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.

Santas little helper

Yes that is what I feel like. I've made orange marmalade flavoured with vanilla and cognac, a whole lot of bisqotti, both saffron and chocolate/orange. I've also made some chocolate crispy treats and some rocky road sweets. Tomorrow I am doing some dark chocolate truffles and then I think I am set for our pre Christmas dinner with Rosie and Fredrik.  We sort of decided that we were going to make presents for each other this year. Then we decided that we also could buy some. For the home made part I'm doing foodie stuff and possibly some small purses tomorrow if there is time left and the bought part includes some cool tea strainers and a little very cool looking gadget to help you use ordinary candles in tea light candle holders.

Tomorrow is also tree day! That is my favourite thing to do before Christmas, to dress the tree. As per usual we will get a too big a tree just because we think it will fit and no there is no need to measure it, it will fit. Every year. But does it fit? Does is heck...lol

Im sorry but I cat stop laughing!

Marmalade

Today I walked into town and visited our big shopping mall Kupolen and did some Christmas shopping for US. I now only have to wait and see if the internet orders will come in time and then I am DONE! Oh, I got to make a flower basket for my mum but that's not a shore, that is just pure fun.

Besides the shopping this year I am making some Christmas presents as well. At the moment I am cooking some orange marmalade with a bit of lemon in it. A tip, don't cut lemons when you have skin cracks.... Ouch!
I am also going to make saffron biscotti and some Christmas sweets. But they are all fun so no stress there at least. If I'll have the time I will sew something as well to give away. But at the moment something cooked or baked is a better option for me. I just love baking!

Time goes by oh so quickly...

So, it is Friday.
Just two more weeks and it is Christmas. It is a lovely time of year, its even snowed. So why am I getting a cold sweat?? Could it be because I have not done my Christmas shopping yet? Or is it the fact that we are going to have Christmas dinner here at our house again that is making me quiver.  Or is it that my mum is asking me constantly if I have done HER Christmas shopping list yet?
I am ready to pull my hair out and am asking why I do this every single Christmas knowing how it was the year before! But no, this is the last time, the last straw, the bloody last drop! I AM NOT DOING THIS AGAIN!!
So please, if I mention next year that I am doing Christmas shopping for anybody else then me and Jamie, give me a wake up slap and a kick up my a... and teach me to say NO! Because at the moment I am thinking that dear old Scrooge had the right idea. Bah HUMBUG!!!

Sewing...pffff!

So much for my best laid plans of getting lots of sewing done over the weekend. On Friday I got company for the best part of the day from a friend from work which was fun though. We talked a lot and drank lots of tea and we made a vegetable pie for dinner and talked some more.

On Saturday I woke up late and the sewing just didn't happen. I was getting stuck and just didn't have my heart in it so I made a border and 4 pin wheels for the corners and started doing the striped bit. But.... just couldn't get going on it so I decided to leave it alone for a while.

So today I would get lots done you think, but today was Christmas market in Falun. I went there with my mum and we had a good look around and I bought a very nice shawl, among other things, which I am sitting with wrapped around me now keeping me nice and warm. It is always interesting to go to this market and see what nutty or fun things people come up with. I've had a stall at the market twice selling my necklaces, it was fun, a bit stressful but most of all, it was cold! I might go there again just have to decide what craft to be selling since I do tend to try so many out. Necklaces are fun to make but so is quilting.

Brrrrrr...

It is cold out there!
I just had a look and it said -20! It was a bit magical coming home tonight from work though. There were some hanging frost in the air and the cars headlights showed up as pillars of light going up in the sky in the distance because of the frost. Can't believe though how fast some people drive when there is so evidently a thin sheet of ice on the road because of the cold, you could see it glitter in the headlights but still people were blasting past.

Planning to sew

This weekend I am planning to get a lot of sewing done on the two heart quilts. I am off to buy some fabric tomorrow or on Friday and then I am just going to sew and sew and sew and have a break for the Christmas Market in Falun on Sunday. I got this vision in my head how I am going to finish the quilts off. Got to put some details down on paper though as well I think. Tricky bit is getting the size right for the other blocks. Will make some of my scraps and calculate if it is the right sizes before cutting into the nice fabric I think.

Second heart

The second heart is now done. Just got to figure out how to finish the quilts off with the smaller stars and pin wheels now. But that will be fun!