Been a while

Life just got busy and didn't have time to write about what has been happening around here. Not that much has happened.  I've been plodding on with the blocks for the lilac heart and can now see the end of them all. I only need to make 15 more! Then it is a matter of sewing it together and then quilting it. But that feels like it will be more fun then doing the blocks has been lately. Last night at my quilting course I started a quilt just for ME, well us really since I am making it to be used when lounging in the sofa . Just a nice blanket size quilt. Will post a sneak peek later.

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.

Lets go Quilt!

Finally got the size right for the second block. So now there will be a production line in my sewing room churning out these blocks so I can finish the second heart quilt and get busy quilting the two. And then I can go on to my next project which is the Wedding quilt.... I think I've decided on the pattern, I will see next Tuesday what I decide on after the quilting course. You never know I might get some other idea from the people there or Marina will show us something she has been working on to tempt us.

So, here are the infamous blocks. Laid out as I will sew them together.

And here is another picture, bit of closeup.

I do love this quilt and the colours. More then the other one I made. Both have their charm but this one I could easily keep for myself....

AArrgghhh!

No its not going well, but I might have found a solution to my troubles to get the 2 blocks the same size so I actually can sew them together! Remind me not to do this again!

In a bit of a pickle...

I am stuck.

I got one border left to put on the first heart quilt but I am going to leave it for a while since it has been troubling me a bit. I thought I'd make a start on the second heart but that's the problem. I know which patterns to use but, and this is a big but, what size and what colours to use? I have done 3 colour ways in various sizes and none sing to me when I lay them out next to the heart.... They just look limp and not connected to the centre heart at all. It doesn't even help when I lay out the borders I am going to have around the heart, which really REALLY look nice.

So, I love the second heart to bits and the borders I am going to sew around really really enhance it even further so what is wrong with the stupid blocks!? I am going to go sulk now and stare at it for a while and see if I have an epiphany.

Progress

I've done a bit more quilting to the gigantic spread. I like how it turned out. More fun too to make a pattern, so this is how it looks on the back where the quilting shows better.

Don't try this at home!

Yes this is me, With a cold and all, freehand quilting the gigantic bedspread I promised to make for Rosie and Fredrik ages and ages ago. I really didn't have any excuses left now for not finishing it for them and considering I am going to make them one for their wedding (which they don't know) I GOT to finish this one off! I thought the simplest of patterns would be a great start, so I doodled all over the green and blue in the middle section, swearing as I was going because the weight of the quilt is hard to handle when you want nice curvy doodles! But I got my grippy gloves on and the extra quilting table mounted on the sewing machine so it wasn't too bad. Got very achy arms now though from pushing and pulling the quilt around.

This is what the doodles look like. I haven't decided yet if I am keeping the hand quilted circles that are in the middle of the sunflowers.

Sniff......

Can't believe I have a cold yet again....Everything takes longer to do because of the lack of energy. I got all the material to finish off the first heart quilt but cant even find it in me to cut out the stripes. Lots of tea and keeping warm so I at least can go to work but not much else is happening here at the moment.

We had some very happy news the other day. Our friends Rosie and Fredrik are getting married this year! They have a lot to plan and look forward to and by the sound of it it will be a BIG family wedding. Now as soon as I heard the news I knew I wanted to make them a quilt but don't know what kind of pattern to use yet. Will ponder a bit and look around for inspiration, any suggestions are very welcome, the only thing I do know is that Rosie likes colour just as much as I do so it will be a real labour of love to make a quilt for them.

I think I'll go upstairs and stare at the heart quilt for a while to see if I can muster ANY energy to get it finished so I can go on to the next one.

Busy bean!

This is what has kept me busy, apart from work that is. But I must admit its been a bugger to me! I couldn't get it together as I had seen it in my head so I pondered a few days and tried various options of finishing it which meant me making  use of the ripper quite a bit when what I tried didn't look right. I did a bit of other quilting to take my mind off it, which didn't help,  until I had a brainwave in the middle of the night and actually woke up knowing exactly how I would finish it off! So here it is, as it is at the moment

It needs a small grey border and then a finishing wider black border before quilting but I didn't have enough fabric at home so will get that tomorrow before work so I can finish it this weekend and have it ready for quilting later on. Then it is on to the next heart......

Stack of loafs

I've tried out my machine a bit more today. Only had time to test it a bit on Saturday evening since I have been working all weekend. It is a brilliant machine! I even tried the freehand quilting for the first time ever on a pot holder I've been meaning to finish for ages. It is wonky and all but it was great fun to try it out and I can well see myself quilting away on bigger things as well.

For now here is a picture of my little loafs. Great fun to make and I plan to sell a few at my hairdressers once I take my necklaces down. Wouldn't you buy one if they were all jumbled up in a nice wide bowl?

Gobsmacked...

THIS is what Santa thought I should have this year for Christmas......

 Can I just say that I love my wonderful, quite incredible husband James who organized this and that I will forever be showering him with kisses! Loves you!

Merry Christmas!

It is the night before Christmas. Everything is done, food is prepared and sitting in the fridge ready for the oven tomorrow. The house is clean and tree is dressed. Sitting with a nice cuppa and just enjoying the night.
I hope you all have a very merry and bright Christmas!

Bits and bobs..

We went to Rosie and Fredrik today for our pre Christmas dinner and pressie swap. It was fun as usual and the presents were really nice. We got some saffron buns and gingerbread mooses in a nice tin set and a gingerbread house covered and stuffed with sweets! It is all edible! Lovely

We also made these;

It was really fun and a good laugh sitting sewing, even the guys managed to sew some hearts and stars. The star is my new pincushion and the hearts I was thinking about giving to my mum and sister. I am making more as well since they were easy and fun to do. We got plenty of stuffing and material left so will make a few to hang in our tree as well.

I am still wide awake from the wonderful coffee Fredrik made to keep us going. So I might just go and sew a bit

Twinkle little star

Today was a really snowy day, a perfect day to go get our tree. We had a bit of help from my mum with getting the tree back with us since our new car is rather small and we don't have a roof rack yet. I've taken a picture of it but it came out all very very dark and fuzzy so will try and take a better one tomorrow. It is lovely our tree, big but lovely. It did fit. After a bit of pruning.

I've made a bit of progress on one of the quilts but it is slow because of everything else going on for Christmas. But got some stars with the white done and the stripes are in place. There will be an outer border as well with a pin wheel corner. I like how it looks, but wish I had a design wall to hang it on instead of laying it on the floor where it really cant stay.