Hello there

It's been a while- almost 5 months since I last blogged, wow, how did that happen??? 

I have been sewing though, and staying busy at the shop and at home.  This spring I started making blocks for the Smitten quilt (by Lucy Kingwell). I am a slow starter, I know... My plan is just making a couple of blocks now and then- no rush.  I am machine piecing the blocks, and really enjoying it.

At Quilt Market last October I fell in love with the Octagon Shimmer Quilt by Jennifer Sampou, and after the pattern and fabrics have been sitting on my cutting table for a while I decided it was time to get started.  I LOVE making these blocks- they are pretty quick to sew, and it is so much fun seeing the pattern come to life when I puzzle the half blocks together!

My new Ikea roller cart is perfect for keeping the fabric strips close by when I sew.  I might need more of those carts- one for each WIP :-)  Might fill up my sewing room though LOL....

This summer my husband and I went to Italy for our vacation, and for the first time it was only the two of us!  The kids are not kids anymore, and had plans on their own.... We stayed in Cortina d'Ampezzo for a week, and had lovely hikes every day.  The picture is taken by Lago di Sorapis, a lovely lake in the Dolomites.  The color of the water was just incredible! We hope to come back there again one day! 

Well, I don't know if anyone is still reading, but if you are- thank you for stopping by my extremely neglected blog!  I promise it won't be five months until my next blog post!

Yeey for retreats and birthdays!

A few weeks ago our quilt guild had a weekend retreat, and we had such a fun weekend sewing, eating, laughing and spending time together.  I managed to get two mini quilt tops finished, our guild leader showed us how to make cute little baskets, so of course I made one of those ( she had even cut the batting pieces ready for us :-) And I finally started on "Smitten"  ( yeah I know I am like a year behind everyone else....LOL I am machine piecing, and so far this is the only block I have made- no quick progress here I am afraid....

The Norwegian Quilt Guild has it's annual meet in just two weeks, and since december I have been working on new models for our booth there.  I have made two quilts from patterns by Sherri at a Quilting Life and here are some blocks for the Dream Catcher quilt.  The quilt is finished- I just need to take a god picture of it....

A lot of non quilting stuff has been happening as well. My sweet daughter turned 22 two weeks ago, and I went to visit her in Oslo where she studies, and we went to see the Mary Poppins musical.  Mary Poppins was one of the kid's favorite movies when they were younger ( and it might still be), so we were really excited to see it on stage.

We had front row seats, and got a great view!  "Mary Poppins- Practically perfect in every way"

Mary and Bert. The actors were really good!  

On top of the roof with the chimney sweep

This is Sigve's favorite dance scene ever form any movie- the Chimney sweeps dancing on the rooftops.  They did a great job on stage as well!

The bird woman portrayed by Mari Maurstad- a great actor!

Such a great show, and in September we're going to see Singing' in the rain- Can't wait for that!

I really need to catch up on my blog reading, Maybe I need to set a specific time each day to blog and read blogs... I seem to never have time for blogging anymore, any suggestions out there?

Hope you all have a great day!  It looks like I have to do a few laundry loads before heading outside for a walk/run- then I can go to my sewing room and play, yeeey!

December already?

I don't have any quilts to show you today- most of my sewing time has been spent making my SSCS partner her gift.  I hope the sleigh will land at her house in good time before Christmas!  I can show you some baking I did though.  This cake was so good! it is called a Bounty kladdekake and you can find the recipe (in Norwegian) here at "Det søte liv" blog.  If you like coconut this is an amazing cake! 

I was in Røros teaching a bag class in November, and got to try this new Subaru Outback for the weekend.  I think I am in love with this car, it was really nice to drive, and it had plenty of room for all my stuff, and I even brought a bit of the shop with me there...

Here are some of the ladies from the class with their bags.  I went back a couple of weeks later to help them finish their bags.  They are a really fun group!

That's it for today, hope to show more quilt related stuff soon :-)

Vacation time!

I just came home after a two week trip to the US.  First I visited my very best friend in Orlando, and we had such a fun time together!

At EPCOT the Food and Wine festival was going on- so of course we had to go there....

Look at Mickey barbecuing! 

Cheers!

Later on in the evening we went to "Mickey's Not so Scary Halloween Party" at Magic Kingdom.  The park was decorated really nice for Halloween, and people were dressed up in awesome costumes.  We must have seen about 3 or 4 "The incredibles" families, quite a few princesses, and lots of pirates!

Introducing Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) and Cinderella....

The Castle show and the fireworks were incredible!  The parade was really great as well, but I didn't film that.  There are quite a few clips on YouTube though...

A short video from the Castle fireworks.

Then we went to Homosassa for a few days. The sunsets on the Gulf Coast are amazing!

We got to see lots of Manatees as they come in to the Springs for the winter.  They are so cute!!

Well, I better finish unpacking my suitcases. I have quilt related stuff to show you as well after Quilt Market in Houston!!

Paris

The kids and I had a wonderful trip to Paris a couple of weeks ago.  DH wasn't able to take time off from work this summer, but the kids and I decided to go to Paris for a week.  The first day we were there we decided to go to the Eiffel tower.  Last time we were there the kids were like 4, 6 and 9 years old.  This time they wanted to see it at night, so we went there early in the evening so we could spend some time in the area.

We walked through the park, and found a place to sit and relax after purchasing something to drink.  The view was pretty cool!

We took the stairs up as high as we could.  You need to take an elevator if you want to go all the way to the top- but the line for that was just insane! We enjoyed the view from the second platform!

The view was awesome!

Sunset was really nice!

Once it turned dark, the lights on the Eiffel tower was turned on. That was pretty cool!

I had to get a picture of Sigve, Ola and Kristine as we left as well.

I have some more Paris pictures to share, and I am planning on sewing today.... We FINALLY received Lori Holt's new fabric line "Modern Mini's" at the shop yesterday- Yeey! I will share the progress of my sewing later.

Have a great day!

We are back home after a lovely vacation in Florida.  We got lots of sun, spent quality time together, and had a lot of fun!  Now it's back to work, but the kids still have a month off from school.  Ola has a summer job, Sigve is training twice a day to get ready for next winters ski competitions, and Kristine is getting ready for a math exam in August, so they are all staying pretty busy....

Hope your summer is great!  ( Or winter if you are in Australia...)

Hi there!

Wow, it has been like forever since my last blog post, and I don't even have a lot to show you....  Things have been pretty busy around here the last couple of months, but they are finally slowing down now.  I was asked if I could make a baby quilt for Kristine's baby step cousin in Germany, and of course I said yes.  Her dad and step mom picked this free pattern from favequilts, and it was a fun quilt to make.  I stitched their names and the name of the baby on the polka dot butterflies :-) The quilt is now on it's way to the recipients, and I hope they will be happy with how it turned out!

Last weekend was Ola's confirmation, and we had a lovely day with the whole family! I can't believe how grown up our kids have become!  Kristine was home for the weekend from University, she has her last final exam (Physics)  on Tuesday, then she's ready for summer vacation!  We're heading to Florida in a week and a half, yeeey! I can't wait for some Florida Sunshine :-)

Hope your summer is great!

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a lovely New Years Eve!  We were at the cabin with my parents, and Aunt & Uncle and cousin.  We had a lovely evening, and a great beginning of the new year!

Since Christmas is over I can show you a couple of gifts I made.

The tabletopper above was made for my brother and his wife. English paper piecing, using blue and creme fabrics only from Primitive Gatherings by Moda.

For my aunt who collects angels I knit a pair of potholders.

We came home from the cabin today, and Kristine and I are watching Pride and Prejudice for the 55th time..... Kristine is knitting, and I am stitching :-)

Hope your first day of 2014 was wonderful!

My birthday weekend

Such a busy lovely weekend!  Friday was my birthday, and Kristine came home for the weekend :-)  I made a carrot cake, and she decorated it with pretty roses.  This was dessert after we enjoyed "Rakfisk" which is a traditional meal with fermented and salted trout, eaten in fall/ winter.

Here I am with my wonderful parents!  My dad celebrates his birthday on Tuesday, and yesterday we celebrated my cousin's birthday ( along with my aunt and uncle's birthday which is coming up in November)  So as you might understand this has been a weekend filled with lovely family time!

My sister in law made me two pairs of lovely button ear rings, so I told her she could go through my button jar and see if she found any buttons she could use. I think she and Kristine found quite a few.  She has a Facebook page where you can buy her creations!

For my cousin I made a pair of warm mittens so he'll be ready for winter.

And for my aunt who has recently started quilting again I made this bag and filled it with quilty things she might need. The pattern is called " Whatcha got" and has two options on sizes for the bag.  This is the largest one.

Ok, on to some sewing... I have finished this quilt top- now I need to figure out how I want to quilt it.... I want to have it finished before December!

And I have finished a pair of mittens.  The pattern is called " Elise mittens" , and you can buy the pattern on Ravelry.  I used Sisu ( black) and Regia Funstripe color yarn.

The inside of the mittens.

That's all for now.  There is some secret sewing going on as well.... THE SWAP of the year SSCS is going on, and I need to have the gifts ready in november!