Ilse

Meet our new friend. She was hatched and patched during some lovely times at my friend’s house.

  

Now she sits on our kitchen shelf – cheering us up.

Pattern: Dorthe Jollman

Have to run – we are getting more firewood today!

Sunday

There were places to go. Then the car broke down. The battery took a beating by the *chilly* weather. So out she went with  a camera in hand.

Our neighbour’s pear tree. In a few months (I keep telling myself) the branches will be heavy from blossoms and not snow.

Something to make our life worth living these days – keeping us warm.

Another draw string bag – where I can only just fit my recent crochet work, a shawl. And mittens – lovely warm mittens, given to me by my uncle.

This, that and the other

I had to have a go at Ping Penguin’s small draw string bag, after having seen the one Jennifer at Moving Hands made. Her post today also made me draw out some temlates for a hand sewing project I want to attend too hopefully soon.

Always a start. Some of the shirts finally made into sample blocks. Well, there are three works in progress on that flanell wall. As the days are getting longer and brighter, I m.u.s.t  move on with the progress. And I WILL!

Yet another project – soon to be finished. A belt to keep up our sunshine’s trousers in this cold, oh so cold weather. (-17 degrees celsius) brrr
Hester: I wanted to thank you for your lovely comment the other day. The only way of doing so seems to be here. I can’t find your e-mail adress. I so enjoy you and your friends’ blog. Again: Many thanks! … I wish I knew how to read Dutch – the google translator does not seem to be good enough …

Fat bottomed pear

I won’t go into how I somehow feel a little related to this pear – hmmm;)

Another one of these that I mentioned here. This one is for me, she said unshamedly;)

See you in January – I think.

Dessine-moi un mouton

One of my beloved aunts needed a tea cosy, and I volunteered to make her one. And off I went, and under my arm was her sloppy and a little sad tea cosy for reference and guide.

It was my first tea cosy experience, so to speak, so the edges got a little uneven. Therefore – to best secure the warmth of the tea, the cosy needs a little punch for full coverage;) The result, shown above, reminds me of the shape drawn by the pilot in ‘The little Prince’ It was the only shape that the little prince was happy with, for inside he imagined there would be a sheep (mouton) I enjoy the thought of the ‘hat’ covering my aunt’s tea pot on her breakfast table, wonky as it may be – punched and all.

I loved stitching big with embroidery threads. Hope to do so again soon. Oh, yes for there’s my tea pot. It looks like it is in need of some warmth too!

A big thank you to everyone for stopping by and for taking the precious time to leave me lovely words. Blogging is wonderful!

Take care.

Una

A new family member

Snuppa
Curious, playful, placid – loved.
I think we are about to be adopted =^__^=

Alma Svensson’ apron

This small quilt represents my time as a mom of two toddlers. My children were three and one and I was at home with both of them one day. They were watching a film about Emil – one of Astrid Lindgren’s many well loved characters.

To the eye of a grown up the set and decor is a joy - the clothing, and interiors of early 20th century Sweden. And of course the log cabin quilts covering the beds. Even Lina, the maid, has a quilt.

I grabbed my bin of scraps and found a favorite blue and white stripe for borders, similar to Alma’s, Emil’s mother’s, clothing.

The whole thing was put together in those few precious moments of quiet time. A+J were happy watching their movie, and I was peacefully sewing.

I never found the time then to quilt it by hand – finding time for that seemed an impossible task…  My skills in machine quilting were not very good. So it is roughly quilted by machine.

Now it is an entry in Park City Girl’s Blogger’s Quilt Festival. Go have a look at all the wonderful quilts!

… and the color inspiration

A summer dress. That would make it a summer quilt – no? Or perhaps as a memory of summer…

OK. I’ll leave it at that. To go listen to some more fab radio at BBC radio 4.

My daughter’s quilt

… or learning by doing.

Last month my girl and I had a blast choosing fabrics for her first bigger quilt. I was feeling half an inch of guilt for not having made something for her in a long time. Oh, well. She went through the piles of fabric in our book shelf. And pulled out some oranges, pinks and a red/white dish cloth she had to have in there. Also some blues had to be added – nice to see her pinkish taste slowly  changing.  I added some of my favorites in tune (or so I thought) with her choices.

Having found Diane Gaudynski’s blog some time ago, I’ve been inspired to give free motion quilting a go – again. My abilities as a machine quilter will most likely never reach anything close to her level of artistry, but I sure enjoy the free motion mojo. Diane suggests novel quilters to try their hand at bigger tops. So I had to try it. American Patchwork & Quilting magazine  featured a nice blue and white quilt in their August 2006 number. I reduced the size a little. It’s about a 53 inches square.

I think Diane Gaudynski has a nice idea about starting out big(:)). I learned a lot as I went along. It was a lot of fun.  I goofed up majorly (is that an adjective?) in places. I don’t care. I only hope my daughter will like it.

And she creates her masterpieces on her regular (?) sewing machine. An intriguing thought.

Sewing down the binding is soon done.  

I pieced squares for the back, something that would have been impossible if it were to be hand quilted.

Please bear with me for indulging in such an amout of pics.   

Just taken away by the joy of being able to show something being very close to being finished – in less than two months from start to finish. Pretty revolutionary by my standards (LOL).

Take care. xo

Shirt madness

Call me mad - I'd be the first to admit to such a label. After seeing Anita's progress on her version of Kaffe's Shirt Stripe Boxes quilt I had to tag along. I went to our local thrift shop and found some beautiful men's shirts. To say the least, I went bazookas. For 20 shirts I got 20 per cent off. The gentleman in line in front of me was wondering if I was going to dress up the whole neighbourhood. I did not dare tell him my intentions with my scoop;]...

Now I have to get myself a ruler to cut them with. I am really looking forward to starting this project. It has been on my mind too long - practically ever since the book came out.