Des 1st

Even if they are 18 years old they have to have a advent calender. Here is my DD's. I made this when she was a little girl. You can see some of the cross stitched santas behind the gifts. I suggested I could make her a new one. (a quilted one). But she almost got angry. THIS was her calender and THIS was the start of christmas for her. I am so happy she likes traditions.
I found this cute old christmas cards on the net.

The first one shows a norwegian "santa" (nisse) and the second one some birds. I love these old cards.

I also found this link on Christmas in Norway which tells a little bit about traditions in Norway.

You can also check this, this link if you want to read more.

This evening I will place my advent table runners on the table, hang the advent star in the window and place the advent candles in the windows.

I wish you all a very happy and peacful advent.

November quiltmeeting

This was our quilds lasts quiltmeeting this year and as usual we had a very lovely time together. I have told you earlier about the ufo challenge we had in our group. We entered our ufo's in august and this was the deadline for finishing them. I had entered three ufo's. Only one is finished. Mine is the one number two hanging on the wall (from left). You probably recognize it. My number 2 ufo "Say it with flowers" is almost finished. And number three ufo, the easter table cloth....well it is still long time until easter. One lucky winner was drawn, and she received a lovely book. And it was not me.

Below some pictures from the finished ufo's


Someone showed a beautiful table runner. Perfect for advent I think.
And a christmas tree skirt. I notice the american patterns all have a hole in the middle. But we make them withoug holes. We just lay them under the christmas tree foot. I ought to make a new christmas tree skirt, but ............ it is only three weeks to christmas.

Some years ago we had a ninepatch swap. These two ladies was in the same group and therefor received similar ninepatches. And out of the swap we were supposed to make a quilt. Look how different they are. I was in the same group and mine looks so different. Another ufo I have to finish. It is pieced togehter, just have to baste and quilt it. It is fun to mention that we were inspired by Mc Calls magazine when we started this swap. Mc Calls had several quilts made from nine patches and the challenged quilt groups to start a swap. When we showed all the quilts together group by group we took photos and send them to Mc Call. And guess what ......The photo of my group came in the magazine. So both me and my mother have been in Mc Calls :) I will find my ninepatch later this weekend and show it to you. This is my friend Elisabeth with her georgious quilt inspired from Kaffe Fassette.

Cleaning my sewingroom

This evening I was trying to organize the closet in my sewingroom. When I moved in to this house in april I just threw some my quiltingstuff in to the closet. A complete chaos. Today I bought a shelf and started. I took everything out of it, placed the shelf and started to sort my things. I admit I have thrown away some things. I found some lost stuff LOL . Found some forgotten UFO's which I think I will give away....perhaps. It has been fun to do this.

Before:

After:

Does it look any different????? It feels so great to have this done. But for how long will it stay this way??? LOL

I do not dare to show you the other side of the room. Have to clean that side later. Tomorrow I am going to our guildmeeting. And I shall remember to bring my camera.

Bloglines has acting OK the last days. Seems that all the blogs I have subscribed have been updated. One thing that is not so good with Beta is that I got anonymous comments from they who don't have made the change to Beta yet. And perhaps that's how it will be in the future. I think Beta is a bit better to use when creating posts. It uploads photos very quick and I can make labels on each post very easy. And in my hotmail I now can click on the name of the one who comments and get directly to the blog.

This is what happends..... and christmas feelings

This is what happends when you hang wet fabric to drip dry on the porch and forget them there during the night when it gets below zero. It gets so stiff that they can stand by themselves LOL
I am looking for my christmas feelings and I found these questions on Monikas blog. I have translated them to english and reflected a bit on these:

What does the time before christmas means to you?
I just LOVE christmas. And the time before is so precious to me. To light the advent candles and having quality time with my family. Traditions is for me very important.

Which colours do you prefer in the house when it's christmas?
I like to decorate with red, gold and white.

What do you prefer to drink at christmas?
Together with the christmas dinner I want to have one aquavit.
And of course mulled wine/glühwein.

What sort of hobby thing do you prefer to do while waiting for christmas?
I always have big plans making christmas gifts. And of course they are some sort of quilting.

Home baked or bakery?
I have to bake myself. But I do not bake so many different cakes like I used to before.

Modern or nostalgic chrismas decoration?
Nostalgic christmas decoration is the best.

What christmas smells do you want in the house?
Ginger/cinnamon and hyacinths.

What gives you the ultimate christmas feeling?
When I can gather my family around the christmas three and look at their happy faces.

What is you favorite christmas music?
I have to hear three special christmas songs before it is christmas to me. That is Mehelia Jackson with Silent night, Jussi Bjørling with O helga natt and a silly but very nice norewgian song called Julekveld i skogen (Christmas in the forest). On des 1st I always find my christmas cd's and listen to them.

And I have added one more question:

Do you have special memories about christmas:
I remember when I was a little child every christmas was always very very cold. And when I walked across the road to celebrate christmas with my grandmother the stars where so bright and the snow was twinkling. I was always so excited about christmas and I still is.
Another memory is when my father made me a dollhouse. I have peeked through the keyhole and seen what he was doing. But when all the gifts was unpacked at christmas eve, I had got no dollhouse. My dear father had discovered me peeking in the keyhole and wanted to tease me. Of course I got my dollhouse, but it was a lesson to me.

....... but I am still very curious about the gifts LOL

A little bit sewing.....

Gosh....almost a whole week since I last posted something. I have been so busy this week, almost no sewing at all. Tuesday our little quiltgroup "The spools" had a christmas meeting with good christmas food and a little bit sewing (Did not bring my camera). On wednesday I joined the ufo meeting in the quiltshop and manage to make two more makeup bags. (Did not bring my camera). Thursday cleaning the house. And friday came my boyfriend. Saturday I teached in a scrappy heart class at the shop and did not bring my camera neither this time.

But today I have spend the time in my sewingroom and managed to do this table runner. I wanted to play with my black and white fabrics. And found a pattern from AnnAKa (a norwegian designer). When I had loaded the photo of it on my blog I noticed that one of the hearts are missing LOL It probably fell off when I took it out of the sewingroom to photo it. Tomorrow I will applique the hearts on and quilt it.

Only four weeks left for christmas. And I do not have the christmas feeling at all. The snow have disapeared and it have been almost + 10 outside.

I DID IT :)

This evening i pushed the button and switched to BETA :)

It was a bit scary and while they was moving my blog I was crossing my fingers and toes hoping that my blog would survive. And it did. The whole blog appeared as it was in the old verison. I am so happy. So now I hope I can be able to answer everyone who have come as no reply in my mail.

This was nothing to be scared of :)

Now I will enter my sewing room and stay there for a while before watching Bratcamp at tv. Have a lot of christmas gifts to make. It is less than five weeks to christmas.

A great weekend

I'm back :)
I had a great weekend in Oslo visiting my boyfriend. He had made a really good dinner with redwine for me when I arrived. No sewing this friday :)

On saturday he was bowling and I was shopping. Of course I had to visit Kathrines Quiltestue and it is a lovely quiltshop. I spend hours there. And this is what I bought. I have almost ordered this book from Buggy Barn on net a several times and now Kathrine had all their books in the shop. I bought "That crazy thing we do" because there is a lovely cat quilt in this one. She also had several patterns from Lori Smith. I have admired her patterns long and now I got this one called "Country Stars". And of course some red fabric for my christmasquilt. And a embroidery frame for my stitchery.

And I had to try the frame of course. I did this little stitchery "My angel" and four small with "love" . What I am going to make of them............wait and see.I visited my DS also. It feels so good to visit him and give him a hug. Although he is 23 , he is still my little boy and I am so proud of him . It is a bit hard to realise that my children is becoming growups and that they want to manage themselves. And perhaps my DD also moves away from home next year to go to school. It feels a bit scary to think about it. I miss my DS so much and I will miss my DD when she is away on school. But that's life, they can't be dependent of me all the time. I am so proud of them both. And I love them so much.

Banner

Have you noticed I got a new banner on top of my blog :)
Cathi was so sweet and kind to help me. I appriciate it so much. Look at it. She have done a great job. I love it. Thank you so much Cathi.

I am now seriosly thinking about changing to Beta. The problem keeping this old version is that too many now come up with no reply in my mailbox. But not just now. I am going away this weekend to visit my boyfriend and I will not bring my computer. Have other things to do :)

When looking for some batting in my cupboard in the sewingroom I found this bag. It is a BIG bag I made (in a quiltingclass) to carry all my stuff going to a quiltingclass. I had made som blocks from a thimbleberry BOM which I never was going to finish. And out of this I made the front and the back. Inside it I have a lot of pockets that fits my rulers, my cuttingboard, scissors aso. I have room for a lot of stuff in this one. I love this bag and have used it a lot.


I have prepared som application for this weekend and will also bring "Say it with flowers" to do some more quilting on it. I have now quilted all the blocks and will start to quilt the border. But I did not find the template of the one I wanted to do. It is missing :( But I found another one that can do, but it is not the one I had planned to have around this quilt.

Have a nice sewing weekend all of you.

See you on sunday evening.

(But I think I have to log on to his computer to read some blogs)

Make up bag - tutorial

Blogger actually let me load a lot of pictures. I don't believe it LOL

I got a lot of nice comments on the makeup bags I showed you earlier. And when I made another one yesterday I took some photos of the procedure and now you get to see it. Perhaps you want to make one too. If you do please let me know.

This is a very fast project and you can make one in just a few hours.

A guess a lot of you have big prints in your stash. They are very nice to use for this bag. Cut the front, batting and back in the same size. Mine measures 20 x 12 inches. If you want a smaller one just cut it smaller or make it bigger if you prefer that. Quilt all three layers together. If you want some applique on it you have to add this now. On the two I made yesterday I appliqued two hearts with buttons on. Use your fantasy!!

Next step is to sew it together in one side to make a tube. Zigzag the seam allowance.
Then fold the bottom like this. Can you see it or do I have to explain it better???
Sew the bottom together and zigzag the seam allowance.

Turn the right side out.
The bottom will now look like this.Measure the top of the tube. Mine is 10 inch wide. Cut two pieces of a matching fabric 5 x 11 inches. That is the 10 inch + 1/2 inch on each side that you will fold in. Have you made a bigger og smaller bag you have to measure your bag and add 1 inch.
Fold all the sides as on the photo and sew. Then iron it with wrong sides in. Sew a line one inch from the fold on both.

Then pin it on the bag like this and sew.

Then you have to stitch it down on the wrong side by hand. And sew a line on the front to hide the seam allowance.

Make two cords to lock the bag and voila........you got a new bag.

This is probably the most horrible sewing procedure you have ever read. Hope you will be able to understand. It is one thing to make it in Norwegian, another thing to translate it to understandable english LOL And please if you can help me to explain this in a better way please let me know.

If you choose to make one please let me know. And show it on your blog. This can be a very nice present for christmas. The one I have made now is for a little 3 year old girl. She had to have princess fabric. I will add some bathfoam and lotion for her.....I think. A teenager would probably love to get makeup in her bag. For boys I would probably add something else.

I have added this makeup bag on the sidebar if you want to make it later.

Did you guess what I was making???

Six hexagons and four diamonds.

This is what they become.

A heart.

Did you guess it??

This was fun making. I saw it on a norwegian blog some days ago and I fell in love with this heart. During the day at work I sat and speculated how it was done. I played with hexagons in my head and knew it would not work. But then I solved the problem. I had to add some diamonds. Of cours, why didn't I think about that earlier. I used six one inch hexagons andfour one inch six-point diamonds. And if you see at the photo from yesterday you can see how they are supposed to be stitched together. I left two sides of one diamond in the middle to turn the right side out and stuff it. I think I will use 1 1/2 inch templates next time I do this. I am planning to make bigger heart in red for christmas.

Several bloggers have given me so nice comments on the cosmetic bags I made yesterday. I have made one today and I will show you tomorrow how I made it. A little tutorial.

My weekend

This have been a quilty weekend :) I started saturday morning to sew on my one hour quilt and during this weekend I have almost finished Gratitude. I have not put the bottom border on it yet, because I am considering to put another row on it. I had planned to use it as a slumberquilt in my sofa and I think it is too short now. I took a photo outside today, but the colours are so wrong. But I did not manage to take a better one.

I have made two christmas gifts. These two cosmetic totes was easy and fast to make. I think I am going to make more of these. Perhaps one for myself too. And my DD also wanted a new one. Perhaps I'll make her one and fill it with soap, lotion and makeup.

My four blocks for the Country Whig Rose wall hanging" from the Simple Blessing book are done and I have sewed them together. I will now start on the border around very soon. I love doing needleturn applique.

While watching tv this weekend I also got a lot of handquilting done on my "Say it with flowers" I have only a few weeks left before it have to be finished. I have entered it in my quiltgroups ufo-challenge and we are going to show them the last thursday this month. I am quilting the last flower and then I just have the border left.

Guess what this is going to be? This is something I started to sew on this evening. Six hexagons and four diamonds put together............ I'll show you tomorrow !!

Saturday morning

After a busy week I am going to enjoy working in my sewingroom the whole weekend. I have been so exhausted when returning come home from work that sewing was not my first prioity. But now I have BIG plans for the weekend and I have made a list of what I want to do. The rain is pouring down outside, a bit strange regarding to the cold weather we have had. That means perfect sewing weather. I am going to visit my mom for a couple of hours today and I hope the roads is not too icy. But before and after visiting her I want to sew.

I found this test at a blog and had to try it. My DD i so interested in tarot and mysterious things and it will be fun to show her that I am "The empress" ( I don't know if she will agree to that however LOL). I will blog more about quilting later when I have got something to show you.

You are The Empress

Beauty, happiness, pleasure, success, luxury, dissipation.

The Empress is associated with Venus, the feminine planet, so it represents,
beauty, charm, pleasure, luxury, and delight. You may be good at home
decorating, art or anything to do with making things beautiful.

The Empress is a creator, be it creation of life, of romance, of art or business. While the Magician is the primal spark, the idea made real, and the High Priestess is the one who gives the idea a form, the Empress is the womb where it gestates and grows till it is ready to be born. This is why her symbol is Venus, goddess of beautiful things as well as love. Even so, the Empress is more Demeter, goddess of abundance, then sensual Venus. She is the giver of Earthly gifts, yet at the same time, she can, in anger withhold, as Demeter did when her daughter, Persephone, was kidnapped. In fury and grief, she kept the Earth barren till her child was returned to her.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

A busy day

Today I got my firewood oven installed, but I am not allowed to use it before next week. So I lightend up some candles upon it instead of firewood inside the oven. I am just using the oven to heat up my house and get it warm and cosy. I look forward to start using it when it freezing cold outside.

I had a day off from work today, and I'm beginning to feel much better after having the flu. My windows was dirty, and I cleaned everyone of them. Then I went to the shop and bought a little beautiful lightholder. Now it is hanged up in my kitchen window, with a little candle burning in it.

I started making two christmas gifts today :) Only 7 weeks left to christmas and I have to hurry up now. I know there are several of my relatives and friends who wishes a homemade present for christmas.

And I have continued applique on the last block for my "Country Whig Rose wall hanging" from the Simple Blessing book. I got a lot done while watching "71 grader nord" and "Bratcamp UK". I am so keen on getting this quilt done now.

Tomorrow I'm back at work againg. And in the evening I am going to the UFO-meeting. I have decided to bring my "Lazy crazy" quilt. I got this kit as a gift several years ago. When I found it in one of my ufo boxes I got a bit amazed. I thought I had done much more work on it. I had only made four blocks, but I had cut the fabric for the rest of the blocks. I can't understand why I stopped working on this. It is beautiful.

Take a look at the beautiful sunset this evening.

"Gratitude" step 2 and 3

I finished step 2 and 3 yesterday. And today I have made 6 of the scrappyblocks too. I am perhaps a bit ahead of Judy's steps, but I was so in a sewingmood LOL. And this photo will perhaps give a little prewiew of how it will look alike when it's done.
One little tip of the day. When I press I always "fix" the seams first, then I press press the seams towards the darker fabric. I feel that it helps preventing the small stripe stretching.Sunday afternoon and I am going to do some applique the rest of the evening while wathcing (hearing) tv. I am feeling much better from the flu now. I have to stay home from work tomorrow because I am getting my firewood oven installed. Perhaps I can show you a picture of it tomorrow. I am so looking forward to be able to heat my house with more than electricity.

UFO/WISP Challenge for 2007

WISP (Works in slow progress)
I love this word more the word UFO.

And I have a huge pile of WISP's. Why?

Perhaps reason number one is that I am always so curiuos starting new projects. I see a new pattern, a new book or something at the net (read; you other bloggers) and I start on a new project before finishing what I am already working on. But I know I am not the only one. You agree that it is more fun starting a new project than working on an old one??? But then it feels soooooo good when I get one finished.

Reason no two may be that I handquilt almost all my projects, and that takes time. But I enjoy handquilting and find it so relaxing......and pretty. When a quilt is pieced by hand I want to quilt it by hand. When it's pieced by machine (like the nov quilt I'm doing now) I will try to machinquilt it.

Lucy at Quilting with the past reduced her UFOpile in a clever way. Perhaps this can be done with some of my WISP's. Take a look on her blog and see what she did.

Sandie at abeutifulcraft have suggested a challenge for 2007 to reduce our WISP/UFO during next year. You can read about it in her blog.
I have had goals each month and when I in the end of the month realize that just some of them are completed, it is perhaps better with goals for a year.

On tuesday I am going to a UFO-meeting. We are some quilting friends who agreed some weeks ago that we should meet and do something about our UFO's. I have already packed the one I am going to work on. By meeting an evening each month I think we can encourage eaghother to work on our UFO's.

I want to share some important words.

Synnøves Crazy RR

This is my bad conscience. I should have finished the work on this one long time ago. I started this crayzy RR and I am the one who failed. Sorry Synnøve for letting you wait so long to get your block back. But today I have done my work and soon it will be in your mailbox.

I started to croche a flower which I embellished with white pearls. For you who do not understand Norwegian, the word Mor which is beaded above means Mother.

There was already make one big red rose on the block, and I thougt I had to add some more red on it. I made a red heart embellished with green beads. And on the little heart I added in the middle of the heart it says "Made with love"
Some more red roses and beads. A white lace with some white pearls and tiny red daisy stitches. And this is Synnøves block finished. Now it can go back home to her. I think it turned out beautiful.

Quilt for an hour -1-

I was home from work today. I was supposed to go to Trondheim on a boardmeeting with the Norwegian Quilt Association, but I just had to stay home with the flu. I feel very sad about it because I had been looking forward to this weekend for months.

I managed to start on "Gratitude" which is the name of Judy's Quilt for an Hour november quilt. I used The Angeler 2 to make the half square triangles. This little tool makes it easy to chain sew the squares correct.

After sewing all the squares together it was time to cut them to 2 1/2 inches. I marked the ruler with the size I wanted and started to cut. Marking the ruler with tape makes it easy to get the same size without thinking to hard LOL.
And now I have 80 squares.

Next step is up and I'll do it tomorrow. I enjoy this!!!!!!

November

This photos shows a totally different weather report than a few days ago. Minus 18 C when I woke up this morning. The snow is so beautiful when the sun shines on it.
November 2nd. New month and new goals. What happend with my goals for october:

* oct post: I want to recuce my UFO's. Still have two left of the three UFO's registrated on my quiltgroups UFO challenge to complete. One is basted and is going to be handquilted. I will try to baste the last one this week and perhaps I will machinquilt it.
Yes I did baste the "Say it with flower quilt" and I have quilted 2/3 of it. Have to finish it before nov 30th when we are going to show our finished ufo's at the quilt meeting.

* Oct post: Start making christmas gifts.
NO....and that bothers me. Just 7 weeks until christmas. Better hurry up.

* Oct post: Organize all my patterns. I have to because I have been looking for a certain pattern and I can't find it. And I have a lot of patterns.
Yes, I did organize some of my patterns. I have put all my stitcherypatterns in a cover. I have put all the others in boxes. And I found several lost patterns stucked in books and fabric. One advice on lost patterns: Look in you fabricstash or in books or magagazines.

* Experiment more with my CQ. Looking forward to receive the book I have ordered.
I got the book, but I have done very little on CQ. But I will in november.

* Handquilt on my Spinning wheels NO
* Handquilt on my Sunflower dresden NO
I have concentrated my handquilting on "Say it with flowers"

* Have to continue on the quilt I am going to have above my sofa. The wall is still empty. Have made 3 blocks. One more to make and then put the border on. Priority one.
Yes I have started the last block. Working on it now.

October was not my month of quilting. I got so out of focus. But reading other blogs tell me I was not the only one. So in november I have just a few goals.

No 1 priority is getting focus on my quilting again. So I will not have more goals in november. That means I can do whatever I want whenever I want. I have started onJudy's Quilt for an hour, and I will enjoy doing this one. And I will continue handquilting on my "Say it with flowers" and applique more blocks. But I will not pressure myself to reach any goal this month.

One of my best friends have made a blog. She makes a lot of beautiful things and I hope she will continue blogging. So please take a look at Anita's blog and encourage her to continue. We live so far away from eachoter and that's a pity. But we talk on the phone and teases eachother often. She is a dear friend to me.