Pincushion tutorial

Do you not know what to sew this weekend????

Perhaps you want to make a pincushion???

You need:

2 inch paperpieces (or if you want to do a smaller one you can use 1 1/2 inch)
Cut: 5 dark 2 1/2 inch squares, 5 medium 2 1/2 inch squares and 5 light 2 1/2 inch squares. (or cut in size 2 inch if you make the small one) Use matching fabrics.

Start to "dress" all the pieces. One little tip is to use a tine little spot of glue on the middle of the paperpirce when you place the fabric. Makes the fabric lay still when you sew it on. Then take four of the light fabrics and sew them together as a fourpatch. But you have to leave one side open. Look at the photo.

This is because you now have to sew the fift light piece in between these two pieces. Look at the photo below and you will understand how I mean it.

Do the same with the five dark fabrics.

Sew the medium fabric in between the dark fabric you have. Look at photo below and you will understand how.................... (so I hope LOL)

And when you have done this you will have two parts looking like this.

Now comes the tricky part. You have to sew it together :) The light part is the top of your pincushion and have to be sewn together with the dark/medium part. The edges of the light part is to be sewn together against the edges of the medium part. Look at the photo. If you sew it wrong together, that will work too, but you will get another shape on your pincushion.

You may have to remove some of the paperpieces to make it easier to sew together. But make sure you remove paper from pieces that have been sewn on all four sides.

Remember to leave one side open so you can turn the right side out :)

Remove all the paper

and tur the right side out.

Stuff the pincushion with batting and make sure to get batting all out in the edges. Sew the opening. Now you have to use one of your beautiful buttons and sew it on the middle of the pincushion while you sew through the pincushion from the top to the bottom and tighten it together. And now you have a big or a small pinchushion depending on what size of paperpieces you have used. Please email me if there is any question about doing this.

Quiltsaying for today:

If there are no Quilting Bees in Heaven, I ain't going!

AD blocks number 18 - 19 - 20

Three more Applique Designs blocks.
Now I have made 20 of them.
Still 32 to make :)

They are so fun to make.

The next two are not ironed so please forgive me posting such wrinkled photos.

How are your progress going on these blocks Nadine, Darlene, Hanne and Angie and Suze??????

My weekend at the quilt cabin

I had to leave in a hurry on thursday. Was supposed not to leave until friday afternoon after work, but when I visited the doctor on thursday morning she told be to stay home. My arm is hurting so much. And this made it possible for me to leave one day earlier. Only one of my friends who was coming with us knew I was coming one day earlier. I packed in a hurry. Did not know if I had remembered everything. But I thought that with my arm hurting so bad I would not be able to sew that much. And as usual I pack too much. And so I did this time also :)

Arriving the cabin I parked my car a bit away from the cabin and I sneaked up to the cabin. I grabbed a branch and started to knock on one window. I hoped to scare them a bit because this is a cabin far into the woods where nobody else is. But I did not manage it too well. They spotted me through the window. A lot of laughter and warm welcome when I entered the cabin.

The fireplace was warm and the coffe on the table. Perfect timing to arrive the cabin.

Just little bit of handsewing on thursday evening. Had to take care of my arm. But a lot of laughter and jokes. It is so relaxing to have such an evening with good friends.

On friday morning I drove down to the city again and brought my dear mother up to the cabin to stay some hours with us. She used to joine all these quilt trips earlier, but now she is not well enough to stay a whole weekend. She was a clever quilter earlier, but now she will not do anything more. It was so good to have her with us, and she enjoyed it so much.

When all the girls had arrived the cabin we started on our first project. A exclusive sewingbag with our logo "The spools" (Trådsnellene). I had made the pattern and friday evening was stitching day. Everyone finished their stitchery. And the next day we started to make our sewing bags under my instructions.

And this is how six sewingbags look like.

Thursda and friday was very cold and windy days. So it was nice to stay inside and sew. But saturday was so beautiful. And after all that sewing we had to go for a long walk. Listening to the birds singing, feel the sun warming and lot of jokes. What more can a quilter ask for.
Well, a cup of coffe by the cabin. That tasted sooooo good out in the sun.

Next project was a table runner with curved lines. I had planned to make a romantic table runner and had found light fabrics together with a rose fabric. I think they matched good together. The clue with this tecnique is to have fabrics that is almost similar in colour. And then we started to cut the fabric with our rotary cutter. A bit scary. Would I manage to get the curves nice. Would I manage to sew them togehter nice.

With a glass of red wine it was no problem cutting beutiful curves.

Looking through the window sunday morning was a chock. It was snowing and blowing like h....

So it was with very good conscience we stayed indoors and continued our sewing. And we almost managed to complete our table runners. I only have to get the bindings on mine. And it will be beautiful on my kitchen table. My DD said to me when I came home: Finally you have made something romantic, please make more. So my next projects will be to make pillows and wallhangings in a romantic style.

Besides the sewingbag and the table runner I did some hand stitching too.

I completed two more daisy blocks, so now I have five. Will prepare more of them today.

And I handquilted some more on my wheels. I love this quilt, but I have a lot of handquilting to do on it. But not now when my arm is hurting that much.

We had a great time and we have already dated our next trip in august. I am already looking forward to that weekend.

Saying for today:

Friendships are sewn... one stitch at a time

The goodies in the post

Just before leaving on my quilt trip I told you that I had got some goodies in the mailbox.

First of all was the beautiful siggies from blogging friends all over the world. I look forward to sew them together. But I have not decided how yet. Have to play a bit with them.
Then came this georgius cat fabric from Amy. She knew I was looking for a fabric with abysinian cats on. And she found one. The dark pink cat is a abysinian cat. Thank you Amy, I love it. Do not know what to make of it yet, have to think about it.

Then there came a beutiful green fabric from Sigrun. I had helped her with som sewing questions and as a thank she sendt me this beautiful fabric. I know exactly where to use this. In my new romantic style :)

And when I came home from the quilt cabin another envelope in the mailbox. This time from Donna in Australia. It was a pattern that I had asked for and she had also added a quilt magazine for me. Thank you so much Donna.

Quilt weekend at the cabin

Just a little note to say I am soon off to a quilt reatreat with my friends. We are as usual going to the cabin in the woods. I was planning to go there tomorrow, but I'm going today!!!!!
Just have to pack all my stuff first.

I'll give you full report when I come home.

Have to tell you my siggies has arrived.
I got a beautiful catfabric from Amy (Calico Cat), thank you Amy!!
And I also got a beautiful green fabric from Sigrun.
I will post photos of it all when I come home

Now I have to rush!!!!

See you :)

Spring in Oslo

I am visiting my boyfriend in Oslo this weekend and yesterday we went to the city. It was so beautiful weather. Sun and it was warm. One of the first day when you leave your jacket at home and just wear a T-shirt. The city was crowded with people out enjoying this warm day.

We walked up against the royal castle.

The flowers are blooming and this photo is taken behind the castle.

Where also the ducks where resting in the sun.

Not far behind the castle there is one of my favorite quiltshops. Kathrines Quiltestue has a lot of beautiful patterns and fabric of my taste. I forgot to take photos from the shop. My boyfriend was waiting patiently outside the shop while I was trying to hurry up in the shop. I had no intention buying anything because I actually did not need anytning.......... LOL Did I manage not to buy anything......NO.....of course not LOL

The first weekend i May I am going to take a quilt class and I am going to make a beautiful christmas table cloth....or a spring table cloth. And of course I had to buy some fabric to this class. I have nothing back home LOL. We are also going to use triangles on a roll and I bought this roll now. Perhaps I will make both the christmas and the spring/summer table cloth at the same time. Bente, who is giving this class, was teaching in the quiltshop yesterday and she told me that if you are a fast sewer you can manage to make two on the same time. I guess I will do that, because I can't make up my mind which one I will make.

Quilt saying for today:

Life is like a patchwork
Make it precious day by day
Have a pattern for your life
Adding fun along the way!
- Author Unknown-

Tagged with The Thinking Blogger Award

Just got a mail from Darlene that says she has tagged me with The Thinking Blogger Award. (You can read about the award here). I'm honored and I'm blushing because of the nice words she says about me. When I started blogging in august last year I had no idea what I was doing and how many new friends I was going to get. I only wanted to make my blog as a journal for myself.


Being tagged means that I now have to tagg five of my favorite blogs. But it's difficult to choose five favorite blogs because I have so many I love to visit. So please click om my sidebar and visit the blogs I have listed there. I have plenty more on my bloglines which I visit every time they post something new.

I will thank each and everyone for all the inspiration and joy you give me by posting on your blogs. You should all get this award. I am so happy I have found you.

So who will I mention as my favorite blogs:


I would of course have chosen Nadine's blog because she has become a dear friend to me. But she is already tagged by Darlene.

Anita - my very dear fiend from Grimstad. I got to know her several years ago and she has become a very dear friend to me. We share the same sort of humor and fun. And she makes wonderful projects. It's sad that we live so far away from eachother because we have so much fun when we meets.

Hanne - Hannes Quilt corner - is a dear norwegian friend who is so talented and gets so much done. I honor her because of all the quilts she are donating as care quilts for children with long term diseases here in Norway. I have met her several times and she is such a beautiful inspiring person.

Judy - Quilting with ragdolls. I love the colours she is using in her quilts. It is always a pleasure to visit her blog and I get a lot of inspiration from her.

Dawn - Quilts and Pieces. Love to visit her blog and see what she is doing. She gives now and then very good tutorials like the last one where she explain how to use freezer paper in her sewing. She is very talented and makes wonderful quilts.

Tazzie - Tazzie Quilts. She also makes wonderful quilts and I love to read about Australia. She is such a nice person who always gives supporting comments.

Saying for today:

Friends forever right from the start- caring and sharing from the heart

SNOW

I wake up this morning to..........THIS :(

It started to snow last night, but I thought it would go away. But it kept snowing and snowing and today................ grpmh :( After having such beautiful (but windy) days I was ready for spring and summer. Not this. But I hope it will melt during the day. And I have already changed to summer tires on my car!!!!
After finishing the bindings of my ufo's earlier this easter I started on this spring project. I bought the pattern when I was on our annual quilt meeting in march and I wanted to do this now. So yesterday I finished the stitchery on the three spring flowers. Blåveis (lieverlief), snøklokker (snowdrops) and krokus (crocus). The photo is not good, but my camera would not cooperate. So now I will enter my sewing room and see if I find some fabric suitable for these flowers. I want something in light green, turquoise and yellow. Spring colours.

One day left of my holiday. Tomorrow it's work again. And I know there is a lot of work waiting for me to be done. It has been a good holiday. A lot of relaxing, sewing, visiting my mother and visitors. I needed these days off from work now.

So I will make use of this day as best as I can.

Saying for today:

A friend is that one word "hello" over the phone
that can make you feel better than 10 minutes
of conversation with anyone else.

Bindings, bindings and more bindings

Boooooooring.
Why do I find sewing bindings so boring. I hate it. But today I have finished bindings on three projects. And I finished them very quick while watching tv. The weather is sunny but very windy and not so warm. And with a sore throat I would not go outside and sit on my porch.
I do not think I am the only one finding this sewing so boring. Perhaps I got a bit spoiled some years ago when my dear mother still was quilting. She always sewed the bindings on my projects. But today I realised that sewing bindings is very relaxing and mindless sewing. So perhaps I will not "fear" this sewing furhter on.

I have finished my tulip runner and now it is laying on my table togehter with yellow light and a easter egg filled with candy.
Looking through my ufo's I found this little rooster. I only had to sew the binding on to finish it. When visiting Stord some years ago I noticed a painting in the hotel lobby. I thought it was so amusing and took a photo of it. When I came home I draw this rooster and appliqued it. And today I finished it. Poor rooster, I think he got to much to drink LOL

I also finished my "Say it with flowers". I love this one. Think I will hang it above my sofa when I remove my easter chickens.

I also found this chicken quilt. This is my own design and I had totally forgotten all about it. But now it is hanging on my kitchen wall.

Now I will start on a new project. Visiting Inga Helenes blog I noticed her beautiful coasters made of kites. So now I will start to make some myself.

Saying for today:

Really I don't dislike to cook,
but what you cook is eaten so quickly.
When you sew, you have something
that will last to show for your efforts.
~Elizabeth Travis Johnson

Easter

Finally some days home from work. Relaxing, sleeping, eating and sewing. The sun is still shining, but the wind is blowing to rough so I do not want to go out. Instead I have been sitting in my sewingroom preparing a model for a class I am giving in a couple of weeks. A sewing bag with stitchery/redwork on. I have permission from Bronwyn Hayes to use her patterns from magazines in my classes. And this is one of her drawings, but with norwegian text. And the text says: My bsket is filled with joy of life. The fist evening they will learn how to do stitchery and the next they will sew the bag.
My cat Frida loves to sleep in my sewingroom. And when I cleaned it some days ago I found a catbasket for her. She would not use it earlier. Perhaps because some years ago this was the basket for one of my other cats. And I think she did not dare to use it because it was his basket and he always chased her . But now she is THE BOSS in the house and she does whatever she wants. So she occupied this basket at once and now she loves to sleep in it.

So now back to sewing. Next project is to finish the binding on my tulip table runner.

I noticed that some of my links in the sidebar to blogs I love to visit was not working. Now I have done a update on them and also added some new ones.

Saying for today:

Yesterday is history.
Tomorrow is a mystery.
Today is a gift

Happy easter!!

I wish you all a happy easter!

This is my easter wall hanging. I designed and sewed it some years ago. It has been hanging in the shop for a while so this is actually the first time I have it on my wall.

I thought I should sew a lot this weekend, but instead I started to clean in my sewingroom ......again. But this time I felt that I had to do it. It was such a mess in it and I did not feel like sit in this mess an sew. So instead of sewing I started cleaning. New curtains and a clean window. All the fabrics back in the boxes and the cupboard (and now the cupboard is a mess, but the doors is closed and no one will see :) So now I am ready to sew.And I made this little bag. It is a gift from my friend Anita. She bought this kit when we was at our annual quilt meeting. Thank you Anita for this wonderful gift. Have you made yours yet ?? LOL
The sun is shining and it was lovely to sit on my porch sewing. Coffee, some waffels and cloudberry jam. I love daffodils and have bought a lot of them to decorate for easter. It was so nice to sit ther and listen to the birds singing while I was applique on my daisy blocks. If you look closely in the wood, you can see that we still have a lot of snow. But I think with this warm sunny weather it will melt very fast.

I have to work two days this week, but on wednsday I have my easter holiday and I am really looking forward to that.

Saying for today:

Season everything with love