Another UFO...

When I was still new to quilting, I decided to use what I had of fabrics to make a huge bed cover; measuring approx 95" x 105" (2.35 x 2.65m). I became overwhelmed by the thought of quilting it, and that is why it became a UFO. After Easter last year I decided to complete some of the UFO's and did bast the three layers together, but it still remained a UFO....
I still have so much to learn when it comes to patchwork and quilting, and what I had never thought of earlier was "tying quilts", using pearl cotton. I got the idea from a member at one of craft groups I belong to - thanks Diane! :-) I believe tying it is a much better solution than doing it on the sewing machine, due to the size.
I've already bought the pearl cotton, but don't ask me when I'll start tying it! :-) Perhaps hubby wants to do it?! He always says his fingers are "thick" when it comes to fine work! :-)

Birre-liten's favorite place...

Birre-liten always "prevents me from ironing"! :-) He loves sleeping at the ironing board. I guess he doesn't fully realize I have to use it sometimes too... If I try moving him slightly he gets annoyed and tries to bite me and I'm sure he wants to say; "keep off - this is my place"! :-)

Calory free fruit- and cream pies

Ever since I saw the pattern of these yummy pies I have always wanted to make the tablecloth. (Design by Brenda Groelz). I didn't manage to get all the fruit- and cream fabrics so had to use some substitutes for some of the blocks. After collecting the needed fabrics for the pies, I started making them last weekend. I love foundation piecing; it's a great method for piecing accurate points, odd angles and tiny pieces. The background fabric was supposed to be directional, but I skipped that part as I didn't have enough fabric for it. It had been an excellent excuse for buying more though... :-)) I have done all the nine blocks required for the tablecloth (approx 35" x 35"), but still haven't decided which fabrics to use for sashing, inner- and outer border and binding.

What went wrong with the baby quilt....

I really don't know if there is something wrong with me - or the baby quilt! I'm quite sure my brain doesn't work properly at times, or is it just playing with me?! Yes, I did "sleep on" what to do next on the baby quilt and I decided to go for pinwheel blocks in white on white/pink and yellow. After sewing 18 blocks I discovered the pinwheel blocks are 1/2" bigger than the main blocks!!! I was near to pull my hair off when I discovered it! I guess it went too well, so somewhere there had to be a mistake! I went to bed trying to figure out what to do - I woke up in the middle of the night with my head full of "error blocks" and I woke up in the morning and still hadn't decided what to do!!! I just couldn't cut off 1/4" on each side, because then I had destroyed the blocks... After a lot of brain work I finally decided to decrease the pattern (foundation piecing) so it got the same size as the main blocks.

I had a hard time doing the mathematics! I'm not that familiar with inch at all. I never learnt about yard, inch etc at school; it was all about meters and centimeters. Fortunate hubby is familiar with it and managed to add together what I thought was right. This time I made a test-block and DID measure it before I continued! :-) I also figured out the "error-blocks" can be used for another quilt - they were not done in vain! :-)

I received the yellow fabric some days ago, but still haven't got the pink one....

I chose "summer green" and "beeswax" (Moda Marbles) for the "boy-quilt". I'm a bit reluctant using these colors and have yet to decide if I should add white as for the "girl-quilt"... I think I have to make some test-blocks to see how the colors turn out.... I'm a bit worried the Beatrix Potter prints (squares) won't be that visible if I use too much of the two other colors.... ????

My oldest UFO...

Whatever crafts we are into, I'm quite sure we all have UFO's (unfinished objects). I have an UFO from 1986 - 23 years old!!! No, it is not a typing error! That is my oldest UFO! Over Christmas last year I had a break from quilting and after reading a letter from a penfriend who had learnt to knit at the age of 51 (it's never too late learning something!), I decided to have a look at my knitting UFO that I had nearly forgotten.

There are several circles and small squares to be knitted and then added all together for either a bed cover or tablecloth. I've not been working on this project for years, so it took me some time to understand the pattern again. Since December I have knitted about 10-12 circles. I haven't decided what to make out of it yet... I doubt it'll be a huge bed cover...

I'm using Solberg 12/4 - white cotton yarn and knitting pins #2.

Fresh fruits from our garden...

What tastes better than fresh coconut milk?! We have one coconut tree in our garden that never gave fruits in 25 years - until settled here - that is what MIL says! The truth is the poor tree didn't get enough light - sun - it was shaded by another huge tree that we had to cut down for the construction of our house. The coconut tree started growing and gave fruit the same year as we moved into our new home. The coconut tree is less that 2 meters from our kitchen window - very exotic for me!




We have some banana trees in our garden and hubby had to cut off a huge bunch, because some had already gone ripe. We heard the birds in that direction (where the trees are) this morning and guessed some of the bananas are going ripe - and so they had. They look ripe - don't they - but they are not. For the already yellow ones it takes at least 3-4 days before they can be eaten, because now they are still a bit hard inside. This photo shows half of the bunch - the other half we gave to MIL.

The beginning of my first baby quilt...

I didn't last long... I haven't been creative at all since a couple of weeks before Christmas, when I completed some Christmas gifts and wall quilts. I think I needed a break after some weeks with intense sewing. It's not that I haven't thought of what to make next; my head is full of ideas - but where to start?

Well, since I've never made any baby quilts yet - I decided to go for that. I already had some Beatrix Potter fabrics in my stash, which I decided to use.

The quilts I have made earlier are mainly patterns from magazines or downloaded from the net. For this quilt I want to test my own creativity; work without any pattern. I already have a "picture" of the finished quilt in my head - so let's see how it turns out! (I hope it doesn't end up UFO, or worse; in the bin!!!)

Today I have fussy-cut the Beatrix Potter squares for the block centers, and added the triangles around them. "Of course" I had to cut the squares for the triangles wrong! I cut the squares 3 3/8" instead of 3 3/4" - that's a big difference - huh! Fortunate I discovered the error after doing one block! Per tonight I have no idea what the next step is going to be... I think I'd better go to bed - and "sleep on it".

BTW - I think I have enough panel (squares) for two quilts (boy & girl) and started this one in dusty pink and lemon yellow (Moda Marbles).