Sewing on Sunday / BBQC / Christmas Ornament Swap

We've had such nasty - but needed - weather the last days; rain and thunderstorms (you can read more about that here) - perfect for indoor activities.

Still no news about my dear "Nina", but good news is a dear friend kindly lent me her sewing machine for almost 3 weeks while she's on holiday - how great is that?! 

Do you remember my previous post? Yesterday I started piecing the blocks for a baby quilt. I have more than enough for at least two more baby quilts, but I'm running out of the white tone-on-tone background fabric. It is sold out from the web shop, so for the other baby quilts I'll have to think of something else for the background.

I've been sewing almost the whole day today, now I need a break! :) I've done 18 blocks - 6 each in pink, green and blue. I think that will be enough for one baby quilt. I haven't decided on size yet, I'll have to see how wide I do the sashing.

Sneak peak BBQC! :)

Already on Wednesday, when I got the sewing machine, I started sewing! The project for the BBQC is almost done! It is basted and ready to be quilted. I hate to brag, but I must say this project turned out much better than I expected - because purple is a bit outside my comfort zone! I really, really love it! :)

NNC's Christmas Ornament Swap 2010 turned out to be quite a thriller! The Postal Service - either in Malaysia or here in Mauritius decided to play a little bit with us! We all know parcels/letters take 1-2 weeks extra to reach its destinations during Christmas, but when one small parcel and a letter - both registered - had not reached here by the first two weeks of January, we began to worry. We were in touch with the post offices in both countries, where different answers were given how to inquire the parcel/letter.

Finally the registered parcel and letter arrived at the end of January, more than one month after they were sent from Malaysia! The Postal Service made us hold our breathe for some days!

Here's the lovely cross-stitched Christmas ornament I received from Margaret (no blog). The pattern is from Blackbird Design - Stocking series - all handmade!

I looove it! :)

The all-crafts ornament is from Nik.

I believe it is your "Em" that has done it, Nik? It's very beautiful - I do love it!

I love that tag too! :)

Margaret and  Nik; thank you so veeery, veeery much! I do loooove it all!

Those are the all-crafts Christmas ornaments I sent to Nik in Malaysia and Maria (can't find her blog link) in Portugal.

The stockings are made of felt, decorated with rusty bells and buttons.

Not to forget; a huge THANK YOU to Margaret at NNC for organizing both swaps!

You can read about the other Christmas ornament swap here.

Here's the Christmas gift I made for my dear friend Grit (no blog) in Germany. It is made in her favorite colors red and yellow. :)

I forgot to add this when when I posted Christmas gifts I made, look here for the other Christmas gifts I made.

A warm welcome to my new followers;

- Sandy over at Beary Quilts

- Josephine Yap

- Joe over at The Mauritius Adventure 

I hope you will enjoy reading my blog.

Josephine, do you have a blog? I'd love to see your works and what you are working on.

Quilting abstinence

I have not done any sewing since beginning of November last year. Dear "Nina" (Bernina) is still at the "doctor" in Port Louis for check-up, so even if I had wanted to sew - I couldn't.

I have tried to convince myself a break from sewing/quilting is OK, to reload the batteries, get new ideas, inspiration etc. It is not that I was not able to do anything though. In my previous post you can see my UFO's from 2010 and older. The "Star Burst" quilt is ready to be hand quilted (yes, I'm doing it!) and the other quilts are ready to be sandwiched etc. Ever since I started quilting, I have dreaded the finishing; it's almost overwhelming - sort of... An idea to make smaller projects (I can hear you say that!)... yes, it is, but I looooove making bigger quilts - that's my "problem"! :)

I managed to stay off until a couple of days ago, when a severe abstinence hit me!

After some hours of gardening, I was on the couch reading a quilting magazine... Don't know how many times I've had a look in that magazine, but first that day I saw two blocks I wanted to try! One of the blocks for the baby/kid quilt(s) and the other one for the BBQC - read on...

Excited I went to my sewing room and fished out the bag with baby/kids fabric, sorted it on colors....

... and started cutting...

I know I have cut way too much for one quilt only, here I have enough for 54 blocks (9" sewn into quilt). Perhaps I'll have enough of the white-on-white - background - for one quilt only, not even that... I'm zero when it comes to mathematics, so what I have to do is start sewing the blocks and first then I'll see..... It's going to be a scrappy quilt, using at least 14-15 different fabrics/shades.

If I had known it takes ages to get my "Nina" back, I had started working on the BBQC (Brown Bag Quilt Contest) already before I went to Norway! Deadline is March 1st - not that much time left!

Correction! Just got to know deadline has been postponed to April 1st! (Wonderful!) 

Long time ago I received some lovely, purple fabric from Sharon in the US. Brown Bag means you are going to swap your "ugliest" fabric with your swap partner. 

I can't say the fabric I got from Sharon is "ugly" - are they? Purple isn't exactly my favorite color, it is outside my comfort zone when it comes to colors, but that I guess is the challenge! :)

If you want to see the "ugly" fabric I sent to Sharon, take a look here.

It took me quite some time to figure out what to make; it's going to be a tablecloth or table runner - have yet to decide on that. I have decided on the blocks, but that's going to be a secret! :) I also had to add one fabric from my stash. I hunted high and low, and the light one to the right on the photo is the nearest matching I came...

Well, it felt wonderful cutting fabric again - I have cooled down a bit now - LOL! Didn't know I missed it that much, and even by fooling myself to believe I needed a break for loading the batteries - hahaha!

Now it is just to wait for my dear "Nina"!



Stocktaking UFO's per 1/1/2011

Here we go again!

It feels good to finally be able to blog again! The I-net connection has been fairly OK over the last days, but we are far from happy! I've had in mind this post for quite some days, but I've been too lazy taking photos - lol!

New Year means new possibilities! Yes, the possibility for everyone to create and make more gorgeous quilts - doesn't it?!

This is not a New Year resolution, but my aim for 2011 is to finish the UFOs from 2010. Personally I think I have many, but compared to others who have counted 30, 50 or even more, I have nothing! It had become too overwhelming for me if I had too many! I don't like work that is half done either, whatever it is.

My dear Nina (Bernina) is still at the workshop in Port Louis. Don't know when the stitch plate will arrive from Switzerland... :((

Well, here it goes;

The Polar Bear quilt.

I have sewn together some of the blocks, but has yet to assemble the whole quilt top.

The Mystery Quilt; Star Burst.

Already basted. I consider to hand quilt this one, but I need courage, as well as I need input how to do the quilting. Since this will be my very first hand quilted project (if I don't change my mind) it has to be something very simple; not feathers and all that fancy quilting! :)

Karen - the hand quilting guru - may I have your suggestion - pls! Others too - of course - your opinion pls!

Hello Betty & Pinwheel quilts.

Both tops done.

TG Quilt - top done.

So far I call it TG - Tina Givens - because I have used fabrics mainly from her collections. I may change the name later on, when I decide on something better.

The Jiffy quilt - the one that was supposed to be backing for another quilt, but turned out too beautiful for that - lol! :)) Top done.

The Colorado Star quilt.

I started this one 2-3 years ago - as I can recall. The plan is to make covers for our two couches. So far I have 18 blocks, but I'm not yet sure how many I need altogether. The blocks are not trimmed and when all done I'll have to arrange them a bit better, but you get an idea how the quilt is going to look like. All the blocks will be done in blues and two yellows for the star.

In addition to those UFOs, I have a baby quilt and a Easter wall quilt to finish. Don't know where I have put them... The Easter wall quilt I can leave as it is or if I want to make it bigger (it's a small one) I can always add a border of blocks around it - I shall see.

Everything went wrong on the baby quilt, but now I have got a better idea of how to proceed. When I find them I'll add photos. I think this is all the UFOs I have.

I have a couple of knitting projects too, but that will be for another post.

What about you ladies - what is your aim for 2011?

What a Give-Away

Among The Gum Trees 

has a gorgeous giveaway! 

This is what you can win;

the entire set of "Springtime" BOM patterns!

How great is that?!

Jump over to Among The Gum Trees and join in! 

New Blog is launched

I bet you remember I have promised to post photos from my stay in Norway, but due to the lack of I-net connection (still no access to Vista), that post has been delayed. 

When I started blogging two years ago, this blog was meant for quilting only. Those of you who have followed me for quite some time, already know this blog consists of much more than quilting. 

Therefore, I decided to open a photo blog, where there will be mainly nature photos, garden,  etc (not craft related).  

I've bought a new digital reflex camera and I love playing around with it! 

I invite you to Red Needle's World of Photography! :)

There will be some improvement over the next days, but as for today, I hope you like it as it is! :) 

Happy New Year's Resolution

Dear friends, followers and readers

(image from this site)

May 2011 be your best year ever! 

Resolution... How many of you have made one or more resolutions for 2011? 

You may have noticed the head line; Happy New Year's Resolution... I put it this way, because I wish those of you who have made resolutions for 2011; good luck & the very best! Personally I don't see any point in making resolutions every new year, because I don't have willpower enough to stick to them! Kidding! There are decisions I'm going to take in near future, but why do I have to decide and make it valid from January 1st and call it resolutions? I don't want to fool myself...

OK, let's face it; how many of us have gained weight over the festive season? Confession; I have! Not much, but enough to see and feel it - my clothes have shrunk in the wardrobe - must be the high humidity here - lol! I know I always gain weight this time of the year; too much yummy food. But I also know, what I have gained will disappear over the next months, especially when we start hiking again - this time of the year it is too hot for hiking (for me). The extra grams; nothing to worry about! 

Stash shopping! How many of you are not going to do any stash shopping this year?! :)) I don't want to make any resolution on it, because I know I won't be able not buying any stash at all over the next 12 months! I'll try my best to use fabric from my stash, but there might be I need some meters/yards... Over the last year I have seen so many wonderful scrap quilts, as well as following this blog - Stash Manicure - where there are so many ideas from quilters how to use from your stash. Great ideas for scrap quilts.

But first of all; I'm going to finish the accumulated quilt tops from 2010! 

All the very best for 2011!

Good luck on the resolutions you have made! 

A huge New Year's hug to my friends, followers and readers; without you my blog had not been possible! Thanks for all your wonderful comments, advices etc! 

I mean it - but I know it sounds like a cliche from an Oscar nomination - lol!