Weekend done and dusted!

I don't enjoy working weekends but its a must since I work part time in a supermarket. If I didn't the pay would be really really crap.

I haven't done much sewing at all, have had a headache and feeling generally tired and off since Friday . So after getting back from work and had something to eat all I could manage was to slump in front of the telly with a nice warm blanket.

It has been very cold here for a couple of days, night time temps being around -25 -27 degrees makes our house go cold inside. It has been much improved since Jamie did some extra insulation work down in the basement, the floor is not as cold as it was before but it still goes cold inside when the weather turns for the lower temperatures because our heating system can't cope with the extreme cold it being an air to air heating system. Don't ask what sort of system it is all I know is that if we ever move or build a new house we are not having this system again! It is total crap for Swedish climate but still all the new houses going up have this system as standard. No wonder people are complaining about their heating bills being horrendous when they need to put extra heaters on when it gets cold in winter.

We have been thinking again about maybe building our own house and looked a bit at what plots there are available. We would want to move out a bit in the country and get a bit more land as well. Jamie would like some woodland so we could be self sufficient with wood for heating, I'd like plenty of room for a wild garden and for growing vegetables plus a studio for all my crafts, oh that would be lovely. If we ever do build it would definitely be an eco house of some sort maybe even a passive house which uses very little energy for heating since it is so well insulated. Lots of things to think about of course and we still have to find the plot of our dreams. We will have fun looking though and if it pops up it does or maybe we will find a dream house in the country with all the requirements. But we best win the lotto first....!

Testing....

This is what is taking up a bit of my time....

Bits and bobs... and fabric!

This weekend has been very busy and had a slight change of plan due to the weather that rolled in on Thursday night. But it all went very well anyway since we could get to the sewing festival on Saturday instead of on Friday. But it was a bit of a disappointment. That festival seems to be getting smaller and smaller each year. My favourite fabric person wasn't even there this year with her stall. But there was someone else instead and she had a sale on! This is what I got from her

The top line I could easily use as is to a quilt I have in mind with lots of different stars. The bottom line I am thinking of making a table runner for spring. Even though looking out the window it doesn't look like spring will be here any time soon. I woke up to -19 and it is snowing....

Friday was spent indoors after shovelling all the snow that had drifted and sewing more blocks to the bargello heart quilt. At the moment I have 48 more blocks to do before I can start thinking about borders and quilting and binding. It is so slow going at the moment though, I need a second project on the side so I can alternate when it gets too boring doing the same block over and over again. That is why I finished the center bit of the Wedding quilt. I think it is safe to show on here so here goes.

Today at the course I am going to pick what borders I am going to finish it off with and then it is on to quilting it....

The more it snows!

We had plenty of snow dumped on us yesterday and this morning. Plus it got really REALLY windy so everything got blown around and drifted.

Had to dig out the car this morning

But the good thing is that I had time to do some sewing and after all hair pulling yesterday about getting the measurements right for the center borders around the bargello heart today was the big day of doing the first row. And it all fit! No pulling or cursing, it just slipped in place, so now it is just to go ahead and finish it off to the right size. Wohooo!

Here it is on my design floor looking all yummie!

I got a secret....

Yes I have started the wedding quilt but don't know if its safe to show a picture on here... I don't think our friends know about my blog and I haven't mentioned I blog lately but you never know! It will be bad enough if they find out they are getting a quilt so better hold off with posting pics just for a bit longer.

But I thought I'd share a few pictures of my sewing room. I know at least one follower who would like to see how it looks like in there....
But be warned, it is a bit messy, not as bad as it has been though, I made a bit of an effort to clean it up before I took the pictures, not much mind you, just a bit

In this one you can maybe spot my very small stash peeking out of the left cupboard shelf. I don't have much more quilting fabric then that. I have loads of other fabric stuffed in a closet in the guest room but that is mainly material for curtains and pillows and other ideas I have for the house.

This is my little sewing table with a view to our garden below.

These are two bigger tables that can be put together and they have adjustable legs so you can lower or raise them depending on what you are doing. At the moment I'm cutting the material for the blocks I need to make for the second heart quilt. Also my two scrap bins are getting filled up so soon I have to find something I can use them up in. I have a pretty good idea of making maverick stars out of them for a quilt but haven't had the time yet to sort through the boxes. At the moment everything is mixed pretty well. But I do think that the one box has a lid on it because it contains bigger pieces of fabric that I sorted out once before. And the one closest to the camera holds all the offcuts and end pieces that were just a bit too small to use.

Hopefully I will have a bit of time this weekend for some sewing. I am planning on doing a bit on both the wedding quilt as get some more blocks done for the heart quilt.

I got some post!

This is what I got from the sale at Quilters Haven

And then these, I just love the colourful stripe one, will definitely be doing something with that one in for spring!

Is it raining?!?

Oh, that was not what I was expecting to see when I woke up this morning. Usually it is supposed to be snow you know..... Well I don't mind as long as it doesn't turn really cold tonight and turn everything into ice. I got to get to my quilting course that is starting up again tonight! Am looking forward to that quite a lot you see :)

Marina asked me what I wanted to do for the course and I said I wanted to learn how to make cathedral window blocks since I cant seem to work out how to do them from what I am finding on here in the internet or from my books. I always learn better when someone shows me how to do it. I also want to make a start on the wedding quilt choosing colours and pattern. I just love standing there in front of the wall of colourful fabric and ponder what I am going to use this time. My favourite part of quilting I think.

I was wondering, what is a design wall made out of? I've heard you use flannel but also fleece. Is there a preference to which one holds the blocks better?

I will go for my walk in the rain and the slippery ice now and then get busy sewing more of those heart quilt blocks now when everything is going all right.