Kitchen sink is finished!

The WISP/UFO I decided to finish first this year was the "Pie in the sky" quilt, but I decided to finish my "Kitchen Sink" quilt instead. The only thing that was missing on this one, was the two borders. I've been working on them the last days, and tonight the quilt was finished. I was so unsure if the border fabric would turn out ok, but I like it. I made my version a bit larger than the one in the pattern. The pattern is from the book "Scrap-basket Surprises" by Kim Brackett. 

I used different background fabrics and tried to make each block with different fabrics. I love how this quilt turned out. This is one of my favorite quilts so far.

I have one problem, I can't decide if I should quilt it using a pantograph/overall pattern, or if I should do some custom quilting on it. I know I would use the great border Kathy did teach me, which I used on the "Berries and bluebirds" quilt. But not sure how to quilt the rest of the quilt. Would appreciate suggestions! 

The border is 5,5 inches wide when the binding is added, so the pattern I've got on my mind it's perfect for the border. Kathy made a great tutorial for this on her blog, so go visit her blog to see how :-)

I'm looking forward to enjoy some more sewing and maybe some quilting this weekend, but I also hope to get my butt outdoors to have a nice walk and take some photos. It's been so cold over here for a while, but hope the temperatures tomorrow will be a bit closer to zero than it has been lately :-) The nice thing about the cold weather is that the sun is shining, and some awesome sunrises and sunsets appear. I could not resist trying to capture the sunset this evening. So beautiful!

Wish you all a great weekend!
Happy sewing,
Laila

Still here...

I'm still here, just haven't had the energy to make any blog posts in a while.


A while ago, about three weeks, Merete came to visit me to see how "Miss Monster" is working. She is such a talented longarm quilter, and I'm so thankful for the things she teaches me. She always gives me an advice whenever I need one, and I just can't wait to try the different things I've learned. Time haven't been on my side lately, but I'll get there :o)

After spending some hours at my place, we headed downtown to Quiltegården for a cup of coffee and a chat with the other ladies that where there this evening. Merete had several quilts she had quilted, and you should have seen the gorgeous quilts that all where ready for binding! I didn't take any photos of them, since I guessed the owners would love to show them on their own blogs ;o)


We had a great time knitting, sewing, chatting and drinking coffee. And of course! We had the pleasure of eating the best chocolate cake I've EVER tasted!!! I will for sure ask for the recipe when I meet the lady that baked the yummy stuff!!!
I also met two ladies I haven't seen in a while, and that was so nice to see them again!

We've had some gorgeous experiences when it comes to  sunsets this month. Several days in a row we've been able to look at some really great ones. It's hard to capture with a ordinary camera, but you get the idea, right?

I've been making some progress on my "Mill Girls" quilt, but haven't taken any photos. Will do when I have finished the rows. I have finished all the blocks, 20 that is, and look forward to finish this quilt. I really love how it looks already.

A fever knocked me out late last night and have been keeping me company today, so I wasn't able to go to work, and not much going on in my sewing room either. Hopefully it's better tomorrow, so I'll be able to get back to work, and some sewing in the evening. 

I'm hoping to get started on a couple of Christmas gifts soon, and I'm trying to figure out what to make. I'm a little late, but I know I will at least get some finished by Christmas as long as I can decide what to make. 

Cutting some strips

I've been cutting a lot of strips from some of my Japanese fabrics today. I am making some blocks by hand like the ones I learned at the class with Yoko Saito. They are for a project from the book by Yoko Saito, the one I bought at Quiltegården the other day. The project in the book are not made with the same blocks, but I thought I should add a 'personal touch' on it ;o) I'll show a picture later, when I get some progress done.
The strips are made for both regular quilting fabric, and the ones with structure. I really love these taupe ones!
You can see how the blocks looks like, lying next to the strips ;o)

The project is a little toiletry purse, and it's just sooo cute! Look forward to finish the two pieces I need to make for the two sides of it!

A little eye-candy:
This is a flower from my mom's garden. One of the most beautiful flowers I know!
It's called 'Blå valmuesøster' in Norwegian, and it's english name is 'Himalayan blue Poppy'.

Wish you all a great Sunday evening,
Laila

I'm still here!

I've been neglecting my blog for so long, but I've finally got some of the urge for doing some creative work back, and feel like posting some stuff again :o)
I've started on an other 'Precious things' bag. It's nice to enjoy some sewing again!
This one is going to be a gift for a friend of mine ;o)


Some weeks ago, I got three little treasures. It's three gorgeous timbles. I got two of them from my mom from her little trip to Sweden, and one from a kind colleague from work.
I guess this is a start of my timble collection :o)


It's my second week of the Summer Holidays, and so far the weather has not been too good. It's been too many days with rain, so me and Hubby figured we could finally start the painting some of our furniture. It's an old cupboard we got from Hubby's parents about 15yrs ago, and it's not so nice looking anymore. But some paint can really do wonders!


We rubbed the whole thing, and we're painting it white. It will need to be painted with four layers till we get the paint looking nice, and we're done with two already :o) It looks great already! I'm so excited to finsish it, it looks so empty in our living room without it.

I'm off to do some sewing in my sewing room now, so I can get some progress done.
I'm working on the 'secret project', but I'm almost there, and will show you pics when I finish it ;o)



Wish you all a great day, and happy sewing,
Laila

A few photos

I am trying to learn a few things about my new camera, and a thing or two about how to capture interesting photos. The more I learn, the more I realize I don't know...
But I try to play with my camera anyway, and I hope to get to understand some more as I go.
The other day we had a heavy thunderstorm with lots of rain. When the bad weather was gone, I took my camera with me outside. I love to look at the raindrops that is left on flowers and things. This is some of the photos I captured:








No sewing stuff in this post, but I am trying to get some time in my sewing room today, so I will write about it in a later post ;o)

Wish you all a wonderful day :o)

Laila

Inspiration

I haven't done much in my sewing room lately, like I thought I would. I have so many projects to finish, but with no energy to work on them and a neck not working with me these days, the projects have to wait. But I've been looking for inspiration among a lot of great blogs. I've discovered several ones I've bookmarked, and I thought I would share some of them with you.
Stash Manicure by Jantine and her friends, they are having a stash manicure challange you might want to join.
Magnolia Bay Quilts by Kim, she is the author of Scrap-Basket Surprises. The pattern for the "Kitchen Sink" quilt I am working on is from that book. Kim makes some really beautiful quilts!!!
Cotton Way by Bonnie, and her daughter's blog Siplify, is also two blogs I really wanna follow. Yummy colors and patterns!!!
Hope you allso will find some inspiration, like I did. Enjoy the blog-hopping :o)


One of my all time favorite flowers are 'forget-me-nots'. Since I was a little girl I have picked these for my mom every Spring. This one is from my mom's garden. I didn't pick it, just captured it in a photo this time :o)

Happy sewing,
Laila