Learning to quilt - again

I started quilting - the actual stitches - sometime after 1996. I know this because the first quilt I made was made after an issue of APQ of that same year. It wasn't until 2000 that I learnt how to make my stitches with the rocking motion quilting. It really made a difference to how my stitches looked. And I liked, even loved, stitching that way. But the sore middle finger on my right hand (I'm lefthanded)!!! I don't have my original fingerprint any longer. I'm quite sure. But I didn't feel I could care much about it, because I loved the result of what my sore finger was a part of.

And then, when reading movinghands' post about quilting something changed. She linked to a Shar Jorgenson show with Jean Brown, who showed how she quilted with a finger protector called Aunt Becky. So now I'm trying to get the hang of it myself.

I try following the guidelines while having flashbacks of the show, since it is no longer online to watch. I'm struggelig a little, but slowly getting the hang of it. I didn't have a quilt already basted and ready for quilting, so I made one that could come together quickly.

I like it, and do not miss the soreness of any of my fingertips!

Tomorrow I'm off to a dear friend's house to get some help for basting a quilt top that has been ready for some years. I am looking forward to meeting my friend again - we always have a wonderful time.

Addition 20th of February: I wrote this last tuesday. In the meantime I have been visiting with another dear friend in Tromsø. We had a great time! Some time free from kids and the everyday hassle is a luxurious thing. I managed to do quite a lot of quilting, practising. I have promised myself to finish this one before I start on the newly basted windmillquilt. So long.

Pushing up poppies

Our garden has started to wake up. While I only thought it was weeds surviving our relatively mild winter, things are starting to pop up. Like poppies!!! Still early february!


I have thrown myself into making the Scrappy Squares, from the recent edition of American Patchwork and Quilting. Thank you Judy for the inspiration!

The first block is done. A lot of cutting and ironing. I do a lot of hand piecing these days, and the cutting business is a lot different when making these babies (did I really say that). The drawing has to be precise making pieces for hand piecing while the cutting is another matter. Snip, snip.

Oh so slow

Here is a pic I took as it turns out in November 2004. It is my version of the Calico Garden quilt from the Shelburne museum. I think I have made only one or two more blocks since then. There are not a lot of flowerconstellations left to make. I didn't know of too many others making the same, so I was so thrilled when I recently found this lady, who got a ribbon for hers, as I wrote earlier.

It was truly a joy to make it. But I am still in doubt as to how I will make the sashing, as in the original with nine patches, or with just one fabric as a background in stead. My quilting friends and husband opt for the last solution, but I am not certain, as I really care for the original idea.


Oh well, I'm off to bed.

Amanda har hatt danseoppvisning i dag. Og Joakim har funnet ut av at han også kan bukke. Så SØT! De er søte begge to!! Etter et bad følte Amanda seg bedre og kunne falle til ro. Men hun følte seg ikke som en ekte, men en ekkel prinsesse. Bedre i morgen, tror jeg. Nå - sengen.

Barna er i seng

og kveldslivet begynner... Siden sist har vi fått nytt kamera. Det er godt å vite at dokumentasjonen av livet kan fortsette. Har prøvd å ta noen bilder av vinterens søminnsats. Og nye prosjekter er allerede under planlegging. Vi drømmer om Panama, men våren kan fornemmes. Den er i hvert fall i anmarsj i Nederland, har jeg forstått. Lucy har snødråper i hagen!

Longing for spring. Lucy has snowdrops in her garden. New camera came into our house just a month ago. Winter's WISP (works in slow progress) can now be documented - if Blogger is in the mood.
God natt