A finish!

Well, I did quilt my small table topper, the only thing left is hand stitching the binding down, but that will have to wait until after my trip to the States.

So instead of finishing my table topper completely I decided I needed a new wallet for my trip....

I used the Necessary Clutch Wallet pattern, and it was super easy to follow!

My finished wallet matches my bag I made last year... you can see that post here

This past weekend the shop had a stand and workshops at the "kofte weekend" ( traditional knitting) at the Savalen hotel and spa, so I started a new jacket for myself.... not sure when it will be finished though..... It was a really nice weekend with lots of knitters.

We even visited Santa Claus- did you know he lives very close to me??  This is his mailroom- lots of letters for him to read!

This is Santa's house at Savalen- just needs snow and it will be perfect!  

I have some secret sewing going on as well for the SSCS swap..... this is my 10th year in the swap, and I am super excited!!!!  It is so much fun to make something for my partner :-)  

Well, I'm off to work, then this afternoon we are heading to Gardermoen since our flight to Houston leaves super early tomorrow morning.  I am really looking forward to Market- I'll try to write a post while I'm there!

Thank you for stopping by!

A few finishes

Today I will finally show you a few finished things here....  My lack of blog posts doesn't mean I don't quilt ( or knit)- it just means I have limited computer time....

My first finish in 2015 was this Marius jacket.  I knitted one in blue white and red in the fall, then I really wanted a grey one as well.... I used Sandnes Mini Alpakka yarn in this.

My Advent calendar was finished in early December. yeey!  I had my advent gifts hanging on it, so I waited with taking a photo until now.... The pattern is by AnnAKa, and was a BOM.

I think I showed you this table topper when I was working on it.  Fun fabrics by Lynette Anderson, and a really neat ruler called the Basix ( x- blocks)

This was a UFO from 2013 I think... Again a pattern by AnnAKa, but it was supposed to be a table runner with two identical stitcheries..... I decided we needed a wall hanging more than another Christmas runner.....LOL ( saved me lots of stitching....) It felt great to get this one finished!!

This weekend I pulled out my pieces from the AnnAKa class we had at the shop in October..... Ola (mr. 15) and I have been "home alone", and he really doesn't want to hang out with Mom anymore, so I have had plenty of sewing time, even if I worked Saturday... My goal is to have this finished before I go to bed tonight- so I better get back to the sewing room now....

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy New Year!

I am going to start the new blogyear with a picture of my husband Svein wearing the mittens I showed you "pre felting" a couple of posts back.  After felting them in the washingmachine they came out the perfect size for him. No more cold hands for him this winter I hope!

Right before Christmas Svein helped me make a table lamp out of a "Norway Jar". These Jars are like the Ball Mason Jars, except they say "Norge", and they are round.  They have been out of production for many years, but Hadeland Glassverk just relaunched them ( at a high price...)  I have a few of these from my Grandmother, and I wanted to make a nice lamp, and Svein drilled the holes in the top glass ( unlike Mason Jars the lid on the top is also glass), and close to the bottom for the cord to go through.  Now I just need to get a new lampshade, the one I have on there is from a different lamp until I find one I like.

I managed to sew a bit during Christmas as well, two bags from the same pattern: the "Byebye love" bag by designer Sarah Lawson The blue parts above are for the smaller bag

And the fun cartoon fabric I've been waiting to cut into will be the larger size bag.  

We are starting a "Bag club" at the shop this year, and this bag will be the January bag.  I can't wait to see the fabrics the other ladies have chosen for their bags!

Hope you're off to a great new year, thanks for stopping by!

A new ruler to play with.

I have a new ruler, the Rapid Fire Hunter's Star ruler, and it is so much fun to use!!!  I was demonstrating it at the quilt guild the other night, so I thought I'd tell you all about it as well.

The pictures just show a little of how you use the ruler when you make the star points for the Hunter's Star.  Now in my last post I said I would use my NEW fabrics first, and not my older ones, but I failed already.... All the red and cream fabrics I am using in these blocks are from my old stash.... ( Now I can actually close the drawer with red fabrics again :-) )

The ruler makes it really easy to sew the star points to the trapezoid, and you use your regular ruler to trim pthe bits when they are sewn together.

Here is a block almost finished- I just need to trim it down using the Hunter's star ruler!

This is the layout I am using, these haven't been sewn together or trimmed yet, ( well, now they are, but not when I photographed them...)

I've knittesd this weekend as well, winter is here (or it should be), and more mittens need to be made.  Look how huge these are before I threw them in the washinmachine to get felted.

I just hope they are a lot smaller when the wash is done!  I will show you the result :-)

Well folks, that's what I've been up to- oh, and I've mailed off my SSCS package to someone far far away!  I hope it gets there in time for Christmas!

Thanks for stopping by!

A whole month??

A month since my last post??? Time sure flies!  I've been busy at work getting ready for the Norwegian Quilt Festival which will take place this Thursday- Sunday.  We'll have a booth there, and there is so much to think about and do to get everything ready.... Fun work though :-)

At our quilt guild we have a summer challenge every year, and this year the theme was " Something we need for a sewing night"  As usual I procrastinated until the last weekend before it was due to be shown to make anything.... So I decided to make a thread catcher (from the book Red Home by Natalie Bird) and a small pincushion.  Most of my pincushions are so "fat" my sewingneedles drown in them....

Between all the sample sewing for Festival I managed to make myself a new knitting needle keeper.  LOVE the sheep fabric!

This is what it looks like on the inside

I keep my bamboo and wood knitting needles in this one.  Still missing a few sizes I see...

In the mornings and late evenings I have been knitting myself a new sweater.... Lovely silk mohair yarn by Sandnes!  It should be finished in time for Fall!  Just the last sleeve left to knit now.

Hope your week will be great!  I'll be at the Quilt Festival, with the shop Lappemor, so If you're there please stop by!

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a lovely New Years Eve!  We were at the cabin with my parents, and Aunt & Uncle and cousin.  We had a lovely evening, and a great beginning of the new year!

Since Christmas is over I can show you a couple of gifts I made.

The tabletopper above was made for my brother and his wife. English paper piecing, using blue and creme fabrics only from Primitive Gatherings by Moda.

For my aunt who collects angels I knit a pair of potholders.

We came home from the cabin today, and Kristine and I are watching Pride and Prejudice for the 55th time..... Kristine is knitting, and I am stitching :-)

Hope your first day of 2014 was wonderful!

My birthday weekend

Such a busy lovely weekend!  Friday was my birthday, and Kristine came home for the weekend :-)  I made a carrot cake, and she decorated it with pretty roses.  This was dessert after we enjoyed "Rakfisk" which is a traditional meal with fermented and salted trout, eaten in fall/ winter.

Here I am with my wonderful parents!  My dad celebrates his birthday on Tuesday, and yesterday we celebrated my cousin's birthday ( along with my aunt and uncle's birthday which is coming up in November)  So as you might understand this has been a weekend filled with lovely family time!

My sister in law made me two pairs of lovely button ear rings, so I told her she could go through my button jar and see if she found any buttons she could use. I think she and Kristine found quite a few.  She has a Facebook page where you can buy her creations!

For my cousin I made a pair of warm mittens so he'll be ready for winter.

And for my aunt who has recently started quilting again I made this bag and filled it with quilty things she might need. The pattern is called " Whatcha got" and has two options on sizes for the bag.  This is the largest one.

Ok, on to some sewing... I have finished this quilt top- now I need to figure out how I want to quilt it.... I want to have it finished before December!

And I have finished a pair of mittens.  The pattern is called " Elise mittens" , and you can buy the pattern on Ravelry.  I used Sisu ( black) and Regia Funstripe color yarn.

The inside of the mittens.

That's all for now.  There is some secret sewing going on as well.... THE SWAP of the year SSCS is going on, and I need to have the gifts ready in november!

Inspiration!

Inspiration can come from many different places... The local traditional crafts guild ( Husflidslaget) has collected over 200 old (and some new) traditional Norwegian cardigans, and has a lovely exhibition at the local museum.  If you look at school pictures from the 50's and 60's in Norway ( At least in our area) almost all the kids wore these cardigans, and they are still very popular!

Here is the "Blue window"  

My mom holding up a cardigan that belonged to her little brother- well worn and mended in several places.

The grey corner.  As you can see there are so many different patterns.

My aunt holding up one of her own sweaters that she wore all the time as a kid.

A table full of colorful cardigans

This is a sweater I wore a lot as a kid, handed down to me from my other aunt :-)

My sweater was hanging on the red wall.

These sweaters have the "Setesdalen" pattern- one of the most traditional and well known patterns.

My mom and aunt admiring their grandfather's Setesdal cardigan.

It is such a lovely exhibition, and we had a great time looking at all the different cardigans and sweaters.  If you live close by it is well worth a visit!

Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful weekend!