4SQS5 - swap recieved

Today I recieved "Snowy Windows at Night", my 4SQS5 from Cathi in Toronto. It is very pretty. She made all those beautiful curved seams perfectly! I am very happy for the quilt, it is lovely! Thank you Cathi!

She also send me some lovely blue batic fabric. I am sorry the light is poor in the picture, it does not do the quilt justice. Cathi has posted a picture here with better light. You may notice two white pins in the picture, they are just holding up the quilt for the picture. I will hang it properly using the hanging sleeve.

goodbye...

This is the quilt I made for the 4SQS5. The challenge was to make a monochromatic quilt, only adding black and white. It turned out cheerful and summery.... always a bit sad to let your swap quilts out of the house. But now its on its way to ..... a good home.

two bindings done...

First two finishes of 2009. My Mermaid Song and a secret swap...

sneek peek

I have been working on the swap quilt and this is all I can show for now...

Oh, look who's hiding in he closet on a rainy day....

Keep stitching, everyone...

Happy swapper

Coming back from our long summer holiday I found the sweetest 4SQS waiting for me:

Paula W have send me this beauty, and she also included some sweet buttons, chocolate and fabric used in the quilt. The quilt is handquilted. And I simply love it! THANK YOU Paula W!

I feel like a very happy swapper. And the quilt is already up on the wall in the kitchen, and looking good there too.

We have had a very nice stay with family in Washington, US. I have done a lot of quilt shop hopping, seen some pretty quilt shows, visited quiltfest in Seattle and much more. Lots of inspiration, some quilting fabric, notions and patterns, filled up my suitcases as we returned back to Norway.

Here it feels like fall is coming. Rainy days. Still good temperatures.

fly my pretties....

I have parted with the 4SQS Summer quilt, and sent them flying off to their new destination. They are cheerful and bright and wishing a happy summer for all off you!!!

design floor ...

Have been working on the next step of my blue bargello quilt this week. As you can see the lack of an appropriate design wall is solved by using the floor of the living room. The quilt measures 48" by 60" before adding a border. The weather has changed, overcast and rain, poor light for taking pictures.

My idea is to make a darker but not monocrome frame. Not sure about the corners. All ideas are welcome...

I will put it away for a little longer and see. Using the floor I have to work quickly. The cats love to play around with all the small pieces of cloth on this wooden floor.

Also in slow progress on my cat quilt, undoing and redoing the arrangement of patches again and again... Not happy with the lower green "garden" section. Think I will leave that out and settle for brown and blue colors, more harmonious and less demanding. Another project on my "design floor". Oh, I would love a bigger house...

My third ongoing project is my strawberry fields. I put on the binding, but am still quilting the strawberries and flowers by hand. Nice to see the change that happens when the binding is in place.

Then there is the little swap quilt for the 4SQS....

And a little spin off from the cat quilt, 6" by 12"

My first try at needleturn applique. Fun!!! Encouraging to work on a smaller size quilt. Those yo-yo's were also fun. The vase is a beatiful scrap from my aunt. I just love that fabric.

This week I got my copy of the beautiful book by Material Obsession. Lots of great quilt and fresh ideas. Big smile! And I also recieved some new and colorful fabrics by Kaffe Fassett:

Sometimes you can have too much of a good thing .... I need to try to focus on one wip at a time.

On the other hand, some of these quilts are made in steps. One step at a time and then I put it away for some time before making desitions about the next design step. Working this way, I guess it's quite normal to find yourself involved in to many quilts at the same time...

butterfly garden

We have had some great summer days, warm and sunny - actually quite hot weather. Almost to warm for any sewing. But look what I found in the garden - a pretty butterfly....

And then taking a little nap on my hammock - a whole bunch...

I wonder where they are flying off to next?

latest stuff

I have joined in on the Four Season Quilt Swap - Summer. Margaret was kind enought to send out a reminder to those who had participated in the previous swap. It has been a busy week, so I had missed out on the invitation. It seems quilte popular and I think there will be more than 100 participants!

I saw these cute little stitcheries over here, and wanted to try. It's a free block of the month. They are so small!!! The dove is 2"square. They were fun to stitch, too.

This week was my birthday. One of the nice presents I recieved was some scraps of silk brocade, leftowers from national costumes my aunt made. Very pretty. Maybe I will use them in the wallhanging I am working on, my Cat quilt, where I use different qualities of fabric together. A little progress made here as well...

I have used a mix of linen and cotton. The bee's wings are part of two shirt collars. I am planning to add stitches and embellishment after I have quilted the top. The plan is to fill the wall in the dining room. I keep rearranging the patches as I progress. I'm planning to add some flowers at the bottom and then frame the quilt with a border.

Swap recieved

Yesterday there was an envelope from Teresa waiting in my mailbox. Inside it was this sweet quilt! I have put it up on my Snowhite, admiring it everytime I walk through the house. There are lots of hearts in pink and yellow around fresh green squares. I am the lucky owner of this welsh little beauty. Thank you Teresa for your lovely creation! And thank you Margaret for hosting this swap!

Cat Quilt 2

I am doing a lot of stitching by hand on this quilt and trying out new technics, testing and experimenting a bit. This will be my own design and end up (hopefully) as a big wall hanging. I am adapting the metode of english paperpiecing on thin batting instead of paper. This stabilises the different fabrics: silk, linen, velvet and cottons that can be a bit flimsy. The patches is 6" and I am putting them together in 9 patches. The full quilt will probably be 16 * 12 of these 6".

This is one of my 4 butterflies that I've made so far. It is velvet with silk on linen. I am going to add emboidery and embellshment as step 3, after adding a backing. Have considered adding backing to every 9 patch, and then put them together as a grid maybe using safetyneedles. That way the quilt can transform; change size and organisation when I want to move it or add seasonal elements....

Lots of ideas, we'll see where it will go from here. So far I'm making the 6" patches enjoying the handsewing and feel of the different textures. I want this to be something I can bring along for my quilt meetings and so.

Also recieved a nice e-mail from Cheryl in Florida telling me my 4SQS quilt arrived safely and that she likes it ....

4SQS

This week I fininished my spring 4 season quilt, and sent it off to its new home. The backing is Aunt Grace Friends Around the World by Judith Rothermel. Very fitting name! So I wrapt it up using the selvage as a ribbon. This is the first time I have made a quilt for somebody I don't know and sent it off. Feels a bit strange. All I can do now is hope for a safe trip, and a warm welcome...
And of course - visiting the mailbox for the next weeks will be exiting. Is there a small quilt for me today?

Sweet Spring Treats

One of my spring favourite treats are these marzipan eggs from a Danish company called Anthon Berg. They are a part of a Norwegian Easter tradition - chocolate and marzipan sweets. They taste great and are also supersweet and decorative with their pretty pastell colors. Here they are (until I eat them all) looking good with the spring quilt I have made for the swap. It is quilted by now, needs a good binding and a proper label too. Well, there is still plenty of time.

It may be a silly thing to say but I like it, it is sweet. I hope my swap partner will like it to. And now I am curious to see if there is anybody else posting about their spring quilts...

spring feelings and snow

Have started working on the 4SQS quilt. It is difficult to make something for a person you don't know, who lives far away and in a different climate. What is spring like there? I have tried to sneek peek into her blog to get good clues of what she might like. Hmmm - that didn't give to many hints.

I'll have to trust that making something I like myself and taking care with color, piecing and quilting - will be good enough. So, here is my "prototype", my scetch in fabric. No, this is not it .... her color requests are a little different. But, it's close. In a way.... Am I teasing you? Hmmm not sure how much, and how early I'm supposed to blog about this quilt.

We had some snow today. That seldom last long in this mild climate along the coast. My kitties tried their first walk in snow today. Just as good - a few hours later it started raining... Is it spring yet?

A new challenge, and a finished one...

How exiting - I have signed up for the Spring Quilt Swap

So now my brain has start working; spring colors ???, good blocks to use???. Well I have a few ideas, I guess I´ll let them grow, and nurse them for a bit.


I just finished my first little wallhanging, that I posted about earlier, and put it up in the livingroom. I am so happy - it adds warmt to the room. This is one of my first quilts with woven fabrics, can't wait to start anotherone, the fabric is so pleasant to handquilt!

I also recieved a charm pack of Wee play in the mail - love these fabrics. And so it seems, I'm not the only one....