Summer party

My quiltgroup have tradition to have a "summer party" every year. And this time we was invited to the cabin own by one of the ladies in our group. It is a very old mountain dairy (don't know if this is the right word for i, but the dictionary gave me it). It's a very old house from 1861 which they have restored. In old times they used to keep the cattle and sheeps here during the summer and there was a lot of activity. Now it's just long grass and flowers to see.

The view from the cabin down to the lake.

They have a outdoors toilet. A bit windblown, but so charming. Look at the door.......
...... a little quiltet heart !!!!

Inside we was met by a open fire at this beautiful fireplace.
Bjørg, who is the owner of this cabin, have decorated the whole cabin with beautiful quilts. And of course I have to showe you some of them........

Beutiful bluework

And look at these birds. She have used an old window to frame the quilt.

More bluework

A landscape with moose. If you look closely you can perhaps see that she have used real hooks on the appliqued windows.

A beautiful tablerunner. I love this one.

All over the house you can see old items.

Some of the girls in our quiltgroup. Look at the tablemats of hexagons on the table.

Summerparty means food.

Me sitting at the left. We was not able to do any sewing because there was only candlelight. No electricity at this cabin. But I find that very charming. And now I was able to rest my shoulder a bit :)

Another detail from the cabin.

Some years ago our quiltgroup had a visit from a friendship quilt group from Grimstad. They gave us a lot of blocks they had made. Since Grimstad is a city by the sea, they had made maritime motives on the blocks. Now we have finished it. It's beautiful.

Some other ladies sitting in the blue room.

A little show and tell.

Lisbeth and Laila have started this BOM. And now they have a lot of applique to do :)

This has been a wonderful evening. The weather was not so good, but the cabin was big. Even when we was 37 ladies the cabin could have room for several more. Good food, laughter, beautiful quilts and good friends. Now our quilt group has summer vacation and we will not have any meeting again until the last thursday in august.

Saying for today:

Everyone smiles in the same language

Time to blog again.....

I have not been in blogging mood, nor in comment mood lately, but I promise I will change that. I read your blogs every day. The first thing I do in the morning is that I turn on the computer to see what have happend during the night. Due to the time difference a lot of blogs are written when I am asleep :) And you have all made such beautiful things that inspire me. But due to my shoulder I have been in a bad mood. Been a bit grumphy. But after having a "chat" with Nadine today I am now in a better mood. Thank you Nadine for cheering me up :)

She told (ordered) me to treat myself in the quiltshop and so I did LOL They have received a lot of new Lecien fabrics, and they were sooooooo beautiful. I am collecting japaneese fabrics and I had to buy these. Aren't they lovely. And there is several more bunles from this fabric collection left in the shop (waiting for me :) But one thing that wonders me is that there is so hard to find red, yellow and orange japaneese fabric. I am sure they are out there in the big world somewhere......or are they not?????

Later today Nancy (my friend from Grimstad) called me and told she and her husband was passing through Elverum on their way back home. And they wanted to have a little break on their long drive back home. I met them at the restaurant where they were having dinner and then I took them to the quilt shop. I had arrange that the shop was open only for her :) I couldn't let her pass Elverum without a visit to our quiltshop. She bought some fabric, and so did I ................. again. Three beutiful christmas fabrics. Christmas in may!!!!!!!!!!! But I had to buy them now because there was so little left at the bundles LOL And Nancy is making a beautiful pattern for a christmas tree skirt which I want to make.

My bad shoulder does not allow me to do very much sewing, but I have been able to do some stitchery this weekend. Sitting comfortable in my favorite chair I have made these two cute girls. Will do the final stitches this evening. And I think I know what to make of them.....wait and see.

Nadine have become a very dear friend to me. She and I are like twin sisters sharing joys and sorrows, laughs and tears. We have never met in real, but I hope we'll do very soon.

Last friday I received another beautiful treasure envelope from her. Look what she sendt me:

I love the book and the pattern.She know I am collecting japaneese fabrics and she had cut a little piece of her japaneese. I am now doing the same back to her with my japaneese. Sharing small pieces of the fabricstash is fun and you don't need big pieces to make beautiful things. And look at the tag I got "Warning, quilter on the move!" Thats me!!!! I'm going to have it on my suitcase next time I'm travelling. Or perhaps I should have it on my purse............or even better......on my jacket. Thank you Nadine, you know how to make my day!!

Saying for today:

What brings joy to the heart
is not so much the friend's gift,
but the friend's love

Quilt templates

I can't believe it is over a week since my last post. But I have not been up to much sewing lately. Thanks for all the mails I have received from several of you asking how I am. I'm still home from work and I'm going to the physio"torturist" three times a week. She is really "torturing" me so I am not feeling so good after seeing her. But I know it will help. And I have been to the hospital and now they will take some more x-rays and a MR to see what's wrong with my shoulder. And they are talking about surgery. So now I just have to wait and see.

I have been trying to organize my sewing room these days. And I have found all my templates around in my sewingroom. I'm a collector on quilt templates. I counted them and in this pile I got 64 different quilt templates!!!! Does anyone else collect templates???? I am so fond of handquilting and when I see a new border I have to have it :)

I got snowmen, cats and a sewing template.

And these three is among my favorites. But I have many of them. And still many I have not used yet. I try to buy templates with a corner. That makes it easier to do a nice border around my quilt.

I will try to do some stitchery this weekend. A little bit handsewing is therapy for a grumphy soul. And I feel I have been a bit grumphy these days. Have a nice weekend everyone.

Saying for today:

A cat's purr: Most effective
stress medicine known

May 17th

May 17th is Norways national day and we are proud to be Norwegian on a day like this.

We woke up to a wonderful sunny day.

Childrens parade with a marching band. It is always so nice to listen to the band and watch the norwegian flag. A lot of people are dressed in bunad and I am proud of wearing mine. I forgot to take a photo of me in bunad. But if you want to see how it look like please visit Anne's (Quiltaholic) blog and see. I got one just like hers.

My DD and her friend giving their cards to the children in the parade.

My DS and DD.

The last parade on this day is the parade made by russen. And my DD was in it. I'm sure they are starting to feel very tired now. Yesterday I invited my DD russ friends on pizza. I think it was about 15-20 russ at one time. And I think they loved my pizza. Then they went out partying all night, waking up the teachers early in the morning, joining the childrens parade and finally their own parade.
This has been a wonderful day. But now my feet are sore and I'm tired.

Some thoughts

Talking about UFO/WISPS (whatever). I do not dare counting mine. I have tooooooooooooo many of them. Too many tops ready to be quilted, to many tops that needs batting, too many half done projects, too many...........................

And too much fabric, too much patterns, too much books............................ and I still want more. Do we never get enough of it????

I doubt it.

But I feel like this sometimes: SELL ALL OF IT........THROW IT AWAY...............GIVE IT TO CHARITY............ I HAVE NO MORE IDEAS

But then I pull myself together and realize that this is who I am and this is what I want to do. And how much I love it. I love playing with colours and creating things. Perhaps not all the projects I start will be finished. But that doesn't matter as long as I am happy.

So I keep on collecting fabrics, books and patterns. Shares it with my dear friends. Starts new projects. Abandon old projects.

I LOVE MY HOBBY

And I guess I'm not the only one feeling like this :)

Thank you all for being my friends.

Saying for today:

God put me on earth to sew
and finish a certain number of things

(not all of them)

Shoes

This is what I found in my hall some days ago. A lot of shoes. And I knew my DD had her friends visiting. I just counted all the shoes and divided with two, and then I know how many visitors she had up in her room.
I have alwas had a open house for my childrens friends. They can come and go as they want. They know where the bread and butter is and they are not afraid to start cooking in my kitchen. In just a few months my DD is moving to go to a school and then there will be only the cat and me back home. That will be a big change in my life. But for the moment I enjoy having the teenagers in the house. The house filled with laughter, music and noice.

Another saying for today:
Raising a teenager is like nailing Jell-o to a tree.

I love surprises!!!!!

I can't believe I have forgotten to show you what came in the mail for me one week ago. Sorry Fiona, I did not mean to forget to thank you. I left a comment on her blog Dragonfly crafts some weeks ago when she posted her100th Post Celebration Giveaway. And she picked me as one of the winners. I love these coasters. I had planned to make coasters, but now I don't need to do it. I have already used them a lot under my cup of tea. They are made in a very clever way. Not as ordinary fourpatch, because one side of each square has a opening (as a little pocket). I have to figure out how she made these. Fiona, please give us a tutorial on these lovely coasters????

Today I had my first appointment with the physiotherapist. And I feel it in my neck, back and arm right now. She pulled, stretched, twisted and massaged. At that moment it was ok when she did it, but now............. I feel she found all my sore spots. And she believes my pain now is a result from the car accident in march. Wednesday is my next appointment.

A big surprise in the mailbox today. And it was such a encouragement. Almost all my pain in the neck and back disappeared for a moment. It was a envelope from Linda at All stitched up. I had mentioned for her that I was looking for red and white fabric for my redwork project and she offered to send me fabric in exchange for some patterns I have. But I had no idea she would send me four big pieces of the most beautiful red/white fabrics. And she had also added this cute stitchery book for me. I am so thrilled. You are sooooooo spoiling me dear friend. And my envelope for you is soon ready to be posted. Be patient.

What have I been sewing lately. Not much. I have tried to take it easy on my shoulder. But I have done some handapplique on my summer table cloth. I want to finish it soon so I can have it on my table THIS summer. But thinking of that I want to handquilt it, it will probably not be finished before next summer :) I have soon finished all the flowers, but then all the leafs are left. And then I have to sew all the blocks together. But I continue working on it.

Saying for today:

Behind every sewer is a huge pile of fabric

I'm tagged: 7 things about me

Both Nadine and Jane Anne have tagged me to tell about 7 random facts or habits about myself. 7 things you do not know about me. When I'm tagged twice, does that mean I have to list 14 facts........I think I only tell about 7

I suppose there is a lot of things you do not know about me, since you are out there in the big blog world and I am living here in little Norway. Only a few of you know me in person. So I guess there is a lot of things to tell you. But what can I tell you? I got my secrets LOL, and I never tell them, but..............

7 things about me:

1. I can never tell a lie. They can see it in my eyes if I try. And why tell a lie. It is better to be honest.
2. And if I try to play a joke on someone I always get caught because I start to smile. But I love to play jokes on others (Nadine, you know that LOL) and even if it is not me who have done it, I get blamed. Always when something odd happends at work, I hear them shouting: May Britt, was it you......... (and probably it is :)
3. I hate merry-go-rounds, roller coasters and everything inside a amusement park. So when we visit places like this I am always the one looking after the bags.
4. But I have had the oportunity to get a ride with Black Hawk helicopter when I worked in the airforce in North of Norway. That was a trip I never will forget. It was like a rollercoastertrip where we had 3G on the top and we were weightless when we had a free fall straight down. And I was not scared one minute, I enjoyed it!
5. When I was a little girl (probably three or four years old) I sat under my moters sewingtable and cut her newest blouse in pieces. I guess this was my first attempt to be a quilter.
6. I'm afraid of bees and wasps. If they comes near me I scream and run hysterical away.
7. I love Pepsi Max. Too much according to my DD.

I am now supposed to tagg five other friends. I know a lot of you are already tagged, so I leave it up to you to decide if you want to be tagged.

My handstitching class

I promised to show some photos from my handstitching class. It was the last evening on monday and I think we have some new quilters here. Looks like they got addicted to this hobby.

We have been in the local quiltshop all the time. And it's very inspiring to have classes there between all the beautiful bolts of fabrics, quilts, books and patterns. And we have big tables to baste our quilts on.

Sometimes they have to use the most odd positions to get the basting done. Do you see the cat quilt behind on the wall? That's one of my own patterns.

Only three ladies had completed their samplers. And they are beautiful and well handstitched. I am proud of them. During these eight evenings they have learned everything from drawing patterns, making different blocks, applique, basting and handquilting. Now they have to do the rest at home. To handquilt the whole sampler. In august I start a new class if I get enough participants.

Saying for today:

Sometimes a library of words can't say
what a hug from a friend can.

I'm tired

I'm so tired after this weekend. But we had such great fun and we managed to do a lot on our table clothes we were making. After all our homework yesterday (photo from yesterday), and we had a lot of drawing, ironing on vlisofix and then cutting to do, we entered our class early this morning.

Here is a photo of Lisbeth and Laila sewing on their blocks.

And during the day some manage to start the application.

Since I never learn and started on both summer/spring and christmas table cloth I was not able to get so far as the others who made only one. I'm like Winnie the Poo who says: Yes please, I take both......... (I do not know if this is the correct translation of "Ja takk begge deler"). I guess I am not the only one starting on too many projects at the same time. So I started both. During this two days I made almost all the blocks. I managed to get all the application on my center piece. And that's all..................

A photo of my summer/spring with all the blocks completed. Now I have to start handapplique around all the flowers. And belive me, there are quite a lot of them :) But I love applique so I look forward to do it. I have chosen beige/white in my blocks and very light colours on the flowers and leafs. And between the blocks I'm going to have a floral fabric.

And this is going to be my christmas table cloth. Angels, stars, hearts and gingerbred men on the centerpiece. With blocks in red and cream/white. A lot of applique to do on this too. And THIS one is going to be finished before next christmas.

Now I have to take it a bit easy the next days, because my arm is hurting like h..... Too much cutting and to much sewing was not good for my arm. And tomorrow is the last day in my handstitching class. They have made beautiful samplers. I will show you photos of them tomorrow.

Saying for today:

I don't need to get organized,
I just need a bigger sewingroom

Progress today

We have a big room we have our quilt classes in. It is at the nursery school. A lot of tables we can use as cuttingboards, ironingboards and sewingboards. Here are some of the 14 girls at class today.
We got some homework to do. And here is Lise cutting her applique figures for tomorrow.

And why can I ever learn. Why did I start on both summer/spring and christmas. That means twice making blocks, twice making the applique, twice cutting, twice...................

Here you can see the blocks I have made. Six for each season. Six more to make tomorrow. It was fun working with triangel paper.

I have prepared my applique figures on vlisofix and are ready to iron it on fabric. Then all the cutting. That's the booooooooooring part of it. But together with a good friend and some redwine I think it will be ok.

Tomorrow we are going to place the application on the center piece. And make some more blocks.

Off to class.....

My first post in May. Have I really not posted anything since monday. Time just rush away.
What have I been up to these last days. I have prepared my strawberry table runner from one of AnnAKa's patterns. I love strawberries and wanted to make this. So I have been out in the sun on my porch doing the applique on it. It procedes very slowly because of my bad arm. The doctor told me to keep my arm completely off sewing (have you heard anything THAT stupid), but you know......... I have to sew a little bit. If not I am getting crazy (read; more crazy than I'm already)

Now I have packed my fabrics, sewingmachine and other sewing gear to go to a class this weekend. It is here in Elverum so it is not far to drive. We are going to make a christmas- or a summer/spring table cloth. I had planned to do both, but perhaps I should take it a bit easy (due to my arm) and make just one of them???????????

Here is the fabric I have chosen. Red and cream for the christmas, and white, cream and romantic flowers to the spring/summer.

I'll bring my camera and show you later. The sun is shining and it will be a warm beautiful day. I wish we could bring our sewingmachines outside in the sun.

Saying for today:

You know you're a quilter
when you have more quilting ideas than time .