I have also prepared some small bags for a fabric swap, just like candy,

the block-lottery blocks in connection with Vestlandstreffet are complete,

(picture coming tonight, I hope)

a block-swap-quilt has been quilted, and it is in the need for binding,

(tell you all next time)

and a stitchery motif is almost completed (future surprise, cant show you...).

2009-08-04T12:37:00.000-07:00

3 year anniversary

29. August will be my 3 year of blogging? Who would imagine that I would continue to do this for so long? And still want to proceed. I love to tell about my quilting life, getting inspiration from others and making new friends. And yes, I’ve made bonds with a lot of you. Don’t let me down this time! Old and new friends, please enter!

To celebrate this event I’ll perform a giveaway. I can’t tell you all what the price is, because that’s what you are going to do.

Leave a comment telling me what color range or witch production you would prefer. For each 20 different quilting bloggers who enters I’ll draw one price. Meaning prize list could be huge. Not quite :o) Signing up limit is set to September 1.

Then the prizes will be purchased.

(For those of you who tell about it on your own blog (and tell me) there will be another chance of winning, separate drawing)

Oh, I love this. Come along and tell me what you’d prefer! (If you don’t I’ll check your blog.)

2009-08-04T11:11:00.000-07:00

Friendship Bag Swap

I was tempted by Synnøve to join the Friendship Bag Swap over at the Quilting Gallery. If you check out her blog and her first try to make the bag, it is gorgeous and I figured if I joined this I would be in the position of owning more than one homemade handbag. Made by me, and others. A challenge I could not resist.

Just cant wait to fill this bag with goodies. That's the best bart of it.

It is a kind of a secret everything I do at the time. Meaning it is autumn ahead. It always starts with new clean paper sheets and new crayons in the fall.
I’m in, I love these swaps!

..... from now of I'll be blogging in bigger letters :o)

How doe's it looks....?

2009-08-02T02:20:00.000-07:00

Award

Look what I received! Another award.

It warms a quilter’s heart during the rainy days of summer.

One thousand thanks to Drømmequilten for granting me this one and it goes straight back to you. Your blog is eye candy to me.
And other blogs who goes in the same category are:

Kaktus Quilt, Ritas lille verden, Anne Marie, Karins Quilt, Midland-design, Inger, Laila, Britt, Sølvi, MayKristin, Mitt Fargerike and Hanne

..... I could go on forever. But this'll do for now (card said 12)

Happy stitching.

2009-07-31T12:59:00.000-07:00

OPAM for July

This month I put myself to a challenge. I hate zippers, but I definitely needed to finish some of the small projects I’ve neglected. The pile had grown over the years.
Therefore I made the decision I needed to get some finishes and minimize the pile. The reason why I hate zippers is I do them by hand. I’ve never figured out how to do them by machine and not needing to undo those several times to get a result I was comfortable with.

I started on top and have 4 done so far, plus the two football ones (previously).

Hopefully a few more will be done before the end of August.

2009-07-30T12:48:00.000-07:00

RBR 4

One more completed number 4 in the line. This time it was a challenge in black and white. The easiest one so far, still it took me some time to do it. You know summertime and indoor sewing. Not the best combination :o)

I told you I was thinking of putting up my sewing machine to do some work. I did not need worrying of being lonely. Help came around immediately when the pieces where laid out on the floor. Isn’t she just adorable? She approve on every quilt I make, before the pieces are joined together.

I am in the process on this Kaffe quilt and hoping my dear friend will help me on the quilting.

2009-07-30T02:10:00.000-07:00

Summer report

My summer holiday has started. Actually second week has already begun. The weather has not been the best, but I’ve certainly enjoyed my holiday so far.

We have spent most of the time at the cabin. The lawn needs moving at least 2 times a week. The vegetables are growing, and unfortunaly so does the weed.
I have been out in the forest collecting wild raspberries and blueberry. Don’t they just look delicious?

One day we even found a few wild strawberries. Jummy….

On the sewing side of life it has been rather poor. Well I had to finish these two bags for my son Glenn Andre and his friend Arne Jacob, who have traveled to a football tournament this week.
(picture is coming soon, it is in my camera)

And we have been on at tour into the Norwegian mountains. A two days walk just to try it. And it certainly gave us the taste for more. Now we are planning a couple of more trips the next months.

Now I am planning to set up the sewing machine. Wonder how this will end….

2009-07-13T06:05:00.000-07:00

Stitchers' Angel Swap

I'm in....
Pop over to Helens and join. This'll be fun.

2009-07-08T05:32:00.000-07:00

Kristiansand
I am going on my own to Kristiansand next week. It is business not pleasure, but Tuesday evening I’m free to do something on my own, and I want to do something special. Not just sit in my hotel room.

Anybody who knows of something interesting in the area that might suit me?
Anything like a quilt exhibition or a workshop would be nice. I know it is summer and holiday has started, but there might be somebody out there actually playing with fabric and thread, or anything in that direction.
I got my own car, and am not afraid of getting around.
So, where should I go? Any suggestion?

2009-07-07T04:08:00.000-07:00

RBR 3
Time flies. Another month is gone. Witch means I’ve done another row in tha RBR-challenge.

This is Lykke’s 1. row. Not the best picture, but it is very nice work and lovely colours. This time I chose to do some hand appliqué. It turned out pretty well if I am aloud to say so myself. It was hard do send it off. Honestly, I wanted it for my self. Cant show you picture thou, rules you know.

What I can show you is this great price in a giveaway at Ryan's blog.

Nice? I think so. And there are more. Go have a look.

In the meantime. Have some nice sunny days wherever you are.

2009-07-06T00:56:00.000-07:00

I have lost Hope.

I was surfing in blog land and a couple bloggers numbered the Christmas BOM from Gail Pan to 6 so far. Have we already done 6? Yes we have. All of them are just adorable. Now I am looking forward to number 7.
In the meantime I wanted to start the preparations of the assembling og the quilt. Then I realised my “Hope” was gone! All the others were there. I knew I hade done “hope” because I recognised the “swirls”

I searched high and low. I could not find it. I even went to the cabin, hoping to find it in my stitchery drawer. Sorry no, it seams like it is gone....

But I have not given up on “Hope”. I still hope it will surface. If not I’ll make a new one.
First I am onto the next block who will be released very soon (I hope).

2009-06-29T09:22:00.000-07:00

Award's

Oh my God

Not just one award, I got 2 !

First on came from Lappedamen.

Second on came from Rita

Aren’t they just lovely. I’ll keep them as jewellery on my blog.
Thank you girls. I found my self a bit childish, receiving these awards made me smile. It makes me a bit soft when girls out there appreciate my blogging. Makes me wanting to continue.

Now I just have to figure out who I would pass these award on to......

"Special visitor blog" I can give to innumerous of bloggers and

"With friendship this rose" are to go to 8 bloggers.

And the nominies are:

.......

......I'll need to get back to you on this.

Anyway, feel free to pick them up if you happen to pas by.

2009-06-28T12:32:00.000-07:00

Ellinors Quilt

I promised you a finish. And now I finally found the time to present it to you.

The quilt is for the “unwrapped” little girl, and if the weather should turn, and become cold, they can wrap her into this pink baby-quilt.
In the meantime when she is growing, practising on crawling; it is a great groundsheet at the starting line.

2009-06-28T11:13:00.000-07:00

179 days to go

And plenty of time to enjoy the beautiful package of nice Christmas fabric, if I were the lucky lady to win.
Quilt Qua have a great give away, pop over and join in…I just did.

Imagine these great fabrics in combination with the stitchery patterns from previously post (done in green)

I Wish.....

2009-06-26T03:56:00.000-07:00

Congratulation on a brilliant design.

and a giweaway to celebrate.

The design is just adorable, it hit my heart where I'm most vulnerable. Did you know it is (I am counting) 182 days until Christmas? It would be plenty of time if the pattern ended in my hands. Go have a look at Helen's over at Hugs'n Kisses and tell her I sent you (as if it helps...)
It is not my luck to win, but I am happy on the behalf of the lady who do.

2009-06-15T04:18:00.000-07:00

Baby quilt in progress.
It is funny how new project develop. Enthusiasm is the word….

During my stay in Gothenburg I bought some magazines (ref post from Mai 30.). In one of those magazines I fell in love with some stitchery motifs. To go along with them I popped by Signes provisional shop at the NQT (need to think to remember the shops name). There I found the lovely hand dyed embroidery yarn I was looking for. I purchased the last bundle of pink thread.
After stitching these 6 lovely motives there were only 25 centimeters left from the bundle. That makes me a lucky and happy girl. It would have been so annoying to run out of threads so close to my goal.

Now these cute pieces of handcraft are being implemented in the girly baby quilt, which is growing and growing.
Next time I find a spear moment to blog, ......I might have a finish to present. Stay tune.

Happy quilting.

2009-06-10T23:19:00.000-07:00

Hurray! A baby girl !

Do I make a crib quilt to all the babies born in my circle of friends? No I don’t. Just to those who are special to me, well they all are.
Even so, for the last years it’s been boys, boys and more boys. They are all separate big miracles, but this time they “unwrapped” a small baby girl (my DH’s way of saying she was came into this world by C-section).

I smiled all over my face, happy for the new parents and their family, and probably most of all, looking forward to make a girly quilt. I just could not wait, I jumpstarted the project right away. It will be in Pink.

2009-06-03T15:09:00.000-07:00

We can all make a difference
I bought 3 small packages at NQT.

It is this week’s contribution to do a difference.

Not just in the “pink” direction, but for all good causes, big or small. This time I chose Pink. Well, the ladies from Denmark representing http://www.quiltpink.dk/, made my choice easy. I got bit by the basil, when I met the Danish girls.
I did my bit to their contribution on the fight against breast cancer. And it was fun to do too.

Now they are on their way to Denmark. Hoping to be used in an extraordinary quilt, which will be bought by someone special.

2009-05-30T15:40:00.000-07:00

DYB

Finally, I've come around to finalize my DYB project.

It has taken some time to get here. The reason is; I just have not prioritized this project. It is regrettable that I did postponed my BYB. Now it has become the most beautiful quilt. Thanks to all the lovely ladies who has contributed.

Now that I have crossed the finishing line on this one, maybe I should think about jumping another stitchery round robin. Anybody who knows of such project?

2009-05-30T15:17:00.001-07:00

Shopping

Did I go shopping at NQT? No I didn’t !

......a joke !

Of course I did. But this time I wanted to be constructive. Not just by some fabric here and there, just because I liked it. No, this time I had told myself to be smart. Buy fabric I like, and make sure they fit together.
Did I reach my goal?
You be the judge of that :o)

I loved these fabrics. They are meant to go together, in a project; witch will be published in a book that’s released in a week or two. Looking forward to receiving the book so I can start cutting these fabric.

In the same book there will be instructions to make a quilt from this pile of fabric. Aren’t they just adorable?

Last, but not least; a pile of quilt related magazines. I love books and magazines. They are my kind of low-fat-candy, fits prefect with coffee and chocolate.

2009-05-23T14:18:00.000-07:00

NQT weekend

Finally I’ve figure how to work the combination: computer and internet here in Gothenburg.
…..It isn’t easy being stupid :o)

I thought I were “not allowed to show you pictures” from the exhibitions. Therefore I am not going to show you, I’ll just send you off to May Britt’s blog. She is more into the rules than I am. Go and have a look at her blog. She got pictures of the winners of the competition.
Congratulations to the winners. Their work is absolutely stunning.
Anyway, I have enjoyed some beautiful days here in Gothenburg, such lovely ladies, beautiful quilts, stunning shops and great friendships, and then continuously a beautiful town, more friendships, shopping, discourses and workshops. I could go on forever.
As soon as I get all my pictures form this weekend into my computer I’ll show you pictures of “all my other experiences” thru the last couple of days.
I’ll bring you ceremonies, presentations, courses, exhibitions (if I am allowed), happenings, friends and a visit to the Botanic garden.
It has been a great weekend. Now I need some sleep for the journey back home. I got some hours of traveling before I get home. (I’ll keep my camera ready to go if I need it this time)
I’ll give you more pictures from my extraordinary weekend next week.

So long; love you all.

Nina

2009-05-23T14:10:00.000-07:00

Beautiful scenery

Tonight I’ve traveled the south of Norway. I have spent almost 6 hours going from Klepp at Jæren to Sandefjord. It is the most beautiful trip I have done on my own. What an experience.
I’ve been driving during the night. I started at 0100 and have driven approximately 60 kilometer. There were almost no other cars in sight. A lorry now and then, but is has been a quiet trip.
Even thou it is night and people are sleeping, nature is not. I have seen some spectacular sights this night. Unfortunally my camera were not available and loaded with batteries and memory card, but my hard disc (read brain) were up and running.
I’ll try to picture it for you:
Deer is not asleep during the night. They are out there feeding. Half way on my trip I lost control of counting them. There were too many. Deer’s are pretty common in Norway, but the amount I’ve seen this night is unbelievable. On two of the occasion’s, one were standing in the middle of the road. The first on ran into the forest immediately as I came along, but the second one did not. It was just standing there; looking at me. I stopped the car. I could not hut it in any way. It was big, standing there in front of my car. I believe we were steering at each other for some seconds before it walked into the green and disappeared. What a strange feeling.
It had been a calm, curious and quiet meeting for both of us.
And I’ve seen an eagle. It is a mighty sight. The bird was big and elegant, landing in a treetop next to me. Luckily I had stopped, to look at the beautiful surroundings at a bus stop in nowhere land.
Somewhere between 4 and 5 this morning the sun raised over the treetops. The fog was lying like quilts over the waters, rising softly to the sky. The light from the sun sparkled in the billions small water drops in the forest. Sometimes it looked like angels were coming down to earth.
Approximately 50 gees lifted from a field and flew low and crossed the road. I had to slow down not to drive into them. My husband would scream “Shoot!” since he is a hunter. To me it was a spectacular sight.
My trip to Stockholm was just amazing. Wish there were somebody there to shear it with.
Well I just tried to picture it for you. Hopefully you enjoyed it.

2009-05-19T00:01:00.000-07:00

My last post

A lovely lady sent me an e-mail regarding my last post.
My thanks to her for addressing the question:
Not sure how to take your last post on your blog, if it is sooooooo boring then why take part in the give aways?
Sorry if my English is so poor it is resulting in an opportunity to be misunderstood.
I love give aways. Both participating and arranging.
What I find boring is when I want to spend time to pop around in blog land and discover “all of you” tell about the same giveaway.
It is more fun to read about quilting, gardening, cooking, family life, friendships and your everyday life.
It is fun to “stumble” into a giveaway now and then and participate. But all this “you need to”, “tell everybody” and “do something special....”. Sorry, but that’s the part of it, I find boring.

It is almost like “Look what I’ll give you for present, if you invite me to your birthday party”

Giveaway with no criteria is more what I like. Tell about it if you fell like it. That’s more my style.
Of course I appreciate visitors to my blog, but I am not going to seduce you by offering nice prices.

I love to blog, and appreciate others who do the same.

Any body else out there with reflection on this issue?
I’d love to hear from you.

2009-05-18T06:36:00.000-07:00

Counters and Give Away's

Once upon a Quilt is having six fat 1/4's to give away. All you need to do, is pop around and put a comment and tell her what was the best tip someone gave you for patchwork and quilting. And of course tell it on your blog, like I just did.

"Everybody" is celebrating something with a Give away. I have decided not to get attached to all these giveaways. It is soooo boring to read about the same giveaways at several of my favourite blogs, and I find it a bit of childish to. Sorry....
Then again it is fun to give away presents.

Therefore I’ve decided to do something else.

During NQT this weekend, I’ll be blogging and post a lot of my impressions. Give you pictures and stories.
I’ll get a present for at least one of my visitors who comment on my blog during these days. But you do not have to blog it. I am happy people pop by, and enjoy my writings and pictures, without being "forced" to tell everybody they love to win in my give away.

Hopefully during this weekend my new counter will be busy.
Resulting in some other celebrations.... maybe...

2009-05-16T08:52:00.001-07:00

Gratulerer med dagen !

The smiling boy in the picture is my DS Glenn André.

Hipp Hipp Hurra!

2009-05-16T08:46:00.000-07:00

Blue and Black Cobblestone

I have received all the blocks in this swap. Now I have started to arrange them. It is rather easy when all the blocs are there. And such varayety in the fabric. I believe nobody og the 9 members in the group used the same fabric. A gerat inspiration.
Maybe I’ll find the time to assembly them as well before I need to pack my suitcase. In just a few days I am off to the Nordic Quilt Convention in Gothenburg, Sweden.

2009-05-11T02:59:00.000-07:00

Sale
I routed my day so I could pop by my favourite quilt store last Friday. There were actually a reason for doing so, but as soon as I got there, it slipped my mind.
Kaktus Quilt was having a SALE. There were ladies in a longish queue.
Fabric at 10 NOK each meter is unbelievable. That would be something like 1.5 US$. Compared to ordinary Norwegian prizes at approximately 200 NOK pr meter ( 35 US$ ! ). This sale was next to give away.
I ended up with a pile of fabric. It was so cheap and fun it was an easy thing to; by the rest of the blot. This resulted in a buy of several meters, but who is counting? Hopefully they come in handy some day.

Greetings to Liz and Rita:
Thanks for the fun.

2009-05-04T01:47:00.000-07:00

RBR 2

Second lap in this series is done. This one came to my house a bit earlier than it should. It gave me time to figure out how to solve the challenge. I had to go shopping for grey fabric. Grey is a difficult colour. I found Syglad’s choice of colour a bit “polluted”. Anyway, I have solved this one too, and are pretty satisfied with the result.

Can’t show you my solution to this one either.
I am collecting these pic's to the end of this project.

One less, on my May list, of "to do's".

Now I am of to do some gardening .....

2009-04-22T01:36:00.000-07:00

RBR 1
First one done.
This one belongs to Kirsten. It was a beautiful stripe, simple and clean, in blue and white fabric. It is a brilliant idea. I am sorry for not thinking about it myself.
I have done my contribution to this RBR. I found this round easy to do since there where nobody that have “used all my ideas”. The difficult part is to get it the right size. I am not allowed to show you my work. It is supposed to be secret until the project is back at home to its owner, but the “startstripe” is no secret :o) But so far there has not been published a picture by thr owner yet, therefore I do not want to be the "messenger".

Now I just have to send it along to the next lady (will do tomorrow), and wait for a new RBR-challenge to enter my mailbox ( yesterday it did ).

2009-04-15T10:45:00.000-07:00

April

This month I’ve completed 2 UFO’s so far, “Houses from Helsinki” and the "Flower Swap”. Not into separate quilts, but into one combined quilt.
“Houses form Helsinki” were my winning from the block lottery at Nordic quilt gathering in Helsinki in 2006. The block’s are mostly made by ladies from Finland.
“Flower swap” are blocs from a swap hosted at “Stoffbytteklubben”.
I assume some of the participants who has contributed to make this quilt, are to be found here in blog land. You girls may recognize your own work. If you do, give me a shout. In the meantime I’ll search for the names; I do know I have them somewhere.

2009-04-15T10:09:00.000-07:00

Eggs for Easter

Why eggs? I remember it’s got something to do with the hen, all the nice chickens, and a little bit about new life being brought to life. Why, it is not important.
But eggs are not practical.
Some years ago we had a campervan. We would hit the road at every chance we got. Easter usually was a nice opportunity to go shopping in Sweden. Information to those of you who don’t know; I live on the west side of the country and Sweden being on the east side. Problem is the road connecting east to the west is not a straight line. It is ups and downs, rights and lefts.
Now you get it. Eggs won’t stay where you put them. They always roll around ending up like disasters, with all the sweets spread all over the entire floor. Therefore I made Easter bags for the children. And the Easter bunny has brought along these goodie bags ever since.

2009-04-12T13:38:00.000-07:00

Giveaways in Bloggland

Nancy is having a great giveaway. She has been so lucky in the pats she is shearing with the rest of us. Isn't she nice. These cute bottelcovers are changing hands tomorrow. Pop around at Nancy’s blog and follow her directions to enter.

Another giveaway at PigTale & Quilts; 30 fat quarters. Pop aroud to do comments.

Who is to deside who is the most generous lady in blogland? Not me. But I can see there are lots of ladies entering these giveaways. I'm not the only one hoping to be lucky.

2009-04-11T09:24:00.000-07:00

Easter greetings to you all.

We, my family and I, are spending the holydays at the cabin. Nice quality time together. Preparing and eating nice food, bake, watch TV, play cards. Do family stuff :o)

Easter is the so called "quiet week", but we do have some work to do in the garden as well. Not necessarily noisy work, but some of the days are not that “red” on the calendar and we used the opportunity to use the spade, motor saw, mill, ax and woodchopper.
These are preparations for next weekend. Saturday there will be a caterpillar in the garden. We need some help to tame the water flow and keep the soil where it is supposed to be. Afterword it is time to think about my vegetables.

When the days have been too “red and quiet” I have attended my sewing. I have to admit I’ve used the machine. I just had to…..Sorry about that.

The result is 2 finishes! I have combined 2 separate projects into one.
As soon as I figure out how to connect camera to computer I’ll show you all the result. In the mean time I’ll try to be silent with my stitchery or fabric cutting.

Easter greetings form me
Nina

2009-04-06T13:45:00.000-07:00

Jelly roll giveaway

By the way - Green fairy quilts is having a giveaway at her blog - the most lovely moda jelly roll.

Get over there, have a look and participate by commenting.

...or then again not ....... the jelly roll is to be mine .......LOL

:o)

2009-04-06T03:33:00.000-07:00

20 anniversary challenge.

2009 is the year when Rogaland Quiltelag will celebrate our 20 year's anniversary.
Hipp Hipp Hurra!

The RQL-board wanted to do something special and invited every member to a challenge. A small piece of red fabric were handed out to all of us together with a informing letter.

The challenge is to make a quilt (or anything at all made of fabric) where this red fabric is recognizable at our meeting in October.

This should be easy. Such a lovely fabric. I have started my contribution. I am not going to tell you until later what this’ll be, but I believe some of you recognize the flower.

2009-03-30T06:22:00.000-07:00

RBR
RowByRowA new challenge. I love these challenges.
This is my first row. It is a white romantic fence on a blue background.

Close up.

Mari started this challenge at Quilt i Norge. After one year (11 laps) There will 12 Rows in total, and I will have to do the assembling my self. In these laps I am going to make a row who match to all the other participants raw*s in their choice of colour and theme. It is going to be a challenge. I have seen some of the participants 1.row.
I’ll keep you all informed during the process thou out the year, but no pictures of my appurtenant row.
I hope for a romantic, in the garden, at the cabin, by the sea, lap quilt.
In one year I’ll know.....

2009-03-26T08:50:00.000-07:00

Joy

In my search for another picture I found this one. “Joy” is completed and has become friends with “Love” and “Merry”. Now they are 3, waiting on number 4.

It is less then a week for launch of the next pattern in Gail’s Chrismas BOM.
These are so much fun to do. Now I’ve started counting days until her next launch.

2009-03-25T00:32:00.000-07:00

Norwegian valley of flowers
I look around in Bloggland and see there are some of the panels, who are being published, and I think to myself; do I have a proper picture of my contribution to the competition? I need to dive into my computer and see if I got a nice picture of it. I want to show you my “Growing Ideas”.
I have seen some of the beautiful panels. Wish I were at the annual meeting to see them all. Unfortunately I could not. Anyway, it has been an exciting weekend, not knowing either how many contributions to the competition, or if mine where one of the chosen ones to go to Birmingham.
Anybody out there who knows?
In the mean time I’ll go searching for a picture…..

2009-03-20T23:37:00.000-07:00

Hotel rooms are nice :o)

When you arrive they are so clean and tidy. The bed is done and there are no clothes lying around. No kitchen to tidy, no family to feed, no laundry, no dog to walk. I could go on forever :o)

Anyway, when I get the opportunity I spend some productive hours on my own. I do enjoy an evening or two in a hotel room.

This time I brought along two of my UFO’s
Then I combined them into one.
Now it is handed in to be quilted.

2009-03-10T23:39:00.000-07:00

Stitchery sampler

I love to do needlework. I always have. I have made a lot of pictures and Christmas ornaments doing cross-stitching. I found it very relaxing. Counting and see the motives grow. During those years of fine needlework I came to the conclusion I could not do French knots. No matter how hard I tried. To solve the problem when it occurred: My mom did them for me.

This could not go on forever. So I signed up for an embroidery class. The whole weekend I practice doing French knots, and I managed to do them.
Well I did not only do the knots. This is the sampler I started on to document what I learned. Now 2 years later I finally came around to complete it.
I am so proud. It is now on the wall in my sewing room.

2009-03-10T23:38:00.001-07:00

All my harts are done

Just could not stop. My intentions were to get a head start. I prepared some blocks ant thought they would be nice as “on the go” projects.
And yes, they were :o)
I love to sew hearts. They were so quick and easy to do. Suddenly I had a big pile of heats. All my 10 swap sets thru out 2009 are done, and some extra (128 in total). I want my quilt to be bigger than the set measurements. I hope there are some of the other swappers with the same thought.

First set has changed owners. I just handed in mine, unfortunately I did not have the time to stay around, and therefore I do not have my first 8 swapped heat blocs in my possessions.
….Not yet.
Meanwhile,I got plenty of other exiting projects to attend to.

2009-02-28T07:17:00.000-08:00

Blue Flower Tablecloth

Picture is shot with my cell phone at the cabin.

February UFO done.
This month has been busy doing swap-hearts and completion of my contribution to the quilt competition. But I have promised my self to complete at least one old project each month. And I need to fulfil my goals. This month I choose the Blue Flower. Just a couple of leaves left to appliqué. Then the quilting and binding. And I just made it. I made my goal for this month as well. Puh!

February is a month of few days; witch is of both, good and bad. In need for days to complete quilts, it is bad. Good is; soon I’ll get the march design of the Christma wish BOM.
March would be better due to UFO’s. I hope to complete more than one old project :o) ….. But I’ll not make another promise than the one I already have made.

2009-02-26T06:06:00.000-08:00

Love and Merry

I am ready for March.
I love Gail’s design. They are so tender and calm. Adorable! And I have left a comment on her blog to enter her lottery to win her new design. I wish....
I have pictured it in my mind choosing colours as red, pink, aqua and turquoise.

Anyway
Januarys LOVE and Februarys MERRY is done, the stitchery that is. The frame I need to think about. It is difficult to go shopping for Christmas fabric in February. I dived into my box of "love and merry" fabric the other day and had a look. Why is there nothing that tempted?

2009-02-23T11:44:00.000-08:00

New frontier blown.
Neil Armstrong famous words: «That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind».

I just did the opposite. For others it might be nothing, but to me it vas a big step into the unknown. I have passed a new frontier. Frightening.....

I have entered my first quilt competition!

When I first reed the terms and conditions in a Quilt magacine it never crossed my mind I would enter. But during a conversation with a former college, an idea hit my mind. Back in my car I made some sketches. From that moment on I could not stop thinking about it. Therefore I decided to do it.
I have been working on this project for months. The process from idea to a completed quilt is serially hard work. And now it is done.
I am not sure how the rules are, therefore I would not tell any more or show you pictures yet Not even a sneak peak. But I do have a question to you all.

Do you tell the person who set you on the idea in the first place, or do you keep quiet?

2009-02-16T00:00:00.000-08:00

Discourse and workshop by Kaffe Fasett

This one i could not resist. I love red, pink, purple and turquoise.

I just signed up for the discourse and workshop by Kaffe Fasett
http://kaktusquilts.blogspot.com/2009/02/kaffe-fassett-foredrag-og-workshop-11.html

To be honest, I hate Kaffe’s fabrick. They are sooo useless. Bright, big patterned, boisterous and noisy. I could go on for ever.....
On the other hand, looking at the amount of KF’s design that has fount the way into my stashing, it seams I hate the design so much I love it. One of my UFO’s for 2009 is a Kaffe quilt. If I told you all I’ll complete it before the workshop in September, may be I would….?

This'll be so much fun. Looking forward to meet the designer.

2009-02-02T00:51:00.000-08:00

Heart Swap

My quilt society is arranging Heart Block Swap. I love block swaps.

These are 6" blocks, background fabric white to black, and all the grey in between. Heart is to be in red of course.

There were last year arranged a project of voluntary work in making blocks, to make a lottery prize. This prize quilt became so nice we decided to make a block swap to make our own heart quilt.

Now I've signed up for 8 heart blocks each month, for 10 months.

I have jumpstarted this project. Therefore I can show you my first 40 blocks for swapping, + 12 extra for my own quilt.

Looking forward to show you the first 8 blocks I get in return.

2009-01-31T08:54:00.000-08:00

January

Honey Bee Blocklottery from Hell

(A small comunity outside Trondhjem is named Hell.)

During the yearly gathering of Norwegian Quilt society. There is always a block lottery. I am just the type of woman who cant resist. " years ago it were held at Hell, and this time I were one of the winners. Lucky me :o)

I want to send greetings to all the ladies who has contributed to this quilt:

Lise Smith - Porsgrunn

Elin M. W. Skogly - Darbu

Anne Lise Strøm - Mosjøen

Jonne Svendsen - Midsund

Irmelin Watnedal - Bergen

Kristin Kristoffersen - Gjerdrum

Reidun Sexe - Town unknown and

Bente K. Jørgensen - Town unknown

If anybody knows these ladies, pls let them know I have finally finished the quilt. Unfortunally I'll not be at this years gathering at Olavsgaard to show you the result. (I am going to Nordic gathering in Gothenburg instead)

Thank you all for a lovely Quilt.

2009-01-29T12:57:00.000-08:00

UFO’s of 2009

Susannes Purse
Honey Bee Lottery
The "Happy Bag"
Blue Flower Tablecloth

Pink Flower Tablecloth
Houses from Helsinki
Flower Swap
Kaffe Fasett Quilt
Purple AnnaKa
Japanese coins
Small purses for friends
Toilet bags
Pencil houses
½ on ½ Swap
Do Your Own Block
A Warm Quilt
Stitchery sampler

Blue Hearts

1x1"
Etc…..

There are more, much more. I’ll probably find others on my way down the layers in my stitching room. It would be like a geologic g
But I would like to start some new projects as well during 2009.

2009-01-28T04:11:00.000-08:00

2. Challenge

Actually it is not. I’ll combine the first and second the first 6 months.
I could not resist May Britt's One Project a Month challenge. This one goes for the whole year.

Now I need to figure out how to get this badge to the sidebar and list my projects underneath it.
Rita has promised to teach me how to. The Problem might be finding time to do it. But we'll get there one day, soon I hope.

2009-01-27T06:16:00.000-08:00

1. Challenge

in 2009

Finish one UFO a month, from January to June.

I just had to sign up at Quilt in Norway.

I love these challenges.

First month should be easy.....

2009-01-26T06:21:00.000-08:00

Another 4 months are gone.
Now it has become the year 2009 witch gives me the opportunity to start a new life. :o)

A blogger friend told me my blog was disappointingly still (witch I already knew and was ashamed for). No action at all the last months. Should it be like this?

No, it should not!

Therefore I promised my self to get back to blogging. I’ll try to post more often this year, and not getting involved in to many projects (read: learn self-control). I have even started to exercise a couple of times during the week. I am told it gives you more energy. There is so much I want to do, and shearing it with friends, even gives more pleasure to the accomplished. I am so happy you all are out there, spread inspiration and vitality. I hope I am back to be one of you.
My goal for 2009:

Great stitching year
Travel and meet friends
Spend quality time with my family
Exercice - Raise more energy
And be happy.

Sounds easy ? :o)

2008-10-11T12:51:00.000-07:00

6 months are gone

since the last time I blogged.
I don’t know where they are gone. Bu they sure are gone.
You have not been forgotten, but time has been to short.
My life has been busy; a new job, new cabin and new quilts.

My new job has given me more than I ever could imagine. It has sure given me a lot of new things to figure out, a big amount of new friends, and a lot of fun. I enjoy every day.

The cabin is our new hideout. It has been a summer of hard work, and it has given us a kind of new energy. Could you imagine me working the chain saw and copping wood? (It is hard work to prevent me from freezing during the winter.)
I have even made my own garden of vegetables. I am not going to tell you all how good it went. But I’ve sure learned a lot :o)

That’s been me this summer.

And in between, when the weather was to bad. I would dive into my piles of fabric witch I bring back and from the cabin. (I’m not aloud to make a mess in the cabin as I do in my studio back home. :o)
I’ve been working on a couple of quilts this summer. Two done! It’s been a challenge I found in Hanne’s blog early this summer. I am proud to present to you

“My blue sky”

Lap quilt

and
“Garden of summer”

Tablecloth and placemats for the garden table.
Yes it is a big table :o)

There are one more in progress. I’ll get back to you on another occasion.

The last weekend we had “The gathering” of the autumn; Vestlandstreffet.
This year it was Rogaland Quiltelag who arranged it.

We were 160 ladies gathered, 10-12 shops participated with a lot of nice stuff, 10 courses were fulfilled, resulting in a lot of joy. It was a well done gathering. A lot of work, but it sure was fun.
I hope all of the ladies who came to our gathering enjoyed it.

Our Quilt society had our own “shop” at the gathering. In the shop patterns, kits, pins, buttons, tickets for the lottery and we even had a quiz. The patterns and kits we sold were designed from one of our members. She is absolutely amazing. I am not going to list all of her work here, but one of her designs was a “Viking helmet” witch we had made into pincushions and Stitchery.
I’ve done the Stitchery and combined it with the fabric from the table cloth kit. This will be my wall hanging to keep all my quilting buttons in a safe pace.

As you can see I am collecting them. And do you have one in spare I’ll be more then happy to swap with you.

It is sure a pleasure to be back in bloggland. I’ll do my best to keep posting on a regularly basis.

2008-03-30T11:54:00.000-07:00

UFO no 5 is done.

During this challenge I’ve managed to finish 5 UFO’s. 5 in 3 months is not too bad. It could have been more, but my life is pretty busy at the time and therefore I am happy with my result.
During these months I’ve found a lot of projects that I’ve started, and are now on my “to do list”.
This is a bag I made out of a jellyroll I got from a fellow quilter on an internet list as a present. I loved the colours and kind of “saved it” for a special occasion.
Now it is my new handbag.

This is the other side of the bag.

2008-03-09T13:32:00.000-07:00

Sampler swap'n done!

.....another of my UFO/WISP done....

Ta da! I love the way it turned out. Don't you?
Now it is on its way to the annual quilt expo in Oslo. For those of you who are goning to visit the expo, probably will agree with me when I say; it is bigger in real life then on the picture.

2008-03-09T13:26:00.000-07:00

Secret friend gift no. 1

I got my camera back. Finally.

This is the first gift i received from my seacret friend.

2008-02-27T06:22:00.000-08:00

Secret friend
I’ve signed up for a secret friend swap. Everybody who participates get one person to send some goodies to. The intention is to send small gifts thru the year to surprise our secret friend and not give away our identity. In the last gift who is to be sent in November we are to reveal our name. What a great idea!
Yesterday I received my fist envelope from my secret friend. It contained a small red purse decorated with a machine stitched dragon, and inside there were pieces of red and white fabric. My secret friend has done her homework. She has checked my profile in the group. Good girl.

I can’t tell you all about the small surprises I send to my secret friend. I believe I would not be a secret for long. :o)
I can’t even tell you if I’ve sent or not.

…..and still no news on my camera……

2008-02-21T00:57:00.000-08:00

My Sampler Quilt is done.

Yeah! It feels great.
It’s been a while since I joined this swap, and it’s been nagging my conscious ever since. I’m not completing such big projects. I am always telling my self to wait. I might come up with a brilliant solution on how to complete it.

This time I did :o)
It turned out great. And it became big as well. 190x230 cm (76x92 inch) In the process I picket up a pile of other boxes of fabric (swaps). It felt great to use some of the lovely fabric I have received during the last years of swapping.

Anyway, I am sorry to tell you my camera still did not work properly, and therefore handed in to the shop for repair. I accepted no funny explanations this time. The shop estimated 2 weeks before they would receive status on what might be the problem. It is not much, but I sure have missed my camera a couple of times lately.
But I’ll be back with pictures. I promise.

2008-02-13T00:31:00.000-08:00

Stitchery.

Why do we love stitchery?
I do not know the history of stitchery. But I do remember my grandma had a handkerchief with beautiful embroidery on the wall in her kitchen. Redwork she called it. Of course she did…..Everyone could see it was done with red thread, on a white piece of fabric. Easy name…The mind of a child is simple.
I accepted her explanation.
Anyway, I always thought it would have been nice if she had chosen another colour. But I never implemented her in my thoughts.

After we have had all these years in progress of techniques and equipment, we still we call it redwork.

I often wonder what she would have thought, if she still had been among us. How would she handle the way we are spoiled? We can by a lot of beautiful thread, not to expensive, and the fact that it is available in shops for everybody.

By the way. My camera is NOT working properly. Grrrr. I am going to the store again on Friday. I am not accepting the battery-explanation once more :o(
Hoping to show you all my Stitchery next week :o)

2008-02-08T03:09:00.000-08:00

WISP no 4 is done.

A couple of days ago I picked up another one of my “almost completed” projects. I sometime wonder why I put them aside when they were almost done. I did not remember why on this one. Well, after a second or two I remembered…..
Why can’t I be so smart, that I at least undo the mistakes, before putting away an irritating project?
Anyway, now I have been a good girl, rearranged this one, and ticked it of on my to do list.

This is a table cloth that I am going to put under the coffee machine in the cabin. You see, every time I try to move the machine, it kind of “jumps” and make a mess. Now I can put it smoothly aside.
Then I made a pot-holder to match of the scraps.

Next project need to be in another colour than brown…..

By the way...
Here is a new photo of 2 of my new hens.

2008-02-04T23:07:00.000-08:00

My camera
is up and running again. Yeah!

After a couple of day’s struggling to get my camera to work properly, I finally made the decision to go to the shop and complain. I’ve tried everything? Every time I tried to get the camera to focus, it just turned it self off? And if I tried to shoot without focusing, I might get lucky and get a picture, but often my capture just became black. Grrr….
I even bought a box of new batteries to make sure it was not the power who were the issue.

At the shop they switched batteries in my camera. Hmm….. Suddenly it worked properly, and the result would have to be: My new box of batteries would have been destroyed when I purchased them. I carried them home in my backpack along with my Laptop.
I was not aware of computers and cell phones do have a bad inflect on batteries. Now I know. How embarrassing.

The worst about this “issue” is we celebrated Glenn (my DS) 10. birthday. He had a great party whit 27 of his friends and schoolmates. There were 10 more that were invited but could not come.
This is the best party Glenn ever has had. We borrowed the gym at the school, and had a great time. I am sorry we do not have a pile of pictures, but I managed to get a few.

2008-01-28T04:30:00.000-08:00

3 WISP’s
After delivering my sampler-top to “Long-arm Liz”, I found the time to start finishing my other WISP’s.
♪
A golden brown tablecloth, covered with “stardust”. This was started long time ago. Finally I managed to complete the hand quilting that I’ve started. It became pretty nice.
It fits in my living room very well.

These 6 would be a perfect match with the tablecloth and 6 glasses of red wine.

4 hens’ prepared for Easter.Finally after all these years, they will be ready when Easter comes around.......

I got one more.... but my camera wouldn't listen to my commands :o(

Need to go to thee shop and ask what I do wrong.

Then I might get a better picture of my Easter hens. :o)

2008-01-28T04:29:00.000-08:00

Which season?
Calendar says January 26 in the middle of the winter. Outside the temperature is 12ºC. The sun is shining. No wind, no snow, no rain. It feels like the spring is here. And I am not the only one.....

2008-01-23T06:51:00.001-08:00

Ta-Da !

This is how far I got this month.
Yes I know the month is not over yet, but my top is now in the queue for the Long Arm machine at Kaktus Quilt.
I completed the top yesterday and delivered to Liz lunchtime today. Unfortunally, it won’t be quilted until mid February.
……Strange, I thought I was the only one in this world…. :o) just kidding.

The plan was to do this quilt on my own. I had no idea it would end up as big as it did. I am hopeless in estimating sizes. Therefore I need some help.

This started as a sampler swap in the spring 2007. I did my part, and collected all my new blocks. Time flies….and the year 2008 appeared. Focus: WISP’s and fabric diet. Nice combination.

Then the sampler block made their reapperance….
I prepared my self for a dive into my stash…..
And a lot of my brown/beige fabrics were brought forward into the daylight.

Now I got to be patient. (Wondering what to do with the quilt, when it is completed). In the meantime I got to continue my archaeological excavation in my sewing room.

2008-01-22T02:36:00.000-08:00

Ready, steady…. GO!

During my good behaviour of reducing stash and WISP’s, this is how far I got the other day. Result: 3 piles of blocks on the table.
In my head, an old tune, from a program on children’s telly: “A jigsaw puzzle, a jigsaw puzzle”.
My intention is to complete the top before the end of this month. I'll do my best.

…I rather get back to my sewing puzzle……

2008-01-15T03:20:00.000-08:00

Treasures and colours.

Last September I had two weeks in Birmingham, UK. It was two busy weeks with working class all day, and homework in the evenings, no sewing. :o( The thought were to do a lot of stitching, but there were no time for such.
Anyway I managed to have some outstanding days,

and got me an impression of the surroundings.
Here are some pictures of the lovely hotel and the belonging garden. During my stay at The Moor Hall Hotel there were arranged 5 weddings and 4 funeral arrangements.
Can’t blame them, the facilities were perfect. And we had some beautiful weather.

Food was delicious. The chef made outstanding dishes. And the wine was exquisite.

I could not have been in the Birmingham area, without a visit to the city. I had to go to the city centre. I jumped on the local train in my search for the “Bull Ring” and the famous "Rag Marked".

And I found it.

Look at these beautiful colors:

Loads of beautiful organza, available in a variety of patterns and colors, displayed in a number of stands. I just had to buy me some. The intention is to make flower PC.

And then I felt the crow inside me. Wow! Look at all the sparkling, shining stuff. The crazy quilt crow inside of me, woke up, and almost turned crazy, insane, more than usual….

Even during a visit to the pub, in order to get something to eat, my eye catches a crate of colors…..

Yuuummmmmiiii

2008-01-07T12:00:00.000-08:00

A challenge.
I just love challenges. The make me smile. They give me “a kick in the butt” in the right direction. Not actually in the “right” direction, but they sure help me getting started.

A couple of my Internet friends have started these UFO- or WISP-challenges. My intention was NOT to join these, but I just could not resist.

These (4) are my UFO’s to complete during January:

1.Table cloth started as a travelling project on my way to Vestlandstreffet in Førde.

(Anyone remembering witch year? Time flies...)

2. “Something brown” for the coffee machine. It all started as a study on how to do this technique.

Project at the cabin. Picture may be next week :o)

3. May be I’ll manage to get these finished upfront of Easter 2008?

Last but not least:
4. Somebody remembering these?

They are all from “The Sampler Swap” at the “Stoffbytteklubben”

2008-01-01T13:06:00.001-08:00

Happy new year to all!

Finally I am back.
It’s been 3 moths’ sins the last time you all heard from me. I am sorry there has been no news on my blog for those of you that had popped by during this time.

But now I am back! And I do have a lot to tell you! ….
Short version:

September
I started a new job and went to Birmingham on a course. (Great trip. I’ll post pictures later.)
Then I was accepted at the University…..
October my DH’s grandson were Baptised. (Picture of present above)
December 5. I had my exam at the University. Theme: Management of Health, Safety and Environment.
December 6. is my birthday, witch we celebrated in our cabin.
Finally, December 21. I handed in my papers (home exam).

Then Christmas appeared !
I was kind of prepared. I had told “everybody”. I am not in the Christmas struggle this year, either for the Christmas present or all the other preparations going on. My spear time upfront for Christmas would be just for Glenn.
And I have promised my self a lot of stitching after Christmas. I got a lot of catching up to do. :o)
(..and I have started…)

I am sorry for letting you all down during my period of studying. I have now reached my goal.
The day before my exam I handed in 4 applications for a new job. The result was amazing. I got a job offer with all the 4 companies. What a week! And then it became my choice!

I have made up my mind, and will start in a new job February 1, as a QHSE engineer. My new baby will be the ISO 14001–2004 Environmental management system.
I just can’t wait!

2007-10-31T10:57:00.000-07:00

Trick or Treat !

2007-10-31T10:40:00.000-07:00

Hussif
After one year of swapping fabric, beads, lace, thread, …..you know, crazy stuff …..stuff for crazy quilters……treasures….. the year comes to an end :o(
This has been a great year. I have got new, loving, caring friends, got myself a lot of new knowledge, and a big pile of goodies.
The last chapter of this event was to make our “Crazy guilt sister” a hussif.

These two are for my new “sisters”, Maire in USA and Carmela in Israel. I hope they will love them.

I certainly love the one I received from Maire. Pic will come soon I hope.....

2007-10-20T05:19:00.000-07:00

Blogging
I just realised I have not prioritized my blog. Well I have started on several posts but never published them. Today I just did something about it.

Scroll down and see what is new.

I’ll do my homework after I’ve done this.
I have promised both you, and myself to continue blogging.

Now my cell phone tells me to do so every week :o) I am back blogging.

2007-09-08T06:13:00.000-07:00

Flower swap

Flowers made in bright colours on black backgournd.

These are the result of the swap hosted at "Stoffbytteklubben". I wonder how I'll uste these blocks.

I need to think about this......

2007-09-08T01:43:00.000-07:00

Adrian’s Quilt
I have started on a quilt to our grandson.
I need some stitching in the car on our way to the cabin. Cant stitch on our way back home. Hands are dirty.

Anyway, I need to get it done. He is out of the hospitable and they (the parents) are planning the baptising.

Idea is to keep it in the same colours as the “Winnie the Pooh” quilt he’s already got.

2007-09-07T02:47:00.000-07:00

Friends with Hearts
Some days ago one friend within the quilt community here in Norway, were speaking to other quilting friends on the internet. During this chat, she became aware of “one of us” had had a heart operation. The same lady also wanted to make herself a Heart quilt in red and white.
What would a quilting friend do in a situation like this? Yes you got it right.
She sent out an e-mail to each and every one of us she had the private address to, asking if we would like to participate in this “Friends of Heart action”, and pass this email out to everybody who knows her, without disclose the secret.
Of course I wanted to join. I started immediately to make my tribute to Sigrid. We didn’t sign up. We just got ahead and did it!

The mailing date was set to August 30. (One week would be enough) The thought were to fill her mailbox with hearts without spoiling the surprise up front. My hearts for her left Thursday 30 as planned.

2007-09-05T04:37:00.000-07:00

I am picking up on Susan's advice.

Free Hit Counter

Next is to get it to the sidebar…..

.....and why did it not start at 1001, or in the colors I wanted?....

hmmmfff.....?

OK. I have tried to get it right (thansk for your advise Ati), but there is nowere I can get the right code. This is the only one I get. And it seams impossible to get hold of any help at their site.

Second of third hmmmmrrrfffff......

2007-09-05T04:07:00.000-07:00

Coming home.
Finally, it seems like the baby is coming home.

Remember I told you all I had become a “granny”. The baby is now more than 3 months old, and at last the doctors believe he is fit to come home.
The boy was borne on Mai 30 (just one day early). Everything was perfect. He was and still is a lovely, good looking boy.
The first night he became cold, very cold. Result was to keep him in an incubator. They kept him there for weeks. The poor baby and his parent even had to go to another hospital in ambulance plane for some tests. It has been some terrible months. After some weeks DH’s DD was allowed to carry him around inside the hospital.
It was something wrong with his lungs. Hi should not cry! Hi might not survive.
Glenn found it funny that Adrian was connected to a remote control by cable. Even his remote car did not have a wire.
Good news is:
Now, the doctors finally are talking about sending mother and son home! May be this week!
(And the bad news is: )
Suddenly I realized we might be approaching the baptismal day very soon. It has always been my intentions to give all the newborn babies in the family a big quilt as a gift on the baptism day.

I have started on Adrian’s quilt…… …..hoping I’ll get it done before “The Day”.

The date is not settled yet……

2007-09-05T03:54:00.003-07:00

Cabin
I've been asked how we do in the process of building our cabin.

We are almost there….
….. we have started to get some furniture. It is possible to stay there, but we have not received our “permission” from the local government to use it yet. But soon….

In the meantime I can show you some pictures.

This is our bedroom in the attic.

Livingroom.
Furniture is on its way.

My DH during a coffe break.

Out side is almost done.

Wood burning stove in the living room. Can you feel the heat? Mmmm……

We do so much look forward to spend time relaxing in the cabin.

And if you happen to be in the area pls come and visitt.

2007-09-05T03:54:00.001-07:00

My DYB

Time flies, and in your head you are sure you have done it, in real life you’ve not.
This is just what happened to me.
I was sure I had shown you the results of my received blocs form the DYB-group. They are gorgeous and here they are:

No 1
Wilma, in the Nederland

No 2
Helina in Finland

No 3
Ati in Norway

No 4
Cobi in the Netherlands

No 5
Susie in United Kingdom

They are just beautiful. I do look forward to “next year” when I’ve finished university and do have the time to stitch. Then I’ll do my own and assembly the DYB-quilt.

2007-09-05T01:01:00.000-07:00

Not too busy
I have decided to continue blogging! ;o)
Thank you all for the lovely comments regarding my question. They made me change my mind.
I’ll always find the time for my friends.

And yes, it’ll be a hectic semester, but I do work best while under pressure.

Anyway, I just got the message I am going to Birmingham for 2 weeks. (Without my computer, Help!)
I am leaving on upcoming Sunday. I need to fill my suitcase with a lot of hand-stitching. Believe I’ll bring some fabric cutting too. Wonder if there is anything Quilt-related to do in Birmingham when the expo has ended? Anybody know?

2007-08-30T01:59:00.000-07:00

Busy!
My life is busy. The time I got “in spare” I really want to use sewing.
I just resigned my job, and said “Yes, Thank you” to another one. Meaning fulltime work and fulltime pay! And as that weren’t enough, I have signed up for a course at the University. (Help!). And my new job sends me to Brighton on the 10. September for 2 weeks.
And I do have a lot of projects started, and I need to finish some of them. Not all, there aren’t time enough. But there will be not disappointments. I keep my promises.
I also realised I just had one year anniversary blogging! Now I need to think if this is something I want to keep up doing. I can’t keep posting every week. And the comments I receive tells me not to many people visit my blog (?).

If you do visit this blog, pls leave a comment.

Do you want me to continue blogging?

2007-08-24T02:50:00.000-07:00

Ati's DYB
Oh! My life is busy. Almost forgot to tell you my of my work on Ati's DYB. Her theme was Chinese Tea! Challenging! I made my tribute in a teapot, decorated with a "Chinese house". I stitched the word Tea in 3 languages, two in Chinese. I decorated it with stitches and beads.

She gives you a better picture then I do. You'll also get nice pictures of the other blocks in this DYB. Go and have a look.

2007-08-08T13:20:00.000-07:00

Around the Block
Home/Join List Next Previous Random

I am bringing this button to the surface.

Susan usually tells me to renew this post. This time I wanted to be upfront (should have done it several times since last time), but times flies and my mind is occupied with "everything else".

2007-08-07T00:30:00.000-07:00

Package form Keepsake quilting
I picked up my parcel at the post office, and left this world into my own little quilting world. ;o)

Books, I love books. They give me a lot of pleasure. I enjoy the text and pictures. I imagine my own fabric used in the projects, and dream of new stash. It is funny how I “sew” a lot of nice quilts in my mind.

And I got the next two kits, in the series of 4, from McKenny Ryan. I love her style. These are meant to be on the kitchen wall in our new cabin. I have open the first two kit and cut out the pieces. No rush. Kitchen is not ready yet.

… … and I do have other obligations to see to first!

2007-08-07T00:28:00.000-07:00

Baggie from Carmela

I got it. And I got confirmed my story of the content. It contained gorgeous fabric. Look at the delicious colours.
Take a closer look at the green one. It is already embellished!
There were also a beautiful selection of lace, I believe some of them are crochet by Carmela her self, and a handful of selected sequins chosen especially for me. I love them. I love the whole content. Now I just need more time to sew!

2007-08-02T23:40:00.000-07:00

Look out! Baggie is on its way!

Yesterday I called the customs. I do not know how many times my call were transferred, but I am not far out saying at least 5 times. Grrr….
Anyway, I told my story of what I could imagine were inside the package. Crazy quilting is not a common hobby in Norway.
The last lady I talked to, the one actually holding my baggie, she understood when I said: imagine you tidying up your grandmas sewing box, and this is all the stuff you would say is rubbish, is for me is a treasure.
She could imagine, and now the baggie is on its way again, in my direction. ;o)

... … on the same time there were a note in the mail telling me there is a parcel at the post office for me to pick up… … from Keepsake Quilting... ... I have to wait until today to pick it up.

I know what’s inside and I am so excited. Almost like Christmas!

Yes, I can never get enough. And now the US dollar is soooo “cheap” it is an excuse for shopping… …

2007-08-01T12:10:00.000-07:00

Bright Fantasy Flowers
… … …On black fabric - swap.

These are some of the flowers I’ve made and sent to my swap partners. These were fun to do. I have appliqué them in the car on our way to the cabin this summer (not on the way back home, cause my hands were always dirty).
I love them. I have even made more then needed. Gonna keep them as company for the other flowers who will enter my mailbox in the upcoming weeks.
Hoping this will turn out as a nice quilt. Not knowing how, yet … …

2007-08-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

Baggie form Carmela
The baggie of goodies from Carmela is stopped by the customs. :o(
Today I got a letter from the Norwegian customs saying they need to see a receipt for the ordered goods. The label tells them it contains fabric and sewing supplies.
I assume it is samples, cut of pieces, odds and ends, just small treasures we crazy quilter use, like all the other baggies I have swapped during 2007. This is a gift!
I need to call them tomorrow, trying to persuade them to understand.

Sorry to say, I am not to optimistic.

I’ll keep you posted.

2007-08-01T11:18:00.000-07:00

Baggie from Maire
Look what I got. And it only took 5 days to get to me!
And now I have found the time to open and enjoy it.

A big Thank You to Maire!
It contained a big piece of lace-fabric and a beautiful silk print,that is soooo adorable.
Look at al the yummy thread and ribbon. Maire told me it is from 'hand-dyed fibres'. Lucky me!
Have you spotted the flower beaded lace? I need to add such for my Christmas wish list :o)
And the fancy beads! Oh I look forward to use them.
Last, but not least: the stationary and postcards. Glenn just had to become owner of half the amount of pencils and stickers.

Thanks a lot!

2007-07-26T23:17:00.000-07:00

Precious Petals postcards

I have received 3 out of 4 so far. They are just so delicious!
They are from:
Aynsley, Elizabeth and Lorri

I saw this swap at the “Surface Design Group” on the internet. I is a great Yahoo group that do a lot of experimenting on fabric. And of course I have to participate in some of them.

Mine were made by using stiff interfacing, like the one we use when making bowls. (glue on both sides) Then I added light fabric, then fusible web. Now the fun part: arranging the flowers. The flowers are pressed/dried in a book with kitchen tissue. (Old fashioned, and time consuming. I know).
To keep the flowers in right position I used organza ribbon. Ironed and stitched the ribbon to make sure the flowers stayed in place. Then I ironed the fabric on the back side and used a waterproof pen to make it look and function as a postcard.
I have not asked if they were OK when they arrived in the mailbox to the recipients. My cards were sent open, not in envelopes. I think this is half of the fun.

2007-07-25T23:52:00.000-07:00

Precious Petals

My set of postcard left Norway some while ago. I thought I would not show them to all of you before the participants of this swap had an opportunity to receive them first.
This swap was fun to do, even though I ruined a lot of flowers and postcards before I was satisfied with the result. It is “real” flowers in these cards.

2007-07-25T23:32:00.000-07:00

Helina’s DYB

My first thought: This one is going to be easy. I love the purple colour, and the theme she choose, would not cause to much difficulties.
My second thought: How do I solve this without ruin the block.
All of her blocks contained a butterfly or two. I just had to continue that style.
And flowers, lots of flowers, I love them as well. Therefore I added some in different styles.
I hope she like my stitching. I serially love her set of DYB’s.
I am looking forward to see her result.

2007-06-26T02:28:00.000-07:00

½ on ½
I 2006 I participated in a ½ on ½ swap. It was my fist crazy quilt swap. Actually it was my fist international swap. And there has been several after this one.

This swap I did not know what I signed up to, but I loved the challenge.
I made one block of each color combination aloud (4).

Black - White
Pink – Purple
Yellow – Green and
Red – Blue

Then I received 4 blocks to embellish. Wow. How fun. I loved it!

After a lot of waiting I received 4 blocks back home. 3 of them were original mine, but the Red-Blue one were swapped in this pink-purple.

We were not told we would get “our own” blocks back, but if the lady who made this lovely block (Renea Aldrich, WA) got my Red and Blue, I would suggest a swap?

If there is anybody out there with any information on this, please give me some feedback. I will not assembly my blocks into a quilt this year….

2007-06-26T01:35:00.000-07:00

Baby Boy (no 2)

My DH’s DD gave birth to our GS. :o)
This makes me a “grandmother”. Not for real, it is not my daughter, but I love them all.
Glenn has become an Uncle. He is so proud. He is even making a quilt to Adrian (Baby Boy’s name).

This is the quilt I made for the little boy. I knew it up front it was to be a boy; therefore I made this one too in the shades of blue.
Hope he will treasure it, and use it.

2007-06-21T00:03:00.000-07:00

Cobi’s DYB
Next round of the DYB is completed. Cobi had chosen purple and beige color combination with a touch of olive? Anyway I loved the colors but where terrified about the theme: Jugendstil (Art nouveau). Oh, my god. How do I handle this?
I jumped the internet, searching for pictures to help me sort this challenge. The information I gathered were impossible to transfer into stitches.
After a week or two I dared to start stitching.

If Cobi agree with my outcome of this challenge, I do not know yet, but I hope she will give me some feedback on this. I loved to stitch in these tones of color and was pretty satisfied with the result.
I do look forward to see the outcome of this project. The story tells me it’s going to be “something” nice.

2007-06-13T02:16:00.000-07:00

Wilma’s DYB
It is better late than never.
I finally came around to do Wilma’s block. She had chosen the theme Jeanne d’Arc. I found it very difficult. I looked through several books and internet sites for inspiration.

I found out a lot about that lady. How interesting. Question is: how should I solve this one?
I love Wilma’s choice of color, so tender and delight. Think about it: Opposite of Jeanne or not?
Anyway….

The 30.may is the memorial day of Jeanne d’Arc. I stitched it on the block, together with a ribbon and some beads. I also decorated the block with some “ordinary” stitches, buttons, sequins and beads. I even made a “flower” of organza ribbon and decorated it.